C

c

UnravellingtheMysteries

ofAncientArtifacts

www.Ancient‐Origins.net

TwoYearAnniversaryEdition

2015

d

Publishedon22ndofFebruary2015tocelebratetheTwoYear

Anniversaryofwww.Ancient‐Origins.net.

This eBook wouldn’t have been possible without the

contribution of the authors andwriters that have supported

AncientOriginsfromthebeginning.

Manythanksto:

RalphEllis,BrienFoerster,PetrosKoutoupis,MariaWheatley,

DrRitaLouise,HughNewman,RandandRoseFlem‐Ath,Tashi

AlexanderJaved,AhmedOsman,GaryA.David,LeonideMartin,

ScottOnstott,GaryEvans,andPaulBurley.

www.Ancient‐Origins.net

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1

Table of Contents 

TheArkofEdessabyRalphEllis 2 

A Mysterious Map Emerges at the Dawn of Egyptian

CivilizationbyRand&RoseFlem‐Ath 14 

CircularMyth–TheDenderaZodiacbyTashiAlexanderJaved 27 

Eteocypriot and the Amathus Bilingual by PetrosKoutoupis 37 

TheVajra:AnAncientWeaponofWarbyDrRitaLouise 49 

Stonehenge: Mounds, Artifacts, and Intrigue byMariaWheatley 60 

Memnon’sMusicalStatuebyAhmedOsman 73 

Lost Ancient High Technology in Egypt by BrienFoerster 84 

TheSacredMeaningoftheReedbyGaryA.David 98 

Mayan Women and the Coiled Snake Headdress by

LeonideMartin 110 

TheMysteryofObelisksbyScottOnstott 123 

AncientAcousticArtifactsandCommunicationwiththe

“Gods”byGaryEvans 140 

Geometric Stone Spheres of Scotland… and Beyond by

HughNewman 154 

Orion:OverlordofStonehengebyPaulBurley 173 

2

The Ark of Edessa 

ByRalphEllis

The year was 165 AD, and the location was the Edessan

necropolisatSogmatar,inwhatwasthennorthernSyria.Inthis

yearKingWa'elofEdessahadaninscriptioncarveduponthe

sacredhillofSogmatar,whichsaid:

InSebatof theyear476 (of theSeleucidera) ...we setup thispillar (netsib) on this blessed mountain and erected a seat(kersa) for the onewhomaintains it. The governorwill be abudar ...andhewillgive the seat to theonewho isgoing tomaintainit...Ifhewithholdstheseatorthepillarisruined,godwillbethejudge.1

Beforewecomeontothemeaningofthisinscription,letsfirst

lookatthehillofSogmatar.ItisthecentralfocusoftheEdessan

royal necropolis,which lies in a very remote location in the

barrenrollinghillstothesoutheastofEdessa(modernSanlurfa

inTurkey).Andthestrangethingaboutthisman‐madehill,is

thatitisthesamesizeandshapeasSilburyHillinEngland.Why

andhowthissimilarityarose,isopentospeculation.

Figure1.Theidenticalman‐madehillsofSilburyandSogmatar.(Photocredit:RalphEllis)

3

Pillarsandthrones

It was upon this man‐made hill at Sogmatar, that this

inscriptionwasfound.Butwhatdoesitmean?Thetranslation

byHanDrijversmentionsanetsibbun'pillar'.ButStevenRossinhisanalysisofRomanEdessacallsthissamepillarabetyl‐omphalosstone.2Nowthisisinteresting,foritimpliesthatthe

Edessannetsibbun'pillar'wasthesameasaJudaicmatseb‐ahhbum.Thelatterisatermthatreferstobothapillarandtoa

smallpyramid(asmallconicalstone,anomphalosstone).

Themost famousmatseb was the ‘pillar of Jacob’ that JacobanointedwithoilswhenhewasatHaraninnorthernSyria,as

narratedinGenesis28:18.ThisritualappearstobeverysimilartotheanointingofHindulingams,whicharealsobastedwithoils inexactly the same fashion.So theSyriannetsib and theJudaicmatsebmusthavebeensmallconicalstonesbastedwithoils. So was Jacob venerating a Hindu lingam? Possibly, butsincetheHindulingamisoftenbastedwithaMinoanrhyton,itwouldappear that this ritualhas travelled fromwest toeast

rather than vice versa. And the most likely conduit for thistransfer of veneration and ritual, would be the Indian

campaigns of Alexander the Great ‐ especially as the Greeks

were also closely identifiedwith a similarmatseb omphalosstone,asweshallsee.

4

Figure2.AHindulingam,bastedwithoils,inexactlythesamefashionasJacob'sPillar(Jacob'ssmallconicalstone).(Photo

Credit:LotusSculptures)

Thus the Sogmatar inscription mentions a small omphalos

stone,butitalsomentionsaseat.Butitishighlylikelythatthe

Syriackersa 'seat'wasactuallyderivedfromtheJudaickorsaaork,whichrefersmore toa royal throne than toacommon

seat.Butwhat typeof thronewasthis?Was ita throne fora

king,orathroneofthegods?Andwheremightwefindasacred

stoneandadivinethroneincloseproximitytoeachother?The

answer can be seen in the throne of Apollo, who is often

depictedsittingonasacredstone.Remarkably,wenotonlysee

thisstoneonGreekcoinage,butitisnowintheDelphimuseum

(althoughthisisaveryancientcopyoftheoriginal).

5

Figure3.Left:AGreekcoinofSeleucusIIIshowingApolloseateduponthesacredomphalosstoneofDelphi.Right:Thisstone(oranancientcopyofthisstone)stillexistsatDelphi.

(Photocredit:RalphEllis.)

Sothenetsib‐matsebconical‐stoneandthekersa‐korsathronewereintimatelyrelatedobjects‐theywereboththronesofthe

gods.ButitwasnotjusttheGreekswhohadasacredstonethat

wasalsoathrone,sotoodidtheIsraelites.

TheArk

Sowhenmightwe encounter a sacred stonewithin Judaism

thatwas intimately connected to a seator a throne?For the

answerweonlyneedtoturntotheBookofExoduswhichsays:

And thou shaltmake amercy seat of pure gold ... And thecherubimsshallstretch forth theirwingsonhigh,covering themercyseatwiththeirwings...AndthoushaltputthemercyseataboveupontheArkoftheCovenant,andinthearkthoushaltputthe(twostones)thatIshallgiveyou.(Exodus25:17‐21)

Interesting.Sotheotherancientreferencetoacombinationof

aseat3andastone fromthisregion, refers to theArkof the

Covenant itself. But these are not the same artifact at all,

readerswill exclaim, because theArk of theCovenantwas a

6

woodenboxcontainingsacredstoneswhileApolloisseatedon

the sacred stone itself. These are different depictions, and

thereforecomponentsofcompletelydifferenttraditions.

Thatwouldbe thecorrectdeduction,were itnot for the fact

thatwehaveimagesofthesacredstonethatwasplacedonthe

topofthehillatSogmatar,nearEdessa.Theseimagesarefrom

the coins of King Wa'el of Edessa, the same king who

commissionedtheinscription.Thecoinsdepictacubeinsidea

small temple, and archaeologists and numismatists call this

strangeartifacta'cubicbetylstone'.

Figure4.TwoexamplesoftheEdessanbetyl'stone',housedinasmalltemple.ThekinghereisKingWa'el,thesamekingwhowrotetheinscription.(Photocredit:ForumAncientCoins.)

But is this cube really a stone? Readersmay see that in the

upper image the cube restson small feet,while in the lower

imageitrestsonspokedwheels.Soisthiscubeastone?Surely

it would be too heavy for small feet or wooden wheels.

7

SometimesIdespairattheillogicalitydisplayedbyacademics,

becauseitisfairlyobviousthattheseimagesactuallyportraya

woodenbox:aboxthatcontainedthesacrediconofthegod.

The cube is called abetyl, but this doesnot refer to a stone,insteaditisderivedfrombeth‐ellatybmeaning‘houseofgod’.Thusthecubeisnotmadeofstone,itisanArkoftheCovenant

that'housed'thesacredstoneiconsofthegods.

Figure5.AcomputergeneratedimageoftheArkoftheCovenant.Thisimageconformstothespecificationsand

measurementsgivenintheBookofExodus.

Inthebiblicalquoteabove, theArkof theCovenantwasalso

beingcalleda'seat'.Inwhichcase,itisfairlysafetosaythatthe

Edessankersa‐korsa‘seat’wasactuallytheArkoftheCovenant,whiletheEdessannetsib‐matsebstone(s)werethetwosacredstones that were placed inside the Ark. Quite obviously, the

EdessanmonarchshadaJudaicArkoftheCovenantatEdessa.

AndyetsincethisroyalfamilybecamesoinfluentialinJudaea

andJerusalem,thenperhapswecanalsosurmisethattheyhad

theArkoftheCovenant.Notamerecopy,buttheoriginalArkfromtheExodus.

Travellogue

8

ButhowcouldthekingsofEdessahavecomeacrosstheArkof

theCovenant?Thehistory is tortuous, but as is described in

detailinTheKingJesusTrilogy,theEdessanmonarchywereJudaeo‐Egyptians who had been exiled to Parthia in the 1st

century BC, and then further exiled to northern Syria in the

early 1st century AD. It was in Edessa that this royal family

converted toNazarene Judaism, and itwas fromEdessa that

theysetouttoconquerJudaea.Theybeganthisconquestwith

actsofphilanthropy,withJosephusFlaviusrecordingthatthe

Edessans furnished theTempleof Jerusalemanddonated its

solid gold menorah. (The Syriac historians say that the

AdiabeneandEdessanroyalfamilywereoneandthesame.)

Soyes,thisisafamilywhowouldhavebeenveryinterestedin

acquiringanancientJudaicartifactliketheArkoftheCovenant.

Andalthoughwehavenodefinitiveevidencefortheroutethe

Arkmayhavetaken,wehaveplentyofcircumstantialevidence

forthetravelsoftheseconicalsacredstones.Theoriginalstone

wastheBenbenstoneofHeliopolis.Butaverysimilarstoneis

mentionedinconnectionwiththepatriarch,Jacob‐aswehave

seen.AverysimilarstonethenappearsinDelphiinGreece,but

it seems to have migrated to Parthia (Persia) in later

generations,possiblyviathecampaignsofAlexandertheGreat.

Butthisisinteresting,becausetheEdessanroyalfamilycame

fromParthia;soisthishowtheyacquiredtheirsacredstone?

TheEdessanroyaltythentookthisstonetoSogmatar,whichis

only20kmnortheastofHaran‐theplacewhereJacobanointed

hisstonemanycenturiespreviously.SowasJacobatSogmatar?

Didthissacredhillexistwaybackinantiquity,ratherthanit

being built in the Romo‐Parthian era as the history books

suggest?

The next thing to consider, iswhether theseGreco‐Edessan‐

ParthianomphalosstonescouldevenfitintotheoriginalArkof

9

theCovenant.AccordingtotheTorah,theArkmeasured2.5x

1.5x1.5cubits.SinceitwasproveninthebookThoth,Architectof theUniverse that the Torahwas referring to the Egyptianthoth or royal cubit, whichmeasured 52.4 cm, then the Ark

measured1.31x0.79x0.79meters.Nowwhilesuchachest

couldnothavehousedthehugeandornateomphalosofDelphi,

it could easily have contained a stone similar to the smaller

Delphiomphalos.

That theoriginalomphalosstonewasactually fairlysmall, is

perhapsprovenbythelatercoinageofEmperorElagabalus.In

218 AD, just a few generations after the Edessan coin was

minted, a Syrian king from this very same region became

Emperor of Rome. This was the slightly deranged Emperor

Elagabalus, who was also the high priest of the Elagabal.

Surprisingly,theElagabalwasthisverysameconicalomphalos

stone,andsothecoinageofElagabalusdepictsyetmoreimages

ofthissacredconicalstone.Ascanbeseeninfig6,thestoneis

definitely conical and it is being driven around Rome in a

chariot.Abigheavystonewouldrequireacart,notachariot

(thestoneisexaggeratedinsize,soitcanbeeasilyseenonthe

coin).Again,thesuggestionisthatthetrueomphalosstone(s)

weresmallenoughtotravelinachariotandsmallenoughtofit

insidetheArkoftheCovenant.Infact,fortwoofthemtofitin

theArk,theywouldneedtomeasurelessthan0.75mhighand

0.65macrossthebase(2.5x2.1ft).Thisisaboutthesamesize

as thesmallerDelphiomphalos,butstillquiteaweight fora

smallwoodenbox.

10

Figure6.AcoinofEmperorElagabalus,showingtheElagabalomphalosstoneplacedinachariot.Notethestonehasthe

emblemofthePhoenixembosseduponit,whichdemonstratesthatthiswasaSun‐stone(possiblyameteorite).(Photocredit:

ForumAncientCoins.)

Strangepowers

Onefinalthingtoexplore,isthestrangepowersthattheArkof

the Covenant is said to have possessed. Since we have

conclusivelylinkedtheArkoftheCovenantwiththeElagabal

omphalosstone(s),didthesemysteriouspowersemanatefrom

the Ark itself, or from the sacred stones it contained? The

Elagabalstonewassupposedtobeahighlymagneticmeteorite,

andseveralpiecesofevidence for thiswerediscussed in the

bookKingJesus,includingtheArthuriantaleofaswordgettingstuck on this sacred stone. Although it would be entirely

natural foran ironorsteelswordtogetstuckonamagnetic

rock, inexactly this fashion, suchareactionwouldbe totally

inexplicabletothevastmajorityofpeopleintheMiddleAges.

Iftwohighlymagneticomphalosstoneshadbeenplacedinside

theArkoftheCovenant,thentheArkwouldalsoappeartobe

highlymagnetic.Nothing can stop amagnetic field, not even

11

somethingassubstantialasgold(althoughsomeferromagnetic

materialscanredirect themagnetic field).Andso ifsomeone

approachedthegoldenArkwithaferrousartifact,likeasword,

itwouldbe instantlyattracted to theArk.Anyoneunfamiliar

with magnetism might become highly alarmed at such a

powerful and invisible force acting upon them, and to an

uneducated soldier it would seem like the very hand of god

himselfhadjustreachedoutandgraspedtheirsword.Howelse

can somethingmove, when there is nothing touching it and

nothingvisible?Thiswasnotlikewind,whichyoucanfeelwith

yourhand,becauseifyouplacedyourhandnexttotheArkyou

wouldfeelabsolutelynothing.Butifyoubroughtahorseshoe

closetotheArk,godhimselfwouldgrabholdof itandtryto

takeitfromyou!

IfmagnetismwasthebasisoftheArkoftheCovenant'sother‐

worldly powers, then many people would regard this small

chestastheabodeofthegods.Peoplecouldcomeandwitness

thatamazingpower.AndsotheArkbecametheseatofsocial

influenceandpoliticalpower,foranyonewhoownedit.Andin

the 1st century the Arkwas owned by King IzasManu VI of

Judaea and Edessa, who is more commonly known in the

biblicalaccountsasKingJesusEmManuelofJudaea.

Copyright©2015RalphEllis

12

EndNotes

1. HanDrijversTheOldSyriacInscriptionsofEdessa.

2. RomanEdessa,PoliticsandCultureontheEasternFringesoftheRoman,StevenRoss.

3. Thatthis'mercyseat'wasmadeofstoneisimpliedbythenameKaporeth(Kaforeth)trpkwhichwasderived

fromkeporkefPkmeaning'stone'.ItisfromkefthattheGreekCephaswasderived,thenameforStPeter

andmeaning'stone'.Sothiswasastoneseat,justlike

theomphaloswasastoneseatorthrone.

13

AbouttheAuthor

RalphElliswastrainedinsurveyingandcomputerscience.He

hasbeentouringtheMediterraneanandresearchingEgyptian

and biblical history for over 30 years, and his comparisons

between the two have greatly assisted our understanding of

biblical history. In addition, Ralph has also sought to

understand the design of the megalithic monuments from a

purelyscientificandengineeringviewpoint.Nevertheless,his

lateralanalysisofthelikelypossibilitiesforthedesignofthese

greatmonumentsisstillverynovelandhighlyprovocative.

TheabovearticleisextractedfromRalph’sbook,theGospelofKingJesusTrilogy,whichincludes:

Latest editions available on iPad, Kindle, Google, Kobe and

Nook.PaperbackcopiesavailablefromAdventuresUnlimited

ofIllinois.http://www.adventuresunlimitedpress.com

Website:

http://www.edfu‐books.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/KingJesus

14

A Mysterious Map Emerges at the 

Dawn of Egyptian Civilization 

ByRandandRoseFlem‐Ath

On a chillywinter day in 1929, Halil Edhem, theDirector of

Turkey'sNationalMuseum,washunchedoverhissolitarytask

ofclassifyingdocuments.Hepulledtowardshimamapdrawn

on Roe deer skin. As Halil opened the chart to its full

dimensions(twofeetbythreefeetwideor60X90cm)hewas

surprisedbyhowmuchof theNewWorldwasdepictedona

mapwhichdatedfrom1513.

Figure1.The1513PiriReisMapwasdrawnonRoeDeerSkin.

15

The document was the legacy of a pirate turned Turkish

Admiral,PiriReis(circa1470‐1554).HewasborninGallipoli,anavalbaseontheMarmaraSeaandwasthenephewofKemal

Reis,apiratewhohadreinventedhimselfasaTurkishAdmiral

adventurerwhohadmadehisname innavalwarfare.At the

time, the distinction between pirate and Admiral was more

flexible thanmightbeexpected from lookingback througha

Hollywoodlens.

Piri Reis sailed with his famous uncle from 1487 to 1493.

Duringthesevoyageshewasintroducedtothelucrativespoils

ofpiracy.Thefleetfoughtpiratesandcapturedandplundered

enemyships.In1495,KemalReis’greatskillintheartofbattle

earnedhimaninvitationtojointheImperialTurkishFleet.His

nephewaccompaniedhimtohisnewassignment.Thepirates

weretransformedintorespectableAdmirals.

AfterKemalwaskilledduringanavalbattlein1502PiriReis

turnedhisbackontheseafaringlifeandbeganasecondcareer

asamapmaker.Aperfectionist‐PiriReiswouldnottolerate

theslightesterrorinhisdrawings‐hecreatedhisfamousmap

in 1513 using older sourcemaps; including charts captured

from Christopher Columbus. The Turks had boarded one of

Columbus’s shipsbefore thecrewhadachance to throw the

charts into the sea; standard practice in a time when the

contoursof theplanet remainedveiled inmysteryandmaps

heldsecretsthatwereinvaluabletopirates,admirals,kingsand

queens.

AColumbusControversy

ThegeneralpublicfirstlearnedoftheexistenceofthePiriReis

map in the27February1932 issueof the IllustratedLondonNews.Entitled,“AColumbusControversy:America–AndTwoAtlanticCharts”, thearticlenotedthat:“...Columbusgot little

16

further than the mouth of the Orinoco, in Venezuela, in his

voyagealongthecoastofSouthAmerica in1498,so that the

stretchesof theSouthAmericancoastgiven inthePiriReis's

chartmusthavebeencopiedfromothersources.”1

In the July 23rd edition of the magazine Akcura Yusuf,

Presidentof theTurkishHistoricalResearchSociety,wrotea

more detailed account. The author pointed out a significant

fact: “...themap in ourpossession is a fragment. If theOther

fragments had not been lost, we should have had in our

possessionaTurkishchartdrawnin1513representingtheOld

andNewWorldstogether.”2

U.S.Navy'sHydrographicOffice.

AnamateurscientistbythenameofCaptainArlingtonMallery

made ithismissiontodetermine theageof thesourcemaps

usedbyPiriReis.SoradicalwereMallery'sconclusionsthathe

hesitatedtorevealthem.InAugust1956hefinallydecidedto

revealhisfindingsonaradioshowsponsoredbyGeorgetown

University.HeexplainedthatinJune1954hewasworkingin

themaproomoftheLibraryofCongresswhenhisfriend"...the

ChiefEngineeroftheHydrographicOfficehandedmeacopyof

amapwhichhadbeensenttohimbyaTurkishnavalofficer.He

suggestedthatIexamineit inthe lightofthe informationwe

alreadyhadontheancientmaps.Aftermakingananalysisofit,

ItookitbacktohimandrequestedthattheOfficercheckboth

thelatitudeandlongitudeandtheprojection.Whentheyasked

why,Isaid,'Thereissomethinginthismapthatnooneisgoing

tobelievecomingfromme,andIdon'tknowwhethertheywill

believe itcomingfromyou.'Thatwasthe fact thatColumbus

had with him a map that showed accurately the Palmer

PeninsulaintheAntarcticcontinent.”3

17

Mr.Warren, thehost of the radio show, interviewedMallery

andM.I.WaltersoftheU.S.NavyHydrographicOffice:

“HOST: You say that these maps have been checked by theHydrographicOfficeoftheU.S.Navy?

WALTERS:Yes.

HOST:Asfarasyouareconcerned,aretheyaccurate?

WALTERS:Yes,theyare.

HOST:Howoldarethemaps?

WALTERS:Thesemapsgoback5,000yearsandevenearlier.Buttheycontaindatathatgobackmanythousandsofyearsprevioustothat.”

WaltersremarkedonthecomparisonsbetweenthePiriReisMapand the newly (1954) discovered sub‐glacial features of theQueenMaudregionofAntarctica:

“We have taken the old charts and the new charts that theHydrographicOfficeproduces todayandmade comparisonsofthe soundingsof salientpeaksandmountains.Wehave foundthemtobeinastoundingagreement.Inthiswaywehavecheckedtheoldworkveryclosely.WeputverymuchconfidenceinwhatCaptainMalleryhasdisclosed.

...

HOST:Mr.Mallery, thismust then lead to the conclusion thattherewerecompetentexplorersandmapmakersalongthecoastoftheAtlanticlongbeforeColumbus.

MALLERY:Severalthousandyearsbefore.Notonlyexplorers,butthey must also have had a very competent and far‐flunghydrographicorganization,becauseyoucannotmapaslargea

18

continentasAntarcticaasweknow theydid ‐probably5,000yearsago.Itcan'tbedonebyanysingleindividualorsmallgroupofexplorers.Itmeansanaggregationofskilledscientistswhoarefamiliarwith astronomy aswell as themethods required fortopographicsurveying.”

HapgoodandtheUSAirForceCartographicOffice

One of CharlesHapgood’s students told him about the radio

broadcast. The Professor was immediately fascinated and

decidedto:“…investigatethemapasthoroughlyasIcould…4

Since Mallery had used the US Navy for his investigations

HapgooddecidedtogetasecondopinionfromtheCartographic

staff of the StrategicAir Command (SAC). TheU.S. Air Force

investigation came to the same conclusions as the US Navy.

Theydeterminedthatthesouthernpartofthemapdidinfact

depictportionsofsub‐glacialAntarctica.

Conventionalwisdomdictatedthattheislandcontinenthadn’t

beendiscovereduntil1818.

USAFLt.ColonelHaroldZ.OhlmeyerwrotetoHapgoodonthe

6thofJuly1960.

“DearProfessorHapgood,

YourrequestforevaluatingcertainunusualfeaturesofthePiriReisWorldMapof1513bythisorganizationhasbeenreviewed.

TheclaimthatthelowerpartofthemapportraysthePrincessMarthacoastofQueenMaudLand,Antarctica,andthePalmerPeninsulaisreasonable.Wefindthisthemostlogicalandinallprobabilitythecorrectinterpretationofthemap.

Thegeographicdetailshowninthelowerpartofthemapagreesvery remarkablywith the results of the seismic profilemade

19

acrossthetopofthe icecapbytheSwedish‐British‐NorwegianExpeditionof1949.

This indicates the coast line had beenmapped before itwascoveredbytheicecap.

Theicecapinthisregionisnowaboutamilethick.Wehavenoidea how the data on this map can be reconciled with thesupposedstateofgeographicknowledgein1513.

(signed)

HAROLDZ.OHLMEYER

Lt.Colonel,USAF

Commander”

CorrespondingwithHapgood

Our adventure with the study of ancientmaps began in the

summerof1977whenCharlesHapgoodrepliedtoanarticlewe

wroteoutliningourbeliefthatAntarcticawasoncethesiteof

Atlantis.We’dconcludedthatHapgood'stheoryofearthcrust

displacement was the missing link that could unravel the

mysteryofthelostislandcontinent.Charlesreplied:

“August3rd,1977

DearRoseandRand,

Iamastonishedanddelightedbyyourarticlewhicharrivedheretoday.Believeitornot,itisthefirsttrulyscientificexplorationof

20

myworkthathaseverbeendone.Youhave foundevidence forcrustdisplacementthatIdidnotfind.

However, itwould seem that you are not aware of a book Ipublishedin1966entitledMapsoftheAncientSeaKings.Sinceyou are considering presenting your article to the RoyalGeographicalSociety(ofwhichIwasamemberuntilIstoppedpayingmydues),youshouldexaminethisbook,andIammailingacopyofittoyou.

What I found, after long research, was that many mapsconsideredofmedievalorRenaissanceoriginareinfactcopiesofcopiesofmapsdrawninveryremoteantiquity,andamongthemis one showing adeglacialAntarctica. Iwas able to solve theprojectionsofthesemapswiththehelpofamathematician,andhavethemconfirmedbytheCartographicstaffoftheStrategicAirCommandatWestoverAirForceBaseinMassachusetts.…

AweeklateracopyofMapsoftheAncientSeaKingsarrived.FarfromdampeningourenthusiasmfortheideathatAtlantismay

haveoncebeenAntarctica,thebookhadtheoppositeeffect.We

concluded that the ancient maps of sub‐glacial Antarctica

providedstunningevidenceinsupportofourtheory.

AfterthepublicationofthefirsteditionofWhentheSkyFellinJanuary1995,wereturnedtothePiriReismaptodetermineif

therewere grounds to supportMallery andHapgood’s claim

thatthesourcemapsusedintheconstructionofthePiriReis

mapwerehundredsof yearsolder than the1513date of its

construction.

21

SourcesforthePiriReisMap:Howold?

OneoftheodditiesaboutthePiriReismapwasthatithadbeen

drawn using an extremely sophisticated projection. An

“equidistantprojection”depictsthefeaturesoftheearthfrom

asinglepointonitssurface.Thisprojectioncanbecalculated

from any spot on the globe. Perhaps the most familiar

equidistantprojectionistheblueandwhiteflagoftheUnited

Nations,centeredontheNorthPole.

Figure2.UnitedNationsFlagisanequidistantprojectionasseenfromtheNorthPole.

Theequidistantprojectionwasone thatwasvery familiar to

the cartographic staff of the Strategic Air Command at

WestoverAirForceBaseinMassachusetts.Itwasusedtotarget

Sovietmilitaryandeconomicassets.Forexample,amapdrawn

usingMoscowasitscenterallowedthemilitarytocalculatethe

quickestdelivery time foramissile to travel fromanyNATO

base to the Soviet capital. The closest NATOmissile base to

Moscow was in Turkey. In November 1962 when Soviet

missiles were introduced to Cuba, an equidistant projection

mapcenteredonCastro’s islandrevealed instarkdetailhow

much United States territory could be targeted. The “Cuban

MissileCrisis”wasonlyresolvedwhenJFK(secretly)proposed

22

adelayedwithdrawofNATOmissilesfromTurkeyinexchange

forKhrushchev’sremovaloftheUSSRmissilesinCuba.

CharlesHapgoodexplainedtoArchC.Gerlach(ChiefoftheMap

Division at the Library of Congress) that the Piri Reis map:

“…required more astronomy than was known in the

Renaissance. The mathematics require that whoever

constructed ithadtoknowthe lineardistance fromSyeneto

theNorthPoletowithinadegreeofaccuracy.PiriReisdidnot

knowthat,neitherdidColumbus…”5

SyeneortheTropicofCancer?

Hapgoodandhisstudents(notablyFrankRyan)spentmonths

trying todetermine the exact center of thePiriReisMap.At

first, Hapgood was convinced that it was the city of Syene

whereEratosthenes,thelibrarianandfatherofgeography,had

made his famous calculations about the size of the earth.

Hapgoodsubmittedthissuggestiontothecartographiccrewat

Westover Air Force Base. Captain Burroughs concurred. He

wrote:"...PiriReis'useoftheportolano6projection(centered

onSyene,Egypt)wasanexcellentchoice..."7

23

ThePiriReisMap’sProjection

Figure3.The1513PiriReisprojectionisjustafragmentofthesecretmapthatColumbusmayhavepossessed.Ifthelostmapof

iseverfounditshoulddepicttheentireglobeusinganequidistanceprojectioncenteredontheancientEgyptiancityof

Syene.

Weseeabovehowthecompletemapmusthavelookedbased

on the same projection used by Piri Reis in 1513. The chart

Christopher Columbus carried on his voyage would have

resembledthisprojection.

Despite the fact that professionals had verified Syene as the

center of themap, Hapgood remained skeptical. He thought

thattheancientswouldhavebeenmorelikelytousetheTropic

of Cancer which divides the tropical from the temperate

climatic zones. Hapgoodwas certain that such an important

globalmarkerwouldhavebeenhighlysignificanttotheancient

navigators.

24

Today, theTropicofCancer liesnearSyenebutnotprecisely

overit.ThedifferenceindistanceissmallbutHapgoodandhis

studentswanted to be exact in their calculations. Therewas

considerabledebatewhetherornot touse themeasurement

from the ancient city or from the climatic marker. Hapgood

mistakenly assumed that it had to be an either/or choice

betweenSyeneandthe‘TropicofCancer.Itwasafalsechoice

becausetherewasatimewhentheTropicofCancerlaydirectly

overSyene.Thecluetothatsynchronicityoftimeandplacelies

within the very projection of the Piri Reis Map. But first a

critical question must be answered.When did the Tropic ofCancerandSyenelastsharethesamelatitude?

Astronomers have concluded that it takes a century for the

TropicofCancertodrift40secondsoflatitude.Thisgivesusa

formula for our calculations and enables us to bulls‐eye the

datewhentheoriginalmapmakerswereatwork.Syeneis38

minutesand30secondsfromtoday'sTropicofCancer.Thisis

2280 (38 x 60 to convert minutes to seconds) plus the 30

secondsgiveusa totalof2310secondsdifference. We then

dividethesesecondsby40tofindthattheSyenewaslaston

theTropicofCancersome57.75centuriesago.Bycalculating

thedifferenceindistancefromthelatitudeoftoday'sTropicof

Cancer(23:27N)tothatofSyene(24:05:30N)wediscoverthe

answer – about 5775 years ago –that is, circa 3760 BC. It’snoteworthythattheJewishcalendarbeginsonthisdate.

TheprojectionofthePiriReispointslikeanarrowatapivotal

turning point in human history. Archaeology teaches that

Egyptian civilization dawned circa3800 BC. Can it really bemerecoincidencethatthePiriReisMaplookstodatefromthe

dawn of Egyptian civilization? Far more likely that the

sophisticated source maps used by Piri Reis are remnants

passed on by the survivors of a lost Ice Age civilization – a

25

seafaring civilization that had mapped the world (including

partsofAntarctica’scoastlinewhenitwasice‐free)longbefore

thefirstEgyptianpyramidswerebuilt.

EndNotes

1. TheIllustratedLondonNews,27February1932,page307.2. Yusuf,Akcura"TurkishInterestinAmericain1513:Piri

Reis'ChartoftheAtlantic"inTheIllustratedLondonNews,23July1932,page142.

3. A transcript of the entire show appears in White, JohnPoleshift,Doubleday,NewYork,1980.

4. Hapgood,CharlesH.MapsoftheAncientSeaKings:EvidenceofAdvancedCivilizationintheIceAge,Chilton,Philadelphia,1966,page2.

5. CharlesHapgood toMr. Arch C. Gerlach, the Chief of theMap Division at Library of Congress, 30 October 1960

(Hapgood’sArchivesatYaleUniversityBox16).

6. Portolonoisa“PorttoPort”mapfamiliartoEuropeansinthe16thcentury.

7. CaptainLorenzoW.BurroughstoCharlesHapgood,August14,1961,inHapgoodopcit.page244.

26

AbouttheAuthors

RandFlem‐AthisaCanadianwriter,librarianandindependent

scholar.Hehasco‐authoredseveralbookswithhiswife,writer,

RoseFlem‐Ath. She is a novelist and two‐timewinnerof the

CanadaCouncilgrantforFiction.TheyliveinBritishColumbia,

Canada.

In 1976, Rand discovered that an ancient map of Atlantis

published in 1665 by the Jesuit priest, Athanasius Kircher,

featured a remarkably accurate depiction of the sub‐glacial

contoursofAntarctica(featuresunknowntothemodernworld

until 1958). Convinced that Antarctica was Atlantis, Rand

soughtaclimaticexplanationforhowpeoplecouldhaveonce

livedonthenowicyislandcontinent.

In1995,RandandRosepublishedthebook‘WhentheSkyFell:InSearchofAtlantis’, and in 2012 they co‐authored ‘AtlantisBeneath the Ice’,whichupdatedandexpanded theseventeenyearsofresearchfoundinWhentheSkyFell.

TheabovearticleisexcerptedfromAtlantisBeneaththeIce.

Website:

http://www.flem‐ath.com/

27

Circular Myth – The Dendera Zodiac 

ByTashiAlexanderJaved

In1799,Napoleonandhis armieswerebeginning toexpand

theirpresencethroughoutEgypt.Napoleonbroughtartiststo

recordsketchesofhisfindingsofacountrythatwasconsidered

exoticandoutofthenormfromtraditionalEuropeanculture.

Oneparticular artist, VivantDenon,was fascinatedby a full‐

fledgedcircularzodiacthatwascarvedintotheceilingofThe

Temple of Hathor, located in the village of Dendera. After

thoroughly sketching the circular zodiac, Denon returned to

Paris and publicly released his findings. His report was

publishedinaworkthatbecamemassivelypopularinEngland

and France, as everyone seemed to be hungry for more

knowledgeaboutthisstrangecirculardesigninthetemple.

Figure1.TheTempleofHathorinDendera(publicdomain)

28

Nowreferred toas the “DenderaZodiac”, severalofFrance’s

greatest scientists, astronomers andmathematicianswere in

an uproar, trying to find the exact dates and times of the

celestial events depicted within it. Physicists Joseph Fourier

and Jean‐Baptiste Biot alongside astronomer Johan Karl

Burckhardtspearheadedtheinvestigation,butwerepuzzledby

the constellations depicted on the zodiac. Were they actual

astronomical calculations depicting the movements of the

stars, orwere theymerely symbolic representations?France

wasbeginningitsstudyintotheworldofarchaeostronomy.

Figure2.SketchoftheDenderaZodiac(publicdomain)

TheDenderaZodiacistheonlycirculardepictionofastronomy

tobefoundwithinEgyptianantiquity.Allotherreferencesto

thezodiacorastrologyareeithersquareorpyramidalinshape

and design. The zodiac itself depicts the 360 days of the

29

Egyptian year, with thirty‐six decans arranged in a circular

fashion. A decan represents one‐third of the duration of a

zodiacal constellation. Twelve signs with three decans each

meansthirty‐sixdecansintotal.Thisisametricthatwestern

astrologerscontinuetousetothisday.

Renowned English Egyptologist Gerald Massey was able to

reconcileeachofthetraditionalwesternzodiacalsignswithan

Egyptiancounterpart.LookingattheDenderaZodiac,Theram

ofAriescorrespondswiththeram‐headeddeityAmun.TauruscorrespondswithOsiris,sometimesreferredtoas“TheBullof

Eternity”, while the two fish of Pisces is signified by two

crocodiles swimming in opposite directions. For every

constellation in the traditional western zodiac, there is an

Egyptian equivalentwith the same symbolism; ranging from

KhnumthegoatwiththesamecharacteristicsasCapricorn,toAtum,thelion‐headeddeitythatbearsresemblancetoLeo.The

imageofIsiscarryingHorusinherarmsissynonymouswith

theconstellationofVirgo,andbearsresemblancetotheimage

oftheVirginMarycarryingJesus.

30

Figure3.ThefiguresrepresentedintheDenderaZodiaccorrespondtothetraditionalzodiacalsigns(publicdomain)

The important question remains; what were these symbols

meant to convey, and what importance did the Ancient

Egyptiansplaceonthem?FortheEgyptians,eachzodiacsign

correspondedwithaseasonoftheyearthatwasbelievedtobe

ruled over by a specific deity. The scarab beetle signifying

Cancer was symbolic of summer, while the scales of Libra

signifiedtheautumnalequinox.Youmaynoticethatalthough

alltwelveoftheconstellationsappearintheDenderaZodiac,

theplacementsofsomearesomewhatdistortedandskewed.

ThecrabofCancer (Number39 in the image)seems tohave

been deliberately placed towards the center of the zodiac,

resulting in a spiral‐like configuration of the zodiac. It is

31

uncertainwhythischoicewasincorporatedintothedesign;the

Cancermonthmayhaveheldaparticularsignificance.

To the Egyptians, each season had a unique effect on the

passingofdayswithinthe360‐daycalendar.Thehoursinaday

were not measured in a static and fixed fashion, but were

subject to change from season to season. The zodiac also

depicted themovement of the star Sirius; a star of foremost

importance to the Ancient Egyptians. Sirius rising from the

horizonmarkedthebeginningoftheNewYear,howeverthis

datewould change by eight and a half days every thousand

years.ThesignofAquariuswasgivengreat importance,as it

representedthesignof inundation,signifyingatimeofflood.

TheEgyptianswoulduseSiriusasamarkertoindicatewhen

theannualfloodingoftheNilewouldoccur,inwhatwewould

nowcallthemonthofJune.

Figure4.DetailedviewoftheDenderaZodiac(publicdomain)

32

Without a doubt, Ancient Egyptians placed a great deal of

importanceonastronomyandthemovementof theheavens,

however,wheredidtheconstructionofthezodiacitselffiton

thetimeline?CharlesDupuis,apre‐FrenchRevolutionscholar

believedEgyptian astrology originated as far back as 14,000

years ago; 10,000 years earlier than the commonly accepted

timeline of 4000 B.C. Dupuis believed the Ancient Egyptians

weremilesaheadoftheAncientGreeksintheirknowledgeof

astronomy,goingtosofarasto labeltheGreeks ‘children’ in

comparison.

TheDendera Zodiac portrayed the ecliptic of the sun,which

referstothecircularpathofthesun’sorbit.Theconfiguration

of thepatternson thezodiac indicatedastrange feature; the

arrangementoftheconstellationsshowadatethatoccurredat

least650yearsprior toconstructionof thezodiac itself.The

solstice between Gemini‐Cancer shows the position of an

ecliptic that should have existed in 650B.C. French scholars

believed the Dendera Zodiac to be thousands of years older

than theBiblicaldateof creation.Thisundoubtedly troubled

thechurch,whosebeliefswereatriskofbeingturnedupside

down because of this strange new artifact. Jean‐Francois

Champollion,France’smostprominentEgyptologistduringthe

reignofNapoleon,wasabletorectifythedateofthezodiac’s

creation.Heexamined thehieroglyphiccartouches thatwere

adjacenttothezodiac,andtracedtheroyalnamestoaperiod

oftimerangingbetween100‐20B.C,whichwaseitherthelate

Ptolemaic or Augustan time period. Champollion’s opinion

carried a great deal ofweight, given that hewas the first to

decipherthehieroglyphicsontheinfamousRosettaStone.The

PopewassogratefulforChampollion’srevisionthatheoffered

tomakehimaCardinalwithinthechurch,despitehimbeingan

atheist.

33

Inthegrandschemeofthings,whatisthepurposeofstudying

ancient astrology? The fact that almost every ancient

civilizationmade a point to document themovement of the

stars, and focuson twelvedistinct constellations canhelpus

piece together the larger narrative of human history.

Psychologist Carl Jung believed that certain images and

symbolswere embedded in the subconscious of our earliest

ancestors, known as archetypes. These archetypes are

universal in scope and recognizable by every human. Early

civilizationstranscribedtheirinterpretationsofthestarsinto

twelve distinct archetypes that are embedded within the

humanpsyche.Wealso find thenumber twelve recurring in

manypointsacrosshistoryandmythology, ranging from the

twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve trials of Hercules, to the

twelve disciples of Jesus and the twelve original points of

Freemasonry,andthelistgoeson.Thefactthatdepictionsof

eachzodiacsignareechoedthroughnearlyeverycivilization

canleadustobelievethereissomehiddensignificancewithin

thiscontinuingstory,whose imagesarerepeatedthroughout

differentperiodsoftime.Theideaofauniversalmonomythhas

beendiscussedingreatdetailbyauthorsGiorgioDeSantillana

andHerthavonDechend,intheirbook,Hamlet’sMill,inwhich

the authors point out distinct similarities between celestial

mythsofnearlyalloftheworld’scultures.Thesameconclusion

was reached by Joseph Campbell, who once stated that the

mythsoftheworld“resembleeachotherasdialectsofasingle

language”.

34

Figure5.TheDenderaZodiacisnowontheceilingattheLouvreMuseum,France

TheDenderaZodiacwaseventuallystolenandtakentoFrance

in1821byengineerJeanLelorrain,whousedgunpowderand

explosivestobreakthezodiacfreefromitsrightfulplaceonthe

ceilingofthetemple.Thezodiacnowrestsonadifferentceiling,

in the Egyptian Antiquities exhibit of the famous Louvre

MuseuminParis.

Copyright©2015TashiAlexanderJaved

35

Bibliography

Acharya,S.(2009)ChristinEgypt:TheHorus‐JesusConnection.Seattle,WA:StellarHousePub.Print.

Bauval,R. (1999).SecretChamber:TheQuestForTheHallOfRecords.London:Century.Print.

Bauval, R. and Thomas G. B. (2011). Black Genesis : ThePrehistoricOriginsOfAncientEgypt.19‐21.Rochester,Vt:Bear&Co.Print.

Hall,M.P.TheSecretTeachingsOfAllAges :AnEncyclopedicOutline Of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, And RosicrucianSymbolicalPhilosophy :BeingAn InterpretationOfTheSecretTeachings Concealed Within The Rituals, Allegories, AndMysteriesOfTheAges.NewYork:JeremyP.Tarcher/Penguin,2003.Print.

Laviolette,P.A.(2005).EarthUnderFire:Humanity'sSurvivalOfTheIceAge.Rochester,Vt:Bear&Co.Print.

McCalla, A. (2013). The Creationist Debate : The EncounterBetween The Bible And The Historical Mind. New York:Bloomsbury.Print.

West, JohnA. (1993).Serpent in theSky:TheHighWisdomofAncientEgypt.Wheaton,Ill:QuestBooks.Print.

36

AbouttheAuthor

TashiJavedisanemergingauthorwithaburninginterestinhistory

andpolitics.Hisrecentwork,'TheHumanAnomaly'examinessome

of theproblematicaspectsof tracinghumanorigins.Hisareasof

focus include ancient culture and religion. Tashi Javed holds an

HonorsDegreefromtheUniversityofToronto.

BookDescription

Several millennia ago, a revolutionary

phenomenon occurred. A mysterious

species arose out of nowhere with

intelligence unlike any other species seen

before.Thisnewspecieswouldcontrolthe

Earth with unprecedented power, but

would retain little to no understanding of

itself, its purpose and its relation to the

grand scheme of the universe. It replaced

these questions with myths, stories, and

beliefswhile remaining blissfully ignorant

ofitsownpotential.Thisdissonancewouldbethecauseofongoing

disputes,conflicts,warsandfalsedivisions,allstemmingfromthe

factthatourveryoriginsareunknown.Fromsuddenjumpsinour

evolutiontotheoverly‐complexdesignofourbrain,humansoccupy

a strange nuance among all other species on Earth. This work

examines our collective history, belief systems, religions and

scientifictheoriestoshedlightonthisstrangeterritoryknownas

thehumancondition.Aphilosophyworkthatdrawsfromscience,

sociology,psychologyandreligion,TheHumanAnomalyexplores

thiscircumstancefromawideanduniqueperspective.

Purchasethebookhere.

www.thehumananomaly.com

37

Eteocypriot and the Amathus Bilingual 

ByPetrosKoutoupis

An English architect by profession and self‐trained in the

disciplineandstudiesoflinguisticsandancienthistory,Michael

Ventriswouldbe the first to identify theMycenaeanwritten

Linear B inscriptions (1450 ‐ 1200 BCE) as a language

belongingtoamorearchaicformofGreek.WiththeaidofJohn

Chadwick,afulldeciphermentoftheLateBronzeAgecorpus

wouldcontinuefrom1951to1953andinturn,publishedfor

theworldtosee(Chadwick,84).Unfortunately,thismilestone

did not provide anymore insight into the still undeciphered

LinearA(2500‐1450BCE).

ItwasalmostfifteenyearsagothatIwasincollegestudyingfor

myBachelorsofScienceinElectronicEngineering.EversinceI

wasayoungchild,Iwasalwaysfascinatedwithhumanhistory,

butitwaswhenIwasincollegethatthisfascinationturnedto

anobsession.At the time, Ihadmadeavowtomyself, that I

would be the one to officially translate theMinoan Linear Ascript. While I have yet to achieve this goal, I have made

significantstrides in translatingwhatcouldbeaverysimilar

language.WrittenwithamodifiedformoftheCretanLinearA,

I speak of the Cypriot Linear C and one of the two language

associated with it, Eteocypriot; the other being Greek. The

purposeofthisarticleistobringarenewedinterestintooneof

Europe’sancientandundecipheredlanguages.

38

ABriefHistoryLesson

TherewasonceatimewhentheancientislandofCyprushad

its own native language; a language which was not Greek.

Modernscholarsroutinelyreferstothispre‐Greeklanguageas

Eteocypriotor“TrueCyprian.”DerivedfromtheMinoanLinear

A, the language was written in the Cypriot syllabary or the

Cypro‐Minoan variantwhichwould later evolve to Linear C.

However, during the 10th century BCE, the language was

competingwiththeArcadocypriotGreekdialectandeventually

becameextinctinapproximatelythe4thcenturyBCE.Tothis

day, theEteocypriot language remainsundecipheredand the

mysterysurroundingitcontinues.

Initially discovered in 1913 at the acropolis of Amathus,

Cyprus, and written on a black marble slab, the Amathus

Bilingual (ca. 600BCE) contains themost famousnon‐Greek

inscription written with this Cypro‐Minoan syllabary. It is a

dedicatory inscription from the city ofAmathus to thenoble

Ariston. As mentioned earlier, the script bore uncanny

similaritiestothatoftheMinoanLinearAwhichimmediately

earneditstitleofCypro‐Minoan.Inthesamefashion,asboth

LinearA andB, thenewlydiscovered systemofwritingwas

identified as a syllabary, where each sign represents a

consonantfollowedbyavowel.ThisBilingualisthoughttohold

the key to deciphering the language of the Cypriots prior to

Greekcolonization.TheEteocypriotswhoobjectedtotherule

oftheGreeks,gatheredtothesouthofthe islandatAmathus

wheretheycontinuedonwiththeirEteocypriotlanguageand

moreindigenousCypriotculture(Karageorghis,114).

The syllabary and their phonetic values were already well

knowntohistoriansandarchaeologistsalike.Ifyourecallfrom

39

theprevioussection,thisscriptwasalsousedtowriteGreek,

asitwasoriginallyidentifiedanddecipheredbyGeorgeSmith

in1872,theAssyriologistwellknownforhistranslationofthe

Epic of Gilgamesh and the Babylonian Flood story, with the

Idalion Bilingual. Dating to the 4th century BCE, the Idalion

Bilingualrecordsadedicationtoalocaldeityandiswrittenin

bothGreekandPhoenician.Using thisevidenceasaguide, it

hasprovento later linguistsandhistoriansthatthevaluesof

thesignsused intheCypriotGreektextsarethesameasthe

values used in the Eteocypriot texts. Consisting of four

inscribed lines, the top two of the Amathus Bilingual were

writteninLinearCwhilethebottomtwo,Greek.

Eteocypriot(Gordon,120):

[1]a‐na·ma‐to‐ri·u‐mi‐e‐s[a]‐i·mu‐ku‐la‐i·la‐sa‐na·a‐ri‐si‐

to‐no‐sea‐ra‐to‐wa‐na‐ka‐so‐ko‐o‐se

[2]ke‐ra‐ke‐re‐tu‐lo‐se·ta‐ka‐na‐[?‐?]‐so‐ti·a‐lo·ka‐i‐li‐po‐ti

Greek:

[3]ΗПΟΛΙΣΗАΜАΘΟΥΣΙΩΝΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑ

[4]ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑΚΤΟΣΕΥΠΑΤΡΙΔΗΝ

TransliteratedGreek(Gordon,120):hēpolishēamathousionAristōnaAristōnaktoseupatridēn

Translation(Gordon,120):ThecityoftheAmathusans(honored)thenobleAriston(son)ofAristonax.

Early attempts at deciphering theEteocypriot languagehave

assumedittobeSemiticinorigin(Gordon,119).Atthetimeit

40

made sense, as therewas a strong Phoenician influence and

settlementsontheisland.Although,allattemptsdownthispath

have yielded little results. However, in recent years, many

scholars have been looking to amore Indo‐European origin.

Thisiswheremyjourneybegins.

ARe‐ExaminationoftheEvidence

Working on the basis that this inscription preserved an

unknown Indo‐European language, it wasn’t until I saw an

errorintheoriginaltransliterationthatmytwoyearsofwork

wouldtrulyblossomintosomethingmorefruitful.Theoriginal

andonlytransliterationwaspublishedin1966byhistorianand

linguist, Cyrus Herzl Gordon (1908 ‐ 2001), and in turn,

republished,unaltered,inlaterresearch.

Figure1.TheAmathusBilingual.Source:Gordon,CyrusH.‘ForgottenScripts’.2nded.NewYork:Dorset,1987.145.[Print]

Based on the Greek texts writtenwith this syllabary, we do

knowthatthescriptwaswrittenfromrighttoleftwithword

separators identified by the dots. The error in the

41

mistranslationcomesfromthethirdcharacterfromtheright

onthefirstline(firstcharactertotheleftofthefirstdotfrom

the right).Gordonmisidentifies this characterasholding the

syllabicvalueof‘ma’wheninfact,itshouldbeidentifiedwiththecharacterthatholdsthevalueof ‘we.’Thisinturn,wouldtransliteratethewordinquestionfromma‐to‐ritowe‐to‐ri.

What ismost interestingabout thisnewidentification is that

we‐to‐ri resembles the Lycian wedr (sometimes written aswedri)andtheMyceneanwa‐tu(sometimeswrittenaswastu);both of which are Indo‐European. The Mycenean wa(s)tucorrelateswiththeHomericἄστυ(IliadII,332+)andtranslates

to ‘town’ or ‘city’ (Ventris, 590). This new transliterationcoincideswith the Greek version of the transcription ПΟΛΙΣ

(polis) which also translates to ‘city.’ Here we haveconfirmation that the Eteocypriot languagemay belong to a

subsetoftheIndo‐Europeanfamilyoflanguages.

42

Figure2.TheCypro‐MinoanSyllabary.Source:Chadwick,John.‘LinearBandRelatedScripts’.Berkeley:UniversityofCalifornia

P,1987.54.[Print]

It became apparent that theword followingwe‐to‐ri,u‐mi‐e‐s[a]‐i was a rendering of the name of the city, Amathus andcorrelatestotheGreekwrittenАΜАΘΟΥΣΙΩΝofline3.Sohere

wehaveacleartranslationof“city[of]Amathus.”

43

Shortly after this I looked into the proper names Ariston

(ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑ)andAristonax(ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑΚΤΟΣ). Itdidnottake

muchforlinguiststoidentifythesetwowiththeEteocypriota‐ri‐si‐to‐no‐seanda‐ra‐to‐wa‐na‐ka‐so‐ko‐o‐se.Whatinterestedmemostaboutthesetwonounsisthecaseendingof‐o‐seofthelatter. Was this an indication of a possessive suffix in the

singulargenitive?Ifso,itwouldcorrelatewellwiththeLuwian

‐assa (plural genitive: ‐assanz) and the Hittite ‐as (pluralgenitive:‐an).ThiswouldindicatethatAristonwassomehowfrom or belonging to Aristonax. The Greek confirms this byindicatingthatAristonwasthesonofAristonax.

Operatingonthesefindings,Iimmediatelyturnedmyattention

tothelanguagesspokenonAnatolia,specificallyLuwian.Itwas

theIronAgeKaratepe1inscription(ca.8thcenturyBCE)that

providedmoreinsightintothisunknownlanguage.

WhatcaughtmyeyewastheLuwianhieroglyphicforsa‐na‐wí(Payne, 24). This translates to “good” in the accusative and“good(ness)” in theneuter. It bears similarity to the last twosyllables of the Eteocypriot la‐sa‐na.Would this translate to“good”asin“goodornobleblood?”Thiswouldcorrelatewiththe Greek ΕΥΠΑΤΡΙΔΗΝ (the noble). At the moment, I amunsureaboutthela‐prefix.

Now, we are able to correlate the following words between

boththeEteocypriotandGreekinscriptions:

[1]a‐na·we‐to‐ri·u‐mi‐e‐s[a]‐i·mu‐ku‐la‐i·la‐sa‐na·a‐ri‐si‐to‐no‐sea‐ra‐to‐wa‐na‐ka‐so‐ko‐o‐se[2]ke‐ra‐ke‐re‐tu‐lo‐se·ta‐ka‐na‐[?‐?]‐so‐ti·a‐lo·ka‐i‐li‐po‐ti

[3]ΗПΟΛΙΣΗАΜАΘΟΥΣΙΩΝΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑ[4]ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑΚΤΟΣΕΥΠΑΤΡΙΔΗΝ

44

Seeinghowthiswasadedicatoryinscriptionfromthecityto

the noble, it may further indicate that the Eteocypriot a‐nacorrelated with the Luwian a‐ta (also found in the sameKaratepe1inscriptionandpronouncedanta)whichtranslatesto“in”or“from”(Payne,36).Thiswouldinturntranslatethefirstthreewordsto“in/from[the]city[of]Amathus.”ThismaybeconfirmedbyanotherpreviouslyundecipheredEteocypriot

inscriptionwhichreads:

[1]a‐na·a‐mo‐ta·a‐sa‐ti‐ri

Ihavetranslatedthisto“from[the]motherAstarte,”inwhich

a‐mo‐tamayrelatetotheMyceneanGreekma‐te(Ventris,560).ThisbearsasimilaritytotheLuwianwordformother,á‐na‐ti(Hittite: anna‐). It was not uncommon to find Near Easterndeitiesontheisland.AsthePhoenicianscolonized,theybuilt

templesandidolsinthenamesoftheirdeities,someofwhich

assimilated with the indigenous population (Karageorghis,

104).

ThelastwordremaininginthefirstlineistheEteocypriotmu‐ku‐la‐i.WhileIamunabletoidentifythewordasawhole,Iamunder the impression that the last syllable is an enclitic.

ComparedtothethirdpersonLuwianverbsendingwith‐i, itmaysignifytheword“to”asin“tooffer.”Inourcase,theencliticappears at the end of the host word,mu‐ku‐la and appliestoward (or is tied to) the word that follows, la‐sa‐na. Ifappropriate,thiswouldnearlycompletetheliteraltranslation

of the first line and read as follows: “From [the] city [of]Amathus[…]to[the]nobleAriston[of]Aristonax…”

Ihavemadelittleprogresswiththesecondlinebutspeculate

thatthefirstword,ke‐ra‐ke‐re‐tu‐lo‐se,maybeapropernoun.IonlysaythisbecauseofthestructureofthepropernounsI

havecomeacrossinmyresearch.WealreadysawAriston(a‐

45

ri‐si‐to‐no‐se)butconfirmationforthisclaimmayalsobefoundinyetanotherundecipheredinscription.Itisapieceofgraffiti

foundonavesselanditreadsasfollows:

[1]ta‐ve‐ta‐re‐se

TheEteocypriot ta‐mayrelate to theLuwianpronounofza‐which translates to “this.” This in turn would translate theentireinscriptionto“...this[is]Vetarye.”Typicalofyourgraffitiin which an individual writes their own name. Notice the

ending of the name ve‐ta‐re‐se. Going back to the Amathusbilingual, thisstructurecanbeobservedwiththesameword

ke‐ra‐ke‐re‐tu‐lo‐se.Whatsignificancethissyllablehasisyettobe understood. Could it represent a gender? In Mycenaean

LinearBinscriptions,theideogram“MUL”signifiedthenameor title tobe thatofa femalewhile “VIR”was thatofamale.Please note that due to our limited understanding of this

language, these ideogramnamesare transliterated intoLatin

and in no way represent how the Mycenaeans would have

vocalizedit,ifatall.Ideogramsforgenderwerealsoutilizedin

Luwian texts, where we can observe examples of “man”typicallytransliteratedtotheLatinVIR.Again,wedonotknowhow these ideograms were vocalized. The idea of the ‐sesyllableattheendofanounpresentingagenderdoesbringto

mind themasculineendingof ‐ος (‐os) forGreeknouns.ThisfeatureiscommoninbothancientandmodernGreekandcan

even be observed in the Greek translation of the Amathus

bilingual for the name Aristonax, ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΑΚΤΟΣ(Aristōnaktos). This feature is not typical of Anatolianlanguages,however,itwouldnotbetoodifficulttoimaginethe

native population adopting certain traits from their Greek

neighbors. Languages do evolve over time and are heavily

influencedbytheconstantlychangingworld.

46

Conclusion

As the evidence suggests, the language spoken by the

EteocypriotsduringtheIronAge,whichmayhavealsobeenthe

samelanguagespokenbytheCypriotnativesintheBronzeAge,

wasofanIndo‐Europeansubset,closelyrelatedtoLuwian;an

ancient language spoken predominantly on the mainland of

SouthernandWesternAnatolia.Itisn’ttoodifficulttoimagine

theancientmigrationpatternsofanIndo‐Europeanstockfrom

themainland,movingsouthwardtotheislandofCyprus.Also,

at the height of the Hittite empire, Cyprus was under the

dominionandinfluenceoftheHittites.Withthisknowledgein

place,wearemore likely toachieve fulldeciphermentof the

limitedEteocypriotcorpus.

Copyright©2015PetrosKoutoupis

Figure3.TheHittiteEmpireatitsgreatestextentunderSuppiluliumaI(ca.1350–1322BC)andMursiliII(ca.1321–

1295BC).Source:Wikimedia,2015.[Online].

47

Bibliography

Chadwick,John.TheDeciphermentofLinearB.NewYork:CambridgeUP,1958.[Print]

Gordon,CyrusH.ForgottenScripts.2nded.NewYork:Dorset,1987.[Print]

Karageorghis,Vassos.Cyprus.London:ThamesandHudson,1982.[Print]

Melchert,H.Craig.CuneiformLuvianLexicon.Vol.2.ChapelHill,NC:UofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill,1993.Print.Lexica

Anatolica.[Print]

Payne,Annick,andH.CraigMelchert.IronAgeHieroglyphicLuwianInscriptions.Atlanta:SocietyofBiblicalLiterature,2012.[Print]

Ventris,MichaelandJohnChadwick.DocumentsinMycenaeanGreek.2nded.NewYork:CambridgeUP,1973.[Print]

48

AbouttheAuthor

Byprofession,PetrosKoutoupisisasoftwaredeveloperandan

entrepreneur. When not overwhelmed with being a good

husbandandanexcellentfather(oftwo),andduringthelittle

freetimehemayhave,Petrosenjoysimmersinghimselfwith

topics of ancient history and theology. He is fluent in the

language of Greek, and has been a self‐taught student of

SeptuagintalGreekandBiblicalHebrew forquite some time;

withadditionalknowledgeinAramaic,Ugaritic,andAkkadian

grammar.HisworkfocusesspecificallyontheIronAgeofboth

Mesopotamian andLevantinehistory and as of recent years,

Late Bronze Age Greece, leading to a quest to unravel the

mysteriesofourhistory.

Authorwebsite:www.PetrosKoutoupis.com

Projectwebsite:www.AnAgeOfHeroes.com

Twitter:www.twitter.com/pkoutoupis

Google+:plus.google.com/+PetrosKoutoupis

Google+Page:plus.google.com/+Anageofheroes

49

The Vajra: An Ancient Weapon of War 

ByDr.RitaLouise

ThevajraisthemostimportantritualimplementofVajrayana

Buddhism.InSanskrit,thewordvajraisdefinedassomething

hardormighty,asinadiamond.Itsymbolizesanimpenetrable,

immovable and indestructible state of knowledge and

enlightenment.

Ourknowledgeofthevajragoesbacktodeepantiquity.Texts

indicatethatthevajrawasnotalwaysasymbolofpeaceand

tranquility but something very different. It first appears in

ancient Indiawhere itwas theprimaryweaponof theVedic

sky‐god Indra, the king of the Devas. According the Hindu

Puranas,theevilAsuras,NamuchiandVritraremovedallofthe

light and moisture from the earth. It made the land

inhospitable to living beings. Indra battled the demon gods

unsuccessfullyandasa lastresortcalledupontheirsupreme

godVishnuforhelp.

Vishnuinformedhimthatonlyaweaponthatwasneithersolid

norliquidcouldkillNamuchiandVritra.Vishnuhadthedivine

carpenterTvashtafashionIndraamarvelousweaponhecould

use to vanquish the dreadful Asuras. This newweapon, the

vajra, emitted thunderbolts. With it, Indra annihilated

NamuchiandVritraandreturnedthemuchneeded lightand

moisturebacktotheearth.TheRigvedadescribesthisconflict

thus.

NowIdescribethegloriousdeedsofIndra,whoholdsVajra.Hekilledtheserpentandmadewatersflow.Hebroketheheartsofmountains.

50

Hekilledtheserpent,whichwastakingrefugeinmountain.TvashtamadetheVajraforhim.Likethecowsmakingsounds,flowingwatersreachedthesea.

MightyIndrachoseSoma,anddrankfromthreecontainers.GenerousIndraheldVajrainhishand,andkilledfirstbornamongtheserpents.

‐Rigveda1.32

Thevajra,whenused,wasthrownatone’sopponent.Nitin

Kumar,inhisarticleRitualImplementsinTibetanBuddhism,tellsus,“Asahurledweapontheindestructiblethunderbolt

blazedlikeameteoricfireballacrosstheheavens,ina

maelstromofthunder,fireandlightning.”

Figure1.Atraditionalimageofavajra

Traditionalimagesofthevajra(Figure1.)depictitasametal

shaftwiththree, fiveornineprongsthatemanate fromlotus

blossomson either end. Originally, according to the ancient

IndiantexttheRigveda,whenIndrausedhisvajraithadopen

prongs(Figure2.).BuddhistlegendsuggeststhatShakyamuni,

theBuddhahimself, took thevajra from Indraand forced its

prongsclosed,thustransformingitfromadestructiveweapon

intoapeacefulscepter.

51

Figure2.Avajrawithopenprongs

ScholarscontendthatthereisnorelationshipbetweenIndian,

Greek,Australian,andNorsemythology,northecosmologyof

theAmericas.Theybelievethateachcivilizationconceivedof

their gods independently and that a deeper, older, universal

tradition does not exist. If this were the case, then the

foundation of these societies; theirmyths, traditions, beliefs

andiconographyshouldbeuniquetothem,theirlocationand

theirhistory.Thetalesofwar,intrigueandconquestthatcome

out of American history are vastly different from those of

England, France, India and China. So too are the customs,

traditionsandthesymbolsthatrepresentthenation.Yetwhen

we look at awide range of ancient and indigenous groups a

pattern of commonality exists. Myths and symbols found in

India readily appear in the oral and written descriptions of

othercultures.Theyalsoappearintheirartisticimages.These

representationsseemtotranscendtimeandlocation.

Thesymbolofthunderorathunderboltasatoolofdestruction,

forexample,surfacesinmanyancientcivilizations.Mythology

unfailingly associates lightning with a sky god, the god of

thunder,whousesitasaweapon.

In the western world, the thunderbolt is most readily

associatedwiththeGreekskygodZeus.Withit,hedefeatedthe

Titansandtookcontrolof theGreekpantheon.Mythtellsus,

that Zeus freed theCyclopes, themaster builders,whowere

imprisoned in the depths of the underworld ‐ Tartarus. In

52

gratitudefortheirrelease,theygavehimamarvelousweapon,

the thunderbolt. In another story, Zeus used his formidable

weapontobattlethelargestandmostfearsomecreaturesinall

of Greek mythology, the hundred‐headed serpent Typhon.

Early images of Zeus depict show him holding a rod like

thunderbolt, while others show this deadly weaponwith its

endssplayedintothreeprongs(Figure3.).

Figure3.Left:Zeusisdepictedwitharod‐likethunderbolt.Right:Zeusholdsathunderboltwithendssplayedintothree

prongs.

Avajra‐likeweaponalsoappearsinSumeriancosmology.Its

useisrecordedintheBabylonianEpicofCreation,theEnuma

Elish.AbattlebetweentheskygodMarduk(Bel)andserpent

Tiamatisdetailedonthefourthtabletofthisancientdocument.

Theevil andpowerfulTiamat,according to theEnumaElish,

was devising treacherous plans against Ea and the other

reigninggods. Thegodswereafraidtoinvokeherevilwrath

andsearchforasolution.EaattemptedtoconfrontTiamat,but

instead of fighting, backed down. Marduk, his son, stepped

forwardandvolunteeredtofighttheenragedserpent,onone

condition…ifheweresuccessful,hewouldhavedominionover

theentireuniverse.

53

ThegodsagreedandprovidedMardukwithmightyweapons

includingabow,amaceandanettouseinhisbattleagainst

Tiamat.ImagesofthisepicsceneshowMardukholdingathree

tipped scepter in his hand (Figure 4.). Subsequent images

clearlydepictthissamedeadlythree‐prongedweapon(Figure

5.).

Figure4.Mardukdepictedwithathreetippedscepter

Figure5.MardukfightingTiamatwiththethree‐prongedweapon

54

Theygavehimtheunrivalledweapon,thedestroyeroftheenemy[saying]:"Go,cutoffthelifeofTiâmat."Letthewindcarryherbloodintothedepth[undertheearth]."Thegods,hisfathers,issuedthedecreeforthegodBel.Theysethimontheroadwhichleadethtopeaceandadoration.

‐EnumaElish

TheRigvedaalsooffersanalternativedescriptionofthevajra.

Sometextsrepresentitasanotchedmetalclubwiththousands

ofprongs. We find this formof thevajra innumerousother

cultures.Themostwell‐knownstoriesthatportraythevajrain

its club‐like form come from Norse cosmology. They are

associatedwiththeskygodThor.HismightyhammerMjölnir

wasthemostfearsomeweaponinNorsemythology.Imagesof

the thunder god Thor traditionally show him carrying his

mighty hammer. Some texts describeMjölnir as a hammer,

whileothersrefertoitasanaxorclub.

Themaster builders, the dwarfs, in the depths of the earth,

madeMjölnir.TheNorseSkáldskaparmál,whichcanbefoundin the Snorri's Edda, describes Mjölnir as a hammer whichwouldnotfail.Asaweapon,itcouldlevelmountains.Itgoeson

to state that if aimed it at anything; it would nevermiss its

target.Itinformsusthatinadditiontonevermissingitstarget,

itwouldalwaysfinditswaybacktothehandofitsowner.

Thorusedhismightyhammer tobattlehisdeadliest foe, the

giant serpent Jörmungandr. In these tales, the Midgard

Serpent,Jörmungandrisnotkilled.Itwouldnotbeuntilnear

theendoftheworldintheapocalypticbattleofRagnarök,thatThorwouldclashwithJörmungandrthefinaltime.

55

In Slavicmythology, we learn of the evil serpent Veles who

ascended from theunderworld and stole something of value

from the sky godPerun. Perun,using lightningbolts,would

vanquishVeles back to his underground realm annually. His

deadlyaxe,likeThor’smightyhammerwasusedtosubdueevil

andovercometheiniquitousserpentVeles.Ittoowouldreturn

tohishandafterbeingthrown.

In Irishmythology, themagicalweaponof theheroofUlster

Cúchulainn is the Gae Bolga or lightning spear. Cúchulainnfought and killed his childhood friend and foster brother,

Ferdiawiththismagicalweapon.TheGaeBolgaisdescribedasa dart or spear, which separates into multiple barbs when

entering the body, causing fatal wounds. It was next to

impossibletowithdrawonceithadimpaledthebody.TheIrish

Book of Leinster describes the devastating effects of the GaeBolgaassuch:

Itenteredaman'sbodywithasinglewound,likeajavelin,then

openedintothirtybarbs.Onlybycuttingawaythefleshcould

itbetakenfromthatman'sbody.”‐BookofLeinster

In China, the legend of Hua‐hu Tiao Devours Yang Chiendescribes amagical spike carriedbyHuangT'ienHuawhich

soundsremarkablysimilartoIndra’svajra.

TheChin‐kang,deprivedoftheirmagicalweapons,begantoloseheart.Tocompletetheirdiscomfiture,HuangT'ienHuabroughttotheattackamatchlessmagicalweapon.Thiswasaspike71/2incheslong,enclosedinasilksheath,andcalled'Heart‐piercer.'Itprojectedsostrongarayoflightthateyeswereblindedbyit.Huang T'ien Hua, hard pressed by Mo‐li Ch'ing, drew themysteriousspikefromitssheath,andhurleditathisadversary.Itenteredhisneck,andwithadeepgroanthegiantfelldead.‐Myths&LegendsofChina–E.T.C.Werner

56

Findingmyths,withsimilarstorylines,andtheircorresponding

imagesinrelativelyclosegeographicareas,whileinteresting,

doesnotfullysupporttheuniversalityofthegods. Whenwe

uncover similar narratives and corresponding imagery, in

remote regions of the world, this concept takes on a more

serioustone.Mythsofavajra‐likeweaponarefoundallover

theworld.InAustralia,theskygods,theWatiKutjarabrothers,

wieldamagicalboomerang,Wo‐mur‐rangorclub.Boomerangs

are known for their ability, once thrown, to return to their

owner.LegendstatesthattheirfatherKidiliattemptedtorape

someof the firstwomen. Throwing theirwo‐mur‐rang, they

castratedtheirfatherwherehedisappearedintoawaterhole.

In the new world we encounter a similar deadly lightning

weaponusedbytheskygods.IntheAztecculturethereisthe

god Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli, with his weapon

Xiuhcoatl,“thefireserpent”,killedhissisterCoyolxauhquisoonafterhewasborn. TheMayanraindeityChaacandthe later

Aztec Tlaloc are both depicted carrying their lightning axe

(Figure6.).Sometimestheyaredepictedholdingsnakes,which

represent lightning bolts, which they would hurl from the

mountaintopswheretheymadetheirretreat.InPeru,wefind

thegodIllapawhoisdescribedasamanwieldingaclubinhis

lefthandandaslinginhisright.

57

Figure6.AztecgodTlalocdepictedcarryingalightningaxe

A variation of the lightning motif is the concept of the

thunderstone.Itisbelievedthatthunderstonesfallfromthesky

whenthegodsarebattlingeachother.Thisideaiswidelyheld

throughout Africa. The Yoruba of southwestern Nigera, for

example,believetheiraxecarryingstormgodShangecreates

thunder and lightning and casts "thunderstones" down to

earth. The elders of this culture would search wherever

lightningstruckforthesemagicalstones.

Thethunder‐producingweapon,thevajra,isonlyoneexample

of the enormous number of commonalities found in myth,

legend,cultureandiconographyaroundtheworld.Similarities

existthroughoutGreek,Sumerian,Norse,Aztec,Australianand

American cosmology. Theseparallels include thegods, their

58

livesandtheiramazingweapons. Theyalsoincludethelaws

andcustomsthatgovernourlives‐theveryfabricofsociety.

Theuniversalityofsymbolismfoundaroundtheworldimplies

somethingelse. Weapons, likethevajra,werenotbornfrom

theimaginationofman.Theydidnotcomeintobeingaspart

ofaculturesevolution. Theywerereal. Theyweretangible.

Someone somewhere in our remote past saw it and

documentedit. It isonlythroughanactualencounterwitha

marvelous weapon that emitted thunder that a clear and

specificportrayalofitcouldbemade.

Likewise,iftoolslikethevajraaregenuinethenweareforced

to accept that the gods who wielded these weapons were

factual individualsaswell. Thisnewfoundknowledgewould

openthedoortoarevolutionarynewunderstandingofwhowe

are.Itwouldchallengethebasisofoursocietyandcouldcause

us to reevaluate not only our place in the universe, but

everythingweholdtobetrue.

Copyright©2015RitaLouiseInc.–www.soulhealer.com

59

AbouttheAuthor:

Bestselling author, Dr. Rita Louise is the host of Just Energy

RadioandtheFounderoftheInstituteOfAppliedEnergetics.

SheistheauthorofthebooksTheETChronicles,AvoidingTheCosmic 2X4, Dark Angels and The PowerWithin as well ashundredsofarticlesthathavebeenpublishedworldwide.She

is also the producer of the videos iKon: DeconstructingTheArchetypesOfTheAncients,TheTruthAboutTheNephilimandDeceit, Lies&Deception: TheReptilianAgenda. Dr. Rita hasappeared on radio and television and has spoken at

conferencescoveringtopicssuchashealthandhealing,ghosts,

intuition,ancientmysteriesandtheparanormal.

Website:

http://www.soulhealer.com

RadioShow:

http://www.justenergyradio.com

60

Stonehenge: Mounds, Artifacts, and 

Intrigue 

ByMariaWheatley

Stonehengestandswithinavastrituallandscape.Encirclingthe

toweringstoneswasonceover800roundmoundsaddingto

thetemple’ssplendour.Fromwithintheseenigmaticmounds

someofthefinestartifactshavebeenunearthed.Theyarethe

archaeologicalHolyGrailtounderstandingthespiritualityand

daily lifeof a culture longgone.Monuments like Stonehenge

preserve their mathematical, astronomical and engineering

capabilitieslikeamegalithiclibrary.Writteninstonetheyare

alegacyoftheirincredibleachievements.

BronzeAge(c2500‐750BCorthodoxdating)burialgoods,such

as jet from the Baltic, beads form Egypt and delicate and

intricately designed gold artifacts reveal international trade

and artistic craftsmanship. Such finds adorn several British

museumsattractingpublicityandattention.

Yet, some of the mound artifacts are very intriguing and

challenge our understanding of ancient Britain.My research

has located documented evidence of an entire skeleton of a

giantunearthedjustonemilefromStonehenge,whichwas‘13

feetand10inchestall’,strangemetalobjectsandcuriouschalk

plaques all of which were found in the round mounds of

Salisbury Plain. Interestingly, the old English name for

StonehengewasTheGiant’sDanceperhapsthemedievalnamewasderivedfromthelargeskeletonsthathavebeenfoundin

andaroundSalisburyPlain.

61

Figure1.TheGiant’sDance‐TheoldnameforStonehenge

SalisburyPlain

Stonehenge stands like a guardian overlooking the vast

SalisburyPlain.Thearea ismanagedbytheMoD(Militaryof

Defence)and it containsnumerousprehistoricmonuments. I

liken it to Area 51 in the USA as it containsmilitary ‘no‐go’

zones. The armed services use it to practicemanoeuvres, to

launch laser guidedweapons and as an intense firing range.

RoundmoundsareplentifulinandaroundthePlain,someof

whichhousedburials,althoughnotallaresoeasilyexplained.

One fascinating find came from a Plain barrow that was

excavated in 1955. The excavated skull showed signs of

surgery. Initially,ablanketexplanationwasgiven– theskull

had been trepanned. Trepanning is a surgical technique of

scrapingoutadeeproundgroove inpartof the skull. Itwas

thoughtthatprehistorictrepanningmayhavebeenappliedto

relieve epilepsy, serve headaches and even cataracts.

Archaeologistssayourancestorsthoughttheseillnesseswere

causedbyevil‐spirits.

62

Thus,inoneparticularview,trepanningwaspartlyashamanic

responsetoalleviatesymptoms.Oneimageportraysashabby

lookingcavemanhackingawayataskullofanuncomfortable

patientwhichimpliesaprimitiveandsuperstitiouspeoplethat

did not fully understand the implications of their surgical

actions. Such Dark Age medieval association is, I believe, at

insulttoourprehistoricforefathers.

Prehistoriccancertreatment

According to archaeological dating the surgery occurred

betweenc2000and1600BC.RogerWatson,aDocumentation

Officeroffinds,DevizesMuseum,Wiltshirepostulatesthattheyoungmanunderwentamajorsurgicaloperationfor ‘abraintumour that involved the cutting away of a disk of bonemeasuring32mm indiameter fromhis cranium.The cutwasprobablymadewithablademadeofflintwhichisrazorsharp.Whatwas used for an anaesthetic or to sterilize, to close thewoundwedon'tknowatall.’

Around the Stonehenge environs, numerous Bronze Age

patientssurvivedthistypeofrepeatedoperation.Flintisrazor

sharp and an ideal medium for fine cutting and scraping.

However, the young man whose skull was investigated by

Watson lived in an era when copper was widely available.

There is evidence that coppermetalmay have been used to

make surgical instruments that supported the surgeon’s flint

knife.Weknowthatasurgeon’soperationalkitisfarmorethan

justknives.

Whilst the skull is defiantly an artefact unearthed by an

antiquarian centuries ago, which has only recently been re‐

examined by Watson, who, incidentally has pushed the

boundaries of prehistoric medical awareness away from

63

superstition intoanobjectivesurgicaldimension.Thankfully,

wearenoweroding therestrictionsof intellectualarrogance

andbeginningtoseeprehistoryinanewlight.

Compared to other regional monumental sites, such as the

nearby Avebury Henge, or sites further afield such as

megalithic sites in Scotland, the Stonehengemounds have a

statisticallyhigherproportionoftrepannedskulls.Stonehenge

mayhavebeenEngland’sfirstsurgicalcapital.

Letusconsideranotherunusualartefact thatmayhavebeen

associated with prehistoric surgery, which is worthy of our

scholarly attention. Not far from Stonehenge, was an

extraordinary ‘round barrow cemetery’‐ labelled as such by

archaeologists in the 1950s ‐ yet only a few of the mounds

actuallycontainedburials.Centuriesago,thiswasrecognized

by an antiquarianwho observed: I cannothelp remarkingofhavingfoundsomanyemptycists[barrows].

Figure2.RoundmoundonSalisburyPlain

64

Oneof the largermounds,sadlyremovedbytheplough,was

the exact dimension of Stonehenge cannot be coincidental.

Standing out from the other barrows due to its exalted

elevationitgainedtheattractionofantiquarianenquiry.Deep

withinthemoundwasacremationandawoodenbox,insideof

whichwasawoodensheaflinedwithfabric‘thewebofwhich

could still be distinguished’ some 4200 years later – sowell

preservedtheartefactwithintheconfinesofthemound.When

opened they saw a copper (or brass) instrument which is

shownbelow (left). Its corrodeddimensions are similar to a

pairofhouseholdscissorssome6.75incheslong,

Instantly explained as an ‘article ofornamentratherthanutility’hasstuckforcenturies.Thelatesttheorypurportsitto

beascarforcloakpin;yet intriguingly it

appears similar to past surgical

instrumentsthatwerecommonlyused in

the medieval period (right). Similarities

like this should not be dismissed. In

addition, whilst it may be a scarf pin, it

must benoted that itwas found in close

proximitytoanactualtrepannedskull,whichis

of little consequence to the archaeological

analysisoftheobject.Byexpandingthelimitationsoforthodox

interpretation, we potentially have evidence of surgical

procedurespreservedinboneandbrass,locatedclosetoone

another amid one of themost unusualmound complexes in

England.Thepatientwentontoliveformanyyearsafterhis

surgerytestifiedbyhisperfectlyhealedbone.

©MariaWheatley

65

Artifactsandstrangemoundburials

Whenitcomestoartifactsthemostwidelydocumentedfinds

intheStonehengeenvironisthefamousBushBarrow.Thisis

because the skeletonof ‘a stoutman’was accompaniedwith

exquisite gold burial goods. Most books and websites on

Stonehengehavewrittenofthisremarkablefind.However,we

will focus on some more unusual and thitherto unreported

finds.Thefollowingillustrationsthataccompanymyresearch

were taken from Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine. TheextensivevolumescanbeeasilyaccessedattheUK’sNational

MonumentsRecordsOffice,Wiltshire,UK.

AfewmilessouthofStonehengeandgracingtheSalisburyPlain

wasanotherexceptionallylargebarrowthatinstantlyaroused

theattentionofearlyexcavators.Villagerumourshadhinted

thattheancientroundbarrowshousedgoldandsoshepards,

farmersandsmalllandownersbelievingtheywereabouttohit

a golden jackpot reached for their shovels. Previously, the

moundshadstoodvirtuallyunmolestedfornearly4000years.

Iftheseearlygravediggersdidnotfindgoldtheysimplythrew

awaytheartifacts.However,afewwerekeptandlaterpassed

ontoantiquariansthatweremoreserious.

Within one mound an extraordinary burial of an ‘extremely

largeman’wasunearthedandathisfeettherewas‘amassive

hammer of dark‐coloured stone’. Other curious finds

accompaniedhim,oneofwhichwasanobjectoftwistedcopper

orbrass.Theoriesaboundastowhatitwas‐fromadogcollar

‐toabuckethandle!Whilstthegiantskeletonandthemassive

hammermaybefarmoreinterestingthanthebrassobject,all

haveseeminglyvanishedintotheethers.

66

Other artifacts that were

commonly found in Plain

barrowswere circular shaped

pieces of perfectly crafted

copper. Once again, we are

promptly informed that they

were ‘ornamental’ or

‘ritualistic’.Yet,theymayhave

been a part of a much larger

object or instrument that was ambiguously described. Long

since lost, the realmeaningbehind thesewell‐mademetallic

objectsremainselusive.

Imustpointoutthatthemoundsfromwhencetheseartifacts

camewereverydifferentfromothermoundburials.Unusual

artifactswerehousedinunusualmounds.Moundswhichwere

largerinelevationwereoftencoinedkingormonarchmoundsbyantiquarianswhoinstantlyobservedtheirdistinctivetraits.

Seeforyourselfhowdifferentthefindsare.MostBronzeAge

mounds are attributed to the Beaker people said to be

Europeanmigrants entering the British Isles from c2000BC

onwards.WithintheseBeakermounds,itwascommonplaceto

havecrematedbonesinternedinacuporvaseshapedobject‐

calledaBeaker‐andoftenwithspearlikeobjectsorbeadsas

shown below. Rarely are beakers found alongside the more

unusualartifacts.

Figure3.Beakersfoundinmoundburials

67

We are looking at two different eras of burial one of which

precedes the other and unlike archaeologists; I suggest the

morecomplexfindsareearlier.Weneedtorememberthatthe

geologicalfeaturesoftheStonehengeenvironsareproblematic

topreservation.Rainwaterreactstothechalk/calciumtoform

a weak hydrochloric acid and alongside ploughing has

removed,inplaces,layersofchalk,systematicallyerasingthe

past. Thus, remains are invariably found in features such as

pits,ditchesandburialmounds.

One pit artefact which is particularly interesting and

exceptionally well preserved will be discussed. Found deep

withinthepithintsthatitwaspurposelydepositedabitlikea

timecapsule.

AnimageofStonehenge?

In a previous article for Ancient Origins, I wrote about the

Mesolithic activity in the Stonehenge environs, a possible

Mesolithic wooden temple and a town. The Mesolithic

postholesclosetoStonehengewereexcavatedinthelate1960s

byLordandLadyVatcher.Whilstenthusiasticaboutexcavating

the ritual landscape they lacked the high standard and

requirements of modern day archaeological procedure.

Nonetheless,duringadig in1967they locatedandcleareda

deep and curious pit on the high ground east of Stonehenge

calledKingBarrowRidge.Thiswasoncethesettlementareaof

thepeople thatbuilt the largeCursusmonument ‐amassive

earthenenclosurethatcoursedfor1.75milestothenorthof

Stonehengewhichlookedlikeagiganticcontainer.Thewallsof

themonument, longsinceploughed,weresome6‐8feethigh

(c40000‐3800BCorthodoxdating).

68

Withinthepitlaytwounusualchalkplaquesandanantlerpick

whichwasusedtocarbondatethefindstoc2900‐2580BC.The

antlerpickmayhavehadnothingwhatsoever todowith the

chalkplaquesyetitwasusedtodatetheentirelocale.Thearea

wasalsocoveredwithNeolithichousescenturiesbeforeother

domestic sites such as Durrington Walls. There were also

distincttracesofamuchearlierMesolithicsettlement(8000–

4000 BC). Evidently, the area was known and occupied for

millennia.IthasbeenquestionedwhetherornottheVatchers’

excavated the chalk plagues from a Mesolithic midden pit.Debatecontinues.

Interestingly,oneofthechalkplaquesshowsastylizeddesign

similartothatofStonehenge’soutercircle

of linteled stones and may have been a

sketchbelonging to that era.However, if

the artefact was from the Mesolithic

period, the chalk plaque was some five

thousand years older than Stonehenge.

Thus, was the plaque a sketch of an

inspiredvisionofthatwhichwastocome,aconceptborninthe

so‐calledDarkAgesoftheMesolithiceraandthenritualistically

depositedintothedeeppit?Understandably,onecannotplaceanentireplanofa

monumentuponone singular stylized sketch.Nonetheless, if

weoverlookartifactsinadismissivemannerwewilllosesight

of thatwhichweare looking for, andproverbially throw the

babyoutwiththebathwater.

Sacredwater,holyspring

Closetothedeeppitwasaspringthatmayhavebeenrevered

asmedicinalbyourNeolithicancestors.Intheancientworld,

the sign forwater that transcended cultural divideswas the

69

chevronpatternandeven theancientEgypthieroglyph ΛΛor

‘mu’meanswater,asdoesthezodiacalsignofAquarius(Greek

Zodiac).Anotherplague,whichwasfoundclosetothespring,

consisted of chevron patterns and I surmise that is was

representativeofthenearbyStonehengespringwater.Filtered

through the chalk and pure subsoil’s the water would have

risen to the surface mineral rich. Incidentally, as a second

generation water diviner I know that underground streams

‘emit’ a chevron pattern whilst coursing through rocky

subsoil’s,whichwasfirstnotedbythewaterdivinerBenjamin

Tompkins in 1899, and I find it intriguing that this was a

prehistoricwayofexpressingwater.

Figure4.KingBarrowRidge.ArowofBronzeAgemoundscrownthehilltop

Years laterduring theBronzeAge,KingBarrowRidgewasa

peaceful place. Numerous mounds were constructed that

crownedthehilltopandeternallygazedtowardsStonehenge.

Undisturbedsomemoundsawaitexcavationtheirsecretsstill

heldtight.Thedeeppitandoldsettlementswerelonggoneby

the Bronze Age. Undoubtedly, inheritedmemories bestowed

70

meaning and serenity to all that visited for they knew the

meaningofthisevocativelandscapethattimehaslost.Today,

the fast, intrusive and ugly A303main road drowns out the

soundoftheskylarks,andmemoriesofthepast,ascaraftercar

whizzes by; andmore alarmingly low flyingmilitary aircraft

and flares disturb the ancestors of their slumber.

Counterintuitive progress creeps ever closer in the guise of

roadimprovements.ThelongdebatedStonehengetunnelmaywell ease the sound of traffic but the air above will still be

poisonedwithmilitarynoise.Andevenifthetunneldidgetthe

goahead–ithasbeenmootedpriortoeverygeneralelection

for nearly half a century ‐whatwould they finddeep in the

arteries that bypass Stonehenge? Would any unusual or

spectacular archaeological find be reported to the general

public,toenliventhenews,FacebookorTwitter?Afewyears

ago, a stone circle was found close to the new Stonehenge

visitor’scentrewhichat thetimeshouldhavemadeheadline

news. Around 30metres wide and containing 22 stone (or

post) holes the circle was intimately related to its parent

Stonehenge. ‘Because this was a commercial operation (forclientsofEnglishHeritage),theresultswereconfidentialandthefind couldn’t be revealed to the public’, reported StonehengearchaeologistMichaelParkerPearson.Eventhistopexpertwas

apparently denied the opportunity to thoroughly investigate

thesiteandwentontosay‘withoutarchaeologicalexcavationit’s impossible toknowwhen this circlewas constructed.OnlywhenitisinvestigatedbyspadeandtrowelwillweknowwhetherithadanythingtodowithStonehenge’.

Formanyyearsnow,wehaveknownthatStonehengehasat

leastninestonecirclessurroundingit,andIpredictthatthere

ismore, probably totalling 12. Archaeological surveys inmy

possession some 60 years old hint that theywere bluestone

71

circles.Newfinds lie justbeneaththesurface,someofwhich

willbeshowntobeover10,000yearsoldanddatebacktothe

mysteriousandelusiveMesolithicera,aswasthecaseat the

BlickMeadMesolithic settlementclose toStonehenge.Letus

not forget that Stonehengewas a gigantic ceremonial centre

andasnewinformationisimpartedwestepeverclosertothe

people that constructed one of the wonders of the ancient

world.

Copyright©2015MariaWheatley

72

AbouttheAuthor

Mariaisaninternationallecturerandanaccomplishedauthor.Her

latestbookDiviningAncientSites–insightsintotheircreationexploresthephysicalandmetaphysicalpropertiesthatunderpinmonumental

sitesworldwide.

Mariaalsoleadstoursofancientsitesaswellasone‐dayworkshops

exploring locations such as Avebury Henge, Stonehenge and

Glastonbury. In 2015, Maria will host two unique tours of the

SalisburyPlain,arestrictedareaofMoDownership,whichhouses

someextraordinarymonumentsrarelyseenorvisitedbythegeneral

public.Forinternationalvisitors,Mariawillbeco‐hostingan8‐day

tour of some of the most spectacular ancient sites in Southern

England.

Maria is also a professional tutor and runs the Avebury School ofEsotericStudies,whichteachesmanysubjectstocertificatedlevel.Theschool is afflicted to the prestigious Association of BritishCorrespondence Colleges ABCC.Maria is currently researching andwritinganewbookFromStonehengetoSerpentMoundandherrecentdiscoveriesunveilmanynewinsights intoEuropeanandAmerican

monumental building programme that unite distant cultures. The

bookexploresareasofprehistorythathavebeenthoroughlyneglected

andMariawillpresentanew,breathtakingvisionoftheancientworld

andtheprofoundknowledgeofitsarchitects.

www.theaveburyexperience.co.uk/mariawheatley@aol.com

73

Memnon’s Musical Statue 

ByAhmedOsman

ThemostimportantstatuesinEgypt,aftertheGizaSphinx,are

thetwoColossiofMemnoninWesternLuxor.Thetwogigantic

statues,about3500yearsold,arealsoknownas themusical

statues.

Figure1.ThetwostatuesofMemnon

ThesemassivetwinsofstonebelongedtoPharaohAmenhotep

III, who is known as being King Solomon of Egypt, with a

peacefulempireandmanywives.Thekingorderedthestatues

tobeerectedinfrontofhismemorialtempleonthewestbank

oftheNile,oppositeLuxor,ancientThebesinUpperEgypt,to

represent the twonaturesofMan in ancientEgyptianbelief;

physicalandspiritual.TheydepictAmenhotepIII inaseated

position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze facing

74

eastwards towards the Nile. Two shorter figures are also

carvedintothefrontofthethronealongsidehislegs:theseare

of hiswife Tiye and hismotherMutemwiya,while the sides

depicttheNilegodHapy.

Figure2.SidepaneldetailshowingtwoflankedreliefimagesofthedeityHapyand,totheright,asculptureoftheroyalwifeTiy

These Memnon statues are made from blocks of quartzite

sandstone, which was quarried at el‐Gabal el‐Ahmar (near

modern‐dayCairo)andtransported675km(420mi)overland

toThebesinthesouth.Includingthestoneplatformsonwhich

theystand–themselvesabout4m(13ft)–thecolossireacha

towering18m(60ft)inheightandweighanestimated720tons

each,whilethetwofiguresareabout15m(50ft)apart.

75

Egyptologists disagree on the location where the Memnon

statueswerecarved;whilesomebelievethatthestatueswere

sculpted in the quarry and brought by boat to their present

position, others suggest that the stone was brought to the

location and the statues were made there. In any case, it is

believed that Amenophis, Son of Habu, the great Egyptian

architect,wasresponsibleforthebuildingoperationofboththe

king’smemorialtempleandhisstatues.

Originally the two statues were identical to each other,

althoughinscriptionsandminorartmayhavevaried.Butnow

theyarequitedamaged,withthefeaturesunrecognizable,the

upperlevelsconsistofadifferenttypeofsandstone,andarethe

resultofalaterreconstructionattemptbytheRomans.

ThefunctionoftheMemnonColossiwastoguardtheentrance

toAmenhotepIII’smemorialtemple:amassiveconstructbuilt

duringthepharaoh’s lifetime,wherehewasworshippedasa

god‐on‐earth both before and after his departure from this

world.Whenitwasbuilt,thistemplecomplexwasthelargest

andmostopulentinEgypt.Coveringatotalof35hectares(86

acres);eventheTempleofKarnak,asitstoodinAmenhotep’s

time,wassmaller.

76

Figure3.AerialviewoftheMortuaryTempleofAmenhotepIII

TheIsraelStele

ItwashereatthesiteofAmenhotepIII’smortuarytemplethat

Flinders Petrie, the British archaeologist, found the stele of

Merneptah, son of Ramses II, which is now in the Cairo

Museum,and isknownas the Israel stele.Merneptahuseda

steleofAmenhotepIII’stemple,torecordonitsothersidethe

account of his victory over some Libyan invaderswho came

fromthewest,andincludedtheIsraeliteamongtheCanaanite

nationsunderhiscontrol.Thisistheonlymentionof“Israel”in

anyEgyptiantext.However,whileallotherCanaanitenations

mentionedintheMerneptahstelehaveadeterminedlocation,

Israel has only aman andwomandeterminative – drawings

showonlyacoupleratherthanamap–indicatingthatatthat

timetheyhadnotyetestablishedapoliticalentity,andwere

stillsemi‐nomadicpeople.

77

Figure4.TheMerneptahStele

AmenhotepIII

AmenhotepIIIsatonthethroneatthestartofthe14thcentury

BC,whenhewas just 12 years old. Althoughhemarriedhis

infantsisterSitamuntogaintherighttothethroneaccording

toEgyptiancustoms,Amenhotepmarriedthegirlhelovedin

hissecondyearofreign,Tiye,thedaughterofhisministerYuya,

and insistedonmakingherhisGreatRoyalWife(Queen).To

commemoratehismarriagewithTiye,thekingissuedalarge

scarabandsentcopiesofittoforeignkingsandprinces.What

showshowmuchthekinglovedTiyeisthefactthathername,

unlike that of any other queen before,was placed in a royal

cartouche, a distinction previously limited to the ruling

78

Monarch. Furthermore, she is represented in art as being of

equivalentstaturetotheking.

Figure5.AmarriagescarabofAmenhotepIII

Leaving the royal residence at Memphis, Amenhotep built a

royal palace,Malkata, across theNile at Thebes, close to his

funerarytemple,andasummerpalacewithinthebordercityof

ZarwinnorthernSinai.

AmenhotepIII’srule,whichextendedforabout38yearsatthe

start of the 14th century BC, marked the zenith of ancient

Egyptian civilization, both in terms of political power and

culturalachievement.Hisreignwasaperiodofunprecedented

prosperityandartisticsplendor,whenEgyptreachedthepeak

of its artistic and international power. His reign was one of

peace and prosperity due to more international trade and

strong gold supply, not conquest and expansion. In order to

keep the empire he inherited between the northern River

EuphratesandsouthernNubiasafe,thekingalsomarriedsome

79

royalprincessesfromMitanni,BabyloniaandAnatolia,andhad

alargeHaremofmorethan300women.

Beforetheendofhislife,however,AmenhotepIIIsufferedfrom

somepainfulteethproblems,whichhispriestscouldnotcure,

sohebroughttheimageoftheMesopotamianGoddessIshtar

hoping that it could relieve his pain. The goddess, however,

failedtocureAmenhotepIII,whodiedattheageof50.

Akhenaten

AmenhotepIIIwasfollowedonthethronebyAmenhotepIV,

hissonfromQueenTiyewhomheloved.Theyoungking,who

later changed his name to Akhenaten, abandoned the

traditional Egyptian polytheism, introducing the worship of

oneGod,Aten,whoisnotrepresentedinanimage.

Aswellasreligion,Akhenatenalsointroducedanewkindofart

thatcompletelydifferedfromthetraditionalPharaonicartof

hispredecessors.Colossiandwall‐reliefsfromtheAtenTemple

arehighlyexaggeratedinrelationtotheformalityandrestraint

whichcharacterizedancientEgyptianart.

Figure6.BustofAmenhotepIV(Akhenaten)

80

Musicalstatues

With the exception of the damaged Memnon’s two Colossi,

however, todayvery little remainsofAmenhotep’smemorial

templeinWesternThebes.AsitstandsontheedgeoftheNile

floodplain, successive inundations gnawed away at its

foundations, and theColossiwerecompletely surroundedby

water.

Figure7.TheColossiofMemnon

TheGreekgeographerStrabo,writingintheearlyyearsofthe

firstcenturyAD,tellsofanearthquakethattookplacein27BC,

whichshatteredthenortherncolossus,collapsing it fromthe

waistup.Followingitsrupture,thestatuewasthenreputedto

sing every morning at dawn: a light moaning or whistling,

probablycausedbyrisingtemperaturesandtheevaporationof

dewinsidetheporousrock.

81

Thiswas supposed to be the voice ofmythologicalMemnon

respondingtothegreetingofhismother,Eos,andtheywere

equated by the early Greek travellers with the figure of

Memnon, the son of Aurora whose mother, Eos, was the

goddessofdawn.Thelegendofthe“VocalMemnon”,theluck

thathearingitwasreputedtobring,andthereputationofthe

statue’s oracular powers, travelled the length of the known

world, and a constant stream of visitors, including several

RomanEmperors,cametomarvelatthestatues.

Thiscuriousphenomenonwasattributedtothepassageofair

throughtheporesofthestone,causedchieflybythechangeof

temperatureatsunrise.Nevertheless,followingtherestoration

ofthestatuebytheRomanemperorSeptimiusSeverusbefore

theendofthesecondcenturyAD,thesoundsceased.

MemnonwassaidtobethesonofAurora;thegoddessofthe

morning.MemnonwasalsoaherooftheTrojanWar,aKingof

EthiopiawholedhisarmiesfromAfricaintoAriaMinortohelp

defend the beleaguered city but was ultimately slain by

Achilles.Whether associating the Colossiwith his namewas

justwhimsyorwishfulthinkingonthepartoftheGreeks–they

generally referred to the entire Theban Necropolis as the

“Memnonium”–thenamehasremainedincommonuseforthe

past2000years.

82

Figure8.MemnoninanengravingbyBernardPicart(1673–1733)

In2014archaeologistsdiscovered somemissingpartsof the

MemnonColossistatues,buriedattheentranceofAmenhotep

III’s mortuary temple. A European/Egyptian archaeological

missiondiscoveredacollectionofquartziteblocksthatbelong

tothenortherncolossus,includingapartofthestatue’sarm,a

painted belt and a man’s wrap skirt, which helped

archaeologists in reconstructing both colossi so it can be

returnedtotheiroriginalglory.

Thequartziteblocksfromthecolossihavebeenmissingsince

an earthquake destroyed the mortuary temple in antiquity.

Littleremainsnowonthesite,besidesthestatues,andvarious

piecesof the statuesare still lyingon the site, threatenedby

constant irrigation of the privately‐owned agricultural fields

theystandon.

Copyright©2015AhmedOsman

83

AbouttheAuthor

AhmedOsmanisanEgyptian‐bornauthorwhohasbeen

tryingtofindthelinkbetweenthestoriesoftheBibleand

ancientEgyptianhistory.BorninCairoin1934,hestudiedlaw

intheuniversitybeforeworkingasajournalist.Hemovedto

Londonin1965,wherehejoinedtheEgyptExploration

Society,andstudiedthehistoryandlanguageofancientEgypt.

HealsotaughthimselfbiblicalHebrew,andresearchedthe

historyofboththeBibleandtheKuran,beforetryingtolook

fororiginofthebiblicalstoriesinEgyptiansources.

84

Lost Ancient High Technology in Egypt 

ByBrienFoerster

Mostpeopleknowof thegreat constructionachievementsof

thedynasticEgyptianssuchasthepyramidsandtemplesofthe

GizaPlateauareaaswellastheSphinx.Manybooksandvideos

showdepictionsofvastworkforceshewingblocksofstonein

the hot desert sun and carefully setting them into place.

However,someoftheseamazingworkscouldsimplynothave

beenmadebythesepeopleduringthetimeframethatwecall

dynasticEgypt.

Upuntilthe7thcenturyBCtherewasverylittleironpresentin

Egypt,asthismaterialonlybecamecommonlyusedoncethe

Assyrians invadedat that time; in fact, theancientEgyptians

regarded iron as an impure metal associated with Seth, the

spiritofevilwhoaccordingtoEgyptiantraditiongovernedthe

centraldesertsofAfrica.Afewexamplesofmeteoricironhave

been found which predate the Assyrians, but this consists

largelyofsmallornamentalbeads.

Theverybasicproblemthatarisesisthatwefindatmanyof

theancientsitesinEgyptfinelycraftedworksinbasalt,granite,

quartziteanddioritewhichareveryhardstonesthatcan'tbe

shapedefficientlyevenbyhardenedirontools.Formostofthe

history of Egypt the tools used to shape stone consisted of

hardenedbronze,whichismuchsofterthaniron.Inthisarticle

wewillseeexamplesofancienthardstoneworkmanshipwhich

simply could not have been created during the dynastic

Egyptian time frame of about 2500 to 1500 BC, whenmost

academicsbelievetheyweremade.Onlyafewexampleswillbe

discussed,andfarmorecanbeseenandreadaboutinmyLostAncientTechnologyOfEgyptbook.

85

WestartinAswan,whichisclosetotheborderofSudan,andit

isherethatwefindthefamousunfinishedobelisk,andanother

smallerone,stillattachedtothegranitebedrock.

Figure1.ThelargeunfinishedobeliskintheAswanquarry

Archaeologists claim the female ruler known as Hatshepsut,

whocametothethronein1478BCsanctionedtheconstruction

of the bigger of the two. It is nearly one third larger than

anyancientEgyptianobeliskevererected.Iffinished,itwould

have measured around 42 m (approximately 137 feet) and

wouldhaveweighednearly1,200tons.Thegreatestquestions

thatariseare,whattoolscouldhavebeenusedtoshapethis

86

massive stone monument, and how were the Egyptians

planningonraisingitoutofthepitinwhichitsits,takinginto

account its immense size. To the former,most Egyptologists

believethatroundandhandheldstonedoleritepounderswere

themaintoolsbeingused.

Figure2.DoloritepoundersontopofapieceofpinkAswangranite

Inbasicterms,anytoolshouldhaveagreaterhardnessthanthe

material being cut or shaped. The pink granite ofwhich the

unfinishedobeliskiscomposedhasaMohshardnessthatsits

betweenthescaleof6and7,(themaximumbeingdiamondat

10) and thus ismore or less the same hardness as dolerite,

makingthelatterapoormaterialforshapingtheformer.And

bronze, the other tool substance known to and used by the

ancientEgyptiansismuchsofter,beingonaverage3.5onthe

Mohsscale.

87

Otherproblemsencounteredattheunfinishedobelisk isthat

thereisverylittleroominsidethetrenchtobeabletocreatea

hard blow, and such repeated efforts could also break the

dolerite tool. According to engineer and expert machinist

ChristopherDunn,authorofLostTechnologiesofAncientEgypt:AdvancedEngineeringintheTemplesofthePharaohs:

'The unfinished obelisk offers compelling indirect evidenceregardingtheleveloftechnologyitscreator’shadreached–notsomuchbyindicatingclearlywhatmethodswereused,butbytheoverpoweringindicationsofwhatmethodscouldnothavebeenused.'

The idea that hand held pounders were responsible for the

shapingoftheunfinishedobeliskhastobedismissed,andyet,

whatkindoftechnologycouldpossiblyhavebeenresponsible?

ChrisDunn'sopinionisthatifoneobservesthepatternleftby

thetoolwhichdidtheactualshaping,especiallyinthewallsof

thetrenchesthatsurroundtheunfinishedobelisk,thereisan

evenpatternwhichwouldunlikelyhaveoccurredifhandtools

suchasthepounderswereused.AccordingtoChris:

'Thehorizontalstriationsaretypicalincuttingwhenthefeedofatoolthatisremovingmaterialpausesalongitspath,withdrawntoremovewaste,andtheinterruptionofthetoolleavesamarkonthesurface.Also,itcouldbethatasthetoolwasrockedbackandforthagainstthewallsofthetrenchtoclearthewasteonthevertical wall, horizontal striations appeared where the toolpressed the cutting surface against the sidewall to keep thetrench from narrowing.' In other words, some form oftechnologywhichthedynasticEgyptianssimplydidnothave.

Andsothisbegsthequestion;ifthedynasticEgyptianscould

nothavedonethiswork,andthelaterGreeksandRomanswere

notresponsible, thenwhodidandwhen?Wehavenochoice

88

buttoentertaintheideathatacivilizationexistedbeforewhat

wecallthepharaohsandinfacthadformsofwhatwewould

call high technology, and that these people lived in the area

priorto3100BC.

Figure3.“Scoopmarks”besidethesmallerofthetwoobelisks

Manywill of course askwhere the tools are that couldhave

doneworksuchasthis.Wedoknowthatstrangedevicesand

materials have been found in archeological sites in different

partsoftheworld,andhavebeenlabeled,boxedandhiddenout

of view because they do not fit the conventional historical

paradigm. Sir William Flinders Petrie was one of the great

Egyptologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Petrie

foundanumberofcoredrills,manyofwhicharenowhoused

in the museum named after him at the University College

London inLondonEngland.Theactualhollowdrill bitshave

not been found, but the coresmade of limestone, alabaster,

graniteandotherstoneshave.

89

ChrisDunnspenthoursinthePetriemuseumandwasallowed

topersonallyexaminesomeofthedrillcores.Herehediscusses

thecharacteristicsofoneofthem:

'ThemostfascinatingfeatureofthegranitecorePetriedescribesis the spiral groove around the core indicating a feed rate of0.100 inchperrevolutionof thedrill. Itwas500timesgreaterthanmoderndiamonddrills,buttherotationofthedrillwouldnothavebeenas fastasthemoderndrill's900revolutionsperminute.'

Figure4.GranitedrillcoreinthePetrieMuseum

The often times quoted idea that these drill cores were

achievedusingabowandcopper tubewith sandusedasan

90

abrasivemustbethrownout,asnomodernreplicationofthese

cores has been done to the level of efficiency as discussed

above.

Making excavations in 1936, in the archaeological zone of

Saqqara,PetriediscoveredtheTombofPrinceSabu,whowas

thesonofPharaohAdjuib,governoroftheIDynasty(3,000BC.)

Between utensils of funeral objects that were extracted,

Emery'sattentionwaspowerfullydrawntoanobject thathe

initially defined in his report on the Great Tombs of the I

Dynastyas:'acontainerintheformofschistbowl.'Yearslater,in his previously mentioned work, Archaic Egypt, he

commented on the object with a word that perfectly

summarizestherealityofthesituationandthediscomfortthe

object causes; "cachibache" (a small hole that threatens tobecomeamuchlargerhole.)

According to the typical and expected view of the

archaeologistsandEgyptologists,thisobjectisnomorethana

tray or the pedestal of some candelabrum, with a design a

productofblindchance.Iampersonallyquiteamazedthatsuch

a controversialpiece is still ondisplay in theCairomuseum,

andwonderwhatevenodderobjectsarehiddenawayintheir

warehouses.

91

Figure5.Thefamousschistbowlordisk

At Karnak, which is a huge temple complex, we find many

examplesofancientcoredrillholes,andonewhosediameteris

greaterthanahumanhand.Asyoucanseeinthephotograph

the wall of the drill itself was thinner than 21st century

examples, and even engineers andmining experts that have

seenitcannotexplainwhatmaterialthedrillwouldhavebeen

madeoftomaintainitsshapeandstabilityatbeingsothin.

92

Figure6.LargedrillcoreatKarnak

Another perplexing site is what is called the Serapeum at

Saqqara, containing massive granite boxes which many

academics believe were created during dynastic times.

However, the boxes in the Serapeum are examples of what

engineerssuchasChrisDunn, I, andmembersof theKhemit

Schoolhavemajorproblemswithasregardstheconventional

Egyptologists’explanations.Accordingtothelatter,inthe13th

centuryBC,Khaemweset ordered that a tunnelbe excavated

through the solid limestone bedrock, with side chambers

designedtocontainlargegranitesarcophagiweighingatleast

70tonneseach,toholdthemummifiedremainsofprizeApis

bulls.

ManufacturerChrisDunnisamanwhoknowswhatprecision

surfaceslooklike,ashehasbeeninvolvedinmakingcomplex

metal parts for the aviation industry for decades. He has

studiedtheboxesintheSerapeummanytimes,andhasbeen

93

able to measure the flatness of their granite and limestone

surfacesusingprecisegauges.Thefollowingarehisthoughts,

asfoundinanarticleonhiswebsitewww.gizapower.com:

'The granite box inside Khafre's pyramid has the samecharacteristicsastheboxesinsidetheSerapeum.YettheboxesintheSerapeumwereascribedtothe18thdynasty,over1100yearslaterwhenstoneworkingwassupposedlyindecline.Consideringthatthisdatingwasbasedonpotteryitemsthatwerefoundandnot the boxes themselves, itwould be reasonable to speculatethat the boxes have not been dated accurately. Theircharacteristicsshowthattheircreatorsusedthesametoolsandwereblessedwith the same skillandknowledgeas thosewhocreatedKhafre'spyramid.Moreover,theboxesinbothlocationsare evidence of a much higher purpose than mere burialsarcophagi.Theyare finishedtoahighaccuracy;theircornersareremarkablysquare,andtheirinsidecornersworkeddowntoadimensionthatissharperthanwhatonewouldexpecttofindinanartifactfromprehistory.Allofthesefeaturesareextremelydifficult toaccomplishandnoneof themnecessary foramereburialbox.

94

Figure7.YousefAwyanfeelingthesmoothnessofthesurface

The manufacturers of these boxes in the Serapeum not onlycreatedinsidesurfacesthatwereflatwhenmeasuredverticallyandhorizontally,theyalsomadesurethatthesurfacestheywerecreating were square and parallel to each other, with onesurface, the top,havingsides thatare5 feetand10 feetapartfromeachother.Butwithoutsuchparallismandsquarenessofthe top surface, the squarenessnotedonboth sideswouldnotexist.

While it may be argued that modern man cannot impose amodernperspectiveonartifactsthatarethousandsofyearsold,anappreciationofthelevelofprecisionfoundintheseartifactsislackinginarchaeologicalliteratureandisonlyrevealedbyanunderstandingwhatittakestoproducethiskindofwork.Asanengineerandcraftsman,whohasworked inmanufacturingforover 40 years andwho has created precision artifacts in ourmodernworld,inmyopinionthisaccomplishmentinprehistorydeservesmorerecognition.Nobodydoesthiskindofworkunless

95

thereisaveryhighpurposefortheartifact.Eventheconceptofthiskindofprecisiondoesnotoccurtoanartisanunlessthereisnoothermeansofaccomplishingwhattheartifactisintendedtodo.Theonlyotherreasonthatsuchprecisionwouldbecreatedinanobjectwouldbethatthetoolsthatareusedtocreateitaresoprecisethattheyareincapableofproducinganythinglessthanprecision. With either scenario, we are looking at a highercivilizationinprehistorythanwhatiscurrentlyaccepted.Tome,theimplicationsarestaggering.

Figure8.AstonishingprecisionofoneoftheSerapeumboxes

ThisiswhyIbelievethattheseartifactsthatIhavemeasuredinEgyptarethesmokinggunthatproves,withoutashadowofadoubt,thatahighercivilizationthanwhatwehavebeentaughtexistedinancientEgypt.Theevidenceiscutintothestone.'

96

Whatwealsohavetotakeintoconsiderationisthatmostofthe

boxesintheSerapeumweremadeofgranite,andmostlikely

stonebroughtfromthequarryatAswan,about500milesfrom

Saqqara.Notonlythat,butthelidofeachboxwascutfromthe

samestoneastheboxitself.Whywouldthemakersgotosuch

trouble if bulls, nomatter howprized,were the contents? It

would appear, as Dunn alluded to, that the Serapeum boxes

werenotcreatedinthe18thDynastyandnotbythedynastic

Egyptians at all, but are remnants of an older and more

technologically sophisticated culture, possibly those that are

knownastheKhemitians.

Whatyouhaveseenandreadherearebuta fewofmultiple

examplesofartifactsthatdonotfittheparadigmofthedynastic

Egyptians.Theseartifactscouldnothavebeencreatedbythese

people,andthuswemustconcludethattheyareolder.More

information can be gleaned from my book Lost AncientTechnologyOfEgypt.

Copyright©2015BrienFoerster

97

AbouttheAuthor

Brien Foerster is an independent researcher and author of

fifteenbookscenteredaroundPeru,theInca,elongatedskulls,

and lost ancient technology, which are available from his

websitewww.hiddenincatours.com.

HealsowritesarticlesforGrahamHancock,andwasassociated

withthelateLloydPyeoftheStarchildproject,whoanalyzed

the DNA of elongated human skulls of the Peruvian Paracas

culture on his behalf. He has become an authority on the

megalithicworksofSouthAmericaandtheperplexingancient

Elongated Headed people of the area, and divides his time

betweenParacasPeru,andCusco.

HisexplorationshavenowbeenexpandingintoEgypt,which

he visits once a year with www.khemitology.com. Here, he

alongwithStephenMehlerandPatriciaandYousefAwyanare

avidlycontinuingtheworkofAbd’ElHakimAwyan,whospent

decades finding evidence of the existence of a highly

technologicalculturethatexistedinEgyptthousandsofyears

priortothepharaohs.

www.hiddenincatours.com/www.hiddenhumanhistory.com

ConnectwithBrienFoersteronFacebook.

98

The Sacred Meaning of the Reed 

ByGaryA.David

Many cultures around the world either place a special

importanceonthehollow‐stemmedreedplantorrecognizea

certain“placeof thereeds”within their territory.Legendsof

the Hopi tribe in Arizona, for instance, tell of the previous

world‐age thatwasdecimatedbya great flood,mythological

variationsofwhichexistinmostculturesacrosstheglobe.The

fewvirtuousHopiswhostillfollowedthewaysoftheCreator

escaped the risingwaters by crawlingup through a bamboo

reedthatpiercedtheskyandstuckupintothenextworldlike

a kiva ladder. (A kiva is a subterranean, communal prayer‐chamber.) This happened at an actual location called the

SipapuniinthebottomofGrandCanyon.Inanalternateversionofthelegend,theHopiescapedthedelugebysailingeastward

on reed boats across the Pacific Ocean to dry land. In a

ceremonial context, the Hopi use smaller reeds to make a

storage case for a woman’s wedding robe woven of white

cotton thatwill beburiedwithher afterherdeath.The first

village settled on the Hopi Mesas was called Songòopavi

(Shongopovi), literally “placeof thereeds,”and the tribestill

has aReed Clan. In addition, this clan is associatedwith the

celestial“HeartoftheSky”godnamedSótuknang.Infact,the

Hopi word for theMilkyWay is songwuka, literally “the bigreed.”

99

Figure1.Hopibridecarriesareedmatthatcontainsherweddingblanket.Shewearsthisblanketatthenamingofher

firstchild.Intheenditbecomeshershroud.

Mesoamericaalsohasanumberoflocationsdesignatedbythe

reed.TheancestralhomeoftheAztecswasknownnotonlyas

“place of the herons” but also the “place of the reeds.” The

Aztecs initially assumed that Hernando Cortés was the

featheredserpentQuetzalcoatlmakinghisprophesiedreturn.

CortésandhisconquistadoresarrivedontheAtlanticcoaston

Easter1519,whichwastheAztecyearCeAcatl,orOneReed.

This yearmarked the endof a fifty‐twoyear cyclewhen the

world would either be renewed or destroyed. Sadly for the

AztecleaderMoctezumaofTenochtitlán(nowMexicoCity),the

latteroccurred.

100

Theapotheosizedchieftainof theToltecsofnorthernMexico

wascalledMixcoatl,or“CloudSerpent.”About900ADhisson,

who was named Ce Acatl Topiltzin (a.k.a. Quetzalcoatl),

foundedthecityofTula,orTollan. Itsnameagainmeansthe

“placeofthereeds.”

Figure2.Atlantes(Toltecwarriorstatues)atTula,Hidalgo,knownas“placeofthereeds.”

ThelateLindaSchele,expertonMayaniconography,speculates

thattheoriginal“placeofthereeds”wastheGulfCoastswamps

oftheOlmecheartland,wherecivilization,writing,thearts,and

organizedwarfareforthiswholeregionbegan.Laterthename

wasapplied to themajorTolteccenterofTeotihuacán.Maya

citieswiththissameidentificationincludeUxmal,Copan,Tikal,

andUtatlán

InPeruthepre‐IncanUrospeoplelivingaroundLakeTiticaca

claim to be descendants of the builders of the Tiwanaku

(Tiahuanaco).Somearchaeologistsestimatethisgrandcityto

101

be an astounding 15,000 to 20,000 years old. The Uros still

resideonfloatingislandsmadeoftotorareeds.Asthebottom

of the islandsrotaway, theyaddmorereeds to thetop.This

quintessentialreedculturelivesinreedhouses,sailsonreed

boats,andweavesreedhandicrafts.Totorawasalsousedby

the people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) for thatching and to

makeswimming floats.NorthandSouthAmericaarenot the

onlyplaceswherethereedgainedculturalsignificance.

Figure3.UrosislandmadeofreedsnearLakeTiticaca.

Similar to the Greek Elysian Fields, the ancient Egyptian

afterlife was called the Field of Reeds. An oasis called the

FaiyumsouthwestofGizawasprobablythenaturalisticorigin

ofthisconcept.SomeofthevignettesintheEgyptianBookoftheDeaddepictthe“heronofplenty,”otherwiseknownasthephoenix,perchedonasmallpyramid.It isinterestingtonote

thatthehieroglyphofaherononapyramidcorrespondstothe

wordbah,meaning “to flood, to inundate.”This,of course, is

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just the type of environment where reeds grow. In papyrus

illustrationsoftheFieldofRusheswealsofindeitherthefalcon

orasmall,human‐headedbirdrepresentingtheba,soundingthe same as thewordbah previouslymentioned. Theba, or“soul,” perches atop a pylon,which is amassive rectangular

gateway to a temple or hypostyle hall. Thus, the pylon is a

perfectsymbolforaportalorstargate.Inaddition,thewallsof

theFieldofRushesweremadeof iron,presumablymeteoric

iron, which further stresses its celestial

meaning.

Other vignettes show a celestial ship containing a staircase,

whichlookslikehalfofasteppedpyramidcutvertically.These

stairs represent transcendence and rebirth. In addition, the

massivestoneblocksof theTempleofAmunatKarnakwere

carvedtogivetheillusionofbeingmadeofreedandpapyrus.

We furthermore remember that the sacred djed pillar wasconstructedofreeds.Thissymbolofstabilitywasfiguratively

referred to as “the backbone of Osiris,” the god of the

underworldthatisassociatedwiththeconstellationOrion.

Figure4.CelestialbarquefromtheEgyptianBookoftheDead.

103

Figure5.Papyrus‐shapedcolumnsattheTempleofAmun,Luxor.

Figure6.Heronorbennubird(phoenix)atopapyramidalperch.

104

Figure7.Left:Egyptiandjedpillar,anthropomorphizedwithflailandcrook.Right:TheEgyptianbarepresentedthe“soul.”Standingonapylon,thistherianthroperaiseshishandsin

prayerorpraise.

In his book Starwalkers, “investigative mythologist” WilliamHenryidentifiesancientEgyptasanother“placeofthereeds,”

orwhathecallstheDimensionoftheBlessed.“ThemetaphorofthereedcontinuesintheafterlifeFieldorPlaceofReedswhere

it signifies the unfolding of a life in a finer realm, along the

heavenlyNile,theMilkyWay.Timeandagainweseepaintings

ofpriestsandpriestessessailingonthewatersoftheheavenly

NileintheBlessedFieldofReeds.Theyaresailingthestars.”

Orinotherwords,“Ashere,sohereafter.”

105

Figure8.Norwegianexplorer‐authorThorHeyerdahl’s‘RaII’,reconstructedfromancientEgyptiandrawingsandmodels.

Themoremundaneusageofthereedwasconnectedtowriting.

Thereed’sculturalsignificanceisemphasizedbyitsuseasboth

aninstrumentforwritingandthematerialformakingpapyrus.

Musicisalsoanearmarkofculture.Reedsofdifferentlengths

are put together to form the panpipe, or syrinx. The Greek

nymphSyrinxwas lasciviouslypursuedbythesatyrPanand

changedintoareedtoescapeviolence.

TheBabyloniancreationmythcalledtheEnumaElishenvisionsaprimeval timebefore reedsgrew.Used forbuildinghouses

andboats,thereedwouldbecomeanessentialculturalartifact

for the ancient marshland dwellers of southern Iraq. One

versionofthecreationdescribesthedragonslayerMerodach

(Marduk) laying a reed upon the surface of the water and

pouringdustuponittocreatehumankind.

106

TheSumeriancustomofhumanburialwascalled“layingthe

bodyinthe‘reedsofEnki’,”LordofEarth.Thismightreferto

placingacorpseinasmallreedboattofloatdownstreaminto

thecanebrakes.ThelateauthorPhilipCoppensinhisbookTheCanopus Revelation stresses the cultural importance of thereed: “Throughout history, the center of worship of Enki in

Eridu was the reed hut, even though it was surrounded by

impressivetemples.Thereedhutwastheoriginaltempleand

it isimportanttonotethatdespitetechnologicaladvances,at

thecoreofthereligiousbelief,asimplehutremained.Itshows

thattheSumeriansneverforgotwheretheycamefrom.”

Figure9.Temple‐likereedguesthouse,ormudhif,insouthernIraq(Mesopotamia).

TheJapanesecreationmythsays that the firstobject toarise

outoftheoceanofchaoswasareednamedKunitokotachi,the

107

eternalrulerofland.InPhilippinemythologythefirstmanand

womannamedSikalakandSikabaycameoutofasplitbamboo

reed.InChinathebamboowasasymboloflongevityandwas

oneoftheFourNoblePlants. Its fiberwasalsousedtomake

paper.

Giventhevarietyofgeographicallocationsacrosstheglobefor

the“placeofthereeds,”wemayconcludethatitismuchmore

than a reference to flora. Ultimately the reed or bamboo

designates a place of high culture and ancient wisdom—the

sortoflocationwhereastronomer‐priestswouldnormallyscan

theheavensfordoorwaysthroughwhichthesoulcouldmake

itspassagetotheafterlife.FortheHopiIndiansofArizonathe

reed certainly represents migration, a vast journey across

eitheranoceanofsaltwateroranoceanofstars.

Whetherusedforhouses,boats,ropes,writingimplements,

paper,musicalinstruments,orpassagewaystohigher

dimensions,thereedresonatesthroughthewindsoftime,

playinguponourimagination.

Copyright©2015GaryA.David

Bibliography

E.A.WallisBudge,AnEgyptianHieroglyphicDictionary,Vol.I&Vol.II(NewYork:DoverPublications,Inc.,1978,1920).

PhillipCoppens,TheCanopusRevelation:StargateoftheGodsandtheArkofOsiris(Netherlands:FrontierPublishing,2004).

David Freidel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker, Maya Cosmos:ThreeThousandYearsontheShaman’sPath(NewYork:WilliamMorrowandCompany,Inc.,1993).

GrahamHancockandSanthaFaiia,Heaven’sMirror:QuestFortheLostCivilization(NewYork:CrownPublishers,Inc.1998).

108

WilliamHenry, Starwalkersand theDimensionof theBlessed(Kempton,Illinois:AdventuresUnlimitedPress,2007).

Norman Bancroft Hunt, Gods and Myths of the Aztecs: TheHistory andDevelopment of theMexican Culture (New York:SmithmarkPublishers,Inc.,1996).

Ekkehart Malotki, editor, Hopi Dictionary: A Hopi‐EnglishDictionary of the Third Mesa Dialect (Tucson, Arizona: TheUniversityofArizonaPress,1998).

EdmundNequatewa,TruthofaHopi:StoriesRelatingTo theOrigin,Myths and Clan Histories of the Hopi (Flagstaff,Arizona:MuseumofNorthernArizona,1967,reprint1936).

NewLarousseEncyclopediaofMythology(London:TheHamlynPublishingGroupLimited,1972,reprint1959).

Evelyn Rossiter, editor,TheBook of theDead: Papyri ofAni,Hunefer, Anhaï (London: Miller Graphics/Crown Publishers,Inc.,1979,1978).

FrankWatersandOswaldWhiteBearFredericks,BookoftheHopi(NewYork:PenguinBooks,1987,reprint1963).

PaulWestheim,TheArtofAncientMexico (GardenCity,NewYork:AnchorBooks/Doubleday&Co.,1965).

109

AbouttheAuthor

Gary A. David is an author, independent researcher, and

archaeo‐astronomer.Forovertwenty‐fiveyearshehasstudied

the archaeological ruins and rock art of the American

Southwest.HisnonfictionbooksexploreHopimythology,star

knowledge, and rituals, along with the traditions of other

ancientculturesinArizonaandNewMexico.

Latestbook:

UpcomingtoursthatGaryDavidwillhostin2015:

Email:garydavid52@hotmail.com

Website:http://www.theorionzone.com

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/garydavid

110

Mayan Women and the Coiled Snake 

Headdress 

ByLeonideMartin

Thecoiledsnakeheaddressisasignificantartifactconnected

with Mayan women, both ancient and modern. Images of

ancientMayanwomenwearingthisdistinctiveheaddresshave

beenfoundcarvedonstonemonuments,paintedonceramics

andmurals,anddrawninscreen‐foldbarkpaperbookscalled

codices.SimilarheaddressesareworntodaybyMayanwomen

who practice healing and midwifery in the tradition of the

goddess Ix Chel. Every village has its curendera, amedicinewomenwhousesplant‐basedremedies forawidevarietyof

conditions,rangingfromrespiratoryandintestinalailmentsto

spiritually‐causedillnessessuchasmalojoorevileye.ForallthesepractitionersofIxChelmedicine,thecoiledserpentholds

specialsignificance.

Figure1.Thecoiledsnakeheaddress

111

SnakesareapowerfulsymbolamongtheMaya.Intheirprimal

form, snakes represent the surge of life force that brings all

things on earth into manifestation. One who has mastered

snakeenergycontrolsforcesofcreationanddestruction,and

understands the secrets of existence. Snakes are connected

withwaterandtherainyseason,atimeofreturningfertilityas

soilsbecomereadyforplanting.Thecoiledsnakeheaddressis

wornbyIxChel inhermoongoddessaspect,associatedwith

women's menstrual cycles and resultant fertility. Among a

group of contemporary Mayas living near Lake Atitlan in

Guatemala,thewombisvisualizedasacoiledsnake.Themoon

goddess frequently pours water from a jar, symbolic of

women's fecundity and thewatery nature of pregnancy and

childbirth.

IxChelappearsasahealerwearingthecoiledsnakeheaddress

in both young and old goddess forms. Images of these

goddesses appear in both the Madrid and Dresden Codices,

screen‐foldbooksfullofhieroglyphsandillustrationspainted

bythePostclassicMaya,probably inthe15th‐17thcenturies.

Of the thousandsofhieroglyphicmanuscriptspaintedby the

ancient Mayas, only four are known to have survived: The

Madrid, Dresden and Paris Codices, named after the cities

where they are currently housed, and the Grolier Codex

discoveredinacaveinChiapasinthe1960s.Thecodicesare

concernedwith astronomical phenomena, such as lunar and

solar eclipses, calculating Venus and other planetary cycles,

and the 260‐day sacred calendar or tzolk'in, which interactswiththe365‐daysolarcalendarorhaab,tocreaterepeating52‐yearcycles.Thesealmanacsrelatethetimingofvariousritual

and secular activities to different calendrical cycles, and

112

portraywomeninvariouseverydayrolesintheidealizedguise

ofgoddesses.

Other connections between Ix Chel and the tzolk'in calendarincludethedurationofpregnancyandthetimingforplanting

maize(corn).TheMamMayasofhighlandGuatemalalinkthe

earth,themoon,andmaizeinasacredtrinitywhichtheycall

"Our Mother." Among the Quiché of Guatemala, the moon

governsbothwomen'smenstrualcyclesandplantingthemaize

crop. The 260‐day calendar is used to plan conception and

maizeplanting;bothchildbirthandharvestingareexpectedto

occur260daysafterconceptionorsowing.

Figure2.IxChelashealerwithcoiledsnakeheaddress,carvedslatefromSanIgnacio,Belize(2003).Photobyauthor,2015

IxChel‐TheTripleGoddess

While Ix Chel is a triple goddesswith three forms ‐maiden,

mother and crone ‐ shewears the coiled snakeheaddress in

onlytwoofthese.AsthemaidensheiscalledGoddessIinthe

codices,theyoungmoongoddess.Shewearsthecoiledsnake

113

headdress to signify her powers of healing and intuitive

knowledge, her skills at medicine and midwifery, and her

ability tocontrolearthly forces. Sheoftenhas theglyphsak,Mayan word for white, in her headdress to indicate visible

phases of themoon. Women prayed to her for fertility and

successful pregnancy, believed she was responsible for the

developmentof the fetusanddeterminationof its sex. They

placedcarvedimagesundertheirbedtosustainpregnancyand

providesafechildbirth.IxChel'snamemeans"LadyRainbow"

where Ix signifies divine feminine, goddess andwoman and

Chel means rainbow or translucent light. She is closely

associatedwithwater,includinglakes,riversandoceanswhere

itiscommontoseerainbows.Continuingintomoderntimes,

women sleep beside waters and pray for her guidance in

dreams.

Figure3.MaidenIxChel,YoungMoonGoddess.DresdenCodex,Forstemannversion,withpermissionofFAMSI.

114

Intheformofmother,IxCheltakesonblendedqualitiesofboth

moonandearth goddess. She is still calledGoddess I in the

codices, but given the additional name Ixik Kab, whichtranslatesas"LadyEarth."Herheaddresscontainsacottoncoil

andspindles,bothassociatedwithweavingandthedryseason.

Herheaddressmayhavethesakglyph,linkinghertothemoon

initswaxingaspectsandthewhitenessofcotton.Itissaidthat

herheaddressdoesnotcontainthecoiledserpentbecauseshe

istoobusyaswifeandmothertoattendtohealingneeds.She

isassociatedwithsexualdesire,fertility,motherhood,weaving,

the earth and crops. Images in the codices portray her in

amorousscenes,somepicturingexplicitsexualunion. She is

also depicted with an enlarged pregnant belly, carrying

childrenonherback,andofferingburdensthatincludemaize

and fish. At times she has a bird perched on her shoulders,

whichmightrepresentdiseaseorcouldprognosticateacoming

astrologicalsign.EthnographicaccountshavereportedMaya

beliefsthatthewaxingmoonbringsillnessessuchasinfections,

tumorsorpustules.

IxikKab‐IxChelhasarovingeye,depictedincodicespaired

with many different male figures. These sexual unions

represent planetary and stellar conjunctions, and relate to

contemporaryfolktalesthatdescribetheMoon‐EarthGoddess

asadeitywithmanyromanticpartners.Themoonhasmany

lovers because it moves rapidly through the sky, frequently

encounteringplanetsasitcirclesaround. Thesefolktalestell

that theyoungIxChelwas independentandheadstrong,and

elopedtomarrytheSunGod.Butshewouldnotobeyhim,so

hegotangryandmistreatedheruntil sheranawaywith the

MorningStarGod(Venus).Followinghiscelestialmovements,

shehidmuchof the time fromherangryhusband. Soon the

115

MorningStarGodbecamewearyofherrefusaltoobeyhimand

he locked her up, but she escaped and ran away with the

Vulture God. The Sun God heard about this and planned to

retrieveherbycoveringhimselfinadeerskin,pretendingtobe

dead.Whenthevulturescametoeat,theSunGodgrabbedone

bythewingandwascarriedtothehouseoftheVultureGod.

They fought furiously,but theSunGodwonandtookIxChel

back. His jealousy wearied her again, and they quarrelled

causingtheheavenstothunderandshootboltsoflightningto

earth. Inhisanger, theSunGodtookawayIxChel'sbrilliant

rainbowcolorsandleftherwithonlythepalelightofthemoon.

IxChelasmoonmotherappears inan incisedceramicvessel

nowintheAmericanMuseumofNaturalHistory.Onthevessel,

a large snake with mirrors on its body loops around many

images. One shows a lunar crescent enclosing the Moon

Goddessholdingarabbit.Shewearsashortlatticedbeadskirt

andherheaddresscontainsmaizefoliation,mergingherwith

theMaizeGodandreiteratingherfecundity.InMayafolklore,

IxCheltookherpetrabbit(symboloffertility)andhidherself

in themoon to escape the SunGod's fury. Shewanders the

night sky making herself invisible whenever her husband

showshis fieryhead. Duringthedarkdaysof themoon,she

restsfromhertravels.Whenthemoonisfull,youcanseeher

sittinginthemoonholdingherrabbitwhileshewatchesover

the earth, taking care of women and children and guiding

healers.

In her crone aspect, Ix Chel is often called aged Goddess O,

explicitlynamedincodicesasChakChel.Shewearsthecoiledserpentheaddressinbothherlife‐givinganddestructiveforms

asaGrandmotherEarthGoddessofthemoon,rain,medicine

and death. The serpent headdress signifies her abilities in

medicine,healing,intuitivewisdomandspiritualpowers.She

116

oftenfunctionsastheagedfemalecurer(curendera),diviner

and midwife who also eases people in their dying process,

absorbingbodiesof thedeceased intoherphysicalbody, the

earth.Thisisarolestillfrequentlyundertakenbyoldwomen

in Mesoamerica. Chak Chel ‐ Ix Chel has many attributes,

portrayedincodicesasabeneficentwatergoddessfrequently

pairedwiththeraingodChaak,asthe femalememberof the

creatorcouplepairedwithItzamna,andasaworlddestroyer

shownwithbestialcharacteristicsanddeathsymbols.

Figure4.OldMoonGoddess,BeneficentChakChel.DresdenCodex,Forstemannversion,withpermissionofFAMSI

Chakcanmeaneitherredorgreat,evokingChortíimagesofthe

fullmoonwitharedglowasasignofheavyrains.Chelmeans

rainboworarchofheaven,sotheChakChelnamecouldbethe

"redrainbowmoon,"anotherimageoftherainy‐seasonmoon.

DepictionsincodicesshowGoddessOwearingacoiledserpent

117

headdressandholdinganoverturnedwaterjarpouringwater.

This symbolizes the connections between rain and serpents;

when the serpent rainbow surrounds the moon it signifies

therewillberain.

Inherbeneficentaspects,ChakChelpourswater fromaclay

pot shaped like a womb onto the earth to prepare soils for

planting and restore the waters of lakes and streams. This

symbolizesherpouringofblessingsandhealingontotheworld.

IntwoscenesfromtheMadridCodex,ChakChelemitswater

fromher pelvic region and armpits, variously interpreted as

depicting the rush of amniotic fluid before childbirth or the

symbolicpowerofmenstrualblood andbody fluids tobring

fertility.Thisaspectofthecronegoddessisassociatedwiththe

waningmoon.

Figure5.OldMoonGoddessDestructive,ChakChel.DresdenCodex,Forstemannversion,withpermissionofFAMSI.

118

In her destructive aspects, Chak Chel has monstrous

appearancewithsharpclawsandaskirtfullofcrossedbones.

Herclawedhandsand feetseemtobe thoseofa jaguar,and

sometimesshehasajaguar‐spottedeye.Whenpouringwater

in thisaspect, she sends forthstorms, floodsandhurricanes.

Onedepictioninthecodicesshowsherpouringhugeamounts

ofwaterincollaborationwithaserpent,thoughttorepresent

the deluge that destroyed the secondMaya creation ofmud

people. Another dangerous aspect pictured in the Dresden

CodexshowsGoddessOasthenewmoonthreateningtoeclipse

thesun.Shepoursrainwatermarkedwithglyphsreferringto

an 1,820‐day cycle, the cycle associated with solar eclipse

imagesintheParisCodex.Thereisincreasedincidenceofsolar

eclipses during the new moon, and the Mayas feared that

eclipsesmightbringdestructiontotheworld.

TheLegacyofIxChelandtheCoiledSnakeHeaddress

Ix Chel in her aspects as healer wearing the coiled snake

headdresscontinuestowieldstronginfluenceinMesoamerica,

with recent branching to North America and Europe.

TraditionalMayamedicineisstillwidelypracticedinvillages,

broughttotheattentionofcontemporaryhealersthroughthe

workofDr.RositaArvigo.Rosita’shealingcareerstartedasa

Doctor of Naprapathy (similar to Chiropractic) in the USA.

AftermovingtoBelizeshemetDonElijioPanti,perhapsthelast

great h’men (one who knows) trained in ancient Mayanknowledge.Sheapprenticedwithhimfor13yearsanddevoted

herlifetopreservingtraditionalMayahealing.Shehaslived

among theMaya inSan Ignacio,Belize for thepast35years,

whereshecatalogedandpreservedthousandsofhealingplants

andtreesofBelizethroughherworkwithDr.MichaelBalickof

TheNewYorkBotanicalGarden and theBelize Ethnobotany

Project(1987‐1996.)

119

Rosita learned about Ix Chel from Don Elijio, and was

immediatelyfascinatedbythisGoddessoftheAmericas. She

namedhertropicalhomesteadinBelizetheIxChelFarmand

laterfoundedtheIxChelTropicalResearchCentre,developing

Maya Abdominal Therapy and the Maya Spiritual Healing

Association under the Goddess' patronage. Many healing

practitioners from around the world come to study in Dr.

Arvigo'sprograms,thenbringtheseancientremediesandskills

intotheirownpractices.AccordingtoRosita,nomodalityshe

foundinoverfourdecadesofspecializinginwomen'scarehas

beenas effectiveas theMayaabdominalmassageand steam

bath system. Ancient midwives on the island of Cozumel,

sacredtoIxChel,usedpelvicandabdominalmassagetocenter

theuterus,re‐positionafetusandstrengthenuterineligaments

andmuscles. This allowed for an unimpeded flowof chu’lel(vitalforceorchi).

Cozumel Island, called Cuzamil in ancient times, holds an Ix

Cheltemplesanctuaryforwomen,abandonedduringthe10th

century.MayawomenwenttoCuzamilfortraininginhealing

andwomen'smysteries,andeverywomansoughttomaketwo

pilgrimages in her lifetime, at menarche and menopause.

Thousands made this pilgrimage, traveling by canoe from

present‐dayPlayadelCarmen,atreacherous12‐hourjourney.

TodayinYucatan,thiscrossing,LaTravesia,isre‐enactedeach

MaywithcanoesfromTulumtoCozumel.In2008aCanadian

journalist described this "remarkable cultural, spiritual and

theatricalexperiencecalledtheSacredMayanJourney"asthe

recreationoftheancientCuzamilpilgrimagelostforover500

years. Wearing a coiled snake headdress, a modern

representativeofIxChelgavehermessagetopilgrimsasthey

completethesacredjourney.

120

Dr.Arvigo'sorganizationofMayaAbdominalTherapistsmakes

asemi‐annualpilgrimagetoCozumelIslandofferinggratitude

andprayerstoIxChel,theirpatroness.Beforetheirresearch,

publishing images and articles, and passing down ancient

teachings, IxChelwith the coiled snakeheaddressofhealer‐

midwife was unknown to all but a small group of Mayan

healers. NowaccordingtoRosita,"inkeepingwiththeMaya

promiseofaresurgenceoftheDivineFemininePrincipleafter

2012,shehasbeenenthronedinherformerglory...assuring

thatIxChelisneveragainaforgottenGoddess."

Figure6.ShrineofIxChelonIslaMujeres,sacredpilgrimageislandnearCozumel.Photobyauthor,2009.

Copyright©2015LeonideMartin

121

Bibliography

Ardren, T (editor). (2002). Ancient Maya Women. AltamiraPress,WalnutCreek,CA.Ch.11,"RepresentationsofWomenin

PostclassicandColonialMayaLiteratureandArt"byGabrielle

VailandAndreaStone.

Arvigo, R. (1994). Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a MayaHealer.HarperSanFrancisco,CA.

Arvigo, R., and Balick, M. (1998). Rainforest Remedies: OneHundredHealingHerbs ofBelize. 2nd Edition. Lotus Press,TwinLakes,WI.

Förstemann, E. (2003). The Dresden Codex. Originally

published 1880 & 1882, FAMSI (Foundation for the

Advancement ofMesoamerican Studies)Website Publication

2003. Date accessed 1‐26‐15. Available from:

http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/dresden.html

Mallin, L. Sacred Maya Journey to the Goddess.

http://lornemallin.blogspot.com/2008/06/sacred‐maya‐

journey‐to‐goddess.html

Milbrath,S.(1999).StarGodsoftheMaya.UniversityofTexasPress,Austin,TX."TheYoungMoonGoddessinColonialand

PostclassicTimes"pp. 138‐141, "TheAgedMoonGoddess in

ColonialandPostclassicTimes"pp.141‐147,"TheClassicMaya

MoonGoddess"pp.150‐155.

Courses in the ARVIGO™ Techniques taught by Certified

ARVIGO™ Teachers around the world.

https://arvigotherapy.com/

Maya Spiritual Healing Workshops in Belize.

http://rositaarvigo.com/workshops/

122

AbouttheAuthor

Leonide Martin is a retired California State University

professor,formerFamilyNursePractitioner,andcurrentlyan

author andMaya researcher. Her books bring ancientMaya

culture and civilization to life in stories about both real

historical Mayans and fictional characters. She has studied

Mayaarchaeology,anthropologyandhistoryfromthescientific

andindigenousviewpoints.

Books

Website:

MistsofPalenque:http://mistsofpalenque.com/

AuthorBlog:

https://leonidemartinblog.wordpress.com/

AuthorFacebookPage:

https://www.facebook.com/leonide.martin?ref=hl

123

The Mystery of Obelisks 

ByScottOnstott

Stories of tall, narrow four‐sided tapering stonemonuments

cappedwithpyramid‐likeformsarefascinating—especiallythe

dramas of how these great masses were transported and

raised.WhatIintendtointroduceyoutointhisessayisagreat

mystery,oneencodedinthepresent‐daylocationsofobelisks.

TheancientEgyptiancultureinventedthetekhenu,somethingthe Greek historian Herodotus recorded as a pointed pillar,

whichinGreekisobeliskos—formingthebasisofourpresent

wordobelisk.Theoldestobeliskstillinitsoriginalpositionis

in the ruins of Heliopolis, Egypt. The 120‐ton obelisk of

SenusretIistheonlysurvivingartifactofthisancientSunCity.

The ancient Egyptians believed the obelisk form literally

housedpartoftheirSungodRa’sspirit. Ithasbeensaidthat

obelisks might be an architectural version of Sun pillars1, a

visual phenomenon created by sunlight reflecting off ice

crystalsintheatmospherethatcanresembleverticalpointed

pillarsinthesky.

Another fascinating atmospheric phenomenon, popularly

knownforcenturiesastheLighthouseofMaracaibo,isanepicdisplayoflightningcenteringonapointwheretheCatatumbo

River empties into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. The

phenomenon consists of almost continuous electrical

dischargesbetween2kmandmorethan10kminheight.Wind,

seepingmethane, and uranium in the bedrock have all been

advancedaspossibleexplanationsbutnoonereallyknowswhy

thismegalightshowgoesonupwardsof160nightsperyear,

10 hours per night, and up to 280 times per hour2 in this

specificlocation.

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TheLighthouseofMaracaibois6666milesfromHeliopolis.Is

theobeliskofHeliopolis acting as somekindof acupuncture

needle in theEarth?Letus setaside thequestionofunitsof

measureuntillaterandsimplyappreciatethisresonancewith

repeatingdigits.

Thinkingmoreaboutlighthouses,IdrewalineinGoogleEarth

from the sole obelisk inHeliopolis to the locationwhere the

ancientLighthouseofAlexandriaoncestood,whereareplica

nowstands.Icontinuedthelinetoseeifitwouldhitanything

else of significance and discovered something amazing—the

alignment continues to the George Washington National

MasonicMemorial,whichisanotherreplicaoftheLighthouse

ofAlexandria.ThislighthouseislocatedinAlexandria,Virginia

and measures 333 feet in height. The Scottish Rite of

Freemasonry has 33 degrees, which also fits this pattern of

repetitivedigits.

Alexandria is a suburb of Washington DC, where America’s

most famous obelisk, the Washington Monument stands

approximately 555.5 feet or 6666 inches tall (seemy article

entitled, “Mathematical Encoding in the Great Pyramid”3 to

learnhowthismeasureisencodedinthepyramid).Ratherthan

a monolithic piece of stone, theWashingtonMonument is a

work of both operative and speculativemasonry4. Curiously,

theWashingtonMonument is 333.333 km from themodern

obelisk‐likearchitecturalspireatoptheBankofAmericaTower

inNewYorkCity.

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Figure1.DistancebetweentheWashingtonMonumentandBankofAmericaTower

TheLighthouseofAlexandria,Egypt is3333.33km from the

center of theMénec alignments, themostwell knownof the

standing stones in Carnac, France. Thousands of prehistoric

stones marching across the landscape resemble undressed

obelisks,needlingtheEarthinlongrows.Perhapstheancients

practiced an Earth science we can only guess at today. The

alignment between the Heliopolis obelisk and the two

Lighthouses of Alexandria (ancient and modern) is on a far

granderscaleandIsupposeitisprobablysymbolicratherthan

acting asapossiblewaveguide for telluric energies, butwho

reallyknows?

126

Figure2.MonumentsinrelationtotheLighthouseofAlexandria,Egypt.

Incidentally the center of theMénec alignments in Carnac is

6666.6km from theFreemasonbuilding in the International

Peace Garden on the US/Canada border. This enigmatic

buildingwasconstructed literallyasthesquareandcompass

emblem of freemasonry, perceptible only when seen from

above.TheFreemasonemblembuilding is locatedat100°3’

33.33”westlongitude.

127

Figure3.DistancebetweentheFreemasonEmblembuildingandtheMenecMenhirAlignments

Thedistance fromtheLighthouseofAlexandria,Egypttothe

Eiffel Tower in Paris is 3033.33 km. This is especially

interesting in light of Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval’s

researchrevealingthatthenameParismayindeedcomefrom

Pharia‐Isis, a name used to identify the Lighthouse of

AlexandriabytheGreeksinantiquity5.TheEiffelTowercanbe

thoughtofasan ironobeliskor lighthousesymbolizingParis

and even France itself. The annual Bastille Day fireworks

emanatingfromtheEiffelTowerarecertainlyspectacularand

qualifyitasaliteralPharia‐IsisLighthouse.

Themathematicalconstante,(approximately2.71828…)isofeminent importance in mathematics6, being the base of the

naturallogarithm.IdiscoveredthatthedistancefromtheEiffel

Tower to the churchof La SagradaFamilia inBarcelona isemillionfeet.ThespiresofGaudi’sfamousstructureresemblea

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forestofobelisks,eachonecappedwithaSundisc.That’sfunny

becausetheSun’scircumferenceisemillionmiles7!

Figure4.Themathematicalconstant‘e’

ThereisoneancientEgyptianobeliskinParisatthecenterof

LaPlacedelaConcorde.ThisobeliskcamefromtheTempleof

Luxor in Egypt, some 33° distant as the crow flies. Robert

Bauvalrealizedthereisanuncannysimilaritybetweenthe6°

bendintheLouvre/HistoricalaxesofParisandthe6°bendin

the Luxor/Karnak temple axes in Egypt,8 but that is another

story.Sufficeittosaythatitisespeciallyappropriatethatthe

obeliskinPariscamefromLuxor.

TheLuxorobelisk is666metersawayfromthecenterofthe

largeroundwaterbasinintheadjacentTuileriesGardens.Ifthe

Luxorobeliskissymbolicofalingamthenyoumightthinkof

theroundbasinasayoni.Theroundbasinrepresentstheholy

ofholies inSolomon’sTempleof Jerusalem,according to the

analysisshowninmyfilm,SecretsInPlainSightVolume1.It’s

curiousalsothatParisis3333kmfromJerusalem9.

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Figure5.DistancebetweentheLuxorObeliskandtheRoundBasinofTuileriesGardens

Letus followanewtrailstartingat theroundbasinthatwill

leadustomoreobelisks.Thedistancefromthecenterofthe

roundbasin intheTuileriesGardenstotherond‐pointofthe

cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (the terminus of the

traditionalCatholicpilgrimage)is666.66miles.

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Figure6.DistancebetweenSantiagodeCompostelaandtheRoundFountainofTuileriesGardens

The distance from the round basin to Bugarach Peak near

RennesleChateauinsouthernFranceis666.66km.Bugarach

Peakhaslongbeenasiteofnew‐agepilgrimage.

“For decades, there has been a belief that Pic de Bugarach,

which,at1,230meters,isthehighestintheCorbièresmountain

range,possessesaneeriepower.Oftencalledthe“upside‐down

mountain”–geologiststhinkthatitexplodedafteritsformation

and the top landed thewrongwayup– it is thought tohave

inspired JulesVerne’s Journeyto theCentreof theEarthand

StevenSpielberg’sCloseEncountersoftheThirdKind.Sincethe

1960s, it has attracted New Agers, who insist that it emits

specialmagneticwaves.

131

Further, rumors persist that the country’s late president

François Mitterrand was transported by helicopter onto the

peak, while the Nazis, and later, Israel’s Mossad, performed

mysteriousdigs there.Now thenearbyvillage is awashwith

NewAgers,whohaveboostedthelocaleconomy,thoughtheir

nakedgroup‐climbsuptothepeakhaveraisedconcernsaswell

aseyebrows.”10

If you draw a line from the rond‐point of the cathedral of

Santaigo de Compostela in Spain through Bugarach peak, it

continuesdirectly to theSallustianoobeliskat the topof the

Spanish Steps inRome. The distance fromBugarachPeak to

thisobeliskis33,003,300inches.TheSallustianohappenstobe

anancientRomancopyofanEgyptianobelisk.

The most famous obelisk in the city is of course the one

standing in St. Peter’s square in the Vatican. Erecting this

obelisk was one of the greatest engineering feats of the

Renaissance, requiring some 140 horses and 800 men who

barelymanagedtohoistitintoposition11.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the enigmatic Edward

Leedskalnin,whobuiltCoralCastle in theearly20th century,

claimedtohaveliftedmegalithsintoplaceallbyhimselfusing

amysteriousmagnetic technologybasedonancientEgyptian

science.Whileitiscertainlyunexpectedthatthedistancefrom

the center of Coral Castle to the Vatican obelisk is exactly

330,330,000 inches, Coral Castle is located in US zip code

33033 (zip code 33333 doesn’t exist, by the way). The

coincidences with repetitive digits, and particularly with

threes,keeppilingup!

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Figure7.DistancebetweenCoralCastleandtheVaticanObelisk

ThelargeststandingancientEgyptianobeliskintheworldisin

Rome, in front of the Lateran Basilica, seat of the Bishop of

Rome(akathePope).ThisobeliskoriginallycamefromKarnak

andwaspairedwithanothermatchingobelisk,bothofwhich

weremovedtoAlexandria inantiquity.Thefirstendedup in

Rome and the second was moved to Istanbul several

generationslaterbyRomanemperorTheodosiusI.Drawinga

line starting at the obelisk in Istanbul through its sibling in

Rome,thelineextendsallthewaytoMadrid.Specificallythis

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alignmentbisects theancientEgyptianTempleofDebod12 in

centralMadrid,whichwasmovedtherefromAswaninthemid‐

20thcentury.Romeisalmostexactly13atthemidpointofthis

alignmentbetweenIstanbulandMadrid.Whatarethechances

thatthesecitiesandmonumentswithinthemshouldlineupso

perfectly?

Figure8.AlignmentbetweenTempleofDebod,LateranPalaceandObeliskofTheodosius

ThemostfamousofallancientEgyptianobeliskswouldhaveto

be the matching pair of “Cleopatra’s Needles” as they are

known—even though they have nothing to do with the

intriguing final Pharaoh and were erected in Heliopolis

thousands of years prior to her birth. One of Cleopatra’s

NeedlesisnowinNewYorkCity’sCentralParkadjacenttothe

Met(whichcontainstheTempleofDendur,alsofromAswan).

ThedistancefromCleopatra’sNeedleinNYCtoBugarachPeak

is3303.33nauticalmiles.

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Figure9.DistancebetweenCleopatra’sNeedleandBugarachPeak

ThesisterCleopatra’sNeedlecurrentlyrestsincentralLondon

onthebankoftheThames,ariverknownupstreamastheIsis.

TheneedleinLondonislocated3333.33kmfromwhereitonce

stoodontheharborwallinAlexandriafornearlytwomillennia,

notfarfromthefamousaforementionedLighthouse.

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Figure10.DistancebetweenCleopatra’sNeedleinLondonandCleopatra’sNeedleinAlexandria

In my numerical and metrological research I have come to

understand that resonances with repetitive digits occur in

various systems of units (inches, feet,miles, kilometers, and

nauticalmiles)becausethedimensionsoftheEarth—thebasis

ofsacredgeometry,defineeachunit.

136

TheSunis333,000timesmoremassivethantheEarth14.There

are333millioncubicmilesofwateronEarth.Only3%isinthe

atmosphereand0.3%of that is freshwateron thesurface.15

Howcanthisbe,andwhyarethenumberssoperfect?

Isitallevidenceofavastconspiracyspanningthecenturiesor

doyoutakethisasevidenceofdeepnumericalpatterninginthe

cosmositself?Couldbothbetruesimultaneously?Whoarethe

encoders?Whatdoestheirencodingreveal?Thesearesomeof

the many questions I enjoy exploring in my work at

www.secretsinplainsight.com.

Copyright©2015ScottOnstott

137

EndNotes

1. Patricia Blackwell Gary and Richard Talcott, "Stargazing inAncientEgypt",Astronomy,June2006,pp.62‐67.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning

3. http://www.ancient‐origins.net/ancient‐places‐africa‐opinion‐guest‐authors/mathematical‐encoding‐great‐pyramid‐002323

4. http://www.mastermason.com/wilmettepark/intro.html

5. GrahamHancockandRobertBauval,“Talisman”(2004)pp.202‐203.

6. Howard Whitley Eves, “An Introduction to the History ofMathematics”(1969).

7. ThestatementthattheSun’scircumferenceisemillionmilesis99.9% accurate according to NASA data:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sun&

Display=Facts

8. GrahamHancockandRobertBauval,“Talisman”(2004)pp.431‐434.

9. The distance from the center of the Dome of the Rock inJerusalemtothecenterofLaPlacedelaNationinParisis3333.33

km.

10. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hippies‐head‐for‐noahs‐ark‐queue‐here‐for‐rescue‐aboard‐alien‐

spaceship‐7584492.html

11. PeterTompkins,“TheMagicofObelisks”(1981)p.32.

12. This alignment was discovered by Kevin McMahon:

http://peacegardensecrets.com/2014/05/

138

13. ThedistancefromtheTempleofDebodinMadridtotheLateranobeliskinRomeis99.97%equaltothedistancefromtheLateran

obelisktotheobeliskofTheodosiusinIstanbul.

14. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html

15. http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html

139

AbouttheAuthor

ScottOnstottisthecreatoroftheSecretsInPlainSightvideo

series,an inspiringexplorationofgreatart,architecture,and

urbandesignunveiling theunlikely intersectionofgeometry,

mysticism, physics, music, astronomy, and world history.

SecretsInPlainSightVolume1hasmorethan4millionviews

todate.Scottistheauthorof11exotericbooksonarchitectural

software and 4 esoteric books. He recently published

Quantification, a book of color illustrations highlighting

patterns in the Great Pyramid, the human body and in the

Earth,which also reveals uncanny distances between sacred

sites.ScottOnstotthasadegreeinArchitectureandworkedfor

adecadedesigningcorporateinteriorsinSanFranciscobefore

becominganindependentteacher,authorandfilmmaker.

Books:

Website:

www.secretsinplainsight.com

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/scottonstott

140

Ancient Acoustic Artifacts and 

Communication with the “Gods” 

ByGaryEvans

Inthisarticle,IwillintroducethesubjectofArchaeoacoustics

andancient“musicalinstruments”.Aswewillsee,thesecanbe

usedinconjunctionwithanumberofancientsitesfromaround

theworld.

Archaeoacoustics

Archaeoacousticsistheuseofacousticalstudywithinthewider

scientific field of archaeology. This includes the study of the

acousticsatarchaeologicalsites,andthestudyofacousticsin

archaeologicalartifacts.Over the last40years ithasbecome

increasinglyobviousthatstudyingthesonicnatureofcertain

areasofarchaeologycanhelpusunderstandancientcultures.

Archaeoacoustics is an interdisciplinary field, it includes

various fields of research including: archaeology,

ethnomusicology,acousticsanddigitalmodelling.Theseform

thelargerfieldofmusicarchaeology.

Oneoftheleadingresearchgroupspublishingnewpaperson

Archaeoacoustics is SB Research Group. (SBRG) is a

multidisciplinaryuniversityprojectsupportedbyUniversityof

Trieste,Italy“thataimstostudyfrom2010thearchitecture,

geometry,shapeandmaterialsofancientstructuresinEurope”.

“Archaeoacoustics is an interesting new method for

reanalyzingancientsites,itusesdifferentstudyparametersto

re‐discoverforgottentechnologywhichoperatesonthehuman

emotionalsphere.”(SBRG).

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Researchoverthelastfewdecadesisstartingtoshedlighton

theconnectionbetweenancientinstrumentsandancientsites.

At Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Miriam Kolar of Stanford

Universityreportsinherarticle,“TheCodeoftheConch‐How

thescienceofsoundexplainedanancientPeruvianoracle”:

“Archaeoacoustic research—sonic science applied to

archaeological evidence—has revealed secrets built into

Chavín’s architecture, unlocked by the sound of conch shells

thatwereburiedformillennia.”

“PerformingareplicashellhorninsideChavín’sgalleries,Ican

feelthroughmybodytheresonancesbetweeninstrumentand

architecture, a physically and emotionally transformative

experience that would have been similarly sensed—but

interpreteddifferently—byhumansinthepast”.

Purpose and use of ancient conch (pututus) musicalinstruments.

Chavín de Huántar and the work carried out by Stanford

Universityprovideuswithawindowintotheacousticpast.A

solid case has been made for the use of certain sound

frequenciesaffectingthehumanemotionalsphere,possiblyin

conjunctionwithpsychotropicplants.Wearegenerallyledto

believe that our ancestors were superstitious people who

gleaned no real material benefit from their “rituals”. The

evidenceappearstobeslowlyerodingthistheory.Forexample,

ifwecombinetheworkcarriedoutbyStanfordwiththework

carried out by UCLA, it becomes clear that certain sound

frequencies are capable of changing regional brain activity.

Frommyownresearchandexperience,Icanadd,whilstinside

certain Egyptian pyramids, being immersed in these sound

frequencieshasamorepronouncedeffectthansimplylistening

tothesoundfrequencyonheadphones.

142

Togainaclearerunderstanding Irecommendyou listentoa

short(2mins15secs)audiocliprecordedbyStanfordinside

Chavin.Theweblinkisprovidedattheendofthisarticle.

Certainnotesproducedbytheconchshellareamplifiedbythe

chamberit’splayedin.Icansayfrompersonalexperience,once

astonestructure’sresonantpitchhasbeenmatched,youcan

feel sound waves entering the body. On the tours I help

organise,thefirstcontactpeoplehavewiththiseffectcanoften

bevery surprising. In this setting thehumanvoice canoften

sound like a didgeridoo, in the past, Australian guests have

lookedaroundforsomeoneplayingadidgeridoo!Eventhough

thesoundissimplymyvoice,creatingvowelsounds,whichare

thenamplifiedbythechamber.

Figure1.AnAztecconchshelltrumpetercalleda"quiquizoani"inNahuatlfromtheCodexMagliabecchi

Peopleofthepastmayhaveexperiencedsimilarastonishment.

Oncetheinitialsurpriseisoutoftheway,Iexplainhowaltered

states can be accomplished. This is where the practice of

meditation can help. A quiet mind is key. Many of us have

troublesimplysittinginsilence;thiscanactasabarriertothe

143

effectsofsound.Relaxationandattentionhelptofacilitatethe

process.

PeruvianWhistlingVessels

Anotherinterestingancientmusicalartefactisdocumentedin

a1974articlefromTheJournalofTranspersonalPsychology,

“Double‐chambered whistling bottles: A unique Peruvian

potteryform”byDanielK.Stat.

This article gives the results and conclusions of a seemingly

innocent ancient artefact. Archaeologists had previously

dismissed these “whistling bottles” as simple entertainment

while pouring a drink. However, upon detailed study and

analysis the intricacies of design and the acoustic properties

have come to light. Human trials were conducted by the

Franklin Institute and Hahnemann Medical College of

Philadelphia. The sound level and range of frequencies

produced by these artifacts was found to alter “heart rate,

bloodpressure,andrespiration”.

144

Figure2.AMayawhistle

Conclusionsfromtheabovearticle.

“IsitpossiblethatforthousandsofyearsPeruviancivilization

utilized sound to effect psycho‐physiological reactions?

Perhaps because of a more esoteric approach to life, the

Andeans discerned a reality not readily apparent tomodern

mankind”.

Analysis of worldwide ancient sites with acousticproperties.

Part of my research has centred on investigating the global

spread of ancient sites demonstrating acoustic resonance

properties.OnequestionIwantedtotryandanswerwas,“did

anumberofancientcultureshaveanunderstandingofsound

anduse it foralteredstatesofconsciousness?”.Basedonmy

145

ownexperiencesatvariousancientsites, ithasbecomeclear

that archaeologists are generally misunderstanding our

ancestors.Somethingtheyoftenlabelas“communicationwith

thegodsorspiritworld”whichisatypeofcatchallexplanation

thatexplainsverylittle.Oncetheconnectionbetweenacoustics

andancientsiteshadbeenrevealed,apatterncouldbefound

around the world. From Egypt to Peru, throughout the

Mediterranean,acrossEuropetoScotland,aswellasinthefar

eastincludingIndia,aconnectionbetweensoundandhistorical

locationscanbediscerned.

Ancientacousticartifactsandbuildingsanalyzedthroughthe

lensofmodernsciencearestartingtorevealsometantalizing

clues. A number of ancient peoples appear to have had an

understanding and sacred science based on resonance and

sound frequency. For more on this I suggest you read thisfascinatingarticle“TheFallandRiseofResonance”.Thisarticle

provides a great overview starting at various cultures and

metaphysicalbeliefsintheNeolithic,whichincludedresonance

concepts.These include:TheEgyptianHermetecists,Hebrew

mysticismandGnosticismandtheGreekPythagoreanschool.

Acentraltenetofthesevariousschoolswastheunderstanding

ofhowtousecertainplacesandsoundfrequencies.Theymay

have thought of this as contacting the great spirit or their

ancestors.Orperhapstheyunderstoodmorethanwhatwegive

themcreditfor.Modernscienceisrevealingthatcertainareas

of the brain “light up” when exposed to certain sound

frequencies. Creativity, intuition, deep personal insights,

epiphanies of understanding are all possibilities under these

conditions.

Thereisanincreasingbodyofscientificresearch(referencesat

theendofthisarticle),confirmingthatmanyancientsiteswere

146

builtwithacousticsasacentral feature.Wemayfindintime

thatmanyothersiteslikeChavinwerebuiltwiththisinmind.

The acoustics features at Chavin seem to have dictated the

entirelayoutofthesite,includingthediversionoftworivers.A

massive task of human labour, planning and endeavor. This

tellsussomething;theresultofall thisworkwasconsidered

worthwhile. In the21st centurywealsoputhugeamountsof

effort into engineering projects, such as dams; we do this

becausewecanderiveanoticeablebenefitfromallofthework

–powertorunourhomesandmachines.DidthepeopleofPeru

alsogainanoticeablebenefit justifyingtheirtimeandeffort?

Somethingwehaveforgottenormisunderstood?

Figure3.ChavíndeHuántararchaeologicalsiteinPeru

Articlesonancientacousticsarenowbecomingcommonplace

inthemainstreampress;hereisarecentexamplefromOctober

2014. The International Business Times published an article

“StonehengeWas a 'Giant Echo Chamber to Summon up the

AncientSpirits'”.

147

Thearticlegoesontosay.“Ancientman'sgreatestmonuments

weregiantechochamberstocreatevastsoundscapestospeak

tothegods,accordingtonewresearch.”

Figure4.Stonehengehasbeenlikenedtoagiantechochamber

PyramidsinEgypt

Icouldeasilydedicateanentirearticletothesubjectofacoustic

chambers inside thepyramidsofEgypt. I visitEgyptand the

GreatPyramidonaregularbasis,(atthetimeofwritingIhave

beentherearound25times).Greatmindsandordinarypeople

havemarvelledattheGreatPyramidforthousandsofyears–

was it justa tombasweare toldbyarchaeologists?One fact

that can’t be argued is that the main chamber of the Great

Pyramid amplifies sound. I expect there are a number of

academicswhowouldliketodismissthisfactasa“coincidence”

caused by the construction material. They might point out

rooms constructed of stone as well as caves produce an

acoustic effect. However, there are a large number of

engineeringfeaturesinsidetheGreatPyramidandsurrounding

theKingsChamberthatenhancetheacousticeffect.Wasallof

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thistimeandeffortputinfornootherreasonthanconstructing

anicesoundingroomforthepharaohs’body?

SirFlindersPetrieinhisbook(8)“ThePyramidsandTemples

of Gizeh” gives us some tantalizing information in his

descriptionoftheKingsChamberandtheGreatPyramid.

“On the E. andW. are two immense limestone walls wholly

outside of; and independent of; all the granite floors and

supportingblocks.Betweenthesegreatwallsallthechambers

stand,unbonded,andcapableofyieldingfreelytosettlement.”

“But the floorof thechamber is raisedabove thebaseof the

walls; a peculiar arrangement for which some reason must

haveexisted.”

SirFlindersPetrieassumed the freemovementdesignof the

King’sChamberwasduetosettlement.Ifwecombinethefree

movement with the raised floor, a picture of a chamber

designedtoresonatefreelystartstoform.Forthepurposesof

thisarticleImustbebrief.Icouldalsotalkatlengthaboutthe

acousticpropertiesoftheGrandGalleryleadinguptotheKings

Chamber.Sufficetosay,withdimensionsof8.6metres(28ft)

highand46.68metres (153.1 ft) long, it actsasanamplifier

leadingintotheKingsChamber.Afootsteponthemetalladder

atthebottomoftheGrandGallerycanbeheardintheKing’s

Chamber.Anastonishingfeature!

Thecrystal“shrine”atKarnak

At Karnak Temple,which is often referred to as theworld’s

largesttemple,althougha“templecity”mightbemorefitting,

is a little known outdoor museum. As you enter the main

entranceatKarnakheadleft;onceyouwalkoutsidethemain

templeheadbackonyourself.Youwillseeaticketboothanda

line of Sekmet/Mut statues. The extra ticket is a reasonable

149

priceandallowsyoutoenteranareanormallydevoidofother

tourists.Onceinsideheadtowardstheback,youwillsoonsee

arowofcrystal“shrines”aspicturedbelow.

Figure5.Crystal‘shrine’atKarnak

Themain“shrine”ofinterestforacousticalpurposesisinthe

far back corner. These shrines have been re‐constructed;

originally theywouldhavebeen solid crystal andmusthave

had incredible acoustics. Even today they sound remarkable

andrespondverywelltothehumanvoice.Foranyonewithan

interestincrystals,theopportunitytostandinsidewhatwecan

calla“crystalroom”albeitwithopenends, isveryenjoyable.

Crystalbowlsareusedaspartofsoundtherapyatyogacenters

aroundtheworld.Thereisagoodreasonforthis,thevibrations

from crystal bowls can penetrate inside the body. I would

argue,inasimilarwaytothiscrystalshrine.

150

Theeffectsofsoundfrequenciesonthebody

Forthepurposesofthisarticle,Iwon’tgointoalongexposé.

My main intention for writing about sound and

archaeoacousticsistoencourageotherstogetinvolved.Thisis

a subject I love, I love experiencing sound for its emotional

uplift.Sharingsomethingsomeaningfulisatruejoy,towatch

others experience the sites and frequencies as I do, is very

touching.PartofthereasonIlovethiswholeareais,everyone

is aware of howmusic can affect them emotionally. Certain

musiccanmakeusfeelirritatedorangry,othermusichasthe

ability to make us cry, with a range of emotions evoked in

betweenthetwoextremes.

Soundtherapybuildsonthis.Iwouldrecommendreadingthis

article based on research conducted at UCLA: “Ancient

ArchitecturalAcousticResonancePatternsandRegionalBrain

Activity”.

This article illustrates how certain sound frequencies in the

110hzrangealterbrainwavesandstimulatedifferentareasof

the brain. I could write at length concerning the interesting

experiencesIhavehadatancientsites.Thisincludesfeedback

fromgroupsofpeopleranging from20‐80yearsofage from

aroundtheworld.Suffice tosay,soundtherapy isapersonal

experienceandcanhelpeachofusindifferentways.IfIhave

piquedyourinterest,IsuggestyoucheckthewebsiteMeetup

forlocalevents,orcontactlocalyogastudios.Soundtherapyis

a rapidly expanding area in the west, it has been used for

thousandsofyearsintheeast.Inmyopinion,soundtherapyis

awonderful tool foremotionalhealing,asubjectweseemto

havevery littleunderstandingof in thewest.Giveyourself a

chancetotryit,youmightsurpriseyourselfwiththepositive

results.

151

Miriam Kolar of Stanford very kindly providedmewith this

quote.

“Thenecessityofvisitingthesite inpersontounderstand its

particularresonances(bothacousticalandpersonal).Perhaps

learningaboutanarchaeologicalsitecanbepartofapersonal

journeyforunderstanding.Knowingtakesdifferentforms,and

meansdifferent thingsdependingoncontext.Whatweknow

from an archaeological standpoint is strongly based on

describingmaterialevidence (for somethingaboutwhichwe

canonlyspeculate,albeitmakeinformedinterpretations).”

Copyright©2015GaryEvans

152

Bibliography

1.MiriamKolar.“TheCodeoftheConch‐HowthescienceofsoundexplainedanancientPeruvianoracle”.

2. Miriam Kolar. Tuned to the Senses: An ArchaeoacousticPerspectiveonAncientChavín

3.ThisisarecordingofPeruvianmusicianTitoLaRosaplaying

two of the Chavín pututus in the Museo Nacional Chavín,

September2008.

4.SbResearchGroup(SBRG)

5. “Double‐chamberedwhistling bottles: A unique Peruvian

potteryform”byDanielK.Stat

6.TheFallandRiseofResonanceScience,J.MortensonGeneral

Resonance,LLC,HavredeGrace,MD,USA

7.InternationalBusinessTimes:StonehengeWasa'GiantEcho

ChambertoSummonuptheAncientSpirits'

8.“ThePyramidsandTemplesofGizehbySirFlindersPetrie.

PublishedbytheRoyalSociety1883”

9.TimeandMind:TheJournalofArchaeologyConsciousness

and Culture, March 2008, pp 95–104. Ancient Architectural

AcousticResonancePatternsandRegionalBrainActivity,IanA.

Cook,SarahK.Pajot,AndrewF.Leuchter

153

AbouttheAuthor

GaryEvanshasbeenstudyingancientculturesandEarthmysteries

for 20 years. His keen interest in an unfamiliar chapter of pre‐

history, before Sumeria (3500BCE), has led to the website

http://www.AtlantisEvidence.comandvariouslecturesaroundthe

UK,USandEgypt.Heisaregularcontributortointernationalradio

shows.

Gary also helps organize and lead tours to some of the most

powerful ancient sites around the world. He has become

increasingly interested in sound resonance and its potential to

changeourstateofconsciousnessandoftenleadstoningworkshops

on location. On tours, Gary leads groupswith an “experiential

approach”ineffortstohelpguests“tunein”andexperiencethesites

ina fardeeperway.Additionally,Garyactivelyhelps topromote

greaterawarenessofancientmysteriestothepublicasthePRagent

foranumberofbestsellingalternativeauthors.

Website:InfiniteConnections

ConnectwithGaryEvansonFacebook

GaryEvansonTwitter

154

Geometric Stone Spheres of 

Scotland… and Beyond  

ByHughNewman

“Only in the periodwhenMegalithicManwas setting out thesophisticated stone rings has a sufficiently high standard ofmathematicalknowledgeandskilleverbeenreachedbeforethefifteenth centuryAD.Even today there are few archaeologistscapable of appreciating the underlying geometry.” ‐ Prof.AlexanderThom

Figure1.Geometricstonespheres.(PhotoCredit:MartinMorrison,takenatHunterianMuseum,Glasgow)

155

Fourhundredandtwentygeometricstonesphereshavebeen

found in the vicinity of Neolithic stone circles in Northern

Scotland,with169comingfromAberdeenshirealone.Outside

Scotland,exampleshavebeen found in IrelandatBallymena,

and inEnglandatDurham,Cumbria,LowickandBridlington.

Onewasrecentlyspottedbytheauthorover6,000milesaway

thatcamefromanimportantmegalithicpyramidsiteinSouth

America.

Figure2.GeometricstonespherefoundinCumbria,England

Mostof theScottishspheresarearound3 inches (7.6cm) in

diameter,withsomeexamples3.6inches(9cmdiameter)and

date from 3200 BC to 1500 BC. Some show beautiful

craftsmanship and symmetry, others show artistic mastery,

while some look rough,badlymade,orunfinished.However,

someofthebetterpreservedexampleshaveadiameterswithin

one millimeter of each another. Most were all discovered

within the vicinity of Neolithic monuments known as

recumbent stone circles. The type of rock varies from easily

156

carvedsandstoneandserpentine,todifficult,hardgraniteand

quartzite.Oneofthemoststrikingaspectsofthespheresisthe

intricategeometrythatappearstoshowthefivePlatonicSolids,

alongtimebeforePlatowasborn.

Figure3.Fromleft:Cube,Tetrahedron,Dodecahedron,Icosahedron,Octahedron

They fit nicely into one’s hand and this convenient size saw

themdescribedashuntingprojectiles,fishingweights,andin

1876,J.AlexanderSmithsaidtheycouldhavebeenattachments

towoodenhandlestomakeaxe‐likeweapons.Inherexhaustive

study of the balls, (in 1976‐77 Proceedings of the Society ofAntiquaries in Scotland), Dorothy N. Marshall replied, “whenoneappreciates the skilland timewhichhasbeenused in thefashioningoftheseballs,itdoesnotseempossiblethattheownerwouldhaveriskedtheirlossordamageinwarorchase.”Asnoevidenceofdamagehasbeenfoundonthem,shemightberight.

Marshallalsorelatesthetheorythattheballsmayhavebeen

used in competitive throwing games, but argues “if this hadbeenthecase,surelymoreballswouldhavebeenchipped.”

157

Figure4.Stonespheredistribution

Several further theories have surfaced since then. In 1914,

LudovicMannsuggestedtheywereusedasweightsaspartof

somekindofscales,duetotheirexactsizeandgeometry.One

hypothesissaystheywereusedtorollthemegalithsacrossvast

distances.Anothertheoryisthattheballswereusedasoracles

byrollingthemonthegroundandinterpretingthefuturefrom

both theway they rolled and their positions at rest. Author

LairdScrantonnoticedsomeartistsrollingsimilarballsaround

in a small sand‐bowl.He concluded: “..it looks likeanartistichobby(carvingthestoneballs)likelyproducedsand‐arttoys”.

158

Figure5.Stoneballsusedbyartists(Photocredit:LairdScranton)

Recent research has speculated they are representations of

pollen,orevenatoms.Howtheywouldhavebeenabletosee

microscopicparticles like thiswasnot confirmed.Theyhave

beendescribedasceremonial‘talkingballs’,whichonewould

holdwhilstspeakinginagroup.

ThebestexplanationIhaveheardcomesfromresearcherJeff

Nisbet, who believes they were used by budding megalithic

architectsasasymboloftheirskillofworkingstone.IthinkJeff

is on to something here, as they are all following a certain

design spec, that stretches all over Scotland (and northern

England).Yourcarvedstonesphererepresentedyourcurrent

skill‐set.MuchlikeaCVorResumeoftoday,however,thelack

of them found in graves may indicate that they were not

consideredtobelongtoindividuals,somayhavebeenpassed

ontothenewgraduates.

159

The Scottish stone sphereswere labelled as “projectiles” for

almostacentury.OriginallytheywerethoughttobeIron‐Age

Pictishcreations,asmanyofthemwerefoundintheirterritory.

However,furtherdiscoveriespushedtheoriginsbacktoatleast

2500 BC due to their proximity to stone circles. As Jeff

suggested, these strange spheresmay have been part of the

megalith‐builders tool kit. It is the fine carving of precision

spirals that resemblemany found inmegalithic sites suchas

Newgrange.ThefamousTowieStoneisthemostaccomplished

sphere,withbeautifulworkmanshipandartisticflair(seepic

below).

Figure6.TheTowieStone

OntheothersideoftheAtlantic,neartheincrediblemegalithic

pyramidsiteofTiwanaku,asolitaryanduniquestonesphere

wasdiscovered, alongside identical spiral carvings like those

we find in Neolithic Britain (andMalta, New Zealand etc). I

visitedtheTiwanakumuseuminLaPaz,aspartoftheannual

Megalithomania tourwithBrienFoerster inNovember2014.

160

Ondisplaywassomethingthattookmybreathaway.Itwasone

oftheScottishstonespheres!Ithassixknobsonit;themost

commonstylefoundinScotland(around200intotal)andthe

sizeandstylematchedtheirtransatlanticfellowmasonseerily

perfectly. How did this find its way 6,000 miles across the

Atlantic Ocean, down the Amazon, and into the highlands of

Bolivia?

Figure7.StonesphereintheTiwanakuMuseuminLaPaz

On a previous visit to Tiwanaku in 2007, I spotted a double

spiralpatternononeoftheblocksintheon‐sitemuseumthat,

again,hadanuncannyresemblance toScottishstonecarving

fromtheNeolithicera(theoriginalwasaquadruplespiral,but

thestonebrokeintwo–seeFigure8).Itishardtoignorethe

megalithictechnologypresentinboththesepartsoftheworld.

DidthemegalithicScottishstonemasonsreallymaketheirway

toSouthAmericainprehistory?

161

Figure8.DoublespiralpatternonablockintheTiwanakuMuseum

Withageometerseye,KeithCritchlow,authorofTimeStandsStill:New Light onMegalithic Science, saw something in thespheres that no‐one had spotted before: sophisticated 3D

geometric forms that look surprisingly close to the Platonic

Solids.HesawallfivePolyhedra,andintricatecombinationsof

them,inacontinuousfashionthatsuggestedtheyunderstood,

andexcelledat3Dsphericalgeometry.Critchlowwrites,"Whatwe have are objects clearly indicative of a degree ofmathematical ability so far denied to Neolithic man by anyarchaeologistormathematicalhistorian."

162

Figure9.Astonecube‐octahedron

All five platonic solids are represented: octahedron,

icosahedron, dodecahedron, tetrahedron, and cube. There is

alsoacube‐octahedron(seeFigure9.),whereboththesesolids

‘nest’withineachother. “Nesting”wasnotedbyPlato,and is

integral in studying the liberal arts, and shows they were

experimentingwithvariousgeometries.TheGreekstaughtthat

these five solidswere the corepatternsof physical creation.

Fourofthesolidswereseenasthearchetypalpatternsbehind

the fourelements (earth, air, fire, andwater),while the fifth

washeldtobethepatternbehindthelifeforceitself,the‘ether’.

Thefactthatmanyofthemareexactlythesamesize(with1mm

difference),doesalsosuggestastandardunitofmeasurewas

beingused,muchlikeAlexanderThom’sMegalithicYard,but

on a much smaller scale. However, many of them were not

‘perfect’ Platonic Solids, rather very close approximations

showing obvious variations in the stonemasons skills. This

163

variationcanbeseenonthesethreespheresondisplayatthe

BritishMuseum,London.

Figure10.ThreestonespheresondisplayattheBritishMuseum,London

Recently,astonespherewasfoundattheNessofBrodgaron

theislandofOrkney,Scotland,aNeolithicsettlementcovering

2.5hectares(6.2acres)betweentheRingofBrodgarandthe

Stones of Stenness. York University archaeologist Professor

MarkEdmondsstated"Thedensityofthearchaeology,thescaleofthebuildingsandtheskillthatwasusedtoconstructthemaresimplyphenomenal.”OthersphereshadbeenfoundonOrkneypreviously, but this new discoverymademe question if this

settlementwas the first “megalithicuniversity”of theBritish

Isles (it isat least500yearsolder thanStonehenge). Was it

herethemegalithicyardwasdevised,wherethestonespheres

weremanufactured,andamajorcenteroflearningthrivedin

theancientworld?

“LondonmaybetheculturalhubofBritaintoday,but5,000yearsago,Orkneywas thecentre for innovation for theBritish isles.Ideasspreadfromthisplace.Thefirstgroovedpottery,whichissodistinctiveoftheera,wasmadehere,forexample,andthefirsthenges–stoneringswithditchesroundthem–wereerectedonOrkney.ThentheideasspreadtotherestoftheNeolithicBritain.Thiswasthefontfornewthinkingatthetime.”

164

Figure11.StonespherefoundonOrkney.(Photocredit:OrkneyArchaeology)

Thenumberofknobsontheobjectsrangesfrom3to160‐quite

a remarkable feat considering their size. “All show anappreciation for symmetry in thedesign” saidAlisonRoberts,curatoratthemuseum.Sheisright,becauseoneexampleis14‐

sided, corresponding to a formwith two opposite hexagons,

each surrounded by six pentagons. However, Dr. Alison

Sheridan of theNationalMuseums of Scotland questions the

evidence for advanced geometry. She says that the

interpretation “fails to take into account their archaeologicalbackground,and fails toexplainwhysomanydonothave therequisitenumberofknobs!It'saclassiccaseofpeoplestickingonaninterpretationinastateofignorance.AgreatshamewhensomuchisknownaboutLateNeolithicarchaeology.”

165

Alexander Thom disagreedwith Sheridan: “Themost perfectproofoftheabilityofMegalithicMantounderstandandusesolidgeometry…..it appears they had a perfect mastery of theirsubject.”(“TheMetrologyandGeometryofMegalithicMan,inRecordsinStone:PapersinMemoryofAlexanderThom(Thom

& Thom 1986), edited by Clive Ruggles. p148‐149). Thom’s

work is now being taken seriously, and perhaps these

geometricspheresshouldbetoo.

KeithCritchlowlookedatasmanyofthesespheresashecould

and compiled the geometries into one unified system (see

Figure 11.) and concluded that they were… “for the study,comparison,andanalysisof sphericallydetermined systemsofgeometry”. Remarkably, the final analysis was an almostperfectmatchforthecontroversial‘EarthGrid’hypothesesthat

Icoverindetailinmy2008book.

Figure12.UnifiedsystemofgeometriescompiledbyKeithCritchlow

166

Originators of the ‘Earth Grid’ theory were University

ProfessorsBetheHagensandWilliamBecker.Theywere the

firsttoseetheresemblance,havingstudiedthestonespheres.

Theydescribedthemas“planningmodels,notonlyforchartingtheheavensandbuildingcalendricalmonuments,butwerealsoused formeteorologicalstudy;todevelopandrefineterrestrialmaps for predictingmajor ley lines of telluric energy; and, inconjunctionwithstonecircles,wereusedtoconstructchartsandmaps forworldwide travel long before the appearance of thepyramids.”

Thisisquiteaclaim,butthelocationtheywerefoundinisan

unusual zone on earth. Northern Scotland and the Orkney

Islands,areat latitudewhere it is ideal toobservetheminor

and major lunar standstills that stretch across an 18.6 year

cycle.IhadthepleasureofviewingthisinCallanaisintheOuter

Hebrides in early June 2006 ‐ where I witnessed the moon

rolling across the landscape, rather than setting or rising. It

moves along what is called the “The Sleeping Goddess”

mountainrangeonthehorizon.

"Thestudyoftheheavensis,afterall,asphericalactivity,needingan understanding of spherical coordinates. If the NeolithicinhabitantsofScotlandhadconstructedMaesHowebeforethepyramidswerebuiltbyancientEgyptians,whycouldtheynotbestudying the laws of three‐dimensional coordinates? Is it notmorethanacoincidencethatPlatoaswellasPtolemy,Kepler,andAl‐Kindiattributedcosmicsignificancetothese(geometric)figures.”

Theearliestwrittenevidenceofthesegeometriesgoesback(or

forward)totheeraofPythagorasandPlato[427‐347BC].Plato

writes in the Phaedo [110b]: “The real earth, viewed fromabove, resembles a ball made of twelve pieces of leather,

167

variegatedandmarkedoutindifferentcolors...”.IntheTimaeus,he also says the Demiurge used a twelve‐sided form as a

patternfortheWorld.Bothofthesedescriptionsappeartobe

describingtheearthasadodecahedron.

Perhaps the sphere carvers intuited the nature of spherical

geometry.When looking at atoms, pollen, viruses and other

microscopicphenomena,thesegeometriescertainlypopup.In

the work of Hans Jenny, and in his cymatic experiments,

dropletsofwaterwereplayedvariousfrequenciesandunlikely

3D geometric patterns would form. This principle could be

appliedtoanyothersphere,evenplanetsandmoons.Soifthey

couldsomehowseeatomsandpollen,whynotseethehidden

geometrieswithinothercelestialbodies?(seemyEarthGrids

bookforexamplesoftheseplanetarygeometries).

I’vealwaysbeeninterestedintheenergeticqualitiesofrocks

and crystals, especially relating tomegalithic sites. As noted

earlier,manytypesofrockandevenquartzsphereshavebeen

discovered.Wheretheseballswere found“isalsotheareaofgoodlandwhichtoday,aswellas inantiquity,cansupportthelargest population” (Marshall). Why would this be? Perhapstheywereceremonialobjectsthatwouldbeburiedinthefields

ofcropsandwereseenasfertilityofferingsthattheybelieved

wouldhelptheseason’scrops.Butisthereanyevidencetoback

upthishypothesis?

168

Figure13.TwostonespheresfoundinIreland

In Ireland, two further intriguing stone spheres were

discovered(seeFigure12.).Onewas“abrown ironstoneball,three inches in diameter, and well rounded.” The other wasgranite. These perfectly spherical stones were found at the

megalithic siteofLoughcrew.One isparamagnetic, theother

wasdiamagnetic‐opposingforcesthatcanstimulategrowthin

seeds.

Michael Poynder, author of Lost Science of the Stone Age,suggested the ancient megalith builders had advanced

knowledge ofmagnetism and telluric earth energy currents.

The monoliths may have acted as antenna, and the spheres

weremovedaroundthelandscapetoredirect,andevencharge

upthetelluriccurrentstoenablecropstogroweffectively,as

demonstrated scientifically by John Burke and the BLT

ResearchTeamathundredsofancientsitesworldwide.Similar

testsarebeingcarriedouttopositiveeffectworldwidewhere

theplacementof‘chargedstones’isincreasinggrowthratesin

crops (see Stone Age Farming by Alana Moore, and Seed ofKnowledge, Stone ofPlenty by John Burke). The lack of ballsfound in graves may indicate that they were not for

169

‘individuals’,andwere‘left’inthefieldsnearthestonecircles

forotherpurposes.

Figure14.(PhotoCredit:MartinMorrison)

Iftheydidhaveenergeticproperties,couldthesespheresalso

have been used for healing? They are a perfect fit for one’s

hand,soapplyingpressuretosomeone’sbody,whentheballis

‘charged’couldhaveapowerfulhealingeffect.Theshapesof

them also suggest they would be ideal for working on tight

muscles.Topushthishypothesis‘fiftyshadesofgrey’further,

couldtheyhavebeensextoys?Thismayhavealsohavehada

ceremonialpropose,andthenplacedwithinfieldsofcropsto

imbuethemwiththis ‘fertility’energy, likeanofferingto the

earthgoddess,withthegeometricdesignsymbolizingvarying

aspectsofhertruegeometricnature.

170

Figure15.StonespherediscoveredatLochnagar

Interestingly,thespiralscouldbereferencingtelluriccurrents

thatmoveinsimilarconfigurations,plusgeometricshapes in

ancient traditions, were thought to have an effect on

consciousness.Evenmoderntechnologyismostlybasedonthe

twinvariablesof‘shape’and‘material’,wheredifferentshapes

create different energetic effects, just as different materials

offer different useful energy qualities. Like the geometric

temples of the megalith builders, perhaps their hand‐held

‘devices’wereaspowerfulthen,asmodernhand‐helddevices

today.Mysmartphonehascompass,GPS,Theodolite,Magnetic

Variationdetectors,andgiveofflightandsound‐butwouldbe

almost useless as a hunting projectile. These spheres could

havebeentheNeolithicelite’smagicaldevicethathadhidden

knowledge carved on them, been a healing tool, and even

guaranteedyourcropssuccess.

Copyright©2015HughNewman

171

Bibliography

BetheHagens&WilliamBecker,inAnti‐Gravity&theWorldGrid.DHChildress,ed.1986

Bruyn,L.MonstersandMoonshine.UniversiteitAntwerpen.Critchlow,K.(1979).TimeStandsStill:NewLightonMegalithicScience.

Hart,G.(1998).NeolithicCarvedStonePolyhedra.GeorgeHart.com.

McKie,R.(2012).Neolithicdiscovery:whyOrkneyisthecentreofancientBritain.TheGuardian.

Newman,H.(2008).EarthGrids:TheSecretPatternsofGaia'sSacredSites.

Poynder,M.(2005).LostScienceoftheStoneAge.

ProceedingsoftheSocietyofAntiquariesinScotland(1976‐77)

Thom&Thom(1986).TheMetrologyandGeometryofMegalithicMan,inRecordsinStone:PapersinMemoryofAlexanderThom,editedbyCliveRuggles,149.

172

AbouttheAuthor

HughNewmanisanauthor,conferenceorganiser,worldexplorer,

tour host, and Megalithomaniac. His most recent book, Earth

Grids has been published by Wooden Books. He has released

numerousDVDsofhismulti‐mediapresentationsandhasarticles

publishedinwell‐knownmagazinesaroundtheworld.Aswellas

organizing the Megalithomania conferences, he has spoken at

events in the UK, Malta, France, Peru, Egypt, Bosnia and North

America.HehasappearedonBBCTV,SkyChannel200,BosnianTV

andtheHistoryChannelinthelastfourseasonsofAncientAliens,andinSearchfortheLostGiants,andisco‐authoringabookwithJimVieira called Giants on Record. www.megalithomania.co.uk /www.hughnewman.co.uk

SeetheScottishstonespheres&OrkneyonaTourtoScotland.

JoinHughinPeru&BoliviaandseetheTiwanakustonesphere.

173

Orion: Overlord of Stonehenge 

ByPaulBurley

Inthe1960s,aportionofaditchexcavatedintochalkbedrock

west of the henge at Stonehenge was discovered during

constructionforthepedestrianunderpassthatprovidedaccess

to Stonehenge until a year ago. By 2014, geophysical testing

confirmed that the ditch stretches over 900 meters from

southwestoftheStonehengehengetoapointnearthesouth

ditch line of the Greater Cursus, northwest of Stonehenge

(Figure1).Theditch isgenerallyorientedSW‐NEandnearly

straight for much of its length, before it curves counter

clockwisetowardthenorthwestasitapproachestheditchof

thecursus.IthasaV‐shapedcrosssectionabout1.2mwideand

1.3mdeep.

Figure1.LocationoftheditchextendingnearbyandnorthwestofStonehenge.Viewistowardthenorthwest.TheGreaterCursusislocatedinfrontofthelineoftrees.(Photocredit:cbc.ca)

174

Discoveryofthelocationandsizeoftheditchwasasurprisein

itself,butwhatbecamemorecuriouswasthefindingoflarge

diameterpostholesalongthebottomoftheditchforitsentire

length.Thepostholesrangingfromabout0.25to0.4metersin

depth,suchthatthedepthsofthepostholesareasmuchas1.7

metersbelowthegroundsurface.Thewidthanddepthofthe

postholeshas ledarchaeologists to conclude thepostsmust

haveattainedaheightofabout6to7meters,orroughly20feet.

Archaeologists have found similar structures elsewhere,

concluding theyare remnantsofpalisadeseachconsistingof

tall wooden posts set to form an alignment, the purpose of

whichoftenremainsunknown.

There is one other fact that remains curious about the ditch

adjoining Stonehenge. Its SW‐NE alignment terminates in

Stonehenge Bottom about 2 m from the west ditch of the

StonehengeAvenuebeforemakingitslefthandturntowardthe

cursus.Thus thereappears tobean intentional geographical

arrangement between the Palisade, Avenue, Greater Cursus

andStonehengeitself(Figure2).

175

a)

b)

Figure2.PlanviewsoftheStonehengeSacredLandscape.StonehengePalisadeshowninred.Stonehengeshownascircularstructuresouththepalisade.TheAvenueextends

betweenStonehengeandtheriverAvon.a)Northtowardtopofthepage.b)Northtowardtheleft.(Illustrationbyauthor)

176

Archaeologists consider alignments of largepost holes along

ditchways to be remnants of palisades ‐ fences or walls

constructed of timber posts often but not always used as a

defensivestructure(Figure3).Likestonetools,bonepinsand

clay jars, palisades are artifacts of ancient cultures except in

this particular case we have a massive artifact nearly a

kilometrein lengthandwithmostof itsoriginalcomposition

weatheredaway.Itisanartifactofaprehistoricculture,andan

enigma.

Palisades were built by many cultures throughout time and

aroundtheworld.TheconclusionthattheStonehengePalisade

wasamassivefence20feettallwastheresultofestimatingits

heightbythesizeofthepostholesalongitslength.Theburied

portionofafencepostistypicallyabout25to30percentofthe

totallengthofthepost.Withapostholeextending1.7meters

(5.6 ft) below ground surface, the postmaywell have stood

about18to22feetaboveground.

177

Figure3.Exampleofapalisadeconstructedasadefensivestructure.(PhotoCredit:http://www.uk‐archaeology.tv/)

Given the sacred nature of the Neolithic and Bronze Age

Stonehengelandscape,archaeologistsconcludethereasonfor

constructingsuchamassivefencealongsideStonehengemust

have been related to whatever ritual activities were being

performedinsidethehenge.Thefencemusthavebeenbuiltto

preventdirectphysicalandvisualaccesstoStonehengefrom

thewest(Figure4).

178

Figure4.ArchaeologistsproposeStonehengePalisadewasbuilttopreventdirectphysicalandvisualaccesstoStonehengefrom

thewest.However,itwouldhavepreventedpersonsatStonehengefromviewingastronomicaleventstothewest,northwestandnorth.(Photocredit:Gary@CelticMythPod

Show)

Thatisastrangeconclusiontomakegiventhearchitectureof

Stonehenge is well known to be related directly to the four

cardinaldirections(includingduewestanddueNorth),aswell

as the northwestern direction of sunset on the evening of

summersolstice.The20fthighwallproposedforthepalisade

wouldhavepreventedviewstowardtwoof the fourcardinal

directionsandoneof themost important solareventsof the

year. People northwest of Stonehenge might have been

preventedfromlookingintoStonehenge,butthoseinsidethe

henge would have been unable to experience events held

sacredtowardthenorth,northwestandwest.Whywouldsuch

a structure have been built and re‐built over the course of

179

hundreds of years, beginning shortly after construction of

megalithicStonehengeca.2500BC?

Simply put, all evidence we have supporting our current

understanding of the purpose of Stonehenge and its sacred

landscape does not support the theory of the Palisade as a

massivewall.So,ifnotapalisade,thenwhatwasit?

In2014,IproposedaGrandDesignwasconstructedacrosstheStonehengeSacredLandscape(Burley,2014).Thedesignwas

theproductoftranslocatingtheasterismknownastheWinter

Hexagon onto Salisbury Plain. The accurately surveyed and

positioned structure remains in place on the landscapewith

specificmonumentsrepresentingstars.Itextendsfromthetop

ofLarkhilltoNormandyDown,andfromDurringtontothenew

Stonehenge Visitor Centre. All archaeological evidence

gathered to date from across Salisbury Plain supports the

theory that thisGrandDesignwas indeeddesignedandbuilt

acrossthelandscape.

TheWinterHexagonwasbelievedbymanyNeolithiccultures–

Sumerians, Egyptians, Chinese, Maya, and others ‐ to be the

cosmicwombandsourceofthespiritoflifeintheuniverse.The

constellation of Orion is situated within the hexagon.

Contemporarywithculture(s)whichbuiltStonehengeandthe

Palisade,Pre‐dynasticandEarlyDynasticEgyptbelievedOrion

represented Osiris, psycho pomp of the dead in the Duat,

receiver and protector of the spirit of each pharaoh. The

pharaoh’sspirit travelledfromEarthtoOrionviaspiritroad,

theMilkyWayfromSiriustoCapella.

Included within the Winter Hexagon on Salisbury Plain is

Orion. Alnitak, one of the three stars of Orion’s Belt, is

represented by the Heel Stone at Stonehenge, the megalith

adjoining the womb of Earth represented by the henge and

180

iconicstonestructure.TheGreaterCursusrepresentstheMilky

Way between the star Sirius (west end of the cursus) and

ecliptic(longbarrowAmesbury42)wherethepathofthesun

intersects the galactic plane. Farther east, Woodhenge

represents thestarCapella in theconstellationofAuriga, the

shepherd.Thebook ‘Stonehenge:AsAbove,SoBelow’(2014,

New Generation Publishing, London) details the planning,

design, construction and use of the Grand Design at

Stonehenge.

DuringorsoonafterconstructionofmegalithicStonehenge,the

AvenuewasbuiltbetweentheHeelStoneandRiverAvontothe

east.Asdemonstratedinthebook,byabout2480BCtheGrand

DesignincludedtheAvenueasarepresentationofOrion’sright

arm reaching out to receive the body of the dead as it was

broughttolandafterbeingfloateddownriverfromDurrington

Walls.Upon theStonehenge landscape isOrion–overlordof

thespiritworld‐preparedtoreceivenotonlythebodyalong

theAvenue to Stonehenge, but the spirit of the dead via the

spiritpath representedby theGreaterCursus, fromSirius to

Capella. The scenario parallels the ancient Egyptian

understandings. The body remains with Mother Earth, the

spiritreturningtotheskyandOrion.

Importantly, theseconstructionsoccurredduringthemid‐ to

lateNeolithic,andearlyBronzeAge.Huntingandgatheringwas

replacedrapidlybyagricultureanddomesticationofanimals.

Farmoreancientreligionsandsacredlifewayswereevolving

toincorporateNeolithicculture,applyingtheNeolithic‘toolkit’

tocreateamazingarchitecturalstructuressuchasthepyramids

ofEgyptandmoretothepoint,Stonehengeanditsassociated

landscape.

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By2500BCmostofthemassivemonumentswereinplaceon

SalisburyPlain.OneofthelastfewtobebuiltwasStonehenge

Palisade.Itwasconstructednearlyathousandyearsafterthe

Greater Cursus and symbolicWinter Hexagon, and not long

aftertheAvenue(Orion’sarm)reachedoutfromStonehengeto

accept the dead. The Neolithic cultural revolution was

complete. Agricultural activities dominated the region. Grain

hadbecomeastableinthediet.

One of the most important tools used by early Bronze Age

farmerswasthescythe(Figure5).Thebladecouldbeheldand

operated in hand, or a wooden handle was attached to the

blade,allowingtheusergreaterreachandimprovedefficiency

of harvest (Figure 6). Itwas a dangerous tool to use, slicing

through the crop with ease. It is no wonder Celtic myth

employedthescytheastheweaponofchoiceinthemetaphor

ofripegrainasthematurekingoflife,sacrificedatfirstharvest

sothatthepeoplecouldsurviveanotherwinterbeforenewlife

returnedthefollowingspring.

Figure5.Bladeofbronzescythe(Photocredit:DanDunkley)

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Figure6.Scythebladeattachedtowoodenhandle(Photocredit:miliki)

ComparingtheBronzeAgescythewithhandleshowninFigure

6withaplanviewoftheStonehengelandscapeincludingthe

Palisade, we see immediately that the shape of the Palisade

accuratelyreflectstheshapeoftheimplement(Figure7).The

constellationofOrionisshownuponthelandscale,scaledper

the size and orientation of the constellation’s right arm

extendingeastwardasthewestportionoftheAvenue.

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Figure7.Comparetheshapeofascythe(left)withtheshapeofStonehengePalisade(right,inred)(Illustrationbyauthor;

photocredit:miliki)

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Thesymbolismexpressedontheground–theSkyGod,psycho

pomp, protector of the spirit of life, set within his cosmic

domain–withscytheplacedatOrion’ssideisinkeepingwith

whatweknowoflateNeolithicandearlyBronzeAgeagrarian

life in central southEngland. The scythewas an appropriate

addition to themonuments thatwereconstructedacross the

landscape over the previous 1000 years. It represented the

annualharvestingoflifesustaininggrainforbothhumanand

animalconsumption.Itwastheimplementofchoiceinaritual

killing of the King, sacrifice of the old in favour of the new.

Indeed,thereaperofgrainisthereaperofdeath,andthiswas

theSkygod’scalling.Orion,protectorofthespiritoflife,was

also the receiver of the dead. The body was received and

interredtotheearthgoddessfromwhenceitcame,whilethe

spiritwasprovidedmeans to travelback to its source in the

cosmos,atOrion’sside.

Symbols of cosmic Orion, overlord of Stonehenge, and his

scythe remain on Salisbury Plain. The Celtic festival of

Lughnassadhprovidedmeansforthepeopletoparticipate in

oneoftheimportanteventsinthecycleoflife,eventsthatwere

deemed vital enough to be forever carved symbolically as

artifacts coverings the Stonehenge Sacred Landscape. The

StonehengePalisadeisbutoneofmany.Whetheritwasbuilt

20 ft tall or finished to the grade of the adjoining ground

surface,thesymbolismisclear.

Copyright©2015PaulBurley

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AbouttheAuthor

Paul D. Burley earned Bachelor of Civil Engineering and

BachelorofScience–Geologydegrees fromtheUniversityof

Minnesota, and began his career as a construction engineer.

Afterafewyearsinconstructionandprojectmanagement,he

turned to the consulting arena in the areas of geotechnical

engineeringandenvironmentalgeology.

Over the course of 30 years, Paul investigated physical

landscapesandhistoricalculturaldevelopmentsofthousands

ofsitesacrossNorthAmerica.

Intandemwithhisprofessionalservices,Paulhasalwayshad

particular interest in thehistoryofarchitecture,engineering,

science and technology, and indigenous and ancient

cultures. In 2003, he turned to intensive study of world

mythology and the extensive record of pictographic and

architectural symbolism expressed by secular and spiritual

traditionsaroundtheworld.

Paulistheauthorof‘Stonehenge:AsAbove,SoBelow’(2014)

and‘TheSacredSphere’(2012).

Website:www.asabovesobelow‐pauldburley.com

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