Featured Speakers: Jane M. Eastman, Ph.D.; Associate Professor; Anthropology and Sociology Department; Western Carolina University
& Brett Riggs, Ph.D.; Sequoyah Distinguished Professor of Cherokee Studies; Western Carolina University

Date: Thursday, August 3rd
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Cost: FREE

Sponsored by Suzanne & Don Duggan, Julie Farrow, Florence & Tom Holmes, Ruthie & Franko Oliver, Adele & Nick Scielzo, and Margaret Waters.

In ancient Cherokee perspective, the matters of this world, the Above World and the Beneath World intertwine, and Cherokee peoples 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 bespeaks 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.