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LiveScience
LiveScience
Kristina Killgrove

Pawnee Star Chart: A precontact elk-skin map used by Indigenous priests to tell an origin story

An oval piece of tanned hide with stars inscribed on it.
QUICK FACTS

Name: Pawnee Star Chart

What it is: A depiction of the night sky on elk skin

Where it is from: Central Plains (Nebraska and Kansas), United States

When it was made: Circa 1625

The Pawnee Star Chart is a series of crosses sprinkled around an oval piece of elk skin. Likely made in the early 17th century by the Skiri (also called the Skidi) band of the Pawnee Nation, the chart is a fairly accurate representation of the night sky, but the meaning of the chart is still debated.

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