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'Amazon Stonehenge' found in Brazil

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1637840.htm

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Archaeologists have discovered a pre-colonial astrological observatory possibly 2,000 years old in the Amazon basin near French Guiana, a report has said.

"Only a society with a complex culture could have built such a monument," archaeologist Mariana Petry Cabral, of the Amapa Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IEPA), told O Globo newspaper.

The observatory was built of 127 blocks of granite each three metres high and regularly placed in circles in an open field, she said.

Ms Cabral said the site resembles a temple which could have been used as an observatory, because the blocks are positioned to mark the winter solstice.

In December, the path of the sun allows rays to pass through a hole in one of the blocks, possibly to calculate agricultural activity and religious rituals.

Its exact age has been difficult to determine, but based on ceramic fragments found nearby, archaeologists estimate it between 500 and 2,000 years old.

The discovery is in Calcoene, 390 kilometres from Macapa, the capital of Amapa state, near Brazil's border with French Guyana.

Archaeologists said the find holds mysteries similar to Stonehenge, in Salisbury, England, another monument of huge stones, whose purpose is also unclear.

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Saw the report on the ABC news and the best that they could come up with was that it was constructed for seasonal cropping!

Come on ABC, how many tons of stone and precise mathematical alignment in order to work out when to plant some potatoes??

Great post Sina, thanks for that link!

I wonder if it aligns with other such monumants??

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Interesting.

Would love to see more photos.

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Its a shame that all our ancient knowledge has been lost or destroyed. There is so much evidence that ancient civilisations were complex and intelligent societies that had had a secret knowledge of the world\universe around them. If we today were as smart as the ancient people, i doubt we would have let ourselves go down the path we have chosen.

Maybe when we realise we are the dominant species here to protect all and not to plunder all, we as humans will see the errors of our ways and may even move forward as a civilisation.

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that's awesome. I some saw other cool monuments in Ireland too which predate the pyramids and stonehenge. Newgrange sits on the top of an elongated ridge within a large bend in the Boyne River about five miles west of the town of Drogheda. This area has great eminence thoughout Irish history - legend tells us the foundations of Christianity were laid here. This also has to do with the winter solstice. It's amazing how many monoments are indeed aligned with the solstice.

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Saw the report on the ABC news and the best that they could come up with was that it was constructed for seasonal cropping!

perhaps they took their seasonal cropping more seriously... Celebrating the Seasons

Samhain

Also called: Halloween, All Hallows Eve, All Saints & All Souls, Day of the Dead

dates: October 31, early November

colors: black, orange, indigo

tools: votive candles, magic mirror, cauldron, pumpkins, divination tools

energy: death & transformation; Wiccan new year

goddesses: Crone, Hecate

gods: Horned Hunter, Cernnunos, Anubis

rituals: honoring ancestors, releasing old, foreseeing future, understanding death and rebirth

customs: jack o'lanterns, spirit plate, ancestor altar, divination, costumes

Winter Solstice

Also called: Yule, Jul, Saturnalia, Christmas, solar/secular New Year

dates: around December 21 colors: red, green, white

tools: mistletoe, evergreen wreath, lights, gifts, holly, Yule log, Yule tree

energy: regeneration & renewal

goddesses: Great Mother, Isis, Mary, Tonazin, Lucina, Bona Dea

gods: Sun Child, Horus, Jesus, Mithras, Santa/Odin, Saturn, Holly King

rituals: personal renewal, world peace, honoring family & friends

customs: wreaths, lights, gift-giving, singing, feasting, resolutions

Imbolc

Also called: Candlemas, Oimelc, Brigid's Day; merged with Lupercalia/Valentines Day

dates: February 2, early February

colors: white, red

tools: candles, seeds, Brigid wheel, milk

energy: conception, initiation, inspiration

goddesses: Brigid, Maiden

gods: Groundhog, other creatures emerging from hibernation; young Sun

rituals: creative inspiration, purification, initiation, candle work, house & temple blessings

customs: lighting candles, seeking omens of Spring, cleaning house, welcoming Brigid

Spring Equinox

Also called: Ostara, St. Patrick's Day, Easter

dates: around March 21

colors: green, yellow

tools: eggs, basket, green clothes

energy: birthing, sprouting, greening

goddesses: Ostara, Kore, Maiden

gods: Hare, Green Man

rituals: breakthrough, new growth, new projects, seed blessings

customs: wearing green, egg games, new clothes, egg baskets

Beltane

Also called: May Eve, May Day, Walspurgis Night

dates: April 30, early May

colors: rainbow spectrum, blue, green, pastels, all colors

tools: Maypole & ribbons, flower crowns, fires, bowers, fields

energy: youthful play, exhuberance, sensuality, pleasure

goddesses: May Queen, Flora

gods: May King, Jack in the Green

rituals: love, romance, fertility, crop blessings, creativity endeavors

customs: dancing Maypole, jumping fire, mating, flower baskets

Summer Solstice

Also called: Midsummer, Litha, St. John's Day

dates: around June 21

colors: yellow, gold, rainbow colors

tools: bonfires, Sun wheel, Earth circles of stone energy: partnership

goddesses: Mother Earth, Mother Nature

gods: Father Sun/Sky, Oak King

rituals: community, career, relationships, Nature Spirit communion, planetary wellness

customs: bonfires, processions, all night vigil, singing, feasting, celebrating with others

Lammas

Also called: Lughnassad

dates: August 2, early August

colors: orange, yellow, brown, green

tools: sacred loaf of bread, harvested herbs, bonfires

energy: fruitfulness, reaping prosperity

goddesses: Demeter, Ceres, Corn Mother

gods: Grain God, Lugh, John Barleycorn

rituals: prosperity, generosity, continued success

customs: offering of first fruits/grains, games, country fairs

Fall Equinox

Also called: Mabon, Michaelmas

dates: around September 21

colors: orange, red, brown, purple, blue

tools: cornucopia, corn, harvested crops

energy: appreciation & harvest

goddesses: Bona Dea, Land Mother

gods: Mabon, Sky Father

rituals: thanksgiving, harvest, introspection

customs: offerings to land, preparing for cold weather, bringing in harvest

...how many tons of stone and precise mathematical alignment in order to work out when to plant some potatoes??

there was a handheld version... The Sky Disc of Nebra

nebradisc.jpg

even New Zealand claim to have some "weather stones"... Link

Raglan1.JPG

:P

Edited by Bacchant

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Its a shame that all our ancient knowledge has been lost or destroyed. There is so much evidence that ancient civilisations were complex and intelligent societies that had had a secret knowledge of the world\universe around them. If we today were as smart as the ancient people, i doubt we would have let ourselves go down the path we have chosen.

Maybe when we realise we are the dominant species here to protect all and not to plunder all, we as humans will see the errors of our ways and may even move forward as a civilisation.

Dont mean this in any offence Phleb, just giving an alternative viewpoint...I think its a romantic idea to believe ancient people were smarter and had some sort of secret knowledge that surpasses what we have today. We have a whole lot of knowledge and experience they didn't have. Modern society is incredibly complex and advanced with an amazing mastery of astronomy and the sciences. The ancient civilisations are on exactly the same path we are on... in sense they helped choose the path we are currently following, we're just further down the timeline with a greater population dynamic.

Ancient South American civilisations probably suffered the same problems any large organised, populated society faces. Im quite convinced south american cultures also had their fair share of plundering, poor distribution of wealth, environmental miss management and dominance like anywhere else. Just like we're doing now on a global scale, the Mayans grew their society to a large enough size where they became vulnerable to environmental collapse (from droughts). We're all the same legacy.

We tend to admire ancient cultures for their mastery of stone and metal because that's all they had to concentrate on and their processes of construction have often been lost in time making them quite intriguing and mysterious. It aint easy to build stone henge with primitive construction - well it aint easy to get a man on the moon either. Im sure some ancient people would be blown away by what we have today if they could be pulled forward in time.

Even if humans completely infrastructurized the world with little natural habitat left, would it be going down a bad destructive path or would it be a path seeded unintentionally by our ancient past that's very difficult to change and one that is a common evolutionary path encountered elsewhere in the universe by intelligent beings.

Edited by botanika

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