Nabta Playa

[real6]

Im curious has anyone ever heard of this? or know anything about this? i saw the illest video of this last night on www.guba.com

Amazon.com: The Origin Map: Discovery of a Prehistoric, Megalithic, Astrophysical Map and Sculpture of the Universe (9780595241224): Thomas G. Brophy: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bRjpitQhL.@@AMEPARAM@@51bRjpitQhL

On a desolate plain in the Egyptian Sahara desert, west of Aswan, there is a very remote prehistoric site called Nabta Playa. There, a recently discovered complex of extremely ancient man-made megalithic structures have baffled the archaeologists who excavated them. An insight into the meaning and use of the megaliths led to a step-by-step sequence of discoveries, verified by measure and calculation, revealing that the megalithic architecture at Nabta Playa is a unified and detailed astrophysical map of truly astonishing accuracy, with no less than staggering implications. Written for the educated general reader, with technical appendices, the discovery of how to decipher the system of megalithic structures is reported with gripping clarity.


Nabta Playa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One of the world's earliest known archeoastronomy
By the 5th millennium BC these peoples had fashioned one of the world's earliest known archeoastronomical device (roughly contemporary to the Goseck circle in Germany), about 1000 years older than but comparable to Stonehenge[2] (see sketch at right). Research suggests that it may have been a prehistoric calendar which accurately marks the summer solstice.[3]

The research done by the astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests that these monoliths might tell much more. The calendar circle itself is made up of one doorway that runs north-south, a second that runs northeast-southwest marking the summer solstice, and six center stones. Brophy's theory proposes first that three of the center stones match the belt of Orion at its minimum tilt and the other three match the shoulder and head stars of Orion at their maximum tilt. This cycle repeats approximately every 25,000 years, following the precession of the equinoxes. The last minimum of Orion's belt occurred between 6400 BC and 4900 BC, matching the radio-carbon dating of campfires around the circle.

Another stone megalithic structure exists which consists of a central radial stone and several other stones in the distance. In interpretting this Brophy found that the lines made to these stones from the radial stone match the spots in the sky where the various stars marked by the center stones in the calendar circle at the time they rose as the vernal equinox heliacal rising. In analyzing the varying distances, mulling through assumptions such as that they represented the brightness of the stars, he inadvertently found that they matched the distance of the stars from Earth on a scale of 1 meter = .799 light years within the margin of error for astronomical distances calculated today. As long as there is no technique accessible to Neolithic people known, with which they could have measured the distances to stars, this correlation seems to be nothing more than chance coincidence.

[synergy777]

good find, its like the nubian pyramids, which are overlooked.

[mynameis]

Is this near the area where the meteorite glass was discovered?

[real6]

i found these links:

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/africa/nabtaplaya.html

http://www.rhodes.aegean.gr/maa_journal/Issues/Past%20Issues/Volume%205%20No1%20June%202005/BROPHY.pdf

http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2000/418.html

http://www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/NabtaPlayaEgypt.html



i know. but this crazy video i seen last night. the site is blocked at my job but i saw it on www.guba.com

then i typed egypt and then all these videos came up. it blew my mind when i watched it.

[real6]

Crazy i say...

[ravenswing]

Can you give a more definate link to the vid, I can't make out which one its on and tried putting in Nabta Playa but nothing came up :)

[real6]

Can you give a more definate link to the vid, I can't make out which one its on and tried putting in Nabta Playa but nothing came up :)

Hey, ill try and search for it on Sat. when i have the time.

[real6]

Can you give a more definate link to the vid, I can't make out which one its on and tried putting in Nabta Playa but nothing came up :)

I FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

http://www.guba.com/watch/2000915330

[ravenswing]

Thx :D

[real6]

Thx :D

Anytime...

[real6]

Bump

[real6]

Is this near the area where the meteorite glass was discovered?

I believe so...



Archaeoastronomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[real6]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/REAL6/nubian.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/REAL6/nub2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/REAL6/nub1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/REAL6/nub3.jpg

Nabta Playa
African Archaeology
"The symbolic richness and spatial awareness seen in the Nabta complex of the Late Neolithic age may have developed from adaptation by nomadic peoples to the stress of survival in the desert. The ceremonial complex could not be more recent than the onset of hyperaridity in the region around 4800 years ago, suggesting that the astronomy and ceremonialism of Nabta occurred before most of the megalithic features of Europe, Great Britain, and Brittany were established. Within some 500 years after the exodus from Nabta, the step pyramid at Saqqara was constructed, indicating that there was a pre-existing cultural base, which may have originated in the desert of Upper Egypt. An exodus from the Nubian desert at 5000 years ago could have precipitated the development of social differentiation in predynastic cultures through the arrival in the Nile valley of nomadic groups who were better organized and possessed a more complex cosmology."
Reference: Oldest Astronomical Megalith Alignment Discovered In Egypt By Science Team
Malville, Wendorf, Mazar & Schild, Megaliths and Neolithic Astronomy in Southern Egypt, Nature, pp. 392, 488-491 (April 2, 1998)

The site was first discovered in 1974 by a group of scientists headed by Fred Wendorf, an Anthropology Professor from Southern Methodist University in Texas. The team had stopped for a break from their uncomfortable drive from the Libyan border to the Nile Valley when, as Wendorf stated, "we were standing there minding our own business, when we noticed potsherds and other artifacts." Throughout the 1970's and 1980's, Wendorf returned to Nabta several times. He determined that humans had occupied the Nabta area off and on for thousands of years, dating from as early as 11,000 years ago up until about 4800 years ago. Although the area was occupied for more then 5000 years, the majority of the stone structures and other artifacts originated between 7000 and 6500 years ago. It was considered by most to be the height of human occupation at Nabta.

Nabta became a habitable area because of a climatic change that occurred over North Africa around 12,000 years ago. This climatic change was caused by a northward shift of the summer monsoons. This shift brought enough rain to the Nabta region to enable it to sustain life for both humans and animals. Although it was a small amount of rain, usually around four to eight inches (10-15 cm) per year, it was enough to fill the playas with water for months at a time. Between 11,000 and 9300 years ago, Nabta saw its first settlements. The people living at Nabta herded cattle, made ceramic vessels, and set up seasonal camps around the playa. These people regarded cattle in much the same way as modern peoples of West Africa regard them. The blood and milk of the cattle was more significant than the meat. The ceramics that were found from this period are minimal, but are considered to be some of the oldest identified in Africa.

Once fall came and the playa dried up, these people had to migrate to areas where more water was available, possibly to the Nile in the east or perhaps to areas further south. Larger settlements began to pop up shortly after 9000 years ago. These people were able to dig wells that supplied them with enough water to live at Nabta year round. They survived on a number of wild plants and small animals like hares and gazelles. By around 8100 years ago there is evidence for the domestication of larger animals including goats and sheep. This is also a time when the people of Nabta started to produce pottery locally.

Settlements became larger and more sophisticated. One settlement from this period contains 18 houses arranged in two, possibly three straight lines. It also contains numerous fire hearths and these amazing walk-in wells. This settlement also shows the establishment of an organized labor force. This settlement and all the other settlements at Nabta were abandoned for a couple of long stretches between 8000 and 7000 years ago when two major droughts occurred. These droughts caused the water table to be lowered to around the same level as it is today, causing Nabta to be hyper-arid and virtually lifeless for long periods of time.

The groups of people that returned to Nabta after the droughts exhibited substantial advancement toward a more complex society that expressed a greater degree of organization and control. This control and organization was probably centered around some ritual or religious belief system. This is the time period when most of the major structures were constructed at Nabta. They constructed five megalithic alignments that radiated from a cluster of stones that has been named E-96-1 Structure A. These megaliths were constructed out of quartzite sandstone that came from exposed sandstone that was at least a half -kilometer away. The stones were erected and embedded into the playa. With the help of GPS satellite technology, recent surveys by Wendorf and University of Colorado at Boulder's Astronomy Professor J. McKim Malville have allowed them to map out the exact location of these stone alignments. These studies confirm that one of the alignments of the megaliths form an east-west line and another alignment forms a north-south line.

Although more research needs to be done, many scientists, including Malville, believe that the alignments had an astronomical significance. Three hundred meters north of these alignments is the stone calendar circle. Compared to Stonehenge, this circle is very small, measuring roughly 4 m in diameter. The calendar consists of a number of stones, the main ones being four pairs of larger ones. Each of these four pairs were set close together to form what Wendorf calls "gates." Two of these pairs align to form a line very close to a true north-south line, and the other two pairs or gates align to form an east-west line. The east-west alignment is calculated to be where the sun would have risen and set from the summer solstice 6500 years ago.
An assembly of huge stone slabs found in Egypt’s Sahara Desert that date from about 6500 years to 6000 years ago has been confirmed by scientists to be the oldest known astronomical alignment of megaliths in the world. Photo credit: J. M. Malville
(U. Colorado) & F. Wendorf (SMU). [site]

Mystic Places: Astronomical Alignments
of Ancient Structures
Map courtesy of Mary Settegast, Plato Prehistorian: 10,000 to 5000 B.C. Myth, Religion, Archaeology, (2000)
A stone circle in Egypt is the world's oldest astronomical observatory.
Fire hearths from around the circle date to around 6800 years ago. Another 300 meters north of the calendar circle is a stone covered tumuli that contained the remains of cattle. One of the tumuli contained a cow that was fully articulated. This particular tumulus was dug into the ground surrounded by a clay frame. It had a roof made from the limbs of tamarisk. It was then covered with broken rocks that formed a mound eight meters in diameter and one meter high. Wood from the roof of the chamber has been dated to around 6500 years ago. Other tumuli that were found in the area were more basic and consisted of unshaped stones that contained disarticulated cattle bones. They had no subsurface structure and were basically piles of bones covered with stones. These tumuli were dated to about 5500 years ago.

Another major feature at Nabta is a group of thirty "complex structures." These structures are located about a kilometer south of the cattle tumuli measuring 500 meters in length and 200 meters in width. The framework was constructed by using roughly shaped or unshaped stones that were set upright to form a structure that was oval in shape measuring 5 meters by 4 meters. Aside from a few minor details, all of the structures were basically the same. They all face slightly west of north and they all have one or two large stone slabs that lay horizontally in the center of the structure. What makes them unique is that they have been built over large mushroom-shaped tablerocks. The tablerocks were shaped by years and years of erosion and then covered by two to three and a half meters of playa clays and silts.

It is unclear as to how the Nabtians were able to locate these tablerocks. One theory is that they were located by accident when they were digging wells, but nobody knows for sure. The largest excavated structure reveals that a large pit was dug before the erection of the walls. The pit was about 6 m in diameter and 4 m deep. It was dug down to the tablerock. They shaped the rock to have three convex sides and one side that was worked to form a straight edge that face north. In the pit they placed another large shaped stone or sculpture that resembled a cow or some other large animal. The sculpture was placed upright with its axis facing north, the same way as the tablerock below it. The pit was backfilled with playa clay one meter thick in order to support the sculpture. Two smaller stones were also placed in the pit to help secure the sculpture even more. Once the sculpture was in place and the pit was completely backfilled, the surface stones were then erected and placed into position. Testing done on charcoal from around the structures indicates a date to 5500-5000 years ago. The actual function of the complex remains a mystery.

About 4800 years ago there was another climatic change. The African monsoons shifted south to approximately the same area that they were prior to 12,000 years ago. The land became hyper-arid again and caused human habitation at Nabta to cease. The cattle worshipping people of Nabta had to migrate to a more livable area. But to where did these people migrate? Some people believe that the people of Nabta eventually made their way to the Nile Valley. Perhaps they were the people responsible for the rise of the Egyptian Empire. This theory is based on the prominence of cattle in the religious belief system of Pre-dynastic Egypt continuing into the Old Kingdom.

In ancient Egypt, cattle were deified and regarded as the earthly representative of the gods. Egyptian Pharaohs were said to represent two gods. Horus represented Upper Egypt and Seth represented Lower Egypt. Horus was the son of Hathor who was depicted as either a cow or a strong bull. Another Egyptian god that is represented by a bull is the god of rain, a very important entity to the people of Nabta, considering that life or death could have been determined by the amount of rain they received. Another point of interest is that pre-Egyptian societies did not place the same importance on cattle in either a social or religious capacity, indicating that outside influence must have played a part in the Old Kingdom belief system. This may have happened because the pastoralists from Nabta came to the Nile to conquer and take over the land from their farming neighbors. Perhaps they simply joined together with the farmers and their beliefs were blended with those of the farmers. No matter how you look at it, given the closeness of Nabta to the Nile, there had to have been interaction between them and ideas had to be exchanged to some degree.

Whether or not the people of Nabta had anything to do with the Egyptian civilization, it is still a site of great importance. It dates to a time when climatic and social changes were occurring. Complex societies or civilizations were starting to emerge not only in Africa, but throughout the world. Nabta helps to provide us with a better understanding of what life was like during this time in history.

[real6]

http://www.planetquest.org/learn/nabta.html


PlanetQuest: The History of Astronomy
Photo © Nature Publishing Group
Nabta Playa

Background:

Nabta Playa is a natural depression with an area of about 5000 square kilometers (2000 square miles) located west of the Nile River in what is today southern Egypt. Until roughly 11,000 years ago, the wide plains of Nabta Playa were too dry to support permanent human settlement. But by then, weather patterns began to shift and scientists think that summer monsoons of Central Africa began to reach into the area, creating large temporary lakes or playas.
Click on the map to see a larger view
Photo © Nature Publishing Group

Scientists have hypothesized that over time these lakes encouraged increasingly complex human societies to form. Evidence points to early transhuman cattle pastoralism (meaning humans migrated with their animals every year), as well as the elaboration of religious beliefs and cultural practices. But beginning about 9000 years ago, larger permanent settlements developed that relied on wells in addition to sheep, cattle, and goat herding. After a period of intense drought between 8000 and 7000 years ago, the climate again shifted to support permanent settlement in the playa, and scientists believe these groups developed a sophisticated society centered on religious beliefs. Most importantly, it appears that by about 6500 years ago, inhabitants at Nabta Playa developed a sophisticated, accurate way of marking time and seasons, using the stars as their guides. About 4800 years ago, another climate change occurred, and today scientists believe that the Nabta inhabitants may have gradually made their way into the more fertile Nile River Valley—but no one knows for sure. Are these people the ancestors of ancient Egypt? Maybe, but much more research is required.




Image © Nature Publishing Group

Astronomical significance:

Nabta Playa is currently the oldest known archaeoastronomy site in the world, older than Stonehenge by at least 1000 years. There are five known alignments of megaliths stretching out from a group of central megalithic structures at the settlement. When archaeoastronomers began to draw lines along the alignments, they realized that the lines very closely matched the direction of sunrise on the summer solstice, as well as the rising points of Sirius, Dubhe, and Orion's Belt. In addition, vertical stones—which would cast no shadow when the Sun passes directly overhead—marked the sun's zenith passage, which happens each year about three weeks before and three weeks after the solstice, and may have signaled the onset of the summer monsoons. Scientists also found several strong north-south and east-west alignments that might have helped Nabtians navigate and track stellar movements.
Photo © Nature Publishing Group

Why are megaliths important to us today? Well, building a megalith isn’t easy. And building a megalith that actually accurately measures the movement of stars across seasons is even harder. Think of it: first you have to know a lot of people to help you move some very large rocks. Each megalith at Nabta Playa is about 2 m (6 feet) wide by 3 m (9 feet) high. Then you have to convince your friends that moving a large slab is worthwhile. The megaliths at Nabta Playa probably came from a quarry at least 0.5 km (0.3 mile) away from where Nabtians finally placed them. That's quite an effort. And then you have to carefully watch the sky and track stars as they move across the sky over the years, so that the megaliths can be properly aligned. Finally, the Nabta megalith slabs are actually carved, which might have shown certain stellar alignments based on the shape of the stone. So the complexities of building a megalith can tell us quite a bit about the society that built it.


Photo © Nature Publishing Group

Because building the megaliths at Nabta Playa took significant organization and skills, scientists think that the Nabtians had, by about 6500 years ago, developed a fairly advanced society. They could organize labor to move the slabs, build a number of houses, dig wells, and perhaps even specialize in certain kinds of tasks, sharing the burdens of everyday life. The sophistication and accuracy of the megaliths themselves, along with evidence of cattle worship that anthropologists and archaeologists recently discovered, also tell us that this society probably developed in complexity over time.