Freethought Nation

Canada's Stonehenge

In 1980, in a remote location west of Brooks, Alberta, scientist Gordon Freeman first discovered a Sun Temple that pre-dates Stonehenge. According to Freeman, it was constructed some 5000 years ago by the Oxbow People, and contains a solar calendar like ours, but slightly more accurate. He states that the site also contains a detailed lunar calendar. During field work in England from 1986 to 2006, Freeman found striking similarities between the surface geometries of Stonehenge and this site, findings which have far-reaching historical implications. These discoveries are carefully documented and interpreted in Gordon Freeman's book, Canada's Stonehenge: Astounding Archaeological Discoveries in Canada, England, and Wales.

Freeman describes the Alberta site as a complex, lace-like pattern of stones extending over an area of about thirty square kilometres. Local ranchers have called the hilltop Sunburst centrepiece of the site "the Sundial" for the last hundred years, while archaeologists apply the term "medicine wheel" to this and similar constructions across the prairies. Gordon Freeman's investigations reveal much more.

As Freeman states, "I had found an amazingly accurate year-round calendar in this Sun Temple, marked with rock lines pointing to Sun rises and sets at critical dates." He notes, "I later learned of arguments going on, mainly negative, about whether Stonehenge contained marked observation lines to the Summer Solstice Sun rise and the Winter Solstice Sun set. By applying what I had learned in Alberta to observing Sun rises and sets through Stonehenge, I found that an accurate, entire year-round calendar exists in Stonehenge."...

BACKGROUND

10 IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT CANADA'S STONEHENGE
Genius existed on the North American Great Plains 5000 years ago.

Genius existed around the world, independent of longitude, as it does now.

In southern Alberta a 5000-year-old Temple to the Sun, Moon and Morning Star has been discovered. It is a complex, lace-like pattern of stones extending over an area of about thirty square kilometres (equivalent to about 35 x 35 city blocks).

The Temple contains a calendar, a solar calendar like ours. The calendar is so accurate that it exposed a deception in the revision of our (European) calendar by Pope Gregory XIII in AD 1582.

The Temple also contains a lunar calendar that marks the monthly cycle of visible Moon shapes, and the nineteen-year cycle of Full Moon rise and set positions on the horizon near the Solstice times.

Stonehenge in England contains the same solar and lunar calendars as the Temple in Alberta. The Stonehenge calendars are about seven centuries younger than the ones in Canada.

The solar and lunar calendars in Stonehenge are entwined with exquisite artistry. They are displayed here for the first time in history.

A Sun Temple with a solar calendar has been discovered on Preseli Mountain in Wales. Preseli Mountain is the source of the "Bluestones" in Stonehenge. The Temple on Preseli Mountain might be contemporary with the Temple in Alberta. It is intriguing that the Temples are at nearly the same latitude and separated by a continent and an ocean.

New light has been shone on the King Arthur legends. They might be rooted in myths 3000 years older than previously thought.

Colour photographs and maps clearly illustrate Freeman's findings throughout Canada's Stonehenge.

The same accurate solar calendar exists on Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

Hadrian's buildings catch the Sun

The Emperor's country estate is aligned to meet the solstices.

Hadrian's villa 30 kilometres east of Rome was a place where the Roman Emperor could relax in marble baths and forget about the burdens of power. But he could never completely lose track of time, says Marina De Franceschini, an Italian archaeologist who believes that some of the villa's buildings are aligned so as to produce sunlight effects for the seasons.

For centuries, scholars have thought that the more than 30 buildings at Hadrian's palatial country estate were oriented more or less randomly. But De Franceschini says that during the summer solstice, blades of light pierce two of the villa's buildings.

In one, the Roccabruna, light from the summer solstice enters through a wedge-shaped slot above the door and illuminates a niche on the opposite side of the interior (see image). And in a temple of the Accademia building, De Franceschini has found that sunlight passes through a series of doors during both the winter and summer solstices....

Few classical buildings have been investigated for astronomical alignment, says Hannah, partly because it is much easier to check for alignments in prehistoric structures such as Stonehenge, which do not have potentially contradictory artefacts.

Lost City Revealed Under Centuries of Jungle Growth

A hundred ancient Maya buildings detected under Guatemala rain forest.

Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Published April 26, 2011

Hidden for centuries, the ancient Maya city of Holtun, or Head of Stone, is finally coming into focus.

Three-dimensional mapping has "erased" centuries of jungle growth, revealing the rough contours of nearly a hundred buildings, according to research presented earlier this month.

Though it's long been known to locals that something—something big—is buried in this patch of Guatemalan rain forest, it's only now that archaeologists are able to begin teasing out what exactly Head of Stone was....

King of Stars

During special events at Head of Stone, such as the crowning of a king or the naming of a royal heir, "there would have been a lot of people—not only the 2,000 people living at the site itself but all the people from surrounding areas as well. So, several thousand people," Reese-Taylor said.

Thick gray smoke and the smell of burning incense would have filled the air. Gazing up at the temple top through this haze, a visitor might have seen "ritual practitioners" performing dances and sacred rituals while adorned with elaborate feathered costumes and jade jewelry.

During the solstices or equinoxes, the crowds would have moved farther south and higher up in the city, surrounding the buildings that made up the astronomical observatory.

"During the solstices, you would've been able to see the sun rising in line with the eastern structure, and the common people would have thought that the king was commanding the heavens," study leader Kovacevich said....

The discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the Americas....

The people who built the observatory -- three millenniums before the emergence of the Incas -- are a mystery, but they achieved a level of art and science that archeologists say they did not know existed in the region until at least 800 years later.

Among the most impressive finds was a massive clay sculpture -- an ancient version of the modern frowning "sad face" icon flanked by two animals. The disk, protected from looters beneath thousands of years of dirt and debris, marked the position of the winter solstice.

The oldest astronomical observatory in the Western Hemisphere has been discovered on a hillside a few miles north of Lima, Peru, archaeologists recently reported....

Temple structures, including a giant carving of what looks like a frowning face, align with the directions of sunrise and sunset at critical points in the agricultural calendar, including December 21, the start of the Southern Hemisphere's growing season, and June 21, the end of harvest....

Traditions of the Sun: Explore the World's Ancient Observatories from NASA

Traditions of the Sun: The Yucatan. Visit the great Mayan cities of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Dzibilchaltun, Mayapan, and others. Learn about Mayan astronomy, history, culture, and science.

Traditions of the Sun: Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Visit the park in Chaco canyon, while learning about the Sun and Native American solar practices within a larger historical and cultural context.

MYSTIC PLACES: Teotihuacan, Mexico

...In 1971, a large cave underneath the Pyramid of the Sun was discovered which throws light on why the pyramid was constructed, and perhaps even on why Teotihuacan itself was built where it was.

The cave is actually a natural lava tube enlarged and elaborated in ancient times. The Teotihuacan Valley is a side valley of the Valley of Mexico and is one of a number of natural basins in the midst of an extensive region of volcanoes, therefore, there are many caves formed from the tubes of old lava flows.

The ancient use of the cave predates the pyramid. Aztec tradition placed the creation the Sun and Moon, and even the present universe, at Teotihuacan.

In Pre-Spanish Mexico, such caverns were symbolic wombs from which gods like the Sun and the Moon, and the ancestors of mankind, emerged in the mythological past. This is an immensely holy spot and the memory of its location persisted into Aztec times....



The city of Teotihuacán is meticulously laid out on a grid which is offset 15º.5 from the cardinal points. Its main avenue, the "Street of the Dead," runs from 15º.5 east of north to 15º.5 west of south, while its most impressive structure, the Pyramid of the Sun, is directly oriented to a point 15º.5 north of west -- the position at which the sun sets on August 13....



A brief examination of the ephemeris reveals that the sun passed through the latitude of 14º.8 N on April 30 on its way northward and again on August 13 on its way southward. That happens to be the latitude of Izapa, in southernmost Mexico, and August 13 happens to be the date that the Maya believed the world began....

A word about solsticial alignments in Mesoamerica: Even though the region extends through 10 degrees of latitude -- from about 13 to 23º N -- because it lies so near the equator, sun angles scarcely differ by more than a degree across the entire region, in other words, less than could be distinguished by someone practicing naked-eye astronomy as these people did. For all intents and purposes, the azimuth of the summer solstice sunrise can be equated to 65º throughout the region, or 25º north of east. Similarly, the winter solstice sunrise can be equated to 115º, or 25º south of east. Sunset positions on each of these days may be marked against the corresponding positions along the western horizon -- i.e., 295º, or 25º north of west for the summer solstice, and 245º, or 25º south of west for the winter solstice. Naturally, none of the Mesoamerican peoples reckoned in terms of angles or degrees, so although we express such measurements in these units, the alignments which they established were done solely through repeated observations in the field. It is, however, not inconceivable that, having once realized what the extreme points of the sun were, they made a graphic representation of its limits. If so, the resultant diagram would have approximated a recumbent cross -- a so-called Saint Andrew's cross -- which indeed has been recognized as one of the most frequently repeated artistic motifs used by the Olmecs....

Roman Pantheon Temple a 2,000-Year-Old Sundial?

The temple was precisely constructed to direct a beam of light to illuminate the entrance at the exact moment the emperor entered the dome.

The huge 30ft hole built into the dome of Rome’s Pantheon has mystified minds for centuries.

Now historians have come up with an intriguing explanation for the feature – it was built as a sundial to illuminate the emperor as he entered on important occasions.

The opening is the only source of natural light for the 2,000 year-old structure, but at the same time it also lets in rain and there are tiny holes in the floor which act as a drain.

Experts found that the hole allows a single shaft of sunlight to illuminate the interior during the March and September equinox as well as on April 21 – the date Rome is said to have been founded.

The emperor would have been bathed by the sun’s rays as he entered the building on these auspicious occasions.

Professor Giulio Magli, from the Polytechnic of Milan, said:'The role of the Pantheon is poorly understood and it's function still remains uncertain, although we believe the sun has a significant role in the building.

'We have drawn our conclusions by studying other Roman monuments in the city including the Domus Aurea or as it is also known the Emperor Nero's Golden Palace which also had a similar domed roof.

'The sun and time were both linked architecturally in the ancient Roman period and they were used as a form of cosmological signpost for them. By bathing the Emperor in sunlight this would have a dramatic effect on him and raise him to the status of a god.'

He added that their research had shown the Pantheon was strongly connected with the solar cycle during the year, and that at least one of its main functions was to associate the sun with the power of Rome and to reinforce the emperor’s divine right to rule.

He explained that during the darker winter months the beam illuminates only the vaulted dome. However, at noon on the equinoxes it reaches the floor and on April 21 the beam fully illuminates the entrance at midday.

Building of the Pantheon was started in 27BC by Agrippa and his name is still visible over the entrance, although it was not finished until AD128 by the Emperor Hadrian.

The word Pantheon means 'to every God' and during its long 2,000 year old history the building has also served as a Roman Catholic church and services are still held there.

Today the Pantheon also houses the tombs of Italy's last two kings Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I and volunteers maintain a vigil over the royal resting places.

Spring equinox at one of humanity’s oldest structures

The culture that built the temples of Malta disappeared over four millennia ago, around the time the ancient Egyptians began building pyramids in Giza. The Maltese builders had been at it for two thousand years longer, assembling walls from limestone megaliths. All we know of these ancient builders are the ruins that still dot the Maltese archipelago today.

The oldest of the temples is called Ġgantija, the Giant’s Tower. Built on a hill in Gozo (the smaller of Malta’s two inhabited islands), it is the oldest free-standing structure built by human hands, or so archaeologists believe.

The temples are aligned with the heavens to face the morning sun. Their entrances open into kidney-shaped rooms of varying complexity. Their softer stones are decorated with spiralling reliefs and animal figures that communicate a forgotten way of looking at the world. They were once roofed with vaulted limestone boulders now replaced by modern scaffolding and the open sky.

Architecture like this is found nowhere else in the Mediterranean.

UNESCO has designated the Maltese temples as world heritage sites, enclosing their legacy for posterity in science and good intentions. Many of my older Maltese friends remember that the stones once served different purposes: tables for family picnics and adolescent parties, or altars for clandestine groups practising the dark arts under moonlight.

Mnajdra temple sits high on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on the south coast of the main Maltese island. On spring and autumn equinoxes, the morning sun pierces the temple’s ancient doorway, splitting the kidney-shaped rooms with perfect symmetry. Shortly before daybreak in the middle of spring, I stood in Mnajdra with about twenty other tourists to witness the sunrise for myself....

Witnessing the sunrise at Mnajdra temple and thinking about walls was like standing beside the work of the most ancient of human hands and finding that not all things change.

The endless mysteries of the pyramids

The Giza Pyramids are among the most famous monuments in the world. They also raise endless questions by their visitors. Part of their mystery is the fact that there are no definite answers to questions such as: Why they were built? How they were built? Who built them? What do they symbolize? In our attempt to find answers, we find many theories.

Approximately 90 percent of the theories in Egyptology are based on hypothesis, and only 10 percent are proven ones. Bearing in mind that there are 3 mysteries connected to the pyramids, namely the mystery of the tools used, the mystery of the colors and the mystery of mummification, the pyramids are a challenge to all the technologies that we have in the 21st century.

Even the name ‘Pyramid’ is a mystery. Historians believe the word is derived from the Greek word ‘pyramos’-which means a type of bread that takes the shape of a triangle. Interestingly enough, the original hieroglyphic “MER”, which means an instrument used to ascend to the sun, has no connection with the Greek word that might help answer the question about the pyramid. Several researchers reject the traditional theory that a pyramid is a tomb for a king.

K .Mendelssohn believes that, ”While the funerary function of the pyramids cannot be doubted, it is rather more difficult to prove that the pharaohs were ever buried inside them...”. In fact, more than 118 pyramids in Egypt were found empty!...

The original word for "pyramid" is MER, which refers to "an instrument used to ascend to the sun."

Very Interesting!! Perhaps they were physical representations of the Meru Mountain?

Archaeologist Claims 12,000-Year-Old Solstice Site in Clarke County

Bear’s Den Rock has captured the attention of travelers in the northern Shenandoah Valley since colonial times and for thousands of years before by the indigenous people who hunted and fished in the region. Now, a local archaeologist believes that the prominent outcrop just south of Virginia’s Route 7 in Clarke County is a part of a larger 12,000 year old celestial calendar used by Native Americans to mark the changing of the seasons.

Archaeologist Jack Hranicky believes that a 12,000-year-old solstice site has been discovered in Clarke County, Virginia

“Although archaeological sites have been discovered across the United States, there’s nothing like this above ground or this old in North America,” says Dr. Jack Hranicky about the site located just off Ebenezer Road. Hranicky, also known as “Dr. Jack” to friends and associates, is a Virginia Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) who has authored 32 books on North America’s prehistory and discovered at least half-a-dozen other Native American solstice sites.

“This preserved site has numerous properties that prove its use 12,000 years ago by Paleo-Indians and classifies it as a major ceremonial and calendar site on the Shenandoah River,” said Dr. Jack “I classify it as an ‘Horizon Observation Station’ which produced a Paleo-calendar for early Americans.”

Chris and Rene' White with jasper found on their property - photo Edward Leonard

The story behind the presumed celestial calendar’s recent discovery is, in many ways, as intriguing as its ancient origins.

According to Dr. Jack, 12,000 years ago Paleo-Indians traveled throughout the area known today as the Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont Plateau. Although the Piedmont area provided the early Americans with a nearly unlimited food supply, the first Americans still ventured north and west along the Shenandoah River into areas that include modern-day Clarke County....