Our analysis indicates that Ohio was the center of the ancient land navigation system of Native America. The next several postings concentrate on various aspects and locations of that center, a center which was oriented by astronomy.
In this posting we thus go to the Newark Earthworks at Newark, Ohio, which -- in our discovery -- marked the location of the North Ecliptic Pole, something which we show explained in the graphic image below, based on a comparison of the stars of Draco with a map published by the Smithsonian Institution of the survey results of Ephraim Geroge Squier and Edwin H. Davis (1847) and Cyrus Thomas (1894). Squier and Davis wrote: "These works are so complicated, that it is impossible to give anything like a comprehensive description of them." As the image below suggests, these earthworks are in fact complicated, but they ARE explainable to a great degree as marking stars in the sky:
The Newark Earthworks in Ohio marked various stars of Draco in proximity to the North Celestial Pole (thus excluding the head of Draco, which is some distance away) and calculated the position of the fixed, unmoving North Ecliptic Pole, which is near to the "square" of stars set out in the earthworks to the right. This is the same location that the North Ecliptic Pole also has today.
To the left we find the body viz. tail of Draco and further the left is the so-called "octagon" of stars (the "Octagon Earthworks"), shown as an octagon-like shape in the earthworks. That octagon-like shape was interpreted in the year 1982 by Professors Ray Hively and Robert Horn at Earlham College to be a lunar calculator. See Bradley T. Lepper, curator of archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society, Ancient Ohio cultures were devoted to sun and moon, The Columbus Dispatch; Joe Knapp, Hopewell Lunar Astronomy; and, J.Q. Jacobs, Newark Archaeogeodesy: Assessing Evidence of Geospatial Intelligence in the Americas. We have not studied any lunar or solar alignments, and that is not our interest here. It is, however, entirely conceivable that a star map on Earth involving midheaven could be constructed to include other astronomical calculations.
Our overall analysis is strengthened by a different ground plan of the Newark Earthworks as made by David Wyrick in the year 1860. Wyrick, a surveyor by profession, marked additional features that were apparently excluded in the map above, and these features all fit seamlessly into the analysis of the previous map as representing the stars of Draco. The additional features are circled in dark red in the lower explanatory map below (i.e. the star map below the Newark earthworks):
The above map is reproduced at the J. Huston McCulloch website at http://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arc/decalog.htm. The original map now in the public domain was published in the 1866 Newark County Atlas. McCulloch is the only one to publish this map online as a "clarified image", and for that we are extremely grateful. McCulloch writes: "Clarified image copyrighted and reproduced by permission of Arthur W. McGraw... Photos of this site may be freely downloaded and copied, with photo credit to J. Huston McCulloch and a link to this site, except as noted." See Warren King Moorehead & Arthur W. McGraw, The Indian Tribes of Ohio: Historically Considered 1600-1840.
We note, by the way, that we are skeptical of the inscribed stones allegedly found at these earthworks, especially since Wyrick was later convinced that he had been the victim of a hoax. McCulloch has written about these stones and we have not researched the matter. It is not an issue in our study here.
Our next posting is about the Hopewell Mounds of the Mound City Necropolis in Chillicothe, Ohio.
THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 4 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America
At the Center of the Ancient Land Navigation System in Native America: The North Ecliptic Pole and Draco as Marked by the Newark Earthworks in Ohio
In this posting we thus go to the Newark Earthworks at Newark, Ohio, which -- in our discovery -- marked the location of the North Ecliptic Pole, something which we show explained in the graphic image below, based on a comparison of the stars of Draco with a map published by the Smithsonian Institution of the survey results of Ephraim Geroge Squier and Edwin H. Davis (1847) and Cyrus Thomas (1894). Squier and Davis wrote: "These works are so complicated, that it is impossible to give anything like a comprehensive description of them." As the image below suggests, these earthworks are in fact complicated, but they ARE explainable to a great degree as marking stars in the sky:
The Newark Earthworks in Ohio marked various stars of Draco in proximity to the North Celestial Pole (thus excluding the head of Draco, which is some distance away) and calculated the position of the fixed, unmoving North Ecliptic Pole, which is near to the "square" of stars set out in the earthworks to the right. This is the same location that the North Ecliptic Pole also has today.
To the left we find the body viz. tail of Draco and further the left is the so-called "octagon" of stars (the "Octagon Earthworks"), shown as an octagon-like shape in the earthworks. That octagon-like shape was interpreted in the year 1982 by Professors Ray Hively and Robert Horn at Earlham College to be a lunar calculator. See Bradley T. Lepper, curator of archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society, Ancient Ohio cultures were devoted to sun and moon, The Columbus Dispatch; Joe Knapp, Hopewell Lunar Astronomy; and, J.Q. Jacobs, Newark Archaeogeodesy: Assessing Evidence of Geospatial Intelligence in the Americas. We have not studied any lunar or solar alignments, and that is not our interest here. It is, however, entirely conceivable that a star map on Earth involving midheaven could be constructed to include other astronomical calculations.
Our overall analysis is strengthened by a different ground plan of the Newark Earthworks as made by David Wyrick in the year 1860. Wyrick, a surveyor by profession, marked additional features that were apparently excluded in the map above, and these features all fit seamlessly into the analysis of the previous map as representing the stars of Draco. The additional features are circled in dark red in the lower explanatory map below (i.e. the star map below the Newark earthworks):
The above map is reproduced at the J. Huston McCulloch website at http://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arc/decalog.htm. The original map now in the public domain was published in the 1866 Newark County Atlas. McCulloch is the only one to publish this map online as a "clarified image", and for that we are extremely grateful. McCulloch writes: "Clarified image copyrighted and reproduced by permission of Arthur W. McGraw... Photos of this site may be freely downloaded and copied, with photo credit to J. Huston McCulloch and a link to this site, except as noted." See Warren King Moorehead & Arthur W. McGraw, The Indian Tribes of Ohio: Historically Considered 1600-1840.
We note, by the way, that we are skeptical of the inscribed stones allegedly found at these earthworks, especially since Wyrick was later convinced that he had been the victim of a hoax. McCulloch has written about these stones and we have not researched the matter. It is not an issue in our study here.
Our next posting is about the Hopewell Mounds of the Mound City Necropolis in Chillicothe, Ohio.
THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 4 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America
At the Center of the Ancient Land Navigation System in Native America: The North Ecliptic Pole and Draco as Marked by the Newark Earthworks in Ohio
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