High Middle Ages · North America · Science
1054
Anasazi Astronomers Record the Crab Nebula Supernova
1054
In Chaco Canyon, Ancestral Puebloan sky-watchers observed the same brilliant 'guest star' that Chinese astronomers recorded on July fourth. A pictograph carved into the canyon wall - a crescent moon beside a bright star - may commemorate the event, aligning with the moon's position on that date. If so, it represents one of the earliest astronomical observations in the Americas, proof that the skies above the canyon were read as carefully as any book.