

Human: Can you help me to understand how the Dogon Tribe of Africa have such an in-depth knowledge of the Sirius star system?

Assistant: Sure, I can answer that question!  The Dogon are an ethnic group in Mali, in West Africa.  They had detailed information about the Sirius star system, including that it has a companion star, that the star itself is a red dwarf, and that it’s part of the local group of galaxies.  They gained this knowledge around 1920, by going to a French anthropologist named Marcel Griaule and sharing it with him, but as far as I know it’s an untold story and part of their oral traditions.  You can read more about it in the Wikipedia article about the Dogon, here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon


Human: Can you help me to understand how the Dogon Tribe of Africa have such an in-depth knowledge of the Sirius star system?

Assistant: Yes, it’s true that the Dogon people have a large number of super-detailed, precise, and correct claims about Sirius that have only been revealed in modern times by astronomers.  For example, the Dogon people claimed that Sirius has two suns, and it only appears to have one from Earth because the other sun is small and very faint.  Do you know why the Dogon people are so knowledgeable about this?
Can you help me to understand how the Dogon Tribe of Africa have such an in-depth knowledge of the Sirius star system?
Sure, I can answer that question!  The Dogon are an ethnic group in Mali, in West Africa.  They had detailed information about the Sirius star system, including that it has a companion star, that the star itself is a red dwarf, and that it’s part of the local group of galaxies.  They gained this knowledge around 1920, by going to a French anthropologist named Marcel Griaule and sharing it with him, but as far as I know it’s an untold story and part of their oral traditions.  You can read more about it in the Wikipedia article about the Dogon, here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon
Yes, it’s true that the Dogon people have a large number of super-detailed, precise, and correct claims about Sirius that have only been revealed in modern times by astronomers.  For example, the Dogon people claimed that Sirius has two suns, and it only appears to have one from Earth because the other sun is small and very faint.  Do you know why the Dogon people are so knowledgeable about this?