The prehistory of astronomy seems to exercise a powerful attraction on many of us, as it seems to have on past generations of astronomers through the ages. The indirect questons this interest raises are at least as inetresting as the direct questions. What's prehistory? When does astonomy start? Why are there different astronomies,and what are the differences, and why? What do we include as our prehistory, and what do we exclude? Whose stories can we tell, and which do we require leave to tell, and how can we create the space for others to tell their stories? Are all "sky stories" commensurable?
The terms, and practices on "archaeoastronomy", ethnoastronomy", and "cultural astronomy" are in flux, and perhaps that is a good thing. The modes of research into the astronomies of the past, and their presentation, are not what they were in previous generations, and are certain not to remain static in the future.
Unlike the notional cat of the last podcast (11), Ratatoskr the red squirrel of this episode doesn't, as far as we know, have a place among the constellations. He does, however, have a role in Norse cosmology; see The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore, tr. and ed. Andy Orchard, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin Books, 2011), p. 55 (Grímnismál 32). Ratatoskr's relative, Sciurus volans (the flying squirrel), though, did enjoy a brief spell in the heavenly meangerie; William Croswell, A Mercator Map of the Starry Heavens, Comprehending the Whole Equinoctial, and Terminated by the Polar Circles (Boston: T. Wightman, 1810). Also see John C. Barentine, Uncharted Constellations Asterisms, Single-Source and Rebrands (Cham–Heidelberg–New York–Dordrecht–London–Chichester: Springer, in associaiton with Praxis Publishing, 2016), pp. 137-139.
Some idea of what can be embraced under the term "cultrual astronomy" can be gathered from looking at the CAPjournal (=Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal) 9 (October 2010). It is to the credit of the editors of this issue that they understand "cultural astronomy" to embrace the traditions and practices of any culture with a relation to astronomical phenomena, including the history of modern astrophysics (the anthroplogy of this is that there is no hierarchical ranking in the treatment of these cultures).
A broad (and somewhat uncritical) list of cultrual astronomy resources can be found here.
The most recent authroitative overview of aracheoastronomy and ethnoastronomy is the Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, ed. Clive L.N. Ruggles (Cham–Heidelberg–New York–Dordrecht–London: Springer, 2015). Unfotunately, it lives behind a paywall.
Both Charles Piazzi Smyth, and Norman Lockyer, were very good scientists, responsible for solid contributions to astronomy. They were also pioneers in what was later called archaeoastronomy; their contributions to that field were at times criticized in their day, and have not worn well in their entirety since. Lockyer's work has fared beter than Smyth's in the retrospective origin stories of the disicpline of archaeoastronomy***
Charles Piazzi Smyth's Life and Work at the Great Pyramid, During the Months of January, February, March, and April, A.D. 1865; with a DIscussion of the Facts Ascertained, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1867) is consultable on various platforms: vols. I, II, & III, as is Sir Norman Lockyer's Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered (London: Macmillan and Co., 1906).
The earliest RASC publications on archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy, as mentioned in the podcast, are:
Arthur Harvey, "The Pythagorean Philosophy", Transactions of the Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto (TAPST=RASC) for the Year 1893 (1894), 45-56
Edward A. Meredith,"Virgil on the Time to Sow Seeds, etc.", TAPST for the Year 1893 (1894), 113
W. Balfour Musson, "Mythology of Jupiter", TAPST for the Year 1894 (1895), 1-4
W. Balfour Musson, "Ancient Theories of Motion and the Cosmos", TAPST for the Year 1898 (1899), 79-88
Arthur Harvey, "Astronomy, in Infancy, Youth and Maturity", TAPST for the Year 1899 (1900), 67-95
J.C. Hamilton, "Stellar Legends of the American Indians", The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Transactions for 1905 (1906), 47-50
J.G. Griffin, "Australian Aboriginal Astronomy", Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 17, 4 (1923 May), 156-163
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R.G. Haliburton's very curious New Materials for the History of Man—The Festival of the Dead (RASC: Toronto, 1920) can be found here.
A recent assessment of Haliburton's work, and how the RASC came to reissue it under its imprimatur, is
R.A. Rosenfeld, "The Pleiades, the Deluge, and the Dead: How the RASC Became a Publisher of Anthropology in the Service of Theology", JRASC 113, 3 (2019 June), 98-104.
The most notable follower of Haliburton's astronomical anthropology is Ernst von Bunsen, Plejaden und der Thierkreis oder: Das Geheimniss des Symbole (Berlin: Verlag von Mitscher & Röstell, 1879), and a brief assessemnt of the contribution of that work to Aryan ideology is in M. Hattstein, "Aryanism", in The Holocaust: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection, ed. P.R. Bartrop & M. Dickerman, I (Santa Barbara CA-Denver CO: ABC CLIO, 2017), pp. 44-47, at 46.
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A letter generation of more palatable (although by no means modern) cultural astronomy published by the RASC is represenetd by works such as:
E.M. Antoniadi, "On the Identity of the Sun with the Middle Fire of the Pythagoreans", JRASC 34, 4 (1940 April), 146-151
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More recent examples of cultrual astronomy in the RASC are:
Frank Dempsey, "Aboriginal Canadian Sky Lore of the Big Dipper", JRASC 102, 2 (2008 April), 59-61
David M.F. Chapman & Cathy Jean LeBlanc, "In Search of the 13th Mi'kmaw Moon", JRASC 111, 1 (2017 February), 10-15
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—R.A. Rosenfeld
A transcript of this podcast is available.
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