The Petroglyph Calendar: An Archaeoastronomy Adventure [Paperback]

Hubert A. Jr. Allen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0964169479 | ISBN-13: 978-0964169470 | Publication Date: March 1, 2001 | Edition: 2

A history of how Native Americans foretold the movement of the sun, planets and cosmos with the help of a petroglyph calendar.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Based on the time period of 1200 AD and the petroglyph's location in what is now New Mexico, Hubert Allen proposes that ancestral Puebloans are the likely creators of the famous "petroglyph calendar" of the American southwest. The ancient Native Americans of the Pueblo community lived communally and were dependant on agriculture. Like all agrarian societies, understanding the seasons was essential to their survival. Western ethnographers have documented that shamans or sun priests kept calendars for the ancestral Puebloans by tracking the setting and rising of the sun. However, no other petroglyph calendar of this elegance or precision has yet been found. Readers of Allen's The Petroglyph Calendar will find their visits to the Southwest to enjoy Native American culture and history will be enhanced by an appreciation of the archaeology and astronomical sciences of the Native American ancestry. Scholars will find Allen's hypothesis challenging and engaging. New Age readers will be drawn to the sections on shamanism and the esoteric practice of sunwatching. Fellow archaeoastronomers will find the tables that Allen has provided to be particularly useful in their researches. The Petroglyph Calendar is highly recommended for all Native American studies and archaeoastronomy reference book collections." -- The Midwest Book Review, October 1998, Taylor's Bookshelf

"In the narrow niche of publishing titles that focus on archaeoastronomy, this book manages to carve its own unique slot. Archaeoastronomy covers the ancient practices of astronomical study that endured hundreds or thousands of years of time, leaving behind only traces of the methods used to measure the rhythms of the sky. But because the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars follow predictable paths - celestial movements are as trackable today as they were in the distant past - the evidence of bygone systems of observations is often recognizable and in many cases, still functions. Other titles on this subject typically analyze the means and methods used by various cultures to follow celestial movements and organize natural calendars. The Petroglyph Calendar, on the other hand, also contains the story of the author's introduction to the field, an accidental discovery of what appeared to be a physically altered rock stumbled across in the Sandia Mountains on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The alterations on the rock just happen to line up with the seasonal shadows cast by the sun, prompting a series of investigations and observations. The author is not a professional archeologist or astronomer. As he states, "Indeed, my research experience was eclectic, ranging from elephant browsing in Africa, to the statistics of childhood immunizations in New Mexico." But rather than detract from the substance of the subject, this background was likely instrumental in the end result, a scientific adventure led and described with flavor and enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that may also captivate other nonprofessionals, introducing them to the background and culture associated with celestial calendars. At the same time, it presents a vivid example of the value of a curious mind and the possibilities that may arise from independent research. It is a well-written description of the geometric harmony between the sun and earth as the seasons progress." -- The Bloomsbury Review, Vol 18/Issue 6:Nov/Dec 1998, by Kim Long

"On a summer-sunset walk on June 24, 1997 in the foothills of Albuquerque's Sandia Mountains, the author noticed a granite boulder with an odd triangle in its center. Arousing his curiosity as a biostatistician and ethnographer, it occurred to him to stick a pen in the center of the triangle and note how the pen's shadow fell precisely through one point of the triangle. After a year's study, the author has now published his very convincing research on the rock.

Using archaeology and astronomy, Allen has determined that the rock is actually a sun shadow-casting calendar that marks dates in much the same way a sundial tells time. And the third point of the triangle aligns with the North Star, which can be traced to have shifted away from its alignment to true north over the centuries. The author was thus able to match the top of the triangle with Polaris (a.k.a the North Star), A.D. 1200, while the other points of the triangle align with the sunsets at summer and winter solstice.

There are thousands of archaeoastronomical sites throughout the world, but here is seemingly irrefutable data on one of them in Albuquerque's backyard. The diagrams, tables and two illustrations by Robert Benjamin are helpful in enabling the nonscientific mind to comprehend the author's findings." -- New Mexico Magazine - Vol. 77/Number 1:January 1999, by Charles Bennett --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Hubert Allen & Associates; 2 edition (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964169479
• ISBN-13: 978-0964169470
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,058,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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