Duane W Hamacher
Biographic Data
| ID | 215381 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Duane W Hamacher |
| GIVEN NAMES | Duane W |
| FAMILY NAME | Hamacher |
| SIGNATURE | HAMACHER D W |
| AFFILIATIONS | UNSW Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3072-8468 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The Role of Astronomy in Australian Indigenous Knowledge
Astronomy plays a significant role in the culture of many Australian Indigenous peoples. Traditional Indigenous Australians had an extensive knowledge of the sky and the motion of the bodies within it. That astronomical knowledge was not only important culturally, but also revealed an intellectual complexity that has gone largely unrecognized, including a quest to understand phenomena such as tides and eclipses (Hamacher and Norris, 2011). More p…
The Iau Working Group on Star Names (Wgsn)
The IAU-Working Group on Star Names consists of scholars with a huge diversity of cultural backgrounds. In our monthly discussions of cultural names from different places and times, this year we came across some interesting facts in intercultural comparisons. In particular, the constellation of Andromeda was depicted as the Syriac goddess Derketo in early al-Sūfī manuscripts, the ՙHorse՚-constellations of the Arabic, Babylonian, Greek and Indian …
The Iau Working Group on Star Names (Wgsn)
Using the Significant Horizons Methodology to Determine Potential Astronomical Use of Aboriginal Stone Arrangements
The Astronomy of the Aboriginal Peoples of the Sydney Basin
Archaeoastronomy, Rigour and Rock Art
Humans have long held a deep connection to the Sun, Moon and stars. They are used to measure time, forecast weather, mark seasonal change and navigate across land and sea, while doubling as a mental map and memory space "As is above, so is below", as Indigenous elders teach (Lee 2014). The knowledge generated and developed to explain the movements of the stars and link those movements to events on Earth must be passed to successive generations in…
The archaeology of orality
Aboriginal people have lived in Australia, continuously, for tens of thousands of years. Over that time, they developed complex knowledge systems that were committed to memory and passed to successive generations through oral tradition. The length of time oral traditions can be passed down while maintaining vitality is a topic of ongoing debate in the social sciences. In recent years, scientists have weighed into the debate by studying traditions…
Iau Inter-Commission C1-C3-C4 Working Group on Ethnoastronomy and Intangible Astronomical Heritage
Iau Inter-Commission C1-C3-C4 Working Group on Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture
Native American Traditions of Meteor Crater, Arizona
Hopi and Navajo oral traditions describing the formation of Meteor 'Barringer' Crater in Arizona are reported in early twentieth century news media, but some scholars claim these traditions are deliberate fabrications or misidentified stories about more recent volcanic events. This paper critically analyses these accounts and examines explanations for the apparent traditions and the history of associated research at the crater. We show that Navaj…
Solstice and Solar Position Observations in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditions
A major focus of archaeoastronomical research conducted around the world is to understand how ancient cultures observed sunrise and sunset points along the horizon, particularly at the solstices and equinoxes. Scholars argue that observations of sunrise and sunset points are useful for developing calendars and predicting seasonal change, which is the foundation of the Eurocentric four-season Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar. Famous examples …
A Cultural Comparison of the 'Dark Constellations' in the Milky Way
Cultures around the world find meaning in the groupings of stars and features in the Milky Way. The striking appearance of our Galaxy in the night sky serves as a reference to traditional knowledge, encoding science and culture to a memory space, becoming part of their overarching cosmologies. This paper examines traditional views of the Milky Way from cultures around the world, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. These views comprise dark cons…
Electrocatalytic and Optoelectronic Characteristics of the Two-Dimensional Titanium Nitride Ti 4 N 3 T x MXene
A relatively new class of two-dimensional (2D) materials called MXenes have garnered tremendous interest in the field of energy storage and conversion. Thus far nearly all MXenes reported experimentally have been described as metals, with a lone report of a mixed-metal carbide phase exhibiting semiconducting character. Here, we report the optical, electrocatalytic, and electrical properties of the 2D Ti 4 N 3 T x MXene (T x = basal plane surface …
The Planets in Aboriginal Australia
Studies in Australian Indigenous astronomical knowledge reveal few accounts of the visible planets in the sky. However, what information we do have tells us that Aboriginal people are close observers of planets and their motions and properties. Indigenous Australians discerned between planets and stars by their placement in the sky and their general lack of scintillation. Traditions generally describe the ecliptic and zodiac as a pathway of sky a…
Observations of red‐giant variable stars by Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians carefully observe the properties and positions of stars, including both overt and subtle changes in their brightness, for subsistence and social application. These observations are encoded in oral tradition. I examine two Aboriginal oral traditions from South Australia that describe the periodic changing brightness in three pulsating, red‐giant variable stars: Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), and Antares…
Did Aboriginal Australians Record a Simultaneous Eclipse and Aurora in Their Oral Traditions
We investigate an Australian Aboriginal cultural story that seems to describe an extraordinary series of astronomical events occurring at the same time. We hypothesise that this was a witnessed natural event and explore natural phenomena that could account for the description. We select a thunderstorm, total solar eclipse, and strong Aurora Australis as the most likely candidates, then conclude a plausible date of 764 CE. We evaluate the differen…
Aboriginal Astronomical Traditions From Ooldea, South Australia, Part 2
Australian Indigenous astronomical traditions demonstrate a relationship between animals in the skyworld and the behaviour patterns of their terrestrial counterparts. In our continued study of Aboriginal astronomical traditions from the Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, we investigate the relationship between animal behaviour and stellar positions when these relationships are not explicitly described in the written records. We develop a met…
Reconstructing the Star Knowledge of Aboriginal Tasmanians
The canopy of stars is a central presence in the daily and spiritual lives of Aboriginal Tasmanians. With the arrival of European colonists, Tasmanian astronomical knowledge and traditions were interrupted and dispersed. Fragments can be found scattered in the ethnographic and historical record throughout the nineteenth century. We draw from ethnohistorical documents to analyse and reconstruct Aboriginal astronomical knowledge in Tasmania. This a…
Australian Aboriginal Astronomy - An Overview
Identifying Seasonal Stars in Kaurna Astronomical Traditions
Early ethnographers and missionaries recorded Aboriginal languages and oral traditions across Australia. Their general lack of astronomical training resulted in misidentifications, transcription errors and omissions in these records. In western Victoria and southeast South Australia many astronomical traditions were recorded but, cur-iously, some of the brightest stars in the sky were omitted. Scholars claimed these stars did not feature in Abori…
Using Modern Technologies to Capture and Share Indigenous Astronomical Knowledge
Indigenous Knowledge is important for Indigenous communities across the globe and for the advancement of our general scientific knowledge. In particular, Indigenous astronomical knowledge integrates many aspects of Indigenous Knowledge, including seasonal calendars, navigation, food economics, law, ceremony, and social structure. Capturing, managing, and disseminating this knowledge in the digital environment poses a number of challenges, which w…
Comet and Meteorite Traditions of Aboriginal Australians
Dreamtime Astronomy
The Australian National Curriculum promotes Indigenous culture in school education programs. To foster a broader appreciation of cultural astronomy, to utilise the unique astronomical heritage of the site, and to develop an educational program within the framework of the National Curriculum, Sydney Observatory launched Dreamtime Astronomy —a program incorporating Australian Indigenous culture, astronomy, and Sydney‟s astronomical history and heri…
Are Supernovae Recorded in Indigenous Astronomical Traditions
Novae and supernovae are rare astronomical events that would have had an influence on the sky-watching peoples who witnessed them. Although several bright novae/supernovae have been visible during recorded human history, there are many proposed but no confirmed accounts of supernovae in indigenous oral traditions or material culture. Criteria are established for confirming novae/supernovae in oral traditions and material culture, and claims from …
Aboriginal Astronomical Traditions From Ooldea, South Australia. Part 1
Whilst camped at Ooldea, South Australia, between 1919 and 1935, the amateur anthropologist Daisy Bates CBE recorded the daily lives, lore and oral traditions of the Aboriginal people of the Great Victoria Desert region surrounding Ooldea. Among her archived notes are stories regarding the Aboriginal astronomical traditions of this region. One story in particular, involving the stars making up the modern western constellations of Orion and Taurus…
An Aboriginal Australian Record of the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae
We present evidence that the Boorong Aboriginal people of northwestern Victoria observed the Great Eruption of Eta (η) Carinae in the nineteenth century and incorporated this event into their oral traditions. We identify this star, as well as others not specifically identified by name, using descriptive material presented in the 1858 paper by William Edward Stanbridge in conjunction with early southern star catalogues. This identification of a tr…
Eclipses in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy
We explore about fifty different Australian Aboriginal accounts of lunar and solar eclipses to determine how Aboriginal groups understood this phenomenon. We summarize the literature on Aboriginal references to eclipses. We show that many Aboriginal groups viewed eclipses negatively, frequently associating them with bad omens, evil magic, disease, blood and death. In many communities, elders or medicine men claimed to be able to control or avert …
The archaeology of orality
Aboriginal people have lived in Australia, continuously, for tens of thousands of years. Over that time, they developed complex knowledge systems that were committed to memory and passed to successive generations through oral tradition. The length of time oral traditions can be passed down while maintaining vitality is a topic of ongoing debate in the social sciences. In recent years, scientists have weighed into the debate by studying traditions…
Aboriginal Astronomical Traditions From Ooldea, South Australia. Part 1
Whilst camped at Ooldea, South Australia, between 1919 and 1935, the amateur anthropologist Daisy Bates CBE recorded the daily lives, lore and oral traditions of the Aboriginal people of the Great Victoria Desert region surrounding Ooldea. Among her archived notes are stories regarding the Aboriginal astronomical traditions of this region. One story in particular, involving the stars making up the modern western constellations of Orion and Taurus…
Aboriginal Oral Traditions of Australian Impact Craters
In this paper we explore Aboriginal oral traditions that relate to Australian meteorite craters. Using the literature, first-hand ethnographic records and fieldtrip data, we identify oral traditions and artworks associated with four impact sites: Gosses Bluff, Henbury, Liverpool and Wolfe Creek. Oral traditions describe impact origins for Gosses Bluff, Henbury and Wolfe Creek Craters, and non-impact origins for Liverpool Crater, with Henbury and …
Did Aboriginal Australians Record a Simultaneous Eclipse and Aurora in Their Oral Traditions
We investigate an Australian Aboriginal cultural story that seems to describe an extraordinary series of astronomical events occurring at the same time. We hypothesise that this was a witnessed natural event and explore natural phenomena that could account for the description. We select a thunderstorm, total solar eclipse, and strong Aurora Australis as the most likely candidates, then conclude a plausible date of 764 CE. We evaluate the differen…
Astronomical orientations of Bora ceremonial grounds in southeast Australia
Ethnographic evidence indicates that bora (initiation) ceremonial sites in southeast Australia, which typically comprise a pair of circles connected by a pathway, are symbolically reflected in the Milky Way as the ‘Sky Bora’. This evidence also indicates that the position of the Sky Bora signifies the time of year when initiation ceremonies are held. We use archaeological data to test the hypothesis that southeast Australian bora grounds have a p…
Are Supernovae Recorded in Indigenous Astronomical Traditions
Novae and supernovae are rare astronomical events that would have had an influence on the sky-watching peoples who witnessed them. Although several bright novae/supernovae have been visible during recorded human history, there are many proposed but no confirmed accounts of supernovae in indigenous oral traditions or material culture. Criteria are established for confirming novae/supernovae in oral traditions and material culture, and claims from …
An Aboriginal Australian Record of the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae
We present evidence that the Boorong Aboriginal people of northwestern Victoria observed the Great Eruption of Eta (η) Carinae in the nineteenth century and incorporated this event into their oral traditions. We identify this star, as well as others not specifically identified by name, using descriptive material presented in the 1858 paper by William Edward Stanbridge in conjunction with early southern star catalogues. This identification of a tr…
Eclipses in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy
We explore about fifty different Australian Aboriginal accounts of lunar and solar eclipses to determine how Aboriginal groups understood this phenomenon. We summarize the literature on Aboriginal references to eclipses. We show that many Aboriginal groups viewed eclipses negatively, frequently associating them with bad omens, evil magic, disease, blood and death. In many communities, elders or medicine men claimed to be able to control or avert …
Orientations Of Linear Stone Arrangements in New South Wales
We test the hypothesis that Aboriginal linear stone arrangements in New South Wales are oriented along cardinal directions. We accomplish this by measuring the azimuths of stone arrangements described on site cards held in the New South Wales Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System. We find a preference recorded on the site cards for cardinal orientations among azimuths. We then survey a subset of these sites to test the accuracy of the…
Thesis Abstracts
Astronomical orientations of Bora ceremonial grounds in southeast Australia
Ethnographic evidence indicates that bora (initiation) ceremonial sites in southeast Australia, which typically comprise a pair of circles connected by a pathway, are symbolically reflected in the Milky Way as the ‘Sky Bora’. This evidence also indicates that the position of the Sky Bora signifies the time of year when initiation ceremonies are held. We use archaeological data to test the hypothesis that southeast Australian bora grounds have a p…
Aboriginal Oral Traditions of Australian Impact Craters
In this paper we explore Aboriginal oral traditions that relate to Australian meteorite craters. Using the literature, first-hand ethnographic records and fieldtrip data, we identify oral traditions and artworks associated with four impact sites: Gosses Bluff, Henbury, Liverpool and Wolfe Creek. Oral traditions describe impact origins for Gosses Bluff, Henbury and Wolfe Creek Craters, and non-impact origins for Liverpool Crater, with Henbury and …
Using Modern Technologies to Capture and Share Indigenous Astronomical Knowledge
Indigenous Knowledge is important for Indigenous communities across the globe and for the advancement of our general scientific knowledge. In particular, Indigenous astronomical knowledge integrates many aspects of Indigenous Knowledge, including seasonal calendars, navigation, food economics, law, ceremony, and social structure. Capturing, managing, and disseminating this knowledge in the digital environment poses a number of challenges, which w…
Comet and Meteorite Traditions of Aboriginal Australians
Dreamtime Astronomy
The Australian National Curriculum promotes Indigenous culture in school education programs. To foster a broader appreciation of cultural astronomy, to utilise the unique astronomical heritage of the site, and to develop an educational program within the framework of the National Curriculum, Sydney Observatory launched Dreamtime Astronomy —a program incorporating Australian Indigenous culture, astronomy, and Sydney‟s astronomical history and heri…
Are Supernovae Recorded in Indigenous Astronomical Traditions
Novae and supernovae are rare astronomical events that would have had an influence on the sky-watching peoples who witnessed them. Although several bright novae/supernovae have been visible during recorded human history, there are many proposed but no confirmed accounts of supernovae in indigenous oral traditions or material culture. Criteria are established for confirming novae/supernovae in oral traditions and material culture, and claims from …
Aboriginal Astronomical Traditions From Ooldea, South Australia. Part 1
Whilst camped at Ooldea, South Australia, between 1919 and 1935, the amateur anthropologist Daisy Bates CBE recorded the daily lives, lore and oral traditions of the Aboriginal people of the Great Victoria Desert region surrounding Ooldea. Among her archived notes are stories regarding the Aboriginal astronomical traditions of this region. One story in particular, involving the stars making up the modern western constellations of Orion and Taurus…
Stories from the sky
Indigenous Australian practices, developed and honed over thousands of years, weave science with storytelling. In this Indigenous science series, we'll look at different aspects of First Australians' traditional life and uncover the knowledge behind them - starting today with astronomy
Australian Aboriginal Astronomy - An Overview
Identifying Seasonal Stars in Kaurna Astronomical Traditions
Early ethnographers and missionaries recorded Aboriginal languages and oral traditions across Australia. Their general lack of astronomical training resulted in misidentifications, transcription errors and omissions in these records. In western Victoria and southeast South Australia many astronomical traditions were recorded but, cur-iously, some of the brightest stars in the sky were omitted. Scholars claimed these stars did not feature in Abori…
Aboriginal Astronomical Traditions From Ooldea, South Australia, Part 2
Australian Indigenous astronomical traditions demonstrate a relationship between animals in the skyworld and the behaviour patterns of their terrestrial counterparts. In our continued study of Aboriginal astronomical traditions from the Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, we investigate the relationship between animal behaviour and stellar positions when these relationships are not explicitly described in the written records. We develop a met…
Reconstructing the Star Knowledge of Aboriginal Tasmanians
The canopy of stars is a central presence in the daily and spiritual lives of Aboriginal Tasmanians. With the arrival of European colonists, Tasmanian astronomical knowledge and traditions were interrupted and dispersed. Fragments can be found scattered in the ethnographic and historical record throughout the nineteenth century. We draw from ethnohistorical documents to analyse and reconstruct Aboriginal astronomical knowledge in Tasmania. This a…
Did Aboriginal Australians Record a Simultaneous Eclipse and Aurora in Their Oral Traditions
We investigate an Australian Aboriginal cultural story that seems to describe an extraordinary series of astronomical events occurring at the same time. We hypothesise that this was a witnessed natural event and explore natural phenomena that could account for the description. We select a thunderstorm, total solar eclipse, and strong Aurora Australis as the most likely candidates, then conclude a plausible date of 764 CE. We evaluate the differen…
Observations of red‐giant variable stars by Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians carefully observe the properties and positions of stars, including both overt and subtle changes in their brightness, for subsistence and social application. These observations are encoded in oral tradition. I examine two Aboriginal oral traditions from South Australia that describe the periodic changing brightness in three pulsating, red‐giant variable stars: Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), and Antares…
Electrocatalytic and Optoelectronic Characteristics of the Two-Dimensional Titanium Nitride Ti 4 N 3 T x MXene
A relatively new class of two-dimensional (2D) materials called MXenes have garnered tremendous interest in the field of energy storage and conversion. Thus far nearly all MXenes reported experimentally have been described as metals, with a lone report of a mixed-metal carbide phase exhibiting semiconducting character. Here, we report the optical, electrocatalytic, and electrical properties of the 2D Ti 4 N 3 T x MXene (T x = basal plane surface …
The Planets in Aboriginal Australia
Studies in Australian Indigenous astronomical knowledge reveal few accounts of the visible planets in the sky. However, what information we do have tells us that Aboriginal people are close observers of planets and their motions and properties. Indigenous Australians discerned between planets and stars by their placement in the sky and their general lack of scintillation. Traditions generally describe the ecliptic and zodiac as a pathway of sky a…
Native American Traditions of Meteor Crater, Arizona
Hopi and Navajo oral traditions describing the formation of Meteor 'Barringer' Crater in Arizona are reported in early twentieth century news media, but some scholars claim these traditions are deliberate fabrications or misidentified stories about more recent volcanic events. This paper critically analyses these accounts and examines explanations for the apparent traditions and the history of associated research at the crater. We show that Navaj…
Solstice and Solar Position Observations in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditions
A major focus of archaeoastronomical research conducted around the world is to understand how ancient cultures observed sunrise and sunset points along the horizon, particularly at the solstices and equinoxes. Scholars argue that observations of sunrise and sunset points are useful for developing calendars and predicting seasonal change, which is the foundation of the Eurocentric four-season Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar. Famous examples …
A Cultural Comparison of the 'Dark Constellations' in the Milky Way
Cultures around the world find meaning in the groupings of stars and features in the Milky Way. The striking appearance of our Galaxy in the night sky serves as a reference to traditional knowledge, encoding science and culture to a memory space, becoming part of their overarching cosmologies. This paper examines traditional views of the Milky Way from cultures around the world, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. These views comprise dark cons…
Iau Inter-Commission C1-C3-C4 Working Group on Ethnoastronomy and Intangible Astronomical Heritage
Iau Inter-Commission C1-C3-C4 Working Group on Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture
Australian Indigenous Culture and History (23 works) · History (20 works) · Physics (19 works) · Astronomy (18 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (18 works) · Geography (17 works) · History (15 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (11 works) · Archaeology (10 works) · Indigenous (8 works)