Hiawatha: The Holder of the Heavens: Solution to The Great Google Earth Image 34.890653 -83.880198 Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015

The New Year 2015 is soon approaching us and it is now time to publish the solution to The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015 which we began online about a week ago. We hereby declare the year 2015 as "The Year of Hiawatha: The Holder of the Heavens", for so his name is properly attributed when we research Native American sources, as you will see below.

Here is the mystery image found at Google Earth at the GPS coordinates
34.890653 -83.880198. Just plug those coordinates into Google Earth
and you are at the eye of the eagle.

Here is our decipherment of the mystery image found at the GPS coordinates
34.890653 -83.880198:

In the interim, we have published a great deal of material about the ancient petroglyphs of western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, presumably of Cherokee origin -- or their ancestors, wherever situated, which may include the Iroquois, with European influence not excluded because of Haplogroup X.

Our materials show that these ancient sites were geographically placed by using astronomical orientation pursuant to the hermetic principle, "as above, so below". Earth maps were made as mirror images of the heavens above, a simple system of terrestrial orientation that in fact in ancient days had few other sensible methodological alternatives. Travelers used the ready-made map of the heavens in constructing their maps or "tracks" on Earth.

The Cherokees called their locational system "tracks" and, indeed, the solution to the The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015 is that this unexplained giant figure in the landscape not far from Hiawassee marks the stars of Gemini in the Cherokee "track" system, and also shows surrounding star groups as figures, indeed, even to a greater extent than just the mystery image. The Track Rock Gap Boulder number 4 shows Gemini clearly (our decipherment):

The first online hint that we gave for solution of The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015 was from "The Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, known by many of our readers. We had serious reason for giving that hint. In addition to the famed Hiawatha, there is also a Hiawassee, Georgia and various Hiwassees nearby in North Carolina, terms similar to Hiawatha. Is there a connection? Yes, presumably so.

The commonly accepted "folk" etymologies for Hiawatha, Hiawassee and Hiwassee may not be fully correct. Hiawatha allegedly came from the Iroquois  meaning "creator of rivers" and Hiawassee and Hiwassee allegedly from the Cherokee "ayu-hwa-si", meaning "meadow, savannah". The more correct solution may be found via a Wikipedia excerpt for The Song of Hiawatha:

"[A]ccording to ethnographer Horatio Hale (1817–1896), there was a longstanding confusion between the Iroquois leader Hiawatha and the Iroquois deity Aronhiawagon because of "an accidental similarity in the Onondaga dialect between [their names]." The deity, he says, was variously known as Aronhiawagon [Aron-Hiawagon with Hiawagon = Hiawatha], Tearonhiaonagon, Taonhiawagi, or Tahiawagi; the historical Iroquois leader, as Hiawatha, Tayonwatha or Thannawege. Schoolcraft...."

That same writer, Horatio Hale, author of Hiawatha and the Iroquois Confederation: A Study in Anthropology, wrote in a paper read at the Cincinnati Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, August, 1881, under the title, "A LAWGIVER OF THE STONE AGE, Salem, Massachusetts, August, 1881, p. 18 (original London edition), as follows:

"[A]mong the interminable stories with which the common people beguile their winter nights, the traditions of Atotarho and Hiawatha became intermingled with the legends of their mythology. An accidental similarity, in the Onondaga dialect, between the name of Hiawatha and that of one of their ancient divinities, led to a confusion between the two, which has misled some investigators. This deity bears, in the sonorous Mohawk tongue, the name of Aronhiawagon, meaning "the Holder of the Heavens.""

And so there you have it, Hiawassee as a "field" (but also of the sky) and Hiawatha, as a creator (of rivers, "tracks" and more), "as above, so below" ... it is all astronomy.

Indeed, if you look on Google Earth to the right of "The Great Google Earth Image" mystery image, you might just see "the Great Bear" as marking Ursa Major. Do you see the bear?

I rest my case.

Allen Rock Petroglyphs in Habersham County Georgia USA Mark Stars of the Heavens Principally Orion

As deciphered by Andis Kaulins, the petroglyphs on Allen Rock of Habersham County, Georgia, USA, and as pictured online in a photograph by Alan Cressler at https://www.flickr.com/photos/alan_cressler/11559523424/in/photostream/, who otherwise has no connection to our work or research, are part of a previously identified ancient survey ("track") system, and mark stars of the heavens, principally Orion, which was the hermetic location represented by this boulder in this system. Please note that in our decipherment we have turned the rock 90 degrees from Cressler's photo orientation online, which photographs the rock as it is currently found on the ground.

This posting is a follow-up on recent previous postings about the petroglyphs in western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, USA, which are all part of one ancient hermetic system, "as above, so below", orienting locations on Earth by the stars.

In addition to Orion, also represented on this petroglyphic rock seem to be the stars of Canis Minor, Canis Major, Gemini, Auriga, and Taurus, and possibly Puppis and the star Canopus. This boulder would seem to have a unique identity because it is an ancient sky map on a round rock, indicating the ancients had understanding of the "round" and not flat form of the heavens.

The stars identified are marked on Allen Rock by cup marks, also called "cupules", which are hollowed out roundings in the stone made by ancient peoples, the purpose of which even up to our modern time has not been properly understood by the archaeological community. Our decipherments of these cupmarked stones in ancient America should help to remedy the situation.

We remain uncertain about the dating of the petroglyphs on this rock, which initially seemed to indicate a date of ca. 4500 B.C. if we regard some of the markings on the rock to mark the Vernal Equinox, the ecliptic and the celestial equator. But that still remains up for debate, in view of our later thoughts on the matter.

The more or less "horizontal" transverse line crossing through Gemini would appear to be the ecliptic.
The celestial equator would then appear to be the more or less "horizontal" transverse line crossing just above the upper stars of Orion.

This would give a meeting point in Taurus of the two to mark the Vernal Equinox and that would be more like 3000 B.C. or, the date we often use for megalith cultures, ca. 3117 B.C., viz. -3116 by astronomy.

It is of course also entirely possible that different rocks were carved with petroglyphs in different eras since precession moves the position of Equinoxes and Solstices -- which must therefore periodically always be adjusted over longer time spans to stay in sync with the actual seasons.

Accordingly, the more or less vertically marked lines here could speculatively mark a precessional gap, i.e. an intercalation made, or attempted to be made, because of the forward progression of the seasons through the stars.

However, we have been unable to come to any conclusive result, so that the matter remains completely open, not just for this rock, but all the petroglyphic rocks of Georgia and North Carolina. The dating is still very provisional.

Two Petroglyph Boulders of Northeast Georgia USA near Helen are Astronomy Marking Stars of Canis Minor and Major, Orion, and Taurus

The petroglyphs of northeast Georgia, USA are here alleged to be location markers placed by ancient astronomy in the hermetic tradition, "as above, so below". This posting thus follows the related postings that preceded it, here showing how the Hickorynut Track Rock 1 (Boulder 1) of Hickorynut Mountain near Helen, Georgia, principally marks the stars of Canis Major (that identification seems rather certain), and also appears to mark the the stars of Orion (less certain), together with a marker for the Vernal Equinox at time of the making of the petroglyphs, which would appear to go back clear to about ca. 5000 B.C., but this must still be regarded as very speculative, given what I write below about Boulder 2.

In Boulder 1 below, the identification of Canis Minor, Puppis, Taurus, the Hyades and especially the Pleiades is also much less certain than Canis Major or Orion. This "boulder" with its petroglyphs is one of the most beautiful rocks that we have seen out there, so take a look at a photograph by Alan Cressler at https://www.flickr.com/photos/alan_cressler/11618114296/. To see some of the figures better, invert the colors of the rock using a graphics program. Note that the figures thought to be "hands" are actually representations of bright stars either as flames viz. flaming objects or as some kind of flowers. The colored circles and other colored enclosed regions on each graphic below correspond to each other, showing the stars intended.

Alan Cressler has a photograph of the neighboring rock (Boulder 2) which we have deciphered in the interim as showing similar groups of stars as Boulder 1, perhaps having a fertility rite type of character. Moreover, Boulder 2 could date to ca. 2470 B.C. -- a date we assign to the Judaculla Rock sky map as well, so that the 5200 B.C. date for Boulder 1 that we initially suggested above could be in error as a misinterpretation of the baker's peel as an equinox marker.

Here is Boulder 2 (Hickorynut Track Rock 2) deciphered by tracing major lines and cupules:

David Kaufman of the University of Kansas in his document titled Orion, Uaxactun, Izapa, and Creation, writes as follows at
http://www.academia.edu/867672/Orion_Uaxactun_Izapa_and_Creation:

"The Orion constellation is linked with creation and fertility in the mythology and cosmology of both ancient Mesoamerica and North America....  Orion is linked with creation in the mythology and cosmology of the northern Plains.... A similar story ... is told by the Oneidas and other Iroquoian groups in the Northeast."

Petroglyphs of North Carolina and Georgia Mark Stars of the Heavens

Ancient megalithic and petroglyphic sites having an astronomical character are often part of a system of sites.

When it became clear that Judaculla Rock was a sky map of the heavens, then it was likely that it too was part of some "system" of astronomical orientation in ancient days.

Accordingly, I examined the locations of neighboring petroglyphic sites and discovered that these locations were not randomly placed, but correspond to a system of land survey that used stars as the "technical" guide of orientation, i.e. the hermetic principle, "as above, so below". Astronomy was at the basis of ancient "track" system of human geographic location and movement.

See the images below, which show that the petroglyphs of western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia are all part of the same system of astronomical survey.

These markers (or "tracks" in the Cherokee terminology), run from Canis Major on the left to Aquila on the right, which are the farthest extremities on either side of this section of sky at night. This section of the heavens was used greatly in ancient days. That is also approximately the left-to-right or right-to-left section of stars that fronts the Judaculla Rock.

Judaculla Rock Decipherment 1: Upper Left Corner: The Stars of Scorpio and the Line (Colure) of the Equinoxes

Judaculla Rock Decipherment 1: Upper Left Corner: The Stars of Scorpio

The stars of Scorpio are shown here in my clips from Starry Night Pro.

The Judaculla Rock image section together with the cup marks (cupules) is a clip from a drawing of a tracing at the "official" source for the Judaculla Rock --
the National Register of Historic Places - Registration Form, Supplementary Listing Record, NRIS Reference Number: 13000116, Judaculla Rock, Jackson County, North Carolina at
http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000116.pdf

Update: Click on the image if it is too large for your screen. This should give you the whole image. If not, you can download it and work on it offline.

I myself have only drawn the colored circles (or sections thereof) which show that the cup marks (cupules) in one source (Judaculla Rock) are virtually identical in arrangement to the location of the stars in the other source (Starry Night Pro astronomy software). Otherwise, the drawings come from others -- so that I am not, nor can I, bend things to my liking. I must do with the drawings available.

I do not decide for the world whether this confluence of cupules and stars is true.
The world -- and that is YOU - YOU decide.
I am merely the medium putting these sources together.

I hope you enjoy all the coming postings. Here now are the stars of Scorpio. The same colored circles in one source in the image correspond to the same colored circles in the other source in the image. Cupules correspond to stars. In my opinion, there is absolutely no doubt about this whatsoever. and more images are coming.

The smaller star clipped insert from Starry Night Pro shows more stars in the heavens at that location to better show the correspondence between the stars and the cupules on the Judaculla Rock.

Note that the broad, nearly vertical line drawn at this position on Judaculla Rock thus corresponds to the line (colure) of the Equinoxes, with the Autumn Equinox at the top and the Vernal Equinox toward the bottom (at the meeting of lines) by which the date of the drawing of these cupules can be estimated to great accuracy, as I estimate, e.g., ca. 2470 B.C.

This means that the broad line that runs horizontally but somewhat angled across the Judaculla Rock from left to right (viz. right to left) marks the ecliptic and/or celestial equator, and that the second short vertical line to the right then is probably the Winter Solstice.

See if you can identify the remaining cupules yourself. It is hard work, but doable.

Judaculla Rock: The Decipherment: But First a Thanks to Starry Night Pro: "Somewhere, Something Incredible is Waiting to Be Known": Carl Sagan

In the course of future postings, I will be publishing a decipherment of Judaculla Rock in a graphic form which permits no doubt that the cup marks (cupules) on Judaculla Rock, which number over a thousand by count of the archaeologists, represent stars of the heavens. My proof is so devastatingly clear for this number of cup marks that no "reasonable" observer can possibly doubt this interpretation.

Before I present the first proof, and my entire proof will progress over many postings over coming days, weeks and months, I wish to thank the makers of the astronomy program Starry Night Pro, brilliantly programmed software which allows the user to reproduce stellar (star) positions thousands of years back in time for any location on Earth.

This posting is not an ad. It is my sincere recognition of these people.

The Starry Night website front page currently looks like the image below, which I have clipped online for the record. I hope they do not mind. Thank you.

In the instant case, the incredible "somewhere, something" is not "out there",
but it is here, on our own Earth, albeit using the stars as our discovery guide.

Judaculla Rock, Cherokee "Dividings" and the Great Google Earth Image Mystery: The Beginnings of Serious Research

What led to the Great Google Earth Image Mystery?

Steve Burdic asked me some weeks ago by email whether the petroglyphic Judaculla Rock in Jackson County, North Carolina (near Cherokee, Cullowhee and Sylva) could be ancient astronomy in some form.

Steve (LinkedIn, Facebook) is a University of Nebraska graduate (Beta Theta Pi), former Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Missouri, former President of the Missouri Farmers Union Credit Union, former Energy Conservation and Renewable Grant Manager, Technical Assistance Program-Household Hazardous Waste, Missouri State Parks Grant Manager, and currently Principal Investigator, Resource Management Consultants, Jamestown, Missouri.

In addition to those credits, Steve should also get credit for being the instigator of this specific research. He has long followed my work on the history of civilization at Lexiline and I am thankful that he turned to me with this question.

Science means asking questions. Too many people in the field of archaeology and related disciplines think they know all the answers and have stopped asking the right questions, with the result that their research is often far off the mark.

I have previously been to this geographic area of the U.S. Southeast, having relatives in East Tennessee, and so I have overnighted and dined in Helen, Georgia (alpine "Bavaria" in the USA) and lunched in Clayton, Georgia (the Cherokee "Dividings"). As written at the Wikipedia under Clayton, Georgia: "The area that would eventually become Clayton was called the Dividings because it sat at the intersection of three important Cherokee people trails."

Although I have already fully deciphered Judaculla Rock and surrounding petroglyphic sites, in the interest of interactive participation, I publish only a small decipherment area of Judaculla Rock in the next posting and will go from there to explain not only Judaculla Rock, but also major related petroglyphic sites in the region of Northeast Georgia and Western North Carolina.

For online photos of the Judaculla Rock and area see Tripadvisor.com.

The GPS coordinates for Judaculla Rock are 35.301233°N 83.110142°W, confirmed via Google Earth.

"Official" information and photographs -- I use these for analysis of the Judaculla Rock -- are found at the National Register of Historic Places - Registration Form, Supplementary Listing Record, NRIS Reference Number: 13000116, Judaculla Rock, Jackson County, North Carolina
http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000116.pdf
which is the document NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev . 01/2009) OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012), U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, Judaculla Rock, Jackson County, North Carolina. I will refer to this record -- NRIS Reference Number: 13000116 -- from time to time. It is most certainly a nice job of recordation, but for the most part, far off the mark in terms of  ultimate -- correct -- analysis.

I say that as a former employee of the Nebraska State Surveyor's Office,
who understands something about land, surveying, landmarks, etc.
There is much more here than meets the immediate eye. Stay tuned!

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery Can Begin for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015: THE GPS of the Location

Here is the GPS for the mystery image:
34.890653 -83.880198.

Look around there and you will find the Track Rock Gap archaeological site.

What does it all mean?

Wait and see.

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery Can Begin for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015: THE FOURTH and LAST HINT

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015, as we noted in our first posting, is "G-Rated", having begun with "Gitche Gumee", followed by GEORGIA and GAP, and now ends with a major clue to the meaning of the image, once you have found it, which is "GEMINI".

One now has all the information one needs, should your powers of research and analysis be up to the task, to become as famous as Shakespeare, as it were, though even the Bard may actually have been Marlowe, but, as Patton correctly noted in a "G-Rated" way, "GLORY" is fleeting, so be, rather than not be, it.

If one can not read the handwriting on the wall or other "limited strata", one can scarcely hope to SKYpe all the pretty rock art in North Carolina, now can one?

In case you can not put that all together, relax, be happy and take it easy, CULLO-whee and Juda-CULLA, and hold on to your wampum belt, for I am here -- none other has stepped forth -- and will GUIDE you in future postings as to the meaning of the "Great Google Earth Image Mystery" image.

Stay tuned, and keep abreast of the postings which shall follow.

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery Can Begin for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015: THE THIRD HINT

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015 "rocks", and as we noted in our first posting, is "G-Rated", as the "G" in "gap".

That should bring you on the right "track".

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015: THE SECOND HINT

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015, as we noted in our first posting, is "G-Rated", as the "G" in Georgia.

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015: THE FIRST HINT

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water, 
Stood Nokomis, the old woman,
Pointing with her finger westward,
O'er the water pointing westward,
To the purple clouds of sunset.
Fiercely the red sun descending
Burned his way along the heavens,
Set the sky on fire behind him,
As war-parties, when retreating,
Burn the prairies on their war-trail;
And the moon, the Night-sun, eastward,
Suddenly starting from his ambush,
Followed fast those bloody footprints,
Followed in that fiery war-trail,
With its glare upon his features.
And Nokomis, the old woman,
Pointing with her finger westward,
Spake these words to Hiawatha:
"Yonder dwells the great Pearl-Feather,
Megissogwon, the Magician,
Manito of Wealth and Wampum,
Guarded by his fiery serpents....

From "The Song of Hiawatha"
by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Great Google Earth Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015: THE IMAGE

Dear Readers,

It has begun! The first "hint" is in the next posting.

The Great "Google Earth" Image Mystery for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015, which has no affiliation to Google (TM) or to Google Earth (TM), challenges YOU.

Where is the following image from Google Earth located geographically?
We plugged it into Google Image Search but -- thankfully -- found nothing.

What is the meaning and/or significance
of "The Great Google Earth Mystery Image Christmas 2014 New Year 2015"?

Of course, we ourselves know the image location, we think we know what it means, and we think it could be quite astounding. But we could be right or wrong, so we are making this interactive and letting you in on the fun of discovery! It is all G-rated, i.e. intended for "G" = "general audiences". It is "clean" for all. We ask people who live near this site to hold back their enthusiasm and knowledge!

We acknowledge that the image is copyrighted by Google (we have clipped it from Google Earth) but we claim "fair use", for good reason, as you will see.

In any case, should there be problems or in the event the image above does not load properly at the above link for whatever reason, we will reveal its GPS coordinates in a coming posting, and then of course try to explain the image.

The postings that follow
will try to bring
light "from above"
into the darkness below.

Indeed, "as above, so below".

Stay tuned!

Crossposted at LawPundit.

Delphi as the Center of the Classical Ancient World?

Delphi (Phocis, Greece) as the center of the classical ancient world?

Alexander Clapp reviews a new book by Michael Scott,

Delphi: A History of the Center of the Ancient World
(Princeton University Press). See

Revisiting Delphi, the center of the ancient world

Probative Evidence Contradicts Archaeology: Modern Technology Electron Beam Points to Other Origins of Teotihuacan Stone Faces

In an article by Josh Fischman at Scientific American in
Electron Beam Points to Origins of Teotihuacan Stone Faces
we find written:

"“Almost everything that has been written about the making of the Teotihuacan masks is untrue,” says Jane Walsh, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

New details about the manufacture of these old and valuable masks are coming to light, thanks to modern technology...."

Probative evidence is thus proving again that a lot of the theories of archaeologists, based on "authority" in the peer-review journals, is simply wrong.

A World That Has Forgotton What Our Skies Look Like Without City Lights

Mankind has in the modern age in many quarters forgotten "the bigger universe" once visible above their heads in the wondrous realm of the stars at night.

John Guida has the story at the New York Times in What Our Skies Would Look Like Without City Lights, citing to French photographer Thierry Cohen and his series Darkened Cities.

As Guida writes:

"Mr. Cohen sees his photographs in a philosophical light: “When a child discovers the stars, he begins to question,” he said. “What is it, who are we, where are we, etc.? As did the first human beings.”"

We write in some of our publications about how ancient man saw the stars in primordial days and how in fact "stargazing" surely led to modern "science".

Through our writings, we often face an academic populace for most of whom the sky is a dark void. Sadly, Thierry Cohen has it right.

Modern man takes himself too seriously,
and his natural environment not seriously enough.