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Gary C. Daniels, July 18, 2012 http://www.LostWorlds.org Was the Ocmulgee earth lodge an astronomical observatory and sophisticated scientific apparatus designed to forewarn its designers of impending catastrophe coming from the heavens?
Introduction
The
earth
lodge
at
the
Ocmulgee
Mounds
site
in
Macon,
Georgia
is
a
unique
building
among
Native
American
archaeological
sites
in
the
Southeast.
It
is
a
round
building
completely
covered
with
earth
except
for
a
smoke
hole
in
the
center
of
the
roof
to
allow
smoke
to
escape
from
the
central
fire
pit
below.
Entry
into
the
earth
lodge
was
from
the
east
through
a
low,
long,
tunnel-like,
earth-covered
corridor.
One
would
have
to
crouch
or
crawl
until
he
reached
the
central,
round
chamber
before
he
could
stand
fully
erect
again.
According
to
the
Creek
Migration
Legend
this
structure
was
where
the
tribes
warriors
would
gather
to
fast
and
purify
their
bodies,1
thus
entry
was
likely
limited
to
males
exclusively.
The low doorway into the Ocmulgee earth lodge, a mound with a central chamber. (Photo 2004, Gary C. Daniels)
The main chamber was bounded by a low wall upon which rested the lower ends of the roof timbers. There were four large upright posts in the middle of this circular chamber that supported four horizontal posts that formed a large square. The middle of the roof timbers rested on these horizontal timbers and on top of these timbers earth was piled thereby creating the earth-covered roof of this structure. The roof timbers did not all meet in the center instead leaving a large hole through which smoke could escape. In the center of the floor between these four upright posts was a large fire pit molded into the clay floor. Along the floor against the circular low wall were a series of 47 seats molded into the clay floor. Each had a small cubbyhole molded into the front of the seat, the exact purpose of which is unknown although it was likely a place to store personal items.
On the western end of this round chamber was a large, elevated platform or altar in the shape of a bird. The bird likely represented a raptor, either an eagle or falcon, both highly revered among Creek Indians. Surrounding the eye of the raptor was a design known as the forked eye motif. It had the appearance of a two-tailed comet. (More on this later.) This is the earliest known instance of this symbol, which eventually became widespread throughout much of Southeastern and Midwestern America. One researcher noted that mythological beings represented with the forked-eye surround were associated with the celestial realm2 which is consistent with a comet interpretation. Finally, three more seats were located on this platform bringing the total number of seats in this great chamber to fifty. Clearly these three elevated seats were reserved for very important persons.
The only artifact excavated from the interior of the chamber was a large conch shell. These shells were reserved for serving a ritual tea known as both the black drink because of its color and the white drink because of its use in purification rituals. The tea was made from the leaves of the yaupon holly plant. The leaves of this plant had high concentrations of caffeine, many times more than a similar amount of coffee, and was drunk piping hot thus increasing the absorption of caffeine into the bloodstream.
The earth lodge was unearthed at Ocmulgee Mounds during excavations in 1938.5 The earth lodge had been burned and archaeologists were able to date this charcoal to around 1015 AD6. Whether the structure was burned by its own inhabitants or by an attacking enemy is unknown. What is known is that the structure is unique in the Southeast. Archaeologist Lewis Larson noted that the 19th century researcher Swanton provided the most detailed and exhaustive survey of the ethnohistorical literature covering the domestic and public architecture of the southeastern Indians. A review of his survey reveals that there are no structures comparable to the Macon Plateau earth lodge as it has been described by Kelly.7 In other words, during the time period that the migration legends were recorded, no known structure similar to an earth lodge was in existence thus: 1) how could a Native American informant at this time describe such a structure while recounting his tribes migration legend and 2) how could the description of this structure match perfectly with the archaeological data from excavations conducted nearly 200 years after the legend was recorded? Either the informant in question was psychic or the legend is an accurate recounting of real historical events. This very uniqueness caused Larson to call into question Kellys earth lodge interpretation of his findings and Larson even went so far as to refute the very existence of earth lodges in the Southeast even at Ocmulgee Mounds. Yet the migration legend seems to support Kellys interpretation of the data as, indeed, a mound with a central chamber, i.e., earth lodge.
Model
of
Pawnee
earth
lodge
Layout
of
Pawnee
earth
lodge
Researchers have listed five characteristics of Pawnee earth lodges that indicated they had been used as a priestly observatory: 1. unobstructed view of the eastern sky 2. east-west orientation so that at the vernal equinox the sun's first light would strike the altar 3. the size parameters of the lodge's smoke hole and door (height and width) would be designed to view the sky 4. the lodge's smoke hole would be constructed to view certain parts of the heavens-such as the Pleiades 5. the presence of four main interior support posts correctly aligned to the semicardinal points.
How well does the Ocmulgee earth lodge match up with these five conditions? The Ocmulgee earth lodge was constructed on top of a bluff or plateau thus it would have had an unobstructed view of the eastern sky. It also had four main interior support posts aligned to the semicardinal directions. The structure also had an east- west orientation yet, according to researchers, its doorway aligned to the sunrise on February 22nd and October 22nd instead of the vernal equinox (March 21.) (Using software called The Photographers Ephemeris I was able to confirm this alignment.)
This satellite image shows the door of the earth lodge perfectly aligned with the sunrise (yellow line) on October 22. The Photographers Ephemeris & Google Maps.
Why would the builders have chosen this date instead of the vernal equinox? Was there any significant astronomical event on this day that they may have wanted to mark? In our current era, October 22nd represents the peak night of the Orionid meteor shower. Yet 1,000 years ago, due to precession of the equinoxes, the Orionids would have peaked 14 days earlier on October 8th. The Taurid meteor shower, however, which today peaks on November 5th, would have also peaked 14 days earlier at that time; i.e., on October 22nd. The Taurids were created by debris left over from comet Encke. This shower, which produces spectacular fireballs, appears to originate from the Pleiades asterism within the constellation Taurus. As noted previously, a bird-shaped platform or altar was located at the western end of the Ocmulgee earth lodge. This bird had a design around its eye known as the forked eye motif that was in the shape of a two-tailed comet.9 Thus 1000 years ago on October 22, sunlight would have streamed through the Ocmulgee earth lodges doorway and landed on the bird platform with the
comet-like forked-eye design. That night the peak activity of the Taurid meteor shower would have occurred.
Additionally, using the software program Stellarium, I was able to determine that the Pleiades were very high in the sky just past midnight on October 22, 1015 AD and therefore visible through the smoke hole of the Ocmulgee earth lodge. Thus the very constellation from which the Taurid meteor shower originated would have been visible directly overhead through the smoke hole. Therefore, the Ocmulgee earth lodge meets all five criteria indicative of its use as a priestly observatory except it was aligned with a significant astronomical event other than the vernal equinox.
Doomsday
Clock?
Curiously,
around
the
same
time
that
archaeologists
have
dated
the
destruction
of
the
Ocmulgee
earth
lodge
by
fire,
a
cosmic
catastrophe
seems
to
have
impacted
Earth,
likely
the
result
of
the
Taurid
meteor
shower.
According
to
the
Anglo
Saxon
Chronicle,
on
September
28,
1014
AD,
a
tsunami
devastated
many
towns
in
England.10
(In
our
modern
Gregorian
calendar
this
date
would
equate
to
October
4,
1014
AD.)11
Researchers
in
North
Carolina
have
noted
that
either
a
major
storm
surge
or
tsunami
devastated
the
coastal
areas
of
the
state
around
this
time
as
well.12
Considering
all
the
evidence
for
a
major
Atlantic
tsunami
at
this
time
it
was
most
likely
this
tsunami
not
storm
surge
that
devastated
coastal
North
Carolina.13
Dallas
Abbott
of
the
Lamont
Doherty
Observatory
at
Columbia
University
found
tsunami
deposits
from
the
same
time
period
in
New
York,
the
Caribbean
and
northern
South
America.14
She
also
found
sediment
deposits
from
the
mid-Atlantic
ridge
in
an
inland
bog
in
New
York
that
also
dated
to
the
same
time
period.
Her
research
concluded
that
the
only
thing
that
could
have
produced
all
these
effects
was a meteor impact in the center of the Atlantic Ocean. Abbott noted that all these events corresponded with a large ammonium spike in the Greenland ice core record similar to other such spikes recorded around the time of known meteor impacts. Other researchers going back through the historical record found that the 11th century featured one of the most active Taurid meteor showers ever recorded. I. S. Astapovich and A. K. Terent'eva conducted a study of fireballs appearing between the 1st and 15th centuries and revealed the Taurids to have been "the most powerful shower of the year in the 11th century (with 42 fireballs belonging to them) and no shower, not even the great ones, could be compared with them as to activity."15 Thus the Taurid meteor storm of 1014 must have been truly an awe- inspiring spectacle even greater than the Leonid meteor storm of 1833.
Thus all the evidence supports the theory that a meteor slammed into the middle of the Atlantic and produced tsunamis that impacted coasts on both sides of this ocean in the Fall of 1014 AD. Coincidentally, according to Aztec legend, their Fourth Sun ended in 1011 AD due to a great flood followed by the sky falling. This event is recorded on the Aztec Calendar Stone or Stone of the Fifth Sun that included two xihucoatls, fire serpents, around the outside edge of the sculpture. Each fire serpent had a snout with seven star symbols that represented the seven stars of the Pleiades.16 This suggests these fire serpents were flaming meteors emanating from the Pleiades and thus were part of the Taurid meteor stream. The Taurids are known for slow-moving fireballs with long smoke trails thus the designation of fire serpent is quite appropriate. The fact that the Fourth Sun ended with a flood is consistent with these fire serpents having impacted the ocean creating a tsunami. Yet their date of 1011 AD is two years off from the known impact date of 1014 AD. Why?
Researchers have noted that after the Aztecs won their independence in 1428 they revised many historical events to fall on important dates within their 52 year calendar cycle called the xiuhmolpilli.17 One researcher noted, A number of events of early history were assigned to dates with important positions in the 52-year cycle and that certain types of events were recorded as occurring in years of the same name.18 Additionally, astronomer Anthony Aveni noted that calendrical adjustments were frequently geared to the 52-year xiuhmolpilli or one [of] its multiples.19 Thus this could explain why the flood that ended the Aztecs Fourth Sun and resulted in the creation of the Fifth Sun is said to have taken place in 13 Reed, 1011 AD, instead of the actual date of 1014 AD. The Taurids are active from early October until late November in modern times and a thousand years ago would have ranged from late September until mid November. Thus the date recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, September 28, 1014 (October 4, 1014 AD in our modern Gregorian calendar), is consistent with an interpretation that two large meteors (fire serpents) part of the Taurid meteor stream crashed into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and caused tsunamis that spread out and impacted shores all around its perimeter. Is this the reason the people at Ocmulgee burned their observatory sometime around 1015 AD (perhaps even in 1014 AD)? Was the Ocmulgee earth lodge a place where the men of Ocmulgee cleansed and purified themselves through various rituals all with the hopes of appeasing their gods and avoiding future catastrophes?
When these purification rituals failed to prevent another catastrophe did they burn the observatory to the ground out of frustration? Or did they believe that such catastrophes could only occur at the peak of Taurid meteor shower activity on October 22nd and when it came earlier on October 4th they realized their doomsday predictor, the earth lodge with its perfect alignments, had failed and was no longer of any use? This type of ritualized behavior was quite common among the indigenous people of North America. For instance, the Aztec Calendar Stone was associated with the New Fire Ceremony and this ceremony, in turn, was associated with the Pleiades. The New Fire Ceremony was conducted every 52 years when the Aztecs two primary calendars came back into sync. They called this event the binding of years and the New Fire ceremony marked the occasion. The last New Fire ceremony took place in 1507 at the temple of Huixachtlan on the top of Huixachtecatl, Hill of the Star. The star in question was the Pleiades asterism. According to the Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagun who wrote a 12 volume history of Mexico the New Fire ceremony went something like this: ...they considered it a matter of belief that the world would come to an end at the conclusion of one of these bundles of years. They had a prophecy or oracle that at that time the movement of the heavens would cease, and they took as a sign [of this] the movement of the Pleiades. On the night of this feast, which they called Toximmolpilia [the Binding of the Years***] it so befell that the Pleiades were at the zenith at midnight with respect to the horizon in Mexico. On this night they made new fire, and before they made it, they extinguished all the fires in all the provinces, towns and houses in all of this New Spain. And they went in a solemn procession. All of the priests and servants of the temple departed from here, the Temple of Mexico, during the first quarter of the night, and went to the summit of that mountain near Itztpalapan which they call Uixachtecatl. They reached the summit at midnight, or almost, where stood a great pyramid built for that ceremony. Having reached there, they looked at the Pleiades to see if they were at the zenith, and if they were not, they waited until they were. And when they saw that now they passed the zenith, they knew the movement of the heavens had not ceased, and that the end of the world was not then. [Vol. 4, p143] And when they drew the new fire, they drew it there at Uixachtlan, at midnight, when the night divided in half, They drew it upon the breast of a captive, and it was a well-born one on whose breast [the priest] bored the fire drill. And when a little [fire] fell, when it took flame, then speedily [the priest] slashed open the breast of the captive, seized his heart, and quickly cast it there into the fire. [Vol. 7, p25]
Then [the priests] slashed open [the captives] breast. In his breast [cavity] the new fire was drawn. They opened the breast of the captive with a flint knife called ixcuauac. [Vol. 7, p28] These New Fire rituals were dedicated to the god Huitzilopochtli.20 Curiously he was associated with birds and birds were given to him as offerings, primarily hawks and quail. This is reminiscent of the bird offerings found in Pawnee earth lodges as well as the bird platform thought to represent a hawk or eagle in the Ocmulgee earth lodge. Other ceremonies dedicated to this god also appear to reenact a meteor impact event. For instance, Sahaguns description of the annual Panquetzalitztli festivals, held in honor of Huitzlilopochtli, notes: in a concluding episode of the ritual events, a large paper-and-feather xihucoatl [fire serpent] was brought down the steps from the platform of the Main Pyramid, to be presented at an altar on the bottom landing: Thereupon likewise descended the fire serpent, looking like a blazing pine firebrand. Its tongue was made of red arara feathers, looking like a flaming torch. And its tail was of paper, two or three fathoms long. As it descended, it came moving its tongue, like that of a real serpent, darting in and out. And when [the priest] had come [with it], bringing it down to the base [of the pyramid], he proceeded carefully to the eagle vessel. Then he went up [to the eagle vessel] and raised [the fire serpent] also to the four directions. When he had [so] raised it up, then he cast it upon the sacrificial paper, and then they burned. (Sahagun 1951-70, Bk. 2:136).21 A fire serpent descending from the heavens (i.e., top of the pyramid) and bursting into flames once reaching Earth is the perfect metaphor for a meteor impact.
The forked-eye surround would later be found on another creature associated with the sky: the horned feathered serpent. Among the Cherokee this creature was known as Uktena and its description is consistent with a comet or meteor: Those who know say the Uktena is a great snakewith horns on its head, and a bright blazing crest like a diamond on its forehead, and scales glowing like sparks of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length, and cannot be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from the head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The blazing diamond is called Ulun'suti"Transparent"for whoever is seen by the Uktena is so dazed by the bright light that he runs toward the snake instead of trying to escape. As if this were not enough, the breath of the Uktena is so pestilential, that no living creature can survive should they inhale the tiniest bit of the foul air expelled by the Uktena.22 The fact that the myth includes reference to seven spots may associate this creature with the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus. The fact that this creature is also antlered likely also associates it with the constellation Taurus, the only constellation that looks like a horned animal. There are accounts of meteorite impacts releasing noxious gases that have sickened people,23 which is also consistent with the Cherokee legend. Among the Lakota Sioux the Unktehi caused a great flood24 which is consistent with other evidence presented earlier.
Conclusions
The
Ocmulgee
earth
lodge
was
an
astronomical
observatory
for
the
observation
of
the
Taurid
meteor
shower.
The
fact
that
the
door
of
this
observatory
was
aligned
with
the
peak
activity
of
this
meteor
shower
supports
this
hypothesis.
Evidence
is
suggestive
that
the
forked-eye
surround
motif
on
the
bird
platform
is
associated
with
celestial
phenomena
such
as
comets
or
meteors
and
thus
supports
the
hypothesis.
The
fact
that
the
Taurid
meteor
shower
experienced
an
elevated
level
of
activity
during
the
11th
century
likely
inspired
the
creation
of
the
Ocmulgee
earth
lodge
observatory.
The
fact
that
this
observatorys
destruction
coincided
with
an
oceanic
impact
event
and
associated
tsunami
likely
caused
by
meteor(s)
from
the
Taurid
complex
was
no
accident
and
was
a
purposeful
response
to
this
catastrophic
event.
References
Cited
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