What on Earth was going on in 5100 BP (3100 BC)?
Extract based on the book The Keys to the Temple
(part 2) by David Furlong To put all of these discoveries into context we have to travel back in time to around 5100 BP. This date proved to be a watershed in the development of the megalithic structures in Britain. Quite suddenly there was a switch in megalithic architecture from rectilinear forms found in the long barrows to circular patterns expressed through stone circles, henge monuments and round barrows. Dramatically across the entire length of Britain long barrows ceased to be erected and in their stead came the stone circles. The earliest phase of Stonehenge is now dated to around 5100 BP as also are some of the monuments in the Avebury area. The most significant circular megalithic structures in Britain were all started within a hundred years or so of this crucial date. In addition the monuments show a clear orientation to marking the phases of the Sun and Moon, sometimes in dramatic fashion such as the midsummer sunrise at Stonehenge and the midwinter sunrise at Newgrange, in Ireland.
It just so happens that c. 5100 BP is very significant in at least two other parts of the world. Around the same date the land of Egypt was united under one king called Narmer Menes, laying the foundations for the fabulous civilisation that was to become dynastic Egypt. Almost overnight the Egyptian civilisation appeared in full flower without any prolonged gestation period. The change was so dramatic that some Egyptologists, such as W. S. Emery, have concluded that this must have been caused by a new cultural influence entering Egypt at this date. The origins of this culture have, however, remained elusive.
On the other side of the Atlantic, three thousand years later a culture, called the Mayans, emerged in Central America, reaching the height of their civilisation around 600 AD. The Mayans possessed two things which linked them back to much earlier times. The first is their famous calendar which has its start date on 12 August 3114 BC. We know that this is correct for their calendar is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar that we use today. But why did they start at this peculiar date at the end of the 4th millennium BC?
The second connection that the Mayan's had to the distant past was their mythology. The Mayan's maintained that 3114 BC marked the catastrophic conclusion of the preceding age that saw the complete destruction of their original homelands. These Edenic lands the Mayans believed lay somewhere to the east in the Atlantic Ocean.
So we have three seemingly unconnected events occurring around 5100 BP.
The beginning of the building of great stone circles in Britain, including Stonehenge in Wiltshire, Castlerigg in Cumbria, the Stennes Stones in the Orkneys and Newgrange in Ireland.
The founding of dynastic Egypt.
The start date of the present cycle of the Mayan calendar.
Cataclysms
The Mayans maintained that a cataclysm occurred around 5100 BP. What scientific evidence supports such a notion? Surprisingly there is a great deal, for the most significant clues lie in some turbulent climatic changes.
The study of the Earth's climate over the past 100,000 years is a fascinating subject. It draws from many diverse scientific disciplines. Clearly there are no meteorological charts available from the ancient past, so it is impossible to be certain about weather in any one place on a particular day. However it is possible to discover the shifts from one climatic period to another. The picture is built like a jigsaw from archaeology, radio carbon dating, geology, pollen analysis, tree-ring dating, ocean sediments, lake sediments, ice cores, isotope measurements, fossilised insects and so on.
We are now living in a relatively warm period following the end of the last Ice Age which finished around 15,000 BC. In the intervening period between then and today there have been several peaks and troughs with one of the most significant occurring within a century or two of 3100 BC. This is known as the Piora oscillation and marked the boundary between the relatively warm Atlantic period and the somewhat cooler Sub-Boreal phase. What could have caused this shift?
We know from ice core samples in Greenland that a sulphate deposit was laid down in the ice around this date which could have been caused either by volcanic eruption or possibly a comet impact. Around the world, particular in the northern hemisphere, there is evidence of serious upheavals. For example when Sir Leonard Wooley excavated the legendary city of Ur in Mesopotamia he found clear evidence of a wide scale inundation which deposited a layer of silt and sand several feet deep. At the same time along the coast of Brittany in France another study showed a dramatic rise then fall in sea levels; whilst the Dead Sea suddenly rose 300 metres before falling back to its present position. Studies from eight different sites in the Navajo country of the American Southwest showed heavy flooding, again, at exactly the same time. These are just a few of the numerous examples which indicate that some major event had seriously upset the Earth's weather patterns.
The change that occurred was sufficient to radically alter the climate of Egypt and the whole of the Sahara area which, prior to that date, had been very much wetter. One possible explanation is that something caused the Earth to slightly tilt on its axis which altered the seasonal influence of the Sun. It would also have caused a displacement of sea levels due to geophysical forces involved. Could this be the origin of the biblical flood legends? This is the case strongly argued by Paul Dunbavin in his book 'The Atlantis Researches'.
An Atlantean Realm?
The Mayan people had therefore been exactly right in maintaining that their calendar marked a very significant catastrophic date. Could they also have been right in maintaining that their ancestors came from lands lying to the east which was overwhelmed by some cataclysm? On this count the jury is still out for no direct evidence has come to the surface from all the research into the Atlantic sea bed. No fabled undersea kingdoms have been discovered and scientists maintain that nothing of this sort exists on the floor of the Atlantic. The most likely place is along the mid-Atlantic ridge but perhaps Atlantis was so thoroughly destroyed that nothing substantial now remains.
Plato, the first person to give any information on Atlantis, maintained that it was larger than the continent of Libya and Asia put together. People have speculated what size this might be but there is certainly no room in the middle of the Atlantic for such a large land mass. However, we should not forget that the habitable land in Egypt, running along the Nile and including the Nile Delta, is no more than about a third the size of Ireland. Look what the Ancient Egyptians were able to achieve. So we do not necessarily need a large area to hold an advanced civilisation, a fertile island or group of islands would suffice. Perhaps Plato's sources over estimated the size of Atlantis.
Drawing these threads together, we know that a significant climatic change occurred around five thousand years ago that saw the start of Dynastic Egypt, the beginning of some of the most spectacular megalithic monuments in Britain and the inception date of the Mayan calendar. The evidence points to a common source of origin. Many have argued for a much earlier date for the destruction of this fabled civilisation and, indeed, Plato gave a date of around 11,500 years ago. My arguments against such a belief are quite simple.
If we suppose that an advanced elder civilisation came to an abrupt end, leaving just sufficient time for its inhabitants to flee in different directions, one would expect to see evidence of new cultural ideas emerging very quickly from their new found homes. This is precisely what we find in Britain and Egypt and to a lesser extent in many other areas bordering the Atlantic ocean; not at 9500 BC but much later around 3100 BC.
The Heritage of an Elder Culture
Let us suppose then that around five thousand years ago a group from this advanced culture, fleeing from their doomed homeland, set foot on the shores of Britain and Egypt bringing with them their esoteric knowledge and skills in surveying, mathematics, astronomy and building. In Egypt this knowledge was eventually to lead of the building of the Great Pyramid, whilst in Britain the same inherent design was set out geometrically in the landscape. Such a culture, possessing all the necessary skills to survey and set out patterns in the landscape and also to lay the first foundations for the magnificent megalithic sites, such as Avebury, Stonehenge and Silbury Hill, would explain the sudden acceleration in the cultural developments in these two, widely separated, lands.
In my book 'The Keys to the Temple' I present compelling evidence that it was this cultural infusion that led to the laying out of the vast landscape temple over the Marlborough Downs. We might surmise that such a group was sufficiently large to spread out to the four corners of these islands, but also were able to merge and intermingle with the local population. Yet why set out these ancient sites in geometric patterns? What might they have brought to Britain and what was so special about the pyramid that it occurs both in the landscape as well as a vast monument on the Giza plateau in Egypt?
From more than thirty years researching sacred sites and through my experiences as a spiritual healer I have been aware of a 'healing' presence as such places. This has led on to inner explorations connected to contacts with the 'genie locii' of the sites in question which has produced some amazing insights. But for many years I could not show that this was not a purely subjective phenomenon. I now know, from a specific experience when looking for one of London's long forgotten 'holy wells', that is not. Something much deeper is at work.
Early on in my experiences with sacred places I became aware that certain sites stimulated a clear bodily sensation within me, manifesting as a tingling in the back of my head and arms. This 'listening to my body' (common I found later to dowsers) became an invaluable aid in my research, and I came to rely on it. I was looking for the well which I knew was not far from Liverpool Street Station. In this instance the visit was unplanned and I did not have my maps with me so could only guess from memory on where I thought the well to be. On reaching, what I thought was the correct place, I felt no response, so disappointedly I set off up the road, eventually turning the corner into Scruton Street. I was immediately hit by a huge surge of unmistakeable 'energy'. I tried to dismiss the experience because it was some way off from where I thought the holy well must be. Nevertheless the sensation persisted and it was clearly confined to that one particular spot.
When returning home, I re-checked my maps and discovered that I had made a mistake. The place where I had searched originally was incorrect. The real site of the holy well was exactly where I had experienced the overwhelming sensation.
In my understanding these ancient people's brought with them a form of 'spiritual energy' which they wove into the landscape through the geometric patterns that they established. Research in America and elsewhere has shown that the pyramid shape effects the subtle energy fields of the body and can be used to speed up the healing process when injuries occur. I believe that the 'energy' to be found in the pattern overlighting the Marlborough Downs and at other sacred sites in Britain is one that appeals to the spiritual aspirations within us. It is a power that is infinitely liberating that can unfetter the chains of narrow restricted thinking. The interlinking of these sites allows for those finer impulses to feed into the whole system so that all is renewed, to the benefit of all. By accessing the infinity of the cosmos at these sacred places we can access the infinity of our own souls.
Those from this Atlantean realm, like the latter day Tibetans, were forced from their homes and obliged to take their knowledge into the world around them. A wisdom and an ability to open up channels of communication to higher realms of consciousness which were then fixed at specific locations in the landscape. These sites are once more starting to communicate their messages to us. Merlin is awake calling us forth. We only have to stop and listen.
© David Furlong 1998
Click here to visit the site with information on a Cotswold Circle of same size as those on the Marlborough Downs
http://www.kch42.dial.pipex.com/keyspt2.htm
