In news that will likely delight Apollo 11 deniers, Roswell frequenters and Illuminati enthusiasts alike, archaeologists have discovered hundreds of mysterious, once-metallic spheres buried deep beneath an ancient pyramid in Mexico City. And we have absolutely no idea what they’re for.
Described by Jorge Zavala, an archaeologist at Mexico’s National Anthropology and History Institute, as an “unprecedented discovery”, the orbs have called one of the most important temples an ancient, pre-Hispanic city home for the past 1800 years.
But this wasn’t just your average ancient township; the city, Teotihuacan, was once one of the biggest in the world, boasting over 100,000 residents at a time when the Earth itself only held around 200 million. And it’s this relatively massive population that makes the city’s total abandonment for “mysterious reasons” in 700 AD all the more puzzling.
Plus, it seems that the Teotihuacans knew damn well they weren’t coming back. Before fleeing the famine and/or alien invasion that consumed their home, people had filled their beloved temple’s tunnels with so much debris and ruins that it took scientists several years of planning alone before they could dig their way in.
They yellow colour comes from jarosite, which forms as pyrite — or fool’s gold — oxidizes. So back in 300 AD, when the Teotihuacanos used with these variously sized (1.5 to 5 inches) balls in whatever ceremonies or rituals they engaged in, they were looking at what might have seemed like beautiful, glimmering balls of gold.
As George Gowgill, professor emeritus at Arizona State University told Discovery News:
Pyrite was certainly used by the Teotihuacanos and other ancient Mesoamerican societies. Originally the spheres would have shown brilliantly. They are indeed unique, but I have no idea what they mean.
We stand today at an unprecedented turning point in human history. In recent years two versions of ancient history have formed. One, we shall call ‘alternative’ history, the other we shall refer to as ‘official’ history. The former ponders over a variety of anomalies and tries to make sense out of the corpus of evidence, i.e., the pyramids and timelines, why they were built, by whom and when. The latter conducts digs, catalogues pottery shards, and tries to defend its proposal there are no enigmas, and virtually everything is explained.
At one point perhaps as late as fifteen years ago these two camps seem to be engaged in an informal dialogue. That all changed after, 1) the Great Sphinx redating controversy caught Egyptologists off guard and, 2) the impact of Chris Dunn’s book The Giza Power Plant: Technologies of Ancient Egypt at the end of the last decade.
There is no more dialogue and no more polite, gloves on debate. The proponents of ‘official’ history have taken an increasingly political and ideological approach to the issue. They now do little more than offer pronouncements of the historical ‘truth’ on the one hand, and denounce of all those who dare challenge officialdom on the other. In this context we offer evidence that our ‘scholars’, the gatekeepers who control our institutions of ‘higher learning’, refuse to consider.
The Great Pyramid – Precision Engineering
This colossal structure, the last of the seven ancient wonders and the largest stone building in the world, still provokes awe, controversy and a plethora of theories that inspire bitter debate to this day. Instead of going over the well-established mysteries, we would like to shine new light on this important enigma that appears out of place in ‘Stone Age’ Egypt.
The real challenge the Great Pyramid still poses to us in the opening decade of the Third Millennium is the physical plant itself. Theorists have gone on endlessly speculating about how it was built and the metaphysical, cultural and religious significance and/or symbolism behind its construction. Though several authors have offered tantalising possibilities, none have been conclusively proven.
The mystery remains unsolved.
To begin with, the massive size – the staggering volume and weight of the building blocks – remain problematic. With an estimated 2.3 million blocks with a weight of about 4 million tons, the pyramid is two-thirds the mass of the Hoover Dam. The sheer size and the numbers of blocks that had to be quarried and moved into place, presents numerous architectural, construction and engineering headaches.
These issues have been raised time and again, yet are still unsettled. It is time to move on and define the even more difficult issues. We consider the core ‘hard’ problems to be those that reflect precision engineering and assembly line manufacturing accomplished on a massive scale. The primitive tools scenario concocted by Egyptologists does not explain the following tasks:
1. Creating precision-cut casing blocks weighing 16 tons, fitted together and held by a super-glue mortar that maintained a tight seal forming a nearly seamless shell.
2. Leveling the 13-acre limestone bedrock base to a degree of accuracy only recently achieved with laser technology.
3. Squaring the base to True North with minimal deviation.
4. Excavating the ‘Descending Passage’ 350 feet into solid bedrock at a 26-degree angle while keeping the tunnel arrow-straight for its length.
5. Bringing the massive 48-story pyramid together around complex internal structures, retaining the true shape to enable the builders to form the apex. (These internal structures include four enigmatic ventilation shafts and a coffer in the King’s Chamber that is too large to have been moved through the opening. It shows evidence of having been cut with a jewel-tip saw.)
6. Extensive usage of different types of machined granite inside the Great Pyramid chambers.
The father of modern Egyptology, Sir Flinders Petrie, marvelled at the precision and size of the casing blocks. He carefully measure the blocks and found that “the mean thickness of the joints are .020 and therefore, the mean variation of the cutting of the stone from a straight line and from a true square, is but .01 on length of 75 inches up the face, an amount of accuracy equal to most modern opticians’ straight-edges of such a length.”
The modern international engineering firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Menendhall conducted a forensic analysis of the Great Pyramid. Their findings are evaluated in an article published in Civil Engineering.
The pyramid was oriented with its major sides either north-south or east-west. This in itself was a remarkable undertaking, given the accuracy to which it was done, because the Egyptians had to perform the work using astronomical or solar observations – the compass had not yet been invented. The dimensions of the pyramid are extremely accurate and the site was levelled within a fraction of an inch over the entire base. This is comparable to the accuracy possible with modern construction methods and laser levelling.1
The summary speaks volumes between the lines. The problems with the Descending Passage are numerous. For starters the tunnel is less than 4 x 4 feet, enough for no more than one excavator wielding a hammer-stone at any given moment. How would our proposed digging crew negotiate the space in the suffocating darkness once they had dug down 50 feet and more? In addition how would the 26-degree angle be set and maintained without lights or levels? The lack of carbon deposits on walls and ceiling indicate that torches were not used.
Once again, Petrie measured the passage and found an amazing accuracy of .020 of an inch over 150 feet and a mere .250 inch over 350 feet of its constructed and excavated length. We submit that this passage with its smooth surfaces, squared shape, and accurate angle could not have been tunnelled with primitive tools and methods.
The Great Pyramid remains the world’s greatest wonder and ancient enigma. We suggest researchers should pay more attention to these details and ask about the materials used inside the Great Pyramid, especially near the ventilation shafts. We now have two doors blocking a very important shaft, the one that pointed to the star Sirius in 2450 BCE.
The Origin Of Dogs – Biogenetic engineering
Now we turn to a mystery that nearly equals the pyramid, though it is a little known conundrum hidden in the mists of remote antiquity. Let us start with a simple question that appears to have an obvious answer: what is a dog? It turns out geneticists in the past decade have shown the answer is not so obvious. In fact, generations of anthropologists, archaeologists and wildlife biologists turned out to be dead wrong when it came to the origins of “man’s best friend”.
Prior to DNA studies conducted in the 1990s, the generally accepted theory posited that dogs branched off from a variety of wild canids, i.e., coyotes, hyenas, jackals, wolves and so on, about 15,000 years ago. The results of the first comprehensive DNA study shocked the scholarly community. The study found that all dog breeds can be traced back to wolves and not other canids. The second part of the finding was even more unexpected – the branching off occurred from 40-150,000 years ago.
Why do these findings pose a problem? We have to answer that question with another question: how were dogs bred from wolves? This is not just difficult to explain, it is impossible. Do not be fooled by the pseudo-explanations put forth by science writers that state our Stone Age ancestors befriended wolves and somehow (the procedure is never articulated) managed to breed the first mutant wolf, the mother of all dogs. Sorry, we like dogs too, but that is what a dog is.
The problems come at the crucial stage of taking a male and female wolf and getting them to produce a subspecies (assuming you could tame and interact with them at all). Let us take this one step further by returning to our original question, what is a dog? A dog is a mutated wolf that only has those characteristics of the wild parent, which humans find companionable and useful. That is an amazing fact.
Think about those statements for a moment. If you are thinking that dogs evolved naturally from wolves, that is not an option. No scientist believes that because the stringent wolf pecking order and breeding rituals would never allow a mutant to survive, at least that is one strong argument against natural evolution.
Now, if our Paleolithic ancestors could have pulled off this feat, and the actual challenges posed by the process are far more taxing, then wolf/dog breeders today certainly should have no problem duplicating it. But like the Great Pyramid, that does not seem to be the case. No breeders have stepped up to the plate claiming they can take two pure wolves and produce a dog sans biogenetic engineering techniques.
The evolution of the domesticated dog from a wild pack animal appears to be a miracle! It should not have happened. This is another unexplained enigma.
Mohenjo Daro – Civil Engineering
Since indoor plumbing did not arrive in modern societies to any extent until the 20th century, and urban planning has still not been adopted much to this date in history, what we find in the ancient city of Mohenjo Daro is anomalous indeed.
This city in the Indus Valley was built on a grid system about 4,500 years ago, obviously planned out and drawn up before the first brick was laid. It had houses, some with indoor plumbing, a granary, baths, an assembly hall and towers all made out of standard size bricks. The streets were about eight to ten feet wide on average, and were built with well-engineered drainage channels.
Mohenjo Daro was divided into two parts; the Citadel was on the upper level and included an elaborate tank called the Great Bath that was made of fine quality brickwork and drains. The Great Bath was 40 feet long and 8 feet deep, a huge public facility by any standards. A giant granary, a large residential building, and several assembly halls were also on this upper level.
The Great Bath was made watertight by the use of two layers of brick, lime-cement and then finally sealed with bitumen (tar). The bath included a shallow section for children.
We should wonder how an ancient culture of which nothing is known, not even their language, created this sophisticated city at a point in time many thousands of years ahead of the curve? Civil engineers do not crawl out of thatched-roof huts able to draw up plans for a complex urban environment. We need to address the following question to archaeologists and historians:
1. Where are the cities that demonstrate the path of urban development, social and technical organisation, leading to Mohenjo Daro?
2. How do you explain the sudden emergence of a complex society when 99.99% of the rest of humanity were living primitively?
These issues cannot be brushed aside with some arrogant pretence that the questions have already been addressed and answered by digging up and labelling pottery shards and other artefacts. We have been and are being overly indulgent with our “soft sciences” regarding their cavalier assertions about having all the answers. In fact, they have very few, so why are they throwing stones at independent researchers from behind glass towers?
Extraordinarily little is known about the Indus Valley civilisation that once spanned nearly a thousand miles with other cities matching the description of Mohenjo Daro.
We file this under our list of great enigmas and challenge orthodox scholars to prove differently as with the first two of our mysteries.
We note that the Indus Valley civilisation was contemporary with the Great Pyramid. It is often said this was one of the first three civilisations, having a written script that has never been deciphered. Now we turn next to the mother of all civilisations, Sumer.
Sumeria – The Source Of Civilisation
Are we missing something or are our historians looking at our earliest civilisations through a strange and distorted lens? Like Egypt and the Indus Valley, the biblical ‘Land of Shinar’ – the birthplace of Abraham – was a brutally hot, largely barren, empty desert with a mighty river cutting a swath through it. Does this sound like the magnet that would attract late Stone Age tribes to hunker down and pull wonders out of a hat?
In fact, historians thought Shinar was a piece of biblical fiction until the mid-19th century, but now they know everything about it with complete certitude that we, the unwashed masses, dare not question. Nonetheless, we encourage readers to maintain an attitude of healthy skepticism and dare to question ‘official history’.
As is the case with the culture that built the cities of the Indus Valley, no one knows who the ancient Sumerians were or where they came from. They called themselves ‘the black-headed ones’ and spoke a strange language that was unrelated to the languages of the Semitic tribes in the region. Some linguists note a similarity between the Sumerian language and that of the Basques, another anomalous culture.
We find it curious that any primitive peoples would choose the rigours of a hostile desert environment to settle in and build a civilisation. Why not a gentle river in a forested mountain valley? Especially in light of the fact that Sumeria contained very few resources, no forests, no minerals, not even the rocks that were plentiful in Egypt.
How are we to explain the fact this mysterious culture managed to invent all of the core components of civilisation under such restrictive conditions? It occurs to us that a culture would need minerals like copper, gold, silver and tin immediately available to experiment with over the course of generations in order to create process metallurgy. There is nothing simple or accidental about making the connection between raw ores, the metals they contain, and how to reduce them out of their native state using high heat.
Nevertheless, the Sumerians not only figured out geology, how to obtained the ore, knew the levels of heat needed and how to build kilns to achieve it, they also took very different metals and created the first alloy, bronze. As metal-smiths were performing these feats, other citizens were apparently creating the wheel, building cities, ziggurats, inventing writing, movable type, the ox-drawn plow, cereal crop agriculture, and advanced mathematics, to mention the most notable of their innovations.
Something is wrong with this picture. Most human beings were counting using their fingers, if at all, hunting animals and gathering plants for their meals. Yet, we find the Sumerians in classrooms learning the principles of the sexigesimal math system. Yes, the very same 60-base system we use today to keep track of hours, minutes and seconds. This advanced system was the first to reveal that a circle has 360 degrees and can be subdivided using 60, 30, 15, 12, etc., all fractions of the root number.
Teotihuacán, in Mexico, is an immense, even overwhelming archaeological site, oriented along a twin axis. In the 1960s a team of archaeologists and surveyors mapped out the entire complex in great detail. The resultant map revealed an urban grid centred around two principal, almost perpendicular, alignments.
From the Pyramid of the Moon at the north end, the complex extends south along the Avenue of the Dead beyond the Ciudadela and Great Compound complexes for about 3.2 kilometres. To this north-south axis we must add an east-west alignment that led from a point near the Pyramid of the Sun to a spot of prime astronomical significance on the western horizon.
Anthony Aveni, an astronomer-anthropologist, discovered that on the day the Sun passes directly overhead in the spring of the Northern Hemisphere (May 18), the Pleiades star cluster makes its first annual predawn appearance. It was at this point on the western horizon that the Pleiades set, and the builders aimed the east-west axis.
Additionally, the Sun also sets at this point on the horizon on August 12 – the anniversary of the beginning of the current Mesoamerican calendar cycle (5th Sun) – determined by a consensus of academic and independent scholars to have begun on August 12, 3114 BCE.
It is very clear Teotihuacán was laid out according to a set of alignments that reflected celestial, geographic, as well as geodetic relationships. Walking along the avenue from one pyramid to another, up the steps to the top, and surveying the site from a multitude of angles, one is struck by the sense of being in the middle of some vast geometric matrix.
Teotihuacán was the first true urban centre in the Americas. At its peak around 500 CE, it boasted a population of an estimated 200,000. George E. Stuart, archaeologist and the editor of National Geographic magazine sums up our ignorance:
We speak of it with awe, as we do the pyramids of Egypt, but we still know next to nothing about the origins of the Teotihuacános, what language they spoke, how their society was organised, and what caused their decline.2
As for one the most anomalous of artefacts on the planet, in the 1900s archaeologists discovered a sheet of mica in the upper tiers of the Pyramid of the Sun. This was no ho-hum pottery shard to catalogue and file away in a dusty box, yet that is about how archaeologists treated the find. To anyone with even a smattering of technical knowledge, discovering a large sheet of mica in an ancient pyramid site comes as a shock. In fact, it is one of the great ‘smoking guns’ that turn archaeologists mum.
Mica is an inflammable and non-conductive mineral that grows in fairly weak plate-like structures. It is not at all useful as a structural building material. NASA uses it as a radiation shield in space vehicles. Mica is also utilised in electronic components and microwave ovens, and it is a good shield for electromagnetic radiation, like radio waves. Like the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun has a subterranean cavity under the middle of the pyramid. A large pyramid with layers of thick mica would be an excellent EMI shield.
Its placement in the complex raises questions that we could only answer today after the development of electronic, atomic and space age technologies.
Thick sheets of mica were also found by archaeologists about 400 meters down the avenue from the Sun Pyramid, these precision-cut sheets were of considerable size: 27.5 meters square. They were located under a rock-slab floor of a complex now called “the Mica Temple”.
What possible reason could the builders have had for including a layer of mica in any structure? It was obviously not decorative. To add greatly to the growing mystery, the particular mica used was traced to Brazil. Now we are getting in deep. How would a supposedly indigenous “Stone Age” culture know that mica existed 3200 kilometres away in the jungles of Brazil? Not only that, how did they transport these large sheets over that long distance intact without wheeled vehicles? Surely not via relay teams on foot travelling overland! No large seagoing boats or ports have ever been found in ancient Mexico.
High Technology In Stone Age Peru
Lake Titicaca borders Bolivia and Peru in the Andes. The highest large lake in the world, there are many signs it was once exposed to the ocean. Megalithic structures like the Gateway of the Sun in Tiahuanacu, Bolivia, also indicate a long lost past. The gateway was carved out of one solid block, the hard way to make a gate.
Moving northward near Cuzco, Peru, we find even more large, impressive and mysterious structures. Here we find walls built with complex jigsaw type megalithic blocks similar to the more familiar walls found at nearby Machu Picchu. Some of the megalithic structures contain complex cut-rocks weighing over 100 tons; a few were joined together by bronze clamps. Some of the bronze had obviously been poured in place, a skill not available in pre-Columbian Peru.
Like Sumer, the high Andes is an unlikely location for Stone Age cities, evidence of advanced technologies, and seminal agricultural discoveries. It is well established that the region around Tiahuanco, at 12,500 feet elevation, had been turned into a highly productive agricultural zone. That was achieved by the building of dikes, dams, canals and raised beds that created microclimates which protected the plants from frost.
We have attempted to show our planet is full of ancient wonders and mysteries that have yet to be solved. You can find more information as well as our theories on who and what created these enigmas in our books, The Genesis Race (by Will Hart) and Ancient Gods and Their Mysteries: Will They Return in 2012 AD? (by Robert Berringer).
Will Hart is a journalist, photographer, and filmmaker who has investigated ancient mysteries and evidence of extraterrestrial intervention on Earth since 1969. His first book The Genesis Race: Our Extraterrestrial DNA and the True Origins of the Species is the outcome of three decades of research. Robert Berringer is the author of Ancient Gods and Their Mysteries: Will They Return in 2012 AD? which is distributed by Book Clearing House www.bookch.com and available from www.CloudriderBooks.com. He can be contacted at rtberringer@netzero.com.
Belsebuub & Angel Pritchard, Guest Writers Waking Times
Some of the most famous ancient megalithic sites in the world align to the summer solstice – in numerous different cultures: Egyptian, Pagan, Mayan, Essene, Buddhist, Native American, and Easter Islander. Below are some examples. There are others, but there may be many more that have not yet been discovered.
Sites such as the Great Pyramids and Easter Island, are speculated to be some of the most ancient in the known world, and to have links to the civilizations of Atlantis and possibly Lemuria. Others trace their lineage back to the original spiritual knowledge of the Mayans and ancient peoples of Britain.
These sites indicate the existence of an ancient cosmic spirituality, sometimes referred to as ancient solar religions – some highly advanced in their technology and understanding of the cosmos.
The summer solstice sun setting between the two Great Pyramids of Egypt, crowning the Sphinx in the foreground.
The Great Pyramids ~ Egypt
At the Great Pyramids of Egypt, when standing at the Sphinx, the sun on the summer solstice sets precisely between the two largest of the Great Pyramids. The sun’s descent between the two pyramids seems to enact the moment of creation where the sun emerged from between two mounds, but in reverse, perhaps signifying the return of the sun to the source of creation.
The Osirieon ~ Egypt
The temple of Osireion at Abydos in Egypt. It shares many architectural similarities with the Valley Temple beside the Sphinx, as well as a connection to the deity Anubis as head of the underworld in alignment with the sun and constellation of Leo. (photo copyright wiki user RsAzevedo 2008)
There is an incredibly mysterious temple at the ancient site of Abydos in Egypt. For thousands of years Abydos was believed to be the final resting place of the Egyptian god Osiris. Then in 1902 AD the Osireion temple was unearthed, which many believe, could have been the tomb of Osiris.
The Osireion shares incredible similarities with the Valley Temple that lies next to the Sphinx. Both the Valley Temple and Osireion are made out of huge unadorned granite blocks, which also look very similar to Stonehenge, and share the same construction methods and a number of mathematical characteristics (for example, both feature the number 17). The Valley Temple was built at the same time as the Sphinx, and its similarities with the Osireion seem to indicate that the Osireion may too have been built by the builders of the Sphinx.
The Osireion is dated to between 6,000 – 3,100 BC, although it is possibly much older. It had been unearthed at least once before when the Pharaoh Seti I uncovered it during the construction of his temple in around 1,280 BC.
The Valley Temple located beside the Great Sphinx of Egypt. It shares remarkable similarities in building style with the Osireion, another ancient temple. Both are made out of huge unadorned granite blocks. (photo copyright Daniel Mayer 2008)
Like the Great Pyramids and Sphinx, the Osirieon has a summer solstice sunset alignment. On the summer solstice, the light of the setting sun shines through a nearby gap in the Libyan Hills, which intersects the Osirieon temple.
The temple was constructed near a natural spring, which was used to feed a pool of water inside the temple that forms a moat around its central part. Some believe this was intended to symbolize the mound that rose from the primeval waters at the beginning of creation in ancient Egyptian texts, whilst others draw similarities to the sacred pagan healing well springs of the ancient Britons.
Other mysterious aspects of the site include a flower of life symbol found inscribed on some of the pillars of the temple, believed to have been left there by Greeks possibly around 300 BC. Ancient hieroglyphs of what appear to be hovercraft, and various flying machines like helicopters, can be found in the temple of Seti I next door.
The Essene Monastery ~ Qumran, Egypt
The ruins of the Essene community at Qumran (photo copyright 2011 wiki user MotherForker)
Said to be the inheritors of the ancient initiatory knowledge of the esoteric schools of Egypt, the Essenes were a mystical Jewish group which followed a solar (rather than traditional Jewish lunar calendar) and like the sites of ancient Egypt, had a sacred place aligned to the summer solstice sunset.
The Essene community is believed to have existed between around 200 BC to the 1stcentury AD and lived together in various places in Palestine, Syria and Egypt. They are the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls – a set of ancient mystical texts discovered in Qumran in Egypt in 1947 in the caves nearby one of their settlements.
The largest room of their stone communal building at Qumran is aligned so that the rays of the setting sun on the summer solstice illuminate the eastern wall where there are two altars. Two ancient historians had written that the Essenes worshiped the sun (just as the Egyptians did), and the discovery of this alignment along with their texts, now confirms this.
Additionally, a limestone sundial was discovered there, designed to measure the sun throughout the year rather than the day, and which could measure the solstices and equinoxes.
They appear to have been a solar religion, as many of the most ancient religions were – each morning they would begin their day with a prayer to the sun and they called themselves the Children of Light. It is believed that Jesus spent time with the Essenes who had been awaiting the arrival of a messiah, and the life of Jesus also follows the path of the sun.
Stonehenge ~ England
The summer solstice sunrise aligns with the avenue off the circle around Stonehenge. At sunrise the sun shines down the avenue into the center of the stone circle.
The giant megalithic stone circle of Stonehenge aligns most prominently to the summer solstice sunrise. On this day the sun rises over the Heel Stone outside the circle, and penetrates into its center to the altar stone.
A giant ancient avenue leading from Stonehenge to the nearby River Avon also aligns to the summer solstice sunrise. Another ancient stone circle called Bluehenge lies where this avenue and the river meet.
Yet another ancient site called Durrington Walls lies 2 miles north-east of Stonehenge. It contains a henge called the Southern Circle consisting of six concentric circles that would have been made out of large timber posts. The circle is aligned to the winter solstice sunrise, but like Stonehenge has a paved avenue leading to the River Avon and a post which acted as the Heel Stone, but aligned to the summer solstice sunset rather than sunrise.
It is possible that Stonehenge was part of a sacred landscape in which a number of sites were used ceremoniously during various celestial occasions, but it appears, particularly the summer solstice.
Tallaght Hill of the Fair Gods ~ Mount Seskin, Ireland
On Mount Seskin, the tallest of the Tallaght Hills (outside of the town of Tallaght) there are a number of ancient stone ruins including standing stones and passage cairns. The summer solstice sun rises in the distance, right beside the Lambay Volcano and reflects off a pool of water on the hill called Lin Oir, meaning golden pond.
The cave at Ajanta called number 26, which aligns to the summer solstice sunrise. As the sun rises, a beam of light penetrates this cave and illuminates the stupa and the statue of Buddha within. (photo copyright 2011 wiki user dola.das85)
The Ajanta Caves are an extraordinary group of around 30 manmade caves cut into the side of a sheer cliff face. The cliff is naturally U-shaped and was hidden in a remote part of the jungle. The caves are believed to have been built by Buddhist monks by carving into the cliff face – what they created were elaborate shrines and temples, all cut into one single giant rock.
Work is believed to have begun on the caves in around 200 BC and ended around 480 – 650 CE. The caves contained sculptures and artwork centered around the life of Buddha.
Two of the caves align to celestial events.
Cave 26 aligns to the summer solstice sunrise. It contains a statue of Buddha seated within a stupa, which is illuminated by the rays of the rising sun.
Cave 19 aligns to the winter solstice sunrise (more about this in the Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Winter Solstice). It contains a state of Buddha standing within a stupa, which is also illuminated by the rays of the rising sun.
A stupa is a symbolic monument which it is said Buddha uses to ascend and descend. The stupas for the winter and summer solstice at the Ajanta Caves differ in their design, perhaps for a symbolic reason.
The creator god Amun being worshiped, seated with his feet raised above the level of the ground.
The summer solstice is a time of ascent. In the cave aligned to the summer solstice Buddha is seated with his feet on a pedestal. Perhaps this was symbolic of him no longer being on the earth – as ancient Egypt gods were sometimes portrayed standing upon pedestals to show their heavenly status.
Serpent Mound ~ Ohio, United States
The serpent mound in Ohio, whose head aligns with the summer solstice sunset. (photo copyright 2002 Timothy A. Price and Nicole I.)
The serpent mound is a giant earth work in the shape of a serpent made by an ancient people’s who once lived in the United States. The head of the serpent faces the summer solstice sunset.
The mound is around 1,370 feet (420 m) long. The serpent holds an oval in its mouth, has seven undulating coils along its body and the tip of its tail is coiled 3 times. Its coils point to the winter solstice sunrise and equinox sunrise. It is believed there was an altar inside the oval at the head, in which ceremonies could have been conducted whilst watching the summer solstice sunset.
Many believe, using carbon dating and studying artifacts surrounding the site, that it was built by the Native American Adena culture who were active between 1000 BC to 1 CE, and who commonly built mounds and used sacred circles, and was later refurbished by subsequent Native American cultures.
However, there exists another very similar site in a very different part of the world – Scotland. At a place called Loch Nell there is an ancient serpent mound, around 300 ft long, and which used to have a circle of stones which contained an altar at its head. It too faced west, although not to the summer solstice sunset but so that looking back east across its body, it had a special view of 3 mountain peaks. Someone who viewed the site in the mid 19th century before much of it was damaged and dismantled wrote:
A drawing published in 1883 of the Loch Nell serpent mound in Scotland. The altar in the stone circle at the head of the serpent is in the foreground, and the 3 mountain peaks in the background. The design of this particular serpent mound shares a number of similarities with the one in the United States.
“The mound was built in such a manner that the worshipper standing at the altar ‘would naturally look eastward, directly along the whole length of the Great Reptile, and across the dark lake, to the triple peaks of Ben Cruachan. This position must have been carefully selected, as from no other point are the three peaks visible.”
There are other serpent mounds in Scotland and Ireland. At least one dated to around 2000 BC used fire burnt stones, which were also apparently used in the building of the serpent mound in Ohio. The oval at the heads of these serpents may have represented the sun, thus forming the same symbol of a serpent with a sun disk on its head found throughout Egypt.
Could Ohio’s serpent mound be part of a lineage of people and knowledge that ran from Egypt, through ancient Britain and Europe, and is now barely traceable in North America?
Chaco Canyon ~ New Mexico, United States
The giant kiva in Chaco Canyon, whose window let in the light of the summer solstice sunrise. Kivas were sacred circular temples which had thatched ceilings. (photo copyright 1998 wiki user HJPD)
Located near the ruins of an ancient city of the Native American Pueblo people’s is the famous Sun Dagger. Found high up on the top of what is called the Fajada Butte, a giant volcanic outcrop, is a stone carving in a spiral. Stone slabs especially arranged around it direct the sunlight so that on the summer solstice, a dagger of sunlight pierces the center of the spiral. Daggers of sunlight over different parts of the spiral also mark the winter solstice and the equinoxes.
Down below the Casa Rinconada, which is one of the five great kivas (temple buildings) of the Chaco Canyon city, aligns to the summer solstice sunrise. As the sun rises, a beam of light shines through a lone window and moves across the room until it illuminates one of the five niches on the Western wall.
These 15 maoi statues, which includes the heaviest on Easter Island ever erected, stand facing the summer solstice sunset. (photo copyright 2006 Honey Hooper)
Ahu Tongariki ~ Easter Island
The Ahu Tongariki, is the largest ahu (or stone platform) on Easter Island. On its stone platform stand 15 maoi (giant stone statues). These 15 statues face the summer solstice sunset, watching it disappear over the ocean. One of the 15 statues is the heaviest ever erected on the island, weighing 86 tones.
The Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal ~ Yucatán, Mexico
The Pyramid of the Magician at the Mayan city of Uxmal in Mexico. Its western staircase faces the summer solstice sunset. (photo copyright 2007 tato grass)
Uxmal is a Mayan city that dates to between 600 – 1000 CE. The city’s tallest structure is called The Pyramid of the Magician. The pyramid’s western staircase faces the setting sun on the summer solstice.
Building is believed to have first begun on this pyramid in around 600 CE. This first pyramid temple was successively built upon four times, meaning that the pyramid is now made of five layered temples in total. This was a common Mayan building practice, thought to capture and amplify the power of the underlying structure.
When the original temple was excavated it was found with a door lintel decorated with the face of the rain god Chaac, however it is not known whether this was added later.
Unfortunately human sacrifice and ritual bloodletting was practiced here, as it was in other Mayan cities. Perhaps the original culture did not practice these rites, but at this stage it is not possible to tell.
The Lost World Pyramid at Tikal ~ Guatemala
The Lost World Pyramid at Tikal. It started as a small platform before 700 BC that faced three structures aligned to the solstices and equinoxes. (photo copyright 2007 Dennis Jarvis)
At the ancient Mayan city called Tikal located in the dense jungles of Guatemala, there is evidence for the original spiritual and cosmic knowledge of the Mayans. The oldest part of Tikal is called the Lost World and consists of 38 structures. They are believed to have been set aside entirely for the observance of the cosmos, and are perhaps the oldest Mayan structures used for that purpose.
The main structure of the Lost World is a great pyramid, which was built in five successive layers over hundreds of years, just like the Mayan Pyramid of the Magician above. It began as a platform dating back to before 700 BC – the most ancient of any at Tikal. The platform faced east, looking over 3 other structures that aligned with the winter solstice, equinox, and summer solstice sunrise.
A similar grouping of structures, in which a pyramid is used as a viewing platform to see the sun rise on the winter solstice, equinoxes, and summer solstice over three temples, was also found in Guatemala at Uaxactun. The ancient Mayan name for this site however was Siaan K’aan which means “Born in Heaven”. Perhaps this could indicate that the Mayan Pyramid of the Magician above also started as a spiritual astronomical observatory, which was successively built on, and which degenerated into horrendous acts of sacrifice, as also happened at Tikal and other Mayan cities.
Wurdi Youang stone arrangement ~ Victoria, Australia
A diagram of the Wurdi Younag stone arrangement in Australia showing how it aligns to the solstices and equinoxes. (image copyright 2009 Ray P. Norris)
At Mount Rothwell in Australia, aboriginals built a stone ovid shaped arrangement around 50 meters in diameter. It aligns to the solstice and equinox sunsets, including the summer solstice sunset. It is unable to be dated – and could have been built anywhere between 25,000 years ago right up unto 1835.
What is so spiritually important about the summer solstice?
Today as a humanity we have such an incredible heritage of knowledge left by ancient peoples from all over the world who worked so hard to leave behind what they knew for future generations.
What they left are indicators of a deeper understanding of our place in the cosmos and an integration between the outer and inner worlds.
With our modern technology we have been able to ascertain a certain scientific understanding of the summer solstice, but as a day it passes just like any other. Whereas ancient peoples not only built structures around this date, but created ones that incorporated incredible spiritual symbols.
At the summer solstice the sun is at its greatest strength in its annual cycle, and it represents the apex of the sun’s journey throughout the year. And, as the cycle is completed, a new one begins.
In the solar religion the sun at the summer solstice represents the spiritual ascension, enlightenment and the return to oneness. It is the culmination of the individual’s journey to enlightenment that has been represented in the solstices and equinoxes of the year.
The solar religions formed the basis for many of today’s religions and share many common principles. The celebration of the summer solstice is the celebration not only of the life giving power of the physical sun, but is the celebration of the complete awakening of the spiritual son, symbolized by the physical sun.
The message of the solstices and equinoxes transcends both time and culture and forms a cosmic book for all who can read it.
~ By Belsebuub and Angela Pritchard
About the Author
Belsebuub is the author of a number of books on out-of-body experiences, dreams, self-knowledge, and esoteric wisdom including A Course in Astral Travel and Dreams, which became a bestseller in its genre. His book Gazing into the Eternal was finalist in the Best Book Awards 2009 in spirituality, and he has appeared on over 60 radio and television programs internationally.
Belsebuub is the name of his spirit/soul/consciousness, everyone has their own unique spiritual name, it’s a matter of knowing it. Please visit his excellent website, Belsebuub.com.
This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.
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3 November 2012 | Vieira’s research over the last 20 years has led him down a bizarre road of intrigue and mystery surrounding the races and built structures of Ancient America. Vieira has compiled thousands of accounts of giant skeleton reports from the New York Times, Smithsonian Ethnology Reports, American Antiquarian, Scientific American as well as town and county histories to make the case that the history of our past has not only been deliberately covered up, but is vastly different then what we are told.
With passions in writing, researching, ancient stone work, spirituality and metaphysics, Jim is a stone mason and co-owner of North Wind Stonework in Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA doing dry masonry in and around the Berkshire Highlands for 15 years. Jim belongs to the Northeast Antiquities Research Association, a clearinghouse of information regarding mysterious monuments of antiquity. Jim is a regular contributing columnist for the Shelburne Falls & West County Independent and the national publication, Ancient American Magazine.
We live now in a highly technologically advanced world, but this world is surrounded with many mysteries lost in the distant past.
There are places we can only imagine because we have never seen them.
Some of them are sunken, others had their locations at power vortices. Unfortunately, we know very little about the builders of these remarkable and enigmatic places.
Legends and myths, sometimes ancient carvings are our only legacy from these ancient places.
We begin our journey and our first destination is Avalon, a secret, strange place shrouded in mystery and legend.
Only a small circle of people were able to enter Avalon.
The legend describes the way to Avalon.
One travels over water in a barque, but first one has to learn how to summon the barque and its crew.
Only Avalon’s inhabitants knew the land road, which never appears in the descriptions, although it is said that some people discover this secret path by mistake.
Cloud cover is another precondition for reaching Avalon, which cannot be entered in clear weather.
Those who try to enter on a sunny day find themselves in Glastonbury Abbey, where, according to ancient records, the monks claimed to have found the grave of King Arthur, a Celtic grave with a lead cross covered with a Latin inscription:
“Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia” – “Here lies interred the famous King Arthur on the Isle of Avalon.”
Avalon is said to be located in the county of Somerset, and is associated with Glastonbury Abbey.
However, it is sometimes said that the island is hidden beneath the water’s surface, with the clouds or mist representing the gateway between the earth’s surface and the damp underworld.
According to legend, this place is called “a northern place of quietude”, and a source of a system of esoteric wisdom called Kalachakra”.
Some Indian sects believe that there is a region north of the Himalayas called Kapapa, where “perfect men” reside. Shambhala itself is supposed to be a land in or just north of Tibet, where many travellers have heard of the tradition from holy men: “In the midst of high mountains there are unsuspected enclosed valleys. Many hot springs nourish the rich vegetation. Many rare plants and medicinal herbs are able to flourish on this unusual volcanic soil.
Shambhala, the land safeguarding the Kalachakra teachings is difficult to find. Who may know the labyrinths of these mountains? A Himalayan explorer, Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) was one of those who believed in existence of Shambhala. Many others did the same and even tried to reach Shambala.
Some of them disappeared forever and never found this fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical or geographic.
