Society for Cultural Astronomy in the American Southwest (original) (raw)

Third Thursday Food for Thought

“Envisioning a Cultural Landscape”

By SCAAS Cultural Astronomy Researcher Greg Munson

Sponsored by Old Pueblo Archaeology Center, PO Box 40577, Tucson AZ 85717

Greg Munson (Society for Cultural Astronomy in the American Southwest) discussed new ways to record, document, and visualize the cultural landscape of the Greater American Southwest. The program emphasized the SCAAS Cultural Landscapes Survey Program, which has tribal consultation as a key component. At the center of the program is expanding the concept of the archaeological site boundary to include resources from the local environment, relationships to nearby villages, how the architecture relates to the more distant landscape, and a building’s alignment to horizon features such as mountain peaks. SCAAS studies the connection of a site to astronomical cycles and features in the day and night sky and explores new technologies for the visualization of buildings and the landscape like the use of dynamic panoramas, 3D modeling, and infographics. Its goals include establishing a common method of documenting and visualizing links between ancestral peoples and the land and sky that surrounded them so that we can better understand that we live in a unified cultural landscape, inseparable from its parts.

The program was recorded and is now posted to the Old Pueblo Archaeology Center's YouTube Channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib4s_9McWo0

Please enjoy these additional Zoom lectures sponsored by our friends at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

What All of Us Can Learn from the Old Ones with Dr. Scott Ortman

https://youtu.be/WWWfM6gVlYc?si=L5bfC6kc4wsLqkml

Seeking My Center Place: Migrations through Science and Tradition with Lyle Balenquah

https://youtu.be/Eh86t2Kcueo?si=BSl0CKF8toHPiudw

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SCAAS launches Journal Club!

Journal Club WebpagePlease enjoy these

The Society launched its Journal Club in July 2021. The Journal Club is a member's resource and a forum to discuss two papers or articles of interest, normally one from a SCAAS member and one from a qualified researcher on related topics. The event is held via Zoom and the sessions are being recorded for later posting on our You Tube Channel - SCAAS.Connects2U. You must be a member to access downloadable copies of the papers and articles to be discussed at the Journal Club meetings. The public is welcome to attend the meetings.