Our Cosmic Ancestors (22 page)

Still, establishment of a universal calendar would be possible if we used only the six planets closest to the Sun, whose revolutions and times of conjunctions have been recorded and are known precisely. These movements have been calculated recently for the past 4,500 years by two American astronomers, William Stahlman and Owen Gingerich, using a modern computer. Their book gives the longitudes of these planets for every ten days throughout this period, and it is easy to find the exact dates of all conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn, the most regular among our planets. With this regularity in mind, it is not surprising for us to discover that several calendars before the Christian era were apparently based on these regular conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn.

The Byzantine calendar starts on 14 September, 5509 BC. The Hebrew time reckoning begins on 9 September, 3761 BC. Both these years had a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The same characteristic can be shown for the start year of the ancient Hindu timecounting, which was the year 3104 BC.

I have not checked all other calendars for this characteristic; but if we add to the above three, the Julian, Scandinavian, and Mayan calendars, we already have six that seem to have started in a year when there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The Julian and Scandinavian calendars started in 4713 BC and the last cycle of the Mayan calendar began in 3144 BC. This looks like more than a simple coincidence.

The only calendar that escapes this rule of Jupiter and Saturn is the Egyptian calendar previously mentioned in this book as being based on the star Sirius, or Sothis. The Sothic year of 365 I/4 days was used in ancient Egypt, as well as a year of 365 days, in cycles of 1,460 consecutive years. But even there it seems that the conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn played a role. After an interval of 56 Sothic cycles, or 81,760 years, the start of the ancient Egyptian calendar coincides with a conjunction of the two planets. Again, we find the number 56 which has been mentioned several times before. Besides the Sothic cycle, our ancestors had two methods at their disposal for calculating time, the solar-lunar system and the JupiterSaturn conjunctions. The first method was used for time periods rarely extending beyond 100 years. Ancient astrologers had noticed that the lunar month coincided with the solar year every 19 years, or after 235 lunar months, a period of time they called a Metonic cycle. They also knew that the lunar month coincided with a solar eclipse every 18.03 years, or eighteen years eleven days, after nineteen lunar years or 223 lunar months, a period they named the Saros.

Using these two periods, the Metonic cycle and the Saros, our ancestors formed longer time periods, like the Celtic Triangle used in Stonehenge that consisted of 2 Metonic cycles and 1 Saros, equal to 56 years. The Mayas combined 2 Saroses and 3 Metonic cycles to make a period of 93 solar years. In my opinion, there must have been many other such combinations of lunisolar cycles that have not been explored so far. Our ancestors also had noticed that after every 521 years, an eclipse of the sun took place on the same day of the year and in the same place on the zodiac. Also, that the Saros and the Metonic cycle coincided every 4,237 years, after 235 Saroses or 223 Metonic cycles, and that 599 Saroses represented exactly 10,800 years. This particular number 10,800 was a sacred one for all ancient cultures.

There can be little doubt that it took thousands of years of careful observations and notations to assemble this knowledge. Such important information had to be transmitted to future generations and not forgotten. This is why our ancestors built their calendars in stone. The most famous one is perhaps the megalithic temple of Stonehenge.

Its age is estimated to be about 4,000 years and its location is in the Salisbury Plain of southern Wiltshire, England. The geographic coordinates are 51.17
^°
north latitude and 1.83
^°
west longitude, giving a Celtic foot of 0.2764 m, which is the measurement used in the construction, as well as the corresponding cubit of 0.4146 m. All circles were traced with the ancient Pi factor of 22/7 - the three concentric rings formed by the ring of limestone menhirs called the sarsen circle, the ring of Aubrey holes that probably held wooden posts, and the partially destroyed outer ditch.
The first ring has a diameter of 112 Celtic ft. and a circumference of 352 Celtic ft, the second a diameter of 315 Celtic ft. and a circumference of 990, while the third circle has a diameter of 385 Celtic ft. and a circumference of 1,210 Celtic ft, equal to 334.40 m. These rings are in relatively good condition and can be measured precisely; while three other circles, one made of bluestones and two of post holes, are more difficult to measure because of erosion but can be guessed as having had diameters of 84, 140, and 189 Celtic ft. across and circumferences of 264, 440, and 594 ft., respectively. Inside the sarsen circle five arches indicated the setting and rising of the Sun and the Moon at different times of the year.

These five points of observation are placed like a horseshoe, with the open end facing the northeast and another horseshoe inside, marked by bluestone menhirs. All these stones, the intervals between them, and the wooden posts set in the holes, gave a high number of possible alignments that could be measured with great precision. When all of this data will be collected and fed into a computer to be compared with the positions of the most prominent stars in the past, we will be able to determine with precision the date when Stonehenge was built.

It should be noted that the circumferences of all circles measured in Celtic feet are exactly divisible by 22 and all diameters are divisible by 7 - a proof of sound mathematics 4,000 years ago. Another testimony of the arithmetical ability of our Celtic ancestors is the interesting discrepancy that arises when one degree of the local longitude of Stonehenge is divided by 240,000. The result is a foot of longer length than the foot used to construct the temple.

This difference disappears when the latitude is increased by 2.35
^°
, which could mean, no doubt, that at the time Stonehenge was constructed, the North Pole was 2.35
^°
nearer than now. Here again we have a good way to establish the true age of this megalithic temple. It could also mean that Stonehenge was part of a Celtic empire whose centre was at the latitude of present-day Manchester and that the standard Celtic foot was calculated from the local longitude of the capital city of that time.

When was this time? Computer analysis of twenty alignments of Stonehenge have resulted in the positions of ten most prominent stars 12,000 years ago, giving the exact rising and setting points for

the stars Vega, Castor, Alcyone, Aldebaran, Altair, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius, Antares, and Fomalhaut. All these stars describe in twenty-four hours a full circle around the North Pole, but only a part of these star circles are visible from Stonehenge, each marking two precise points at which the path of each star cuts the horizon. These twenty points are clearly marked in Stonehenge, earning very high marks in both mathematics and astronomy for our Celtic ancestors.

The solar and lunar alignments of Stonehenge are neither very interesting nor impressive, since identical alignments can be found all over the world. The temple itself is precisely built on the line of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere - 21 June. Other markers show the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes - 21 March and 22 September. There are also divisions of the circles showing the maximal, north and south points of the lunar rising and setting. All of these marks can be found with sufficient precision by any one who wants to do it in a few years' time.

What really impresses me about the mathematical and astronomical skill of these ancient priests of Stonehenge is the way they predicted lunar and solar eclipses. I would like to call it a program of advanced

[previous page] Opposite: CELTIC TRIANGLE AND MAYAN SQUARE

56 solar years or 59 lunar years difference = 2.976 days = 72 hours
Celtic Triangle

lunar prec,essii6n
6793.5108 days
93 solar years or 98 lunar years difference = 1.247 day = 30 hours Mayan Square

The Celtic cycle of 20,454 days and the Mayan cycle of 33,968 days were also based on the lunar standstill cycle of 6,798.398 days, the cycle of maximum oscillation of moonrise to the north or to the south. That cycle was often rounded to 6.800 days and computed with circles of 34 stones, like the Q and R circles in Stonehenge. mathematical studies of the Stone Age, done with a few wooden poles and fifty-six holes. We all have long known that the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Mayas were fantastic astronomers and mathematicians. But who expected such prowess from the Celts, the Hyperboreans of the far north, rugged and unpolished ruffians? Yet since the recent discoveries that civilization invaded the Mediterranean basin from the north, and after I studied the wonders of Stonehenge, I must admit that I am very proud of having Celtic ancestors, the star-gazers and time-calculators of the deep dark past.

The scientific skill and astronomical knowledge of Stonehenge is rooted in the fifty-six Aubrey holes, in which were placed wooden poles, giving an astounding variety of precise alignments with the celestial bodies. It also made Stonehenge a huge, cleverly and skillfully executed calculator. The time-counting cycle of these astronomers 4,000 years ago was the span of 20,454 days which, with a minimal error of only seventy-two hours, represented 56 solar years, 59 lunar years, or 118 eclipses. This cycle of one Saros and two Metonic cycles has been called the Celtic triangle.

There is a relationship here to the Mayan solar-lunar cycle, even though that was longer and more precise than the Celtic triangle. The Mayan cycle, that could be called the Mayan square, comprised 33,968 days giving, with an error of only 30 hours, 93 solar years or 98 lunar years, that is, two Saros and three Metonic cycles. Since the Celts lived much farther north than the Mayas and had much less favorable atmospheric conditions for astronomical observations than the people near the equator where the moon is nearly always overhead, I personally (my prejudice granted) give the higher mark to the Celts.

Also, I expect that much more will be discovered at Stonehenge than we have seen so far. No one yet has taken pains to try the markers for the five nearest planets, which must have been well known to the astronomers of Stonehenge. Uranus and Neptune were probably familiar to them too. It could very well be that in the patterns of Stonehenge some alignments are set to indicate the conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn at the time this megalithic temple was built. Such a finding could help us considerably in estimating its true age. Stonehenge is so famous mainly because it is so easily accessible and so perfectly preserved. The megalithic temple of Avebury, about twenty miles north, must originally have been much bigger than Stonehenge, as it was formed by 650 gigantic menhirs encircling Silbury Hill. Yet the largest of all is the site of Glastonbury, in Somerset, about forty miles west of Stonehenge. This circle probably had a diameter of some thirty miles, but it is so eroded and leveled with the ground that its exact size and configuration can no longer be readily established.

Some of these prehistoric temples of the Celts are not circular, but are formed by combinations of curves of different radii. Woodhenge, situated next to Stonehenge, has the shape of an egg, also constructed in Celtic feet and with the Pi factor of 22/7. It has an ovoid perimeter of 480 ft, or 132.67 m. In reality, Woodhenge temple is formed by six ovoid curves in perfect concentricity and mathematical relationship. Whoever constructed it was a master mathematician.

The British archaeologists and astronomers have adopted the megalithic yard as their unit of measurement to explore the prehistoric temples in England. This yard, of 0.829 m, equal also to 3 Celtic feet or 2 Celtic cubits, makes it difficult to analyze the true relationship of the Celtic civilization to other cultures of the past. Divided into megalithic yards, the diameters and circumferences of the circles do not comprise whole units and the prehistoric formula 22:7 is not apparent. But the relationship 22:7 is the base of nearly all prehistoric monuments - the Pyramid of Cheops, the temples of Teotihuacan, and others.

There also exists an American Woodhenge, but the resemblance is in the proportion 22:7 only. The American site, at Cahokia Mounds, is constructed with the Tiahuanaco foot of 0.2972 m, which is quite surprising in itself. This prehistoric circle is in Illinois,. near East St. Louis, on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and is only a part of an extensive maze of prehistoric temples, habitats, and truncated pyramids. The diameter of Woodhenge Circle is 420 Tiahuanaco ft.; and its circumference is 1,320 ft, divided into 48 equal parts of 271/2 ft. each, separated by 48 equidistant poles.

The observation point inside this circle is 5 ft. off centre in an Easterly direction, from which point the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes
could be observed over the top of a pole at sunrise. Looking east, the fourth pole to the left indicated sunrise at the summer solstice and the fourth pole to the right, sunrise at the winter solstice. There certainly must be many other alignments built into this set-up; but as far as I know, no one has begun a serious exploration.