History on the Rocks
Rocky Mountain PBS documentary
© MCMLXXXV Scott Monahan, producer and narrator

Part One

Bill McGlone: Boy, that's really something. Phil Leonard: It says, "Strikes on a certain day, Bel." Bill McGlone: In other words, "The Sun strikes here on the day of Bel," and that's exactly what it does. Rollin Gillespie: This truly was a historic moment that we participated in here. Bill McGlone: First time it's been seen in a long, long time on the equinox. Rollin Gillespie: It could be 25 hundred years or it could be 15 hundred or somewhere outside of that range.

Gloria Farley: Since 1973, I have been recording ancient inscriptions and petroglyphs in this area. So, when I was brought to this cave in 1978, my attention immediately focussed on this petroglyph of the canine figure. And I looked at it and said, "This is Egyptian," and everybody with me just laughed and laughed. And later I verified that it was Anubis, the god of darkness and death. Up here, it gives instructions that there will be a rite or ceremony at sunset, the rites of Bel, which shall be acted out. And, it is amazing to us the first time we saw what did happen right at equinox.

Rollin Gillespie: If what we're saying here is true, it means that the history that we all learned in school, and that is accepted as a reasonable facsimile of history, turns out to be wrong in very important points.

WHAT IS HISTORY? IT'S THE WRITTEN WORD OF PEOPLE WHO'VE COME BEFORE US. EVEN PEOPLE WHO SPOKE AND WROTE IN LANGUAGES LONG FORGOTTEN. BUT IT'S HISTORY ONLY IF IT CAN BE READ. AMERICAN HISTORY MAY HAVE DAWNED NOT 500 OR A THOUSAND, BUT 2 THOUSAND OR MORE YEARS AGO. LONG BEFORE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND LEIF ERICSON, OTHER EUROPEAN AND MEDITERRANEAN PEOPLE MAY HAVE TRAVELED INTO THE HEART OF THE UNITED STATES. SOMEONE LEFT THEIR MARK. AND, A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE DARES TO SUGGEST THESE GROOVES ARE AUTHENTIC WRITING WITH MEANINGFUL WORDS AND ANCIENT WISDOM. IF TRUE, IT MUST CHANGE OUR PERSPECTIVE ON AMERICA'S PAST. IS HISTORY ON THE ROCKS? PHIL LEONARD IS PRESIDENT OF THE WESTERN EPIGRAPHIC SOCIETY.

Phil Leonard: I spent a number of hours translating these ogam marks, letters, and when I realized that it spelled out "Noble Twins," I knew that that was a term, an ancient term used for Castor and Pollux, the alpha and beta stars of the Gemini constellation. They obviously knew about the European constellation. They either were first generation that came over from the Old World and carried that knowledge with them or they were people who had picked up the knowledge of the constellation and how to write the inscription.

IN THE EYES OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ESTABLISHMENT, PEOPLE LIKE PHIL LEONARD ARE CONSIDERED MAVERICKS, OUTCASTS AND FOOLS. DR. BARRY FELL, THE FOUNDER OF THE PARENT EPIGRAPHIC SOCIETY, IS A LEADING AUTHORITY ON ANCIENT LANGUAGES. HE TAUGHT MARINE BIOLOGY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY FOR 20 YEARS, AND HAS TRAVELED TO MANY ISLANDS. WHILE STUDYING HOW PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES HAVE DISPERSED, HE NOTICED ROCK INSCRIPTIONS, MANY OF THEM STRIKINGLY SIMILAR ALTHOUGH SEPARATED BY VAST OCEANS. NOW RETIRED, HE DEVOTES HIMSELF TO EPIGRAPHY, THE ART OF DECIPHERING ANCIENT WRITINGS. HE SAYS THIS IS OGAM.

Dr. Barry Fell: It was used mainly by Celts, but also other people, Arabs have used it for example. Norsemen occasionally used it for their language. It can be used for any language. It's only a writing system, after all, and you could write English in it if you wished to. The earliest forms of ogam did not have any strokes for A, E, I, O, U. So, it was like Hebrew, early Hebrew and early Arabic were written without vowels.

EACH OGAM LETTER CONSISTS OF ONE TO FIVE STROKES, SOME CROSSING A HORIZONTAL STEM LINE AND OTHERS JUST TOUCHING IT. OGAM WAS PRACTICAL FOR ROCK WRITERS. IT'S EASIER TO CUT STRAIGHT GROOVES THAN IT IS TO CARVE CURVES.

Dr. Barry Fell: We have inscriptions from Britain written in ogam without vowels in the form of a little amulet that somebody wore in the vicinity of Stonehenge, people called the Windmill Hill people who built Stonehenge. One of their members wore an amulet begging the protection of the mother goddess Byanu. The language is Celtic, the goddess, Byanu, is Celtic, the date is 2200 B.C., and that's the oldest example of ogam we know of.

THE BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, WRITTEN BY IRISH MONKS IN THE 12th CENTURY, DISPLAYS MANY VARIETIES OF OGAM WITH SOUND EQUIVALENCIES IN OLD IRISH. BARRY FELL'S GRASP OF THIS DECIPHERMENT KEY HAS OPENED A NEW INVESTIGATION INTO NORTH AMERICA'S DISTANT PAST. IF IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE GROUPS OF LINES AS LETTERS OF ANALPHABET, CONSIDER U-P-C, THE UNIVERSAL PRODUCT CODE. IT USES GROUPS OF LINES. SUPERMARKET CHECK OUTS HAVE BEEN STREAMLINED BY THIS SPECIALIZED INFORMATION CODE. A LASER SCANS THE LINES AND PROVIDES A COMPUTER WITH DATA. INSTANTLY, THE SYSTEM IDENTIFIES THE PRODUCT AND ITS PRICE. U-P-C HAS CHANGED THE WAY WE SHOP. THE DISCOVERY OF OGAM IN COLORADO AND OKLAHOMA COULD REVISE AMERICAN HISTORY.

Dr. Barry Fell: The basic premise of American archaeology up to within 10 years or so ago has been that the first voyager to reach America from outside of America was Christopher Columbus on October the 10th (correction: 12th), 1492. That being the case, why waste the valuable time of archaeology students in making them learn Latin, Greek, Phoenician, Arabic, or any other cunieform, any other type of ancient writing that they might reasonably be expected to familiarize themselves with if they were going to work in Europe? The American archaeologist, they said, is not going to encounter any ancient inscriptions.

OUR PROGRAM EXAMINES A NEW BODY OF EPIGRAPHIC EVIDENCE THAT DESERVES A FAIR APPRAISAL BY EXPERTS. THIS IS THE STORY OF WHAT AMERICAN EPIGRAPHERS HAVE FOUND AND WHAT THEY THINK THEY'VE FOUND OUT. IN THE PAST, CRITICISM HAS FOCUSSED ON THE ORIGIN OF THE GROOVES. ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE EXPLAINED DISCOVERIES SUCH AS THESE AS RANDOM TOOL SHARPENING MARKS MADE BY INDIANS OR SANDSTONE EROSION CAUSED BY OLD ROOTS OR TREE LIMBS.

Rollin Gillespie: That's almost an insult to the people who do this kind of work because, I mean, it's so childish. Nobody sees these marks and makes that kind of confusion.

ROLLIN GILLESPIE IS A RETIRED NASA SCIENTIST. WITH A DEAD TREE LIMB, HE DEMONSTRATES HOW EROSION MARKS ARE MADE.

Rollin Gillespie: You see there's a trough cut in the rock that's just the shape of that limb. See how that, the wind does that? Now, these have been formed by some sort of a limb complex that is no longer there. But, you see the effects, they tend to be curved.

BILL MC GLONE IS ARCHIVIST OF THE WESTERN EPIGRAPHIC SOCIETY. HE'S TRAVELED ALL OVER SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO, PHOTOGRAPHING MARKS THAT COULD REWRITE AMERICAN HISTORY. A RETIRED MATERIALS ENGINEER AND CORPORATE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR FOR A MAJOR U.S. CORPORATION, MC GLONE KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOOL SHARPENING MARKS AND OGAM WRITING.

Bill McGlone: You could not possibly sharpen this knife blade on that rock this way and leave a groove. In a 2 sided groove you would do nothing but dull the knife. You cannot sharpen it in that fashion. To sharpen a knife you have to work it first one side and then the other.

TO LEARN HOW OGAM WAS CARVED, BILL MC GLONE HAS MADE HIS OWN PRIMITIVE TOOLS.

Bill McGlone: Many of these grooves, we can tell what made them by their cross-section. For example, that groove has certain characteristics. It has a cross section of the instrument that made it. And it has pointed ends on either end, much like the grooves we have, a sort of elliptical shape, that cannot be produced when you're sharpening something like a stone awl, on one end at a time. It has to be a motion just about like that I just showed you. The only grooves we see are those that correspond to the blade edge of the ax. Therefore, these grooves must have been made with the intent to make a groove and something like this was used to make them.

Dr. Barry Fell: That groove proves to be very long enduring and the weathering, the effect of rain and frost and ice and whatnot, is to peel away a thin layer from the outer surface of any rock, but it also peels it away from the groove itself, so that the groove is self-perpetuating. And, therefore inscriptions can persist for thousands of years and still be readable.

THE ARKANSAS RIVER IS A MAJOR WATERWAY ACROSS MID-AMERICA. SOUTH OF THE ARKANSAS, IN EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO, ARE HUNDREDS OF CLUSTERS OF GROOVES. BEYOND THIS REGION, THERE HAS BEEN ONLY ONE OTHER SIGNIFICANT OGAM FIND IN COLORADO.

Phil Leonard: The old stream circled over towards the floor of the shelter here which made it quite convenient for the people who camped here...

PHIL LEONARD HELPED EXCAVATE THIS SHELTER, IN THE SIDE OF A CANYON WEST OF DENVER. A FLOOD OR SERIES OF FLOODS HAD FILLED THE CANYON'S NARROW MOUTH WITH TONS OF SOIL.

Phil Leonard: This is the point where we began translating the first inscription. And it basically says that "This is a shelter for travelers and can be used by whomsoever, in general." And it proceeds on down to a point, down to here. The ground level, as you can tell by this little line of salts or alkali, was right along here, and we excavated beginning here and on down, and we were interested in following this line to see if this inscription continued on down into the subsoil. And as we dug then we found out they were referring to the Frontier Town with standing stones for boundary markers.

ONE TRANSLATION SUGGESTS THE FRONTIER TOWN WAS TO THE WEST. BUT ANOTHER READING PUTS IT IN THE DIRECTION THAT WATER FLOWS, EAST, TOWARD THE DENVER AREA.

Phil Leonard: Judging from this shelter and some of the other shelters that we have worked with, there may well have been a series of shelters that travelers would be guided from one to the next. The type of language used, they seem to be talking to members of their own clan or tribe or group and those that would follow. They apparently had something, some sort of resources that they wanted to capitalize on in the general location of that Frontier town. This area back in here is rather interesting to have with the shelter. It can be used to build a fire back in here and it would suck the smoke away from the inhabitants and yet give them the heat and shelter.

Dr. Barry Fell: Colorado seems to be about the limit westward for inscriptions that we find. It's quite common to find things which say "Water at the foot of the hill." "You may remain overnight. Light a fire that the people may know you are here." And things like that. These are obvious invitiations to Celtic speaking traders to come and be with the people and to have somewhere to stay. Now, as you go further west, you still find what looks like ogam inscriptions in the caves, but you can't read it. It's not real ogam. I think what happened there is that the local Indians wanted a trader and thought there was something magical about cutting these criss crossed lines and put them up in order to attract a trader.

SINCE SANDSTONE IS INORGANIC, THE AGE OF THE GROOVES CANNOT BE CARBON DATED. BUT A CLOSE EXAMINATON PROVIDES A CLUE TO THE ANTIQUITY OF THE WRITINGS. PHIL LEONARD SAYS THE GRINDING THAT PRODUCED THE GROOVE ALSO PRODUCED A POWDER, WHICH, WHEN MOISTENED, FORMED A CEMENT LIKE SHELL.

Phil Leonard: The outer rock, the natural surface of the rock, the untouched surface, has eroded at a faster rate than the actual face of the mark. It naturally takes quite a long time for the natural rock to erode and this mark has been there longer than the present surface of that rock.

THE SHELTER IS FILLED WITH IMPORTANT CLUES ABOUT ITS PAST VISITORS.

Phil Leonard: It may say something to the effect about, referring to some fleers here, someone either fleeing to this location or fleeing from this location, and then giving some other kind of statement. We have in this area here a very interesting word because we have the "F" and the "A-I" dipthong and "L" which spells "FAIL" and is an ancient name for Ireland, and may also have been a name for a portion of Iberia where the Gaels departed from to go to the British Isles. This may have been the New World name for their colony, bringing their old name with them.

THE "A-I" DIPTHONG AND CERTAIN OTHER VOWEL COMBINATIONS WERE ACTUALLY CONSIDERED CONSONANTS IN OLD GAELIC.

Phil Leonard: Things like this lead us to believe that this is very close to the first generation that came over here. And they may have all later integrated with the Amer-Indians, or perhaps just simply died off, or may have gone back to the Old World.

IT SEEMS INCREDIBLE THAT ANYONE CROSSED THE ATLANTIC IN THE MILLENIUM BEFORE THE VIKINGS. BUT, NOW, A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER THE VIKINGS, RESEARCHERS KNOW THAT MANY SHIPS OF THAT ERA COULD HAVE MADE THE VOYAGE. AND, CONTRARY TO POPULAR HISTORY, THE SAILORS BACK THEN HAD NO FEAR OF FALLING OFF THE EDGE OF A FLAT EARTH. EVEN THE ANCIENT GREEKS KNEW THE EARTH IS ROUND.

Dr. Barry Fell: Just before the time of Columbus, the Spanish admiralty, who were well aware that the Earth is round, and measured distances in degrees, which one only does on a sphere, found that there were errors in the length of a degree of latitude, and they commissioned Vasco de Gama to make certain investigations to check the truth or untruth of their present understanding and fresh maps were prepared. Vasco de Gama was sent to test them out and he came back reporting favorably on the new maps. So, you see, the admiralty were well aware of the sphericity of the Earth and, all stories about Columbus having to persuade the queen that the Earth was spherical are quite ridiculous.

PHOENICIAN TRADERS WERE DOING A BRISK BUSINESS ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO. SOME SAILED FROM THEIR COLONY OF CARTHAGE TO ANCIENT IBERIA. AT FIRST, THE PHOENICIANS FOUGHT WITH CELTIC TRIBES HERE. BUT LATER, IBERIA ADVANCED AS A CULTURAL MELTING POT, RICH IN SEA LORE.

Dr. Barry Fell: They, Celts had fine ships, as Julius Caesar has reported in great detail, magnificent ships that he admired very much, stronger than the Roman galleys. Quite capable, as Caesar reported, of sailing out into the open ocean. Whatever their reason may have been for sailing out into the open ocean, whether it was merely to fish or whether it was to explore, inevitably, after some period of time, some such vessels would have to be caught in a storm and carried across the North Atlantic by such a storm. They would no doubt follow the route that Columbus followed, the one that is natural for a vessel that is putting out into the ocean, following where the winds drive it, southward towards the Canaries and then veering round towards the Americas, permitting a trip to be done in slightly over a month. Such accidental, or perhaps even planned, such accidental or planned visits to the Americas would probably result, as nearly all voyages have resulted in ancient times, in some sailors deserting. Some fell in love with local girls or for other reasons found it convenient to remain in America.

Bill McGlone: This is a petroglyph of a very old ship. It's made in the style that was used to draw ships on the rocks in Sweden. It's characterized by a double stern, a double bow and oars shown in the center. And, they're often drawn with a man like figure above the bow. You would have to think that the fact that they drew a ship so much in the Old World style that these people were not here very many generations to have maintained that exact artistic style.

THE ANCIENT MARINERS WERE NOT UNLIKE MODERN ASTRONAUTS. A CURIOSITY TO KNOW THE UNKNOWN HAS ALWAYS LED PEOPLE TO EXPLORE, DESPITE THE DANGERS. LIKE THE ASTRONAUTS, OLD WORLD SAILORS NAVIGATED BY THE STARS. THEY DEPENDED ON CALENDARS THAT FROM TIME TO TIME WOULD NEED TO BE ADJUSTED, JUST AS WE ADJUST OUR CALENDARS ON LEAP YEARS. AND, FOR PERMANENCE INREGULATING CALENDARS, NOTHING BEAT STONE. IT WAS A SUNNY DAY IN THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE ON THE SPRING EQUINOX OF 1984. THE SKY WAS BLUE AND CLOUDLESS, AND THE WEATHER WAS WARM, 48 HOURS AFTER A HEAVY, WET SNOW. BILL MC GLONE BROUGHT ME HERE TO SEE A SET OF PRECISIONSUNDIALS, PRESUMABLY USED BY ANCIENT PEOPLE TO REGULATE THEIR CALENDARS. THESE CAVES ARE AMONG THE MOST TREASURED OF ALL EPIGRAPHIC SITES IN AMERICA. THIS CAVE IS AN ELEGANT LITTLE SHELTER CREATED BY THE WIND. IT IS AN ELEVATED PORCH THAT OPENS TO THE WEST.

Bill McGlone: This ogam is perhaps the best defined that I've ever seen in the Western United States. It starts with a stem line going across here and then has 2 very deep grooves across the stem line forming the letter "G"...

Dr. Barry Fell: "G", followed by 4 strokes crossing the line, that's the letter "R". You notice that the "G" is tilted at a different angle from the "R" and that's to enable the reader to separate the letters more easily. Similarly, the next letter which is an "N" with 3 strokes is at a different angle once more. So it's quite easy to isolate those 3 sets of lines. "G-R-N", standing for the Gaelic word "Grian", meaning "the Sun". Then we have a series of 6 single strokes that puzzled me quite a lot, because this would presumably be the letter "H" repeated 6 times, as if one had gone hh-hh-hh-hh. But a little further thought when I looked ahead to see what the next statements were, I realized that we had the word "month", and sundry other words connected with time, so that it then became obvious that the 6 single strokes stand for the numeral "6". So, we have...

Bill McGlone: So, we have, "Sun, 6, months." It goes on to translate, "The Sun is 6 months in the pleasant North, in the gloomy South for the other months."

Dr. Barry Fell: "Grian se mi tuaid, guin deas aimead mi ciatid." This is Old Gaelic. And, we're guessing at the vowels, because the vowels aren't written. Probably, an Old Gael, if he were around, would say something like, "What on Earth are you trying to say?" We don't really know how it was pronounced.

Bill McGlone: The 6 month translation was made before we sought any kind of correspondence to the equinox. It was after that translation that we then looked in the other caves to see if there was something that applied to the equinox and discovered the equinox opera in the next cave.

IT WAS HERE IN 1984 THAT A VACATIONING MEDICAL DOCTOR MADE A REMARKABLE PREDICTION. DR. JON POLANSKY, A DEVOTED STUDENT OF DR. FELL'S, SAID THIS PLACE WOULD SIGNAL THE DAY OF THE EQUINOX. THIS IS THE INSIDE OF THE ANUBIS CAVE. IN THE UPPER AND LOWER LEFT CORNERS ARE SMALL WINDOWS THAT CONNECT IT WITH THE OTHER CAVE. IN THE CENTER ABOUT CHEST HIGH IS A NATURAL EASEL, PROJECTING OUTWARD FROM THE CAVE WALL. THE CAVE WAS NAMED AFTER A PETROGLYPH OF A FIGURE IDENTIFIED AS ANUBIS, THE EGYPTIAN GOD OF DEATH AND DARKNESS. ANUBIS IS FACING THIS FIGURE, A LITTLE MAN WITH RAISED ARMS WHO STANDS ONA CUBE LIKE PEDESTAL. HE'S IDENTIFIED AS A SUN GOD. BETWEEN THEM IS A CARVING OF A SETTING SUN. THE ANUBIS CAVE FACES A MESA TO THE WEST. THE VIEW INSPIRED SOMEONE TO CARVE A SUN SYMBOL. BUT WHAT MAKES THIS PLACE SO SPECIAL IS THE APPEARANCE OF TWO DIETIES WORSHIPPED THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO IN SUN CEREMONIES ON A FAR AWAY CONTINENT.

Bill McGlone: The inscriptions says, "At sunset this shadow will reach nearly to the jaw of the image of the jackal divinity," represented by the Anubis.

WHEN THE SUN DIPS BELOW THE MESA, THE SHADOW FROM THIS PROTRUSION CALLED "THE THUMB POINTER" WILL FADE OUT ON TARGET, BRINGING THE EQUINOX OPERA TO AN ABRUPT CLIMAX. WE'LL RETURN TO THE ANUBIS CAVE JUST BEFORE SUNSET TO WATCH AS SHADOWS GLIDE ACROSS THE CAVE WALL. IT'S A SHOW THAT HAPPENS JUST TWICE A YEAR.

Part Two

THIS IS A VIEW OF A ROCK OVERHANG FROM INSIDE THE FIRST CAVE. WHILE THE SUN IS STILL HIGH IN THE SKY, IT PROJECTS A POINTED SHADOW ON THE REAR OF THE CAVE'S WALL. AND THERE'S A BULLSEYE FOR IT TO HIT.

Bill McGlone: That may be the time between the 6 months of the North and the 6 months of the South, and it is the point where a shadow forming the face of a man with a large nose pointer on it, moves vertically up the side of the cave. On the day of the equinox, it goes right through that point where the line is double. That shadow that moves up the wall moves across this ruler-like petroglyph with 12 marks on it. If you read the forehead of the shadow at the time the nose is on this line, it would read the days after the equinox in the Spring. The reverse would be true in the Fall.

ONLY ON EQUINOX DAY DOES THE SUNSET EXACTLY IN THE WEST. ON THE DAY BEFORE OR THE DAY AFTER, IT IS OFF JUST A LITTLE. THE DAY TO DAY VARIATION IN SHADOWS CAST BY THE SETTING SUN IS THE GREATEST OF ANY TIME IN THE YEAR, RIGHT AROUND THE EQUINOXES.

Dr. Barry Fell: "Grian se mi tuaid, guin deas aimead mi ciatid." (translation: The Sun 6 months North, then South for an equal number of months spends.)

IT IS NOW THE LATE AFTERNOON OF THE SPRING EQUINOX. THE SUN IS LOWER IN THE SKY AND IS SHINING BRIGHTLY ON PORTIONS OF THE CAVE WALL. BELOW THE STEM LINE, THE SHADOW FROM THE NOSE POINTER IS CLEARLY OUTLINED. IT IS AN ABOUT-FACE IMAGE OF THE SILHOUETTE AS SEEN HERE. THIS TIMELAPSE SEQUENCE COMPRESSES 10 MINUTES INTO 30 SECONDS. THE NOSE POINTER WILL PASS THE MIDPOINT OF THE STEM LINE, AS THE FOREHEAD SHADOW JUMPS TO THE FIRST NOTCH ON THE RULER. ACTUALLY, THE NOSE POINTER GRAZES THE CENTRAL RECTANGLE INSTEAD OF GOING THROUGH IT. CONSIDERING THE EXACT MOMENT OF EQUINOX CAME 13 HOURS EARLIER, THE NEAR MISS ACTUALLY CONFIRMED THE INSCRIPTION'S ACCURACY. THE SUN HAD MOVED NORTH OF THE EQUATOR IN THE MORNING. IF THE SUN HAD CROSSED THE EQUATOR NOW, IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, THE SHADOWS WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN QUITE AS FAR SOUTH. SUNLIGHT DID STRIKE THE FIRST NOTCH ON THE RULER, RIGHT AFTER THE NOSE POINTER SHADOW CROSSED THE STEM LINE. THIS AFTERNOON WAS A HALF DAY AFTER THIS MORNING'S EQUINOX AND A HALF DAY BEFORE THE MORNING AFTER. 6 MONTHS LATER, WE RETURNED FOR THE FALL EQUINOX. THIS TIME THE CHAIRMAN OF FIELD EXPLORATION FOR THE EPIGRAPHIC SOCIETY, GLORIA FARLEY, CAME, TOO. SHE IS THE FIRST PERSON TO HAVE SUGGESTED AN ANCIENT CONNECTION AT THIS PLACE. HER PROJECT TEAM INCLUDES TRANSLATOR BARRY FELL, AND ASTRONOMER ROLLIN GILLESPIE. GILLESPIE HAS PLAYED IMPORTANT ROLES INTHE U.S. SPACE PROGRAM, AS A DESIGNER OF THE ROCKETS THAT SENT MEN TO THE MOON, AND AS DEVELOPER OF THE MATHEMATICAL FORMULA USED TO GET THEM THERE.

Rollin Gillespie: I invented the equation by which every rocket that's ever flown to the Moon or to one of the planets, Russian, American, every single flight has been done with that equation. I didn't do it without some help. I had a couple of the best mathematicians in the world for that subject helping me. But it was my idea how to go about it. And they put it in the computer and we came out with it. Now, when I retired, I had this background. I had some questions in Solar System astronomy and sort of an interest in the origins of our culture and of Mankind himself. So, here I am. Other people could have done a better job than I did. I mean we have archaeo-astronomers who know a lot more about these things than I do. The problem was they were not available and if you'd have asked them, they wouldn't have come. It goes back to the question, "Are they going to jeopardize their career working with this batch of untutored coots out here?"

BILL MC GLONE BROUGHT ROLLIN GILLESPIE TO THE NOSE POINTER CAVE TO DISCUSS ANOTHER APPARENT SUNDIAL.

Bill McGlone: What this is, Rollin, is this inscription says, "In shade, the twelve scale divisions," these are the twelve scale divisions. Rollin Gillespie: Yes. Bill McGlone: "Until the day after the balance day in the month of lambing." Rollin Gillespie: That's in the Spring. Bill McGlone: The balance day would be the equinox when day and night are equal. Rollin Gillespie: Yes. Bill McGlone: And, this is a rhebus representing a balance with the beam being the stem line and the two "L"s on either end being the pans. Rollin Gillespie: Yes. Bill McGlone: What it's going to do, is on the day of the equinox, half of these six marks, the six that are indexed up, will be lighted. Rollin Gillespie: Yeah. Bill McGlone: The next day, the other six marks will have light land on them just as the inscription says. Rollin Gillespie: Yes. Bill McGlone: And the shift of these, six up and six down, represents six months and six months. As we go into the second six months, the light lands on these, this part, down here. Rollin Gillespie: Uh huh. Now, all of that, of course, is reversed because here we are on the Autumnal equinox. Bill McGlone: Yeah, we're here on the Autumnal equinox, so it'll be backwards. Rollin Gillespie: So, the sequence is backwards. Bill McGlone: Right. Rollin Gillespie: Yes. Bill McGlone: But, this is all in the same cave, where it says, "the Sun is 6 months in the North and 6 months in the South." Rollin Gillespie: Yes. Bill McGlone: So, it's all tied together in this cave. Rollin Gillespie: Yes.

FORTUNATELY, WE HAD BRIGHT SUNSHINE ON THE DAY BEFORE THE EQUINOX. IT PROVIDED ANOTHER CHANCE TO WATCH THE NOSE POINTER SHADOW PLAY. AS THE TIP CROSSED THE STEM LINE, THE FOREHEAD SHADOW HIT THE FIRST NOTCH PERFECTLY, CONFIRMING THIS DAY WAS ONE DAY AWAY FROM THE EQUINOX.

Gloria Farley: The more we learn, the more we know that in ancient times people traveled all over the world. And their ships were excellent.

FOR 36 YEARS, GLORIA FARLEY HAS BEEN WALKING THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF OKLAHOMA, EXPLORING FOR ROCK WRITINGS. SHE SAYS NOTHING SHE'S EVER FOUND HAS AS MUCH IMPORTANCE AS THE ANUBIS CAVE. SHE BELIEVES THERE ARE CELTIC AND EGYPTIAN INFLUENCES HERE. IN A DISTANT WAY, THE ARTIST WHO DID THIS MAY HAVE BEEN RELATED TO THE DRUIDS WHO BUILT (correction: WHO USED) STONEHENGE AND THE PHAROAHS WHO BUILT THE PYRAMIDS.

Gloria Farley: This cannot be an Oklahoma coyote because this figure wears a crown and on his back is standing the flail of ancient Egypt which is the symbol of authority. On this panel there is also Libyan writing and Celtic ogam writing that translates into Gaelic, the two kinds of writing on this same panel that also describe what is happening and talks about Bel. He has a rayed crown and by his right hand is an Egyptian hieroglyph which is the phallus, the symbol of fatherhood. And, in this cube that he stands on which is similar to the cubical throne of the Pharoahs is the inscription "Bel". So whether he is intended to be Bel or Ra or both, he's at least the Sun god. The Sun comes through a crack, a wedge shaped opening here in the entrance and there's a little knob of stone on that which throws a shadow like a marker which travels across this panel. It first enters this corner of the cube and as it progresses up to this corner, then the Sun god is in shadow all except his head. And at the very instant of sunset the knob, they call it the thumb pointer, the shadow, fills this little curve right here. This happens only on equinox day. On the day before equinox it won't happen, on the day after it won't happen. And it only happens at the instant of sunset on equinox day that that shadow fills this, and when that happens, then the shadow comes down over the head of the Sun god, representing day, and the figure of Anubis, representing darkness, lights up, the whole figure, and then an instant later the Sun's gone and the whole thing's gone.

THIS TIMELAPSE SEQUENCE OF THE ANUBIS PANEL BEGINS ABOUT 45 MINUTES BEFORE SUNDOWN ON THE SPRING EQUINOX OF 1984. THE THUMB POINTER SHADOW PASSES DIRECTLY THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE ENGRAVED CUBE. ANUBIS IS PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHADOWS FROM THE CAVE'S ROOF. TO THE ANCIENT MIND, THIS MAY HAVE BEEN AN IMPORTANT MOVING PICTURE STORY. THE LARGE SUN SEEMS TO BE APPROACHING THE HORIZON, SEEN AS THE LOWER SHADOW. IT IS A REPLICA OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING ON THE WESTERN HORIZON. THE SUN GOD IS BEING COVERED UP BY SHADOW, AS MORE OF ANUBIS IS BEING LIT UP BY DIRECT SUNLIGHT. NOTICE THE DANGLING SUN, THE TINY CURVE AT THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER OF THE SETTING SUN. JUST AS THE SUN GOD IS FULLY ECLIPSED AND ANUBIS IS FULLY ILLUMINATED, THE THUMB POINTER OBSCURES THE DANGLING SUN, AND THE LAST LIGHT FADES OUT. NOW, AT HALF A DAY PAST THE TRUE EQUINOX, THE THUMB POINTER SHADOW SLIGHTLY OVERSHOOTS ITS MARK. BUT THE SYMBOLIC MESSAGE IS CLEAR; THE SUNGOD HAS MOVED TO THE UNDERWORLD DOMINATED BY ANUBIS.

Dr. Barry Fell: The Sun casts a certain shadow in a certain way, in conjunction with the worship of a diety such as the jackal god Anubis, so that makes one think of a period before Christianity. And, Egypt, we have to remember, was the first country to become Christian. They became Christian apparently because they were disgusted with the absurdity of the old religion, and they were fed up with Greeks laughing at them for worshipping crocodiles and cats. So, Christianity was an easy way out. And, yet, right down to at least the 6th, the 5th and 6th centuries A.D., secret worship of the ancient Egyptian dieties was still occuring. Now it's possible that people who worshipped Anubis were persecuted in Egypt and took advantage of a New World to come over here to practice their religion without persecution. They were traders. They happened to be here and their god happened to be Anubis. Scott Monahan: If you had to give a date to it, would you say it was pre-Christian or would you say it's after the time of Christ? Dr. Barry Fell: With the proviso that it could be on either side of that critical date. My preference would have to be pre-Christian, but it could still be after the time of Christ, but representing the practice of a people who had not adopted Christianity.

NEAR THE ANUBIS AND NOSE POINTER CAVES ARE THREE SMALLER CAVES. ALTHOUGH SOME INSCRIPTIONS HAVE BEEN DECIPHERED, MANY REMAIN MYSTERIES. LET'S EXAMINE SOME OF THE CARVINGS THAT BARRY FELL HAS BEEN ABLE TO TRANSLATE. IN THE SOUTHERN-MOST CAVE IN THIS BLUFF IS AN INSCRIPTIONTHAT SEEMS TO READ, "MAY ANUBIS WIELD THE FLAIL."

Bill McGlone: This is the second petroglyph in the first cave and continues the previous inscription. It has an ogam in here at this point and says, "And may his arm be a hindrance to evil," with these crosses possibly added.

THERE IS ANOTHER SMALL CAVE, JUST NORTH OF THE NOSE POINTER CAVE. INSIDE IS AN INVITING PLACE TO SIT.

Bill McGlone: It's a natural formation in the rock that could be taken as a seat or throne and when you sit on it you're facing the direction of the setting Sun at near the time of the equinox, off in this direction. It could tie in as this being a special room for ceremony.

SOME GROOVED WRITINGS ON THE CAVE'S WALL INDICATE THIS WAS A RITUAL SITE.

Dr. Barry Fell: This one, for example, came out to say, "The Sun belongs to Bel. The cavern on the days of the equinox is for chanting prayers to Bel."

Bill McGlone: The symbol for "Bel" or words spelling "Bel", are here and here, "B-L".

ABOUT A THOUSAND FEET NORTH OF THE OTHER CAVES, HIGH UP ONTHE BLUFF, IS THE FIFTH CAVE. IT'S BEEN NAMED THE COMPASS CAVE BECAUSE OF A FIGURE CARVED IN ITS FLOOR. ROLLIN GILLESPIE POINTS OUT 2 OF THE INTERSECTING DIAGONAL LINES, ONE THAT IS 23 AND A HALF DEGREES EAST OF, AND THE OTHER, 23 AND A HALF DEGREES WEST OF DUE NORTH. 23 AND A HALF DEGREES IS THE TILT ANGLE OF THE EARTH'S POLES TO THE ORBITAL PERPENDICULAR.

Rollin Gillespie: In drawing the diagrams of the path of the Sun in the sky and putting in angles and the measurements and the calculations for the equinox Sun, it occured to me that this was duplicating one of those diagrams. As the Sun moves along the ecliptic, displaces along the ecliptic, it gives you the direction of, the slant angle of the Sun path in the sky on the day of the equinox, which happens to be, don't make me prove it to you, but it just is exactly equal to the latitude of the site. It seems to indicate a level of understanding of astronomy. They knew a lot of things that most of us hadn't realized that they knew.

Part Three

IT IS NEARLY DAWN ONTHE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER, 1984. THESE TOWERING ROCK FORMATIONS ARE CATCHING THE EARLY LIGHT OF MORNING. THIS PLACE IS KNOWN AS THE SUN TEMPLE. A LARGE, ENGRAVED CIRCLE IN THE ROCK WALL FACES EAST, BUT ON THE MORNING OF THE SUMMER SOLSTICE, NOTHING SPECIAL HAPPENED. AT SUNRISE THE CIRCLE REMAINED INTHE SHADOWS. ABOUT 6 WEEKS LATER, THOUGH, OBSERVORS REPORTED THE CIRCLE WAS EXACTLY ECLIPSED BY A PROTRUSION FROM THIS ROCK WALL, JUST AT SUNRISE. IT HAPPENED ON THE CROSS QUARTER DAY, MIDWAY BETWEENTHE SUMMER SOLSTICE AND THE EQUINOX, AN IMPORTANT DATE TO THE CELTS. LOCATED ON A PRIVATE RANCH IN A REMOTE AREA OF SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO, THE SUN TEMPLE SITE FEATURES A NUMBER OF APPARENT EXAMPLES OF ROCK WRITING. PHIL LEONARD BROUGHT US HERE TO SEE SOME OF THE CARVINGS.

Phil Leonard: An individual taking care in the work that they're doing in placing the ogam on the rock could pick up a larger rock or even a smaller rock with a flat surface and rub it across the face and prepare this so that it removes the rough surface like we see here and grinds it down to a smoother surface as we see here.

NEARBY, IN A SHALLOW CAVE IS THIS PETROGLYPH. WITHIN THE CIRCLE ARE THE OGAM LETTERS "S-L", ACCORDING TO BARRY FELL'S TRANSLATION. ADDING THE VOWEL "O" GIVES US "SOL", THE SUN.

Phil Leonard: There are a lot of things we really don't understand about this site and maybe we never will completely understand it. But we have, we have a few things here that we can translate and that we can come to some kind of understanding about.

AN INSCRIPTION BELIEVED TO REFER TO THE CONSTELLATION GEMINI IS THE BEST UNDERSTOOD.

Phil Leonard: The words used for "Noble Twins", both words in the Goidelic are ancient roots that have not been used frequently for a considerable length of time.

WE FOLLOWED PHIL LEONARD AND BILL MC GLONE ON THIS SUMMER SOLSTICE EXPEDITION. OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS, THEY SHOWED US MANY SITES WITHIN 50 MILES OF THE SUN TEMPLE.

Bill McGlone: A real good looking ogam. A lot of patina on that though. Phil Leonard: And, they may have the words and even maybe the letters separated by the intermittent stem line. Bill McGlone: By the separate stem lines, yes.

WE TRAVELED BUMPY BACK ROADS TO REACH MANY OF THE LOCATIONS KNOWN TO THE TWO EPIGRAPHERS. HALFWAY UP THIS CLIFF, WE FOUND WHAT APPEARED TO BE ANOTHER COMPASS DESIGN.

Phil Leonard: It's the only example that I know of in western America where we have vowels in the ogam. Here, there are the two short strokes, represent the "O". The 3 long strokes represent the letter "N", standing for "N-O", the first 2 letters of the word "Nord", North. Scott Monahan: What about South? Phil Leonard: Here the ogam "S" is followed by the dipthong "U-U-I", the first 2 letters of the word "Suder", South. So, we have a compass, "North-South." Phil Leonard: If you face the direction that the rosette points, then, in fact, if you turn you do face North. Bill McGlone: So, that's what we think it is, that the offeset is about equal to the degree the canyon is off of North. Phil Leonard: The language that is conveyed by the ogam is not Old Goidelic, as it usually is, but, rather, this is Norse. The Norse people may be as recent as what we refer to as the Viking period, around 1000 A.D.

IT WAS HIGH NOON ON THE SUMMER SOLSTICE, AS BILL MC GLONE DIRECTED ME TO A SMALL, TUNNEL CAVE. INSIDE ARE LOTS OF GROOVES, SOME OF WHICH TRANSLATE AS "MAG, PRIEST OF BEL". BUT MC GLONE THINKS MOST OF THE MARKS WERE MADE BY NATIVE AMERICANS, IMITATING THE OGAM THEY SAW. CLEARLY, THE PLAINS INDIANS WERE NOT SAILORS. BUT TUCKED BEHIND THESE ROCKS, IN MID-AMERICA, IS AN IMAGE OF A VERY OLD OCEAN VESSEL.

Bill McGlone: This Norse ship may tie in with some of the other petroglyphs in the general area.

SCATTERED AROUND THE PETROGLYPH ARE MOCK FOOTPRINTS, EACH WITH SIX TOES. PAGAN CULTURES OFTEN REGARDED AN EXTRA FINGER OR TOE AS A DIVINE BLESSING. FOOTPRINTS AND SHIPS ARE OFTEN FOUND TOGETHER ON THE ROCKS OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

Part Four

WE RESUMED OUR EXPEDITION THE NEXT DAY IN PICTURE CANYON, COLORADO.

Phil Leonard: This could be a "B-L", but these don't seem to indicate... Bill McGlone: They aren't grouped very well. Phil Leonard: They're not grouped very well, they're evenly spaced. I would think that would be more of an "F". The shape of this is rather interesting. Look at that. It's almost flat on the bottom and fairly straight sided. Bill McGlone: These are all fairly square.

FARTHER DOWN THE CANYON, WE CAME TO THIS BEND. THIS IS THE COMMANDING VIEW FROM A LARGE CAVE ABOVE THE CANYON FLOOR. AT ITS ENTRANCE IS A LARGE ROCK KNOB. WHAT'S FOUND ON THIS PATCH OF ROCK COULD JUSTIFY A NEW CHAPTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

Phil Leonard: This is a tri-lingual inscription, here. Starting on the left, the upper left here, we have Numidian letters "R-S", spelling "ras" or "watchful", and next to that we have the North Iberic letters... Bill McGlone: The North Iberic alphabet shares letters with the Latin alphabet. Here are the "I" and the "K". However, they make their "P" with a very sharp point to it, as it is made here. That means, "early awake". You would say it, "Pa Ya Ka." Phil Leonard: And, then, underneath it, we have a third means of communication which is the eye symbol, well known through North Africa for watching. Of course, it's reasonable, the eye and the watching. So, we really have a trilingual inscription here.

SADLY, SOMEONE HAD CARVED INITIALS RIGHT OVER THE EYE.

Bill McGlone: This would be the original eye symbol, and the graffiti would be these letters here. This hieroglyph in association with these Libyan letters is repeated around the rock here a little ways, in which the two are together with this one inside of the other.

THE INSCRIPTIONS IN THIS CAVE WERE RECORDED BY GLORIA FARLEY IN 1975, AND PUBLISHED BY BARRY FELL THE FOLLOWING YEAR.

Phil Leonard: Now, here we have the left eye and the tear streaks, here, or the weeping marks. And we have the Numidian, or, as it used to be called, the Libyan alphabet, "R-S", just as we did around the corner. And, this "R-S" means "watchful" or "awake". Apparently, they did intend to watch something. Either to watch for other people coming down the canyon. You can see both directions of the canyon, here. But, also, there may be some other type of watching done here. Perhaps this was some observatory, either solar or stellar.

WHATEVER ITS SYMBOLIC PURPOSE, THE CAVE MUST HAVE ALSO SERVED AS A SHELTER. ACROSS THE CAVE FROM THE EYE SYMBOLS IS A LEDGE WITH MORE INSCRIPTIONS.

Phil Leonard: This is a, course we're looking at it upside down and you're seeing it right side up, but we have the letters, the Punic letters "B-R-K", which spell "barek", which is the word for "thunder". And, we have some old symbols that represent the thunderbolts, here. This "B" is typical of the Punic letter "B" because it has this curve in it just below the juncture of these two strokes. We also have the long tails, which is typical of the Punic alphabet.

AT THE REAR OF THE CAVE IS A VERY LENGTHY OGAM. IT TRANSLATES AS AN EPITAPH TO A DEAD CELT. AT LEAST THAT'S HOW BARRY FELL HAS INTERPRETTED THE MESSAGE FROM A LATEX MOLD OF THE GROOVES, SENT TO HIM BY GLORIA FARLEY SEVERAL YEARS AGO. PERHAPS THE MOST EXCITING, AND CERTAINLY, SOME OF THE NEWEST EPIGRAPHIC EVIDENCE IS TO BE FOUND HERE, IN THE CRACK CAVE.

Bill McGlone: What d'ya got? Phil Leonard: Well, I got something good. You come on up and take a look. Bill McGlone: Boy, this is pretty tight in here. Phil Leonard: Oh, yeah, it widens out up here. Let me ask you what you think this is. Alright? You got 2 through the stem line. Bill McGlone: That's a "G". Phil Leonard: And 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 through the stem line. Bill McGlone: That's an "R". Phil Leonard: And 1, 2, 3 through the stem line. Bill McGlone: "N", "Grian," Sun. Phil Leonard: That's right. Now, the Sun has something to do with coming through this shaft. Bill McGlone: Let's check it out. Phil Leonard: Alright, let's set this compass. What's the declination here? Bill McGlone: About 11, 12 degrees. Phil Leonard: Alright, would you say I had that just about right? Bill McGlone: Yes. Phil Leonard: That puts due East right through the axis of this opening. Bill McGlone: That means the Sun would hit right there on the equinox! Phil Leonard: Yeah and look here, are these Sun rays? Is this a Sun with Sun rays here? Bill McGlone: Maybe that's where it strikes. Phil Leonard: Look at that. Look, and here's some more ogam here. See that? They're grouped. Some through the line, some not. A nice stem line. Bill McGlone: Got one down, one across, "B-M", 2 down, "L"... Phil Leonard: ...and then "B-L" "Strikes on a certain day Bel". There's a very narrow aperture, so it would limit as to... Bill McGlone: That could be, that could be. Phil Leonard: But, if you look out, you can see the mesa drop off at that angle. Bill McGlone: Let me look there. Phil Leonard: See the mesa drop off at that angle? Bill McGlone: Oh yes. Phil Leonard: And, we have the second inscription over here, or a third inscription, right here. This one's like the first. Look at that. Two deeply incised marks grouped together. Bill McGlone: That's another "G". Phil Leonard: Through the stemline. See? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bill McGlone: There's another "R". Phil Leonard: That's an "R" and 1, 2, 3 grouped together. Bill McGlone: Another "N". "Grian" again. Phil Leonard: "Grian" again. That's right. Bill McGlone: And they're grouped. There's 2, then 5, then 3 and they're spaced that way. Phil Leonard: That's right. Now, that's not bad. Two places it says "Grian". And, then, we have, "Strikes here on a certain day, Bel". Bill McGlone: And, that's the... Phil Leonard: "Bel strikes here on a certain day." The Sun... Bill McGlone: The grammer is correct too, isn't it? Phil Leonard: That's right, we have good grammar. Now, I'd like to see what that one is. Is that like a Punic or Iberic "P"? Bill McGlone: Well see, this might be this, here. Phil Leonard: This looks much like an "A". Bill McGlone: This is not ogam. Phil Leonard: The old style "A". See the way that curves in there? Bill McGlone: This is not ogam. But I think it's Iberic. Phil Leonard: Iberic or else Gaelic, y'know, something from the Iberian peninsula. Bill McGlone: Yeah, could be the Old Gaelic script.

NEITHER COULD SAY WHAT THIS INSCRIPTION MEANT. BUT THEY FELT THEY HAD UNLOCKED THE CAVE'S BIGGEST SECRET.

Bill McGlone: I think it's going to hit right in here, either a shadow or a shaft of light, right in here. Phil Leonard: Now, that's interesting. It's predicting to us in writing what we might find here. Bill McGlone: That's right. Phil Leonard: We need to be here on the equinox. Bill McGlone: Yeah, we're going to have to come back.

BILL MC GLONE, ROLLIN GILLESPIE AND I CAME BACK ON THE LAST FULL DAY OF SUMMER. MC GLONE HAD BEEN HERE THE DAY BEFORE, TO OBSERVE DAWN SHADOWS ON EQUINOX MINUS 2 DAYS. WE HAD COME FOR A PREVIEW OF THE BIG EVENT, TOMORROW. DIM LIGHT FROM THE PREDAWN SKY FELL ON THE ROCK KNOB. THERE WOULD BE NO DISTINCT SHADOWS UNTIL THE SUNROSE. CLOUDS HUNG ABOVE THE HORIZON, BUT HIGH ENOUGH TO ALLOW US TO SEE THE RISING SUN. FROM THE CAVE'S ENTRANCE TO THE MAIN INSCRIPTIONIS A DISTANCE OF 15 FEET, A NARROW PATH FOR SUNBEAMS TO TRAVEL. WE WERE READY FOR WHAT DAWN WOULD BRING.

Rollin Gillespie: First peek of sunlight? Yup. Bill McGlone: What did I say 6:48, 7? I said 6:47. Rollin Gillespie: I think from the color of those rocks it's red sunlight? Bill McGlone: It sure is. Rollin Gillespie: Yeah. Bill McGlone: And, you see it lights up only the part that they made marks on. Rollin Gillespie: Yeah. Bill McGlone: See how that works? Rollin Gillespie: Yeah. Bill McGlone: It takes this shape right in here of where he drew the Sun and those rays and then these rays. See? Yesterday, those rays were hardly lit at all. Tomorrow, those rays are going to be lit even more because the Sun will have moved South. Rollin Gillespie: Yeah.

BILL MC GLONE WAS GUESSING AT TOMORROW, BUT HIS GUESS WAS BASED ON THE CHANGE IN SHADOWS FROM THE 2 DAWNS PRECEDING THE EQUINOX.

Bill McGlone: That's spectacular, isn't it? Rollin Gillespie: That's spectacularius! Rollin Gillespie: Ah, I see why they made that curved stem line now. Bill McGlone: See that curve? Rollin Gillespie: Yeah. Bill McGlone: That's to make that picture almost like the Sun. Rollin Gillespie: Yeah. Bill McGlone: And here are the Sun's rays. And, the real interesting thing is that those rays are straight up and down, Rollin Gillespie: Just like at the Anubis... Bill McGlone: Yes sir, just like the Anubis Cave. Rollin Gillespie: Yeah, the Big Sun. Bill McGlone: And the second set of rays up above here is also made that way. Rollin Gillespie: Those, those are probably Sun rays, alright. Bill McGlone: The way those rays are drawn vertically is the only thing I can see that's distinctive, that certainly compares between the two caves. Rollin Gillespie: These people, we say they were worshipping the Sun. You see, Bel is a Sun god. Christians go out and have sunrise services and we don't think of that as worshipping the Sun, on Easter sunrise. And, I suspect very strongly that the same thing applies here. These people were thinking in an idiom. They were using metaphors which were based on astrological symbols, and they were living next to nature and they were appreciating nature in their own way which we have more or less lost contact with.

Part Five

Bill McGlone: Rollin, this is gonna be the day. Rollin Gillespie: This is the day and the weather is perfect.

JOINING THE SUNRISE EXPEDITION ON EQUINOX DAY WERE TWO OTHER MEMBERS OF THE WESTERN EPIGRAPHIC SOCIETY, CAROL PATTERSON AND DAN ROHRER. THE CLEAR SKY GAVE US PERFECT CONDITIONS FOR AN OBSERVATION.

Rollin Gillespie: Oh, my gosh! Bill McGlone: 's Fantastic!. If that ain't it! Dan Rohrer: Oh, look at that! Bill McGlone: What do you think Carol? Carol Patterson: That's pretty. Dan Rohrer: Look at that. Boy, boy, look at that! Look at that!! Rollin Gillespie: That is perfect. Look at the curve of that shadow! Bill McGlone: It just fits. Look at that. Look at that. Dan Rohrer: Look at how the rays of the Sun just hit. Bill McGlone: Just curves around, Dan Rohrer: Right in there. Bill McGlone: And both parts are lighted where they've made the marks. Dan Rohrer: Right. Bill McGlone: Just as perfect as it can be. Dan Rohrer: Fantastic. Bill McGlone: Did you ever see anything like it? Dan Rohrer: I never have. Rollin Gillespie: See, the stem line and the curve of the shadow coincide. Bill McGlone: Just as the Sun comes up it hits that thing perfectly. Dan Rohrer: That is absolutely magnificent. Rollin Gillespie: Boy, I sure got myself floating. Dan Rohrer: That is fantastic. Now, how does it differ today from what it was yesterday? Bill McGlone: I'll tell you. Rollin Gillespie: It's a better fit. Dan Rohrer: It's a better fit? Bill McGlone: It's a better fit today than it was yesterday. The first 2 days, the first day, there was barely light on the upper one. The second day there was light, but there wasn't fully lit across all the marks. And, today, on the equinox, it hit it just perfectly.

THE SUNRISE SEEMED TO PROVE THE INSCRIPTION'S AUTHENTICITY.

Bill McGlone: It was worth the trip and I think I might just come back in next year to see it again. Rollin Gillespie: I just might do that myself. Carol Patterson: Probably have a big crowd.

Gloria Farley: There is an atmosphere here that keeps drawing us all back. I've been here maybe times. I will keep coming as long as I am physically able. And there's just... You get a feel of these people who were here. They were real people with names and reasons to be here so far from home, and a knowledge of their own importance and what they were trying to leave for us, that someone would sometime come along and understand it.

Phil Leonard: There seems to be a propensity with Man not only to explore the other side of the hill, but to destroy what he finds when he gets there, and if this is left unguarded or unprotected in any way, then vandals are going to show up and they will destroy. It seems such a waste destroy this so other people can't enjoy it and learn from it.

Bill McGlone: What were the kind of people that were here? Were they refugees, were they settlers, were they traders, were they explorers?

Rollin Gillespie: What motivated them? What did they believe? What were their religious views? What were their philosophical views? What were their technological achievements?

Bill McGlone: There are many aspects of this that I am still, in my own mind, evaluating and coming to conclusions about. I don't believe that everything that has been claimed epigraphically could be true. But I do believe that there's enough of it true that it should be working its way in to the disciplines of archaeology and linguistics today, much more than it is.

Gloria Farley: Many equinox and solstice sites have been discovered all over the country and they are thought to be of maybe Anasazi or Pueblo origin. It is my own theory that perhaps these people who were here earlier perhaps influenced those people in their knowledge. See, these people came by the waterways and they could find each other by traveling the waterways and leaving signs along all the rivers where they could be found, but it was also important for them to know when the equinoxes and solstices occur, partly for religious significance, partly for agricultural reasons, way back to the Babylonians, this has been important that they know when these things occur.

Rollin Gillespie: Basically, what we have done in the last decade or so has been to accumulate evidence from all over this country, from coast to coast, Canada, the United States, Mexico, and extending back into the Old World, in the Iberian Peninsula, in Ireland, all of the places, in the Mediterranean region, which ties this together and and gives us a rather sketchy but a very convincing story.

Gloria Farley: Why do we think that people who were ancient were primitive? There was so very much accumulated knowledge in ancient times that went up in smoke at Alexandria when that library was burned and the whole world would have advanced so much more rapidly in all scientific ways if that knowledge had been preserved. And then came the Dark Ages. Everything was lost. They thought everybody that had ever lived was stupid. That isn't true. The ancients were not stupid people. Whoever did that was an utterly sophisticated person.

Rollin Gillespie: World history is important because world history is what gives us our world view. And our world view is our belief system. That's what makes us tick. That's the reason why we do the things we do. Why we are like we are is very important. I have grandchildren. I want them to live in a world in which they can live up to their potential, in peace, happiness, fulfillment. That is, that is why it is important to me.

THE PILGRIMS, WHO LANDED AT PLYMOUTH ROCK, MARKED THE ROCK WITH A DATE AND MADE HISTORY. WHAT ARE HISTORIANS TO MAKE OF THE GROOVES WE'VE SEEN?

Dr. Barry Fell: The basic conclusion has to be that the people who wrote the inscriptions of the same nature, both in the Old World and the New World had to have a common origin. So, was it Americans who went to Europe and started writing ogam over there or was it the other way around? It's easy to demonstrate that the only possible conclusion is that it originated in Europe.

Rollin Gillespie: To understand ourselves, we have to understand history, and we are looking at history here.

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