The Grand Canyon and the Great Flood

In a previous post, we discussed evidence that supports Walt Brown's assertions that after the global flood, the thickened continents contained trapped water in many places, and that spectacular canyons were carved when some of these basins full of trapped water violently breached. The Monterey Canyon discussed in that post may well have formed from some of the water formerly filling California's Great Central Valley.

Another major piece of evidence is the Grand Canyon (above). In his book, Dr. Brown lays out all the various theories that attempt to explain the origin of this magnificent geological feature, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each theory.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon are confidently told the conventional uniformitarian explanation that the Colorado River slowly carved out the canyon over millions of years, as if this theory is the only possible explanation and as if it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Movies and books in the park's visitor centers reinforce this impression.

However, there are serious problems with the uniformitarian explanation, and evidence that it has a very difficult time explaining. One of the most difficult problems is the fact that the Colorado River -- which flows from north to south on the east side of the large, raised Kaibab Plateau (green terrain feature shown in the Google map above, marked with the words "Kaibab Plateau HP") -- suddenly makes a hard right turn to the west and blows right through the Kaibab Plateau massif. This is a very unusual thing for a river to do.

On the other hand, if a huge inland sea remained after the thickening of the continents in the aftermath of the global flood discussed in Dr. Brown's theory, then the breaching of that lake would explain many of the features of the Grand Canyon quite satisfactorily. In fact, the Grand Canyon may have been carved by the breaching of two lakes -- the violent escape of the water from the first lake may have undermined the western barrier of a second large lake, leading to its breaching as well. The breathtaking and distinctive terrain to the east of the Grand Canyon (including the buttes and mesas featured in numerous cowboy movies) could be explained as the area that was under the inland sea that breached to form the Grand Canyon.

In the terrain map above, the viewer can see a distinctive "funnel shape" in the upper right area of the map, out of which the first "tail" of the huge canyon appears to originate. This funnel shaped area is evidence that a massive amount of water once violently poured through that funnel and proceeded to carve the Grand Canyon.

This evidence is discussed in greater detail in the Mathisen Corollary. The theory of a global flood within human memory would also explain many unsolved mysteries of mankind's ancient past. Connecting the theory of a global flood with the evidence of an ancient advanced civilization is the premise of the Mathisen Corollary.

The possibility that the Grand Canyon was carved rapidly rather than very slowly, however, undermines certain tenets that many in conventional academia hold sacred. In particular, it undermines the dogma that the features on earth required hundreds of millions of years to form, which is a key supporting argument for the theory of Darwinian evolution. Because of the almost religious devotion to these dogmas, conventional theorists do not appear interested in exploring the significant evidence for a rapid (and relatively recent) explanation for the existence of the Grand Canyon.

New Zealand greenstone and mankind's ancient past

The Maori greenstone is a form of nephrite related to jade found in New Zealand, extremely hard and very beautiful, treasured by the Maori since before the arrival of Europeans and used in jewelry such as the hei tiki (tiki pendant) and the hei matua (fish hook pendant). The British Museum website identifies the Maori word hei as a pendant worn about the neck.

Martin Doutré in his 1999 book Ancient Celtic New Zealand argues that the extreme hardness of greenstone, the fact that the Maori did not possess metal tools, the remoteness of the South Island locations where it is principally found, and the presence of distinctive patterns found in the Americas and even ancient Egypt all argue for the possibility that there was already "a developed, thriving and anciently established greenstone carving industry in place" when the first Maoris arrived (274). He notes that finding the remote locations where greenstone exists in New Zealand's south island, recognizing it in its unspectacular raw state, knowing its special qualities and potential, and then organizing long and perilous voyages to retrieve it, are all developments that would take significant time, perhaps generations or even hundreds of years, and that it is possible that the Maoris learned of its special qualities from people who had been there for centuries before they arrived.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence for the theory that greenstone artifacts may be evidence for ancient pre-Maori habitation of New Zealand are the common designs in South America and even Europe and Africa. In this fascinating discussion on his website, Mr. Doutré points out the examples from South America and even ancient Egypt of the distinctive mere hand-club so often seen made out of greenstone in museums such as this one in the Te Papa Museum.

Further down the page, he provides an illustration of an ancient tiki figurine found in Mexico that is unmistakeably similar to the hei tiki pendants of New Zealand. He also details the connections between the South Pacific tikis and the ancient Egyptian dwarf god Bes, the protector of women and children, and argues that the high feather hats, staring eyes and protruding tongues of the tikis are symbolic of the representations of that ancient deity, and that the "chin tattooing" of Maori women and girls is related to the protruding tongue of Bes (as is the chin tattooing found in Egypt and North Africa to this day).

Because the Maori are not believed to have come from South America or ancient Egypt, it is likely that earlier New Zealand inhabitants descended from ancient occupants of Egypt made their way to the Americas and eventually as far as New Zealand, prior to the arrival of the Maori, and that the blending of these cultures led to the many distinctive cultural traditions the Maori have which they do not share with other South Pacific islanders. We have already examined some evidence that such ancient migration (unknown to conventional isolationist historical paradigms) took place with reference to South America. This theory is not meant to take anything away from any culture or people -- if such contact indeed took place, it is yet another amazing chapter in the history of mankind that should cause all of us to marvel and be more humble.

The case of the Ruamahanga Woman adds another piece of evidence in support of this possibility.

The next time you see someone wearing a beautiful neck pendant of Maori greenstone, you should pause to consider the awesome ancient history of mankind, and the possibility that the theories taught so confidently in school might be mistaken.

Excellent discussion of the benefits of binoculars

Here's a link to an excellent discussion of binoculars for stargazing (and moongazing) from 365 Days of Astronomy. It's a podcast, so you can download it and listen to it on your way to work if you want to, or listen at home or simply read the transcript.

The post examines the reasons why a good pair of binoculars are a better first purchase for gazing at the heavens than a telescope, and then goes on to discuss the specifications to consider when selecting a pair of binos.

He also explains the concept of the "exit pupil," which dictates the amount of light magnification that binoculars can provide. In the Army, we were taught that binoculars can be used at night as a sort of low-level night-vision device, because they can actually gather light and enable you to see objects in the dark more brightly than you can see them with your naked eye. This podcast explains why.

The spectacle of the four planets Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter is still taking place in the early pre-dawn hours on the eastern horizon. You will need binoculars to see Mercury and Mars. The positions of the four planets have shifted somewhat since the post from April 28 -- their new relative locations are illustrated in this post from the Urban Astronomer.

Going to college? Know someone who is?

If you are about to head off to college, one thing you should be very aware of is the fact that universities today may claim to promote open exchange of ideas and the freedom to question assumptions, but in fact that is only true within a certain dominant paradigm.

There is a dominant ideological paradigm or framework of ideas with certain shared assumptions. These assumptions include a dominant geological framework (uniformitarian geology), which reinforces a dominant biological framework (Darwinian evolution), which reinforces a dominant anthropological framework (which includes "evolutionary" progress from hunter-gatherer societies to primitive agricultural societies to greater levels of civilization in a generally unbroken line of progress, with some setbacks), which reinforces a dominant literary-political narrative (a view of history and literature as the record of one group oppressing and colonizing other groups, and an attempt to undo the effects of the hegemonies that resulted from these past power matrices).

As a result, "freedom to question assumptions" is permitted if it is in accord with this dominant narrative (for instance, courses such as "Introduction to LGBT Studies" or a symposium on "queer Caribbean literature" might seem to be "open-minded" examples of freedom to question assumptions, but would actually fit right in to the overarching paradigm).

On the other hand, freedom to question assumptions might become a little strained for a student who wanted to write his anthropology thesis on the possibility that mankind knew the size and shape of the earth before the first dynastic pharaohs ruled in Egypt, or the professor who wanted to teach a course exploring the possibility that man started out more advanced in knowledge and then became less advanced for many thousands of years. How about a geology course examining the abundant evidence around the globe for a worldwide flood in antiquity? Such "freedom to question assumptions" would fall outside the reigning orthodoxy of academia.

As a result, students in college are not exposed to rigorous challenges to the reigning assumptions. Challenges to this dominant paradigm are not welcomed and debated on the merits of the evidence for one theory or another, but are more typically met with ridicule or ad hominem attacks.

Nevertheless, there is substantial evidence that the dominant uniformitarian geological theories -- including plate tectonics -- may in fact be wrong (see here, here, and here for some of the evidence). There is also substantial evidence that ancient civilizations had the ability to cross the oceans and had a good idea that the earth was spherical and how big it is (see here and here, for example).

Students in college now or heading off to college soon should know that there are very valid reasons for challenging the assumptions of many of the theories that are passed off to them as fact, beyond any questioning. In fact, learning to put all the various theories on the table and to identify their starting assumptions and evaluate the evidence for and against each competing theory should be a central skill that is taught and encouraged in college. The fact that competing theories are more often mocked than evaluated should raise a warning flag (for more on that subject, see the cholesterol theory discussion here and here).

If you are in college now, or know someone who is or will be soon, encourage them to follow the links in this post and to cultivate a true "open mind," not just an open mind within the boundaries of what is and is not acceptable in the current university environment. There are very real reasons why we need more college graduates with the ability to truly question assumptions and the theories that their professors declare to be beyond questioning.

Back from the Great Central Valley

Just returned from an edifying visit to the Great Central Valley of California. As can be seen from the image above, the Central Valley is an enormous flat basin bordered by rounded hills on the west side and the rugged Sierras on the east (the photo above looks west along the flat plains towards some of the western hill country; the valley stretches for many miles to the east behind the photographer).

This huge flat tub contains some of the most fertile soil on earth. According to the hydroplate theory of Walt Brown, after the global flood event the continents slid and buckled and thickened, and as they rose in height floodwaters poured off of them. However, waters were trapped in many inland seas.

As described in the 7th edition of Walt Brown's book:

Drainage of the waters that covered the earth left every continental basin filled to the brim with water. Some of these postflood lakes lost more water by evaporation and seepage than they gained by rainfall and drainage from higher elevations. Consequently, they shrank over the centuries. A well-known example was former Lake Bonneville, part of which is now the Great Salt Lake.

Through rainfall and drainage from higher terrain, other lakes gained more water than they lost. Thus water overflowed the rim of each of these lakes at the lowest point on the rim. The resulting erosion at that point on the rim allowed more water to flow over it. This eroded the cut in the rim even deeper and caused even more water to cut it faster. Eventually, the entire lake dumped through a deep slit which we today call a canyon. [. . .]

With thousands of large, high lakes after the flood, and a lowered sea level, many other canyons were carved. Some are now covered by the raised ocean. It appears likely that (1) the Mediterranean "Lake" dumped into the lowered Atlantic Ocean and carved a canyon at the Strait of Gibralter, (2) "Lake California" filling the Great Central Valley of California carved a canyon (now largely filled with sediments) under what is now the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and (3) the Mediterranean Sea or the Black Sea carved out the Bosporus and Dardanelles. 107.

Examination of any terrain map of California confirms the likelihood of this theory. The richness of the soil there appears to support this theory.

The presence of a major submarine canyon under the ocean down the continental slope from Monterey Bay also appears to be supporting evidence for massive flows of water at a time when the ocean levels were lower (see image below from Google Maps -- this is a very distinctive piece of undersea terrain).

Submarine canyons such as this one (the Monterey Canyon) pose a problem for conventional (non-catastrophic) geological theories. As Dr. Brown explains elsewhere:

The ocean floor has several hundred canyons, some of which exceed the Grand Canyon in both length and depth. One submarine canyon is three times deeper than the Grand Canyon. Another is ten times longer (2,300 miles), so long it would stretch nearly across the United States. Most of these V-shaped canyons are extensions of major rivers. Examples include the Amazon Canyon, Hudson Canyon, Ganges Canyon, Congo Canyon, and Indus Canyon. What could gouge out canyons 15,000 feet below sea level? Perhaps ancient rivers cut these canyons when the ocean floor was higher or sea level was lower. If so, how did that happen? Swift rivers supposedly cut most continental [above ocean] canyons. However, currents measured in submarine canyons are much too slow, generally less than one mile per hour. Frequently, the flow is in the wrong direction. Submarine landslides or currents of dense, muddy water sometimes occur. however, they would not form long, branching patterns that characterize river systems and submarine canyons. Furthermore, experiments with thick, muddy water in submarine canyons have not demonstrated any canyon-cutting ability. 92.

The pattern of the Monterey Canyon certainly appears to bear the above analysis out.

Spica in the constellation Virgo

As the earth makes its way around the sun, the constellation Scorpio is becoming more prominent in the night sky as Orion recedes from the scene (because the sun is now between the earth and Orion, meaning he is up primarily during the day, when he cannot be seen). This process is described in greater detail here.

The constellation Virgo is fairly easy to find from the Scorpion -- just continue along the ecliptic from his head and claws to the right as you face south, past the faint stars of Libra, and on to brilliant Spica, an important star with a historic place in the story of precession (see the above-mentioned post on Orion for further explanation of precession).

Another way to find Spica and Virgo is to follow the sweep of the handle of the Big Dipper (see the discussion in "The Undying Stars") to reddish Arcturus and then continue along the same arc to Spica (an old saying advises "follow the arc to Arcturus and then drive a spike to Spica").

Spica is also designated alpha virginis -- meaning "the alpha of the constellation Virgo" or "the Virgin's alpha." Under a system of star designation introduced by Johann Bayer (1572 - 1625) in 1603, every constellation has a first star (often the brightest star) designated as its alpha, a second star (usually its second-brightest star) designated as its beta, a third star designated as its gamma, and so forth. The genitive (possessive) form of the Latin name for the constellation precedes the designation, so that the brightest star in the constellation Leo would be alpha leonis ("the lion's alpha"), which is the star Regulus.

Spica itself is a Latin word meaning an ear of wheat, perhaps because the constellation Virgo was formerly associated with harvest time (all the constellations have now "been delayed" by the long march of precession). In any event, Spica played an important role in the re-discovery of precession by Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 190 BC - c. 126 BC or 120 BC).

The great modern scholar of the history of astronomy, Otto Neugebauer (1899 - 1990) recounts that one of the most important observations that led Hipparchus to the re-discovery of precession was his calculation that the star Spica had moved relative to the autumnal equinox, compared to the notations of Spica's position recorded by the earlier astronomers Timocharis of Alexandria (320 BC - 260 BC) and his contemporary and colleague Aristyllus.

Hipparchus can be said to have "re-discovered" precession because there is abundant evidence that far more ancient civilizations had understood it in even greater detail and precision literally thousands of years earlier. This is not to take anything away from the achievement of Hipparchus, as perceiving precession is by no means easy -- the phenomenon causes only one degree of change relative to the equinoxes in 71.6 years.

Spica is indicated in the above chart of Virgo by a red arrow (note that in the rather fanciful drawing from the 1825 star book Urania's Mirror shows a sheaf of wheat at Spica). The heavy black lines connect the stars of Virgo using the alternative (and much more useful) method created by H.A. Rey, who was also the author of the beloved Curious George stories. His book The Stars: A New Way to See Them is one of the best books for star-gazing ever written.

He argued that "allegorical drawings" such as the one above were decorative but unhelpful -- that in fact they were confusing. He also decried the geometrical but shapeless connections that are often used in which lines connect stars in a constellation but with no relation to the shape that the constellation's name suggests. His alternate outlines are both simple enough to actually use and suggestive enough of the object named to be the best of both worlds.

Spica is currently reaching its highest point around 10:30 pm each night (and getting earlier each evening) and setting at about 4:00 in the morning (at latitude 35^o north). Spica is actually a binary star and one of the twenty brightest in the entire sky.

Also in the constellation Virgo is the star Porrima, which is also a binary, also designated gamma virginis. It is indicated by a green arrow in the above diagram. The planet Saturn is currently near Porrima as it arcs across the night sky along the ecliptic path (see discussion in this previous post).

The Diamer Basha Dam and the Rock Carvings of the Indus Valley

This recent article entitled "Threatened Rock Carvings of Pakistan" describes the thousands of rock carvings in northern Pakistan that will be submerged by the planned Diamer Basha Dam project along the Indus River.

The dam has been in planning stages for five years and groundbreaking for the construction is scheduled for this month. While the dam will generate needed electricity and provide flood mitigation and sediment controls, it will also submerge tens of thousands of rock carvings, some of them very ancient.

This website details some of the findings of the joint German and Pakistani research that has been conducted on the carvings since 1978. It provides a gallery of additional images of some of the carvings, in addition to the excellent images in the article above.

These carvings appear to contain solar and astronomical imagery reminiscent of the ancient carvings studied by Martin Brennan from the Boyne River valley area in Ireland and discussed in his excellent book the Stars and the Stones.

Modern historians believe these solar images in the Diamer Basha area are much more recent, although dating rocks and carvings on rocks is notoriously difficult and depends in large part upon assumptions and historical models.

Let us hope that some plan to remove and preserve the thousands of petroglyphs and inscriptions can be put into action before these important records of those who went before us are lost. Due to the sheer number of them, and the size of some of the stones, such a hope may be overly optimistic.