Knowledge of the Sky among Indigenous Peoples of the South American Lowlands—First Archaeoastronomical Analyses of Orientations at Mounds in Uruguay

Camila Gianotti, A. César González-García (), Nicolás Gazzán, Cristina Cancela-Cereijo and Moira Sotelo
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Camila Gianotti: Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio, Departamento de Sistemas Agrarios y Paisajes Culturales, Centro Universitario Regional del Este, Universidad de la República, Rocha 27000, Uruguay
A. César González-García: Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, INCIPIT, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 15707 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Nicolás Gazzán: Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio del Uruguay, Centro Universitario Regional del Este, Universidad de la República, Rocha 27000, Uruguay
Cristina Cancela-Cereijo: Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio del Uruguay, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11200, Uruguay
Moira Sotelo: Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio del Uruguay, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11200, Uruguay

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-24

Abstract: We analyzed, from a cultural astronomy perspective, the relationship between the orientations of five mound sites and different astronomical events in the lowland region of Uruguay. We found significant relationships between the orientations of the mounds and the Southern Cross/Milky Way and the full Moon during the winter solstice ca. 3000 years BP. These relationships, meanings and senses to different native peoples of South America were explored from the literature of travelers’ and naturalists’ chronicles, alongside the ethnohistorical, ethnographic and archaeological literature. In particular, we highlighted the link among those peoples of the area of the Southern Cross/ Milky Way with a mythical Ñandú ( Rhea americana ). Such an interpretation has allowed us to raise the possibility that we are being faced with the integration of knowledge of the sky in the form of the social construction of inhabited space and the configuration of the landscape.

Keywords: Uruguay; lowlands; archaeoastronomy; mounds; Moon; southern cross; Milky Way; Ñandú (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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