Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes
Indigenous systems of stellar wayfinding are rarely described or robustly attested outside of maritime contexts, with few examples reported among peoples of the high Arctic and some desert regions. However, like other large-scale environments that exhibit a low legibility of landmarks, the barrenlan...
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The Arctic Institute of North America
2022
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic75292 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/75292/55890 |
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crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic75292 2024-06-09T07:42:12+00:00 Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes Cannon, Chris M. Herbert, Paul Sangris, Fred 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic75292 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/75292/55890 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC volume 75, issue 2, page 180-197 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2022 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic75292 2024-05-14T12:53:43Z Indigenous systems of stellar wayfinding are rarely described or robustly attested outside of maritime contexts, with few examples reported among peoples of the high Arctic and some desert regions. However, like other large-scale environments that exhibit a low legibility of landmarks, the barrenlands of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Flats of Alaska generally lack views of prominent or distinguishing topography for using classic route-based navigation. When travelling off trails and waterways in these respective inland subarctic environments, the Yellowknives Dene and the Alaskan Gwich’in utilize drastically different stellar wayfinding approaches from one another while essentially sharing the same view of the sky. However, in both systems the use of celestial schemata is suspended in favor of route-based navigation when the traveller intersects a familiar geographical feature or trail near their target destination, suggesting strong preference for orienting by landmarks when available. A comparison of both wayfinding systems suggests that large-scale environments that lack a readily discernible ground pattern may be more conducive to the development and implementation of a celestial wayfinding schema when combined with other influential factors such as culture, individual experience, and travel behavior. These are likely the first stellar wayfinding systems described in detail for any inland subarctic culture. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Gwich’in Northwest Territories Subarctic Alaska Yukon Arctic Institute of North America Arctic Northwest Territories Traveller ENVELOPE(-48.533,-48.533,61.133,61.133) Yukon ARCTIC 75 2 180 197 |
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Arctic Institute of North America |
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crarcticinstna |
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description |
Indigenous systems of stellar wayfinding are rarely described or robustly attested outside of maritime contexts, with few examples reported among peoples of the high Arctic and some desert regions. However, like other large-scale environments that exhibit a low legibility of landmarks, the barrenlands of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Flats of Alaska generally lack views of prominent or distinguishing topography for using classic route-based navigation. When travelling off trails and waterways in these respective inland subarctic environments, the Yellowknives Dene and the Alaskan Gwich’in utilize drastically different stellar wayfinding approaches from one another while essentially sharing the same view of the sky. However, in both systems the use of celestial schemata is suspended in favor of route-based navigation when the traveller intersects a familiar geographical feature or trail near their target destination, suggesting strong preference for orienting by landmarks when available. A comparison of both wayfinding systems suggests that large-scale environments that lack a readily discernible ground pattern may be more conducive to the development and implementation of a celestial wayfinding schema when combined with other influential factors such as culture, individual experience, and travel behavior. These are likely the first stellar wayfinding systems described in detail for any inland subarctic culture. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cannon, Chris M. Herbert, Paul Sangris, Fred |
spellingShingle |
Cannon, Chris M. Herbert, Paul Sangris, Fred Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes |
author_facet |
Cannon, Chris M. Herbert, Paul Sangris, Fred |
author_sort |
Cannon, Chris M. |
title |
Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes |
title_short |
Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes |
title_full |
Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes |
title_fullStr |
Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes |
title_sort |
yellowknives dene and gwich’in stellar wayfinding in large-scale subarctic landscapes |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic75292 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/75292/55890 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-48.533,-48.533,61.133,61.133) |
geographic |
Arctic Northwest Territories Traveller Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Northwest Territories Traveller Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Gwich’in Northwest Territories Subarctic Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Gwich’in Northwest Territories Subarctic Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
ARCTIC volume 75, issue 2, page 180-197 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic75292 |
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ARCTIC |
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75 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
180 |
op_container_end_page |
197 |
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1801371101382574080 |