The Dogon and Sirius

The Dogon of Mali hold an elaborate cosmology recorded by French anthropologists in the 1930s and 40s, and one claim made them famous: that they knew of an invisible companion star to Sirius long before Western telescopes confirmed Sirius B. Later researchers argued the knowledge was likely picked up from those same visiting Europeans and fed back, and the “ancient astronaut” readings are not supported. The Bandiagara escarpment where they live is a UNESCO site of astonishing cliff villages.