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An Analysis of the Alignment of Archaeological Sites
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of sites of archaeological importance throughout the world. In this study, the alignments of over two-hundred ancient sites were measured and analyzed. Sites are organized into eight geographic regions: South America, Mesoamerica, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean. Google Earth imagery and measurement tools were used to estimate the alignment of linear and rectilinear structures at these sites with respect to true (geographic) north. In considering standard celestial and geographic reasons for the alignments, many were found to be oriented to the cardinal directions, in the directions of solstices and other solar events, to lunar standstills, and certain stars. A number of sites in China and Thailand were likely aligned to magnetic north at the time of construction using a compass. Some sites appear to have been aligned to “sacred directions” that include Islamic qibla and Quechua ceques. Site alignment statistics reveal similarities and differences between geographical regions in terms of how sites within regions are aligned. Perhaps the most unexpected finding is that the alignment of about half of the sites could not be explained in terms of any of the reasons considered.
A New Model to Explain the Alignment of Certain Ancient Sites
In a previous study of over two hundred ancient sites, the alignments of almost half of the sites could not be explained. These sites are distributed throughout the world and include the majority of Mesoamerican pyramids and temples that are misaligned with respect to true north, megalithic structures at several sites in Peru’s Sacred Valley, some pyramids in Lower Egypt, and numerous temples in Upper Egypt. A new model is proposed to account for the alignment of certain unexplained sites based on an application of Charles Hapgood’s hypothesis that global patterns of climate change over the past 100,000 years could be the result of displacements of the Earth’s crust and corresponding shifts of the geographic poles. It is shown that over 80% of the unexplained sites reference four locations within 30° of the North Pole that are correlated with Hapgood’s hypothesized pole locations. The alignments of these sites are consistent with the hypothesis that if they were built in alignment with one of these former poles they would be misaligned to north as they are now as the result of subsequent geographic pole shifts.
Archaeological Dating Using a Data Fusion Approach
A new approach for dating archaeological sites is described. The method is inspired by Hapgood’s hypothesis that patterns of glaciation and ice ages can be explained by shifts in the geographic location of the North Pole. We have identified over fifty archaeological sites throughout the world that could have once been aligned to north (i.e., to one of these past poles) when the sites were first established but are now misaligned due to subsequent pole shifts. An algorithm is described that fuses the location and orientation of these sites with Hapgood’s original climate-dated pole locations to infer the date of construction of the associated sites. The results suggest that these sites may be far older than is currently thought.
Before Atlantis 