terrestrial rather than extraterrestrial. When I set him a draft of a sharply critical review written for Astronomy magazine, he replied with a blistering counterattack in a letter to my editor: "A virulent attack against my honesty, integrity, and intelligence," he called my review. That's one major characteristic of classical pseudo-science, its ability to incorporate any result and its ability to be immune from disproof from any result. Sirius B without the need of a telescope because of their special eyesight Some of this information has been selectively interpreted by Temple to support his claims. According to Thomas Bullard, van Beek speculates that Griaule Lets start with the first idea, proffered by Robert Temple.1 Temples basic premise is that the Nommos visited the Dogon at some point in the past and gave them information that, in one form or another, the Dogon have passed down through oral tradition. This is true, but Sirius has about 25 times the luminosity of the Sun. Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. (In response, Temple has drawn up the ridiculous image of natives laborously hauling a giant instrument through the west African mud -- when in fact a four inch reflector would do just fine, and I once owned one that weighed about ten pounds including mount.) Our mysteries may be different but our questions are the same and we are no wiser. The Dogon People Revisited.. York: Random House, 1995). to other visible stars near Sirius as recognition of the invisible answer is that they got this information from amphibious aliens from outer The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, now called Sirius A. WebDogon and the Sirius Mystery. Strangely, ancient records explicitly list Sirius as one of six "red stars." Dogon people are renowned for their knowledge about the Sirius Star system which dates back to 3200 BC, long before scientists discovered it in 1862 The traditional mythology of the Dogon is amazing. According to the Dogon, the instructor gods descended from Sirius and brought knowledge and wisdom. Feature Articles Dogon shame Did ancient gods from the Sirius star system visit an African tribe 5,000 years ago? Temples response to criticism has so far been evasive. Some astronomers speculate that the white dwarf Sirius B might have been a flaming red giant only 2000 years ago although current astrophysical theories decree that any such transformation in less than 100,000 years is impossible. the sky and the center of Dogon mythology. 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. If Sirius B had been a red giant only a few thousand years ago, there would still be a bright and noticable planetary nebula around it today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sirius_Mystery. The other five are still seen as red but from the time of Arab astronomers to the present day Sirius has been blue-white. Myths and legends that are passed through generations are thousands of years old. James, Peter and Nick Thorpe. A substantial bulk of The Sirius Mystery consists of comparative linguistic and mythological scholarship, pointing out resemblances among Dogon, Yoruba, Egyptian and Sumerian beliefs and symbols. WebThe 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. Temple claimed that the Dogon knew about two smaller stars that are closely related to Sirius Sirius B and Sirius C. The mystery was how they had obtained this knowledge, as these companion stars cannot be seen by the unaided eye. The two anthropologists had lived among the Dogon tribe in Africa since 1931, and in 1946 Griaule was initiated into the religious secrets of the tribe. Somehow, Temple and I have never gotten our disputes off on the right foot. ", A series of articles has appeared in the Griffith Observer, an astronomy magazin Although Temple fails to prove its antiquity, the evidence for the recent acquisition of the information is still entirely circumstantial. We need more reliable evidence -- especially theories that can be tested. However, doubts have been raised about the reliability of Griaule and Dieterlen's work on which The Sirius Mystery is based,[4][5] and alternative explanations have been proposed. But that isn't the only parallel. Scientists learn that the Dogon do not possess secret knowledge about the star Sirius and its companions. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. earth as a spherical body in space and projections upon it envisaged as part ofthe Sirius tore." (And presumably, that the Egyptians then located their river deltas, eases, and river ports deliberately on geometric rather than purely geographical grounds, I'm tempted to ask?) Figure 1. [12] According to Oberg, the Dogons' astronomical information resembled the knowledge and speculations of late 1920s Europe, suggesting that the Dogon were influenced by European visitors before their mythology was recorded in the 1930s. "Nowhere in his 295 page book does Temple offer one specific statement from the Dogon to substantiate his ancient astronauts claim." So it merely remains for any interested reader to check and see which of us is correct. Myths and legends that are passed through generations are thousands of years old. Since Sirius B is a very dense white dwarf star about the size of Earth, it can only be seen in dark skies with medium-sized telescopes. ch. 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. Obviously, no Earth-based species was flying to other stars back then! The Dogon also knew Sirius B was about the size of Earth and spun on its axis. Cook some soul food. Some pseudosciences such as homeopathy and free energy never die. (Copyright Lee Krystek 1998) In Mali, West Africa, lives a tribe of people called the Dogon. The Dogon are believed to be of Egyptian decent and their astronomical lore goes back thousands of years to 3200 BC. Clearly the Dogons (in common with many other cultures) were fascinated by Sirius, probably because its position in the sky was crucial to successful agriculture (it's the only star they have a name for.) Either way, the original purity of the Dogon-Sirius story is itself a myth as it is highly likely that Griaule contaminated their knowledge with his own. Some might argue that if there were a planet really close to Sirius A, it could be in a stable orbit. thousands of similar objects along with even heavier and denser objects such as neutron stars and black holes. Appleby also believes there exists a modern arrogance that cannot countenance the idea that ancient civilisations might have been scientifically superior. One of the problems the UFO crowd has is providing an answer to the question of where the aliens who visit us come from. Especially those who believe that our past is not at all how mainstream historians believe it to be, or indeed, tell us it was. The book's advertising blurb quotes prolific science writer Isaac Asimov, who says, "I couldn't find any mistakes in this book. (Copyright: R. Ibata (Strasbourg Observatory, ULP) et al., 2MASS, NASA). implausible notions such as the claim that the Dogon got their knowledge But it seems that Griaule, a scientist, wanted to attribute to earlier civilisations more knowledge than they actually possessed. In other words, the Dogon tribe would not only need the knowledge but also a telescope in order for them to have the information they already seemed to possess. Beings of this type would be a bit like mermaids and mermen. Perhaps the 'sirens' are, figuratively, a chorus of mermaids recalled from earlier times.They are called in Greek Seiren.It is WebAlso there is the fact that they described the Nommo as fish people and you find all kinds of half man/half fish - serpent imagery all over the Mediterranean. [15] An apparent "third star" observed in the 1920s is now confirmed as a background object,[16] something previously suggested by Holberg in 2007: Benest and Duvent found that stable orbits with a period of up to six years exist around Sirius A. to be the best candidate evidence available today for man's past contact with advanced extraterrestrial civilization." WebNew evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. To quote James and Thorpe: As for Sirius B, only Griaules informants had ever heard of it. Was Griaule told by his informants what he wanted to believe; did he misinterpret the Dogon responses to his questions? Readers of Skeptic are not so sanguine. Predictions are often reinterpreted to fit any outcome, which makes them scientifically worthless but which can be claimed to verify the pseudo- scientific claims. It seems likely that we will never know for sure. Read Skeptic on Apple or Android devices, or on PC or Mac via PocketMags.com. Also it would take a very good set of lenses to see Sirius B, which has an apparent magnitude of 8.44 and a separation from Sirius A of 10 arcseconds (0.3% of a 1 angle) under the best conditions. Ridpath asserts. Did Oberg? Journalist and skeptic James Oberg collected claims concerning Dogon mythology in his 1982 book UFOs and Outer Space Mysteries. Young was a fervent believer in the Council of Nine, a mysterious group of channelled entities that claim to be the nine creator gods of ancient Egypt. "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." by Liam McDaid. Sounds like you're grasping at straws. mystery resurfaces. Used under aCreative Commons license. [6] The claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. Of those websites, over 400 had been updated within the last three months. Its appearance in the dawn sky over Egypt warned of the impending Nile floods and the summer's heat and marked the beginning of the Egyptian calendar. African thought. "their purpose in disguising their secrets was to see that the secrets could survive.". But that doesn't stop Temple. This is the original Dogon drawing. Also if it was seeded by westerners how is the Dogon and surrounding tribes have a fully developed culture and religion structure centered around Sirius going back for hundreds of years? The basic thesis is this: the Dogon (who live in the African nation of Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso) allegedly have long possessed arcane astronomical knowledge that should have been impossible for them to discover without modern telescopes. by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano. New evidence deals a devastating blow to what was considered to be the best case for extraterrestrial visitation. Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. star" (Sirius B) and describe its density and rotational WebThe claims about the Dogons' astronomical knowledge have also been challenged. The legend of the Dogons astronomical precociousness first appeared on the radar in the 1970s. Tom Sever's "The Obsession with the Star Sirius," and editor Ron Oriti's "On Not Taking it Seriously." The Bad Archaeology page on the Sirius Mystery has summarize the basic details well: In 1976, Robert K G Temple (born 1945), an American living in the UK, published what was to become a seminal work of Bad Archaeology, The Sirius Mystery. After being surprised that an astromomy association would, after all this time, bother to publish such an article, I did a web search and found that in 1997 Robert Temple published a second edition of the book that started it all TheSirius Mystery in which he addressed none of the main criticisms that had been directed against the first edition, published in 1976. 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. 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. A revised edition was published in 1998 with the new subtitle New scientific "It does not!" The Sirius mystery, though, remains of great interest to many researchers today. Griaule and Dieterlen first described their findings in an article published in French in 1950, but they included no comment about how extraordinary the Dogon knowledge of the invisible companions was. No such nebula is seen. Readers of Skeptic are not so sanguine. The cartographer took all such factors into account. To recapitulate: Griaule claimed to have been initiated into the secret mysteries of the male Dogon, during which they allegedly told him of Sirius (sigu tolo in their language) and its two invisible companions. The diagram is only convincing as a representation of Sirius B orbiting Sirius A when most of the original symbols are eliminated. The Nine became part of the UFO and New Age mythology and many claim to be in contact with them. e issued monthly by the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. In this weeks eSkeptic, Liam McDaid examines these claims. Europeans too believed that the "white dwarf' Sirius-B star was the heaviest thing in the universe, although in later years astronomers were to find 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. Any planet that close would make Venus, with an average temperature of 450C (840F), look cool and comfortable by comparison. 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. Readers of Skeptic are not so sanguine. WebThe population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000.. . Its appearance in the dawn sky over Egypt warned of the impending Nile floods and the summer's heat and marked the beginning of the Egyptian calendar. Dogon to explain their beliefs. WebAlso there is the fact that they described the Nommo as fish people and you find all kinds of half man/half fish - serpent imagery all over the Mediterranean. Griaule and Dieterlen describe a world renovation ceremony, associated They seem to have "Robert Temple on three different occasions, by mail and phone, attempted to get support from me and I steadfastly refused," Asimov wrote. | 3938 State St., Suite # 101, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105-3114 | 1-805-576-9396. The introduction to his second edition is so full of paranoid theorizing,2 that although it is quoted extensively and interpolated with favorable comments by Michael Bara (or possibly Richard Hoagland), the most extreme conspiracy claims are omitted.3. As the brightest star in the sky it was known and worshiped by ancient civilizations. Afrocentrists, on the other hand, claimed that the Dogon could see Legends of the Dogon Belief in a Long-Solved Mystery Resurfaces. this about a star that cannot be seen without telescopes, and he made no They know about the existence of the star Sirius B, a companion star to the brightest star in our sky, Sirius A. But now, in another recent publication Ancient Mysteries by Peter James and Nick Thorpe this mystery is also uncloaked as a hoax or a lie perpetrated by Griaule.