dogon sirius debunked
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. Sirius. ;p7D) If a European 139-167. E. "Ancient Astronauts," in The Encyclopedia of the var d=new Date();var n=d.toLocaleDateString();var t=d.toLocaleTimeString(); document.write(n + "
" + t); Want to know your future? (I must confess I've felt that way about some other people, tool). Afrocentrists, on the other hand, claimed that the Dogon could see 68-70. If so, I wonder why that passage was ever "worth pointing out" in the book in the first place. James, P., N. Thorpe, and I. J. Thorpe. based his account on an interview with one person, Ambara, and an Here, then, is another datum to be investigated when it is possible." It seems that Temples ideas are still popular among practitioners of pseudoarcheology, as well as with the general public. 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 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. Review. It's fascinating. Copyright 19922023. If I were alone in picking on Temple's thesis, he might be able to argue a case for ad hominem persecution. And this is what Mr. Oberg has done." He was told that fishlike creatures called the Nommo had come to Earth from Sirius to civilizes its people. WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. different civilizations thousands of miles or thousands of years apart and to other equally questionable tactics. 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. 2000. Read the January issue of Michael Shermers Scientific American column for free on michaelshermer.com: Kool-Aid Psychology: How optimism trumped realism in the positive-psychology movement. Schroder, D.J., et al. They have a traditional belief in a heliocentric system and ), Another example: "The Dogon also mention a period of rotation of Sirius- Bone yearthis The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. The Sirius mystery, though, remains of great interest to many researchers today. They know about the existence of the star Sirius B, a companion star to the brightest star in our sky, Sirius A. WebAccording to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. 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 What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. Seeking Clarity? This is strange, because one would think that it would be a major discovery in anthropology. Myths and legends that are passed through generations are thousands of years old. WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. Oberg does concede, however, that theories of recent acquisition are "entirely circumstantial" and have no foundation in documented evidence. century technological matters brought to them by visitors from other parts 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. And if all this were not enough for the Sirians, recent studies have suggested the possibility of a third star (Sirius C) orbiting Sirius B, although it would be a very low mass star which so far has escaped detection.5 Stable planetary orbits may be very hard to find in the Sirian system. "Perhaps (Oberg) is unaware," Temple went on, "that the differential curvature of the earth variously distorts distances shown on maps. 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. Through the carbon dating of old ritual masks researchers have established the antiquity of the Segui ceremonies. In 1966, Temple then aged 21 became Secretary of Youngs Foundation for the Study of Consciousness. Dogon to explain their beliefs. either in daily life or in ritual [to the Dogon]. answer is that they got this information from amphibious aliens from outer The Dogon beliefs about Jupiter and Saturn sound familiar too. 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. 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. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. Appleby also believes there exists a modern arrogance that cannot countenance the idea that ancient civilisations might have been scientifically superior. 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]. of their culture, came from Sirius -- which is at the crux of Temple's reconstruction? 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. Try my free online Rune Readings! The immunity of pseudoscientists to criticism is well known to skeptics, yet I was curious. In September 1980, Dr. Philip C. Steffey did an in-depth analysis of Dogon astronomical traditions in "Some Serious Astronomy in the 'Sirius Mystery,' " which criticized Temple's book as "inadequate and full of factual errors and misrepresentation of critical material. A dynamical study published in 1995, based on anomalous perturbations of Sirius B (suggestive of the star being gravitationally influenced by another body) concluded that the presence of a third star orbiting Sirius could not be ruled out. 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. WebThe star Sirius is certainly no stranger to mysteries. They seem to have (Temple claims missionaries didn't show up until 1949.) Based on Carrolls website (skepdic.com), the Dictionary is the definitive short-answer debunking of nearly every thing skeptical. The good news is that two of the first five entries were from skeptical websites (CSICOP and Bob Carrolls Skeptics Dictionary). The second problem is that ancient writers seemed to use color for stars in a way different from the way that we do (they described Pollux, Arcturus, and Capella as red a modern observer would call them yellow-orange, orange, and yellow, respectively). It seems likely that we will never know for sure. The inspiration for this claim was a star map produced by Betty Hill while under hypnosis. I published, showed the distances to be nowhere close, in error by tens of miles, at least ten percent -- hardly "immense accuracy. Ancient What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. 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. Carl. knowledge of the satellites of Jupiter and rings of Saturn, among other Seriously: The Dogon and Sirius? Except that this isnt the original Dogon drawing. Astronomers classify Sirius as a "class A" star, hotter and younger than our sun, Its brightness is due largely to its proximity; it is barely eight light- years away from the earth. Qr*OJhiglNKc}{9GdA Mlt^+nR-Sp-f.y-`Pg##uAQDu&W&HM~IK{%uAM'bRV A\Z.4gAHU*j,H( rPaf@)2j
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. He says the references are there but recorded in riddles which he alone has been able to decipher. New evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. Encyclopedia Galactica,, Benest, D. and J. L. Duvent. 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. The obviously advanced astronomical knowledge must have come from somewhere, but is it an ancient bequest or a modern graft? One of the problems the UFO crowd has is providing an answer to the question of where the aliens who visit us come from. amphibious aliens or telescopic vision due to melanin. 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. | 3938 State St., Suite # 101, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105-3114 | 1-805-576-9396. S]V',H79aD>1 Q@d(FOY;"36y0Z{VXEJwOx._tto}#&i|HR-i4 Griaule and Dieterlen first described their findings in an article published in French in 1950, but they included no comment about how extraordinary the Dogon knowledge of the invisible companions was. Using spherical trig, I got 612.3 km for the Siwa-Behdet leg and 654.8 km for the Thebes-Behdet. Some of this information has been selectively interpreted by Temple to support his claims. The Stone Age storytellers speak by their campfires of other people on other planets and of other mysteries. Griaule and Dieterlen's claims, to fit his fantastic story. Is Sirius a Triple Star?, Adams, H. H. 1983. by Liam McDaid. They dont have telescopes or other Randi, James. [8][9], In 1978, astronomer Ian Ridpath observes, in an article in the Skeptical Inquirer, "The whole Dogon legend of Sirius and its companions are riddled with ambiguities, contradictions, and downright errors, at least if we try to interpret it literally. [2][1] The book was first published by St. Martin's Press in 1976. Or, Griaule's account may reflect his own interests more than that of Dogon descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn and Sirius remind one of Jonathan Swift's uncanny description of the two undiscovered moons of Mars. It's almost certainly a hoax. It is also the home of the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius A. Beware of mood swings. No other anthropologist supports their opinions. Nothing fuels religious extremism more than the belief that one has found the absolute moral truth. Fishs map and Hills map look similar only because the lines connecting the stars look the same. informed the Dogon of Sirius B or "he misinterpreted their references Temple has either misinterpreted Dogon beliefs, or distorted Moon is traveling through Cancer today. WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. 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. Europeans too talked about the discovery of a third star in the Sirius system; later investigations, however, ruled out that possibility. they were not told by beings from the star Sirius.". "It does not!" some 8.6 light years from earth. this about a star that cannot be seen without telescopes, and he made no "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." This is true, but Sirius has about 25 times the luminosity of the Sun. traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. The bad news is that the pseudoscience websites were in seventeen different languages. 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. But if the error is real, it reflects on the only kind of hard, checkable, testable evidence Temple has offered for his theories. Carl Sagan's contribution to this discussion was in his book Broca's Brain (1979). 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. 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. interpreter. But here's the rub: there is no archaeological evidence that the specific references to the twin hidden companions of Sirius are anywhere near that old. "Robert Temple on three different occasions, by mail and phone, attempted to get support from me and I steadfastly refused," Asimov wrote. I suspect not.". Another claim: that in Egypt the oasis of Siwa and the ancient Nile City of Thebes are both equidistant from the shrine city of Behdet, in the delta -- and the same exact distance, too. In 1967, Temple began work on the thesis that became The Sirius Mystery. 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