Dr. Harari, in his book Sapiens, states the sea voyage across the Wallace line that separates Indonesia from Australia, 50,000 years ago was the most important human accomplishment, on par with the Moon landings! Is it a coincidence the first drawings on the Madjedbebe Cave in Queensland, arise at the same time as the extinction of the Australian Megafauna? Why did modern humans start etching in cave walls at the same time as Neanderthal and Denisovans went extinct?
Everyone should journey to what we civilized call Devil’s Tower. It is a wonder, and the story of the Pleiades is a very human yet beautiful attempt to explain it all.
This is really fascinating, and there was recently news that the Pleiades cluster is so much bigger than we see and they identified many distant stars that were part of the same cluster but separated millions of years ago.
Regarding the idea that the Pleiades=seven sisters story is the oldest in the world, it's an interesting one but I do wonder if there was some influence on the oral traditions of the indigenous cultures that changed the stories after European colonisation of both North America and Australia-as well as the white people who wrote down these tales, potentially modifying the stories for Western audiences, either consciously or subconsciously. It also seems really extraordinary that a story can be 100,000 years old and not change much, considering how oral stories are a lot more subject to change and more fluid than written ones-like a game of telephone. The theory also doesn't take into account those who don't see seven women in this cluster, or even seven stars. Examples include Matariki in Maori culture, which is nine stars. Also there are those who see seven birds (usually hens/chicks), or a star that's broken into pieces, or a net, or holes in the sky. There's also a First Nations story that talks of seven young boys, not girls. It also depends on the darkness and clarity of your sky, and your eyesight-some people boast that they see 14 Pleiades without optical aid. I did however see a simulation of stellar proper motion that does indeed show, over 100,000 years, one Pleiade star moving closer and appearing to even move behind another star in the group. So maybe?
Dr. Harari, in his book Sapiens, states the sea voyage across the Wallace line that separates Indonesia from Australia, 50,000 years ago was the most important human accomplishment, on par with the Moon landings! Is it a coincidence the first drawings on the Madjedbebe Cave in Queensland, arise at the same time as the extinction of the Australian Megafauna? Why did modern humans start etching in cave walls at the same time as Neanderthal and Denisovans went extinct?
Everyone should journey to what we civilized call Devil’s Tower. It is a wonder, and the story of the Pleiades is a very human yet beautiful attempt to explain it all.
Thank you for this post.
Thank you! This was a fascinating read...really enjoyed all the new to me information.
This is really fascinating, and there was recently news that the Pleiades cluster is so much bigger than we see and they identified many distant stars that were part of the same cluster but separated millions of years ago.
Regarding the idea that the Pleiades=seven sisters story is the oldest in the world, it's an interesting one but I do wonder if there was some influence on the oral traditions of the indigenous cultures that changed the stories after European colonisation of both North America and Australia-as well as the white people who wrote down these tales, potentially modifying the stories for Western audiences, either consciously or subconsciously. It also seems really extraordinary that a story can be 100,000 years old and not change much, considering how oral stories are a lot more subject to change and more fluid than written ones-like a game of telephone. The theory also doesn't take into account those who don't see seven women in this cluster, or even seven stars. Examples include Matariki in Maori culture, which is nine stars. Also there are those who see seven birds (usually hens/chicks), or a star that's broken into pieces, or a net, or holes in the sky. There's also a First Nations story that talks of seven young boys, not girls. It also depends on the darkness and clarity of your sky, and your eyesight-some people boast that they see 14 Pleiades without optical aid. I did however see a simulation of stellar proper motion that does indeed show, over 100,000 years, one Pleiade star moving closer and appearing to even move behind another star in the group. So maybe?
Really touching and informative as well