Archaeological Metrology: The Spirit Of Light Cubit In Ancient Sacral Architecture

By Donald B Carroll 

Has the source of Plato’s tale of a lost Atlantis been found?

This book is a journey of discovery of an ancient lost civilization that is more than 12,000 years old provided through solid archeological standards and evidence.  The archeological evidence further provides indications that its global reach was not for domination that is unfortunately too common in the rise of civilizations but instead for illumination and common unity of worldwide cultures.  The archeological evidence that provides this firm confirmation of a global ancient civilization with a purpose of sharing both its science and spiritual philosophy is through a culturally distributed unit of measurement of 27.5 inches (70cm); in the ancient Egyptian record it is called a nebiu (nbj: to yoke together) or an aakhu meh (Spirit of Light measure).

The evidence of this civilization is provided through the neglected branch of archeology called ancient metrology; the study of cultures weights and measures. Ancient metrology is an area of study that does not receive the deserved attention of most other archeologists or the general public. In general archeologists themselves are literally and figuratively buried in their own specific area of study, be it Maya cultures, Ancestral Puebloan or Egyptology as examples, not only digging for history but digging for funding and ending up in “silos” of their field of expertise.  Ancient metrology studies, for the public, do not receive 24 pt. font size press headlines such as Howard Carter discovering “Wonderful Things” in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, nor do they become blockbuster movies of dashing swashbuckling archeologist s traveling the world to find battle foes for sacred lost relics. So, studies of ancient measurements languish hidden in mountains of archeological papers or museum examples walked by, unseen, caused by the draw glittering and eye-catching relics needed to draw the public.

27.5-inch Egyptian measuring rod MMNY

Yet, the actual incredible discovery of wonderful things and a true global adventure beyond any movie is to be found in multiple civilizations sharing a common measurement and measurement system in far ancient times. To place this in archeological terms is a quote from a recent paper about the importance of ancient metrology:

“As early as Sir William Petrie (1879), archeologists argued that metrology could provide valuable cross-cultural data and show historical relationships, but metrology studies tend to be infrequent and limited in scope. They haven’t been placed within general anthropological framework, which is unfortunate given that metrology impacts and reflects a culture’s cosmological, economic, and technological structure.  (Vanpool, Todd & Royall, Travis & Vanpool, Christine. (2013). Archaeological Metrology: A Case Study from Paquime.)

They clearly point out the importance and the challenges of such studies, especially noting the cross cultural and historic relationships it provides for multi-civilization contact and communications, not only for technological sharing, i.e., for constructing sacred sites, but also for cosmological beliefs sharing.  Perhaps it is not so much that such studies would provide evidence of contact through the architecture of multiple cultures sacred sites, but it would also provide evidence of a shared cosmological, spiritual philosophy belief system across oceans and continents for a common transcendent purpose. How cultural measurement and measurements systems were used by ancient societies to unite their scientific advancements such as architecture and astronomy with their spiritual beliefs.

The importance of ancient societies uniting their science and spiritual beliefs at their sacred sites, their axis mundi’s, where heaven and earth were brought together, should not be understated; as multiple archeologists point out:

Measurement systems have provided the structure for addressing key concerns of cosmological belief systems, as well as the means for articulating relationships between human form, human action, and the world – and new understanding of relationships between events in the terrestrial world and beyond.” (Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew, The Archeology of Measurement 2010)

From the stones of Stonehenge to the alignments and calendars of Mesoamerica, measurement stands at the dawn of cosmology. The term ‘cosmology’ is used here not just in the sense of explanation of the celestial, but in the sense of conception of the universe – the set of beliefs about the world, material and immaterial, and the rules through which interaction can occur.   (Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew, The Archeology of Measurement 2010)

Architecture is the place where the ethereal and non-material qualities of the cosmos were interpreted by the ancient architects and emphasized in material form. (The Archaeology of Albert Porter Pueblo (Site 5MT123): Excavations at a Great House Community Center in Southwestern Colorado. Edited by Susan C. Ryan. 2015, p.84.)

The unit of measure presented in this book meets all the criteria cited by archeologists in the building construction and architectural sciences of diverse cultural sacred sites and the symbolic and spiritual meanings that are infused in the use of such a measure.

Specifically, this measurement affords not only evidence of a Mesolithic, pre-Neolithic civilization spanning at least four continents and an ocean, it shows the evidence of this measurement's origins and symbolic meaning at sacred sites providing evidence it not only measured space and time, such as seasonal solar and stellar events, it also brought together heaven and earth in spiritual symbolism at such sites around the world.

Now, prior to continuing further in this journey, briefly delivered here are examples of this ancient unit of measurement (27½ inches/70 cm) from ancient cultures:

–Egyptian unit: Nebiu (NB) – 27.5 inches (70 cm) … Possibly linked to aakhu meh unit and Great Pyramid; note the aakhu meh (transliterated as Spirit/Light cubit) is recorded in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but this research has yet to reveal any further information on it, other than its name.

–Paquime (Mogollon: Ancestral Puebloans) culture (Mexico-Arizona-New Mexico) – 27.5 inches (70 cm) = 1 nebiu

–Mayan Cubit: Zapal – 55 inches (142 cm) … exampled in the Kukulkan Pyramid of Chichen Itza= 2 nebiu

-Stonehenge: megalithic rod: (100 megalithic inches, 2.5 Megalithic Yard = 81.6 inches {207.3 cm}) = 3 nebiu 82.5 inches (210 cm)

-Indus Valley: the Harappans used an “Indus foot” of 34.55 cm and a “double foot” of 69.11 cm. These results are equivalent to the length of the spirit light cubit and its half.

(Sites using shared measurement system)

Authors note; since the writing of this book further research at the 12,000-year-old sites megalithic of Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe in Turkey by Professor Klaus Schmidt and Professor Necmi Karul respectively, have noted entryways into structures measuring 27.5 inches.

At all these sites this specific measure or a similar measurement system has been documented; by archeological standards thus finding this mutually used measure or measurement system has these significant ramifications:

“Among the various tests of the mental capacity of man one of the most important, ranking in modern life on an equality of with language is the appreciation of quantity, or notions of measurement and geometry. (Flinders Petrie. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VIII. London 1879: p.107.)

The study of ancient measures used in a country is a basis of discovering the movements of civilization between countries.”  Sir Flinders Petrie. (Flinders Petrie. Measures and Weights. London: Methuen & Company Ltd. 1934, p.1)

 …Thus the possession of the same unit of measurement by different people implies either that it belonged to their common ancestors or else that a very powerful commercial intercourse has existed between them.”  (Flinders Petrie. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VIII. London 1879.)

Cultures sharing similar measurement systems likely had some form of contact. Should such a measurement be located in architectural remains, and appear in halves or doubles, then the probability that this measure reflects a real historical unit of measure increases. (Flinders Petrie. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VIII. London 1879: p.107.)

As can been seen, to this point this unit of measurement found unambiguously being used in cultures spanning vast distances or in other cultures measurement system in their architecture provides powerful evidence of these cultures sharing common ancestors and/or having contact and communication.  By these standards, prima facie evidence for a lost global civilization has been laid out. The ramifications of this evidence to our understanding of the much more ancient world and its cultures are staggering.

Addressed to this point are the straightforward archeological standards of the science of ancient metrology providing the framework in various cultures architectural design and engineering of sacred sites which are measurements and measurement systems. Besides strictly measurements these archaeological standards further include the aspect that such sites architecture are the places “where the ethereal and non-material qualities of the cosmos were interpreted by the ancient architects and emphasized in material form.”  Sites that were an intimate part of their cosmological belief system; “The term ‘cosmology’ is used here not just in the sense of explanation of the celestial, but in the sense of conception of the universe – the set of beliefs about the world, material and immaterial, and the rules through which interaction can occur. “This additional aspect will now be addressed and show the utter elegance this unit of measurement represented in all these cultures building together their concepts of time and space; heaven and earth.

To do so it is important to ask; from where units of ancient measurements were derived. The answer is forthright: body proportions. Think of the ubiquitous term used in the study of ancient metrology, the cubit. The cubit is a catchall term used for multiple units of measurements from multiple civilizations. Cubit is Latin for elbow and is a term used, in umbrella fashion, to categorize measurements approximately the length from elbow to fingertip, though these lengths range from anywhere around fifteen inches to twenty-eight inches. It is believed that almost all ancient linear measurements resulted from body proportions. This concept is exampled in Da Vinci’s “The Vitruvian Man,” ink and paper drawing.

 (DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man with units of measure image)

This is DaVinci’s homage to the Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius, who wrote in volume III of his work on art and architecture:

The design of Temples depends on symmetry… Hence no building can be said to be well designed which wants symmetry and proportion. In truth they are as necessary to the beauty of a building as to that of a well-formed human figure…If Nature, therefore, has made the human body so that the different members of it are measures of the whole, so the ancients have, with great propriety, determined that in all perfect works, each part should be some aliquot (Author note: aliquot means a portion of the larger whole: I had to look it up) part of the whole; and since they direct, that this be observed in all works, it must be most strictly attended to in temples of the gods…( Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. de Architectura, Book III, Ch.1.)

Vitruvius is basically stating that sacred structures should use body proportions in their design and construction. Since the human body was divinely designed, these are the best proportions and measurements to design a sacred site, to create an axis mundi; a place where Heaven and Earth come together.

The linchpin at the heart of these sacred structures, these “cosmic engines” uniting Heaven and Earth, is the unit of measurement of 27.5 inches (70 cm). This unit of measurement seems to have its origins in ancient Egypt, with the presented compelling evidence that this unit of measurement or multiples of it was also used by other cultures on multiple continents, and so it presents itself as an ancient international unit of measurement commensurate to the modern international unit of measure, the meter.

Body proportions were codified into specific measures, such as the foot, the hand, still used to measure horse, and the yard. So, from what proportions could 27.5 inches (70 cm) be codified from? Posited here is that this measurement comes from the length of the spine, with initial evidence from research in the medical textbook Gray’s Anatomy (1918) that shows the average length of the human spine (male) is 27.9 inches (71 cm)—statistically valid to a measurement unit of 27.5 inches. In answer to the reader’s thought, yes, there were many people of such height through ancient times. Some will debate that 27½ inches is close to the average step length and hence then where this measurement came from. What will be shared is clear and compelling evidence that this is not the case for multiple reasons. For now, let it suffice, using Vitruvius’ recommendations of using body proportions since the body was divinely created, that a step length is not a body proportion. Further, there is an intrinsic elegance in representing the spine in sacred sites as the physical avenue of consciousness.

Harkening back to Egypt, a measuring rod of 27.5 inches (70 cm) was discovered at the pyramids of Lisht and is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of New York (see prior image); Egyptologists link the pyramids of Lisht to the pyramids on the Giza Plateau through portions of the Giza complex being incorporated into Lisht to infuse them with the spiritual energy of the Giza complex. The Giza Plateau was dedicated to the Egyptian deity Osiris, whose symbol was the “Djed” hieroglyph, meaning “Osiris’s spine.” The ancient Egyptians even had a specific ceremony rite of “Raising the Djed.” This Egyptian ceremony can be compared to the Hindu practice of “raising the Kundalini” (coiled serpent).

The recognition of the importance of the spine both physically and spiritually was not confined to the ancient philosophies of the Far East i.e., the Kundalini a coiled serpent of energy residing in the base of the spine to be risen up through meditative practices to reach enlightenment and Egypt’s raising Osiris’s spine... Its significance was acknowledged in the cultures of the New World also. Unmistakably this can be seen in the Hopi, Native American traditions. The Hopis are the descendants of the Ancient Puebloans, whose culture is considered to have spanned the Southwest area of what is now the United States: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico with links to the cultures of Mesoamerica. One of the major beautiful and significant centers of the Ancient Puebloans is in Chaco Canyon located in northern New Mexico. Archeology research has confirmed that the Ancient Puebloans had trade and communications with Mesoamerica with the discovery of macaw feathers and remains of cacao traced back to Mexico.

The Hopi, descendants of the Ancient Puebloans, in their customs understood the importance of the spine both for their physical world and spiritual journey. This is recounted by Frank Waters:

The First People then understood the mystery of their parenthood. In their pristine wisdom they also understood their own structure and functions—the nature of man himself.

The living of man and the living body of earth were constructed in same way. Through each ran an axis, man’s axis being the backbone, the vertebral column… Along this axis were several vibratory centers which echoed the primordial sound of life throughout the universe… (Frank Waters. Book of the Hopi. Penguin Books (June 30, 1977) p.9-10.)

…Palongawhoya (sacred twin), traveling throughout the earth, sounded out his call as he was bidden. All the vibratory centers along the earth’s axis from pole to pole responded to his call; the whole earth trembled: the universe quivered in tune. (Frank Waters. Book of the Hopi. Penguin Books June 30, 1977 p.4.)

It is abundantly evident the descendants of the Ancient Puebloan understood the symbolism of the human spine for uniting Heaven and Earth along with time and space.

The use and representation of the spine in the design construction and reason of sacred sites bespeaks of the elegance of purpose; to connect and commune with the Divine with the assistance of temple-structures designed for just such a consciousness-raising purpose. The Eastern traditions present this in a more straightforward fashion in attaining such a goal; through meditation and raising the Kundalini (coiled serpent), the spiritual energy, toward an awakening and spiritual transformation into higher consciousness. This occurs by raising this energy through the physical avenue from the base of the spine through the spinal canal to the brain. This concept and purpose of meditations is not the venue of the Eastern traditions alone; they were only the most direct in describing it. This purpose and the act of meditation are also in Western traditions, called by many appellations: contemplative prayer, Lectio Divina, and studying under the fig tree, to cite some examples. (See Cistercian monks, St. Bernard, St. Malachi, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, mystic Judaism, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Keating, Aldous Huxley.) Meditation is being used today by businesses and corporations to assist their employees, only the practice has had stripped away any metaphysical connotations and is labeled “mindfulness,” In any case its original purpose was to commune with the Divine and bring Heaven and Earth together within oneself.

What can also be found in these ancient cultures and almost all ancient cultures around the world is serpent symbolism with such symbolism and effigies being traced back as far as 70,000 BCE in Botswana.  In almost all cases the serpent is seen as positive symbolism; winged or upright serpent symbols of the Egyptians where serpent symbolism incredibly prolific, the Ancestral Puebloans, the Maya, the Aztecs, the Greeks and even now being uncovered in Gobelki Tepe to cite some examples. It is almost always the upright, winged representations that are symbolic of the “raised energy” along with warnings of improper handling of such “serpents” can be dangerous. It seems to be in Christianity that the symbolism of the serpent has been misconstrued as negative.  The word misconstrued is used due to the fact of multiple examples of positive serpent symbolism in the Bible. Some positive Biblical examples are; Moses staff being turned into a serpent by God as proof he is God’s representative, Aaron’s staff turning into a serpent and swallowing the serpent-staffs of the Egyptian priest, Jesus stating that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up and one more biblical point the Hebrew word “seraph”, one may recognize as an order of angel, is a synonym for serpent.

As the Greek caduceus the symbolism of the spine and serpent are intertwined, so are the symbols of the spine and the serpent in cultures around the world are intertwined.  The following image makes it clearly visible how such joined symbolism would easily occur.

(Spine and serpent image)

So, this brief synopsis of the book ends and the conclusion is brought forth; that there is compelling archeological evidence of an ancient international unit of measurement of 27.5 inches representative of a globally linked civilization.  A unit of measure so elegantly crafted it incorporated time and space along with heaven and earth as one at their sacred sites. An ancient lost civilization reaching out globally not to dominate, but to illuminate. This evidence is found throughout archeological sites around the world still having the faint echoes of their ancestor’s architectural science and symbolism.

As a postscript to this actual exciting global journey a comparison was made to the public captivating adventure movie version fictional archeologist, “Indiana Jones”. In doing so one has to wonder if life does imitate art. Ironically “Indiana” hated serpents and in “The Raiders of the Lost Ark” how he found the site of the lost ark (the Ark of the Covenant representing the presence of God on earth) was by using a measuring rod of 82.5 inches (the script was checked). A measuring rod of 82.5 inches equals three 27.5-inch units of measure.  

 

 

 

 

Gōbekli Tepe: The Symbolism of the Serpent and the Fox-Revisited

By Donald B. Carroll

In my recent article; Gobekli Tepe: The symbolism of the Fox and the Serpent, the evidence was presented for the hypothesis that the fox and serpent carvings found at Gobekli Tepe were indications symbolically representing the night sky star asterism of the Summer Triangle as the head of the serpent with the Milky Way spanning the night sky representative of the serpent's body.  Also included was the fox constellation, Vulpecula, located by this serpent's head, basically in its mouth.

This hypothesis was predicated on the alignment of the pillars at the site that are considered to show the importance of the star Deneb (one of the stars of the Summer Triangle) along with the clear significance and abundance (more than any other animal) of serpent carvings at Gobekli Tepe, yet no serpent remains have been uncovered.  Whereas approximately 1,000 fox remains have been discovered and fox carvings at the site are the only animal shown dead (as loin pelts) or captured (held in pillar arms). These representations and the site’s stellar alignment towards a conceivable representation of a “serpent of light” with a fox at its head (mouth) lead me to the hypothesis.  Please review the prior cited article for its greater detail.

Having the recent opportunity to visit and explore Turkey on an Ancient Origins tour I had the occasion to be “boots on the ground” at Gobekli Tepe for a greater sense of this incredible site and my research.  The following day we headed off to Karahan Tepe, one of the sister sites to Gobekli Tepe, some 40 kilometers to the southeast. This is a site that would un-expectantly provide strong evidence of the postulation for the significance of the stellar serpent of light for these ancient builders.

Karahan Tepe: personal photo

Karahan Tepe is a site that is more recently being archeologically excavated and is already revealing amazing discoveries and may be even 1,000 years older than Gobekli Tepe. There, 60 T-pillars have been uncovered and estimations presently show at least the existence of 250 T-Pillars. Archeologists have, so far, excavated a “main hall” (structure AD) 23 meters across that is connected to structure AB though a 27.5-inch portal entrance. This structure AB could be called a “hypogeum ritual room” with a large human-type head protruding from the top of its wall overseeing 11 pillars; one pillar that could be considered, symbolically, an upright serpent. This “ritual hall then connects to structure AA.

Karahan Tepe; structure AB; personal photo

It is by structure AA where there is a marvelous carving of a serpent that is meters long with a fox figure at its head. This carving accurately depicts my postulation of the significance for a night sky serpent created from the Milky Way as its body with the Summer Triangle as its north facing head and the Vulpecula (Fox) constellation at the serpent's head (mouth).  It is strong validating evidence for the hypotheses that these ancient builders found such a stellar portrayal important in their spiritual philosophy.

 

personal photos

Even though groups of stars and constellations created thousands of years later then these ancient builders are used to describe their possible views; the night sky has been the canvas for symbolism of the human consciousness and imagination since time immemorial with some depiction seeming to be archetypal, spanning diverse cultures.  One example of this is the Milky Way representing a river of light or a serpent of light. Even the Summer Triangle asterism has been considered depicted in the 20,000-year-old cave paintings at Lascaux, France. 

This all leads, in a gestalt-like fashion towards a confirmation that these ancient megalithic builders were imagining this serpent of light in the sky and its significance was important enough for them to represent it at their apparent sacred sites. Time will tell its validation as further excavations continue led by Professor Necmi Karul.

 

 

Twin Flames

When we follow the spiritual path the universe is always ready to grant more gifts than any would ever expect or deserve including our twin flames. The universal consciousness gifts us to educate and evolving us towards the destiny of Oneness; to immanentize the eschaton. How generous our universe is.

The sun pales to the light of twin flames even while they are bounded in mortal coils; such light unbounds us. A spiritual Summer Solstice meeting one’s Winter solstice; one’s light receding and the other grows, One in an eternal cycle of wholeness meeting and standing still, yet infinite and unbounded, bathed together by the Empyrean.

A spiritual flame that is embodied with a voice that could calm the most raging seas and does soothe a turbulent soul; having a grace and movement that is of life itself.

Twin flames: entangled in the quantum never to be separated by the illusion of distance or time remembering the being that brings unity, wholeness, agape, into knowing. Their slightest touch awakens wakens one from the sleep walking of Maya.

The universe makes this gift available in the utmost wrapping with the wholeness of Divine Ground; bursting the heart in one world so it can expand with the Empyrean their emanation share.

Together the Twin flames are unrivaled, unled, unbound, and being a small infinite point in peace; simply whole. Flames may fade but their light is infinite going on forever as One.

public domain

 

Gobekli Tepe: The First Temple b Donald B. Carroll

 The Serpent and the fox symbolism: above in the heavens and below on the earth. 

Gobekli Tepe; that incredible ancient megalithic sacred site from an era of at least 12,000 years ago located in modern day Turkey; the site is called by many the world’s first temple and the cradle of the gods.    The archeological excavation and research of it has barely scratched the surface, but what it is revealing about early cultures and civilizations is both tantalizing and incredible. At this point 4 megalithic stone circles (denoted as A, B, C, and D) are in the process of being excavated and analyzed along with two additional sites denoted as E and F. For the purposes of this article the focus will be on the megalithic stone circle, A, B, C, and D. 

Recent published research has identified purposeful created triangle geometry between the stone circles, B, C, and D.

“Their study of the three oldest stone enclosures at Göbekli Tepe has revealed a hidden geometric pattern, specifically an equilateral triangle, underlying the entire architectural plan of these structures”.

(https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-archaeologists-find-hidden-pattern-at-gobekli-tepe-1.8799837) 

Gobekli Tepe Triangular Pattern

When this research was made available, I posted an article in reference to my recent book.  In my book I had hypothesized: “I believe this triangle is a key aspect in Gobekli Tepe heavenly symbolism (author bolding) and for many such sites. (The Spirit of Light Cubit; The Measure of Humanity and Spirit by Donald B Carroll (Ch.6 pp.176-177) 

This discovery aided in validating my postulation on the importance of the symbolism of the triangle at Gobekli Tepe. Triangle symbolism has a long history in many ancient cultures.  Further, I had continued that this triangle symbolism was connected or yoked to the heavens and stars above. This connection was specifically identified today as the stellar asterism known as the “Summer Triangle” consisting of the stars; Deneb, Vega, and Altair. Multiple other researchers have agreed upon the alignments of these stone circles towards the star Deneb, and I concur with their postulations as Deneb, in the era of Gobekli Tepe, would have been a circumpolar star and these stone circles have been identified as having North-South alignment. Circumpolar stars, stars that never set, considered eternal stars have always been important in cultures.  

My research takes this agreed upon alignment with Deneb one step further to expand this stellar alignment to encompass the stellar asterism previously noted: the Summer Triangle. I am not the first to note the ancient observations of this Summer Triangle in Neolithic and Pre-Neolithic times.   The significance of an observation of the circumpolar stars of the Summer Triangle by the earliest societies has also been identified by Dr. Michael Rappengluck, an archeoastronomer, and confirmed by his peers, in the symbolic cave paintings of Lascaux circa 16,500 BCE, about 4,000 years before Gobekli Tepe.   It is with all this evidence I postulate, along with the current evidence presently provided about Gobekli Tepe that it was the Summer Triangle; being circumpolar stars provide the greater significance.

Before I go further, I would remind readers that many ancient megalithic sites around the world were created as spiritual symbolic sites, as Axis Mundis; places that connected heaven and earth. Researchers have already considered Gobekli Tepe to be, in part, a heavenly observatory.  Such sites are cultural axis mundis, and their symbolism and use accentuates the concept of uniting Heaven and Earth at these sites.  To quote Dr. Susan Ryan, Crow Canyon's director of archaeology referencing Ancestral Puebloan sites: “Architecture is the place where the ethereal and nonmaterial qualities of the cosmos were interpreted by ancient architects and emphasized in material form. Architecture communicates culturally prescribed, and accepted, information to the observer about Pueblo cosmology.”  (The Archaeology of Albert Porter Pueblo (Site 5MT123): Excavations at a Great House Community Center in Southwestern Colorado; Edited by Susan C. Ryan. 2015, p.84.) This observation can be applied to all such sites. As noted before all these sites were designed not only as physical structures to observe the skies, they we also designed symbolically to link the society’s cultural spirituality, bringing heaven and earth together. From time immemorial societies have connected their lore and spiritual philosophy in the great canvas of the heavens.

At Gobekli Tepe, as a starting point, I go back to the significance of the alignment to Deneb, thus the greater stellar palette of the summer triangle and its reflection in the triangular geometric design connecting enclosures B, C, and D. I propose that these enclosures and their underlying triangle geometry represent symbolically the tip of a serpent head with its body being the Milky Way.  The Milky Way has a long ancient history as symbolic representing a serpent. (See following Image)

Author’s CyberSky 5 planetarium program set at Turkey 12/21/10500 BC

As seen in the planetarium image provided the triangular spent head (the Summer Triangle, including Deneb) is located at the Northern point of the sky, slightly East of due North (The yellow outlined triangle). Then from this serpent head going the entire length of the sky is the Milky Way, the serpent’s body.  It has already been demonstrated that Gobekli Tepe enclosures B, C and D have a North-South alignment and their design geometry is that of a triangle, so the comparison remains on firm ground or sky, as the case may be.

The next step towards validating this Hypothesis is to confirm that Gobekli Tepe has significant serpent symbolism at the site.  The answer to that is a resounding yes!

“Snakes are the most prevalent motif at GT (Author’s bolding), although none appear on pillar 18 itself” (p. 242).

According to Peters & Schmidt (2004), “While the snake/serpent is the most popular motif by far, no snake animal remains have been found. (Author’s bolding) This contrasts with all the other animal symbols for which copious animal remains have been found. In fact, the most prevalent animal motifs are, in order (snake, fox, boar, crane, and aurochs). In terms of animal remains we have, in order (gazelle, aurochs, wild ass, mouflon, fox, and boar). Even fish remains have been found, but not a single snake. (Author’s bolding) This singles out the snake symbol as potentially having a different meaning to the other animals. Given the many threatening postures assumed by snake motifs at Gobekli Tepe, the relationship snake/serpent = death and destruction is viable, but far from certain. Comets are certainly dangerous and destructive. Moreover, the serpent motif is a good symbolic representation of a meteor track.” (Sweatman, M. B. and Tsikritsis, D. (2017). Decoding Göbekli Tepe with archaeoastronomy: What does the fox say? Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 17(1), 233-250.)

As pointed by Sweatman and Tsikritis serpents are the most prevalent by far and though many remains of the animals depicted have been discovered at Gobekli Tepe, including fish remains, however no remains of serpents have been found.  I believe this an important and significant evidence of the sacred esteem serpents were held in at this site.  Whereas Sweatman and Tsikritis point out as having a potentially different meaning at Gobekli Tepe, it is one of death and destruction possibly and may symbolize a comet or meteors. I put forth a different interpretation here of serpent symbolism, one that is more positive and corroborated in ancient cultures throughout the world and acting also as symbols of connecting heaven and earth together. A brief synopsis of such symbolism would be ancient Egypt’s Nehebukau deity, uniting the Ka and Ba, the double headed serpent bar of the Maya, linking them with the cosmic deities and the Far Eastern concept of raising the kundalini (coiled serpent). (For greater detail, history of serpent symbolism see; The Spirit of Light Cubit: The Measure of Humanity and Spirit (Outskirts Press, May 2020).

Other researchers of Gobekli Tepe have included four hypotheses as for the serpent being the most depicted animal at Gobekli Tepe.

“The animal most frequently depicted is the snake, most likely the Macrovipera lebetina. Four hypotheses for the meaning of the snake imagery have been previously suggested: As a representation of the penis; as a death related symbology; as supporting a narrative with the goal of building loyalty; and as associated with the “journeys” of a shaman. Each of these are considered against the actual snake depictions and actual snake behavior. Ethological data would seem to best align with the snake as a death related symbol, although that use itself could also facilitate loyalty or be associated with shamanistic activities.” (Henley, Tracy & Lyman-Henley, Lani. (2019). The Snakes of Göbekli Tepe: An Ethological Consideration. Neo-Lithics. 19. 16-19.)

Though Henley and Henley include the possibility the depictions of serpents to be associated with the journeys of shamans, they also see it as a death related symbol.  As noted earlier and explained my interpretation of the serpent symbolism is much more positive with examples from societies around the world. 

I advance with the fact that the only remains not found are of serpents is evidence of the high esteem and sacredness serpents were afforded. As an example of this perspective, I provide an image of a limestone carved sculpture of a human head with a serpent on it. This was found at another archeological site near and related to Gobekli Tepe called Nevali Cori and dated to approximately 8500 BC.

 

By Dosseman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116257236

I think it is clear in this sculpture; this is not a threatening serpent. I see a clear representation of the spiritual “serpent energy” rising up to the crown of the head; symbolizing reaching higher consciousness. It is a depiction of bringing Heaven and Earth together in one’s consciousness. If you look closely at the carved serpent of this Nevali Cori head, you notice the serpent head is triangular and two sides of the triangle are accented, highlighting the “V” of the triangle. Below is a statue from ancient Egypt with a similar serpent style on its head which aids in the suggested context.

Closeup of Henu statue serpent. MMNY (Author’s image)

Egyptian Henu statue. MMNY (Author’s image)

You can find this statue in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Dated to 350 BC in Egypt, it is a Henu ritual figure and in “probably the final pose in a ritual dance of praise and jubilation called the Recitation of the Glorifications.” The MMNY description also states, “...the figure carries a triangular-headed serpent over its forehead; this emblem is found on a restricted number of royal images.”

I want to bring to the reader’s attention that the serpent on the statue’s head, rather than being the expected depiction of a serpent head on the vast majority of Egyptian busts, i.e. The Uraeus cobra: here it is simply triangular/V-shaped. The MMNY notes such triangular head type serpents are limited to royal images. The images of the serpent rising from the forehead (Uraeus)in so many Egyptians images are visibly different. The triangular head serpent is linked to the Egyptian ritual of glorification.

Its goal is the transfiguration of the ka-spirit of a deceased person into a deified state, into being an akh, that is, a transfigured and brilliant spirit of light to live in the Northern stars in eternity. Egyptologist Mark Smith sums up…the aim of securing their elevation to a particular state of existence. Important features of this elevation are the complete restoration of mental and physical faculties and integration with hierarchy of gods and blessed spirits. (Richard J. Reidy. Eternal Egypt: Ancient Rituals for the Modern World. Publisher: iUniverse (January 20, 2010) p.123.)

 “The complete restoration of mental and physical faculties and integration with hierarchy of gods and blessed spirits”; the physical is restored and united with the Divine. This aptly describes uniting Heaven and Earth within oneself. I believe the Nevali Cori head has the same type of symbolism. This is serpent symbolism at its most positive and fits with the prevalence of the serpent symbolism and their apparent revered status at Gobekli Tepe and, as has been shown, around the world; represented with a triangular head.

As to the depictions of animals at Gobekli Tepe it is documented that serpents are the most prevalent, by far.  In the excavations at Gobekli Tepe, to present, the individual count of the most dominant depictions of animals are; 46 serpents, 12 foxes, and 7 boars.  The serpent is depicted almost four times as many as the next animal, the fox.  In a different aspect the excavations the most predominant animal remains included are 7949 gazelles, 2574 aurochs, 1177 wild ass, 971 foxes, 944 capras, and 863 wild boars. (Peters, Joris & Schmidt, Klaus. (2004). Animals in the Symbolic World of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, South-eastern Turkey: A Preliminary Assessment. Anthropozoologica.)

All this evidence both in the skies above Gobekli Tepe and below on the grounds has led me to postulate that the serpent symbolism is a highly significant aspect for the purpose and design of this site; that the serpents were not considered primarily as death and or destruction but of the link between the heavens and earth for the “shamans”.

There is still more evidence for all that I have proposed. It was provided earlier that depictions of serpents were almost four times as widespread as the next depicted animal, the fox.  Yet, at the same time, while no remains of any serpents have been found, almost 1,000 remains of foxes have been excavated; the fox remains being the fourth most animal remains unearthed.  This, in my view, seems to be an unusual discrepancy between these two scales between animal depictions and animal remains, especially with how many researchers have cited that some of the anthropomorphic pillars appear to be wearing fox loin clothes and/or carrying an apparent fox under their arms.  Such presentations appear to give the fox depictions more weight, based on the number of fox remains.

 I pondered this discrepancy for some time and think I have discovered the reason for this. Just as ancient cultures linked their earthbound sacred sites to the heavens; it was in looking back into the skies that gave me the possible answer.

Allow me to provide some “backstory” for my stellar evidence for GT ancient culture and their possible symbolism.  I am well aware that the attempt at interpreting the purpose, symbolism, and consciousness of such an ancient culture with the meager evidence at hand is treading on thin ice and I will tread carefully. Fundamentally, since our early evolving consciousness, human beings seem prone to measuring and identifying ourselves and our place from our daily existence to the cosmic scales in the pattern of the universe. Whether from cave painting, developing jewelry, having burial practices or creating sacred sites with their symbols, with some evidencing archetypal concepts, while others appear emblematic to a specific culture.

In daily life the sun went in a line across the sky, the shadows grew longer in line as the day passed, and the moon and stars followed suit in their own tracks. Events, occurrences, and acts followed one after the other. Yet as such observances continued, time would reveal to us not only linear concepts but nonlinear cyclical events also. The sun would rise and set and come back around, the moon would rise and set and move through phases and come back around, seasons would come and go and return, and stars would do the same, ad infinitum. Perhaps these cyclical events in the heavens beyond our reach versus the linear spatial realities of Earth literally below our feet was the progenitor of a consciousness that incorporated spiritual and metaphysical aspects that went beyond space and time, a perception that was greater than that. Imaginably resolving this apparent dichotomy expanded our consciousness in order to square the circle and bring Heaven and Earth together.

Though there is a clear challenge of interpreting the thought behind such prehistoric sacred sites, it is not extreme to consider that these ancient accomplished engineers, architects and astronomers understood such concepts as past and future being separate from the present, the cyclical movements of the seasons, the sun, the moon, the stars and interpreting them along with metaphysical, shamanistic types of concepts. It is well within the realm of possibility that these ancient prehistoric people’s consciousness was evolved to the point of grasping a thought process of time and space along with more ethereal concepts and symbolism.

It is with this preamble I turn our eyes to the heavens for a possible answer for the serpent and the fox depictions, the found and not found remains, and some symbolism at Gobekli Tepe. This aspect came from the discovery of the Vulpecula (fox) constellation. This is a small and not well-known constellation and is found in the center of the Summer Triangle, the same Summer Triangle presented here as the head of the serpent that spans the entire sky. The fox constellation is literally in the serpent’s mouth. I include the following images of the fox constellation and its position inside the Summer Triangle (The serpent’s mouth)

 

Title: Lacerta, Cygnus, Lyra, Vulpecula and Anser / Sidy. Hall, sculpt. Creator(s): Hall, Sidney, etcher. Date Created/Published: [1825] Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31380681

In this artist’s presentation you can see the fox in the bottom center. The swan: representing Cygnus, dominates the center and Deneb is located in the middle of the swan’s body. To the right of the swan and the fox is the constellation Lyra (a lyre) with the star Vega in its upper right-hand corner.  The constellation Aquila (not shown) with the third star of the triangle, Altair, would be down below towards the center of the fox body.  Drawing one line from Deneb to Vega, then a line from Deneb to Altair and another line from Vega to Altair creates the triangle with the fox bisected by it.

The next image shows the nighttime stars themselves. 

Author’s CyberSky 5 planetarium program set at Turkey 12/21/10500 BC

Though it may be somewhat difficult to identify at the Northern top of this image on the right of the Milky Way is marked Cygnus (Deneb) directly down from Cygnus is Lyra (Vega) and on the left side of the Milky Way, above Sagittarius is Aquila (Altair), the Summer Triangle is, though faint, outlined in red. The Vulpecula (fox) constellation is located partly in the Milky Way on the left side almost in a horizontal line to Lyra. This puts the fox in the mouth of the serpent.

 It needs to be recognized in today’s charts of constellations; Vulpecula is a relatively modern constellation.  Vulpecula was introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in the late 17th century. Today’s constellation generally go no farther back than 4,000 years, still thousands of years after the time of Gobekli Tepe’s construction.  Even with caveat, I would put forth that history shows us that many ancient cultures identified constellations in similar manners and symbolism in an almost archetypal manner. I would ask for the acceptance of what I have postulated here for the sake of its possibility, and I will continue on to present, with the evidence provided by Gobekli Tepe of the elegant answer for the enigma of the serpents and foxes at GT.  It also provides a plausible explanation for the anthropomorphic figures on the pillars wearing a fox pelt on their loin clothes and the fox remains at the site.

To recap what has been presented here has been the North-South alignments of the Gobekli Tepe enclosures at the time when the star Deneb (part of the Summer Triangle) would have been the Pole star. Also presented was the triangular geometric design incorporated into enclosures B, C and D. Included is the researched evidence of the predominance of serpent depictions and the lack of any serpent remains versus the secondary depiction of foxes with such depictions of them being held (captured) or fox's pelts being worn as loin clothes and a large prevalence of fox remains being excavated at GT.

This evidence fits the proposed scenario in the night sky, the great serpent capturing and devouring the fox in the heavens and is a plausible explanation for the evidence so far uncovered at Gobekli Tepe. It also falls in line with serpent symbolism throughout history and many cultures. The serpent is the representative symbol of connecting (yoking) oneself with both heaven and earth and overpowering ones strictly earthly bounds perhaps being represented by defeating the fox.

There is much more detail I could go into with the research I have done but I believe, for the purposes of this article, what has been presented gives sufficient plausibility for my postulations. I understand that will the present limited evidence this can only be presented as a possible hypothesis for some of the purpose of GT, yet there is a straightforward elegance to this hypothesis. 

In an addendum to this hypothesis, it should be noted because of the North-South alignments of these enclosures' researchers have also suggested that there was also an alignment to the constellation Orion which, at this time period, whose upper half would be visible with its belt of three stars at the Southern horizon.  There also has been suggested of a possible alignment to the star Sirius in the Southern sky. In using the CyberSky 5 planetarium program, Sirius appears only to become visible in the era around 9200 BC.  The point of this addendum is that when Sirius becomes visible is in the same possible timeline as the construction of enclosure A.  These similar timelines provide the possibility of further links to the importance to serpent symbolism as Gobekli Tepe.  When Sirius becomes visible at Gobekli Tepe, this event also makes visible the stellar asterism called the Winter Triangle.  The Winter Triangle is created by the stars; Sirius, Procyon and Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse being the shoulder star of Orion.   This occurrence creates across the night sky a triangle of stars (The Summer Triangle) in the Northern sky and a triangle of stars (The Winter Triangle) in the Southern Sky connected (yoked) together in body by the Milky Way. This creates the appearance of a two headed serpent, having a triangular head at each end.

 This becomes significant in different aspects.  First, there is Gobekli Tepe’s enclosure A, also known as the” snake room” for its prolific depictions of serpents. In enclosure A, on Pillar 1 is a side covered with a mesh or net of serpents with two heads, having a head at each end. With enclosure A, from the data, possibly being constructed in the same time period that the 2-headed serpent appears across the night sky, perhaps this is more than a curious coincidence. Another curious validation of the possible archetypal cultural spiritual philosophy thought process is the similar double headed serpent symbolism found in the Ancient Egyptian culture (Nehebukau) and the Maya culture (the double headed serpent bar).   

The new evidence along with the serpent and fox symbolism, architecture geometric design and stellar alignments provide compelling indications for the presented hypothesis that this site was a place of sacred ritual gathering, a place that brought heaven and earth together, an axis mundi, not only in its stellar alignments and serpent symbolism, but in the consciousness of those that came there.  The fact that other cultures are millennia apart (such as the Ancient Egyptians and Maya) raises another plethora of questions of some kind of passed on communication of knowledge or possible global archetypal symbolism. Perhaps the Psychologist Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, has part of the answer in his concept of the collective unconscious:

“The existence of the collective unconscious means that individual consciousness is anything but a tabula rasa and is not immune to predetermining influences. On the contrary, it is in the highest degree influenced by inherited presuppositions, quite apart from the unavoidable influences exerted upon it by the environment. The collective unconscious comprises in itself the psychic life of our ancestors’ right back to the earliest beginnings. (Jung, Collected Works vol. 8 (1960). "The Significance of Constitution and Heredity in Psychology" (1929), 229–230 (p.112) 

As noted in the very beginning of this writing the archeological excavation and research at Gobekli Tepe are in its infancy and even at this early stage these discoveries are already rewriting archeology and the concepts of early humankind and their civilizations. It will be some time before any hypotheses pertaining to this vitally important and magnificent site are confirmed.  We owe a great debt of gratitude to the founder of this site, Dr. Klaus Schmidt, his team, the overall direction of Turkish prehistorian Necmi Karul, and Zeynel Abidin BEYAZGÜL; Mayor of Şanlıurfa Metropolitan Municipality. 

 My many thanks to Alison Ray for editing this article.

 

Here is an excerpt from my book which provides powerful archeological evidence for an ancient lost global civilization more than 12,000 years ago.  A Lost Civilization of Light Workers. This evidence meets archeological standards indicting that there was a civilization that reached across oceans and continents building sacred sites to raise consciousness.

 

Chapter 2: The map from Egypt to around the world and through time

Part of the beginning, for me, was with ancient Egypt. Today Egyptologists estimate that about two-thirds of ancient Egypt is still hidden beneath the sands. In researching the work done over the ages by a large array of explorers and Egyptologists, I felt it was the same case in finding their results; there is so much to all that has been found already and written about. Rather than digging through the sands of time in Egypt, I was digging through the dusty archives on Egypt and ancient measurements, their importance, derivations, and symbolism. I will start with Sir Flinders Petrie, considered the father of modern Egyptology, who brought detailed scientific methods and recording into the field. Sir Petrie states: The study of ancient measures used in a country is a basis of discovering the movements of civilization between countries.

As Sir Petrie lays out the importance of shared measurements as indicators of shared communications and connections between different cultures, Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew, both acknowledged experts in archeology and Fellows of the McDonald Institute for Archeological Research write that measurement systems go further than communication and thought processes to include metaphysical belief systems.

Measurement systems have provided the structure for addressing key concerns of cosmological belief systems, as well as the means for articulating relationships between human form, human action, and the world—and new understanding of relationships between events in the terrestrial world and beyond.ⁱⁱ

Presented between these covers is the evidence of Sir Petrie’s statement; written here is the recognition and demonstration of an ancient unit of measurement from such a civilization with its sharing and movements among multiple peoples across the globe. A measurement whose possible origin symbolizes a multicultural shared spiritual philosophy for a universal journey of humanity toward unity and higher consciousness. Again, the length of this measurement, this “spirit/light” cubit, is 27.5 inches (70 cm).

What is explored in detail and compelling evidence is offered for is a unit of measurement that unites both science and spiritual philosophy, Heaven and Earth, space and time. Such a statement should give one reason to pause, for it is tantamount; it did me, from the ancient civilizations to the modern physics search for the “Theory of Everything” (TOE). In ancient times spirit and science were not approached as separate avenues of the understanding of our existence, the world, and the cosmos, but one united and synergized in an encompassing unity of the physical and metaphysical. The unit of measurement presented meets all these requirements.

Early on I realized it is important to ask; from where units of ancient measurements were derived. The answer is straightforward: body proportions. Think of the ubiquitous term used in the study of ancient metrology, the cubit. The cubit is a catchall term used for multiple units of measurements from multiple civilizations. Cubit is Latin for elbow and is a term used, in umbrella fashion, to categorize measurements approximately the length from elbow to fingertip, though these lengths range from anywhere around fifteen inches to twenty-eight inches. It is believed that almost all ancient linear measurements resulted from body proportions. This concept is exampled in Da Vinci’s “The Vitruvian Man,” an ink and paper drawing.

DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man with units of measure (PD0)

This is DaVinci’s homage to the Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius, who wrote in volume III of his work on art and architecture:

The design of Temples depends on symmetry… Hence no building can be said to be well designed which wants symmetry and proportion. In truth they are as necessary to the beauty of a building as to that of a well-formed human figure…

If Nature, therefore, has made the human body so that the different members of it are measures of the whole, so the ancients have, with great propriety, determined that in all perfect works, each part should be some aliquot (Author note: aliquot means a portion of the larger whole: I had to look it up) part of the whole; and since they direct, that this be observed in all works, it must be most strictly attended to in temples of the gods…ⁱⁱⁱ

Vitruvius is basically stating that sacred structures should use body proportions in their design and construction. Since the human body was divinely designed, these are the best proportions and measurements to design a sacred site, to create an axis mundi; a place where Heaven and Earth come together.

The linchpin at the heart of these sacred structures, these “cosmic engines” uniting Heaven and Earth, is the unit of measurement of 27.5 inches (70 cm). This unit of measurement seems to have its origins in ancient Egypt, yet there is compelling evidence that this unit of measurement or multiples of it was also used by other cultures on multiple continents, and so it presents itself as an ancient international unit of measurement commensurate to the modern international unit of measure, the meter.

Body proportions were codified into specific measures, such as the foot, the hand, or a yard. So from what proportions could 27.5 inches (70 cm) be codified from? Posited here is that this measurement comes from the length of the spine, with initial evidence from research in the medical textbook Gray’s Anatomy (1918) that shows the average length of the human spine (male) is 27.9 inches (71 cm)—statistically valid to a measurement unit of 27.5 inches. In answer to the reader’s thought, yes, there were many people of such height through ancient times. Some will debate that 27½ inches is close to the average step length and hence then where this measurement came from. What will be shared as we continue is clear and compelling evidence that this is not the case for multiple reasons. For now, let it suffice, using Vitruvius’ recommendations of using body proportions since the body was divinely created, that a step length is not a body proportion. Further, there is an intrinsic elegance in representing the spine in sacred sites as the physical avenue of consciousness.

An Egyptian measuring rod of 27.5 inches (70 cm) was discovered at the pyramids of Lisht and is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of New York; Egyptologists link the pyramids of Lisht to the pyramids on the Giza Plateau through portions of the Giza complex being incorporated into Lisht to infuse them with the spiritual energy of the Giza complex. The Giza Plateau was dedicated to the Egyptian deity Osiris, whose symbol was the “Djed” hieroglyph, meaning “Osiris’s spine.” The ancient Egyptians even had a specific ceremony rite of “Raising the Djed.”

The recognition of the importance of the spine both physically and spiritually was not confined to the ancient philosophies of the Far East and Egypt. Its significance was acknowledged in the cultures of the New World also. Unambiguously this can be seen in the Hopi, Native American traditions. The Hopis are the descendants of the Ancient Puebloans, whose culture is considered to have spanned the Southwest area of what is now the United States: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. One of the major beautiful and significant centers of the Ancient Puebloans is in Chaco Canyon located in northern New Mexico. Archeology research has confirmed that the Ancient Puebloans had trade and communications with Mesoamerica with the discovery of macaw feathers and remains of cacao traced back to Mexico.

The Hopi, descendants of the Ancient Puebloans, in their customs understood the importance of the spine both for their physical world and spiritual journey. This is recounted by Frank Waters:

The First People then understood the mystery of their parenthood. In their pristine wisdom they also understood their own structure and functions—the nature of man himself.

The living of man and the living body of earth were constructed in same way. Through each ran an axis, man’s axis being the backbone, the vertebral column… Along this axis were several vibratory centers which echoed the primordial sound of life throughout the universe…^iv

…Palongawhoya (sacred twin), traveling throughout the earth, sounded out his call as he was bidden. All the vibratory centers along the earth’s axis from pole to pole responded to his call; the whole earth trembled: the universe quivered in tune.^v

It is abundantly evident the descendants of the Ancient Puebloan understood the symbolism of the human spine for uniting Heaven and Earth along with time and space.

The use and representation of the spine in the design construction and reason of sacred sites bespeaks of the elegance of purpose; to connect and commune with the Divine with the assistance of temple-structures designed for just such a consciousness-raising purpose. The Eastern traditions present this in a more straightforward fashion in attaining such a goal; through meditation and raising the Kundalini (coiled serpent), the spiritual cosmic energy, toward an awakening and spiritual transformation into higher consciousness. This occurs by raising this energy through the physical avenue from the base of the spine through the spinal canal to the brain. This concept and purpose of meditations is not the venue of the Eastern traditions alone; they were only the most straightforward in describing it. This purpose and the act of meditation is also in Western traditions, called by many appellations: contemplative prayer, Lectio Divina, and studying under the fig tree, to cite some examples. (See Cistercian monks, St. Bernard, St. Malachi, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, mystic Judaism, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Keating, Aldous Huxley.) Meditation is being used today by businesses and corporations to assist their employees, only the practice has had stripped away any metaphysical connotations and is labeled “mindfulness,” In any case its original purpose was to commune with the Divine and bring Heaven and Earth together within oneself.

What is written above has outlined the designs in constructing sacred sites to focus and assist people in connecting to the divine in consciousness, and it should be implicit such sites’ designers and builders understood the totality of the journey, not just in spiritual consciousness, but also in physicality and in time and space. Many such ancient sites are known to be heavenly timepiece engines measuring seasons, solstices, equinoxes, moon phases, and more to great accuracy. Further, ancient time was measured by more than just seasons. Ancient Egypt is credited with creating the 24-hour day and the world’s oldest hourly water clock was discovered in Egypt. These ancient architects and scientists had a clear grasp of time at many levels and linked Heaven and Earth through these sacred sites not only in consciousness but, in this manner, through physical space and time. What the following chapters will show is that ancient civilizations had an even more incredible grasp of time than previously thought. A grasp they incorporated into a much greater sense of cosmic unity.

Prior to continuing further in this journey, allow me to briefly provide some examples of this ancient unit of measurement (27½ inches/70 cm) from ancient cultures that will be detailed later on:

–Egyptian unit: Nebiu (NB) – 27.5 inches (70 cm)… Possibly linked to aakhu meh unit and Great Pyramid; note the aakhu meh (transliterated as Spirit/Light cubit) is recorded in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but this research has yet to reveal any further information on it, other than its name.

–Paquime (Mogollon: Ancestral Puebloans) culture (Mexico-Arizona-New Mexico) – 27.5 inches (70 cm) = 1 nebiu

–Mayan Cubit: Zapal – 55 inches (142 cm)… Kukulkan Pyramid = 2 nebiu

-Stonehenge: megalithic rod: (100 megalithic inches, 2.5 MY = 81.6 inches {207.3 cm}) = 3 nebiu 82.5 inches (210 cm)

–Author research at Aztec Ruins National Monument great kiva. Great kivas at Chaco Canyon and Salmon Ruins kiva and rooms in New Mexico provide significant results using 55 inches (140 cm) = 2 nebiu or a zapal

The Indus Valley (Asia): In this report is an analysis of the Harappan linear unit by R. C. A. Rottlander, starting on page 201, whose effort is to determine this culture’s units of measurement. Rottlander determines the Harappans used an “Indus foot” of 34.55 cm and a “double foot” of 69.11 cm. These results are equivalent to the length of the spirit light cubit and its half. Asia can now be added to Africa, Europe, and North America as the fourth continent on which this unit of measure has been discovered. And so it goes. I am confident more such discoveries will occur.

Sites of using common measurements starred in red

To return to Sir Petrie’s method of examination of communication and sharing between civilizations: In On Metrology and Geometry in Ancient Remains, Petrie contends that measurement systems are an important proxy for divining the capacities of the ancient mind. The more complex the measurement system, he argued, the more complex the mind behind it. Additionally, Petrie established that measurement systems could be used as a method to evaluate connections between ancient cultures in a manner similar to the study of languages.^vi

Cultures sharing similar measurement systems likely had some form of contact. Should such a measurement be located in architectural remains, and appear in halves or doubles, then the probability that this measure reflects a real historical unit of measure increases. ^vii

Sir Petrie in his later writings leaves no doubt of how important and substantial a unit of measurement shared by different cultures is in providing important evidence of an advanced mental capacity and either shared ancestors or strong trading links between such cultures.

Among the various tests of the mental capacity of man one of the most important, ranking in modern life on an equality of with language is the appreciation of quantity, or notions of measurement and geometry. …Thus the possession of the same unit of measurement by different people implies either that it belonged to their common ancestors or else that a very powerful commercial intercourse has existed between them. ^viii

What follows is a detailed examination of this evidence of a shared unit of measurement perhaps not only more important than language and more complex minds in that it also points toward a common effort to unite Heaven and Earth and time and space, with a unitive spiritual philosophy aimed toward higher consciousness among cultures strewn far and wide and the premise that ancient civilizations on at least three different continents had communication with each other farther back in time than is presently considered possible—all of this “hidden” in plain sight.

Scholars Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew understood and expounded on the universal seeking to unite and interact with the physical and the spiritual, the material and immaterial.

From the stones of Stonehenge to the alignments and calendars of Mesoamerica, measurement stands at the dawn of cosmology. The term “cosmology” is used here not just in the sense of explanation of the celestial, but in the sense of conception of the universe—the set of beliefs about the world, material and immaterial, and the rules through which interaction can occur. ^ix

I consider this measure, called by some Egyptologists nb or nebiu, is also identified in ancient Egyptian texts as the “aakhu meh,” which translates as spirit or light measure and that it was communicated to multiple cultures. For the purposes here, I will call it the spirit/light cubit.

I hope this study does for you what it did for me in my searching, delving out into the physical world of sacred sites and in to the spiritual world of higher consciousness, bringing a peace and hope and flow into my life. It is like being cured of color blindness and beginning to see the vibrant hues of the universe.

The Spirit of Light Cubit: The Measure of Humanity and Spirit

 by Donald B. Carroll

References

i Flinders Petrie. Measures and Weights. London: Methuen & Company Ltd. 1934, p.1.

ii The Archeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies. Cambridge University Press. 2010. Edited by Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew. p.1.

iii Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. de Architectura, Book III, Ch.1.

iv Frank Waters. Book of the Hopi. Penguin Books (June 30, 1977) p.9-10.

v Frank Waters. Book of the Hopi. Penguin Books (June 30, 1977) p.4.

vi Flinders Petrie. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VIII. London 1879: p.107.

vii Flinders Petrie. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VIII. London 1879: p.107.

viii Flinders Petrie. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VIII. London 1879.

ix Measure: Towards the construction of our world. The Archeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies. Cambridge University Press 2010. Edited by Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew. p.3.