posted
Off topic, but on topic as well since many aspects of Dogon mythology are also compared with that of Km.t. The Sirius mystery in particular is another case however, which is why I marked the thread "OT"..
quote:Controversy
A number of researchers investigating the Dogon have reported apparent knowledge that has subsequently become embroiled in controversy. From 1931 to 1956, two French anthropologists, Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, spent 25 years with the Dogon, during which time they were initiated into the tribe. Griaule and Dieterlen reported that the Dogon appeared to know that the star, Sirius, in the constellation, Canis Major was in fact a binary star. They also appeared to know of the rings of Saturn, and the Moons of Jupiter, which are usually considered invisible to the unaided eye. In 1852 American missionary D.T. Stoddart wrote a letter to astronomer John Herschel that ".. at twilight, Jupiter's satellites could be seen with the naked eye and the elongated shape of Saturn also.", according to Hunter Adams.
MIT professor of physics, Kenneth Brecher, commented that "They (the Dogon) have no business knowing any of this". The controversy escalated when author Robert Temple suggested an extra-terrestrial source of the Dogon's knowledge. Griaule and Dieterlen made no claims on the source of the Dogon's knowledge.
Robert Temple
Robert Temple, in his 1975 book ''The Sirius Mystery'', devoted a central role to the Dogon to support his hypothesis on ancient astronaut theories|ancient astronauts. Temple read the information that had earlier been gathered and published by Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen during their long anthropological study of the Dogon. The starting point of his interest in the Dogon was the mystery of how they acquired knowledge of Sirius B, the invisible companion star of Sirius A. A substantial bulk of Temple's book consists of comparative linguistic and mythological scholarship, pointing out resemblances among Dogon, Egyptian and Sumerian beliefs and symbols. Greek and Arab myths and words are considered to a lesser extent. Temple did not argue that the only way that the Dogon could have obtained their accurate information on Sirius B was by contact with an advanced civilization. He also considered alternative possibilities, such as a very ancient, advanced, and lost civilization that was behind the sudden appearance of advanced civilization in both Egypt and Sumeria. He personally found the theory of alien contact more convincing, but he did not claim certainty about it.
Since the release of Temple's book, many scholars have offered alternative explanations for Temple's claims.
* Astronomer Carl Sagan dealt with the issue in his book ''Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science|Broca's Brain'' (1979), stating that there are many problems with Temple's hypothesis. As an example Sagan mentions that the Dogon seem to have no knowledge of another planet beyond Saturn which has rings, which would suggest that their knowledge is more likely from European, and not extra-terrestrial sources.
* Another astronomer, Ian Ridpath, points out in an article in the ''Skeptical Inquirer'' (1978), "The whole Dogon legend of Sirius and its companions is riddled with ambiguities, contradictions, and downright errors, at least if we try to interpret it literally". Ridpath stated that while the information that the Dogon probably gained from Europeans to some extent resembles the facts about Sirius, the presumed original Dogon knowledge on the star is very far from the facts.
* Journalist and skeptic James Oberg collected claims that have appeared concerning Dogon mythology in his 1982 book. According to Oberg, the Dogon's astronomical information resembles the knowledge and speculations of European astronomical knowledge of the late 1920s. The Dogon could have gotten their astronomical knowledge, including the information on Sirius, from European visitors before their mythology was recorded in the 1930s. Oberg also points out that the Dogons were not an isolated tribe, and thus it was not even necessary for outsiders to inform the Dogon about Sirius B. They could very well have acquired such knowledge abroad, passing it on to their tribe later. (Sirius B was first observed in 1862, and had been predicted in 1844 on dynamic grounds. In this way, by the time Temple visited the Dogon in the 1970s, they had had a great deal of contact with the western world and had time to incorporate Sirius B into their religion. However, Oberg does concede that such assumptions of recent acquisition is "entirely circumstantial" and has no foundation in documented evidence and concludes that it seems likely that the Sirius mystery will remain exactly what its title implies; a mystery.
* One unexplained aspect of the reported Dogon culture is the assertion that the Dogon knew of another star in the Sirius system, Emme Ya, or "larger than Sirus B but lighter and dim in magnitude." In 1995, gravitational studies showed the presence of a brown dwarf star circling around Sirius. Since this was not theorized until the late 1950's, the controversy is not settled and the mystery remains alive. No critics have yet been able to dispute this claim.
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. Speculation about the Dogons on numerous websites is now mingled with fact, and with Temple's explanations on Dogons, leading to controversy among the public about Dogon mythology. Temple, however, has stated in the reprint of The Sirius Mystery that he in no way supports cults that have been inspired by his book.
^^I'm not usually into far-fetched type of fringe theories, however, it really irks me any time "scholars" seek external intervention to explain advanced and/or notable knowledge systems in pre-colonial Africa. Given the exclusiveness among revealed secrets concerning indigenous tribal belief among the Dogon and the lack of evidence for a European genesis of this information, I'd go out on a limb and say that it's more even likely to have come from extraterrestrials than Europeans. Both of which I happen to throw by the way-side in favor of a more down to earth and local explanation, in the form of them simply attaining this knowledge themselves and incorporating it into their mythology, similar to the Egyptians, Maya or whoever else. Oberg was correct to point out that such hypothetical postulations which emphatically ascribe these revelations to European sources, are baseless and lack foundation.
van Beek met with the Dogon in 1991, expecting the same story as told to Griaule and Dieterlen, but when denied, somehow saw this as evidence of fabrication, or at least skeptics make it out this way. van Beek, being a cultural anthropologist should know better, in that such knowledge among the Griots or elders is esoteric and not just any Sam, Dick or Harry can expect to dwell amongst a tribe and have all of their family secrets and in debt history revealed to them. Griaule and Dieterlen even went through a process and wasn't told anything until they were trusted and actually initiated as elders of the tribe, in which van Beek was obviously not.
I've also read most of the book "Science of the Dogon", which provides endless parallels between the Dogon and ancient Egypt, mostly dealing with astronomy and symbolism; pretty fascinating. It would be interesting to see what people's take is on this whole issue however, since aside from the fringe, alien contact stuff, the Eurocentric dogma that nothing is verified or "discovered" unless it was done by Europeans is kind of sickening.
quote:MIT professor of physics, Kenneth Brecher, commented that "They (the Dogon) have no business knowing any of this". The controversy escalated when author Robert Temple suggested an extra-terrestrial source of the Dogon's knowledge. Griaule and Dieterlen made no claims on the source of the Dogon's knowledge
and this is an example as ignorance masquerading as intelligence and he in lauded for this!
Posts: 1290 | From: usa | Registered: May 2005
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posted
You think that's bad, what about Carl Sagan's comments?
For a book presented as nearly authentic as from a Hogun filtered through a field worker can be, and divorced from diffusionism and comparisons to other cultures may I recommend ==>
Marcel Griaule Conversations with Ogotemmêli: an introduction to Dogon religious ideas London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute, 1965
And for some Dogon serious fantasy click on this
Collectors of coffee table sized books may want this Abrams volume as a companion to their other fine works on specific African ethnies and themes.
Walter E. A. von Beek Stephanie Hollyman (photos) Dogon: Africa's People of the Cliffs New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote: From Broca’s Brain by Carl Sagan, published by Random House, Inc. in 1974, beginning page 69:
“With one apparent exception, there are no stories sufficiently detailed to dispose of other explanations and sufficiently accurate to portray correctly modern physics or astronomy to a prescientific or pretechnical people. The one exception is the remarkable mythology surrounding the star Sirius that is held by the Dogon people of the Republic of Mali.
The most striking aspects of Dogon astronomy have been recounted by Marcel Griaule … while there is no reason to doubt Griaule’s account, it is important to note that there is no earlier Western record of the remarkable Dogon folk beliefs …
In contrast to almost all prescientific societies, the Dogon hold that the planets as well as the earth rotate about their axes and revolve about the Sun … They hold that Jupiter has four satellites and that Saturn is encircled by a ring. … the Dogon are said to depict the planets moving correctly in elliptical, not circular orbits.
More striking still is the Dogon belief about Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. They contend that it has a dark and invisible companion star which orbits Sirius once every fifty years. They state that the companion star is very small and very heavy, made of a special metal called “Sagala” which is not found on earth.
The remarkable fact is that the invisible star, Sirius A, does have an extraordinary dark companion, Sirius B, which orbits it in an elliptical orbit once each 50.04 years. Sirius B is the first example of a white dwarf discovered by modern astrophysics.”
Sagan then goes on to speculate how the Dogon came about having this knowledge. He states that Bessel, an astronomer, in 1844 deduced a dark companion for Sirius in a 50 year orbit due to a 50 year wobble in the sinusoidal motion of Sirius A. Sirius B was later observed and the observation was confirmed in 1915. Identifying Sirius B as very heavy was not proposed until the mid 1930’s and at that it was met with considerable skepticism. In an attempt to rationalize this remarkable Dogon knowledge he speculates that Griaule may have been aware of this discovery and that may have influenced his research.
To my mind, this seems an unlikely mistake for a seasoned cultural anthropologist. Furthermore, in the late 1960’s Dieterlen was interviewed for a television show and she stated that she has seen carving estimated to be 400 years old that depict the Sirius myth. Sagan’s examination of the Dogon myth was limited to their astronomical observations from a third hand source, Temple, and apparently he never examined the original or second hand source from Griaule. If one speculates the myths were actually derived from their contact with the Nummo, it would stand to reason that they might have other unique, detailed knowledge.
Ironsmiths hold a special status in Dogon society. And, until recently, they were required to make an annual pilgrimage to Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana. Lake Bosumtwi is considered a sacred place and the location where the first ironsmith initiate learned ironsmithing from the Nummo. The lake is considered equally sacred by other groups including the Bambara and the Maliniki tribes who, according to the Dogon, originated with them from the same group.
The Dogon knew, in the 1940’s, that Lake Bosumtwi was formed by a meteor impact and they described it in great detail including the direction and angle of entry of the meteor. Modern geologists, however, did not even seriously speculate that the lake was formed by a meteor impact until 1979 largely because it is situated in a dense jungle forest that limited access to the lake. (see http://omzg.sscc.ru/impact/ab33.html ). The debate went back and forth for years as to whether or not the lake was formed by an impact until recent evidence positively confirmed its meteor origins dated to 1.07 million years ago.
quote:Temple did not argue that the only way that the Dogon could have obtained their accurate information on Sirius B was by contact with an advanced civilization. He also considered alternative possibilities, such as a very ancient, advanced, and lost civilization that was behind the sudden appearance of advanced civilization in both Egypt and Sumeria. He personally found the theory of alien contact more convincing, but he did not claim certainty about it.
^^I'm not usually into far-fetched type of fringe theories, however, it really irks me any time "scholars" seek external intervention to explain advanced and/or notable knowledge systems in pre-colonial Africa.
My feelings are similar. I find it to be another one of those funny but truly pittiable things.
quote:MIT professor of physics, Kenneth Brecher, commented that "They (the Dogon) have no business knowing any of this". The controversy escalated when author Robert Temple suggested an extra-terrestrial source of the Dogon's knowledge. Griaule and Dieterlen made no claims on the source of the Dogon's knowledge.
lol!^
Come on now?
Talk about bias.
@alTakruri thanx for the hookup. Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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And yes, thanx for that alTakuri.. I had no idea of their alleged geological predictions and I'm actually seeing about ordering that book, Conversations with Ogotemmeli, now. It is the original source document on Dogon religious belief. Another person who is suspicious of van Beek's doubts and charges is actually Griaule's own daughter, Dr. Calame. She vehemently denies claims of astronomical knowledge and interest as pertained to her father and basically suggests that his (van Beek) methods of attaining information were cloaked in secrecy and couldn't be confirmed or supported. That the patriarch actually died, along with many others, so contact with the "original informants" of Griaule, who van Beek claimed to have interviewed, is dubious. - http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204 (199112)32%3A5%3C575%3AOTDR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7 (close space)
^Still trying to access the full JSTOR..
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
Another hilarious example of white racists refusing to accept native African ingenuity or cultural achievment!
Eurocentric Dogma #6 -- IF IT WAS GREAT, IT MUST HAVE BEEN WHITE: If advanced science, art, or architecture is found in Africa or South America, then Phoenecians, Greeks, Celts, Vikings (or, in the extreme case, space aliens) must be invoked to explain their presence. (Here, whiteness often functions as a relative concept, as "lighter than.") This bias gives rise to a pronounced tendency to date American or African cultures later than warranted, and as a result dating is constantly having to be revised further back into the past as evidence of greater antiquity piles up.Posts: 26238 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
For the Dogon a supposedly white (TMMHW) origin has been floated. But, they per some say otherwise
quote: Ironsmiths hold a special status in Dogon society. And, until recently, they were required to make an annual pilgrimage to Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana. Lake Bosumtwi is considered a sacred place and the location where the first ironsmith initiate learned ironsmithing from the Nummo. The lake is considered equally sacred by other groups including the Bambara and the Maliniki tribes who, according to the Dogon, originated with them from the same group.
I don't know whether this jibes with Griaule's account or just exactly where it comes from nor do I know whether or not this contradicts the migration from Egypt hypothesis or if its a more inclusive reckoning of the parentage of the aforementioned ethnies (Bambara are a Mande branch, right?).
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
I haven't perused Temple since it was published but I seem to recall him positing a Libyan without former Egyptian origins for them. Anyway:
quote: The Dogon are believed to have originally come from Egypt. They migrated west to Libyia and afterwards south to Ghana. In 1050 Islam was introduced into West Africa. Over time large populations were converted to Islam, but the Dogon resisted and as a result were probably persecuted. The Dogon, according to Griaule, claimed responsibility for protecting a secret knowledge.
In 1240 the Dogon ended their vassalage to the powerful Empire of Ghana. Between 1307 and 1333 they were driven westward to central Mali where they finally settled in the Bandiagara Cliffs. The Bandiagara Cliffs stretch for 120 miles with adjacent savannas. From 1330 until the early 20th century the Dogon were isolated from neighboring peoples. Their language Dogon, is classified a Voltaic of the Niger-Kordofanian Family, subgroups Niger-Congo. The Dogon have never claimed special status and they have never proselytized their beliefs, nor have they been negatively influenced by their beliefs. Their special knowledge must be earned and even the average Dogon is not allowed total access to this knowledge.
Published in: The Pale Fox
The fox is relatively the same as the Jackal Thoth (aka Djehuti) and plays the role of diviner in that overnight foxprints splayed over a cowrie(?) design is of extreme divinatory significance to the Dogon.
Ttbomr, the Dogon do not claim to be the Tellem who first populated Bandiagara.
posted
Some more Dogon cosmology and claim of extra-terrestial contact:
quote: According to Ogotemmeli, stars came from pellets of earth like material flung into the space of the God, Amma. The sun, like other stars is in a sense a pot raised to white heat and surrounded by spirals of red copper with 8 turns. The sun was heated 1/4 at a time.
The earth is like a human body and compared to a termite mound, female below and male above. Amma threw off the male (cut the top of the termite mound) and had intercourse with the female. From the union came the jackel. The earth was scorched and barren.
Amma had intercourse with the earth a second time and water, which is the divine seed, was able to enter the womb of the earth and normal reproduction began. From that union came twins. They are spirits called Nummo. (also known as Nommo and Nomo.)
Nummo are born of water and the Dogon word for water is synonymous with Nummo. Nummo are described as 1/2 human from head to loin and 1/2 fish serpent below that. They have red eyes, forked tongues, sleek shinning bodies and an unpleasant odor.
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: Another hilarious example of white racists refusing to accept native African ingenuity or cultural achievment!
Eurocentric Dogma #6 -- IF IT WAS GREAT, IT MUST HAVE BEEN WHITE: If advanced science, art, or architecture is found in Africa or South America, ....(or space aliens) must be invoked to explain their presence.
HAHAHAHA!!!! Love the Space Aliens comment!! LOL!! And I bet they weren't the green but white space aliens!! LOL!! Posts: 53 | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
To whit, the following from benignly biased but well meaning white folk who doubt any African acheivement.
quote: They don’t have telescopes or other scientific equipment, so how could they get this knowledge?
. . . .
Carl Sagan agreed [...] that the Dogon could not have acquired their knowledge without contact with an advanced technological civilization.
...
According to Sagan, western Africa has had many visitors from technological societies located on planet earth. The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. 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. Furthermore, there had been a good amount of discussion of Sirius in the scientific press in the '20s so that by the time Griaule arrived, the Dogon may have had a grounding in 20th century technological matters brought to them by visitors from other parts of earth and transmitted in conversation.
Yeah, sure, and their ages old ritual ceremonies and cave paintings weren't created until some unknown Euro visited them, right!
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: Another hilarious example of white racists refusing to accept native African ingenuity or cultural achievment!
Eurocentric Dogma #6 -- IF IT WAS GREAT, IT MUST HAVE BEEN WHITE: If advanced science, art, or architecture is found in Africa or South America, then Phoenecians, Greeks, Celts, Vikings (or, in the extreme case, space aliens) must be invoked to explain their presence. (Here, whiteness often functions as a relative concept, as "lighter than.") This bias gives rise to a pronounced tendency to date American or African cultures later than warranted, and as a result dating is constantly having to be revised further back into the past as evidence of greater antiquity piles up.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
^^The endless tactics of speculation and downplay used by these people to undermine any hint of indigenous, pre-colonial knowledge in anyway is pathetic. Walter van Beek even resorted to basically accusing the highly regarded anthropologist (Marcel Griaule) of being a liar. This here says a lot about his motivations:
See Walter E.A.Van Beek "Dogon Restudied--A Field Evaluation of the Work of Marcel Griaule." (Current Anthropology 32:2, April 1991) p.139-167. The ecologist makes a fierce attack on Griaule's work with only the most conservative criticism from symbolist Mary Douglas. His most cogent argument is that Griaule's "initiation" was nothing more than a jestful performance instigated by Griaule's overbearing personality and invasive questioning. This "performance" was then misunderstood through the lens of the French structuralist's intellectual agenda: to show a non-European origin for Greek philosophy and cosmology. Griaule's daughter and living colleague Genevieve Calame-Griaule, came to defend the project in "On the Dogon Restudied." (Current Anthropology 32:5, Dec 1991) p.575-577. Calame-Griaule counterattacks the ecologists own Materialist agenda as blinded to the relevance of esoteric traditions, and discounting van Beek's criticism as unchecked speculation. http://www.simpletone.com/cdi/dogon.htm
I think Genevieve was spot on..
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: They don’t have telescopes or other scientific equipment, so how could they get this knowledge?
. . . .
Carl Sagan agreed [...] that the Dogon could not have acquired their knowledge without contact with an advanced technological civilization.
...
According to Sagan, western Africa has had many visitors from technological societies located on planet earth. The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. 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. Furthermore, there had been a good amount of discussion of Sirius in the scientific press in the '20s so that by the time Griaule arrived, the Dogon may have had a grounding in 20th century technological matters brought to them by visitors from other parts of earth and transmitted in conversation.
Yeah, sure, and their ages old ritual ceremonies and cave paintings weren't created until some unknown Euro visited them, right!
So these people actuallybelieve that the Dogon's millennia old spiritual beliefs are the result of recent contacts with Europeans?! Indeed, the Eurocentrism is evident for such ridiculous notions.
Posts: 26238 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: For the Dogon a supposedly white (TMMHW) origin has been floated. But, they per some say otherwise
quote: Ironsmiths hold a special status in Dogon society. And, until recently, they were required to make an annual pilgrimage to Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana. Lake Bosumtwi is considered a sacred place and the location where the first ironsmith initiate learned ironsmithing from the Nummo. The lake is considered equally sacred by other groups including the Bambara and the Maliniki tribes who, according to the Dogon, originated with them from the same group.
I don't know whether this jibes with Griaule's account or just exactly where it comes from nor do I know whether or not this contradicts the migration from Egypt hypothesis or if its a more inclusive reckoning of the parentage of the aforementioned ethnies (Bambara are a Mande branch, right?).
That's kind of interesting. Lake Bosomtwe is also sacred to the Akan. The name comes from Obosom, which is the general name for "deities" for Akan people and Twe is the name of the deity itself that lives in the river. There is a specific taboo against iron in this river by the deity as well. Bosomtwe is also of a special class of Abosom among the Akan who are called Ntoro.
I was reading about something similar with the Songhay of the Upper Niger. They recognize a class of water spirits called Zin and they have a story about a lake inhabited by a Zin and it too has a taboo against iron in the lake. Is there any more information on this pilgrimage the Dogon used to make to Bosomtwe?
Posts: 11 | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
Has any one on this forum, read or heard, of the book, The Science Of The Dogon: Decoding The African Mystery Tradition, by Laird Scranton ? For example; he deal with the modern scientific depiction of the unformed universe as a black hole is identical, to Amma's Egg of the Dogon, & the Egyptian Benben Stone.I found his writings to be very respectful of the Dogon culture, & peoples. He also thinks there might be a possible, connection between ancient Egypt, & the Dogon culture, including spiritual beliefs systems.
For me, his writings are fresh & thought provoking, with out, all the usual Eurocentric baggage.
Posts: 135 | From: Bay Area | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
^I have the book and have read roughly half of it. His arguments are very convincing and he does indeed establish a solid connection between the Dogon's spiritual belief and that of ancient Egypt's. He goes into great detail about this. Scranton contends that the opening of Amma's egg is nothing more than symbolic of the Big Bang, vividly describing the point of creation.
He is literally a code-cracker and the way he interprets the various symbols is genius imo.
He even goes so far now as to write another book, in which he claims to be able to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphs in a new way by using Dogon symbols as a Rosetta stone. - Source
^I'm so looking forward to reading this book!
Indeed, the guy is very dedicated, knows his stuff, and isn't in the least biased, nor does he have an agenda as he genuinely finds them to be a fascinating people, which is why he's dedicated over the last 10 years of his life to studying them.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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"Temple produces evidence for the great antiquity of the Sirius cult. The number "fifty" has great signifance in ancient myths. He points out that the Dogon myths also describe a third star (astronomers would call it "Sirius C"), as yet undiscovered.....Temple offered another line of reasoning. "We have in the Dogon information a predictive mechanism which it is our duty to test, regardless of our preconceptions." One example: "If a Sirius-C is ever discovered and found to be a red dwarf, I will conclude that the Dogon information has been fully validated." (OK, I'll bite--but if such a star is not discovered, Temple has risked no converse conclusions.) - From James Oberg (1982). "Chapter 6, The Sirius Mystery", Ufo's and Outer Space Mysteries: A Sympathetic Skeptic's Report.
Well,
quote: In 1995 two French researchers (Daniel Benest and J.L. Duvent) published an article in Astronomy and Astrophysics with the title Is Sirius a Triple Star?. They suggest that there might be a third star, a Sirius C...
Abstract:
Sirius has been discovered as double more than 130 years ago. From the beginning of our century up to now, observational as well as physical and dynamical indications lead to the hypothesis of the existence of a third body in the system. In this paper, we present recent orbital analysis of the binary Sirius A-B which, helped by numerical simulation of triple systems, strengthens the idea for the triplicity of Sirius: a tiny star could revolve in about 6 years around Sirius A. Finally, we discuss the possibility of direct detection for this suspected Sirius C.
^As opposed to being a red dwarf, Sirus C would be suspected as being a brown dwarf, which is close enough. Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
^Laird Scranton had some okay arguments in Science of the Dogon, but he drew too heavily from Robert Temble as opposed to Griaule (as close as you'll get to the primary source).. I'll watch this anyhow though, thanks.. Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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^However, they still haven't ruled out the possibility since they still were not able to scan every relevant portion of sky needed to completely rule it out. Either way, the fact they (the Dogon) knew of Sirius B is impressive enough.
Note to ausar: Can you move this thread to "Ancient Egypt" please?
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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