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.