Seeing Stars: The oldest story in human history?

The Chinese recorded the cluster in writing as far back as 2357BC and a drawing was found on a bronze disk in Germany which was made around 1600BC.  

In Greek mythology, the cluster of stars were named the Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas. As a punishment, Atlas was forced to hold up the sky, and so, unable to protect his daughters from the advances of Orion, the hunter, he transformed them into stars.

Strangely, a similar story about the Pleiades and Orion is told by Aboriginal Australians. They associate Orion as a young hunter or a group of young men who chase the seven sisters of the Pleiades in order to catch them.

The similarities between the European and Australian stories suggest a common origin. However, Europeans had no contact at all with Aboriginal Australians until the 17th century so how could they possibly have the same story regarding Orion and the Pleiades? 

Two Australian astronomers believe that the story is so old that it dates back to the time our human ancestors migrated from Africa to populate the rest of the world. 

But why ‘Seven Sisters’? If you look at the cluster on a clear dark night, you will probably see just six stars. What happened to the seventh sister? Different cultures have different stories to explain this. 

In Greek mythology, one of the sisters was ashamed for falling in love with a mortal and so faded from sight. Aboriginal Australians believed that one sister had been abducted by Orion. In Islam, the seventh sister fell to Earth and became the Great Mosque.

One of the six stars we see is Atlas. With binoculars or a telescope, you will notice that very close to Atlas is another star called Pleione. 

Over long periods of time, stars move as seen from our perspective on Earth and it appears that tens of thousands of years ago, Pleione would have been further away from Atlas and ancient stargazers would have indeed seen seven stars rather than the six we see now.

I doubt if anyone can definitely prove that the story of the hunter chasing the girls goes back all the way to the time our ancestors left Africa but, if indeed this is what happened, then the oldest known human story is right above us in the stars.  

On the next clear night, why not go out and take a look at the six stars of the ‘Seven Sisters’ star cluster. If you have really good eyesight, you might be lucky and see all seven sisters.