Skip to main content

Indigenous Astronomy in Southern Africa

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy

Abstract

The cultural Astronomy of Southern African peoples has been a subject of many studies spanning atleast over a century. Some of the studies were biased against the notion that Southern African could have any interest in studying the natural environment to benefit their societies. In this chapter, I summarize the current knowledge about cultural Astronomy of Southern African peoples and highlight points of further research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 1,099.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 1,399.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Beyer Rev G (1919) Suto Astronomy. In: Report of the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, vol 16, pp 201–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Callaway H (1970) The religious system of the Amazulu. Struik, Cape Town

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark JD (1959) The rock paitings of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In: Summers R (ed) Prehistoric rock art of the Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland Glasgow University Press, Glasgow, pp 163–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Clegg A (1986) Some aspects of Tswana cosmology. Botswana Notes Rec 18:33

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairall N (1968) The productive seasons of some mammals in the Kruger National park. Zool Afr 3:189–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Koitsiwe M (in prep) PhD thesis still under preparation. North West University

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton Rev Father (1909) Native star names. S Afr J Sci 6:306–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouzman S (2010) Flashes of brilliance: San rock paintings of heaven’s things. In: Blundell G, Chippindale C, Smith B (eds) Seeing and knowing. Understanding rock art with and without ethnography. Wits University Press, Johannesburg, pp 10–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith BW (1997) Zambia’s ancient rock art: the paintings of Kasama. National Heritage Conservation Commission, Livingstone

    Google Scholar 

  • Smithers HNR (1971) Mammals of Botswana. National Museum of Rhodesia, Salisbury

    Google Scholar 

  • Snedegar KV (1995) Stars and seasons in Southern Africa. Vistas in Astronomy 39:529–538

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Snedegar KV (1997) Ikhwezi is the morning star. Mercury 26:12–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Snedegar KV (1998) First fruit celebrations among the Nguni peoples of southern Africa: an ethnoastronomical interpretation. Archaeoastronomy 23 (Supplement to the Journal for the History for Astronomy 29):S31–S38

    Google Scholar 

  • Snedegar KV (2000) Astronomical practices in Africa South of the Sahara. In: Selin H (ed) Astronomy across cultures: the history of non-Western astronomy. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 455–473

    Google Scholar 

  • Tempelhoff JWN (2008) Historical perspectives on pre-colonial irrigation in Southern Africa. Afr Hist Rev 40(1):121–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thackeray JF (1988) Comets, meteors and trance: were these conceptually associated in Southern African pre-history. Mon Not Astron Soc S Afr 47:49–52

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Thackeray JF, Knox-Shaw P (1992) Astronomical and entoptic phenomena. Mon Not Astron Soc S Afr 51:6–12

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Tooke WH (1888) The starlore of the South African natives. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 5:304–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Turton DA, Ruggles CLN (1978) Agreeing to disagree: the measurement of duration in a South Western Ethiopian community. Current Anthropology 19:585–600

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Sicard H (1966) Karanga stars. NADA 9:42–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner B (1996) Traditional astronomical knowledge in Africa. In: Walker C (ed) Astronomy before the telescope. British Museum Press, London, pp 304–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Wendt WE (1976) Art Mobilier’ from the Apollo Cave, South West Africa: Africa’s oldest dated works of art. S Afr Archaeol Bull 31:5–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodhouse HC (1986) Bushmen paintings of comets? Mon Not Astron Soc S Afr 45:33–35

    ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thebe Rodney Medupe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Medupe, T.R. (2015). Indigenous Astronomy in Southern Africa. In: Ruggles, C. (eds) Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_94

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics