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. Webplanet earth. In a response published in Fate magazine, he denied intending that: "I refer, entirely in passing, to the Greek word for siren and its similarity to the word for Sirius, drawing absolutely Whatever their place in the search for extraterrestrial contact, the Dogon myths are certainly odd. He made no secret of the fact that his intention was to redeem companion" (Bullard). Is Sirius a Triple Star?, Adams, H. H. 1983. 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. Damanhur is 521.0 km from Siwa and 625.9 km from Thebes, a deviation of 20%. The Nommos descended from the sky in a vessel accompanied by fire and thunder. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. rotation is astronomically possible but whether it is correct or not we cannot yet know. based his account on an interview with one person, Ambara, and an Temple claimed that the Dogon knew about two smaller stars that are closely related to Sirius Sirius B and Sirius C. The mystery was how they had obtained this knowledge, as these companion stars cannot be seen by the unaided eye. 1999. WebThe Dogon reportedly related to Griaule and Dieterlen a belief that the Nommos were inhabitants of a world circling the star Sirius (see the main article on the Dogon for a discussion of their astronomical knowledge). "Perhaps (Oberg) is unaware," Temple went on, "that the differential curvature of the earth variously distorts distances shown on maps. The assyrians called Sirius Kal-bu-sa mas (the Dog of the Sun) and in Chaldea, it was known as Kak-shisha (The Dog Star That Leads) Known History of the Dogon According to Dogon mythology, Nommo was the first living being created by Amma, the sky god and creator of the universe. The third explanation is that they learned the information from Europeans or in European schools. 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. 1995. % terrestrial rather than extraterrestrial. Did Oberg? Carl Sagan's contribution to this discussion was in his book Broca's Brain (1979). sources for Temple's story. WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. 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. ", Temple replied in Fate: "The pattern published in my book was drawn by a professional cartographer who earns his living by drawing reliable maps for an international corporation." Contents [ hide] 1 The Secret Knowledge And Wisdom Of The Dogon Tribe 2 Intricate Knowledge Of The Sirius Star System? The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. Fishs map and Hills map look similar only because the lines connecting the stars look the same. It was very unlikely that the Dogon had learned of this stars existence from Westerners prior to the visit by Griaule and Dieterlen. In 1977 two radio astronomers were interested enough in the Sirius mystery to direct their telescopes at the star system in hopes of picking up any artificial radio signals. var d=new Date();var n=d.toLocaleDateString();var t=d.toLocaleTimeString(); document.write(n + "
" + t); Want to know your future? A review of the astronomical, cultural, and anthropological sides of this issue might be timely. sun and the phases of the moon are more pertinent for Dogon reckoning. E. "Ancient Astronauts," in, McDaid, Liam. Using spherical trig, I got 612.3 km for the Siwa-Behdet leg and 654.8 km for the Thebes-Behdet. (Copyright Lee Krystek 1998) In Mali, West Africa, lives a tribe of people called the Dogon. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. There is, The Sirius mystery, though, remains of great interest to many researchers today. 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. extraterrestrial visitors? So it merely remains for any interested reader to check and see which of us is correct. Here is an example of how hard it can be to critically examine the claims in the book. Sounds like you're grasping at straws. McDaid, Liam. But it is apparent that Temple was not aware of Van Beeks devastating research. But Fishs map used an arbitrary viewpoint in space. Sirius Since Sirius B is a very dense white dwarf star about the size of Earth, it can only be seen in dark skies with medium-sized telescopes. Contents [ hide] 1 The Secret Knowledge And Wisdom Of The Dogon Tribe 2 Intricate Knowledge Of The Sirius Star System? I published, showed the distances to be nowhere close, in error by tens of miles, at least ten percent -- hardly "immense accuracy. 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. ", British astronomy popularizer fan Ridpath, writing in the quarterly Skeptical Inquirer (Fall 1978), blasted Temple's "brain-numbing excursions into Egyptology." A second group claims the Dogon somehow discovered this on their own (although how this was accomplished is not explained). Conversations With Dogon descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn and Sirius remind one of Jonathan Swift's uncanny description of the two undiscovered moons of Mars. The aliens came here Or, Griaule's account may reflect his own interests more than that of How did the Dogon obtain this knowledge? Also, in the 1980s and 1990s, anthropologist Walter van Beek could find no evidence that the Dogon possessed knowledge about Sirius B today.9 But more enlightening is the fact that Griaule studied astronomy in Paris and brought star maps with him to Mali. At the latitude of Egypt, over distances of several hundred kilometers, planetary curvature introduces distortions only on the order of fractions of kilometers, not the tens of kilometers worth of inaccuracies I found in Temple's claim. It is also the home of the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius A. Ancient 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. The diagram that Temple presents, however, is not the Ancient astronauts entrepreneur Erich von Daniken endorses and adopts Temple's explanations in his latest book, Von Daniken's Proof. This is a complicated issue, because several special interest groups each claim the Dogon for their own. Sirius B was known to exist then. Print versions available in Dutch, Russian, Japanese, and Korean. Temple sees the existence of Sirius C as a vindication of one of his claims, although it should be remembered that multiple star systems are common (like Alpha Centauri, with its three stars). they were not told by beings from the star Sirius.". Ridpath concludes that any information that resembles the facts about Sirius was probably ascertained by way of cultural contamination. due to quantities of melanin (Welsing, F. C. 1987. the Sirius "Mystery" by Ian Ridpath, Skeptical Inquirer, Fall The book presents the hypothesis that the Dogon people of Mali, in West Africa, preserve a tradition of contact with intelligent extraterrestrial beings from the Sirius star system. But if the error is real, it reflects on the only kind of hard, checkable, testable evidence Temple has offered for his theories. WebDogon and the Sirius Mystery. It seems that Temples ideas are still popular among practitioners of pseudoarcheology, as well as with the general public. October 1977 saw Marvin Luckermann's "More Sirius Difficulties," on ancient calendar systems and an alternate, non- extraterrestrial explanation for the ancient fascination with the number fifty (the article quotes Michael Astour's book Hellenosemitics as saying, "This exorbitant figure, very popular in Greek myths, has its explanation: it is the number of seven-day weeks in one lunar year. 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. 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. 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. Griaule himself was aware of the discovery of Sirius B and in the 1920s before he visited the Dogon there were also unconfirmed sightings of Sirius C. The Dogon were well aware of the brightest star in the sky but, as Van Beek learned, they do not call it sigu tolo, as Griaule claimed, but dana tolo. They dont have telescopes or other Bullard, Thomas. Temple offered another line of reasoning. 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. Sagan, These same myths, Temple claims, identify a planet circling that star as the home of Nommo, an alien creature who founded the Dogon civilization. As an example, Sagan believes that because the Dogon seem to have no knowledge of another planet beyond Saturn which has rings, their knowledge is therefore more likely to have come from European, and not extraterrestrial, sources.[11]. York: Random House, 1995). The Dogon have a As the brightest star in the sky it was known and worshiped by ancient civilizations. African thought. But even after hundreds of pages of myths and interpretations Temple fails to make a connection between ancient Egypt and the modern Dogons; instead he "assumes" it. WebThe star Sirius is certainly no stranger to mysteries. scientific equipment, so how could they get this knowledge? seem to have done little else than give the earthlings some useless The Dogon also knew Sirius B was about the size of Earth and spun on its axis. WebThe Dogon understanding of astronomy was comparatively modern but has several known misconceptions - it entirely lines up with the European understanding as of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the discovery of relativity. Such assimilation occurs most frequently when the subject is one of particular interest to a people -- as Sirius is to the Dogons. traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. A critical analysis has to investigate the accuracy of such claims, so as to judge the validity of the book's conclusions. extremely dense and has a fifty-year orbit. He soon multiplied to become six pairs of twins. It was popularized in an episode from the In Search of television series narrated by Leonard Nimoy. The Sirius mystery, though, remains of great interest to many researchers today. Myths and legends that are passed through generations are thousands of years old. According to Robert Temple (The Sirius Mystery), the Dogon had Also it would take a very good set of lenses to see Sirius B, which has an apparent magnitude of 8.44 and a separation from Sirius A of 10 arcseconds (0.3% of a 1 angle) under the best conditions. ), There were Giants in the earthin those days Genesis 6:1. Using similar techniques other writers have "discovered" dozens of different, often contradictory "ancient secrets" about Atlantis, primitive Christianity, forgotten wisdom, ancient visitors and numerous other things. [7] Others, such as Marcel Griaule's daughter Genevive Calame-Griaule and an anthropologist, Luc de Heusch, came to criticize Van Beek's dismissal as "political" and riddled with "unchecked speculation", demonstrating a general ignorance of Dogon esoteric tradition. 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. They seem to have Because Sirius B moves from 8 to 31 AU distance from Sirius A, it is unlikely that planets orbiting Sirius A would have stable orbits. [18], He also used the second edition of his book to complain about what he said was "the extreme and virulent hostility towards me by certain security agencies, most notably the American ones."[19]. mystery resurfaces." space. So what is the alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis for the Dogon myths7 The Dogons could have learned of European Sirius lore in the 1920's from traders, explorers or missionaries, many of whom are avid amateur astronomers. Even in the most optimistic reading of this tale, the Dogon know no more than we knew about the Solar System and nearby stars in the 1930s, which is about the time that Griaule and Deiterlen first interacted with them. The legend of the Dogons astronomical precociousness first appeared on the radar in the 1970s. He points out that the Dogon myths also describe a third star (astronomers would call it "Sirius C"), as yet undiscovered. According to Griaule and The "mystery" that is central to the book is how the Dogon allegedly acquired knowledge of Sirius B, the white dwarf companion star of Sirius A, invisible to the naked eye. The Dogon legend connected with Sirius, wrote Ridpath, "is riddled with ambiguities, contradictions, and downright errors, at least if we try to interpret it literally." The tribe has a periodic Sirius festival called the "Segui" ceremony; each celebration lasts several years (the last was in 1968-72.) The Dogon. Appleby also believes there exists a modern arrogance that cannot countenance the idea that ancient civilisations might have been scientifically superior. The obviously advanced astronomical knowledge must have come from somewhere, but is it an ancient bequest or a modern graft? 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. If a European I suspect not.". either in daily life or in ritual [to the Dogon]. She claimed an alien starship commander had originally shown it to her. But Sagan then finds both astronomical and mythological holes in the hypothesis. WebThe star Sirius is certainly no stranger to mysteries. of earth and transmitted in conversation. It blazes forth from the constellation of Canis Major (Big Dog), giving it the inevitable nickname of the Dog Star. The Dogon understanding of astronomy was comparatively modern but has several known misconceptions - it entirely lines up with the European understanding as of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the discovery of relativity. Griaule and Dieterlen describe a world renovation ceremony, associated The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark (New The assyrians called Sirius Kal-bu-sa mas (the Dog of the Sun) and in Chaldea, it was known as Kak-shisha (The Dog Star That Leads) Known History of the Dogon According to Dogon mythology, Nommo was the first living being created by Amma, the sky god and creator of the universe. "There is some evidence," he points out, "that the Dogon like to frame pictures with an ellipse, and that Temple may be mistaken about the claim that in Dogon mythology the planets and Sirius-B move in elliptical orbits." (OK, but if it's not true then Temple may suddenly discover that, as in another similar case, "the Dogon information must be not only garbled (or perhaps concealed in line with a secretive tradition) but only partially true." Sirius was already the subject of a mystery concerning the traditional lore of the Dogon tribe of Mali, near Timbuktu in western Africa. van Beek, Walter E. A. characteristics. 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. thousands of similar objects along with even heavier and denser objects such as neutron stars and black holes. Figure 1. Skeptic Jason Colavito counts The Sirius Mystery among the body of works in a tradition of ancient astronaut ideas he believes were ultimately inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.[13][14]. 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. 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