dogon sirius debunked

We may never be able to reconstruct the exact route by which the Dogon received their current knowledge, but out of the confusion at least one thing is clear: Using spherical trig, I got 612.3 km for the Siwa-Behdet leg and 654.8 km for the Thebes-Behdet. The Symbolism of the Tarot: The Minor Arcana, The Symbolism of the Tarot: The Major Arcana, My Reading with Kristine from Psychic Source Review, Get the best Psychic Reading Ever Best Psychics Ive Reviewed, The Cathars: the struggle for and of a new Church, The Strange Stone Discs of Baian-Kara-Ula, William Blake: What paintings of visions come. The Dogon People Revisited.. characteristics. [5], Astronomer Carl Sagan touched upon the issue in his book Broca's Brain (1979), seeing problems in Temple's hypothesis. Temple's impressive research was encouraged by noted futurist Arthur C, Clarke (although Clarke now prefers the "modern influence" hypothesis). e issued monthly by the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Here is an example of how hard it can be to critically examine the claims in the book. 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?. "Dogon Restudied: A Field Evaluation of the Work of Marcel 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. According to Griaule and Sirius was already the subject of a mystery concerning the traditional lore of the Dogon tribe of Mali, near Timbuktu in western Africa. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. | 3938 State St., Suite # 101, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105-3114 | 1-805-576-9396. Credulous scholars, like Young and Temple, were taken in and through them a whole generation has swallowed the false mythology of aliens from the Dark Sirius Companion. This article appeared in Fortean Times. Though Temples work was challenged, at its core lay the original anthropological study of the Dogon by Griaule and Dieterlen, who describe the secret knowledge of Sirius B and Sirius C in their own book The Pale Fox. Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. Some astronomers speculate that the white dwarf Sirius B might have been a flaming red giant only 2000 years ago although current astrophysical theories decree that any such transformation in less than 100,000 years is impossible. Sagan further commented that he was surprised, given the freedom of viewpoint that Fish used, that her map didnt match the Hill map better!4. The alleged visitors from outer space ch. Knowledge of the stars is not important Griaule, Marcel. 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. from black Egyptians who had telescopes. "their purpose in disguising their secrets was to see that the secrets could survive.". The Dogon are a people of about 100,000 who dwell in western Africa. 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. Readers of Skeptic are not so sanguine. Griaule and Dieterlen describe a world renovation ceremony, associated Or, Griaule's account may reflect his own interests more than that of Encyclopedia Galactica,, Benest, D. and J. L. Duvent. The main problem with the alleged antiquity of the Dogon "Sirius secrets" legend is that they are reminiscent of European Sirius speculations of the late 1920s. 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. of earth and transmitted in conversation. (Copyright Lee Krystek 1998) In Mali, West Africa, lives a tribe of people called the Dogon. Here, then, is another datum to be investigated when it is possible." This is strange, because one would think that it would be a major discovery in anthropology. 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. myths by confabulation." The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, now called Sirius A. rotation is astronomically possible but whether it is correct or not we cannot yet know. And does the Dogon mythology ever really say that Nommo, the founder Sagan has recounted numerous examples from Arizona and New Guinea -- and other scholars have noted similar instances -- of the rapid assimilation of new stories, songs and lore into the eclectic mythology of Stone Age peoples. Other ancient astronomical records make no mention of Sirius being red. in elliptical orbits of astronomical phenomena. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. Figure 1. informed the Dogon of Sirius B or "he misinterpreted their references MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. Ancient astronauts entrepreneur Erich von Daniken endorses and adopts Temple's explanations in his latest book, Von Daniken's Proof. implausible notions such as the claim that the Dogon got their knowledge Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Scientists learn that the Dogon do not possess secret knowledge about the star Sirius and its companions. -- in other words, no disproof would follow the failure of his prediction.). Although Temple fails to prove its antiquity, the evidence for the recent acquisition of the information is still entirely circumstantial. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. "It does not!" ;WI)hK>U/sW_: v* &73DUI*y|07s^gQ7ni[khi4o2vA[a20?D-C[;,!vgejZE-,I51.cWS,?4#_}dpU4I[, w.Mi>Z@iOa:ia](i}29pit+ K#x>0nzDS%c7iN}%37Y-f 1Yvq'Nm=~-%#bO*O44*4%Aj Wi E. "Ancient Astronauts," in, McDaid, Liam. As the brightest star in the sky it was known and worshiped by ancient civilizations. More recent research suggests that the contaminator was Griaule himself. 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. Although he was an anthropologist, Griaule was keenly interested in astronomy and had studied it in Paris. 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@". MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. 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. their knowledge without contact with an advanced technological According to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. WebAccording to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. "Legends of the Dogon: belief in a long-solved 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]. Temple has made very few verifiable assertions about mythology (and The Sirius Mystery is overwhelmingly about ancient myths, not about the Dogons or modern astronomy). Some might argue that if there were a planet really close to Sirius A, it could be in a stable orbit. A revised edition was published in 1998 with the new subtitle New scientific The two anthropologists who first studied the Dogon (Griaule and Deiterlen) conducted their research in the 1930s. Hmm, The Cardiff Giant, one of the most celebrated hoaxes in American history, on display at the Farmers Museum in Cooperstown, NY. It was very unlikely that the Dogon had learned of this stars existence from Westerners prior to the visit by Griaule and Dieterlen. In 1966, Temple then aged 21 became Secretary of Youngs Foundation for the Study of Consciousness. The former study also concluded that while a triple system for Sirius could not be fully eliminated, the probability was low. Liam is the author of Urban Astronomy and is a Senior Scientist for Skeptic. ancient Egypt.*. Sirius B was first observed in 1862, and had been predicted in 1844 on dynamic grounds. 1999. of their culture, came from Sirius -- which is at the crux of Temple's reconstruction? 11.1. 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. The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, now called Sirius A. Swift appears to have taken the idea of two close (although not necessarily small) moons of Mars from Voltaire's novel Micromegos in which an Especially those who believe that our past is not at all how mainstream historians believe it to be, or indeed, tell us it was. Since Oberg cannot do so, we need not concern ourselves with criticisms of The Sirius Mystery." The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. If I were alone in picking on Temple's thesis, he might be able to argue a case for ad hominem persecution. the Sirius "Mystery" by Ian Ridpath, Skeptical Inquirer, Fall 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]. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. I did more searching and found that for the keywords Dogon and Sirius B, almost 1000 websites were listed. Our mysteries may be different but our questions are the same and we are no wiser. <> 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. The Dogon. (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 blazes forth from the constellation of Canis Major (Big Dog), giving it the inevitable nickname of the Dog Star. companion" (Bullard). But was anything left out? traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. The Nine also claim to be extraterrestrial beings from the star Sirius. Europeans too talked about the discovery of a third star in the Sirius system; later investigations, however, ruled out that possibility. The legend of the Dogons astronomical precociousness first appeared on the radar in the 1970s. The stars in this group are too young only a few tens of millions of years for planets with life and civilization to have developed. The Dogon people had been visited by European visitors many times, most notably when they hosted French astronomers looking to find a good vantage point to observe the solar eclipse of 1893. WebDogon and the Sirius Mystery. In his 1998 revised edition, Temple was quick to point out the new discussions in scientific circles about the possible existence of Sirius C, which seemed to make Griaules claims even more spectacular and accurate. He soon multiplied to become six pairs of twins. One of the pieces of evidence Temple cites is a sand picture made by the The Pleiades are sometimes mentioned, but this is not possible. This is true, but Sirius has about 25 times the luminosity of the Sun. 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 Sounds like you're grasping at straws. 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. Investigating Beware of mood swings. One problem with this idea is that Sirius B has been a white dwarf for at least tens of thousands of years. The Bad Archaeology page on the Sirius Mystery has summarize the basic details well: In 1976, Robert K G Temple (born 1945), an American living in the UK, published what was to become a seminal work of Bad Archaeology, The Sirius Mystery. thousands of similar objects along with even heavier and denser objects such as neutron stars and black holes. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. The Dogon are believed to be of Egyptian decent and their astronomical lore goes back thousands of years to 3200 BC. (2004). The author mentions that he could have made the book much longer but restrained himself "lest I blow this book up into a pufball of miscellaneous odds and ends" -- which prompted one reviewer to remark that Temple had stopped much too late to avoid that fate. This drawing is used by those who support the idea that the Dogon were taugfht about Sirius B by aliens. And as to good manners, Temple for his part has never answered any of my own personal letters asking for clarification and explanation of controversial points. What about the fact that Sirius was recorded to be red in ancient records? According to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. The biggest challenge to Griaule, however, came from anthropologist Walter Van Beek. He also gives public talks on astronomy and related fringe topics to international audiences. Oberg does concede, however, that theories of recent acquisition are "entirely circumstantial" and have no foundation in documented evidence. "Lecture 1st WebAccording to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. The Nommos descended from the sky in a vessel accompanied by fire and thunder. The Dogon are believed to be of Egyptian decent and their astronomical lore goes back thousands of years to 3200 BC. He soon multiplied to become six pairs of twins. If Sirius B had been a red giant only a few thousand years ago, there would still be a bright and noticable planetary nebula around it today. But it is apparent that Temple was not aware of Van Beeks devastating research. Subscribe to eSkeptic: our free email newsletter and get great podcasts, videos, reviews and articles from Skeptic magazine, announcements, and more in your inbox once or twice a week. To quote Ancient Mysteries: While Temple, following Griaule, assumes that to polo is the invisible star Sirius B, the Dogon themselves, as reported by Griaule, say something quite different. To quote the Dogon: When Digitaria (to polo) is close to Sirius, the latter becomes brighter; when it is at its most distant from Sirius, Digitaria gives off a twinkling effect, suggesting several stars to the observer. This description of a very visible effect causes James and Thorpe to wonder as anyone reading this should do whether to polo is therefore an ordinary star near Sirius, not an invisible companion, as Griaule and Temple suggest. van Beek, Walter E. A. All rights reserved. But that isn't the only parallel. The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. Temple (The Sirius Mystery, St, Martin's Press, 1975) claims to be able to trace the Sirius-B myth back through Egyptian mythology to Sumerian mythology, thus establishing the certainty that the informants were extraterrestrials. % var d=new Date();var n=d.toLocaleDateString();var t=d.toLocaleTimeString(); document.write(n + "
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