Sacred SItes - Teacher Literacy Activity

Activity Title: 'Comet Dreamings'

Subject Area: Literacy

Theme: Dreamtime stories and geological features

Grade Level: 4th - 6th

Students will identify the stories connected to sacred sites in Australia. They will understand how geological formations lend themselves to stories of the Dreaming. They will investigate how the Dreamtime stories reflect Aboriginal culture.

Colorado Standard(s) and/or Benchmark(s) addressed in this activity:

*Grade*	*Content Area*	*Standard*	*Benchmark*
4th - 6th	Literacy	1-read a variety of materials	1.1 strategies to comprehend writing
4th - 6th	Literacy	6-recognize literature as a human record	6.2 read/respond to literature

National Standard(s) and/or Benchmark(s) addressed in this activity:

*Grade*	*Content Area*	*Standard*	*Benchmark*
4th - 6th	Literacy	8—gather technological resources	Use a variety of resource information
4th - 6th	Literacy	9-respect for diversity in language use	Recognize dialects across cultures

Introduction:

Identify the stories connected to sacred sites in Australia. Understand how geological formations lend themselves to stories of the Dreaming. Investigate how the Dreamtime stories reflect Aboriginal culture.

While biking on the road from Hermannsburg we explored an incredible feature in the landscape: Gosse Bluff; a 5km (3 mi) wide crater thought to have been formed by the impact of comet slamming into the earth’s surface around 140 million years ago.

The shallow depth of the blast lends weight to the theory of either a comet, or an asteroid and not a solid rock meteorite. However, no trace of a comet or asteroid was been found in the area, and it is presumed to have vapourised.

The blast has been calculated to have been about one million times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. It would have destroyed most life forms within a distance of hundreds of kilometres and sent huge plumes of fine debris into the atmosphere, affecting weather patterns worldwide for some years. This would certainly have made for a very challenging environment for plant and animals species seeking to recolonize the surrounding area after the event.

During the blast, fragments of rock, included blocks up to a hundred metres long, were hurled into the air and then fell back to the ground.

The comet would have consisted of a frozen ball of carbon dioxide, ice and dust. Late Proterozoic-Cambrian Rock, 500-800 years old made of sandstone, siltstone, shale and limestone, would have been blasted to the surface from more than 6km (3.5 mi) down. Using satellite imagery we can estimate the original outer crater being up to 20km (12 mi) in diameter.

There is a close parallel with craters that can be found on the surface of the moon and Mars. Similarities are the breaking up and bending of rock layers within a circular area i.e., a crater, uplifted rock in the centre, shatter cones, melted rock fragments, and minerals that are formed only at extreme pressures.

There is another side to the cosmologic origins of Gosse’s Bluff. The Aboriginal people of this area have passed down their own version of events. Interestingly, their Dreamtime tale closely follows the story as geologists see it. Aboriginal lore tells us the following:

In the Dreamtime, the Milky Way was made of a group of Star-Women who danced across the sky. One of the women grew tired of carrying her baby as she danced, and placed him in his wooden baby-carrier, called a turna (pronounced toor-na). She rejoined the other women, and as they danced, the turna rolled over the edge of the dancing area and plummeted toward the earth. The baby crashed to the ground, his turna falling on top of him. The impact of the turna caused surrounding rocks to be thrust upward, forming the circular walls of Tnorala (the Aboriginal name for Gosse’s Bluff). The baby from the Milky Way was hidden from view by the settling clouds of red sand. His mother, the evening star, and his father, the morning star, still search for their missing child every day and every night.

Stories of beginnings have been told for thousands of years. They arise out of the plants, herbs, and animals, which are important parts of the human world. They are embedded in ancient languages and flow according to the rhythms of the natural world. Ancient cultures have always found real power dwells in nature-in mountains, rivers, rocks, even pebbles.

Vocabulary:

Dreamtime
vaporized
asteroid
crater
totem (plant/animal representative of a clan)

Materials:

Books that identify cultural stories of Creation legends and myths i.e., Why the Possum’s Tail is Bare and Other North American Indian Nature Tales
Resource materials identifying geological formations
Journals for note taking

Preparation:

Research various cultures from around the world to identify how their ancestors determined the clan or tribes’ origin.
Select key geographical features that tie into Creation myths and stories and identify their locations on a map.
Gather pictures and other materials that supplement Dreamtime stories or select pictures that might have special meaning.
Make a list of several stories, i.e., fairy tales, that use legend or myths to explain our past.

Procedure:

Class discussion in which students or teacher read or retell a variety of childhood stories that give reasons for things in nature. These will often be found in Native American or tribal literature.
Identify the main characters in a story and the qualities that they possess. Tonweya and the Eagles would illustrate this concept.
Link stories to geographical features and describe how the shape of those features lends itself to an explanation found within the story.
Create a story, including setting, characters, and plot that tie to a local landform or geographical feature.
Illustrate your story using the techniques found in this topic’s lessons.

Analyze and Conclude:

Journal entries reflect student understanding of the link between ancient stories and geographical features of the area.
Student legends will contain the elements of a story, i.e., plot, characters, setting
Students will have a list of resources identifying myths and legends of early beginnings
Illustrations of the student legends will reflect comprehension of the subject matter and final product.