Lights Above Us: Understanding astronomy through the eyes of indigenous cultures

Reading time: 9 minutes

Astronomy in cultural context, and more on Matariki.

Lights Above Us: Understanding astronomy through the eyes of indigenous cultures

By Chris Pidgeon

Light pollution has removed a crucial element of our ancestry. For thousands of millennia, we watched the stars at night. Over time, we learnt to use these celestial beings as tools to help us navigate, tell time, or explore our spirituality. The modern human, though, gets only a rare glimpse at the Milky Way. Does this mean we’re losing – or have already lost – a part of our heritage?