The Mapmakers from the ice age
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For a long time, I have been puzzled by the very ancient and accurate maps studied by Charles H. Hapgood in " Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, evidence of advanced civilization in the ice age.". One of those maps includes practically the whole earth: it's a map that belonged in the XVIth century to the Turkish Admiral Re'is. Hapgood has shown that the original map has been drawn using a trigonometrical method according to a polar projection centered on the Assouan area. The pole of that projection was exactly at the intersection of the Tropic of Cancer and of the Meridian of Alexandria. On the following map, the pole is marked by the letter X (in this study, I'll call this pole the "X point"). I have then laid the following work hypotheses:
- The "Ancient Sea Kings" used geodetic reference points which had not been placed haphazardly.
- Those "beacons", which also were astronomical observatories, have become the nucleuses of sacred sites whose traces the traditions still keep track of. It should therefore be possible to situate those reference points by looking for sacred places the antiquity and the cosmic symbolism of which were proved to be likely.
It should be remembered here that the ancients often located a place by observing (when that was possible) the zenith culmination of a well known and rather bright star.
As the declination of a star is affected by the precession (and, in a less important way, by its proper motion), the building date of a boundary stone answering this criterion can be determined.
These hypotheses have enabled me to emphasize a surprising planetary schema, with the help of the following maps.
The first map is a Mercator projection. The second map is built according to the principle of a stereographic projection centered on the point X (intersection of the meridian of Alexandria and of the tropic of Cancer). From this point, I have traced the circumferences the radiuses of which equal 36, 72 (2x36), 108 (3x36) et 144 (4x36) degrees.
We notice that:
- The megalithic sites of Stonehenge (Great Britain)
and of Carnac (France) are situated on the first circle.
The site of Mohenjo-Daro (Pakistan) is also located on this circle.
- The ancient Chinese observatory of Gaocheng (area of Luoyang) and the site of Angkor Vat (Cambodia) are situated on the second circle.
- The remarkable solar observatory of Chaco Canyon (USA, New-Mexico), the Maya cities of Uxmal (Mexico), of Tikal (Guatemala) and of Copan (Honduras) and, finally, the Peruvian sites of Nazca and of Machu Picchu are found on the third circle.
- Easter Island (Pacific Ocean) is crossed by the fourth circle.
This order can be inverted if you choose the antipode of
the point X as pole. This antipode Y is situated in the
Austral Islands (French Polynesia) on the Tropic of Capricorn,
near the Raïvavae Island, where statues looking like those of
Easter Island were discovered.
In other words, each of those eleven sites can be associated with a very easy to be found star the declination of which equalled, in 9650 BC, the latitude of the place in question.
- A skywatcher in Carnac could, at the time observe the zenith passage of Alpha Serpentis (Unukalhai).
- In Stonehenge, the zenith star was Alpha Bootis (Arcturus).
- In Mohenjo-Daro, the zenith culmination of eta Pegasi (Matar)
could be watched.
- On the site of Angkor Vat, Alpha Virginis (Spica) was observed in the zenith.
- Someone in Gaocheng could admire the zenith culmination of Alpha Ursae Majoris (Dubhe).
- In Chaco Canyon, the star was Gamma Ursae Majoris (Phecda).
- In Uxmal, Tikal and Copan, the zenith stars were, respectively, Alpha Scorpii (Antares), Delta Sagittarii (Kaus Media) and Dzeta Sagittarii (Ascella).
- In Machu Picchu, the zenith star was Alpha Piscis Austrini (Fomalhaut).
- In Nazca, Alpha Pavonis was observed in the same way.
- In Easter Island, the zenith culmination of Alpha Hydrae (Alphard) could be watched.
On the scheme, I've chosen the colour green to represent, for each site, a segment of the parallel along which the zenith culmination of the indicated star could be seen (as well as the latitude of this parallel).
To this list, I could have added the phenomenons observed in the site of the Egyptian mesolithic observatory of Nabta.
I don't possess the accurate coordinates of this megalithic site. However, I have tried to determine approximately those coordinates from
informations published in May 1998 on the Internet. This site would be situated at a latitude approaching 22d30' North, 1d30' in the south
of the point X (the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer equalled 24d in 9650 BC) . This means that the star Alpha2 Librae
( Zuben Elgenubi ) culminated there in the zenith in 9650 BC. Indeed, the declination of that star equalled, at the time, 22d 19'
(SkyMap program).
Moreover, an observer in Nabta could watch, at that time, the heliacal rising of Alpha2 Librae a week before the summer solstice. So, Zuben Elgenubi played the part which was to be Sirius's 7000 years afterwards.
Four extraordinary alignments
General rule : those alignments take into account one pair or two pairs of antipodes
present on the preceding diagrams.
The great circles coming from the point X (or its antipode
Y) and going to Stonehenge and Chaco-Canyon
are very close
(angle = 0. 97d).
Diagram
Angkor-Vat and Nazca are antipodal.
Therefore, it is
possible to draw a great circle Angkor-X-Nazca-Y.
(More precisely, the angle between the circles X-Angkor and X-Nazca
is equal to -1. 7d).
This alignment is perpendicular to the one described below and
tangent to the tropics. On an equatorial
sky map, this great circle should be the ecliptic.
Diagram
- The angle between the two great circles Angkor-Gaocheng and Angkor-Uxmal
is equal to 1. 61d. Those circles cross in a place situated at the exact antipode of
Angkor-Vat, 185 Km (1. 67d) north-west of Nazca lines. It is likely the circles Nazca-Uxmal
and Angkor-Gaocheng were drawn separately, at right angle
with the axis Nazca-X-Angkor, and supposed to be superposed.
Diagram
The following diagrams show the three alignments studied
hereabove
Azimuthal equidistant projection
Pole X : 24d north ; 30d east
We see that two alignments are crossing
at right angle (Angkor and Nazca are the viewpoints of the
following azimuthal equidistant projections).
Diagram
Mohenjo-Daro and Easter Island are antipodal
The antipode of Easter Island is interesting. It is situated at
2. 217d of Mohenjo-Daro (M-D), in the Indus valley. We have thus two pairs
of antipodes, Angkor-Nazca and Mohenjo-Easter, which can be situated
on the same great circle. It should be noticed that Gizeh (G) and
Machu-Picchu (M-P) are located on the same circle.
Diagram
A simple test :
Easter Island ==> Nazca : 34. 1718d
Nazca ==> Mohenjo-Daro : 143. 6300d
Mohenjo-Daro ==> Angkor-Vat : 36. 0712d
Angkor-Vat ==> Easter Island : 146. 1099d
SUM = 359. 9829d (error = 0. 0171d = 1. 026 arc minute)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moreover, the golden ratio seems to play a
part in those alignments.
Diagram
Ux-X-Na = 39. 8822d
CC-X-Na = 63. 2466d
63. 2466 / 39. 8822 = 1. 586
1. 586 = phi - 0. 032
And last but not least, all the angular distances are
MULTIPLES OF 12d (mean error = 1. 04d).
Coordinates
|
SITES
|
Latitude
|
Longitude
|
Distance (centre:24d;30d)
|
Stars
|
Declination in 9650 BC
|
Magnitude
|
Zenith angle (culmination)
|
|
Stonehenge
|
51. 18d
|
-1. 82d
|
36. 53d (0. 53d)
|
alpha Boo (Arcturus)
|
50. 7d
|
-0. 04
|
0. 48d |
|
Carnac
|
47. 48d
|
-3. 08d
|
35. 23d (-0. 77d)
|
alpha Ser (Unukalhai)
|
47. 67d
|
2. 8
|
0. 19d |
|
Mohenjo-Daro
|
27. 35d
|
68. 17dd
|
34. 43d (-1. 57d)
|
eta Peg (Matar)
|
27. 15d
|
2. 9
|
0. 20d |
|
Gaocheng
|
34. 42d
|
113. 17d
|
71. 37d (-0. 63d)
|
alpha UMa (Dubhe)
|
34. 13d
|
1. 95
|
0. 29d |
|
Angkor Vat
|
13. 43d
|
103. 87d
|
70. 03d (-1. 97d)
|
alpha Vir (Spica)
|
13. 72d
|
0. 98
|
0. 29d |
|
Chaco Canyon
|
36. 07d
|
-107. 95d
|
107. 99d (- 0. 01d)
|
gamma UMa (Phecda)
|
36. 03d
|
2. 4
|
0. 04d |
|
Uxmal
|
20. 37d
|
-89. 77
|
106. 48d (-1. 52d)
|
alpha Sco (Antares)
|
20. 52d
|
0. 96
|
0. 15d |
|
Tikal
|
17. 33d
|
-89. 63d
|
108. 07d (0. 07d)
|
delta Sgr (Kaus Media)
|
17. 25d
|
2. 8
|
0. 08d |
|
Copan
|
14. 83d
|
-89. 15d
|
109. 03d (1. 03d)
|
zeta Sgr (Ascella)
|
14. 80d
|
2. 7
|
0. 03d |
|
Machu Picchu
|
-13. 12d
|
-72. 57d
|
106. 63d (-1. 37d)
|
alpha PsA (Fomalhaut)
|
-13. 38d
|
1. 2
|
0. 26d |
|
Nazca
|
-14. 75d
|
-75. 08d
|
109. 48d (1. 48d)
|
alpha Pav
|
-15. 40d
|
2. 1
|
0. 65d |
|
Easter Island
|
-27. 12d
|
-109. 35d
|
143. 37d (-0. 63d)
|
alpha Hya (Alphard)
|
-27. 62d
|
2. 2
|
0. 50d |
Calculations
You can yourself calculate the angular distance between two sites with the help of a
Java applet .
With three sites at the vertices A, B, C of a spherical triangle, you can calculate the
angle A between two great circles with this applet java . (You
need to calculate the angular distances between those sites with the preceding program).
A small angle indicates an "alignment".
You can also calculate the declinations of the stars with the help of this
applet
Probability calculations
About Uxmal
It should be mentioned that Antares (alpha Scorpii) reached its highest
declination in -9500. Therefore, the zenith distance of that star,
seen from Uxmal, was inferior to 0. 5d between -10250 and -8600.
I think this stability may have been observed by travellers (mapmakers?)
coming from elsewhere because Scorpius is the only "Chaldean" (pre-Chaldean?)
constellation of the Mayan zodiac.
CONCLUSIONS :
As for the maps studied by Charles H. Hapgood, the presence of those geodetic (and symbolic?) reference points seems to indicate that a brilliant civilization travelled throughout the world during the tenth millenary Before Christ.
LINKS
The French page has been translated into English by Francine Godefroid. I thank her heartily for her Kind collaboration.
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Jean-Pierre LACROIX
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©1998 Jean-Pierre Lacroix