From The Ramparts

     

                                              

                                                Ancient African Megaliths

                                                   Junious Ricardo Stanton

As we celebrate Black History, our challenge is where do we begin, how do we fill in the blanks and connect the dots to a legacy that is at least a hundred thousand years old? All too often we think our history began with our ancestors’ enslavement and haulage to this hemisphere, or with the earlier Arab invasions that influenced parts of the African continent. Agreed there is much history and lessons of resiliency, adaptation and survival we can learn from those but we must go back to the roots.

Some of us are so infatuated with the Nile Valley contributions, and rightly so because the remnants of those civilizations are so awesome, we forget African people were always doing phenomenal things, being creative and innovative in ways we don’t associate with Africa due to our Eurocentric brainwashing and programming. There is evidence of ancient African greatness that pre date dynastic Nubia and  Kemet scattered throughout the continent.

Last week we spoke about seafaring, how Africans were the earliest boat builders and I shared information about a dug out canoe that was found in Nigeria that is over eight thousand years old. This information is huge because it shows the innovation and genius of our ancestors to navigate their environment. We rarely associate Africans with water and seafaring but we were the first to do it!

When we look at the continent of Africa, which by the way is the second largest on the planet, we see remnants of greatness and genius all over. In fact when the European invaders came upon them, they refused to believe or accept the fact they were created by Africans! They said white people or aliens from outer space created them.

 Once they were forced to come to the conclusion Africans did it, they suppressed much the information or use much more recent Europeans sites as points of reference and comparison.

To be truthful there were/are some Europeans like Albert Churchward, Basil Davidson, Robert Bauval and others who gave Africans credit for their genius, and we are grateful for their honesty, but it is up to us to do the research and tell our story first to ourselves then to the world!

Way before there was Kush, Nubia, Kemit and Aksum there were organized, settled communities throughout the African continent that created megaliths, sky maps, sun and star calendars and living shelters that were and still are remarkable in their lay out, construction and mystery. Huge stones weighing tons were transported from other regions and placed in strategic ordered locations that have astrological and energy significance.  I will share a few with you and hope you will do further research to get an idea just how awesome and creative we Africans are.

One of the oldest discovered megaliths in Africa is called Adam’s Calendar (a megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of such large stones without the use of mortar or concrete, representing periods of prehistory characterized by such constructions. (wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalith, my emphasis).  Building without use of mortar or cement is a process that is seen all over Africa!

Adam’s Calendar was discovered in South Africa quite by accident by a pilot who flew over the region many times noticing circular stone configurations. When one of his pilot buddies crashed into the mountains, during the search and rescue effort he got a chance to explore and examine the megaliths for himself.

“Adam’s Calendar is controversially suggested to be the oldest man-made structure in the world.  Sometimes referred to as ‘African Stonehenge’, it predates both Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza by tens of thousands of years.  Located in Mpumalanga, South Africa it is a standing stone circle about 30 meters in diameter and has been estimated by some accounts to be more than 75,000 years old. Various astronomical alignments have been identified at the site and it is possibly the only example of a completely functional, mostly intact megalithic stone calendar in the world.”  https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa/adam-s-calendar-oldest-megalithic-site-world-003160

Another fascinating site is Nabta Playa, an ancient settlement located in the Nubian Desert many believe pre-dates the dynastic period of Nubia and Kemet. From the archeological evidence it appears Nabta Playa was an urbanized community that served as a central location for astrological observations, rituals and ceremonies. When discussing Nabta Playa many Europeans call it the oldest site for astrological tracking and use Stonehenge (in Britain) as a comparative reference point. This is because they know nothing about Adam’s Calendar which is thousands of years older than both Nabta Playa and Stonehenge.

Like Adam’s calendar Nabta Playa had major sky mapping significance.  “Two of these pairs align to form a line very close to a true north-south line, and the other two pairs or gates align to form an east-west line. The east-west alignment is calculated to be where the sun would have risen and set from the summer solstice 6,500 years ago (4,500BC).  Alignments of standing stones and megalithic structures (oval clusters of recumbent stones) extend for up to a mile, marking north and east as well as 24 to 28 and 126 degrees east of north, directions whose meanings are still being worked out. A ten-foot circle composed primarily of stone slabs has four ‘windows/gates’ marked by pairs of standing stones; the four are arranged in two pairs, one forming a north-south line of sight and the other a line stretching from 62 to 298 degrees east of north. The latter coincides approximately with the summer solstice sunrise 6,800 years ago (4,800 BC), which would have fallen about 63 degrees east of north.” http://transmissionsmedia.com/astronomical-alignments-of-some-ancient-structures/

It’s fascinating all these sites have astronomical significance and some even speculate they are sky mapping ceremonial centers.  We discuss two more ancient African sites next week.

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