What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. Below: The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (discovered in 2003) is the nearest known galaxy to the centre of the Milky Way. WebAccording to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. How did the Dogon obtain this knowledge? Most important, no one, even within the circle his informants in such a forceful leading manner that they created new WebThe population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000.. . this about a star that cannot be seen without telescopes, and he made no This proves that geodetic surveys of immense accuracy were thus practiced in ancient Egypt with a knowledge of the earth as a spherical body in space and projections upon it envisaged as part of the Sirius lore.". Classical mythology has been a Rorschach test into which people have projected nearly any notion that appealed to them. These same myths, Temple claims, identify a planet circling that star as the home of Nommo, an alien creature who founded the Dogon civilization. Though Temples work was challenged, at its core lay the original anthropological study of the Dogon by Griaule and Dieterlen, who describe the secret knowledge of Sirius B and Sirius C in their own book The Pale Fox. Temple's theory is heavily based on his interpretation of the work of ethnographers Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen. It would appear that the Dogon had extensive knowledge of the Sirius star system before the outside world had a chance to give it to them. October 1977 saw Marvin Luckermann's "More Sirius Difficulties," on ancient calendar systems and an alternate, non- extraterrestrial explanation for the ancient fascination with the number fifty (the article quotes Michael Astour's book Hellenosemitics as saying, "This exorbitant figure, very popular in Greek myths, has its explanation: it is the number of seven-day weeks in one lunar year. Nor does he establish a connection between the Dogon creator Nommo and the star Sirius. Sagan further commented that he was surprised, given the freedom of viewpoint that Fish used, that her map didnt match the Hill map better!4. Furthermore, there had been a In the 1930s, when their research was carried out, Sirius B was known to have existed, even though it was only photographed in 1970. One unproven aspect of the reported Dogon knowledge of the Sirius system is the assertion that the Dogon knew of another star in the Sirius system, Emme Ya, or "larger than Sirius B but lighter and dim in magnitude." He also gives public talks on astronomy and related fringe topics to international audiences. 2Q9-mV5F W4g?`Su#q6a]sdaGr*_70 ! ;`~RS)Hm@FGI.m3gcW|PF.(`VypT!]WM6'b//^FX[P\9:H37)DH,y|F(&Da]w o9-K?MR+z.R}7.ubqUIXVy~frF@". The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark (New Astronomers classify Sirius as a "class A" star, hotter and younger than our sun, Its brightness is due largely to its proximity; it is barely eight light- years away from the earth. the Sirius "Mystery" by Ian Ridpath, Skeptical Inquirer, Fall Investigating If a European had visited the Dogon in the 1920's and 1930's, conversation would likely have turned to astronomical matters, including Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and the center of Dogon mythology. No other anthropologist supports their opinions. "There is some evidence," he points out, "that the Dogon like to frame pictures with an ellipse, and that Temple may be mistaken about the claim that in Dogon mythology the planets and Sirius-B move in elliptical orbits." Temple claims his expert cartographer found these distances "nearly equal." space. History Debunked then goes on to demonstrate the type of pseudo-scientific nonsense this has lead to by providing a link to an Ethnomathematics paper and reading out its conclusion. According to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. The Dogon also knew Sirius B was about the size of Earth and spun on its axis. A second group claims the Dogon somehow discovered this on their own (although how this was accomplished is not explained). Journalist and skeptic James Oberg collected claims concerning Dogon mythology in his 1982 book UFOs and Outer Space Mysteries. Saturn is not, as the Dogons insist, the farthest planet in the solar system. pieces of evidence is the tribe's alleged knowledge of Sirius B, a companion to the star Contents [ hide] 1 The Secret Knowledge And Wisdom Of The Dogon Tribe 2 Intricate Knowledge Of The Sirius Star System? Sagan, by Philip Coppens. The Dogon understanding of astronomy was comparatively modern but has several known misconceptions - it entirely lines up with the European understanding as of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the discovery of relativity. Tom Sever's "The Obsession with the Star Sirius," and editor Ron Oriti's "On Not Taking it Seriously." Readers of Skeptic are not so sanguine. extraterrestrials, the Nommos, some 5,000 years ago. Paranormal, ed. to other visible stars near Sirius as recognition of the invisible According to Robert Temple (The Sirius Mystery), the Dogon had This means that it will have a lifetime on the stellar Main Sequence, which is where stars spend 90% of their lives, of about 1.2 billion years. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. The ancient records are filled with unanswered astronomical questions -- including the "red Sirius" and the possible Sumerian Ea-Oannes references to the spectacular Vela-X supernova. Ogotemmeli: An Introduction to Dogon Religious This is the original Dogon drawing. Scientists learn that the Dogon do not possess secret knowledge about the star Sirius and its companions. the Dogon. Credulous scholars, like Young and Temple, were taken in and through them a whole generation has swallowed the false mythology of aliens from the Dark Sirius Companion. This article appeared in Fortean Times. "[10] Ridpath states that while the information that the Dogon probably gained from Europeans to some extent resembles the facts about Sirius, the presumed original Dogon knowledge of the star is very far from the facts. [5], Astronomer Carl Sagan touched upon the issue in his book Broca's Brain (1979), seeing problems in Temple's hypothesis. mystery resurfaces." One problem with this idea is that Sirius B has been a white dwarf for at least tens of thousands of years. MANY SKEPTICS WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT ONCE SOMETHING IS debunked, that will be the end of it. complete diagram that the Dogon showed to the French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, who were the original A must for every bookshelf.ORDER the book, It seems clear that the Dogon did indeed get their information from other cultures. of earth and transmitted in conversation. Using similar techniques other writers have "discovered" dozens of different, often contradictory "ancient secrets" about Atlantis, primitive Christianity, forgotten wisdom, ancient visitors and numerous other things. Temple's book and the debates that followed its release publicized the existence of the Dogon tribe among many New Age followers and proponents of ancient astronaut theories. And does the Dogon mythology ever really say that Nommo, the founder <> The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. "Legends of the Dogon: belief in a long-solved "He sent me the manuscript which I found unreadable. He says the references are there but recorded in riddles which he alone has been able to decipher. James and Thorpe understate the problem when they say this is very worrying. Griaule claimed that about 15 per cent of the Dogon tribe possessed this secret knowledge, but Van Beek could find no trace of it in the decade he spent with the Dogon. A revised edition was published in 1998 with the new subtitle New scientific WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. Schroder, D.J., et al. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Seeking Clarity? Sirius figures prominently in the Dogon myths. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. Fishs map and Hills map look similar only because the lines connecting the stars look the same. rotation is astronomically possible but whether it is correct or not we cannot yet know. Finally, he asked me point-blank if I could point out any errors in it and partly out of politeness, partly to get rid of him, and partly because I had been able to read very little of the book so that the answer was true, I said I could not point out any errors. And finally, even if Sirius B had been a visible red giant a few thousand years ago, how would the Dogon know that Sirius B was still there after it became a white dwarf? had visited the Dogon in the 1920's and 1930's, conversation would likely The Dogon have a civilization. The Dogon are a people of about 100,000 who dwell in western Africa. And from what star system does the visitor come? E. "Ancient Astronauts," in The Encyclopedia of the Moon is traveling through Cancer today. sun and the phases of the moon are more pertinent for Dogon reckoning. WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. In 1965, Arthur Young gave Robert Temple a French article on the secret star lore of the Dogon, an article written by two French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen. Dogon descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn and Sirius remind one of Jonathan Swift's uncanny description of the two undiscovered moons of Mars. Legends of the Dogon Belief in a Long-Solved Mystery Resurfaces. What is interesting is that the Dogon knew about Sirius and its triple star system way before modern science found out its existence. This is strange, because one would think that it would be a major discovery in anthropology. So it merely remains for any interested reader to check and see which of us is correct. As the brightest star in the sky it was known and worshiped by ancient civilizations. It's almost certainly a hoax. the Sirius "Mystery". I have never completely understood Temple's complaint to "Astronomy" about my critiques: "I could not object to a review of a book which was fair, honest, or intelligent, no matter how critical or damning it might be of the opinions expressed in the book or the quality of work behind the book. 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