Eurasian-American Ethnoastronomic Parallels in the Context of New Data from India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24217015 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Y Berezkin (0000-0001-6001-7339, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 113-122 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1563-0110 • E-ISSN: 1531-832X |
| Publisher | Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.3.113-122 |
| OpenAlex | W7220450444 |
| References cited | 23 |
New folkloric data collected in Maharashtra, India, have changed our views of the ancient ethnoastronomy of South Asia. Previous reconstructions of beliefs about celestial objects were nearly exclusively based on the comparison of data on Northern and Central Eurasia with those on the New World. Motifs relating to Ursa Major , one of the most important constellations in folk astronomy, are described. An attempt is made to assess the relative age of these beliefs by collating data on Eurasia and America. Four routes whereby people had migrated to the New World are reconstructed, one of these being related to the spread of Algonquin ancestors. Rather than being Paleolithic relicts, parallels between Siberia and India were caused by later northern infl uences on South Asian ethnoastronomy.
Algonquins · Americas · comparative folklore · constellations · ethnoastronomy · folk astronomy · Maharashtra · migration routes · Siberia · South asia · Ursa Major · Cultural and Sociopolitical Studies · Historical and Architectural Studies · Historical Astronomy and Related Studies
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |