JohnHuth Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Hi, All - I wanted to try something on this audience. I'm thinking of teaching a freshman seminar (freshman in college) next year - the topic being "primitive navigation". I drew some inspiration from David Burch'es book, "Emergency Navigation", and a lot of practical, fun stuff, that I've been doing over the years, both on kayak and in the woods. If you have any thoughts or comments, I'd welcome the feedback. If this is taking up bandwidth on non-NSPN-related things, please feel free to let me know, and I'll take this thread down. Thx! John Huth Primitive Navigation In this seminar, we will explore navigational techniques that do not rely on modern technologies (GPS or sextant). By the end of the seminar, the student should be reasonably adept at combining information from the stars, the sun, and local information to gain a rough determination of latitude and direction. Combined with time information from watches, a determination of longitude is possible. We’ll examine navigational techniques used by a number of cultures, prior to contact with the west, and how these draw upon naturally available information. Background: some familiarity with trigonometry and the ability to graph is useful. Materials: Compass (to verify findings), simple digital watch, materials to construct a cross-staff, access to GoogleEarth. Texts: Finding your Way Without Map or Compass, Harold Gatty Emergency Navigation, David Burch The Last Navigator, Stephen Thomas Adrift, Steven Callahan Syllabus Week 1 Organization of seminar Early navigation of Micronesians Measuring angles with arms and hands Practical: calibrating angle measurements with arms and hands Week 2 Navigation by stars Star paths Major navigational stars Telling time by stars Calibration and use of watches Practical: Finding time and directions by star observations Week 3 Navigation by the sun and moon Equation of time Navigation by planets Other things in the sky – wind, clouds Quiz: Coordinates of major navigational stars Week 4 Primitive navigational equipment Cross-staff, Astrolabe Practical: Finding time and directions from the Sun Week 5 Dead reckoning Navigation in overcast skies and fog Latitude and longitude Practical: Latitude and longitude determination from observations Week 6 Limb and eye dominance Walking in circles, straight lines Use of sounds, smells Practical: determination of limb and eye dominance Week 7 More primitive techniques, examined: Viking sun stone Directions from wind Use of trees and bushes to determine direction Practical: observation of prevailing wind direction from trees Week 8 Navigation on Land I Deserts Polar regions Hills and rivers in temperate latitudes Maps of the earth, Ptolemy, Marco Polo, Columbus Practical: reproduce map of the earth Week 9 Navigation on land, II Australian aboriginals Taureg Inuit Week 10 The ocean Wave generation Swells, wind Shipping lanes at sea Week 11 The ocean II Habits of sea birds Reflection and refraction of swells around islands Micronesian navigation, revisited Week 12 Finding directions in cities and towns Orientations of churches, ceremonial structures Practical: Survey of alignment of churches and other religious structures Week 13 Distance determination through observation Radio nulls Curvature of the earth Practical: Triangulation from radio nulls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spuglisi Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Sounds like a great class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcasey Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 not laughing at all...that will be a FUN class. week 11 perhaps: one story (perhaps somebody still around who can amplify?) by a local who was in a group, paddling up in Maine, socked in by fog. Knowing approx where they were, they cut a bearing intended to cross a line downwind of an island known to be heavily frequented by birds. Crossing the line was obvious by the smell, turning upwind brought them to the island and re-fixed their position. of course, it isn't quite navigation, more along the lines of survival skills....but the best emergency equipment to take as a hedge against getting lost is a deck of cards. if you don't know where you are, sit down and play solitaire....somebody will absolutely show up and watch over your shoulder, promptly telling you to play the red nine on the black ten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glad Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Sounds fantastic - I'd love to take it. OR perhaps you'd like to try it out an abbreviated version on us NSPN'ers!!!! Hi, All - I wanted to try something on this audience. I'm thinking of teaching a freshman seminar (freshman in college) next year - the topic being "primitive navigation". I drew some inspiration from David Burch'es book, "Emergency Navigation", and a lot of practical, fun stuff, that I've been doing over the years, both on kayak and in the woods. If you have any thoughts or comments, I'd welcome the feedback. If this is taking up bandwidth on non-NSPN-related things, please feel free to let me know, and I'll take this thread down. Thx! John Huth Primitive Navigation In this seminar, we will explore navigational techniques that do not rely on modern technologies (GPS or sextant). By the end of the seminar, the student should be reasonably adept at combining information from the stars, the sun, and local information to gain a rough determination of latitude and direction. Combined with time information from watches, a determination of longitude is possible. We’ll examine navigational techniques used by a number of cultures, prior to contact with the west, and how these draw upon naturally available information. Background: some familiarity with trigonometry and the ability to graph is useful. Materials: Compass (to verify findings), simple digital watch, materials to construct a cross-staff, access to GoogleEarth. Texts: Finding your Way Without Map or Compass, Harold Gatty Emergency Navigation, David Burch The Last Navigator, Stephen Thomas Adrift, Steven Callahan Syllabus Week 1 Organization of seminar Early navigation of Micronesians Measuring angles with arms and hands Practical: calibrating angle measurements with arms and hands Week 2 Navigation by stars Star paths Major navigational stars Telling time by stars Calibration and use of watches Practical: Finding time and directions by star observations Week 3 Navigation by the sun and moon Equation of time Navigation by planets Other things in the sky – wind, clouds Quiz: Coordinates of major navigational stars Week 4 Primitive navigational equipment Cross-staff, Astrolabe Practical: Finding time and directions from the Sun Week 5 Dead reckoning Navigation in overcast skies and fog Latitude and longitude Practical: Latitude and longitude determination from observations Week 6 Limb and eye dominance Walking in circles, straight lines Use of sounds, smells Practical: determination of limb and eye dominance Week 7 More primitive techniques, examined: Viking sun stone Directions from wind Use of trees and bushes to determine direction Practical: observation of prevailing wind direction from trees Week 8 Navigation on Land I Deserts Polar regions Hills and rivers in temperate latitudes Maps of the earth, Ptolemy, Marco Polo, Columbus Practical: reproduce map of the earth Week 9 Navigation on land, II Australian aboriginals Taureg Inuit Week 10 The ocean Wave generation Swells, wind Shipping lanes at sea Week 11 The ocean II Habits of sea birds Reflection and refraction of swells around islands Micronesian navigation, revisited Week 12 Finding directions in cities and towns Orientations of churches, ceremonial structures Practical: Survey of alignment of churches and other religious structures Week 13 Distance determination through observation Radio nulls Curvature of the earth Practical: Triangulation from radio nulls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 If it works out next year, I'd be willing to give an abbreviated version. On the bird-navigation issue - it can actually be a rather effective trick. I recall hearing about a Brit who was in Greenland in the 1920's with some Inuit. They'd kayak along the coast in a total blank-out fog, and pass the entrance to a large number of fjords. They just joked and stuff, and all of a sudden the leader made a turn into their home fjord, without a second thought. The Brit had trouble figuring out how they knew when to make the turn in the fog. On later trips, he found out that they listened to the songs of snow buntings who nested on the headlands. Evidently each snow bunting had a slightly different song, and they recognized the entrance to their fjord by the particular song of the snow bunting living there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kate Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 John, why waste it on them? Teach it to us. One comment on the land navigation and our prior conversation on this topic. I checked with my bro about the orientation of churches to the east. He is a Baptist minister and they just built a new church on a large parcel of land. The church could have faced any way they chose. I asked him if facing east is a primary consideration. He laughed, said no, you put the church however it best fits on your property. He thought the eastern orientation was a very old-fashioned notion that no one uses anymore. So you might want to include a caveat with that one. kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Allen Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 not laughing at all...that will be a FUN class. ......... ....but the best emergency equipment to take as a hedge against getting lost is a deck of cards. if you don't know where you are, sit down and play solitaire....somebody will absolutely show up and watch over your shoulder, promptly telling you to play the red nine on the black ten. or quietly approach an easy landing and proceed to slip on your but in the mud. There's always someone watching when I do that! Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 On the church topic - yup in the US, and in small churches in Europe, you're right - the orientations have more to do with practical issues. I think (although I'm not sure) that most gothic cathedrals have an east-west orientation. That's why I wanted to make it a "practical" test - have the students do a survey and find out for themselves. I'd also heard that mosques have an orientation facing Mecca. I wanted to test this out. That's why I wanted the students to have Google earth - it makes it easy to do a quick survey. The same thing is true of wind-blown trees. The idea is to go out and photograph trees that look wind-blown and see if they track the prevailing winds. Other factors like shade, topography, other nearby trees will affect this. The main thing is that not all of these things are foolproof, and it takes some time to figure out how to use them and not get fooled. That's why I was drawn to the topic - there's an element of going out and finding things out on your own about some of these navigation tricks - with some work the students can get an idea how reliable they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankR Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Week 1 Organization of seminar Early navigation of Micronesians Measuring angles with arms and hands Practical: calibrating angle measurements with arms and hands You might be interested in this "folk" navigation technique - maybe you could make this part of your "practical" session. http://bearcastle.com/blog/?p=630 (I remember reading about this years ago - Google strikes again!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suz Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 John, The concept of the class is a great one and I look forward to when you do an abbreviated version for us. Suz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gcosloy Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 John-the topic is indeed fascinating. I look forward to your developing this course. I was present at your lecture last year on clouds and waves and apply what I learned almost every day -at least the clouds part! Even my wife who wasn't there now proudly points out mares tails and mackerel skies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted February 14, 2008 Author Share Posted February 14, 2008 I'll toss in some teasers in the weather/waves course - so you can get an idea of what I might do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scamlin Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 John: Last year, there was an interesting exhibit at the SFO airport on the seas. One of the displays was of "stick charts", maps used by Micronesians to navitate by. It looked sort of like an elaborate version of those hot pads you used to make as a kid out of tongue depressors for Mother's Day . Interestingly, the charts mainly plot swells in relation to islands, rather than island location itself . For pictures, diagrams and more details of these charts, see: http://www.janesoceania.com/micronesian_stick_chart/ http://thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/p...k/stick_charts/ (see links at bottom for more info) Fascinating. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 thanks for the info on the stick charts. I actually know a guy who works on Kwajalein, and he volunteered to get me a real stick chart (or at least one they make for the tourists). If I do a short version of the course, I'll bring it along (once I understand all the intricacies). A good read is "The Last Navigator" by Steve Thomas. He was one of the "This Old House" hosts, and he lived for a year in Micronesia, learning from one of the old-school navigators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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