Jane Eastman and Brett Riggs, both professors at Western Carolina University, will present “Archeoastronomy in Southwestern North Carolina.” In ancient Cherokee perspective, the matters of this world, the Above World and the Beneath World intertwine. The Cherokee constructed ritual landscapes to engage the beings and forces of these realms.

Recent investigations in the Little Tennessee River Valley have revealed one such landscape that marks astronomical phenomena and sophisticated systems for measuring calendrical time and the cycles central to Cherokee life. These patterns indicate complex observational sciences that guided functions of indigenous societies long before European contact.

Eastman is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, and director of WCU’s Tali Tsisgwayahi Archeological Collections Facility. Riggs, the Sequoyah Distinguished Professor of Cherokee Studies at WCU, is an esteemed archeologist and expert in Cherokee and Catawba ethnohistory.

The lecture is offered as part of the Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, held at 6 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 10. View the full schedule at highlandsbiological.org. The Aug. 3 lecture is sponsored by Suzanne and Don Duggan, Julie Farrow, Florence and Tom Holmes, Ruthie and Franko Oliver, Adele and Nick Scielzo, and Margaret Waters. A small reception will follow.