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5000 year old navigation system discovered
According to this story from the Daily Mail, the 5000 year old "sat nav" system used stone monuments, often erected atop high hills, to point the way to similar points, sometimes as far as 100 miles away. This intricate network of stone monoliths, which includes Stonehenge, created a system that would allow ancient travelers to navigate across long distances with an accuracy of within 100 meters.
British Historian Tom Brooks used modern GPS systems to examine more than 1500 historical sites, and his findings were astounding. Each of the sites was connected to one another by vast geometric grid made of of isosceles triangles, in which each triangle has two sides of the same length, and pointed to the next settlement, thus allowing for simple and effective navigation across the landscape.
If Brook's assertion that the system was created over 5000 years ago is correct, the use of geometry predates that of the Greeks, who were thought to have discovered that branch of mathematics. He also claims that it is the "world's biggest civil engineering project" as well.
The implications of this theory are very interesting, and it does help to explain what the purpose of sites such as Stonehenge were used for, although their method of construction still remains a mystery. This is a fascinating story of how prehistoric man may have found their way across long distances.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Europe, United Kingdom
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Stephen Sep 15th 2009 1:33PM
Wow, this is great. What a cool discovery.
rannar Sep 16th 2009 6:58AM
I have always said that folks sell our forefathers short when it comes to smarts, remember there nothing new under the sun.
Wish Belkin Sep 16th 2009 7:21AM
"the use of geometry predates that of the Greeks,"
________________________________________
Does the Pythagorean therum still apply?
Wish Belkin Sep 16th 2009 7:24AM
"Theorem" Sorry
Scharabo Sep 16th 2009 7:36AM
In looking at the graphic some do not appear to be isosceles trianges at all. For example, the one in the extreme upper left. I suspect it is more forcing the facts to fit your theory.
Obvious Sep 16th 2009 7:56AM
No he is on the mark on that one. I think you're assuming that all of the isosceles triangles are pointing inwards. Look at all three directions to which they point, and you should see that they are in fact the same length on two different sides.
All in all this might just end up being a huge discovery. If ancient man was using geometry before the Greeks, who knows what else our historical assumptions might end up revealing.
If nothing else, the guys with the tin-foil hats camping out around Roswell will have something new to babble on about :P "The aliens gave us geometry!! ^_^"
O_O
Frank Sep 16th 2009 7:42AM
The Pythagorean theorem was used by the Babalonians. There are tablets containing tables of squares used to measure the sides of triangles.
Jane Oct 17th 2009 9:33PM
The further back that archaeology and research takes us, the more we learn about our ancestors. It seems, based on information of which I have researched, cultures and civilizations 'borrowed' from each other. These cultures/civilizations, (we are finding), grow more distant into our human past than ever imagined.
Our newer dating and research equipment, plus sat. images, are finding more and more sites that 'pre-date' what has been 'traditional' for years....
This may, or may not be one of them, but ....very interesting....when you consider the very ancient remnants of irrigation systems now being found in the Middle East, along with 10,000+/- well established occupation areas that were peopled by a, seemingly, mostly agrarian populace who were sophisticated enough to construct monoliths and early shrines/temples.
When coupled with migration routes and information it isn't too very unbelievable....at least to me.
stone Sep 16th 2009 7:56AM
The truth is they probably just followed a path.
stone Sep 16th 2009 7:57AM
The truth is they probably just followed a path.
bill Sep 16th 2009 8:05AM
Cool story and discovery. I'm wondering whether though the use of a simple triangle design equates with the discovery of geometry. If so, it just go to show geometry has now been used at least once in history for a practical purpose
mark Sep 16th 2009 8:08AM
I don't know why people say that humans were ever dim wited. They lived in their world just like we live in our's. We try to make sence out of veiw of thing's, and just like us they did the same thing. We are of the same race, the human race, and our minds work the same way. We traval, they traval, we need to know where we are going, or at least where we have been and so did they. If there is one thing that we as human's have always done, and that is move around, everyone know someone that just won't stay put.
henry Sep 16th 2009 8:07AM
Okay so you found me out, I am 6,000 years, your years, old. and I needed a sytem of navigation to return home. URVYE ,I lost the key to my ship. Now I am stranded.
WILL Sep 16th 2009 8:24AM
you see,just more proof of how over-advanced european peoples were thousands of years ago. i wonder if this story or these findings will be supressed by political correctness advocates,because god for bid more proof comes out of how much more intelligent ancient europe was,than the rest of the world.
ancient gps,may be a kink in the ''we are all the same,from the same monkey'' theory.
terri Sep 16th 2009 8:27AM
Geometry or "Gematria" was yet another first by the Sumerian Civilization who collapsed about 5 or 6 thousand years ago. After that, people's knowledge stagnated for a while. No doubt that "gps" system was not as sophisticated as their ancestors' would have had.
sequin22 Sep 16th 2009 8:35AM
The Greeks were late comers on the stage of technology and history.
Thayne Sep 16th 2009 8:45AM
No one noticed the swirl pattern ? This pattern is found through out the world in cave paintings and even here in the states at Red Rock Canyon, in Australia, it has been the focus of many disputes by archaeologists, as to the meaning of these drawings, kind of a HUMMMMM ? Thing.....
Bri Sep 16th 2009 12:37PM
I thought one of the popular theories is that the spiral represented the feminine divine? you know, lots of round objects vaguely like breasts before we had huge, oblong phallic edifices when spiritualism became more male-centered.
rufus Sep 16th 2009 9:00AM
the triangles on that chart are too random to prove anything, much less intelligence.
correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't england an island? wander around an island long enough, and you will get someplace.
anybody can use any math th prove what they want it to. i think its BS.
"world's biggest civil engineering project" my a$$, prove it, theorys don't count.
another article says>>>It is very easy to find patterns in the landscape, but it doesn't mean that they are real.'
like, in a few thousand years, someone will say that toll booths were part of the sat nav system.
some people will make up stuff for the ones that will believe anything.
Dean Sep 16th 2009 9:41AM
" He also claims that it is the "world's biggest civil engineering project" as well. "
Really? Bigger than the interstate highway system in the United States? Bigger than the Great Wall of China? I think not.