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.
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