New Views over Megalithia

[hvered]

R.I.L.K.O. (Research Into Lost Knowledge) emailed an announcement of a forthcoming talk this Sunday (17th September) at Rudolf Steiner House in London

‘The Cosmos in Stone’
The Influence of Cosmology in the Design of Wells Cathedral
by TOM BREE

A twelfth century Christian education involved the so-called Seven Liberal Arts. Four of these seven arts were concerned with number: arithmetic, musical ratios, geometry and cosmology. Together they were called the Quadrivium. All four of these subjects inform the design of Wells Cathedral, although this talk will concentrate upon the cosmological aspect of the design.
Gothic cathedrals are often looked upon symbolically as architectural images of the Heavenly Jerusalem (The Heavenly City described at the end of the final book of the Bible). So to enter into such a cathedral is to ‘walk among the stars’. It is where God’s will is done ‘on Earth as it is in Heaven’ – a place in which ‘the Morning Star rises in your hearts’.
Modern cosmology is essentially a materialistic description of matter and its movements, whereas medieval cosmology was a study by which the soul contemplated the eternal Reality of God – the ‘Divine Geometer’ – via the ordered Creation. In this sense, God was equated with an artisan who employs the eternal laws of mathematics and geometry to fashion the Cosmos.
This talk will look at the underlying geometric design of the ground plan of Wells Cathedral and the way in which it embodies a Jerusalem-centred cosmological symbolism that is still used today in the symbolic layout of a Freemason lodge room.

I don't know about the cosmological symbolism but it would be surprising not to include the relationship of Wells and the Ridgeway/'Michael Line'

[Boreades]

This should be deeply aspirational or inspiring.

This talk will look at the underlying geometric design of the ground plan of Wells Cathedral and the way in which it embodies a Jerusalem-centred cosmological symbolism that is still used today in the symbolic layout of a Freemason lodge room.

Sadly, most of the paying public won't have a clue wot e's on 'abbaht.

Most of the paid-up members of local masonic lodges won't have a clue either, as they will be paying most attention to the Festive Board, and what's on the menu.

Let's hope there are still some that can join the dots together.

[hvered]

Gothic architecture has inspired some great craftsmen over the centuries. Not so Gothic texts. What do you make of this view of the Gothic Bible, aka Codex Argenteus?

The writing surface is prepared so that it follows the Golden Mean, that is 21 cm. in height by 13 cm. in width. There are 20 lines to the page. Von Friesen and Grape point out that the arches at the bottom of the page are also constructed according to the Golden Mean.

[TisILeclerc]

There's an old joke about two Welshmen who are rescued from a desert island after being shipwrecked.

The captain of the rescue ship asks them about three buildings on the island. 'Oh, that's the chapel I go to, that's the chapel he goes to and the other one is the chapel neither of us go to.'

The Beeb has updated the joke and applied it to Orkney. Well, they have covered a report done by experts.

Rivalries in Orkney more than 4,500 years ago led to competition between communities including over how people were buried, according to new research.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-n ... d-41319168

The study has been published in the journal Antiquity.

It was led by Prof Alex Bayliss from Historic England, with Prof Colin Richards of the University of the Highlands and Islands in Kirkwall as co-author. It is part of a wider project called The Times of Their Lives.
Ritual clues

The study concludes that seemingly rapid changes in settlements and monuments indicate that there were rivalries and tension between social groups.

This was played out in how they buried their dead and in their communal gatherings and rituals.

The study covered famous Orkney sites including Skara Brae and Maeshowe.

[Boreades]

Another date for the TME diary?

Natural Catastrophes during Bronze Age Civilisations

Conference

11 July 1997 - 13 July 1997

11th-13th July 1997. The 2nd SIS Cambridge Conference, Fitzwilliam College. (Organised by The Society for Interdisciplinary Studies)

Natural Catastrophes during Bronze Age Civilisations: Archaeological, Geological and Astronomical Perspectives

Welcome Address: Prof Trevor Palmer (Nottingham Trent University and SIS Chairman)
Keynote Address: Robert Matthews, FRAS (Science Correspondent, The Sunday Telegraph)
Saturday, 12th July
Morning Session: ASTRONOMY
Chair: Dr Jasper Wall (Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge)
Prof Mark Bailey (Armagh Observatory): Sources and Populations of Near-Earth Objects: Recent Findings and Historical Implications
Dr Bill Napier (Armagh Observatory): Cometary Catastrophes, Cosmic Dust and Ecological Disasters in Historical Times
Dr Duncan Steel (Spaceguard Australia): Before the Stones: Stonehenge I as a Cometary Catastrophe Predictor?
Prof Gerrit Verschuur (Memphis University): Our Place in Space: The Implications of Impact Catastrophes on Human Thought and Behaviour
Afternoon Session: ARCHAEOLOGY, GEOLOGY & CLIMATOLOGY
Dr Marie-Agnes Courty (Institut Natinal Agronomique Paris-Grignon): Causes And Effects Of The 2350 BC Middle East Anomaly Evidenced By Micro-debris Fallout, Surface Combustion And Soil Explosion
Prof Mike Baillie (Queen's University Belfast): Tree-Ring Evidence for Environmental Disasters during the Bronze Age: Causes and Effects
Dr Benny J Peiser (Liverpool John Moores University): Comparative Stratigraphy of Bronze Age Destruction Layers around the World: Archaeological Evidence and Methodological Problems
Dr Bruce Masse (University of Hawaii): Earth, Air, Fire and Water: The Archaeology of Bronze Age Cosmic Catastrophes
Dr Bas van Geel (University of Amsterdam): The Impact of Abrupt Climate Change around 2650 BP in NW-Europe: Evidence for Climatic Teleconnections and a tentative Explanation
Sunday, 13th July
Morning Session HISTORY & CULTURE
Dr Victor Clube (Oxford University): Predestination and the Problem of Historical Catastrophism
Prof Bill Mullen (Bard College): The Agenda of the Milesian School: The Post-Catastrophic Paradigm Shift in Ancient Greece
Prof David Pankenier (Lehigh University): Heaven-sent: Understanding Disaster in Chinese Mythology and Tradition
Prof Gunnar Heinsohn (University of Bremen): The Catastrophic Emergence of Civilisation: The Coming of the Bronze Age Cultures
Afternoon Session ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY
Prof Amos Nur (Stanford University): The Collapse of Ancient Societies by Great Earthquakes
Dr Euan MacKie (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow University): The End of the Upper Palaeolithic in the Dordogne and the 'Vitrified Forts' in Scotland
Prof Irving Wolfe (University of Montreal): The 'Kultursturz' at the Bronze Age - Iron Age Boundary
Benny J Peiser: Closing Address

http://www.sis-group.org.uk/event/1997- ... ations.htm

[Boreades]

Predestination and the Problem of Historical Catastrophism
Abstract of talk by Victor Clube

Comets passing through the Solar System from the Oort cloud which have lost angular momentum due to planetary close encounters include a significant proportion of sungrazers. Continuously near the ecliptic such bodies are also especially prone to orbital energy loss thereby enhancing the prograde cometary population under Jovian control. Such control extends to "Jupiter avoiding" resonances and an expectation on this account of tidally weakened, giant sungrazers which remain long enough in cis-Jovian space to be physically destroyed. We therefore expect particularly massive disintegration streams containing a high proportion of sub-kilometre meteoroids such as are required to explain the zodiacal cloud and nodal intersection with the terrestrial orbit arising in near-contemporary pairs such as are bound to impose a cyclic bombardment and global cooling of the Earth. Thus individual impactors produced this way are expected to produce mini-ice age, (bio)-chemical pollution or "super-Tunguska" events depending on their cohesive strength and level of break-up in or above the atmosphere. A ~2.5kyr Late Holocene cycle of this kind with an apparent pre-Sub-boreal value of ~2.1 kyr which extends into the Late Pleistocene is consistent with a previously named comet ("Chronos") which was instrumental in producing the last major glaciation ~50-10 kyr BP and which subsequently experienced a significant cis-Jovian planetary encounter ~5 kyr BP, the latter reducing its orbital eccentricity whilst at the same time enhancing and broadening its meteoroidal stream. Perceived initially as a central "tree of or life", such a system was to evolve and become the present Taurid Stream. It follows that the remnant of proto--Encke core of the Taurids is then associated with predictable "dark age" catastrophes. These last for several centuries and occur around 2000 - 250On BC; n = 0, 1, 2... being naturally combined with a less frequent, more random, lower incidence of such phenomena at intervening epochs. Such a sequence of events imposed upon the historical record and repeated down the ages very naturally give rise to the awesome sense of destiny amongst humankind which has pervaded to post-glacial rise of civilisation and sustained the discipline of both cosmology and theology. Astrologers and soothsayers (astronomers and priests) belonging to the last "dark age" eras are therefore foremost both in upholding the knowledge and experience of the predominant pre-"dark age" civilisation [using cuneiform (n=0) and Latin (n+1) respectively] and in underwriting the inevitable revival of "predestination" from time to time. The doctrine of predestination may of course be no more than an intellectual fudge designed to make the best of a bad situation: prearranged human bonding in relation to a supposed omnipotent yet benevolent divinity may meet a very immediate need for reassurance in respect of salvation from a predicted cosmic threat. But if sophistry fails, the human condition seems to be one in which secularists and hedonists in the name of condition seems to be one in which secularists and hedonists in the name of truth, beauty and freedom will commonly respond by pursuing such as millenarianism, utopianism and uniformitarianism, even as a recipe for revolution. With the "establishment' of such "enlightenment" it is a moot point of course whether English (n=2) will be the vehicle through which the knowledge and experience of western civilisation are transmitted beyond the next dark age.

http://www.sis-group.org.uk/abstract/clube.htm

[Mick Harper]

Someone check this out, I've got my Bojack Horseman box sets to plough through.

http://www.thehiddenrecords.com/gobekli ... aurus-bull

[hvered]

The author, Wayne Herschel, claims to have discovered 'star maps' and Gobekli Tepe bears out his theory. The article was published five years ago so if he has been silent since it may be that more recent excavations have not corroborated his brand of archaeoastronomy.

He starts off

A 12000 yr old geoglyph depicting a giant bull, carved into a hill along the Taurus Mountain Range in Turkey, has been discovered. The geoglyph contains a stone circle star map with an enigmatic message

which raises the question whether the bull carving is a cause or a symptom. According to Wiki, the mountains were named for 'storm-gods' because people knew winter storms were responsible for the essential flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates even though Taurus sounds more Latin than Turkic.

Herschel checked Gobekli Tepe online and saw the bull replicated in the layout of the site

What immediately struck me was the geoglyph pattern depicting a bull! It was easy for me to recognise this especially with the knowledge of what exactly it was that I was looking for. At the time I was sure that this could predate the oldest star map in my book: the Lascaux Cave in France whose pictograms are said to date back 17000 years. The star map in the Lascaux cave ‘coincidently’ repeats the pattern at Gobekli Tepe. The pattern of both is literally a mirror image of one another.

So is he 'seeing' a bull pattern because he wants to? He himself explains that he was expecting to find one

I had been looking for these distinct bull worship patterns at Gobekli Tepe ever since the site had been discovered. Surprisingly archaeologists have not noticed the geoglyph at all.

Nothing for certain is known about Gobekli Tepe so his guess could be as good as anyone's but the notions of 'worship' and 'belief' are very subjective and not verifiable on the ground.

The star pattern is a mirror image of the Pleiades if you insert an extra circle at the top

The ruins correlate with the Pleiades... in orientation and with the biggest stone circle also correlating with the biggest star Alcyone. Note the area on the map at the top of the image with a question mark. This is where I believe an original circle once existed instead of in the position of point ‘E’ (an enclosure that is square and not circular but is made up of 4 megalithic stone pillars). For now, let us accept point ‘E’ as representing the star correlation since it is an enclosure and it holds 4 substantial stone pillars

Fair enough, over such a long period the odd question mark is to be expected but apparently the Pleiades layout calls for another circle or enclosure that is no longer visible

The position ‘x’ is where I believe another circle may once have existed and has potentially been removed through either war or later rebuilds. Or perhaps the ancients thousands of years later forgot the secret, its sacredness and used the stones.

The star pattern of Gobekli Tepe has, one suspects, been made to bolster Herschel's general view of a starline ancestry

My ‘star map theory’ insists that ALL the first civilisations on this planet had beginnings with advanced knowledge, all were obsessed in portraying their identical but shared blueprint code of who they were and where they came from: that they were human and that they came from the stars… or more specifically one special star. One would surely expect this kind of passion if humanity shared a unifying and unique genesis: people proud of their heritage as descendants of a very advanced and sacred star ancestor bloodline.

I didn't read any further.

[hvered]

I did read a bit more because he mentions Catalhoyuk in Anatolia.

Thought to be around 10000 years old, it is replete with bull worship artefacts and Sun worship themes. This is fundamentally very strong evidence that Gobekli Tepe should be found with identical beliefs.

Gobekli Tepe has been dated to 12,000 years, give or take, presumably, but still a millennium or two apart. So why would 'beliefs' be identical?

[Boreades]

Gobekli Tepe gets a big mention in this, along with “heavenly field” symbolism.

The Mystery of Skara Brae: Neolithic Scotland and the Origins of Ancient Egypt

An investigation of the origins of the Neolithic farming village on Orkney Island

• Reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the traditions of pre-dynastic ancient Egypt as preserved by the Dogon people of Mali

• Explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology

• Examines the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe and how Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of learning for the ancient world

In 3200 BC, Orkney Island off the coast of Northern Scotland was home to a small farming village called Skara Brae. For reasons unknown, after nearly six centuries of continuous habitation, the village was abandoned around 2600 BC and its stone structures covered over--perhaps deliberately, like the structures at Gobekli Tepe. Although now well-excavated, very little is known about the peaceful people who lived at Skara Brae or their origins. Who were they and where did they go?

Drawing on his in-depth knowledge of the connections between the cosmology and linguistics of Egyptian, Dogon, Chinese, and Vedic traditions, Laird Scranton reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the Dogon of Mali, who still practice the same cosmology and traditions they once shared with pre-dynastic Egypt. He shows how the earliest Skara Brae houses match the typical Dogon stone house as well as Schwaller de Lubicz’s intrepretation of the Egyptian Temple of Man at Luxor. He explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology, each representing sequential stages of creation as described by Dogon priests, and he details how the houses at Skara Brae also represent a concept of creation. Citing a linguistic phenomenon known as “ultraconserved words,” the author compares words of the Faroese language at Skara Brae, a language with no known origin, with important cosmological words from Dogon and ancient Egyptian traditions, finding obvious connections and similarities.

Scranton shows how the cultivated field alongside the village of Skara Brae corresponds to the “heavenly field” symbolism pervasive throughout many ancient cultures, such as the Field of Reeds of the ancient Egyptians and the Elysian Fields of ancient Greece. He demonstrates how Greek and Egyptian geographic descriptions of these fields are a consistent match with Orkney Island. Examining the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe, Scranton reveals that Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of initiation and civilizing knowledge, a long-lost Egyptian mystery school set up millennia after Gobekli Tepe was ritually buried, and given the timing of the site, is possibly the source of the first pharaohs and priests of ancient Egypt.

What are these “ultraconserved words" he speaks of?