Saturday, July 23, 2011

Newly Discovered Nigeria Megaliths Confirm Ancient Earth Survey

The substance of this posting was first posted at LexiLine yestserday, among other things pointing out that:

the recently surfaced Nigeria Ikom megaliths are at ca. 6 degrees latitude, i.e. the same ca. 6 degrees of latitude as the megaliths of Bouar, Central African Republic.

THIS IS ANOTHER CONFIRMATION OF MY ANCIENT LAND SURVEY HYPOTHESIS.

As someone who during college days worked in the field for the Nebraska State Surveyors Office, I have some experience in land survey.


Archaeologists, unfortunately, know next to nothing about land survey, and are often incompetent to judge these matters, which has kept them from understanding the megaliths.

In my book, Stars Stones and Scholars, based on the evidence I had collected up to its publication -- evidence I continue to collect -- I allege a land survey of the Earth was performed in ca. 3000 BC by ancient seafarers (who also moved somewhat land inwards along rivers and seas, if needed), and they sighted and sited their "marker stones", the ancient megaliths, by astronomy. Later surveys are also possible, of course, and can not be excluded.

Part of the ancient alleged land survey in ca. 3000 BC includes not only Europe, but also Africa, and in
Stars Stones and Scholars I specifically mention the megaliths of Axum, Gambia, Senegal, and the Central African Republic.

See the maps of Europe and Africa and the ancient land survey at
http://www.megaliths.net/africa.htm.

At the time that I wrote
Stars Stones and Scholars, I was unaware of any megaliths in Nigeria.

I came upon the Nigeria megaliths just a few days ago in seeking to answer a reader's private email question about megalithic radiocarbon dating of the Gambia and Senegal megaliths.

Here are my resulting thoughts on the African megaliths:

Original radiocarbon dating by Nicholas David in 1982 of the Bouar megalithic site in the Central African Republic (ca. 6 degrees latitude) gave inter alia dates of ca. 3140 and 3110 BC (before Christ, plus or minus 90 years), as then reported by Etienne Zangato (for which I am VERY THANKFUL) in Etude du megalithisme en Repubique centrafricaine Nouvelles decouvertes de monumnets a chambre dans le secteur de Ndio, originally found at www.bondy.ird.fr/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_4/sci_hum/10006239.pdf (no longer found at that URL)

Zangato has, however, published another article which is now found at éditions monique mergoil viz.
http://www.editions-monique-mergoil.com/index.html?menu=57509a&bchercher_auteur=113071
as ZANGATO Etienne - Les Occupations néolithiques dans le Nord-Ouest de la République Centrafricaine, (Préf. Ch. Bonnet), 2000, 124 p., 70 fig., 35 tabl.

Here is the abstract of the article, which I have just ordered online (28,00 € plus 6,00 € postage) but have not yet read (from éditions monique mergoil ):

"Following on from the publication in 1999, by the same author, of the results of 12 years of archaeological research in the Bouar region in the north-west of the Central African Republic, this volume comprises an archaeological study of Neolithic sites, both buried and surface. The period is characterized by a lithic industry producing waste flakes and struck tools in quartz and quartz sandstones, predominantly arrow heads, scrapers and other implements. This industry is associated with coiled and decorated ceramics demonstrating a wide range of manufacturing techniques. This material culture remained virtually unchanged between 5100 and 2700 BP, but between 2750 and 2700 BP a number of polished axes and megalithic monuments of a non-funerary nature made their appearance.

The abundance of data and of archaeological structures in the Bouar region, as well as the wide variety of ceramics dating to these phases, makes this volume rich in detailed information about a time when Neolithic societies in Central Africa were moving from a pre-megalithic phase (5090 to 2920 BP) to a megalithic one (2920-2750 BP)."
As one can see, Zangato chooses to call the period in Bouar starting 5090 BP (before the present) as "pre-megalithic". This is an assessment with which I disagree strongly, since there is radiocarbon material at Bouar to indicate that this period was by no means "pre-megalithic" but in fact "megalithic", just as the megalithic culture in Europe in the same era. Of course, megaliths that we see today may ALSO be copies or restorations of older more original stones, or one may be carving later in time on the surface of original "older" stones. It is also conceivable that stones have been moved for one reason or another, as we also find in Europe. However, one can not simply ignore the older radiocarbon dates, otherwise the evidence of the older radiocarbon data is ultimately shoved under the rug over time and lost.

As I have previously written online about the standing stones of Senegal and Gambia at
http://www.megaliths.net/africa.htm ,
"Many of the stones [of Gambia and Senegal] appear to be of more recent origin than the original megaliths in Senegal and Gambia, or they have been moved or restored from original positions."
As written online at the Wikipedia under "Stone circle ":
"Dates and archaeology of European Megalithic stone circles
All experts agree that stone circles are of pre-Christian date, but beyond that stone circles have proven difficult to date accurately. Radiocarbon dating has produced a wide range of dates at different sites. This is at least partly due to an inadequacy of materials suitable for radiocarbon dating that can be reliably obtained from the sites. The diversity of radiocarbon evidence may also suggest that stone circles were constructed over a very long period, or were sometimes reconstructed at later dates. It is often not clear when building started. A further obstacle to dating is that there are generally no other archaeological artifacts associated with the stone circles. 'Traditional' archaeological artifacts, such as pottery shards, bones, etc., are not often found at the sites, and when found are frequently of a later date than the associated stone circle."
A similar case in point are now the recently discovered megaliths of Ikom, Cross River State, in Southern Nigeria (at ca. 6 degrees latitude, as at Bouar). AFP writes (see also Megalithic.co.uk ):
"[T]he first archeologists to study the monoliths in a neighbouring village used carbon dating to put their age at around 2000 years.
More recent studies, [the chief] said, also using carbon dating, have estimated the age of the stones at Alok at 4500 years - that is roughly as old as the Egyptian pyramids....
WMF [World Monuments Fund] says the stones date from 2000 BC, but it is not clear whether the Fund is using a number supplied by the Nigerian government or whether it has dated the stones independently."
It is quite clear to me as someone who has been in the field to survey land, that finding extensive megalithic sites in Africa -- in Nigeria and in the Central African Republic -- at virtually the same latitude is arguably not chance, and that the original megaliths at both sites stem from the same megalithic era, i.e. what I claim to be ca. 3000 BC. That local tribes have continued a megalithic tradition in both regions since that era appears to be obvious, but says nothing about megalithic era origins.

How do the two sites, Ikom and Bouar, now relate in terms of survey to the Senegal and Gambia (Senegambia) megaliths? I am looking into that.

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Cave Paintings Earthworks & Mounds as Land Survey & Astronomy
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