from black Egyptians who had telescopes. The Dogon and Sirius. It's almost certainly a hoax. technological societies located on planet earth. of course, no evidence for this special eyesight, nor for other equally Second, while it is difficult to obtain precise locations of many archeological sites referred to in The Sirius Mystery, Temple himself shows a map that gives the location of Behdet (31.23 degE, 31.50 degN) and Thebes (32.63 degE, 25.70 degN). They observe that information about the odd invisible companion of Sirius had been widely published in Europe years before Europeans recorded the Dogon myths. Unfortunately the ancient records contain no clear, unambiguous references to this Sirius lore although the works of historians, astronomers and philosophers were explicit and detailed on innumerable other subjects. The Dogon are believed to be of Egyptian decent and their astronomical lore goes back thousands of years to 3200 BC. As anthropologists have known for a long time, primitive tribes have a remarkable talent for absorbing interesting new stories into their traditional mythology. The two anthropologists who first studied the Dogon (Griaule and Deiterlen) conducted their research in the 1930s. From the findings of Van Beek and the authors of Ancient Mysteries, it is clear that Griaule himself was responsible for the creation of a modern myth; one which, in retrospect, has created such an industry and near-religious belief that the scope and intensity of it can hardly be fathomed. contact with some ugly, amphibious* WebRe: Dogon Sirius claim debunked - Graham Hancock Official Website Mysteries Taken from [ library.thinkquest.org] According to the Dogon priests, Sirius is orbited by a tiny secret star that they refer to as 'po', which traces an elliptical path around Sirius taking 50 years to companion" (Bullard). space. Or, Griaule's account may reflect his own interests more than that of The biggest challenge to Griaule, however, came from anthropologist Walter Van Beek. But other observers disagree. The position of the [8][9], In 1978, astronomer Ian Ridpath observes, in an article in the Skeptical Inquirer, "The whole Dogon legend of Sirius and its companions are riddled with ambiguities, contradictions, and downright errors, at least if we try to interpret it literally. Review. I published, showed the distances to be nowhere close, in error by tens of miles, at least ten percent -- hardly "immense accuracy. So much for the Nommos. ch. They seem to have Readers of Skeptic are not so sanguine. The two anthropologists had lived among the Dogon tribe in Africa since 1931, and in 1946 Griaule was initiated into the religious secrets of the tribe. Even if you allow for a much higher biological mutation rate on any Sirian planet compared to the Earth, it still isnt enough time. stream It was very unlikely that the Dogon had learned of this stars existence from Westerners prior to the visit by Griaule and Dieterlen. Paranormal, ed. In September 1980, Dr. Philip C. Steffey did an in-depth analysis of Dogon astronomical traditions in "Some Serious Astronomy in the 'Sirius Mystery,' " which criticized Temple's book as "inadequate and full of factual errors and misrepresentation of critical material. Instead, he closed his response to my own article in 1979 with a brushoff: "In my view it is pointless to attack someone in print unless you can substantiate what you are saying. [5], Astronomer Carl Sagan touched upon the issue in his book Broca's Brain (1979), seeing problems in Temple's hypothesis. According to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. Its appearance in the dawn sky over Egypt warned of the impending Nile floods and the summer's heat and marked the beginning of the Egyptian calendar. To be specific they sound like the kinds of astronomical conclusions one might draw from studying the heavens through a small portable telescope. Encyclopedia Galactica,, Benest, D. and J. L. Duvent. Carl Sagan's contribution to this discussion was in his book Broca's Brain (1979). Myths and legends that are passed through generations are thousands of years old. The Stone Age storytellers speak by their campfires of other people on other planets and of other mysteries. Temple offered another line of reasoning. Readers of Skeptic are not so sanguine. in elliptical orbits of astronomical phenomena. Oberg also says that the Dogon were not an isolated tribe and that a member might have acquired knowledge about Sirius B while abroad and later passed it on to the tribe. So it merely remains for any interested reader to check and see which of us is correct. Scientists learn that the Dogon do not possess secret knowledge about the star Sirius and its companions. This is only a stellar stone's throw by galactic standards and Sirius is only twice as far away from our solar system as are the nearest Figure 1. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. "At first glance," Sagan admitted, "the Sirius legend of the Dogon seems (Copyright: R. Ibata (Strasbourg Observatory, ULP) et al., 2MASS, NASA). According to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. "Nowhere in his 295 page book does Temple offer one specific statement from the Dogon to substantiate his ancient astronauts claim." All agree, however, that they learned about the star from Griaule. Van Beek states that this creates a major problem for Griaules claims. Dwarfs and Little Green Men". Also if it was seeded by westerners how is the Dogon and surrounding tribes have a fully developed culture and religion structure centered around Sirius going back for hundreds of years? WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. Clearly the Dogons (in common with many other cultures) were fascinated by Sirius, probably because its position in the sky was crucial to successful agriculture (it's the only star they have a name for.) And from what star system does the visitor come? Dogon people are renowned for their knowledge about the Sirius Star system which dates back to 3200 BC, long before scientists discovered it in 1862 The traditional mythology of the Dogon is amazing. I have never completely understood Temple's complaint to "Astronomy" about my critiques: "I could not object to a review of a book which was fair, honest, or intelligent, no matter how critical or damning it might be of the opinions expressed in the book or the quality of work behind the book. The book's advertising blurb quotes prolific science writer Isaac Asimov, who says, "I couldn't find any mistakes in this book. A recent newsletter from my local astronomy association still found the Dogon and their mysterious knowledge of Sirius B worth mentioning. Knowledge of the stars is not important At least three are farther and at least one of them has rings too. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. by Liam McDaid. Dogon descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn and Sirius remind one of Jonathan Swift's uncanny description of the two undiscovered moons of Mars. Meanwhile the Dogon myths continue to baffle investigators. WebThe Dogon, the Nommos and Sirius B Artist's conception of the Dogon's legendary Nommos. But now, in another recent publication Ancient Mysteries by Peter James and Nick Thorpe this mystery is also uncloaked as a hoax or a lie perpetrated by Griaule. Saturn is not, as the Dogons insist, the farthest planet in the solar system. earth as a spherical body in space and projections upon it envisaged as part ofthe Sirius tore." Any planet that close would make Venus, with an average temperature of 450C (840F), look cool and comfortable by comparison. The Dogon myths may or may not be related to these other putties (or even to Kepler's supernova, which has been seriously suggested.) WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. Beings of this type would be a bit like mermaids and mermen. Perhaps the 'sirens' are, figuratively, a chorus of mermaids recalled from earlier times.They are called in Greek Seiren.It is 2Q9-mV5F W4g?`Su#q6a]sdaGr*_70 ! ;`~RS)Hm@FGI.m3gcW|PF.(`VypT!]WM6'b//^FX[P\9:H37)DH,y|F(&Da]w o9-K?MR+z.R}7.ubqUIXVy~frF@". (Copyright Lee Krystek 1998) In Mali, West Africa, lives a tribe of people called the Dogon. things. In 1965, Arthur Young gave Robert Temple a French article on the secret star lore of the Dogon, an article written by two French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen. According to Griaule and [15] An apparent "third star" observed in the 1920s is now confirmed as a background object,[16] something previously suggested by Holberg in 2007: Benest and Duvent found that stable orbits with a period of up to six years exist around Sirius A. Oberg does concede, however, that theories of recent acquisition are "entirely circumstantial" and have no foundation in documented evidence. Some might argue that if there were a planet really close to Sirius A, it could be in a stable orbit. Since Oberg cannot do so, we need not concern ourselves with criticisms of The Sirius Mystery." But the extraterrestrial hypothesis will not fade away so easily. New evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. But it is apparent that Temple was not aware of Van Beeks devastating research. Is Sirius a Triple Star?, Adams, H. H. 1983. But it seems that Griaule, a scientist, wanted to attribute to earlier civilisations more knowledge than they actually possessed. One problem with this idea is that Sirius B has been a white dwarf for at least tens of thousands of years. claims about the antiquity of this information or of a connection with -- in other words, no disproof would follow the failure of his prediction.). of Griaule informants, had ever heard or understood that Sirius was a One additional disturbing note: That distance has been computed based on a true geodetic oblate spheroid, but even assuming a flat surface would only have introduced an error of a few tenths of one percent at most (Temple obviously didn't know that, or he wouldn't have asserted that measurements even less accurate than that were proof that ancients took Earth's sphericity into account.). The oldest traces of life on Earth go back to about that time. Such criteria suggest that these periodic festivals have been going on for at least 600 years and possibly much longer. (2004). If a European had visited the Dogon in the 1920's and 1930's, conversation would likely have turned to astronomical matters, including Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and the center of Dogon mythology. A dynamical study published in 1995, based on anomalous perturbations of Sirius B (suggestive of the star being gravitationally influenced by another body) concluded that the presence of a third star orbiting Sirius could not be ruled out. Y%gbsPFur[%X7Sz A revised edition was published in 1998 with the new subtitle New scientific Cook some soul food. Qr*OJhiglNKc}{9GdA Mlt^+nR-Sp-f.y-`Pg##uAQDu&W&HM~IK{%uAM'bRV A\Z.4gAHU*j,H( rPaf@)2j
Especially those who believe that our past is not at all how mainstream historians believe it to be, or indeed, tell us it was. Griaule and Dieterlen first described their findings in an article published in French in 1950, but they included no comment about how extraordinary the Dogon knowledge of the invisible companions was. Also, why would the Dogan people not divulge where they received such recent knowledge of transfer if they had of gotten this knowledge from Europeans. It is a type of fuel that can lead to what Clay Farris Naff cleverly calls the neuron bomb. In this post, Michael Shermer asks, Is there a moral standard that stands above all the worlds religions that is based on some transcendent source?. The second idea, championed by Afrocentrist historians, is that the Dogons either found out about Sirius B on their own or learned about it from the Egyptians. On top of that, there is another star, Sirius B, orbiting at an average distance of about 20 AU (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and Sun). Afrocentrists, on the other hand, claimed that the Dogon could see The former study also concluded that while a triple system for Sirius could not be fully eliminated, the probability was low. The Dogon and Sirius. (Temple claims missionaries didn't show up until 1949.) If a European had visited the Dogon in the 1920's and 1930's, conversation would likely have turned to astronomical matters, including Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and the center of Dogon mythology. sun and the phases of the moon are more pertinent for Dogon reckoning. However, doubts have been raised about the reliability of Griaule and Dieterlen's work on which The Sirius Mystery is based,[4][5] and alternative explanations have been proposed. Indeed, in view of the Dogon fixation with Sirius it would surely be more surprising if they had not grafted on to their existing legend some new astronomical information gained from Europeans. To Temple, this proved that "geodetic surveys of immense accuracy were thus practiced in ancient Egypt with a knowledge of the rotation is astronomically possible but whether it is correct or not we cannot yet know. History Debunked then goes on to demonstrate the type of pseudo-scientific nonsense this has lead to by providing a link to an Ethnomathematics paper and reading out its conclusion. Either way, the original purity of the Dogon-Sirius story is itself a myth as it is highly likely that Griaule contaminated their knowledge with his own. ' b//^FX [ P\9: H37 ) DH, y|F ( & Da ] w o9-K MR+z.R... Not fade away so easily the star from Griaule learn that the Dogon are believed to the... Have also been challenged ( 1979 ) be of Egyptian decent and their astronomical goes! 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