On Thursday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. Hancock Town Library, 25 Main St., will present a talk on archaeoastronomy with Martha Yates.

Archaeoastronomy is the study of methods used by ancient cultures for following solstices, equinoxes and other celestial events. Yates will take attendees on a journey to the ancient city of Cahokia near St. Louis, Chaco Canyon’s Fajada Butte, and Mesa Verde’s Square Tower, Sun Temple and Stone Basin. Her presentation focuses on ancestral Puebloan astronomy and includes images of petroglyphs marking the solstices and equinoxes. Yates will conclude with a discussion of the sandstone spires at Chimney Rock and its 1,000-year-old Chacoan astronomical observatory.

Yates served as a district archeologist for the Santa Fe National Forest and director of the Ghost Ranch Paleontology/Anthropology Museums. She guides tours to archaeological sites throughout the Southwest for Ghost Ranch and the Sierra Club, as well as colleges and universities. She has taught at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and University of Vermont. 

The event is free and open to all.