The Chimney Rock Interpretive Association (CRIA) will present a free lecture, “New Light on Chimney Rock: The Sun, the Moon, and the Great Supernova of 1054”, in its Lecture Series.
The lecture, presented by Dr. McKim Malville, will be given on Sunday, September 22, at the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, located at 434 Lewis Street, Pagosa Springs. Doors open at 6:30pm, the talk will be from 7:00 to 8:00pm with a short Q&A at the end.
The magnificent astronomy of Chimney Rock National Monument may have had its start in the decade of the 1050s when the residents of the high mesa discovered both the supernova of 1054 and the standstill moon appearing above their eastern horizon. This talk will discuss the evolution of Chimney Rock into a major ceremonial site by 1093.
Of the world’s many places where archaeological evidence of major lunar standstills has been discovered, Chimney Rock is unique in the depth and breadth of its astronomical and cultural complexities.
Dr. McKim Malville obtained his BS in physics from Caltech. After spending a year in the Antarctic, he came to the University of Colorado and got his PhD in solar physics. Kim’s first teaching position was at the University of Michigan. Returning to Boulder he was on the research staff of the High Altitude Observatory of NCAR, and then he moved back to the University of Colorado where he served as Chairman of the Department of Astro-Geophysics. His research interests have ranged from the aurora, solar physics, and, more recently, archeoastronomy.
In 1997 he was a member of the team that revealed the world’s oldest known megalithic astronomy at Nabta Playa near Abu Simbel in southern Egypt. In 2003 he was involved in the rediscovery of Llactapata and its sun temple, previously lost in a cloud forest near Machu Picchu. He is presently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado.
This event is free and open to the public, so tell all your friends and neighbors.