Carl Sagan: The Dogon

A relatively primitive ethnic group in West Africa seems to possess within their traditional wisdom very accurate astronomical knowledge of the Sirius star system, which is only feasible to obtain using sophisticated technological resources. We refer, of course, the Dogon.

The myths of this town contain clear references to the invisible companion of Sirius, a white dwarf that was predicted by science in 1844 and discovered in 1862. Moreover, describe it in detail as accurate as surprising, considering it very small and made up the heaviest in the world, and with virtually the same as calculated by Western astronomy orbital period of 50 years metal.

At first glance, this seems impossible. A knowledge of this class may have received only what the Dogon of a scientifically advanced civilization. Alien? ¿Atlante? Or maybe just the geographically closest to them technological civilization, the West?

The alleged Dogon myth was created second myth, adventitious and modern, which began when Robert Temple published in 1975 famous book "The Sirius Mystery". This "myth of the myth" involves a visit from extraterrestrials to Earth in the distant past. The following article reviews various aspects of the subject. Since it is quite extensive, I have divided into two parts for convenience. Part I summarizes the most notable aspects of the mystery and disclosed, review various aspects of Dogon culture, as well as the genesis of modern myth and its sources. Part II is devoted to the various explanations that have been given to the problem, including a section on the discovery of Sirius C. also include here the references I have used. Appendix playing a fragment of one of the Dogon creation myths.

The Myth
A small and remote village in the Sahel, in West Africa, may be the most consistent evidence that Earth was visited in a remote period by beings from outer space test.
This is the Dogon tribe living in the present Republic of Mali. The Dogon are holders of a mythology as rich and complex; legends contain astronomical knowledge that in no way could have obtained for themselves, or for a possible contact with terrestrial visitors. This poses an enigma to science is unable to explain, and it completely escapes conventional solutions.

The secret wisdom of this village contains accurate and detailed data about the solar system, which in many cases have only become part of the acquis very recently modern astronomy: the moon described as "dry and barren," know that the planet Jupiter (which they call "Dana tolo") has four large satellites, known rings of Saturn, and that the planets describe elliptical orbits around the sun. This notion that celestial bodies follow elliptical orbits around a main star that is located in one focus alone was accepted by the Western astronomy from Kepler in the seventeenth century. Also described the Milky Way as a spiral galaxy consisting of billions of stars.

However, the fundamental concepts of the Dogon myths do not concern the solar system, but revolve around Sirius, first magnitude star in the constellation Canis Major, which was known as "Sigu tolo", the "star the Sigui "(" Tolo "means" star "). Even more, the brilliant Sirius is less important in Dogon cosmology that his invisible companion, Sirius B, a white dwarf was not discovered by Western astronomy until 1862. The Dogon know Sirius B as "Po Tolo" which translates as "Digitaria star"; "Po" is the grain of fonio, grass popularly known as fonio or ax. The grain of fonio is the smallest who know the Dogon, and by extension, the smallest of things.

The magnitude of Sirius B ("Po toto") is 8.7, making it absolutely invisible to the naked eye; Furthermore, the maximum separation of Sirius A and B is just 11 minutes of arc (and an observer with perfect vision can hardly separate two light spots separated by 42 seconds of arc). For the first modern view of Sirius B, made in 1862 by Alvan Clark, was required to employ the largest existing telescope for época.De Dogon according to myth, this "Digitaria star" or Po Tolo takes 50 years to go to orbit Sigu Tolo. Calculating astronomers is surprisingly 50.04 years error estimating data regarding Dogon achieved with more sophisticated technological resources is less than 0.08%. The myth also provides other disturbing details about Tolo Po described as white and composed of "sagala" a very dense metal and extremely heavy, the heaviest of the universe. This is a singularly apt description of a white dwarf. In addition, they claim that Po tolo rotates on its axis in a period of one year, which is probably a correct assessment. According to the Dogon Sirius B or Po Tolo it is the first star created by Amma and the axis of the universe. They consider that the Sun and Sirius are twin stars with a common origin.

There's more: the Dogon also know other system components. Describe another star which they call "Emme Ya" ("the sun of Women" or "female Sorghum"), much higher than Digitaria, but four times lighter, which would run its orbit around Sigu tolo (Sirius A) also in fifty years, but at a greater distance. Emme Ya located around a satellite that guides him, which they call "nyan tolo," "Star of Women". Modern astronomy did not discover that Sirius is a triple system until 1995. An additional member of the system is the "Star shoemaker", far from the other three and which moves in the opposite direction around Sigui.
The Dogon represent the Sirius system on a figure called "the egg of the world", precise orbital diagram that Sirius A occupies one of the foci of the ellipse.

Dogon every sixty years held a ceremony of renewal of the world, called "It continued," associated with the invisible Sirius B or Po Tolo. In this ceremony some elaborate masks are used to form a bird's head, called "kanaga", specially made for the occasion, which are then carefully stored in protected shelters. The preserved masks are a physical proof that the ceremonies "He followed" and the amazing knowledge of the Dogon about Sirius star system date back at least 700 years, until the year 1300 EC

The Dogon legend says that the ultimate source of this unusual astronomical knowledge were the "Nummos" beings who came to Earth from the satellite Emme Ya, about the year 3000 BCE Significantly, the term "nummo" in the Dogon language is related to the water; also often they refer to them as "Masters of Water" and "trainers". They are described as amphibious beings, fish-shaped with more than men; located landfall somewhere located northeast of the territory where they currently sit.

This sets disturbing parallels to the Sumerian legend of Oannes, collected by the Babylonian historian Berosus. According to the Sumerian myth, Oannes "were shaped mixed with fish man", and emerged from the Red Sea.

How is it possible for a remote and primitive African tribe may possess from the most immemorial antiquity astronomical knowledge that Western science has only been able to obtain with the use of sophisticated techniques and advanced, precise instruments? Stated the problem, of course, it seems the only solution is that the Dogon "received" knowledge of any technologically advanced civilization. ¿From Sirius? Maybe, but before reaching a conclusion it may be useful to know some other information. As we discussed below.
Something about the Dogon (without delusions)

The Dogon are one of the many ethnic groups living in the Central Highlands of Mali and Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). Its territory is located in the Sahel, the semiarid transition zone between the Sahara to the north and humid tropical areas of the south. It is a region of savannah grasses and scattered shrubs, where rain and arable land is scarce.
Data on population are unsafe, estimated by various sources to be between 100,000 and 500,000 individuals, most of whom live in the rocky hills, plateaus and mountains in the districts of Bandiagara and Douentza, Mali. In the first of these districts, the bulk of the population is concentrated in a strip about 140 kilometers long, corresponding to the so-called Bandiagara cliffs. They call themselves "Dogon" or "Dogom" (singular "Bulldog"), but in ancient sources are often referred to as "Habe" Fulbe word meaning "foreigner" or "pagan".

The correct classification of their language is still subject to doubts and controversies, usually being classified within the Voltaic.

The early history of the Dogon are known through their oral traditions are supposed place of origin is located on the west bank of the Niger, between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. According to legend, the ancestors of the Dogon were four brothers of supernatural origin, called Dyon, Arou, Ono Domno and that "due to a dispute in their homeland Mande [...] decided to leave Mande and find a new land where they and their descendants could live in peace. " Until today the inhabitants of different regions often declare its relationship with one of these mythical ancestors. Initially they migrated north and west of Burkina Faso, where local stories describe them as the "Kibsi"; it is believed that around 1490 fled the territory to be invaded by the cavalry of the Mossi, taking refuge in the cliffs of Bandiagara. There replaced a previous population, Tellem, which few data are known.

They are essentially an agricultural people. Less than half of the Dogon are Muslims, and even fewer are Christians; many still practice their religion tradicional.Las Dogon villages are often grouped into groups of four or five in the vicinity of water sources; each of these groups form a canton or region, which is a geographical, linguistic and ethnic unity. Each region has a different dialect (and sometimes significantly different) from the others. The inhabitants of a given region proclaimed their kinship with a common ancestor. The organization of the villas is based on the relationship of its members, within a framework of exogamous patrilineal lineages (called "Ginna"). The old man of more descendant from a common ancestor within the local lineage of a villa serves as head of the same and is known as "Ginna bana". The Ginna bana leading religious ceremonies and chairs the council of elders leading the government of each villa. The oldest male descendant of the founder is the "Hogon" and serves as the head of the corner, while spiritual cult leader "Lebe"; It is considered the "purest of the pure men" and their field is sacred.

A distinctive feature of the social system of the Dogon is the existence of various occupational castes, among which include workers in iron, leather and wood; also among these the "griots", that perform oral historians, genealogists, poets, musicians and magicians. Members of these castes are separated from farmers outside the villas, or villas own. Each of these breeds are inbred, and its members do not participate in the common religious cults.

Awa society is a secret society of men who controls the celebrated cult masks and prepares the NEXT (the "Cult of the Great Mask") ceremony. Awa is characterized by strict etiquette, obligations, injunctions, and a secret language ("the language of the weed" or "He followed so"); women and children are strictly excluded. Awa society is divided according to age grades, ignoring traditional lineages and hierarchical position within the villas. Males are initiated in this society in adolescence, but only a few highly selected are instructed in all the secrets of the cult, responsible for life to preserve the tradition of masks. They receive their initiation into the NEXT ceremony, which is held only once every sixty years. The leader of the Awa society is the "olubaru", the "master of language weed" and leader of the "impure men" .The Dogon divide the community into two opposing categories, called innenomo ("man living" , translated as pure man) and innepuru ("impure man" or even "dead man"). Shares of pure and impure are defined in terms of ritual responsibilities, prohibitions and rights to assume certain functions; make a foreign ritual opposition lineage hierarchy, age, and location. The status of "pure" or "impure" is set at birth, inherited from a recently deceased ancestor. Impure perform the rituals associated with death, such as the preparation and burial of the body and the slaughter and consumption of sacred animals. Impure men are prohibited from contact with the sacred field Hogon. The impure state is required to practice as olubaru. Pure men have prohibited the ritual activities associated with death.

The Awa society olubaru and take over the community for their ceremonial periods, while the Hogon is head for the rest of the year and takes care of the sacred responsibilities in the era of agricultural rites.

Transmission by olubaru takes place outside of the village, and the right to assume is completely separate from the usual hierarchy of it.

The manufacture and use of masks is not in any way exclusive ceremony followed her; also they used in the planting festival in funeral ceremonies, and ceremonies "Lady" (conclusion of a period of mourning).

The Dogon have four main cults: cult "Wagem" (related to the ancestors) led by Ginna bana, worship Lebe headed by Hogon (associated with the agricultural cycle), the cult "Binu" (totem), directed by the "Binukedine" and the cult of society Awa led by olubaru. These four cults are integrated in one religious system. The four leaders of cults are similar to the four supernatural brothers, and in turn, to the four directions of the cosmogony Dogon.Este religious system can be understood in terms of opposition between the Ginna bana and olubaru one hand, both " impure "and Binukedine Hogon and on the other, both" pure ". This opposition has been rooted in mythology and in the way you see the world of this town. The non-arable land, weeds, is seen as disorderly and impure, abode of supernatural forces, while the villages and cultivated land are considered neat and pure. The Hogon, Lebe cult leader and pure men cultivate a sacred and pure field; the brush is the domain of "Pale fox" (the golden jackal) the first son of the creator Amma, and corrupter of their creation.

A Dogon cosmogony

The Dogon cosmogony is no less complex and imaginative that their social organization. According to one version (there are several, differing in many details), Amma, the creator god, made the stars throwing mud pellets into space, and the Sun and Moon as works of pottery. Then he created the earth in his hand squeezing a lump of clay, and then throwing it like the stars; It spreads the pellet forming a female body, which formed the clitoris a termite and ant the vagina.La first break in the world order it happened when Amma wanted to copulate with the earth, but the termite (the clitoris, which represents the masculinity), it stopped him, and Amma then proceeded to sever it. A consequence of this intercourse initial impediment was poor, and he one creature, golden jackal, which is a symbol of the difficulties of God was born.

In a second intercourse, water, which is considered the divine seed, he entered the womb of the Earth, as the excision of the clitoris had removed the cause of the original disorder. This perfect conception were born called divine twins "Nummo" God homogeneous products and its very essence. While Nummo refers to a pair of twins, the Dogon accustomed to using the singular form to refer to them. Then the Nummo ascended to heaven to receive instructions from her father. From there he saw his mother, naked and speechless; to end this state of chaos descended back to Earth and fiber plants divine regions covered her nakedness. This gave the Earth the first language in the world.

Here intervenes the Jackal, "the deceitful son of God", who reintroduced the mess in creating committing incest with his mother. Thus, the Jackal usurped the divine language and produced the menstrual flow, which stained the divine fibers. By this impurity Amma rejected his wife and decided to create living beings directly, modeling them in wet clay. So did the first human pair; each of its members was endowed by the Nummo of two souls, one male and one female. However, Nummo soon realized the disadvantages of having two souls, and proceeded to circumcise the man to remove his feminine side. The man then copulated with the woman, spawning the first two children in a series of eight, who were the ancestors of the people Dogon.La nature of these eight ancestors was dual and bisexual, and death unknown. They reproduced and eventually, after various vicissitudes, was taken to heaven by Nummo after being perfected by the water and the word. In heaven, they became in turn Nummo.

But then came a new break, not resign newcomers to abide by the rules of the original Nummo. The first and second ancestor decided to leave the sky, "where foreigners were" being followed by the other six. Once back on earth they proceeded to the ordination of nature and human society, introducing the world agriculture, metalwork and the art of weaving.

In this mythology the Jackal is an unnatural creature who breaks the social order; It is a symbol of the "uniqueness" male without female plug. For the Dogon, the resulting chaos is the imbalance between masculine and feminine qualities. Instead, the balance of the sexes that leads to proper functioning of the cosmos is illustrated in the stories of the Nummo, androgynous beings. In the myth, the Nummo are cultural heroes who enter the human world arts and useful knowledge and that restore the lost order, while also representing the vitalizing power of water, allowing agriculture and social organization in a hostile environment.

The origin of a modern myth

While the "hidden knowledge" of the Dogon of Sirius and the solar system was known by anthropologists since the late forties, it was not until 1975 when it was the subject of a broad dissemination and a virtual kidnapping by hardcore the hypothesis of "ancient astronauts".

That year saw the light, independently, two hypotheses connecting the astronomical knowledge of the Dogon with alleged space travelers who have visited Earth in the distant past.

Parents of them were French architect Eric Guerrier and American orientalist (settled in England) Robert KG Temple (who is defined in a recent interview as "a highly respected classical scholar and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society"). Guerrier left recorded his musings in a book entitled Essai sur la des Dogon cosmogony: L'Arche du Nommo (Paris, 1975), while the more fortunate proclaimed theirs Robert Temple in The Sirius Mystery (London, 1975). But while Eric is now virtually forgotten Guerrier (the Arabian Web pages on the mystery of Sirius ignore almost unanimously), it has not happened the same with Temple, who in 1998 published a new version of his work, revised and expanded, updated with nothing less than "140 pages of new scientific evidence which gives solidity to a hypothesis that the KGB, CIA and NASA tried to suppress" (!!!).

Overall, Guerrier and Temple agree postulate that the secret knowledge of the Dogon comes from an ancient, occult tradition traceable ultimately to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer. The Sumerians, in particular, have been the original beneficiaries of this mysterious knowledge, received directly from extraterrestrials from a planet Sirius star system. This would be demonstrated by the Sumerian myth of Oannes, which relates to amphibious beings, with mixed fish features and man (or perhaps humanoid inside a spacesuit?), That emerged from the sea to act as culture heroes. However, it should be noted that the idea that there might be some connection between the myth of Oannes and beings from outer space is not original any way for our two authors, as had already been enunciated in 1966 by none other than Carl Sagan and Iosif S. Shklovskiy, in his book Intelligent Life in the Universe. Moreover, should also be taken into account a fact often forgotten too often: we know the legend of Oannes not from Sumerian sources, but through the Chaldean priest and historian Berossus, who lived as late as the century III AEC (Babylonian history is dedicated to the Hellenistic king Antiochus I Soter). Furthermore, most of his work has been lost, and we only have come fragments preserved by Greek historians and writers like Alexander Polyhistor, Abydenus and Apolodoro.

As there is no unanimity among Guerrier and Temple regarding the means by which the information given by the Sumerians Oannes have reached the Dogon. Eric Guerrier, the original less than two, the Sumerian passed to the Babylonians. In Babylon, the information would be known by one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, the end of exile rather than return to Palestine decided to carry out an uncomfortable journey of several thousand kilometers to West Africa. Idea that perspective is very little innovation since the famous Lost Tribes has made them colonize from pre-Columbian America to the Merovingian France, not to mention England, so there's nothing extraordinary that some have gone to the banks of the Niger.
Robert Temple, meanwhile, is far more creative. Sumer secret knowledge would have passed to Egypt, where he was assimilated by Greeks of Lemnos, descendants of the Argonauts. Subsequently, these Greeks emigrate to Libya, and to penetrate to the west became famous Garamantes. Centuries later would head south to the banks of the Niger, which would eventually mingling with the local black population. For Temple, the Dogon would become, "cultural and perhaps physically, descendants of the Greeks of Lemnos". These Hellenic Dogon have preserved for centuries carried the sacred traditions from the pre-dynastic Egypt to Greece by the "Danaos". It may not be worth recalling here that within the literature of this illustrious polygraph (which is "Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, the Egyptian Exploration Society, the Royal Historical Society, the Institute of Classical Studies, and the Institute of Historical Research ") also includes an issue, made with his wife, full of Aesop's fables.

In any case, the modern legend about the "Sirius Mystery" owes much to Temple, and very little, if anything, to Guerrier, to the extent that the former can be considered virtually as the main or only source of the vast majority the stories circulating about it. To this he has undoubtedly contributed decisively aura of erudition, of serious researcher, that distance, for example, of a von Daeniken, and the controversy surrounding his book, which played an important role Carl Sagan and Ian Ridpath (among others).

If Robert Temple is the spring that followers drink together "Sirius Mystery", may not be useless to have a look at their original sources, which, not surprisingly, are the same Guerrier. Fortunately, these sources are not particularly numerous, as their basic data are taken from the work of a team of French anthropologists who studied the Dogon between thirty and fifty. Their leader was Marcel Griaule and his main collaborator Germaine Dieterlen. It is to be noted that the considerable number of pages that these scholars devoted to the Dogon culture, only devoted one article to the alleged "Sirius Mystery", complemented by a book about the astronomical knowledge of the Dogon Dieterlen published several years later Griaule's death.

But it may be useful to know something more about it.

Marcel Griaule
Marcel Griaule (1898-1956), famous French anthropologist, was the organizer, between 1928 and 1939, the first major French ethnographic advanced in Africa. It began its work in Ethiopia, then an independent kingdom in 1929. His first contact with the Dogon village dates from 1931, in the course of the Dakar-Djibouti expedition. During World War II he was held in France, being chosen in 1942 by the Council of the Faculty of Arts to occupy the first chair of ethnology at the Sorbonne created. In 1946 he was finally able to return to French Sudan (now Mali). In 1947 he was appointed advisor to the French Union, and held in his speech as president of the commission of Cultural Affairs. He died suddenly in Paris in 1956, at 58 years old. Upon receiving the news of his death, the Dogon held in his honor a traditional funeral ceremony.

About Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen it has been creating a legend that is often used as background scenery every time he goes up the subject of "Sirius Mystery." According to this legend, Griaule and Dieterlen be "two eminent French anthropologists who lived and worked among the Dogon 16 years" (or 19, or 21, as the disseminators have not agreed about it, and everyone uses the exaggeration that best seems). Throughout this extended stay, and after winning the "love and respect of the people", they would have gone through various stages of initiation, until finally, in the forties (or perhaps thirty, because here either no consensus) four priests decided to finally reveal to them the secret knowledge.

In all this there is some truth mixed with heavy doses misrepresentation. One immediately imagines two valiant and heroic explorers, isolated from the world, living for decades with a lost tribe. Only reality is quite different, since neither the Dogon were a lost people, neither Marcel Griaule a kind of missionary David Livingstone style. For starters, Griaule and Dieterlen were not alone and isolated, and who accompanied a large team of collaborators (including, in some of the expeditions, Griaule's daughter, Genevieve Calame-Griaule). What one can say for sure is that Marcel Griaule did not live with the Dogon or 16, or 19, or 21 years, although they were its focus along no less than quarter of a century (from 1931 until his death in 1956).

The first contact with the Dogon anthropologist actually occurred in 1931, during said Dakar-Djibouti expedition which crossed Africa from coast to coast, culminating in 1933. His next visit was in 1935, during the Sudan Sahara expedition. Between 1936 and 1937 he was found busy in another expedition, the Sahara-Cameroon. He returned to the country Dogon in 1938 in the Niger-Lac Iro expedition, which ended in 1939. We saw before the years of World War were spent in France, and is a little hard to imagine how he went "stages initiation "unable to move the Gallic territory occupied by the Nazis. Did the Dogon priests sent him correspondence lessons? It seems very unlikely.

In 1946 fieldwork restart the Dogon, which would last until 1956, the year of his death. Of course, not missing more, he lived among the Dogon those ten years. He will not, in any way: actually made a dozen trips to the territory, remaining on the ground during that period two years in total. Which is something, considering that during that time played in France positions of responsibility, not to mention the chair at the Sorbonne. But far away, in any case, 16 years of cohabitation with the Dogon legend proclaims.
A relatively primitive ethnic group in West Africa seems to possess within their traditional wisdom very accurate astronomical knowledge of the Sirius star system, which is only feasible to obtain using sophisticated technological resources. We refer, of course, the Dogon.
The myths of this town contain clear references to the invisible companion of Sirius, a white dwarf that was predicted by science in 1844 and discovered in 1862. Moreover, describe it in detail as accurate as surprising, considering it very small and made up the heaviest in the world, and with virtually the same as calculated by Western astronomy orbital period of 50 years metal.
At first glance, this seems impossible. A knowledge of this class may have received only what the Dogon of a scientifically advanced civilization. Alien? ¿Atlante? Or maybe just the geographically closest to them technological civilization, the West?

The alleged Dogon myth was created second myth, adventitious and modern, which began when Robert Temple published in 1975 famous book "The Sirius Mystery". This "myth of the myth" involves a visit from extraterrestrials to Earth in the distant past. The following article reviews various aspects of the subject. Since it is quite extensive, I have divided into two parts for convenience. Part I summarizes the most notable aspects of the mystery and disclosed, review various aspects of Dogon culture, as well as the genesis of modern myth and its sources. Part II is devoted to the various explanations that have been given to the problem, including a section on the discovery of Sirius C. also include here the references I have used. Appendix playing a fragment of one of the Dogon creation myths.

The Myth
A small and remote village in the Sahel, in West Africa, may be the most consistent evidence that Earth was visited in a remote period by beings from outer space test.
This is the Dogon tribe living in the present Republic of Mali. The Dogon are holders of a mythology as rich and complex; legends contain astronomical knowledge that in no way could have obtained for themselves, or for a possible contact with terrestrial visitors. This poses an enigma to science is unable to explain, and it completely escapes conventional solutions.

The secret wisdom of this village contains accurate and detailed data about the solar system, which in many cases have only become part of the acquis very recently modern astronomy: the moon described as "dry and barren," know that the planet Jupiter (which they call "Dana tolo") has four large satellites, known rings of Saturn, and that the planets describe elliptical orbits around the sun. This notion that celestial bodies follow elliptical orbits around a main star that is located in one focus alone was accepted by the Western astronomy from Kepler in the seventeenth century. Also described the Milky Way as a spiral galaxy consisting of billions of stars.

However, the fundamental concepts of the Dogon myths do not concern the solar system, but revolve around Sirius, first magnitude star in the constellation Canis Major, which was known as "Sigu tolo", the "star the Sigui "(" Tolo "means" star "). Even more, the brilliant Sirius is less important in Dogon cosmology that his invisible companion, Sirius B, a white dwarf was not discovered by Western astronomy until 1862. The Dogon know Sirius B as "Po Tolo" which translates as "Digitaria star"; "Po" is the grain of fonio, grass popularly known as fonio or ax. The grain of fonio is the smallest who know the Dogon, and by extension, the smallest of things.

The magnitude of Sirius B ("Po toto") is 8.7, making it absolutely invisible to the naked eye; Furthermore, the maximum separation of Sirius A and B is just 11 minutes of arc (and an observer with perfect vision can hardly separate two light spots separated by 42 seconds of arc). For the first modern view of Sirius B, made in 1862 by Alvan Clark, was required to employ the largest existing telescope for época.De Dogon according to myth, this "Digitaria star" or Po Tolo takes 50 years to go to orbit Sigu Tolo. Calculating astronomers is surprisingly 50.04 years error estimating data regarding Dogon achieved with more sophisticated technological resources is less than 0.08%. The myth also provides other disturbing details about Tolo Po described as white and composed of "sagala" a very dense metal and extremely heavy, the heaviest of the universe. This is a singularly apt description of a white dwarf. In addition, they claim that Po tolo rotates on its axis in a period of one year, which is probably a correct assessment. According to the Dogon Sirius B or Po Tolo it is the first star created by Amma and the axis of the universe. They consider that the Sun and Sirius are twin stars with a common origin.

There's more: the Dogon also know other system components. Describe another star which they call "Emme Ya" ("the sun of Women" or "female Sorghum"), much higher than Digitaria, but four times lighter, which would run its orbit around Sigu tolo (Sirius A) also in fifty years, but at a greater distance. Emme Ya located around a satellite that guides him, which they call "nyan tolo," "Star of Women". Modern astronomy did not discover that Sirius is a triple system until 1995. An additional member of the system is the "Star shoemaker", far from the other three and which moves in the opposite direction around Sigui.
The Dogon represent the Sirius system on a figure called "the egg of the world", precise orbital diagram that Sirius A occupies one of the foci of the ellipse.

Dogon every sixty years held a ceremony of renewal of the world, called "It continued," associated with the invisible Sirius B or Po Tolo. In this ceremony some elaborate masks are used to form a bird's head, called "kanaga", specially made for the occasion, which are then carefully stored in protected shelters. The preserved masks are a physical proof that the ceremonies "He followed" and the amazing knowledge of the Dogon about Sirius star system date back at least 700 years, until the year 1300 EC

The Dogon legend says that the ultimate source of this unusual astronomical knowledge were the "Nummos" beings who came to Earth from the satellite Emme Ya, about the year 3000 BCE Significantly, the term "nummo" in the Dogon language is related to the water; also often they refer to them as "Masters of Water" and "trainers". They are described as amphibious beings, fish-shaped with more than men; located landfall somewhere located northeast of the territory where they currently sit.
This sets disturbing parallels to the Sumerian legend of Oannes, collected by the Babylonian historian Berosus. According to the Sumerian myth, Oannes "were shaped mixed with fish man", and emerged from the Red Sea.

How is it possible for a remote and primitive African tribe may possess from the most immemorial antiquity astronomical knowledge that Western science has only been able to obtain with the use of sophisticated techniques and advanced, precise instruments? Stated the problem, of course, it seems the only solution is that the Dogon "received" knowledge of any technologically advanced civilization. ¿From Sirius? Maybe, but before reaching a conclusion it may be useful to know some other information. As we discussed below.
Something about the Dogon (without delusions)

The Dogon are one of the many ethnic groups living in the Central Highlands of Mali and Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). Its territory is located in the Sahel, the semiarid transition zone between the Sahara to the north and humid tropical areas of the south. It is a region of savannah grasses and scattered shrubs, where rain and arable land is scarce.
Data on population are unsafe, estimated by various sources to be between 100,000 and 500,000 individuals, most of whom live in the rocky hills, plateaus and mountains in the districts of Bandiagara and Douentza, Mali. In the first of these districts, the bulk of the population is concentrated in a strip about 140 kilometers long, corresponding to the so-called Bandiagara cliffs. They call themselves "Dogon" or "Dogom" (singular "Bulldog"), but in ancient sources are often referred to as "Habe" Fulbe word meaning "foreigner" or "pagan".

The correct classification of their language is still subject to doubts and controversies, usually being classified within the Voltaic.

The early history of the Dogon are known through their oral traditions are supposed place of origin is located on the west bank of the Niger, between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. According to legend, the ancestors of the Dogon were four brothers of supernatural origin, called Dyon, Arou, Ono Domno and that "due to a dispute in their homeland Mande [...] decided to leave Mande and find a new land where they and their descendants could live in peace. " Until today the inhabitants of different regions often declare its relationship with one of these mythical ancestors. Initially they migrated north and west of Burkina Faso, where local stories describe them as the "Kibsi"; it is believed that around 1490 fled the territory to be invaded by the cavalry of the Mossi, taking refuge in the cliffs of Bandiagara. There replaced a previous population, Tellem, which few data are known.

They are essentially an agricultural people. Less than half of the Dogon are Muslims, and even fewer are Christians; many still practice their religion tradicional.Las Dogon villages are often grouped into groups of four or five in the vicinity of water sources; each of these groups form a canton or region, which is a geographical, linguistic and ethnic unity. Each region has a different dialect (and sometimes significantly different) from the others. The inhabitants of a given region proclaimed their kinship with a common ancestor. The organization of the villas is based on the relationship of its members, within a framework of exogamous patrilineal lineages (called "Ginna"). The old man of more descendant from a common ancestor within the local lineage of a villa serves as head of the same and is known as "Ginna bana". The Ginna bana leading religious ceremonies and chairs the council of elders leading the government of each villa. The oldest male descendant of the founder is the "Hogon" and serves as the head of the corner, while spiritual cult leader "Lebe"; It is considered the "purest of the pure men" and their field is sacred.

A distinctive feature of the social system of the Dogon is the existence of various occupational castes, among which include workers in iron, leather and wood; also among these the "griots", that perform oral historians, genealogists, poets, musicians and magicians. Members of these castes are separated from farmers outside the villas, or villas own. Each of these breeds are inbred, and its members do not participate in the common religious cults.

Awa society is a secret society of men who controls the celebrated cult masks and prepares the NEXT (the "Cult of the Great Mask") ceremony. Awa is characterized by strict etiquette, obligations, injunctions, and a secret language ("the language of the weed" or "He followed so"); women and children are strictly excluded. Awa society is divided according to age grades, ignoring traditional lineages and hierarchical position within the villas. Males are initiated in this society in adolescence, but only a few highly selected are instructed in all the secrets of the cult, responsible for life to preserve the tradition of masks. They receive their initiation into the NEXT ceremony, which is held only once every sixty years. The leader of the Awa society is the "olubaru", the "master of language weed" and leader of the "impure men" .The Dogon divide the community into two opposing categories, called innenomo ("man living" , translated as pure man) and innepuru ("impure man" or even "dead man"). Shares of pure and impure are defined in terms of ritual responsibilities, prohibitions and rights to assume certain functions; make a foreign ritual opposition lineage hierarchy, age, and location. The status of "pure" or "impure" is set at birth, inherited from a recently deceased ancestor. Impure perform the rituals associated with death, such as the preparation and burial of the body and the slaughter and consumption of sacred animals. Impure men are prohibited from contact with the sacred field Hogon. The impure state is required to practice as olubaru. Pure men have prohibited the ritual activities associated with death.

The Awa society olubaru and take over the community for their ceremonial periods, while the Hogon is head for the rest of the year and takes care of the sacred responsibilities in the era of agricultural rites.

Transmission by olubaru takes place outside of the village, and the right to assume is completely separate from the usual hierarchy of it.

The manufacture and use of masks is not in any way exclusive ceremony followed her; also they used in the planting festival in funeral ceremonies, and ceremonies "Lady" (conclusion of a period of mourning).

The Dogon have four main cults: cult "Wagem" (related to the ancestors) led by Ginna bana, worship Lebe headed by Hogon (associated with the agricultural cycle), the cult "Binu" (totem), directed by the "Binukedine" and the cult of society Awa led by olubaru. These four cults are integrated in one religious system. The four leaders of cults are similar to the four supernatural brothers, and in turn, to the four directions of the cosmogony Dogon.Este religious system can be understood in terms of opposition between the Ginna bana and olubaru one hand, both " impure "and Binukedine Hogon and on the other, both" pure ". This opposition has been rooted in mythology and in the way you see the world of this town. The non-arable land, weeds, is seen as disorderly and impure, abode of supernatural forces, while the villages and cultivated land are considered neat and pure. The Hogon, Lebe cult leader and pure men cultivate a sacred and pure field; the brush is the domain of "Pale fox" (the golden jackal) the first son of the creator Amma, and corrupter of their creation.

A Dogon cosmogony

The Dogon cosmogony is no less complex and imaginative that their social organization. According to one version (there are several, differing in many details), Amma, the creator god, made the stars throwing mud pellets into space, and the Sun and Moon as works of pottery. Then he created the earth in his hand squeezing a lump of clay, and then throwing it like the stars; It spreads the pellet forming a female body, which formed the clitoris a termite and ant the vagina.La first break in the world order it happened when Amma wanted to copulate with the earth, but the termite (the clitoris, which represents the masculinity), it stopped him, and Amma then proceeded to sever it. A consequence of this intercourse initial impediment was poor, and he one creature, golden jackal, which is a symbol of the difficulties of God was born.

In a second intercourse, water, which is considered the divine seed, he entered the womb of the Earth, as the excision of the clitoris had removed the cause of the original disorder. This perfect conception were born called divine twins "Nummo" God homogeneous products and its very essence. While Nummo refers to a pair of twins, the Dogon accustomed to using the singular form to refer to them. Then the Nummo ascended to heaven to receive instructions from her father. From there he saw his mother, naked and speechless; to end this state of chaos descended back to Earth and fiber plants divine regions covered her nakedness. This gave the Earth the first language in the world.

Here intervenes the Jackal, "the deceitful son of God", who reintroduced the mess in creating committing incest with his mother. Thus, the Jackal usurped the divine language and produced the menstrual flow, which stained the divine fibers. By this impurity Amma rejected his wife and decided to create living beings directly, modeling them in wet clay. So did the first human pair; each of its members was endowed by the Nummo of two souls, one male and one female. However, Nummo soon realized the disadvantages of having two souls, and proceeded to circumcise the man to remove his feminine side. The man then copulated with the woman, spawning the first two children in a series of eight, who were the ancestors of the people Dogon.La nature of these eight ancestors was dual and bisexual, and death unknown. They reproduced and eventually, after various vicissitudes, was taken to heaven by Nummo after being perfected by the water and the word. In heaven, they became in turn Nummo.

But then came a new break, not resign newcomers to abide by the rules of the original Nummo. The first and second ancestor decided to leave the sky, "where foreigners were" being followed by the other six. Once back on earth they proceeded to the ordination of nature and human society, introducing the world agriculture, metalwork and the art of weaving.

In this mythology the Jackal is an unnatural creature who breaks the social order; It is a symbol of the "uniqueness" male without female plug. For the Dogon, the resulting chaos is the imbalance between masculine and feminine qualities. Instead, the balance of the sexes that leads to proper functioning of the cosmos is illustrated in the stories of the Nummo, androgynous beings. In the myth, the Nummo are cultural heroes who enter the human world arts and useful knowledge and that restore the lost order, while also representing the vitalizing power of water, allowing agriculture and social organization in a hostile environment.

The origin of a modern myth

While the "hidden knowledge" of the Dogon of Sirius and the solar system was known by anthropologists since the late forties, it was not until 1975 when it was the subject of a broad dissemination and a virtual kidnapping by hardcore the hypothesis of "ancient astronauts".

That year saw the light, independently, two hypotheses connecting the astronomical knowledge of the Dogon with alleged space travelers who have visited Earth in the distant past.

Parents of them were French architect Eric Guerrier and American orientalist (settled in England) Robert KG Temple (who is defined in a recent interview as "a highly respected classical scholar and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society"). Guerrier left recorded his musings in a book entitled Essai sur la des Dogon cosmogony: L'Arche du Nommo (Paris, 1975), while the more fortunate proclaimed theirs Robert Temple in The Sirius Mystery (London, 1975). But while Eric is now virtually forgotten Guerrier (the Arabian Web pages on the mystery of Sirius ignore almost unanimously), it has not happened the same with Temple, who in 1998 published a new version of his work, revised and expanded, updated with nothing less than "140 pages of new scientific evidence which gives solidity to a hypothesis that the KGB, CIA and NASA tried to suppress" (!!!).

Overall, Guerrier and Temple agree postulate that the secret knowledge of the Dogon comes from an ancient, occult tradition traceable ultimately to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer. The Sumerians, in particular, have been the original beneficiaries of this mysterious knowledge, received directly from extraterrestrials from a planet Sirius star system. This would be demonstrated by the Sumerian myth of Oannes, which relates to amphibious beings, with mixed fish features and man (or perhaps humanoid inside a spacesuit?), That emerged from the sea to act as culture heroes. However, it should be noted that the idea that there might be some connection between the myth of Oannes and beings from outer space is not original any way for our two authors, as had already been enunciated in 1966 by none other than Carl Sagan and Iosif S. Shklovskiy, in his book Intelligent Life in the Universe. Moreover, should also be taken into account a fact often forgotten too often: we know the legend of Oannes not from Sumerian sources, but through the Chaldean priest and historian Berossus, who lived as late as the century III AEC (Babylonian history is dedicated to the Hellenistic king Antiochus I Soter). Furthermore, most of his work has been lost, and we only have come fragments preserved by Greek historians and writers like Alexander Polyhistor, Abydenus and Apolodoro.

As there is no unanimity among Guerrier and Temple regarding the means by which the information given by the Sumerians Oannes have reached the Dogon. Eric Guerrier, the original less than two, the Sumerian passed to the Babylonians. In Babylon, the information would be known by one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, the end of exile rather than return to Palestine decided to carry out an uncomfortable journey of several thousand kilometers to West Africa. Idea that perspective is very little innovation since the famous Lost Tribes has made them colonize from pre-Columbian America to the Merovingian France, not to mention England, so there's nothing extraordinary that some have gone to the banks of the Niger.
Robert Temple, meanwhile, is far more creative. Sumer secret knowledge would have passed to Egypt, where he was assimilated by Greeks of Lemnos, descendants of the Argonauts. Subsequently, these Greeks emigrate to Libya, and to penetrate to the west became famous Garamantes. Centuries later would head south to the banks of the Niger, which would eventually mingling with the local black population. For Temple, the Dogon would become, "cultural and perhaps physically, descendants of the Greeks of Lemnos". These Hellenic Dogon have preserved for centuries carried the sacred traditions from the pre-dynastic Egypt to Greece by the "Danaos". It may not be worth recalling here that within the literature of this illustrious polygraph (which is "Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, the Egyptian Exploration Society, the Royal Historical Society, the Institute of Classical Studies, and the Institute of Historical Research ") also includes an issue, made with his wife, full of Aesop's fables.

In any case, the modern legend about the "Sirius Mystery" owes much to Temple, and very little, if anything, to Guerrier, to the extent that the former can be considered virtually as the main or only source of the vast majority the stories circulating about it. To this he has undoubtedly contributed decisively aura of erudition, of serious researcher, that distance, for example, of a von Daeniken, and the controversy surrounding his book, which played an important role Carl Sagan and Ian Ridpath (among others).

If Robert Temple is the spring that followers drink together "Sirius Mystery", may not be useless to have a look at their original sources, which, not surprisingly, are the same Guerrier. Fortunately, these sources are not particularly numerous, as their basic data are taken from the work of a team of French anthropologists who studied the Dogon between thirty and fifty. Their leader was Marcel Griaule and his main collaborator Germaine Dieterlen. It is to be noted that the considerable number of pages that these scholars devoted to the Dogon culture, only devoted one article to the alleged "Sirius Mystery", complemented by a book about the astronomical knowledge of the Dogon Dieterlen published several years later Griaule's death.

But it may be useful to know something more about it.

Marcel Griaule

Marcel Griaule (1898-1956), famous French anthropologist, was the organizer, between 1928 and 1939, the first major French ethnographic advanced in Africa. It began its work in Ethiopia, then an independent kingdom in 1929. His first contact with the Dogon village dates from 1931, in the course of the Dakar-Djibouti expedition. During World War II he was held in France, being chosen in 1942 by the Council of the Faculty of Arts to occupy the first chair of ethnology at the Sorbonne created. In 1946 he was finally able to return to French Sudan (now Mali). In 1947 he was appointed advisor to the French Union, and held in his speech as president of the commission of Cultural Affairs. He died suddenly in Paris in 1956, at 58 years old. Upon receiving the news of his death, the Dogon held in his honor a traditional funeral ceremony.

About Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen it has been creating a legend that is often used as background scenery every time he goes up the subject of "Sirius Mystery." According to this legend, Griaule and Dieterlen be "two eminent French anthropologists who lived and worked among the Dogon 16 years" (or 19, or 21, as the disseminators have not agreed about it, and everyone uses the exaggeration that best seems). Throughout this extended stay, and after winning the "love and respect of the people", they would have gone through various stages of initiation, until finally, in the forties (or perhaps thirty, because here either no consensus) four priests decided to finally reveal to them the secret knowledge.

In all this there is some truth mixed with heavy doses misrepresentation. One immediately imagines two valiant and heroic explorers, isolated from the world, living for decades with a lost tribe. Only reality is quite different, since neither the Dogon were a lost people, neither Marcel Griaule a kind of missionary David Livingstone style. For starters, Griaule and Dieterlen were not alone and isolated, and who accompanied a large team of collaborators (including, in some of the expeditions, Griaule's daughter, Genevieve Calame-Griaule). What one can say for sure is that Marcel Griaule did not live with the Dogon or 16, or 19, or 21 years, although they were its focus along no less than quarter of a century (from 1931 until his death in 1956).

The first contact with the Dogon anthropologist actually occurred in 1931, during said Dakar-Djibouti expedition which crossed Africa from coast to coast, culminating in 1933. His next visit was in 1935, during the Sudan Sahara expedition. Between 1936 and 1937 he was found busy in another expedition, the Sahara-Cameroon. He returned to the country Dogon in 1938 in the Niger-Lac Iro expedition, which ended in 1939. We saw before the years of World War were spent in France, and is a little hard to imagine how he went "stages initiation "unable to move the Gallic territory occupied by the Nazis. Did the Dogon priests sent him correspondence lessons? It seems very unlikely.

In 1946 fieldwork restart the Dogon, which would last until 1956, the year of his death. Of course, not missing more, he lived among the Dogon those ten years. He will not, in any way: actually made a dozen trips to the territory, remaining on the ground during that period two years in total. Which is something, considering that during that time played in France positions of responsibility, not to mention the chair at the Sorbonne. But far away, in any case, 16 years of cohabitation with the Dogon legend proclaims.

Another thing worthy of being taken into account, and that is never mentioned is that Griaule and his team had always appeal to the use of interpreters when communicating with the priests that served as informants.

Explanations

Conclusion

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Another thing worthy of being taken into account, and that is never mentioned is that Griaule and his team had always appeal to the use of interpreters when communicating with the priests that served as informants.

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Explanations

Lois mais diop geographic historian
1500 AD African pop min, 600 min. people
by 1900 AD (400) pop 100 min.

only people comprable...

Conclusion

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