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After his astonishing show about Skara Brae, Laird Scranton returns with another breathtaking performance, this time showing how carvings found at Gobekli Tepe relates to imagery that appears 6,000 years later in Egypt, and—incredibly—in modern times among the Dogon people of Africa.
Graham Hancock says, “Point of Origin is not a book about Gobekli Tepe, but it sets that mysterious Anatolian hilltop sanctuary into a matrix of interconnected mysteries from all around the world in a way that is both fascinating and thought-provoking.”
Don’t miss this wonderful journey into our lost past with Laird Scranton and Whitley Strieber.
Visit Laird at LairdScranton.com. Get his books from Inner Traditions or wherever books are sold!
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Another fantastic show. Laird
Another fantastic show. Laird Scranton is a great guest with information I had never heard before, but is very believable. This incredible puzzle has more new pieces.
Whitley, I am soooo glad you
Whitley, I am soooo glad you have had Laird on again. He has a great voice, with which he is speaking for those whose voice we do not how to read from the “remnants” bequeathed to us in the form of ruins and artifacts… for our learning and understanding. I am learning a tiny bit of the history of our planet and the life it supports, through what he has said. I will definitely get his book… and my brother will be anxious to read it as well!
Laird, your voice has a timbre and quality which helps me understand when you speak of things that can “threaten that which has been taught as ‘true’ history. I remember in high school so very many years ago… that one class i took in contemporary civilization… required only giving facts. Well, for me the whole point of history is to make connections as to what and why things happened so that we can make better choices in our future…(hours, weeks, years, whatever future we are approaching). Diversity of approach and depth of understanding are two important aspects you bring to us, Laird. Thank you.
The deep connections being made here… perhaps i am finally at the stage where i can apprehend them. Whitley, that may well be greatly due to the long time listening to the shows on this site : )
It seems to me, Laird is giving us our future in some way so like what you heard the grey say, Whitley… “it’s ours if we can take it?” Forgive error on my part if i quote it wrong. Please correct it, Whitley. There is so much here i must listen again. There is much to reflect on and bring my attention to. This is a case of my knowing… i don’t know much and want to begin learning.
Thank you both so much.
Laird has that wonderful gift
Laird has that wonderful gift of being able to communicate ideas and concepts that are easy to follow and understand. I have read ‘The Mystery of Skara Brae’, and it also goes heavily into the connections with the Doyon and Ancient Egypt, so I have Laird’s other books on my reading list.
I am so glad that he brought up the problem of resistance from archaeologists about his discoveries. This is certainly nothing new, but it just demonstrates how many possible solutions to mysteries may be languishing because of closed minds and over-specialization. Because so many now study in specific fields, they often are not even aware ( or care) that another field of study could have an impact and influence on their own research. They also tend to downplay some stories as no more than myths and legends, with no relevancy to their own endeavors and research.
Back in 2006, I happened to watch a show on the Discovery Channel about a dig in Egypt concerning a new tomb discovery described as KV63. It was found that this tomb was connected to Tutankhamum and the 18th Dynasty. This tomb was a real puzzle to the archaeological team led by Dr. Otto Schaden. Apparently, this tomb had several empty coffins, some pillows and pottery shards, and no evidence of prior ‘tomb robbing’ activity. There was even some speculation that this tomb may have been intended for one of Tut’s sisters (and daughter of Akhenaten). At this point in the program, a light came on for me, based on what I had read in the past about legends of one of Akhenaten’s daughters leaving Egypt due to the increasingly dangerous political situation of her family. I actually tracked down Dr. Schaden’s team on Egypt and sent them the following email on September 18, 2006:
“To Whom it May Concern:
I am attempting to contact Dr. Otto Schaden in regards to another tomb, KV63. The discoveries made in this tomb were recently highlighted in a documentary on the Discovery Channel.
Particularly puzzling in regards to KV63 was a connection to Tutankhamun and the 18th Dynasty, with several coffins containing nothing more than shards of pottery and pillows. I recently became aware of an article, and new book, based on the ancient legends of Scota, the supposed daughter of a pharaoh who left Egypt and ended up in Europe. Supposedly, Scotland is named after Scota. The book in question, Scota, Egyptian Queen of the Scots by Ralph Ellis, suggests that Scota was really Ankhensenamun, one of the daughters of the alleged heretic king of Egypt, Akhenaten. Mr. Ellis has traced the origins of the Scota legends all the way back to 300 BC and the writings of an Egypto-Greek historian called Mantheo. If there is any shred of truth in this thesis, then it might explain the unusual conditions found in KV63 (What if Ankhensenamum faked her death as a cover for fleeing the country?)
Here is a link to the article about Scota, Egyptian Queen of the Scots:
http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=1343642006
This is an unusual, yet intriguing story that just seems to dovetail with Dr. Schaden’s research into KV63.
Many thanks for your time and consideration.”
A couple of days later, I did hear a response from a member of Dr. Schaden’s team:
“Thank you for your email.
You certainly raised an interesting scenario that I have not heard about. I am curious to read the book myself, now!
I have forwarded your email to Dr. Schaden and will inform the other members of the team about the book.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to write us about this matter, as it all sounds very interesting.
Best Regards,
Roxanne Wilson
KV-10/KV-63”
Of course, I never heard from Dr. Schaden’s team thereafter, so although I do not know if the team or Dr. Schaden took my email seriously, a part of me felt that i had made some important connection between the legend of Scota and the discovery of one very puzzling tomb in Egypt. In any case, this story demonstrates how some important clues may be overlooked, or flat ignored, to the detriment of further discovery and truth.
So…Laird, continue with your wonderful and enlightening work, and helping to put together the puzzling pieces of humanity, who we really are and how we got where we are now. Your discoveries could serve as road maps for the future!
This was an incredible
This was an incredible interview. While I was listening, an idea flashed into my head, and I’m curious what anyone else thinks of it:
Laird mentions that Gobekli Tepe could be a site meant to preserve wide-ranging traditions and cosmological ideas, and you could imply that it was created as a reaction to the sudden, extreme flooding caused by the end of the previous ice age (and the realization that all of this accumulated knowledge could be quickly lost). As Whitley mentioned, that flooding would have been monumentally destructive coastally, and probably blindsided everyone due to its lack of warning. It would make sense, then, to build this site inland, and to bury it in case sudden flooding was possible again in the future.
Laird says that many of the artifacts in Gobekli Tepe contain carved images of animals that correspond to different cosmological ideas, so that the phonetic interpretations of them could be used to teach these ideas to people who couldn’t necessarily read. Then he mentions that Gobekli Tepe (and other similarly buried sites) is referred to as an “ark.”
Is it possible (or it this just a ridiculous extrapolation?) that the story of Noah’s Ark takes on a new metaphorical meaning? That, instead of somehow being given the dimensions to build a boat that would in no way be large enough to house 2 of every living animal in anticipation of a great oncoming flood, it COULD be the instructions for building a large, multi-leveled “ark (underground structure)” filled with all of the animals (ideas and traditions) in the known world in the anticipation of this next flood? And, instead of looking for a boat on some hillside somewhere, Noah’s ark today would wind up being another buried site similar to Gobekli Tepe and filled with the collected knowledge of that time? To me, it takes this highly implausible, literal biblical tale, and casts it in a different light.
Does that make sense to anyone here?
THANK YOU Whitley, for continuing with this wonderful site, your fantastic writings, and this awesome collection of like-minded searchers!
– Mike
Mike, possibilities around
Mike, possibilities around ‘Noah’s Ark’ is not a ‘ridiculous extrapolation’ at all, because I had the same thoughts as I listened to Laird, and I have never been known to have a ‘ridiculous’ thought. 🙂
Seriously, the idea has merit, and we can only guess at the information that was lost forever when the library at Alexandria burned to the ground. Some individuals are living ‘arks’ of information, passing down stories and wisdom over the ages, such as the late Abed El Hakim Awyan, a wisdom-keeper of prehistoric and dynastic Khemit (Egypt). While we can only hope that he passed on his knowledge down to one of his descendants, we are darn lucky that he also passed on a lot of his knowledge to Stephen Mehler, author of ‘From Light into Darkness’…So there are others of us that have the book and the information on our bookshelves…and in our heads.
I know that many here at Unknown Country listen to ‘Dreamland’ interviews, but if you are not also reading some of the books discussed in the interviews, and absorbing the one-of-a-kind information presented in books like ‘The Mystery of Skara Brae’ you are missing out on an opportunity to become an ‘ark’ yourself.
The earliest history of
The earliest history of Noah’s flood and ark in Babylonian texts, which Hebrew scholars copied from Berossus texts for Genesis, is fundamental to your question. The first eleven chapters of Genesis were copied and mangled to benefit Hebrew history from Berossus’ encyclopedic history of Babylon. Go to Berossus’ original texts and start there.
“Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus” by Russell Gmirkin is a great place to look for answers to the question. It’s a little pricey at $135 for a used copy, but you may be able to obtain it through a local library that can obtain a loan if necessary.
What the Hebrews construed as a dramatic escape from Egypt was a planned migration from highly populated areas, much like the Dogon’s exit from Egypt that Laird Scranton suggests. Real history that left a trail agrees with Scranton’s hypothesis.
I was reading Cosmic’s post
I was reading Cosmic’s post and it set me wondering…
If you simply had to relocate through environmental disasters, obviously you would move away from something not through it.
As a European, I’m sitting here reading articles about the Lucifer heatwave hitting southern Europe right now and I wonder.
Did those ancient North African/ Middle Eastern elite flee north from terrible environmental disasters?
Locating schools of knowledge at various points across the planet through knowledge of cyclic catastrophes makes sense.
Look where we all are right now, pooling knowledge, bridging worlds to, perhaps, help kick start a new world.
Peace.
Yesterday I received this
Yesterday I received this from a friend and it feels to be in line with the discussion. Whomever the ancient ones were that gave us a new beginning, I thank them. (Perhaps Lord Enki/Ea had a hand in this). A planet sooo breathtaking beautiful, filled with life and still with so much potential.
Also, Laird Scranton gives us a totally new outlook on Gobekli Tepe. We all SEE with different eyes, thank goodness as it gives us all a little more to think on.
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
http://www.andiesisle.com/thenatureofgod.html
I’m going to ask Laird to
I’m going to ask Laird to join this conversation. If he does, he’ll appear as “Radio Guest.” I hope he does. There is really fascinating stuff here. What a great group of commenters on UC! I always look forward to the comments.
Great catch Exactabox! Your
Great catch Exactabox! Your bringing out the “ark” info….completely changes how i see and gives new understanding. Amazing
One last post regarding this
One last post regarding this interview. Early today, (this happens for me quite often, thoughts that dash though my mind), I hear, “I’VE GOT A BRAND NEW SET OF RULES.” When I looked up the quote, this is what came up. For me it feels like a quickening of some sort on our planet and things are about to change…….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_in_the_Doorway
I’ve got a brand new set of rules…….
I’ve got to learn
I’ve got to learn
I’ve got to learn…….
Thank you Whitley and Laird
Thank you Whitley and Laird for another thought-provoking interview. And to all the commentators above. Exactabox, I really think there is something in your speculation about Noah’s Ark. Cosmic Librarian, that connection to Scotland is fascinating. I wonder if you, or anyone else here is familiar with the work of Dr. Carmen Boulter, in particular a recent discovery of ancient Egyptian artifacts in Turkey. She speculates that this stash of artifacts may be connected to family or followers of Akhenaten being forced to flee Egypt and hoping to preserve the knowledge the artifacts represent. She gave a two-part interview about the find, including photographs of the artifacts, that can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=286sjgPOvc8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1gVVArdB_g
AbsurdMetaphysician,
Yes, I
AbsurdMetaphysician,
Yes, I am familiar with Dr. Boulter, and I would LOVE to have a chat with her, because I have ‘memories’ of that period, just as she does (My son had memories of that period too, when he was about 3 years old. I never discussed this kind of thing around him when he was little, but he was enthralled with my books about Ancient Egypt. One day he was going through one of my books about the Amarna period when he stopped, took his thumb out of his mouth, pointed at a picture and said, “That’s you, Mama!”. At the time, it really stunned me, but I kept the drama down, and just said, “You think so?”, he nodded ‘yes’, and I never really pursued it further with him. (Also, I question it all, to this day.)
Thanks for the links, and I’ll check them out!
This is Laird, signed in as
This is Laird, signed in as Radio Show Guest. Thanks for all the kind comments. I’ll try to respond to points that have been directed to me. Mike, in regard to possible relationships between the tradition of Noah’s ark and the Gobekli Tepe site, there are reasons to see connections. One of the terms that the Dogon apply to the shape of the Gobekli Tepe stone circles actually is Arq. The locality is in the vicinity of Ararat. So in effect we have an Arq associated with animals on a mountainside near Ararat. There are other elements of the story that reflect cosmological concepts, and the era is one that’s associated with th end of the ice age, and so likely with rising waters.
Glacial flooding changed this
Glacial flooding changed this planet radically between 18,000 and 10,000 years ago. The Persian Gulf was a dry basin before it filled with glacial melt and covered a very different civilization than the one in Africa. Scotland experienced massive flooding so extreme that water lines marked high mountains like Lake Missoula in present-day Montana. See http://www.hugefloods.com I date Noah’s flood to 10,800 years ago in the Mediterranean for a number of reasons.
Floods washed away vegetation and wildlife in lowlands with a series of extreme floods to make famine rampant. Getting above the water line where food and wildlife were available was essential to survival. This reality comes home with the geological evidence glacial flooding left. I date the end of major flood to 10,000 years ago, corresponding with Gobekli Tepe’s closure and beginning of building in the Indus Valley circa 9500 years ago. The Persian Gulf receded to approximately current levels about 7,500 years ago and Eridu was built about 7,000 years ago.
Glacial flooding was what lead me to Gobekli Tepe above the water line when I started with the question, “What could cause DNA to mutate 15,000 to 12,000 years ago? Famine has profound epigenetic effects. I’m a pragmatist and am well familiar with the paths of indigenous people seeking to survive.
I followed symbolism of Gobekli Tepe to India, Egypt and Mexico. I found striking visual descendants of Gobekli Tepe at Teotihuacan in Mexico, where the black Olmecs were present when pyramid building began in the magical year of 3100 BCE, or 5,000 years ago. The Olmec used celestial navigation symbols identical to those in Egypt and Crete in the same period. I found vestiges of a black racial group in India who migrated to Malaysia and then Oceania.
The Olmec in Mexico connect India and Egypt with symbolism from Gobekli Tepe, but the big question is how did the symbolism survive 5,000 years in superconserved condition before appearing in Mexico? The human sages Enki educated and instructed to build civilization, described in Babylonian texts, would answer that question. Enter the Olmec here displaying Phoenician symbols when they weren’t busy with celestial navigation identical to the science in Egypt and Crete.
It’s enough to make one wonder, huh? My book, “Web of Life and Cosmos: Human and Bigfoot Star Ancestors” addresses these issues.
Hi, I’m Laird Scranton.
Hi, I’m Laird Scranton.
There’s evidence that priestly groups such as the Dogon and the Na-Khi (or Na-Xi)of the Tibet/China borderland deliberately relocated to remote regions, as a way of preserving and/or possibly spreading the cosmological tradition. We perceive a common naming convention that identifies each group with a kind of “major” subject.
As an example, the term Na-Khi or Xi arguably combines an ancient term for the Mother Goddess, Na, with an Egyptian term skhai (Dogon sigi), meaning “to celebrate”. In that context, the tribe name means “celebrates Na”. Similarly, the Amazigh tribe term implies “celebrates Amma”, a Dogon creator god. In Egypt, the name was Mera or “loves Ra”. The Hebrew tribe Yahuda implies “praises Yah”. Such groups would have been well capable of surviving under difficult conditions and for long periods of time.
The Olmec era of 3100 BC points a likely finger at the Orkney Island tradition as a place of linkage, and DNA provides us with likely knowledge of both an era and path of transmission from the region of the Fertile Crescent. Forms of both barley and sheep found on Orkney, which are unique within the UK, are linked through DNA to varieties that originated in the Fertile Crescent at around 6000 BC. Likewise, there is a vole native to Orkney that is also not found in the rest of the UK, but is found from Turkey southward as far as Palestine, and on the northernmost tip of Africa. The suggestion is that, at some time during the 6000 BC – 4000 BC era, an ocean journey was made to Orkney via North Africa. Structures that I associate with cosmological and agricultural instruction would have begun on Orkney by around 3200 BC, with agriculturally-based kingships emerging worldwide at around 3100 BC.
The Olmec left strong
The Olmec left strong pointers to Polynesia and Asia that include a conical pyramid with petals like a flower and a tradition similar to the Huna and Tibetans. Bear in mind that many more islands were above water in the Pacific and the Atlantic 5,000 years ago before water levels continued rising, as they are today. We have no idea how long Mexico was occupied because older pyramids beneath the existing ones have not been excavated. The Mexico Valley was intermittently uninhabitable because of high volcanic activity, and construction of the existing pyramids at Teotihuacan started shortly before volcanic activity began to abate and the pyramid complex could be occupied.
I’ve been scanning for information about Orkney Island for years and I’ve ordered your books on the Dogon. The North Sea began forming 12,000 years ago and were steppes like those of northern Europe before that time. I’d love to see excavations of coasts of Orkney and Faroe Islands.
Thanks for your fabulous research.
Laird again here.
Thanks so
Laird again here.
Thanks so much, Krsanna. Several rounds of careful excavation were done on the Skara Brae site, notably in the late 1800’s and in the 1970’s, and by well-known archaeologists. There are on-going excavations on Orkney now at the Ness of Brodgar sites. Excavation at ther sites, like the Isbister Tomb of the Eagles, have been carried out by capable amateurs.
Thank you all for your
Thank you all for your wonderful insights! I absolutely love this community, and the mind-expanding ideas it constantly introduces. I feel very lucky to be here!