Kumeyaay astronomy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Kumeyaay astronomy

Geographical range	El Vallecito
Period	7000 BCE - c. 1875

Kumeyaay astronomy (called My Uuyow in the Kumeyaay language, meaning "sky knowledge") is all about how the Kumeyaay people understood the sky. The Kumeyaay are a Native American group. Their traditional homeland is in Southern California, USA, and parts of northern Baja California, Mexico. They developed a deep system of beliefs based on their sky knowledge. This also helped them keep track of time, which they called Kumeyaay Mat’taam.

The first signs of the Kumeyaay watching the sky were found at an ancient site called El Vallecito. There, a rock painting called "Men in a square" shows a square that lines up with the sun on the Fall equinox. An equinox is when day and night are about the same length. The Kumeyaay likely made these paintings during their travels. They also used sand paintings and rock art to show how the sun, moon, and stars moved across the sky.

The Kumeyaay built special places to watch and record events in the sky. Sadly, many of these important sites were damaged by vandals before they could be protected.

Sky Objects and Star Groups

The Kumeyaay people had their own names for things they saw in the sky.

• Hatotkeur (Spine of the Sky) - This is what they called the Milky Way, which looks like a bright band of stars across the night sky.

They also had many names for groups of stars, which we call constellations. Here are some of them: