Item Details

Crab Supernova Rock Art: A Comprehensive, Critical, and Definitive Review

Issue: Vol 1 No. 2 (2015)

Journal: Journal of Skyscape Archaeology

Subject Areas:

DOI: 10.1558/jsa.v1i2.28255

Abstract:

“Star” and crescent combinations in rock art in the American Southwest were first interpreted in 1955 as eyewitness depictions of the 1054 AD supernova explosion that produced the Crab nebula. While the Crab nebula is visible only telescopically, the event that generated it was brilliant, and for a time, only the sun and moon were brighter. Additional Crab supernova candidates in California and Southwest rock art were suggested 20 years later, and they included Chaco Canyon’s Penasco Blanco pictograph panel, which became the poster child for Crab supernova rock art and is now called “Supernova” on signage at the site. By 1979, a list of 21 Crab supernova rock art sites was assembled, and the inventory has continued to expand more slowly since then. This critical review of the supernova interpretation of star/crescent rock art, the product of 35 years of fieldwork, required an independent re-examination of all of the primary sites in person. That enterprise has already demonstrated that the Tenabo, New Mexico panel does not illustrate the Crab supernova and that the two Arizona sites on which the entire supernova rock art premise is based (White Mesa and “Navaho Canyon”) are unlikely records of the event. This detailed evaluation of the primary proposed star/crescent images indicates none is a satisfactory portrayal of the striking 1054 AD supernova.

Author: E. C. Krupp

View Original Web Page

References :

Ambruster, C. W. and T. Hull, 2005. “Evidence for Early Navajo Horizon Astronomy in Chaco Canyon”. In Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations across Time and Space. Selected Papers from the Fifth Oxford International Conference at Santa Fe, 1996, edited by J. W. Fountain and R. M. Sinclair, 205–220. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.


Armitage, R. A., M. Hyman, M. W. Rowe, J. R. Southon and C. Barat, 2005. “Fern Cave Rock Paintings at Lava Beds National Monument, California: Not the AD 1054 Supernova”. In Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations Across Time and Space. Selected Papers from the Fifth Oxford International Conference at Santa Fe, 1996, edited by J. W. Fountain and Rolf M. Sinclair, 121–131. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.


Aveni, A. F., 1993. Ancient Astronomers. Montreal: St. Remy Press / Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.


Aveni, A. F. (ed.), 2008. Foundations of New World Cultural Astronomy. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.


Baker, P., 2009. “Painted Sites of the Ancestral Puebloans in Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, New Mexico”. In American Indian Rock Art, vol. 35, edited by J. D. Keyser, D. Kaiser, G. Poetschat and M. W. Taylor, 13–25. Tucson, AZ: American Rock Art Research Association.


Ballereau, D., 1987. “A Complete Survey of Petroglyphs from Cerros La Proveedora and Calera, Sonora”. In Rock Art Papers, vol. 5, edited by K. Hedges, 95–112. San Diego Museum Papers 23. San Diego, CA: San Diego Museum of Man.


Ballereau, D., 1991. “Lunas Crecientes, Soles y Estrellas en los Grabados Rupestres de los Cerros La Proveedora y Calera (Sonora, Mexico)”. In Arqueoastronomía y Etnoastronomía en Mesoamérica, edited by J. Broda, S. Iwaniszewski and L. Maupomé, 537–544. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.


Boas, F., 1951. Primitive Art. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Capitol Publishing Co.


Brandt, J. C. and S. P. Maran, 1972. New Horizons in Astronomy. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company.


Brandt, J. C., S. P. Maran, R. A. Williamson, R. S. Harrington, C. Cochran, M. Kennedy, W. J. Kennedy and V. D. Chamberlain, 1975. “Possible Rock Art Records of the Crab Nebula Supernova in the Western United States”. In Archaeoastronomy in Pre-Columbian America, edited by A. F. Aveni, 45–58. Austin: University of Texas Press.


Brandt, J. C. and J. Scott, 1989. “Indian Rock Art Discovery Adds to Supernova Mystery”. News, University of Colorado at Boulder, press release.


Brandt, J. C. and R. A. Williamson, 1977. “Rock Art Representations of the AD 1054 Supernova: A Progress Report”. In Native American Astronomy, edited by A. F. Aveni, 171–177. Austin: University of Texas Press.


Brandt, J. C. and R. A. Williamson, 1979. “The 1054 Supernova and Native American Rock Art”. Archaeoastronomy (Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy) 1: S1–S38.


Brecher, K., R. A. Fesen, S. P. Maran and J. C. Brandt, 1983. “Ancient Records and the Crab Nebula Supernova”. The Observatory 103: 106–113.


Clark, D. H. and F. R. Stephenson, 1977. The Historical Supernovae. Oxford: Pergamon Press.


Collins, G. W., W. P. Claspy and J. C. Martin, 1999. “A Reinterpretation of Historical References to the Supernova of AD 1054”. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 111: 871–880. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/316401


Crosby, H. W., 1975. The Cave Paintings of Baja California. San Diego, CA: Copley Books.


Cushing, F. H. 1979 [1882-1883] “My Advenures in Zuñi”. In Zuñi: Selected Writings of Frank Hamilton Cushing, 46–134. J. Green, ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.


Duyvendak, J., 1942. “Further Data Bearing on the Identification of the Crab Nebula with the Supernova of 1054 AD. Part I: The Ancient Oriental Chronicles”. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 54: 91–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/125409


Eddy, J. A., 1978. “Archaeoastronomy in North America: Cliffs, Mounds, and Medicine Wheels”. In In Search of Ancient Astronomies, edited by E. C. Krupp, 133–163. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.


Ellis, F. H., 1975. “A Thousand Years of the Pueblo Sun-Moon-Star Calendar”. In Archaeoastronomy in Pre-Columbian America, edited by A. Aveni, 59–87. Austin: University of Texas Press.


Fisher, V. B., 2010. “Classic Object Lessons in Southwestern Archaeoastronomy”. Archaeoastronomy 33: 27–34.


Fountain, J., 2000. “New Perspectives on the Crab Supernova in Rock Art”. In Rock Art Papers, vol. 15, edited by K. Hedges, 91–97. San Diego, CA: San Diego Museum of Man.


Hedges, K., 1985. “Methodology and Validity in California Archaeoastronomy”. In Earth and Sky: Papers from the Northridge Conference on Archaeoastronomy, edited by A. Benson and T. Hoskinson, 25–39. Thousand Oaks, CA: Slo’w Press.


Heizer, R. F. and M. A. Baumhoff, 1962. Prehistoric Rock Art of Nevada and Eastern California. Berkeley: University of California Press.


Heizer, R. F. and C. W. Clewlow Jr., 1973. Prehistoric Rock Art of California. Ramona, CA: Ballena Press.


Kirkland, F. J. and W. W. Newcomb Jr., 1967. The Rock Art of the Texas Indians. Austin: University of Texas Press.


Koenig, S. H., 1979. “Stars, Crescents, and Supernovae in Southwestern Indian Art”. Archaeoastronomy (Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy) 1: S39–S50.


Kolber, J. and D. Yoder, 2002. “The Great Anasazi Rock Art of Chaco Canyon: Possible and Probable Implications”. In American Indian Rock Art, vol. 28, edited by A. Woody, 169–179. Tucson, AZ: American Rock Art Research Association.


Krupp, E. C. (ed.), 1978. In Search of Ancient Astronomies. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.


Krupp, E. C., 1995. “Engraved in Stone”. Sky & Telescope 89 (4): 60–61.


Krupp, E. C., 2006. “Archaeoastronomy Unplugged: Eliminating the Fuzz Tone from Rock Art Astronomy”. In American Indian Rock Art, vol. 21, edited by P. Whitehead, 353–369. International Rock Art Congress 1994, vol. 3. Phoenix, AZ: ARARA Publications.


Krupp, E. C., 2009. “Rock Star”. In American Indian Rock Art, vol. 35, edited by J. D. Keyser, D. Kaiser, G. Poetschat and M. W. Taylor, 79–89. Tucson, AZ: American Rock Art Research Association.


Krupp, E. C., E. Billo and R. Mark, 2010. “Star Trek: Recovery and Review of the First Alleged Supernova Rock Art”. Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture 23: 35–43.


Lilienthal, B. and D. Hoard., 1995. The Petroglyphs of Los Alamos: Sentinels on Stone. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society.


Malville, J. M., 2008. Guide to Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest. Boulder, CO: Johnson Books.


Mayer, D., 1977. “An Examination of Miller’s Hypothesis”. In Native American Astronomy, edited by A. F. Aveni, 180–201. Austin: University of Texas Press.


Mayer, D., 1979. “Miller’s Hypothesis: Some California and Nevada Evidence”. Archaeoastronomy (Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy) 1: S51–S74.


Miller, W. C., 1955a. “Two Possible Astronomical Pictographs Found in Northern Arizona”. Plateau 27 (4): 6–13.


Miller, W. C., 1955b. “Two Prehistoric Drawings of Possible Astronomical Significance”. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflet 314: 1–8.


Mountjoy, J. B., 1982. “An Interpretation of the Pictographs at La Pena Pintada, Jalisco, Mexico”. American Antiquity 47 (1): 110–126. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/280057


Needham, J., 1959. Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Olowin, R. P., 2005. “A Petroglyph Panel of Astronomical Significance”. In Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations Across Time and Space. Selected Papers from the Fifth Oxford International Conference at Santa Fe, 1996, edited by J. W. Fountain and R. M. Sinclair, 181–189. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.


Pasachoff, J. M., 1977. Contemporary Astronomy. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.


Patterson, A., 1992. A Field Guide to Rock Art Symbols of the Greater Southwest. Boulder, CO: Johnson Books.


Reyman, J., 1988. “Site 29SJ427, Chaco Canyon, NM: Review and Re-evaluation”. In Reflections: Papers on Southwestern Culture History in Honor of Charles H. Lange, edited by A. Poore, 213–226. Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico 14. Santa Fe, NM: Ancient City Press.


Ruggles, C., 2005. Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.


Sagan, C., 1980. Cosmos. New York: Random House.


Schaafsma, P., 1971. The Rock Art of Utah. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.


Schaafsma, P., 1992. Rock Art in New Mexico. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press.


Schaafsma, P., 1993. “Imagery and Magic: Petroglyphs at Comanche Gap, Galisteo Basin, New Mexico”. In Archaeology, Art, & Anthropology: Papers in Honor of J. J. Brody, edited by M. Duran and D. Kirkpatrick, 157–174. Albuquerque: Archaeological Society of New Mexico.


Schaafsma, P., 2000. Warrior, Shield, and Star: Imagery and Ideology of Pueblo Warfare. Santa Fe, NM: Western Edge Press.


Schaafsma, P., 2005. “Feathered Stars and Scalps in Pueblo IV”. In Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations Across Time and Space. Selected Papers from the Fifth Oxford International Conference at Santa Fe, 1996, edited by J. W. Fountain and R. M. Sinclair, 191–204. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.


Schaefer, B. E., 2006. “Case Studies of Three of the Most Famous Claimed Archaeoastronomical Alignments in North America”. In Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, edited by T. W. Bostwick and B. Bates, 27–56. Phoenix, AZ: City of Phoenix.


Stevenson, M. C., 1904. The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Societies, and Ceremonies 1901–1902. Twenty-Third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.


Trimble, V., 1968. “Motions and Structure of the Filamentary Envelope of the Crab Nebula”. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 73 (7): 535–547. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/110658


Wellmann, K. F., 1979. “Further Remark on an Astronomical Petroglyph in Capitol Reef National Park Utah”. Archaeoastronomy (Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy) 1: S75–S77.


Williamson, R. A., 1984. Living the Sky. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.


Yoder, D. and J. Kolber, 2002. “The Anasazi Rock Art of Chaco Canyon: A Preliminary Report of the Findings”. In American Indian Rock Art, vol. 28, edited by A. Woody, 161–168. Tucson, AZ: American Rock Art Research Association.