The Craig Childs Scorpion and Lizard
Posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada
I am dedicating these two geoglyphs to Craig Childs author of House of Rain which deals with the Anasazi Indians of the American Southwest. Childs’ book focuses on his research of this fascinating group of ancient Americans. He details his travels in the Southwest uncovering evidence of this civilization which appears far more technologically advanced than the Plains Indians of the Indian Wars period which occurred more than 500 years later.
Why and how did the Anasazi not only have an interest in astronomy but the observatories to study the heavens? Where had they learned to build massive structures out of stone such as their homes, granaries etc? Where and when did they learn how to build such a comprehensive road system and what vehicles did they have to use on such roads?
Is it merely a coincidence that the Chinese in China of that time also had an obsession with astronomy, astrology and the mapping of the stars just like the Anasazi? (I will be posting more on the Anasazi in the future).
A point of interest is that the University of Texas at Austin currently operates four research telescopes at their McDonald Observatory facility at Fort Davis, Texas. Coincidentally Henriette Mertz identified Baldy Peak (Fort Davis) Texas as the 11th destination on the Shan Hai Jing Volume IV expedition where large gold deposits were reportedly located. I believe that this area was later mined and became the southernmost mine in the Chinese Eastern Mountain mine system later to be called El Dorado by the Spanish explorers in their unsuccessful attempts to find these mines and mining communities.
What puzzled me was why at “this location” was the massive University of Texas observatory system recently built. Although no evidence of an ancient observatory has been found in this area we know the ancient Chinese and Anasazi had a more than casual interest in studying the heavens. Is it just a coincidence that the ancients may have had a major city near Fort Davis to support the mining activity? A city that would also have been an excellent site for observing the skies.
I called the McDonald Observatory and asked “why are you located in the Davis Mountains?” They responded that the mountains in west Texas are the darkest at night in the continent and therefore the best place to view the night skies.
Please review this image of The Scorpion and the Lizard and let me know what you think. I had been taught as a school boy in American schools that the Canadian north was nothing but frozen tundra and not fit for man or beast. Obviously there was at least one civilization that felt differently.
The Beak of the 10th Sun Raven STILL GLOWS!
