The impact of genetic and environmental data on changing SE Asian indigenous astronomical systems
Wayne Orchiston

University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China- and Centre for Astrophysics, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia.

Abstract

SE Asia as a unique ethnoastronomical field laboratory. We know that cultures evolve through time in response to major sea-level and climatic changes, to changing ecological responses and to the arrival of new human populations. As cultures evolve so too do astronomical systems. In this paper we document some of the major environmental and phylogenetic changes that occurred in island SE Asia over the past 60,000-70,000 years and how these would have led to changes in indigenous astronomical systems. We also note how newly-published data, especially involving mtDNA, can led us to immediately abandon previously held models that underpin our understanding of evolving astronomical systems.

Keywords: Changing astronomical Systems- sea level changes, climate changes, phylogenetic changes

Topic: Astronomical History and Heritage