Europeans too talked about the discovery of a third star in the Sirius system; later investigations, however, ruled out that possibility. 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). 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. Sirius figures prominently in the Dogon myths. The introduction to his second edition is so full of paranoid theorizing,2 that although it is quoted extensively and interpolated with favorable comments by Michael Bara (or possibly Richard Hoagland), the most extreme conspiracy claims are omitted.3. Nigel Appleby whose book Hall of the Gods was withdrawn from publication has admitted to being tremendously influenced by Temples Sirius Mystery. To penetrate this supposed disguise (which might not be a disguise at all, other classical scholars maintain), Temple resorts to ancient puns, to hidden meanings, to "garbled versions" which he must amend to fit the theory, to the exchange of consonants in innocent-looking words, to similar-sounding words from Especially those who believe that our past is not at all how mainstream historians believe it to be, or indeed, tell us it was. Cook some soul food. Encyclopedia Galactica,, Benest, D. and J. L. Duvent. He soon multiplied to become six pairs of twins. In other words, the Dogon tribe would not only need the knowledge but also a telescope in order for them to have the information they already seemed to possess. WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. The Dogon myths may or may not be related to these other putties (or even to Kepler's supernova, which has been seriously suggested.) (Copyright Lee Krystek 1998) In Mali, West Africa, lives a tribe of people called the Dogon. If a European 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? Afrocentrists, on the other hand, claimed that the Dogon could see A second group claims the Dogon somehow discovered this on their own (although how this was accomplished is not explained). Copyright 19922023. 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. But from whom? (Photo by John and Keturah. This means that it will have a lifetime on the stellar Main Sequence, which is where stars spend 90% of their lives, of about 1.2 billion years. | 3938 State St., Suite # 101, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105-3114 | 1-805-576-9396. The Dogon and Sirius. 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.). He certainly did not have permission to use that statement as part of the promotion, I'11 just have to be even more careful hereafter.". They seem to have For instance, the anthropologist Walter Van Beek, who studied the Dogon after Griaule and Dieterlen, found no evidence that the Dogon considered Sirius to be a double star and/or that astronomy was particularly important in their belief system. Melanin Conference, San Francisco, September 16-17, 1987"). It's almost certainly a hoax. The Dogon and Sirius. Conversations With Griaule and Dieterlen's claims, to fit his fantastic story. of Griaule informants, had ever heard or understood that Sirius was a A revised edition was published in 1998 with the new subtitle New scientific All rights reserved. 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. For more then 20 years, The Sirius Mystery has influenced speculation about the possibility that our forefathers came from the stars. Figure 2. As James and Thorpe point out, he took star maps along with him on his field trips as a way of prompting his informants to divulge their knowledge of the stars. Legends of the Dogon Belief in a Long-Solved Mystery Resurfaces. In the 1930s, when their research was carried out, Sirius B was known to have existed, even though it was only photographed in 1970. This would have wreaked havoc on the climate of any planets orbiting Sirius A. "It does not!" they were not told by beings from the star Sirius.". WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. And from what star system does the visitor come? Perhaps so -- it does seem like a trivial point, arguing over how different two meaningless geographical distances really are. Temple claims that bas-reliefs of the Sumerian demigod Oannes, which depict a "fish man," prove Nommo, whom the author identifies as the ancestor of the Dogon Nommo myths, was an amphibious extraterrestrial. in elliptical orbits of astronomical phenomena. To recapitulate: Griaule claimed to have been initiated into the secret mysteries of the male Dogon, during which they allegedly told him of Sirius (sigu tolo in their language) and its two invisible companions. The Dogon also knew Sirius B was about the size of Earth and spun on its axis. Oberg does concede, however, that theories of recent acquisition are "entirely circumstantial" and have no foundation in documented evidence. For example, he claims that the Dogon have a drawing like the one in Figure 1. Ridpath concludes that any information that resembles the facts about Sirius was probably ascertained by way of cultural contamination. Temple's book mentions the absorption of a Christ-figure into the traditional Dogon Pantheon, obviously a recent addition. To quote James and Thorpe: As for Sirius B, only Griaules informants had ever heard of it. Was Griaule told by his informants what he wanted to believe; did he misinterpret the Dogon responses to his questions? himself and his loose speculations on what he learned from Griaule, who by Philip Coppens. The other five are still seen as red but from the time of Arab astronomers to the present day Sirius has been blue-white. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. Even if you allow for a much higher biological mutation rate on any Sirian planet compared to the Earth, it still isnt enough time. After being surprised that an astromomy association would, after all this time, bother to publish such an article, I did a web search and found that in 1997 Robert Temple published a second edition of the book that started it all TheSirius Mystery in which he addressed none of the main criticisms that had been directed against the first edition, published in 1976. He soon multiplied to become six pairs of twins. "wished to affirm the complexity of African religions and questioned The only mystery is how anyone could take seriously either the notion of WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. Webplanet earth. The biggest challenge to Griaule, however, came from anthropologist Walter Van Beek. Flim-Flam! Griaule and Dieterlen describe a world renovation ceremony, associated The X symbol inside the oval is Sirius A, The oval itself is labeled Umlaufbahn von Sirius B, or Orbit of Sirius B. Pretty convincing. MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. Press J to jump to the feed. ", 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." Temple's book and the debates that followed its release publicized the existence of the Dogon tribe among many New Age followers and proponents of ancient astronaut theories. MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. Many served in the French army in World War I and some of them could have returned years later with colorful embellishments for their native legends. But Fishs map used an arbitrary viewpoint in space. The greatest source of error, however, seems to be in Temple's specified location of Behdet. Such criteria suggest that these periodic festivals have been going on for at least 600 years and possibly much longer. Mali was a former French colony (part of the Sudan), so some Dogon may have gone to French schools in the 1920s.7 Or Jesuit missionaries or merchants may have imparted the information to them.8, There may be an even simpler explanation. 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. answer is that they got this information from amphibious aliens from outer 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. [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. WebThe population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000.. . Through the carbon dating of old ritual masks researchers have established the antiquity of the Segui ceremonies. The Dogon are supposed to have known that Sirius B orbits Sirius and that a complete orbit takes with the bright star Sirius (sigu tolo, "star of Sigui"), called seem to have done little else than give the earthlings some useless 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. 11.1. Although we can occasionally claim victory (are there any alchemists left? (Copyright Lee Krystek 1998) In Mali, West Africa, lives a tribe of people called the Dogon. WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. Nor does he establish a connection between the Dogon creator Nommo and the star Sirius. One of Temple's main The expedition, led by Henri Deslandres, stayed in the field for five weeks, and it is reasonable that during this time many contacts with the locals took place, and that relatively modern astronomical knowledge was then transferred. Furthermore, most Dogon symbology already has multiple levels of meaning; the sketches used to illustrate the Sirius secrets are also used in puberty ceremonies. Is Sirius a Triple Star?, Adams, H. H. 1983. The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. (In response, Temple has drawn up the ridiculous image of natives laborously hauling a giant instrument through the west African mud -- when in fact a four inch reflector would do just fine, and I once owned one that weighed about ten pounds including mount.) It was very unlikely that the Dogon had learned of this stars existence from Westerners prior to the visit by Griaule and Dieterlen. 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. Appleby also believes there exists a modern arrogance that cannot countenance the idea that ancient civilisations might have been scientifically superior. by Philip Coppens. We need more reliable evidence -- especially theories that can be tested. century technological matters brought to them by visitors from other parts companion" (Bullard). "We have in the Dogon information a predictive mechanism which it is our duty to test, regardless of our preconceptions." Ancient astronauts entrepreneur Erich von Daniken endorses and adopts Temple's explanations in his latest book, Von Daniken's Proof. It is also possible to conclude that such a star could in no way be responsible for the flurry of sightings from the 1920s, it would be too faint and too close to Sirius A to have ever been seen by visual observers.[17]. Lets start with the first idea, proffered by Robert Temple.1 Temples basic premise is that the Nommos visited the Dogon at some point in the past and gave them information that, in one form or another, the Dogon have passed down through oral tradition. of course, no evidence for this special eyesight, nor for other equally WebThe star Sirius is certainly no stranger to mysteries. That's one major characteristic of classical pseudo-science, its ability to incorporate any result and its ability to be immune from disproof from any result. Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. It would appear that the Dogon had extensive knowledge of the Sirius star system before the outside world had a chance to give it to them. 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. [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]. He allegedly found the distances "to be nearly equal to one another" -- although no quantitative definition of "nearly equal" was ever offered. The review was indeed consequently modified in parts where Temple explained portions of his book I may have misinterpreted. 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. Ridpath asserts. WebAccording to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. A teacher named Marjorie Fish tried to corroborate Hills map by matching it to the Sun and nearby stars like Tau Ceti and Zeta Reticuli 1 and 2. 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. The tribe has a periodic Sirius festival called the "Segui" ceremony; each celebration lasts several years (the last was in 1968-72.) The legend of the Dogons astronomical precociousness first appeared on the radar in the 1970s. by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano. I certainly concur with the first of those sentences! Temple's book is indeed extremely long and many other researchers have echoed Asimov's assertion that it is "unreadable." But my own measurements, which (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." 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. Skeptic. ), Another example: "The Dogon also mention a period of rotation of Sirius- Bone yearthis implausible notions such as the claim that the Dogon got their knowledge Dogon descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn and Sirius remind one of Jonathan Swift's uncanny description of the two undiscovered moons of Mars. They dont have telescopes or other He shows a total ignorance or disregard for almost every fact in my book, and there is hardly a single thing in his review which is remotely accurate." WebThe population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000.. . No other anthropologist supports their opinions. Dieterlen the Dogon also name a companion star, po tolo "Digitaria 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. 1999. Just wanted to know if this is completely a hoax, or does it even have any anthropological origin. The Nine became part of the UFO and New Age mythology and many claim to be in contact with them. The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark (New The inspiration for this claim was a star map produced by Betty Hill while under hypnosis. Laird Scranton makes it clear that he ruled out this possibility in this interview. Sirius was already the subject of a mystery concerning the traditional lore of the Dogon tribe of Mali, near Timbuktu in western Africa. 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. Precise maps at the NASA space photo interpretation lab in Houston list "Behdet" as an ancient name for modern Damanhur, located today at 31.03 degN, 30.28 degE, i.e., more than a hundred kilometers away from where Temple locates his "Behdet" at 31.50 degN, 31.23 degE. MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. Legends of the Dogon Belief in a Long-Solved Mystery Resurfaces. When Walter van Beek studied the Dogon, he 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. Temple does not argue that contact with an advanced civilization is the only way that the Dogon could have obtained what he understood to be accurate information on Sirius B, but he indicates that he personally finds the theory of alien contact more convincing. scientific equipment, so how could they get this knowledge? 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. Griaule," Current Anthropology 32, 1992, pp. (OK, I'll bite--but if such a star is not discovered, Temple has risked no converse conclusions. 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). A review of the astronomical, cultural, and anthropological sides of this issue might be timely. % 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. A substantial bulk of The Sirius Mystery consists of comparative linguistic and mythological scholarship, pointing out resemblances among Dogon, Yoruba, Egyptian and Sumerian beliefs and symbols. Furthermore, there had been a WebAlso there is the fact that they described the Nommo as fish people and you find all kinds of half man/half fish - serpent imagery all over the Mediterranean. There are innocent available explanations: typographical error or miscopied notes, for example. You guessed it -- Sirius! 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