Further examples of Olmec-Mayan astronomy or calendars in crops: did the British megalith builders visit central America long ago? In a previous essay on this website, I studied a series of crop pictures that had appeared in Wiltshire from 1997 to 2007. Those were concerned with either: (a) the naked-eye astronomy of Venus as a bright planetary object, or (b) modern calendar dates that seem to depend on current Sun-Venus astronomical cycles. A Sun-Venus calendar was in regular use throughout central America thousands of years ago.
But why should it appear
today in crop pictures from Wiltshire? Here we will
study further crop pictures from modern England, most of which
concern themselves with ancient Olmec-Mayan astronomy, in order to
address that puzzling question.
West Down 2001 shows an
occultation of Venus by the Moon
West Down appeared on June 22,
2001, just three weeks before a rare eclipse or occultation of Venus
by a crescent Moon on July 17, 2001. As shown below, that crop
picture was apparently meant to focus our attention on a rare
astronomical event involving Venus:
Etchilhampton Hill 2006 shows a bright Venus just before quadruple conjunction
Etchilhampton Hill appeared on
August 15, 2006. Michelle Jennings suggested that it might represent
the "day sign Lamat", one of twenty in a Mayan-Aztec month.
I suggested an "astronomical gravity wave". Yet Stephen Willson
argued more correctly perhaps for the "planet Venus"; and even
provided a sky photograph of Venus at the time:
Indeed, there was a rare quadruple conjunction involving
Venus just one week later on the morning of August
22, 2006: when Venus, the Moon, Saturn and Mercury all came
together in the eastern sky.
A Sun-Venus calendar in the Dresden Codex The astronomical role of Venus in Olmec-Mayan culture was first discovered by Ernst Förstmann in 1906, when he noticed that the sum of a certain series of numbers in the Dresden Codex (see above) equalled 584. That sum matches precisely the number of days in any phase cycle of Venus as seen from Earth. But what might its individual numbers 236, 90, 250 and 8 signify? For a lucid answer to that question, we may turn to an article by Robert Merrill in American Antiquity 12, 35-46 (1946):
"Having allotted 90 and 8 days to measure two periods of
Venus invisibility as seen from Earth, there remains (584 - 98)
= 486 days for its two periods of visibility. If equal, those
would amount to 243 days each. But making allowance for a
slightly shorter winter season (179 days) than summer (186
days), the Mayans arrived at (243 - 7) = 236 days for visible
appearances of Venus as a morning star, or (243 + 7) = 250 days
for visible appearances of Venus as an evening star."
Quite remarkably, the Venus Table in that Dresden Codex (750
AD) also describes well our modern, crop-based Sun-Venus
calendar, as noted in a previous essay on this website
("Chute Causeway and the Sun-Venus calendar").
Five hundred years before (150 AD), an Olmec stela called "La
Mojarra" told the story of a warrior chief named Harvest
Mountain Lord. The stela began by referring to a Venus phase
cycle of 584 days. Then on one day of that cycle, during a solar
eclipse, the chief and his supporters went to war. Exactly nine
Venus cycles later, he was inaugurated king (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mojarra_Stela_1).
Morgan Hill 2007 shows a bright Venus just before
maximal elongation
Venus shone very brightly in Earth's sky all throughout May and
June of 2007. And indeed, a crop picture from Morgan Hill on May
18, 2007 (see below, left-hand side) showed a "bright pentagram"
symbol for Venus, just two weeks before its maximal elongation
on June 9, 2007:
Pewsey 2007 shows the precise value of lunar phase for a Venus-Sun conjunction two weeks later
Two months later on August 4, 2007, another crop picture at
Pewsey (see above, right-hand side) showed a Sun-Moon
calendar that pointed on the northwest horizon to 300
degrees azimuth, where a new Moon would rise on August 13,
close to late summer sunset. That new Moon would then grow
to a crescent of 34% phase (as shown in the Pewsey crop
picture) by August 18, 2007, which was the date of an
inferior conjunction of Venus with the Sun.
Stanton St. Bernard 2007 shows an Olmec-Mayan
number "six" to mark a Venus-Sun conjunction six days later
On August 12, 2007, a fairly simple crop picture appeared at
Stanton St. Bernard. It showed just the Olmec-Mayan number
"six", as well as certain fine structural details within its
large dot-like circle. The likely meaning of its number six
was obvious: an earlier series of crop pictures in the
summer of 2007 had pointed to August 18 as some kind of
significant date. Thus by August 12, there would be only
"six days left" until August 18 as the date of a Venus-Sun
conjunction:
Stanton St. Bernard 2007 also marked a Venus-Sun transit six conjunctions later
Now that same crop picture (see above) also encoded a clever
double meaning, which it took a while to figure out! Thus as
of August 18, 2007, there would also be just "six Venus-Sun
conjunctions left" (of 292 days each) until a rare Venus-Sun
transit on June 6, 2012!
The Mayan Long Count (one of their three major calendars,
along with the Venus-based Calendar Round and a Lunar
Series) had appeared previously in crops at Wakerly Woods on
June 3, 2001, then at Marden on August 20, 2005. Both
pictures showed an 18 x 20 = 360-day year in symbolic form (www.swirlednews.com/article.asp?artID=110).
Table I. Further examples of Venus astronomy in crops
West Overton 2006, Cannings Cross 2007, and
Alton Barnes 1990 show dumbbell-like symbols from ancient
central America
Yet another remarkable crop picture appeared at West Overton
on July 19, 2006, showing a series of dumbbell-like symbols
that were used to represent "motion of the Sun" in ancient
central America (http://rupestreweb.tripod.com/motif.html):
Then at Cannings Cross on July 17, 2007, other
dumbbell-like symbols were used to represent "motion of
the Moon":
In Hopi petroglyphs that were drawn thousands of years
ago, the dumbbell symbol often meant "communication" or
"a meeting was held here" (www.petroglyphs.us/photographs_atlatl_cliff_petroglyphs_AC.htm):
One can easily see how such dumbbell symbols, originally
representing solar or lunar astronomy, could have slowly
evolved into the hieroglyphic language that appeared in
many crop pictures from Wiltshire in early years, for
example at Alton Barnes on July 11, 1990 (see above).
Mayan lunar astronomy
Mayan Long Count or Calendar Round inscriptions were often supplemented by what is known as the "Lunar Series", which is another one of their calendars that provides information about: (i) age of the Moon since new, (ii) its phase cycle in a series of six, spanning 6 x 29.5 = 177 days, and (iii) whether any particular cycle contains 29 or 30 days.
Let us recall here their famous prediction for an
end to the current Long Count calendar in December
of 2012:
"The day will be 4 Ahau 3 Kankin (December 22, 2012), and it will be ruled by the Sun God (winter solstice), ninth Lord of the Night (certain day of the week). The Moon will be eight days old (eight days past new), and it will be the third lunar cycle in a series of six."
Is that true? One can easily verify that there will
be a new Moon on December 14, 2012. Hence in that
particular lunar cycle, the Moon will be "eight days
old" on December 22, 2012 just as predicted!
And if "lunar cycle three" in their ancient calendar begins on December 14, 2012, then another new Moon on April 10, 2013 will put an end to "lunar cycle six". Just two weeks before, a full Moon on March 27-28, 2013 will coincide fortuitously with a Sun-Venus conjunction, that will complete their current 52-year Calendar Round (previous essay). East Kennett 2005 and Avebury 2005 both show Mayan lunar calendars Although most people did not realize it at the time, a "Mayan lunar calendar" seemingly appeared in crops on July 24, 2005, when two related pictures were found on the same day at East Kennett and Avebury. That East Kennett picture showed "12 lunar cycles per year" in the form of twelve Mayan symbols for "time", arranged symmetrically about a single centre:
The Avebury picture showed a six-pointed star at its centre, which was intended to represent apparently "six lunar cycles" in any half-year of their calendar. Thus within any six-month period of 6 x 29.5 = 177 days, there would be six lunar cycles of alternating 29 or 30 days. Similarly within any twelve-month period of 354 days, there would be twelve lunar cycles as shown at East Kennett. Now the ancient British lunar calendar may have been somewhat different. A fairly lucid crop picture appeared at Juggler's Lane on August 28, 2005, and showed an alternative calendar that would count twelve lunar cycles per year as three sets of four, each spanning 4 x 29.5 = 118 days:
Single lunar cycles were also shown at East Field on July 18, 2005 (when the Moon was in Virgo, full on July 21) and at Kits Coty on July 11, 2006 (when the Moon was in Scorpius, full on July 11). In each case, a certain pattern of stars near the ecliptic was used to give those lunar cycles a distinctive shape (see "The Scorpius Hour" by Kris Sherwood 1994 on www.cropcircleanswers.com/scorpious_hour.htm). Individual lunar cycles were portrayed in each case as balls of increasing size, when going from new to full (Virgo) or half to full (Scorpius). Furthermore, in certain portrayals of the lunar cycle as at East Field (Virgo), other "small balls" are often drawn between or perpendicular to the large ones, in order to confirm a certain value of lunar phase (see also three famous pictures from Stonehenge 1996, Windmill Hill 1996 or Miik Hill 2001).
East Field 2007 shows a four-month lunar
calendar, but how to date it in terms of our modern
calendar?
Earlier this summer, a now-famous crop picture from East Field on July 7, 2007 seemed to show a classic four-month British lunar calendar, just as was illustrated at Juggler's Lane on August 28, 2005. An ancient Mayan astronomer might comment on that picture as follows:
"The Moon will be six days old (past new), and it will
be the fourth lunation in a series of four."
( How can we date the four lunar cycles shown at East Field in terms of in our modern calendar? If we work backwards from the known Mayan calendar end-date of April 10, 2013 (see above), then our current six-cycle lunar calendar would begin on June 15, 2007 and end on December 10, 2007. Yet we seem to be following here a four-cycle lunar calendar, not six!
Alternatively, Pewsey of August 4, 2007 showed a
solar-lunar calendar that pointed on the horizon to
where a new Moon would rise on August 13. Could that be
the start of "lunar cycle one"?
In which case, one might assign "lunar cycle one" to
August 13-September 12, "lunar cycle two" to September
12-October 11, "lunar cycle three" to October
11-November 10, and "lunar cycle four" to November
10-December 10. Quite interestingly, a Moon that is "six
days past new" in lunar cycle four would give November
16, close to the date of an annual Leonid meteor shower.
Again we would end on December 10, 2007 just as for the
current Mayan lunar calendar.
Table II. Two possible four-month lunar calendars
based on East Field 2007
Another possible interpretation of East Field is
also shown in Table II above, where "six days past new"
gives August 18, 2007 which was the date of a Sun-Venus
conjunction. Other people believe that the ancient Celts
counted lunar cycles starting on the sixth day after any
new Moon.
Only two unexplained calendar dates remain
out of hundreds of pictures studied
After long and detailed analyses of hundreds of crop
pictures over the past five years, it seems now that
only two modern calendar dates as suggested by those
messages cannot be readily explained, in terms of known
or predictable astronomical or calendrical events.
One would be November 21, 2007 plus or minus two days
from Wayland's Smithy 2005 ("14-5-11" in
hexadecimal using a 52-year Sun-Venus calendar). The
other would be August 18 / November 16 from East Field
2007. We may only learn the correct answers
to those unexplained dates as time goes on.
Did some of the British megalith
builders visit central America long ago?
When considered as a whole, the weight of evidence from modern crop pictures now seems overwhelming, that there must have been some contact between the British megalith builders and Olmecs or other pre-Mayan people in central America long ago. The Olmecs built cities at San Lorenzo, La Venta, Tres Zapotes and Laguna de los Cerros from 1200 to 400 BC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec). Somewhat later, great pyramids and ceremonial centres were built at Teotihuacan from 100 BC to 700 AD, including its famous Pyramid of Sun and Pyramid of Moon. That was all long before the Mayans or Aztecs lived there.
In fact, archaeological remains from La Venta do
suggest that a few European visitors may have lived
there thousands of years ago:
And somewhat remarkably, a "three-lobed jester's
hat" that appeared in crops at East Field on July
28, 2006 (with a knapsack attached to give the
impression of :travelling) seems to match precisely
a similar three-lobed hat from a statue that was
carved at La Venta 3000 years ago, resting atop the
head of a long-nosed European or Englishman:
Another ancient carving from La Venta likewise
depicts "Quetzalcoatal the Feathered Serpent" as a
long-nosed European:
Here is a brief summary of legends about Quetzalcoatl: he and his companions arrived by boat from across the Eastern Sea. He was a tall, bearded white man who taught people how to use fire for cooking, how to build houses, and how to live in peace. He also introduced many new mathematical or calendrical formulae that the Mayans and Aztecs would use later.
Well, now it seems quite obvious! How else could
primitive people in the equatorial jungle of
Yucatan have suddenly developed advanced astronomy,
mathematics and calendars, and even built huge
pyramids at Teotihuacan, without some kind of
cross-cultural diffusion from the megalith builders
in England or Europe?
An ancient concern for solar astronomy as
shown in Wiltshire crops also appears in the Pyramid of
the Sun
We could provide much more evidence here to support a
possible link between ancient Britain and central America,
but for brevity will close with just one striking analogy:
namely, that both cultures showed a strong concern for
megalithic solar astronomy
For example, Avebury at a latitude of 51 degrees North
experiences each year during late July or early
August something that might be called "threefold symmetry of
the Sun". During that particular time of the year, sunrise
lies at 60 degrees azimuth on the horizon, noon at 180
degrees, and sunset at 300 degrees:
Now at a much lower latitude of 15 degrees North in the
Yucatan, angular deviations of sunrise or sunset away from
due east 90 degrees or due west 270 degrees will not be as
great during the four seasons. Yet the Olmec or other
pre-Mayan people were clearly experts at naked-eye astronomy
of the Sun, as well as that of Venus or the Moon. For
example in Teotihuacán, its famous Pyramid of the Sun (100
BC) was aligned precisely toward 285 degrees on the horizon,
where the sun sets on August 13 in any year. On that day,
one entire face of the pyramid becomes covered in shadow
during the late afternoon..
Why would they possibly choose August 13 as a solar
astronomy date around which to build a huge pyramid? Some
scholars have argued that they built their most magnificent
pyramid in that way, because August 13 was the day on which
their Long Count calendar began in 3114 BC (www.dartmouth.edu/~izapa/CS-MM-Chap.%205.htm).
Others argue that their Pyramid of the Sun encodes a
mathematical value of four times pi, just as the Great
Pyramid in Egypt encodes a value of two times pi (shown in
crops at Alton Barnes on June 7, 2007).
A similar
mathematical language underlies both ancient architecture and
modern crop pictures
"At the top of the Pyramid of the Moon, I turned around. Teotihuacan stretched before me: a geometrical city designed by unknown architects before history began. In the east loomed the Pyramid of the Sun, eternally printing out its mathematical messages. It almost looked as though the civilization that built Teotihuacan had made a deliberate choice to encode a mathematical language into enduring monuments. No matter what changes human culture might undergo, a mathematical language could always be deciphered, even by people living thousands of years in the future."---from Fingerprints of the Gods (1995) by Graham Hancock Did some of the megalith builders from ancient Britain teach Olmec or other pre-Mayan people in central America how to build enduring monuments, and how to keep track of long periods of time, using calendars based on Venus, the Moon and the Sun? If so, then we can begin to understand why many modern crop pictures show an amazing parallel with certain aspects of the lost Olmec, Mayan or Aztec civilizations that flourished there before European conquest in 1520. If indeed, such crop pictures are being sent to us from the distant past? We can also begin to understand why modern crop pictures often seem impenetrable to someone without an advanced technical education, but lucid (or at least comprehensible) to someone trained in science or mathematics. It is simply because those crop artists, whom we identified previously with the British megalith builders, and here as the likely builders of great central American monuments, seemingly prefer to use a mathematical language that will always be able to be deciphered, even by people living thousands of years in the future.
But that would be us! They are now sending 50 mathematical
messages every year to fields near Avebury where they once
lived, or to certain parts of Europe. The only plausible reason
for this strange, future-messaging phenomenon (which began in
1990, and is continuing strongly today) might be because we
are soon approaching the end of their famous Long Count calendar
in December of 2012. Concerning that date, they seemingly have
something to tell us. In which case, should we not devote
ourselves whole-heartedly to a careful scientific study of this
phenomenon, while putting irrational fear-based scepticism
behind us?
Red Collie (a
scientist like the crop artists, yet living far ahead of them in
time)
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