ANGULAR CHRONOLOGY
This forum relates to the western hemisphere arm of the Institute for Precolumbian Studies. The name of the western hemisphere arm is the Zarahemla Geological Foundation. It was founded more than two decades ago by Michael M. Hobby and Troy J. Smith, original co-director. The eastern hemisphere arm is the Institute for Precolumbian studies itself, and deals with the archaeology and geology of that hemisphere.
Although both entities involve comparative application of Angular Chronology, no cardinal shift of the earth's crust occurred in the eastern hemisphere. The pyramids at Giza, Egypt are still oriented to the same True North as always. However, a C14 "fault-line" did occur, a 500-1000yr displacement in carbon-14 dates.
The Zarahemla Geological Foundation's main website is:
http://www.zarahemlageological.com
We begin with the following videos shot recently at the archaeological site of Dzibilchaltun, Mexico. Dzibilchaltun is one of the Type sites for Angular Chronology.
[Note: uploading videos to Blogger requires significant time, and may require uploading those greater than 80mb to youTube first, then embedding the youTube html code in this blog. Four of the five from Dzibilchaltun exceed 100mb each. As not all videos have yet been posted. They will appear in vertical sequence. The uppermost is Dzibilchaltun 1, the second immediately below it, Dzibilchaltun 2, and continuing. Once the entire sequence has been uploaded, this note will be removed. Thank you for your patience.]
A Type site is a site that clearly represents a certain period, archaeological feature, architectural or construction style, cultural feature, distinctive ceramic sequence, etc. For example, Cahokia is the Type site for the Mississippian Mound-building culture of the Eastern Woodlands Province of North America. It represents a later and distinctly different culture than the older Archaic/Hopewell period. For instance, the Hopewell did not have the bow and arrow; the Mississippian did.
Other Type sites for Angular Chronology include, Izapa, Mexico, El Tajin, Mexico, Teotihuacan, Mexico, the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl at Xochicalco, Mexico, the George Davis site in Texas, The Poverty Point site in Louisiana, the Serpent Mound in Ohio, and many others. You will see videos and slide presentations from these sites over the coming months, as well as articles and discussion related to them and others; this in addition to regular news and updates on other projects, member issues, and programs of the Foundation.
If you are unfamiliar with ANGULAR CHRONOLOGY, send a request to hgeoman2@gmail.com, and you will receive a free subscription to the Zarahemla Monthly and the Third Millennium Voice for one year.
Beginning in July, 2009, a detailed presentation and discussion of Angular Chronology will be a regular feature of the monthly e-letter.
ANGULAR CHRONOLOGY sounds like a complex term, but is basically simple. Prior to 700 B.C., every calendar on earth for which we have records had a solar year of 360 days. This is why the circle is divided into 360 degrees. In about 700 B.C., something incredible occurred, due either to a solar disturbance or the near pass of another object of spherical shape and planetary mass . . . or both. Following that event, every calendar on earth added five days to the length of the solar year. This not only occurred in the eastern hemisphere: Egypt, Babylonia, China, and other cultures, but also in the western hemisphere. The Maya Long Count calendar (a linear count of days from a remote point in the past), often characterized as the most accurate calendar ever produced by man, was based upon a solar year of 360 days as well. Following the event, to the 18 months of twenty days each (18x20=360) was added a five-day month, the Uayeb. In almost all cultures, those five added days were feared, considered "unlucky," etc. because of the catastrophic disturbance that resulted in the additional length of the year.
On the North American continent, a crustal shift occurred. Cities that had been built to (the previous) True North were now oriented to the east of current True north. Solar observatories, like the Temple of Seven Dolls at Dzibilchaltun, no longer functioned. Those built after the shift to the NEW True North, like Uaxactun in Guatemala, or at Poverty Point in Louisiana, still function today.
Angular Chronology is based upon the realization that sites with the old True North orientation, meaning that they had to be built before 700 B.C., are typically carbon-dated much later in time. An error of 500 to 1000 years in carbon-14 dates became evident. The same occurs in southern Mesopotamia and in Egypt, where historical dates known with certainty forced a 600-year recalibration of all C-14 dates.
Prior to the inception of Angular Chronology, tied to the Cardinal Shift (our term for the shift of the earth's crust ~700 B.C.), there was no way of knowing either that the C14-based dating chronology was wrong or by how much.
The arguments of the few who have contested Angular Chronology fail on two points:
1) First, they point to, as an example, the Mixtec dynastic sequences carved on structures at Xochicalco, and assume we are either unaware of them or are disregarding data which would prove the conclusions of Angular Chronology false. What they fail to acknowledge or do not comprehend is that the dates of the dynastic sequence are BASED upon C14 dating! There was no Mixtec dynasty when Europeans landed in the New World. In other words, their argument involves circular reasoning, and is therefore invalid. Never do they address the evidence upon which Angular Chronology is based, because they can offer no other explanation for the Cardinal Shift.
2) Secondly, they do not admit to their readers that precolumbian structures were periodically overlaid, often by a much later culture using entirely different architectural methods and disparate cultural elements. Some continuously inhabited sites have structures which are known to have been overlaid as often as the end of each Katun (Ka=Mayan for 20, and Tun=Mayan for year (a 360-day year). To withhold context information because it tends to weaken or invalidate an assertion is intellectually dishonest and doesn't belong in scientific discourse. Eventually, the data prevail against mere authoritarian dismissals or pedantry, usually made by those who, for whatever reason, feel most threatened. Once they have passed on, a younger generation not threatened by the evidence replaces the older consensus.
The same thing happened in geology with Plate Tectonics. Although pompously dubbed "crazy" and "impossible" along with Wegener and others espousing it by the Ivory Tower consensus professionals of the day, Plate Tectonics is our model (theoretical construct) for interpreting the earth's geological history, features, and phenomena.
Thus, for the benefit of our members and others, we will systematically present the evidence for the Cardinal Shift hypothesis (the east-of-north orientation of so many ancient sites) for which no single astronomical explanation can be advanced. We will also discuss how Angular Chronology can be used to analyze particular sites with structures (usually the core or older part of the site) both at Old True North and current True North. Additional insights come from the fact that magnetic North varies over time; true north does not. This is why Uaxactun's solar observatory built thousands of years ago still works perfectly today. Geologic dating of historical period lava flows, such as the one which buried Cuicuilco, Mexico, are crucially pertinent as well.
What this all amounts to is that a reconstruction of the Precolumbian chronology of this hemisphere is not only now possible, but absolutely necessary. This is what we are presently engaged in. The present model is both in error, outdated, and fails to address or consider many factors of obvious relevance.
For archaeologists, it poses no dilemma, because the relative dates of sites and sequences (such as the Mixtec dynastic sequence at Xochilcalco) are rather well [comparatively] defined. It is the ENTIRE BLOCK of dates which must be pushed back in time, just as they were in Egyptian archaeology.
This is an exciting quest and is the principal mission of the Zarahemla Geological Foundation.
Note also that this chronological reconstruction isn't just about those clarifications enabled by Angular Chronology. It involves a multitude of other previously ignored data or unacknowledged factors which require serious attention to examine how much, if any, bearing they have on precolumbian history or chronology. Consider, for example, these few:
1) Viking iron smelting furnaces in the northeast
2) Chinese writing
3) Egyptian writing
4) Spoken Hebrew, including such confirming data as a passage from Deuteronomy inscribed on a lead plate uncovered in a mound in Etowa, Georgia
5) Ancient depictions of travels by Chinese expeditions with plausible geographic marker locations
6) Out-of-character artifacts inconsistent with expected or local context
7) Sites carbon dated far older than the Bering Strait model for ancient population movements to the New World (far older than 10-12000 bp)
This is a mere smattering, but gives an idea of how significant their potential import might be, particularly when integrated with other forms of archaeological or geologic data.
This is why our members include laymen as well as professionals from many disciplines. Information can and does originate from many unlikely sources, as decades of archaeological research and travel throughout this hemisphere have taught us. Most archaeological data, even from some of the largest and seemingly most important sites, are NEVER published, or end up on a shelf in the library of the institution to which the archaeologist is connected (or on a disk in a desk drawer).
It is encountered by becoming acquainted with the archaeologists involved, visiting the sites and speaking with the locals, who know of more as-yet unreported or unstudied artifacts and sites than one would imagine if they had not experienced it.
As we encounter information, pictures, videos, reports, etc., we will post them on our Foundation website, include them in the monthly e-letter, place them on this blog, etc.
The key words governing our video bar also make available a vast storehouse of information, some of it not generally known, as well as providing a solid foundation in archaeology, geology, dating methodologies, etc. They shift from keyword to keyword as the site is visited. It should be admitted, however, that if your rating of the Video Bar on the top right is, "Never really watch them," if you cannot name the Seven Wonders of the World, you are doing yourself a disservice.
If you are interested in these subject areas, you'll want to become a free member to receive the monthly e-letter and stay connected, visiting the site as often as possible according to your interest level. Let us know.
hgeoman2@gmail.com
NOTE1:
The focus of the INSTITUTE FOR PRECOLUMBIAN STUDIES is geoarchaeology and related issues. Thus, many members and viewers will also find Michael Hobby's professional site, GEOARCHAEOLOGY, of interest.
NOTE2:
The Institute for Precolumbian Studies is linked to the THIRD MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP Think Tank, which focuses primarily on astronomy, physics, biology, psychology and interdisciplinary issues which lie on the frontiers of science and their implications. It's main website is:
http://www.webstarts.com/THIRDMILLENNIUMFELLOWSHIP
NOTE3:
The Fellowship is a Scientific Fraternity and a Spiritual Order. It is thus not limited to being a Think Tank, but is also a humanitarian organization and human rights Political Action Committee.
The primary mission of the Fellowship is:
- increasing knowledge and
- improving the human condition
of ALL mankind under a unified Think Tank umbrella.
The Fellowship is NOT a religion and thus has no (religious) "creed." It's members are drawn from all races, faiths, political ideologies, educational levels, vocations and disciplines. The Fellowship is growing rapidly internationally, particularly in Middle Eastern and Asian countries, especially within (but not limited to) the "Millennial Generation," ages 18-29.
However, a common thread brings them together: a willingness and (uniquely courageous) ability to conditionally suspend or set aside their personal opinions, religious beliefs, and political ideologies to enable them to enter a common forum where they can together think "outside the box," and search for conclusions and solutions to problems and issues either of great importance to all mankind or which threaten our survival as a species. They are willing to ask, "What if . . . ," and to search for ways to create a better world for all, because they believe it IS possible and, in fact, MUST be accomplished. Our motivation is, "if not us, who?," "if not now, when?"
If you are such an individual, become a free member of the Fellowship and receive a one-year subscription to the monthly e-letter, the Third Millennium VOICE by letting us know:
3mfellowship@gmail.com
The Founder and Director of the THIRD MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP is Michael M. Hobby.
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