Image Credit: NASA
A stunning cluster of stars known as the Pleiades, or "seven sisters," can be seen in the northern sky around December. If you look closely, you'll probably see six stars. So what makes us think there are seven of them?
Many
cultures regard to the Pleiades as "seven sisters," and tell legends
about them that are strikingly similar. We believe these stories date back
100,000 years, to a time when the constellation looked significantly different,
after closely studying the motion of the stars.
The sisters and the hunter
The
Pleiades were the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas in Greek mythology. He was
powerless to defend his daughters since he was forced to hold up the sky for
all eternity. Zeus changed the sisters into stars to save them from being raped
by the hunter Orion. However, according to the story, one sister fell in love
with a mortal and went into hiding, which is why only six stars are visible.
Aboriginal
peoples all around Australia have a similar story to tell. The Pleiades are a
group of young girls who are typically associated with holy women's ceremonies
and storytelling in many Australian Aboriginal cultures. The Pleiades are also
significant in Aboriginal calendars and astronomy, with the first rise of the
Pleiades signaling the onset of winter for various communities.
The
constellation of Orion, sometimes known as "the saucepan" in Australia,
is close to the Seven Sisters in the sky. Orion is a hunter in Greek mythology.
In Aboriginal beliefs, this constellation can also represent a hunter or a
bunch of lusty young males. People in central Australia, according to writer
and anthropologist Daisy Bates, regarded Orion as a "hunter of
women," notably the women of the Pleiades. According to many Aboriginal
traditions, the boys, or men, in Orion are following the seven sisters — but
one of the sisters has died, or is hiding, or is too young, or has been taken,
so only six sisters are visible.
An
Australian Aboriginal interpretation of the constellation of Orion from the
Yolngu people of Northern Australia. The three stars of Orion’s belt are three
young men who went fishing in a canoe, and caught a forbidden king-fish,
represented by the Orion Nebula. Drawing by Ray Norris based on Yolngu oral and
written accounts. |
The lost sister
European,
African, Asian, Indonesian, Native American, and Aboriginal Australian
civilizations all have myths about the "lost Pleiad." Many
civilizations believe there are seven stars in the cluster, but only six are
generally visible, and have a narrative to explain why the seventh is hidden.
How come
the Aboriginal stories in Australia are so similar to those in Greece?
Anthropologists used to believe that Europeans transported the Greek narrative
to Australia, where Aboriginal people altered it for their own reasons. The
Aboriginal stories, on the other hand, appear to be considerably older than
European encounter. For at least 50,000 years, most Australian Aboriginal
tribes had little touch with the rest of the globe. So, why do they keep
telling the same stories?
In a work
to be published by Springer early next year in a book titled Advancing Cultural
Astronomy, Barnaby Norris and I propose an answer, which is available as a
preprint online.
All modern
humans are descended from Africans who lived before 100,000 years ago, when
they began their epic migrations to the distant corners of the planet. Could
the seven sisters' tales be centuries old? Did all humans migrate to Australia,
Europe, and Asia with these stories in their heads?
Moving stars
The stars
of the Pleiades are slowly moving in the sky, according to measurements taken
with the Gaia space telescope and others. Pleione, one of the stars, is now so
close to Atlas that it seems to be a single star to the naked eye.
The
positions of the stars in the Pleiades today and 100,000 years ago. The star
Pleione, on the left, was a bit further away from Atlas in 100,000 BC, making
it much easier to see. Ray Norris |
However,
if we use what we know about the migration of the stars and go back 100,000
years, Pleione would have been closer to Atlas and visible to the human eye.
Most humans would have seen seven stars in the cluster 100,000 years ago.
 |
A
simulation showing hows the stars Atlas and Pleione would have appeared to a
normal human eye today and in 100,000 BC. Ray Norris |
We believe
that the migration of the stars can explain two puzzles: the consistency of
Greek and Aboriginal traditions about these stars, and the fact that the
cluster is referred to as "seven sisters" by various cultures,
despite the fact that we only see six stars today.
Is it feasible that the traditions of the Seven Sisters and Orion are so old that our forefathers told them to each other around campfires 100,000 years ago in Africa? Could this be the world's oldest story?
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