xplained meteors as the spirits of shamans traveling to the after life. The Chumash referred to meteors as a shooting star. They believed a meteor was a person’s soul on their way to the afterlife. The Eastern Pomo believed meteors were fire dropping from the sky. The most widely accepted belief was that meteors were the feces of stars. (Hudson 40) The Ojibwa of the upper Great Lakes had a story about Genondahwayanung, which meant, “Long tailed heavenly climbing star.” An Ojibwa says that Genondahwayanung was a star with a long wide tail which would return and destroy the world someday. The shaman said it came down one thousand years ago. He said it was just like sun, radiation, burning heat in its tail. The comet was said to have scorched earth except for Native Americans, who were warned by a Holy Spirit, Chimantou. The animals were killed off it was so hot stones were said to have melted. It is said the comet came down and spread for miles. Another form of record keeping were rock petroglyphs, or pictures carved into rock. The western part of the United States is filled with these pictures, but any dating is virtually impossible. It is very difficult to determine whether or not the object drawn is a meteor or a comet. The most common petroglyphs are a circle with a wiggly line coming from it. Various archaeologists have interpreted these as meteors, comets and snakes Records were also kept in the form of pottery. A Hopi jar that was found had a scene that had mountains, stars and three objects falling towards the ground. This scene implies a meteor shower or a meteor that broke up as it fell. It may be possible that this jar depicts the Leonid storm of 1833. (Hudson 41) Native Americans also attained their records by building structures that would observe the sun. the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming dates to AD 1400 to 1700. Lines drawn between major markings on the wheel point to the location of solstice sunrises...
