Join archaeologist Sonny Shelton for a fascinating presentation on the remarkable Native American Archaeoastronomy of north-western Colorado.

If you are interested in a free American Sign Language interpreter, call or email us two weeks before the event: 970-243-4442 | ask@mcpld.org.

Seating is first come, first served.

Archaeoastronomical sophistication is known to occur in prehistoric cultures in the new world and is being investigated at several stone architectural sites in western Colorado by Dominguez Archaeological Research Group archaeologists. DARG has identified and investigated archaeological sites with polygonal stone arrangements that exhibit alignments evidencing functional astronomical knowledge of solstice and equinox positions, and possibly also representing stellar constellations. These sites represent a unique site type in the Native American archaeoastronomical record. They also bring into question the documentation of other sites in Colorado that have previously been categorized as stone tipi rings. To date no materials have been obtained, nor confirmed associations made, that can provide a temporal context for these sites, which leaves open the question of their assignment as prehistoric or historic Native American. However; dates obtained from North American Medicine wheels span a period from 5000 years before present to 1760 suggesting a Middle Archaic origin. Their geographic distribution appears to match that of the appearance and spread of the Athabascan people in North America.