The Narrow Path Ministries

This isn't strictly about creation/evolution but it is science related so close enough.

The ancient and primitive Dogon tribe of West Africa knew that Sirius was a double star- despite the fact that Sirius is not visible to the naked eye. Further, they also knew that that Sirius B had an elliptical orbit of fifty years. No telescopes.

The Mayas knew of and named the Scorpion- a star cluster containing a comet, not visible with the naked eye. No telescopes.

Sumerians knew the earth revolved around the sun, and they knew about all the planets in our solar system- including Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, which were not discovered by modern day science until 1781, 1846, and 1930. No telescopes.

I am somewhat at a loss to understand how primitive tribes had rather advanced astronomical knowledge, particularly of stars/planets not visible to the naked eye. How could they have such knowledge?

Is there any biblical guidance for questions like this?

TK

When God made the astronomical phenomena, it is said that they were for "signs" (Gen.1:14).

We are twice told that God gave each star a name—probably the constellations also (Psalm 147:4/ Isa.40:26).

God may have communicated these names to Adam, and they may have been passed down, by oral tradition or otherwise, to the time of Noah and his sons.

All races of men are descended from Noah's sons, and many may have preserved knowledge of these matters.

Hi Steve--

I assume you mean that God told Adam about some of the stars, not all of them-- although I am not ruling out that in his pristine state Adam may have been able to retain such knowledge. I did a quick Wikipedia check and the Milky Way galaxy has appr 300 billions stars and there are appr 175 billion other galaxies in the observable universe.

Knowing the names of non-visible stars and systems may be one thing, but being able to accurately calculate things like orbits of non-visible stars seems pretty impressive.

Maybe the ancients were just a lot smarter than we are. I just recently read a news story about Stonehenge that confirmed the rocks were quarried in Wales-- 140 miles away. The article indicated that modern attempts to move stones of such massive size over the same ground using potential means available to the original builders have failed miserably.

TK

Just a guess... but is it possible that those stars were visible thousands of years ago due to the lack of modern light pollution?

Hey Rich--

I thought of that, but then figured that the experts who say the stars arent visible to the naked eye would have taken into account the factors of light pollution etc, when stating they couldnt see them. Of course that might be a faulty assumption on my part.

TK