A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD DESIGN
THE
PREHISTORIC ALIGNMENT OF
WORLD WONDERS
Great circles are straight lines that go all the way around
the center of the earth. The equator is a great circle. Meridians of longitude
that cross over the north and south poles are also great circles. For every
location on a great circle, it's antipodal location is also on the circle.
Other than the equator itself, any great circle crosses the equator at two
antipodal locations, 180°
apart. Other than the equator and meridians of longitude that run due north
and south, any great circle reaches it's maximum latitudes at two locations
that are 90° of longitude
east and west of the two locations where the great circle crosses the equator.
Easter Island, Nazca, Ollantaytambo, Paratoari, Tassili n'Ajjer
and Giza are all aligned on a single great circle. Additional ancient sites
that are located within one tenth of one degree of this great circle include
Petra; Perseopolis; Khajuraho; Pyay, Sukothai and Anatom Island.
Near Ollantaytambo, Machupicchu and Cuzco are within one quarter
of a degree. The Oracle at Siwa in the western Egyptian desert is within one
quarter of a degree. In the Indus Valley, Mohenjo Daro and Ganweriwala are
within one quarter of a degree. The ancient Sumerian city of Ur and Angkor
temples in Cambodia and Thailand are within one degree of the great circle.
The Angkor temple at Preah Vihear is within one quarter of a degree.
This circle crosses over the source and the mouth of the Amazon,
the dividing line between upper and lower Egypt, the mouth of the Tigris-Euphrates,
the Indus River and the Bay of Bengal near the mouth of the Ganges. The circle
also crosses over a number of areas of the world that are largely unexplored,
including the Sahara Desert, the Brazilian Rainforest, the highlands of New
Guinea, and underwater areas of the North Atlantic Ocean, the South Pacific
Ocean and the South China Sea.
The alignment of these sites is easily observable on a globe
of the earth with a horizon ring. Aligning any two of these sites on the horizon
ring will align all of these sites on the ring. 3-D world atlas software programs
will also draw this great circle around the earth. The four images below are
centered on the two locations where the great circle crosses the equator and
the two locations where the great circle reaches it's maximum latitudes. The
circle crosses over the equator at 48°
36' west longitude and 131°
24' east longitude. The maximum latitude of the circle is 30°
22' north latitude at 41°
24' east longitude and 30°
22' south latitude at 138°
36' west longitude.
All great circles have two antipodal axis points. The two axis points
for the equator are the north and south poles. Every point along the equator
is equally distant at 90°, or one quarter of the circumference of the
earth, from the north and south poles. For any great circle, the distance
from the axis points to any point along the circle is one quarter of the
circumference of the earth. For any great circle other than the equator,
the longitude of the axis points are 90° east and west of the two points
where the great circle crosses the equator.
The sites listed above are shown clockwise from Giza on the equal azimuthal
projection below. The projection is centered on the axis point in southeastern
Alaska. Distances to any location from the center of an equal azimuthal
projection are equally scaled. Since all of the sites on the great circle
alignment are equally distant from the axis point at one quarter of the
circumference of the earth, the alignment forms a perfect circle halfway
between the center and the outer edge of the projection.
Great circles that run due north-south along meridians
of longitude have their axis points on the equator, 90° of longitude
east and west of the points where the meridian circle crosses the equator
and 90° of latitude from the poles where meridian circles reach their
maximum latitudes. The distance from the axis points to any point along
a meridian circle is one quarter of the circumference of the earth, but
90° of longitude from the axis point to the point where the meridian
circle crosses the equator is 6,225 miles, while 90° of latitude from
the axis point to the maximum latitude of the meridian circle at the poles
is 6,215 miles. This is because the polar circumference of the earth is
24,860 miles, while the equatorial circumference is 24,901 miles, due to
the bulge of the earth at the equator and the flattening of the earth at
the poles.
Our modern system of calculating degrees of latitude
from the equator to the poles is based on the north-south angular change
along the surface of the earth. As a result, degrees of latitude are slightly
longer at the poles, where the earth is flatter, and slightly shorter at
the bulge of the equator. For great circles other than the equator and other
than meridian circles, the north-south distance from the axis points to
the great circle crosses over the pole in one direction, while it crosses
over the equator in the other direction. As a result, the latitude of the
axis points must be adjusted slightly to compensate for the longer distance
of degrees of latitude at the poles and the shorter distance of degrees
of latitude at the equator.
The two axis points for the great circle illustrated above
are located at 59° 53' north latitude and 138° 36' west longitude
and at 59° 53' south latitude and 41° 24' east longitude. The southern
axis point is in deep water approximately 500 miles from the coast of Antarctica.
The northern axis point is in the northwestern corner of Canadian British
Columbia on a glaciated ridge line approximately 6,500 feet above sea level.
The circumference of this great circle is 24,892 miles. This is slightly
less than the equatorial circumference of the earth, but closer to the equatorial
than the polar circumference because the maximum latitude of the great circle
is closer to the equator than the poles, and because most of the shortening
of the polar circumference is due to the flattening of the earth near the
poles.
The chart below lists the distance of each site from the great circle and
the distance of each site from the northern axis point. There are slight
variations in the distance from the axis point to the great circle depending
on whether the route from the axis point to different locations along the
great circle crosses over the equator or polar regions. The mean distance
from the axis point to the great circle is 6,218 miles.| Latitude | Longitude | To Great Circle: | To Axis Point: | |
| Giza | 29° 59' N | 31° 09' E | 0 miles | 6.219 miles |
| Siwa | 29° 14' N | 25° 31' E | 10 miles | 6,231 miles |
| Tassili n'Ajjer | 26° 32' N | 9° 50' E | 0 miles | 6,218 miles |
| Paratoari | 12° 48' S | 71° 25' W | 0 miles | 6,219 miles |
| Ollantaytambo | 13° 15' S | 72° 16' W | 0 miles | 6,220 miles |
| Machupicchu | 13° 06' S | 72° 35' W | 15 miles | 6,206 miles |
| Nazca | 14° 42' S | 75° 06' W | 0 miles | 6,221 miles |
| Easter Island | 27° 06' S | 109° 20' W | 0 miles | 6,221 miles |
| Aneityum Island | 20° 10' S | 169° 48' E | 8 miles | 6,230 miles |
| Preah Vihear | 14° 24' N | 104° 40' E | 25 miles | 6,241 miles |
| Sukhothai | 17° 01' N | 99° 42' E | 5 miles | 6,226 miles |
| Pyay | 19° 15' N | 95° 05' E | 5 miles | 6,213 miles |
| Khajuraho | 24° 51' N | 79° 56' E | 12 miles | 6,206 miles |
| Mohenjo Daro | 27° 15' N | 68° 17' E | 20 miles | 6,243 miles |
| Persepolis | 29° 56' N | 52° 55' E | 5 miles | 6,215 miles |
| Ur | 30° 57' N | 46° 07' E | 40 miles | 6,173 miles |
| Petra | 30° 19' N | 35° 28' E | 6 miles | 6,213 miles |
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