Ancient Andean Astronomy: Southern Cross and Chakana | SLICE @SLICEDocumentary
Ancient Andean Astronomy: Southern Cross and Chakana | SLICE  @SLICEDocumentary
Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Long before telescopes and observatories like Paranal, the peoples of the Andes were already expert skywatchers. In the high plateau near today’s borders of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, Indigenous cultures such as the Likan Antai of Atacama, as well as the legacy of Tiwanaku and the Inca world, read the night sky as a living map of meaning.

At the center of this knowledge stands the Southern Cross, known not as a Christian symbol but as the Chakana, the Andean Cross. More than a constellation, it is a cosmological bridge linking the human world, the condor of the heavens, and the sacred order of nature.

Through the voices of educators Silvia Lisoni Reyes and Jessica Fernández, this documentary explores Andean astronomy, oral traditions, and the cultural memory embedded in constellations, rivers of stars, and dark sky figures shaped by the Milky Way, known as Mayu.

From petroglyphs and pictoglyphs to stories nearly erased by colonial repression, this film reveals how Indigenous knowledge of the Southern Cross continues to shape identity, education, and connection to the land.

Ancient astronomy, living culture, and the symbolic power of the Andean sky converge in this journey beneath one of the clearest night skies on Earth.

Documentary: Children of the Stars - Southern Cross
Directed by: Gonzalo Argandoña
Production: Cábala Producciones

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Ancient Andean Astronomy: Southern Cross and Chakana | SLICE

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