E. "Ancient Astronauts," in, McDaid, Liam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sirius_Mystery. Griaule did not attempt to explain how the Dogon could know A review of the astronomical, cultural, and anthropological sides of this issue might be timely. "At first glance," Sagan admitted, "the Sirius legend of the Dogon seems 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. The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. (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." terrestrial rather than extraterrestrial. interesting that the Greek Sirius is Seirios.". Temples solution referred to legends of a mythical creature, the god Oannes, who might have been an extraterrestrial, described as descending to Earth from the stars to bring civilising wisdom to the Dogon forefathers. Sirius B was known to exist then. 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. technological societies located on planet earth. the Sirius "Mystery" by Ian Ridpath, Skeptical Inquirer, Fall For example, he claims that the Dogon have a drawing like the one in Figure 1. "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." 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. Young was a fervent believer in the Council of Nine, a mysterious group of channelled entities that claim to be the nine creator gods of ancient Egypt. Where did they get this knowledge, he asks, if not from Ridpath concludes that any information that resembles the facts about Sirius was probably ascertained by way of cultural contamination. The only mystery is how anyone could take seriously either the notion of Seriously: The Dogon and Sirius? 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. Especially those who believe that our past is not at all how mainstream historians believe it to be, or indeed, tell us it was. by Liam McDaid. Sounds like you're grasping at straws. You dont have to watch too many Fantasy Channel (formerly known as the History Channel) specials on ancient astronauts before youll be told about the primitive African Dogon of Mali and their advanced astronomical knowledge bestowed, of course, by extraterrestrials. with the bright star Sirius (sigu tolo, "star of Sigui"), called 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. But was anything left out? [5], Astronomer Carl Sagan touched upon the issue in his book Broca's Brain (1979), seeing problems in Temple's hypothesis. From the findings of Van Beek and the authors of Ancient Mysteries, it is clear that Griaule himself was responsible for the creation of a modern myth; one which, in retrospect, has created such an industry and near-religious belief that the scope and intensity of it can hardly be fathomed. WebThe population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000.. . The basic thesis is this: the Dogon (who live in the African nation of Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso) allegedly have long possessed arcane astronomical knowledge that should have been impossible for them to discover without modern telescopes. Ridpath asserts. He points out that the Dogon myths also describe a third star (astronomers would call it "Sirius C"), as yet undiscovered. How did the Dogon obtain this knowledge? It has a mass of 2.35 times the mass of the Sun. "Robert Temple on three different occasions, by mail and phone, attempted to get support from me and I steadfastly refused," Asimov wrote. 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. pieces of evidence is the tribe's alleged knowledge of Sirius B, a companion to the star On top of that, there is another star, Sirius B, orbiting at an average distance of about 20 AU (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and Sun). "wished to affirm the complexity of African religions and questioned earth as a spherical body in space and projections upon it envisaged as part ofthe Sirius tore." Encyclopedia Galactica,, Benest, D. and J. L. Duvent. 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). their knowledge without contact with an advanced technological 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. 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. Griaule, Marcel. ), many debunked issues keep rising from the dead like vampires springing from their tombs. This is a complicated issue, because several special interest groups each claim the Dogon for their own. 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. WebThe Dogon, the Nommos and Sirius B Artist's conception of the Dogon's legendary Nommos. Tom Sever's "The Obsession with the Star Sirius," and editor Ron Oriti's "On Not Taking it Seriously." things. Unfortunately he neglects to mention other bas-reliefs which show "fish-deer" and "fish-lions" and which consequently suggest that the fish motif was symbolic, not descriptive. 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." But other observers have also written skeptically about the "Sirius Mystery. Finally, he asked me point-blank if I could point out any errors in it and partly out of politeness, partly to get rid of him, and partly because I had been able to read very little of the book so that the answer was true, I said I could not point out any errors. space. Astronomers Carl Sagan and Ian Ridpath, for example, have suggested that the modern astronomical aspects of the complex Dogon mythology entered the lore only recently, probably shortly before the myths were written down in the 1930s. ;p7D) Temple considers alternative possibilities other than alien contact, such as a very ancient, advanced, and lost civilization that was behind the sudden appearance of advanced civilization in both Egypt and Sumer. 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. The Dogon and Sirius. In 1952, Young was one of nine people present during the first contact with the Council, an event initiated by Andrija Puharich, the man who brought Israeli spoonbender Uri Geller to America. Bullard, Thomas. WebDogon and the Sirius Mystery. by Philip Coppens. September 1976 saw In this weeks eSkeptic, Liam McDaid examines these claims. In 1965, Arthur Young gave Robert Temple a French article on the secret star lore of the Dogon, an article written by two French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen. One of Temple's main 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. 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? Classical mythology has been a Rorschach test into which people have projected nearly any notion that appealed to them. 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. Schroder, D.J., et al. The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, now called Sirius A. Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. And from what star system does the visitor come? Webplanet earth. due to quantities of melanin (Welsing, F. C. 1987. He says the references are there but recorded in riddles which he alone has been able to decipher. Furthermore, most Dogon symbology already has multiple levels of meaning; the sketches used to illustrate the Sirius secrets are also used in puberty ceremonies. 6, "White It was popularized in an episode from the In Search of television series narrated by Leonard Nimoy. There is, myths by confabulation." 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. 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). The Sirius mystery, though, remains of great interest to many researchers today. 1999. The proof is supplied by (the Odyssey), where Helios is said to possess 7 herds of 50 cows each and 7 herds of 50 sheep, a transparent allegory of the days and nights of the year.") Nothing fuels religious extremism more than the belief that one has found the absolute moral truth. The Dogon are believed to be of Egyptian decent and their astronomical lore goes back thousands of years to 3200 BC. 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. The alleged visitors from outer space Giants appear in cultures around the world: Biblical tales of giants more than ten feet tall; Roman and Greek stories of titans and heroes; European stories of giants of mountain and hill. Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. 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. Scientists learn that the Dogon do not possess secret knowledge about the star Sirius and its companions. Also, why would the Dogan people not divulge where they received such recent knowledge of transfer if they had of gotten this knowledge from Europeans. 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). With this, the Dogon mystery comes crashing down. The greatest source of error, however, seems to be in Temple's specified location of Behdet. astronomical information. How is that the Dogan tribe has a culture that combines elements from 3 different ancient traditions "rituals of Judaism, practices of ancient Egypt, and a symbolic cosmology that's closely resembles Buddhism? The Dogon also knew Sirius B was about the size of Earth and spun on its axis. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. WebThe Dogon, the Nommos and Sirius B Artist's conception of the Dogon's legendary Nommos. Inevitably one must ask, if the Dogons had heard good stories about Sirius from other sources, would they ignore them or would they quickly adopt them into their own cultural myths? sun and the phases of the moon are more pertinent for Dogon reckoning. knowledge of the satellites of Jupiter and rings of Saturn, among other (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.) One unproven aspect of the reported Dogon knowledge of the Sirius system is the assertion that the Dogon knew of another star in the Sirius system, Emme Ya, or "larger than Sirius B but lighter and dim in magnitude." Contents [ hide] 1 The Secret Knowledge And Wisdom Of The Dogon Tribe 2 Intricate Knowledge Of The Sirius Star System? ch. ), There were Giants in the earthin those days Genesis 6:1. WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. Ancient When Walter van Beek studied the Dogon, he 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. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. Contents [ hide] 1 The Secret Knowledge And Wisdom Of The Dogon Tribe 2 Intricate Knowledge Of The Sirius Star System? based his account on an interview with one person, Ambara, and an 68-70. Print versions available in Dutch, Russian, Japanese, and Korean. Liam is the author of Urban Astronomy and is a Senior Scientist for Skeptic. Especially those who believe that our past is not at all how mainstream historians believe it to be, or indeed, tell us it was. It's fascinating. Europeans too talked about the discovery of a third star in the Sirius system; later investigations, however, ruled out that possibility. The Dogon have a Such words would have more persuasion behind them (to me they're merely an emotional appeal to sympathy) if Temple had ever admitted anywhere in print that he had found (or had been shown) any errors in his book or articles or public statements -- but if he has done so, I haven't become aware of them. The diagram that Temple presents, however, is not the The Nommos descended from the sky in a vessel accompanied by fire and thunder. 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. That in itself is extraordinary.". WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. For more then 20 years, The Sirius Mystery has influenced speculation about the possibility that our forefathers came from the stars. 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. 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. WebThe star Sirius is certainly no stranger to mysteries. The bad news is that the pseudoscience websites were in seventeen different languages. "We have in the Dogon information a predictive mechanism which it is our duty to test, regardless of our preconceptions." Carl. 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. Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. 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. WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. 7 0 obj Dwarfs and Little Green Men". Temples 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. None were detected, That was not surprising since, judging from the age and energy of the stars in the Sirius system, astronomers believe it is unlikely that any earthlike planets could exist there long enough for life to emerge and develop. He soon multiplied to become six pairs of twins. The Sirius Mystery is a book written by Robert K. G. Temple (born Robert Kyle Grenville Temple in 1945) supporting the pseudoscientific[1] ancient astronauts hypothesis that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited the Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Meanwhile the Dogon myths continue to baffle investigators. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The number "fifty" has great signifance in ancient myths. According to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. Could a remote African people have gained esoteric knowledge about the sky without having telescopes? have turned to astronomical matters, including Sirius, the brightest star in In their original findings, Griaule and Deiterlen make no comment about the Dogon knowledge of Sirius B. mystery resurfaces." 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. He allegedly found the distances "to be nearly equal to one another" -- although no quantitative definition of "nearly equal" was ever offered. But it seems that Griaule, a scientist, wanted to attribute to earlier civilisations more knowledge than they actually possessed. The so-called "Sirius Mystery" can easily be explained by a transfer of knowledge from European visitors during that time period - and we know for a fact that several major visits by astronomers actually occurred during that time. 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. You guessed it -- Sirius! rotation is astronomically possible but whether it is correct or not we cannot yet know. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. either in daily life or in ritual [to the Dogon]. 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. no conclusions of any kind." I certainly concur with the first of those sentences! Van Beek actually spoke to some of Griaules original informants; he noted that though they do speak about sigu tolo [interpreted by Griaule as their name for Sirius itself], they disagree completely with each other as to which star is meant; for some, it is an invisible star that should rise to announce the sigu [festival], for another it is Venus that, through a different position, appears as sigu tolo. extraterrestrials, the Nommos, some 5,000 years ago. 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. A recent newsletter from my local astronomy association still found the Dogon and their mysterious knowledge of Sirius B worth mentioning. WebAccording to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. 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). van Beek, Walter E. A. 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. The position of the Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. 139-167. Found in the constellation after which it is named, it is about 25,000 light years from the sun and 42,000 light years from the centre of the Milky Way. The Dogon also hold a big sigui ceremony every 60 years, which some interpret as representing the period of time it takes Sirius B to go around Sirius A. 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. Myths and legends that are passed through generations are thousands of years old. extraterrestrial visitor tells earthmen about the undiscovered Martian moons. The oldest traces of life on Earth go back to about that time. The obviously advanced astronomical knowledge must have come from somewhere, but is it an ancient bequest or a modern graft? "Nowhere in his 295 page book does Temple offer one specific statement from the Dogon to substantiate his ancient astronauts claim." 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. Moon is traveling through Cancer today. Furthermore, there had been a var d=new Date();var n=d.toLocaleDateString();var t=d.toLocaleTimeString(); document.write(n + "
" + t); Want to know your future? The Dogon. Temple's theory is heavily based on his interpretation of the work of ethnographers Marcel Griaule and Germaine 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. In reply Temple produces evidence for the great antiquity of the Sirius cult. of Griaule informants, had ever heard or understood that Sirius was a When I set him a draft of a sharply critical review written for Astronomy magazine, he replied with a blistering counterattack in a letter to my editor: "A virulent attack against my honesty, integrity, and intelligence," he called my review. 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. WebDogon and the Sirius Mystery. Y%gbsPFur[%X7Sz Investigating
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