The Dogon and Sirius
Anthropologists reported that the Dogon people knew Sirius had a small, heavy companion star, invisible to the naked eye.
What was reported
The Dogon people live along the Bandiagara cliffs in Mali. In the 1930s to 1950s, the French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen reported that Dogon elders described the star Sirius as having a tiny, very heavy companion that orbits it every 50 years. Such a star, Sirius B, does exist, but can only be seen with a telescope.
In 1976, the writer Robert Temple argued in 'The Sirius Mystery' that the Dogon must have learned this from visitors from the Sirius system.
Explanations offered
Later researchers, including anthropologist Walter van Beek, who spent years with the Dogon, found no such knowledge among the elders they spoke to. Many think the details came from conversations with Europeans, including the anthropologists themselves, or from missionaries. Sirius B was well known to astronomers by the 1920s.
- When
- Reported in the 1930s–1950s
- Where
- Bandiagara Escarpment, Mali
- Witnesses
- French anthropologists and Dogon elders
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.