by Colin Wilson
Without control of the holy city of Nippur no ruler could rightfully claim to be the King of Sumeria. The remains of the city lie south of Baghdad where some of the most famous tablets in archaeology were unearthed at the turn of century. The tablets disclosed the Sumerian belief in the existence of a long-lost island paradise called Dilmun. The myth of Dilmun, which we show in When the Sky Fell is remarkably similar to the mythology of the Haida people of British Columbia, relates how the island paradise is destroyed by the god, Enlil, in a great flood. Enlil’s incredible power is honoured at Nippur with a temple and a ziggurat which is skewed west of north.
The ziggurat and ‘White Temple’ of the Sumerian city of Uruk also point to Hudson Bay rather than true north. The more I looked, the more ancient sites I found in the Middle East that pointed to the North Pole before the last earth crust displacement. Perhaps the most poignant is Jerusalem’s ‘Wailing Wall’, the only remains of Herod’s Temple, built upon the site of Solomon’s Temple.
I now knew that I was looking at a unique geodetic phenomenon that demanded exploration. My next step was to calculate the former latitudes of the key megalithic and sacred sites of the world. If the latitudes were located at significant numbers then I could be sure that I really was on to something.
The first site I measured was, of course, the eternally compelling Great Pyramid at Giza. I calculated its co-ordinates against 60 degrees north, 83 degrees west (the Hudson Bay Pole). Giza had been 4,524 nautical miles from the Hudson Bay Pole, which meant its latitude was at 15 degrees north prior to 9,600 BC. I found it odd that Giza, which today lies at 30 degrees north (one-third of the distance from the equator to the Pole), should have been so neatly at 15 degrees north (one-sixth the distance) before the last earth crust displacement. So I decided to study Lhasa, the religious centre of Tibet, because I knew that this city, like Giza, lies at 30 degrees north today.
Lhasa’s co-ordinates are 29 degrees 41 minutes north, 91 degrees 10 minutes east, which calculated at 5,427 nautical miles from the Hudson Bay Pole. The distance from the equator to the pole is 5,400 nautical miles (90 degrees times 60 seconds = 5,400), so Lhasa had rested just 27 nautical miles (less than half a degree) off the equator during the reign of Atlantis. This was getting spooky. The earth crust displacement had shoved Giza from 15 degrees to 30 degrees while moving Lhasa from 0 degrees to 30 degrees. Was this coincidence?
The coincidence started to become extreme when I compared the location of Giza and Lhasa (and a host of other ancient sites) with the position of the crust over three earth crust displacements. I was amazed to discover that latitudes like 0 degrees, 12 degrees, 15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees came up again and again. Each of these numbers divides the earth’s geography by whole numbers. This seemed way beyond chance so I christened them ‘sacred latitudes’. Most of these sites will be familiar to anyone who takes an interest in archaeology or the sacred sites of the world’s major religions. All of these places are within 30 nautical miles (a day’s walk) of sacred latitudes and are thus more accurately aligned geodetically than Aveni’s astronomical calculations.
Sacred latitudes when the Pole was at Hudson Bay (60 degrees north, 83 degrees west)
0ºLhasa, Aguni, Mohenjo-Daro, Easter Island
5ºByblos, Xi’an
10ºUr/Uruk/Eridu, Thebes/Luxor, Ise, Susa
12ºBabylon, Pyongyang
15ºGiza Pyramids, Jericho/Jerusalem, Ashur, Nazca
30ºCarthage, Quito
45ºCopan, Marden
Note: Cities connected by ‘/’ are located so close together that they yield the same results.
Sacred latitudes when the Pole was at the Greenland Sea (73 degrees north, 10 degrees east)
0ºQuito
10ºCuzco/Machu Picchu/Ollantaytambo
12ºAngkor
30ºXi’an, Pyongyang
45ºGiza Pyramids, Nippur, Dahshur, Saqqara
Sacred latitudes when the Pole was in the Yukon (63 degrees north, 135 degrees west)
0º Byblos, Machu Picchu/Cuzco/Ollantaytambo, Nazca, Abydos
5º Tiahuanaco, Jericho/Jerusalem, Nippur, Babylon, Susa
10º Rhodes (Knossos, on the island of Crete, is off by 41 nautical miles)
12º Gozo (Malta)
15º Lalibala
20º Xi’an, Aguni
30º Avebury/Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Pyongyang
The careful reader will note that several of these sites show up in more than one table. They are actually situated at the crossing points of two (even three) sacred latitudes. For example, Giza lies at the intersection of 15 degrees (Hudson Bay Pole) and 45 degrees north (Greenland Sea Pole) and today is at 30 degrees north. Lhasa, which today is near 30 degrees north, was at the equator during the Hudson Bay Pole and only 32 nautical miles from 30 degrees north during the Greenland Sea Pole.
Other sacred interconnections include:
Byblos (0º and 5º) The most sacred city of the Phoenicians.
Machu Picchu/ A mountain-based ark in the high Andes
Cuzco (0º and 10º) and the holiest city of the Incas.
Nazca (0º and 15º) Gigantic drawings visible only from the air.
Aguni (0º and 20º) Underwater ‘wall’ off Japan’s island of Okinawa.
Quito (30º and 0º) Equatorial city at the north end of the Inca Trail.
Pyongyang (30º and 30º and 12º) Capital of North Korea. Once had pyramids.
Susa (5º and 45º and 10º) Sacred centre of Jewish learning in Iran. Capital of Elam. Prophet Daniel buried here.
Jerusalem (5º and 15º) A site sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Xi’an (20º and 30º and 5º) The Chinese pyramids are located here.
Nippur (5º and 45º) Documents relating to the lost island paradise of Dilmun were recovered from this Sumerian city.
Babylon (5º and 12º) Site of the famous ‘hanging gardens’, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Known for astronomy and astrology.
So what was going on here?
I believe that sometime before the devastating earth crust displacement, scientists in Atlantis recognised that the increasing earthquakes and rising ocean level that they were experiencing were a warning of a coming geological catastrophe. Trying to preserve their civilisation from this unavoidable disaster, they became obsessed with discovering exactly what had overtaken the globe in the remote past.
Teams of geologists fanned across the planet with a mission to gauge the former positions of the earth’s crust. If they could determine exactly how far the crust had shifted in the past they might have some idea of what they could expect to face in the future. In the process of their investigations they left geodetic markers at the points they considered critical to their calculations.
After the earth crust displacement that destroyed Atlantis, the old calibrations were rediscovered by survivors who knew nothing of that forgotten and desperate geographic survey. They naturally believed that these marvellous geodetic markers from those who had gone before were messages from the gods. The sites became sacred – cities were built around them (it’s no accident that ‘Teotihuacan’ is an Aztec term for ‘Place of the Gods’) and their very practical purpose was lost.
Further generations continued to worship at these huge shrines but eventually the winds of time began to erode the original structures. New altars were built on top of the remnants of the artifacts left by the surveyors from Atlantis. But during each reconstruction whispers from the past compelled the new architects to preserve the original orientations – orientations that pointed to the Hudson Bay Pole – to the time when Atlantis thrived.
The secrets buried beneath the slowly crumbling cities remained hidden for thousands of years. Eventually some intrepid souls in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China and America had the courage to begin excavations. The story of the remarkable discoveries uncovered by those who dared to dig under holy sites is only now emerging. The secret mission of the Knights Templar in Jerusalem is but one
of these fascinating accounts.
I believe we can explain the enigmatic location of the ancient megaliths in a way that finally makes sense of their puzzling misalignments. These sacred sites, which we sense contain clues to our true history, continue to draw visitors who marvel over their awesome construction feats and wonder at the intelligence and vision of our anonymous ancestors. But my explanation covers only the tip of a very deep iceberg. There are many more sites that can be discovered using simple calculations derived from latitude changes after crustal displacements: not the least of which are sites on Atlantis itself, the island continent of Antarctica.
I never thought to find another adventure to compare with my eighteen-year search for Atlantis. But the unique placement of the earth’s most sacred sites has emerged as a mystery that compels me with the same kind of fascination as that journey did. I hope to share this quest within the pages of a new book, Finding the Future: Blueprints from Atlantis (original working title), which will lift the veil from these ancient sites to reveal concealed time capsules – messages, records, and even blueprints – from Atlantis.
Appendix 2
Letter to Rand Flem-Ath from Charles H. Hapgood, 16 October 1982
Hapgood was living at 103 Davis Street (rear) in Greenfield, Massachusetts, 01301, while Rand and Rose were living at Flat 9, 9 Eldon Grove, London NW3.
I seem to have misunderstood you. The Path of the Pole is the second edition of Earth’s Shifting Crust. I am working on the third edition now, and hope it will be published next year. The first edition is unobtainable, and I was flattered to learn its is [sic] a collector’s item selling for about $100.00. However, I get no financial benefit, from that.
From the edition you have, no doubt you have realized that the way crust displacement affects evolution is that it is an accelerating factor. It opens new habitats, it clears ecological niches, it increases selection pressure. Biologists have recognized that climatic change is the leading factor in evolution and a few have realized that crust displacement at relatively short intervals provides that factor. It is unnecessary to have recourse to recondite factors to explain evolution. In some cases particular forms of life have endured for hundreds of millions of years without change. Look at the coelcanth, at the Komodo dragon lizard. There is no reason for it: it is just accident. And species don’t change unless they have to, and they don’t die out without specific cause.
I believe that a displacement, once started, will continue until the mass of equilibrium is balanced. It then stops and a new movement awaits the development of another imbalance creating another centrifugal effect. The new movement will be in a direction unrelated to the last one; moreover there is no predetermined distance for the crust to travel. That is determined by the quantity of the centrifugal momentum acting on the crust in each case.
From examining hundreds of myths of earth upheaval I am convinced of one simple truth, that in the main they are not myths, not psychological developments, but accounts of real events, elaborated just as any event not accounted for will be accounted for by ad hoc rationalizing. Most of the catastrophe myths (for example, about Atlantis) don’t bring in supernaturalism. I have recently concluded that a ‘drag effect’ would operate whereby the movement of the rigid crust would set in motion movements of the deeper layers, which would continue long after the movement of the crust stops, producing long-continued turbulence at the surface. Though the movement of the crust is slow there would be plenty of violent episodes, enough for any catastrophist. I think another movement has started; unfortunately for another ice age, starting several thousand years from now. A movement of the whole crust is what creates the plates and powers all their movements originally, though their movements continue long afterwards.
Your article in the Anthropological Journal offers some good topics for discussion. I hope you don’t mind my making some suggestions. On page 4 you use the phrasing, ‘shifting of various parts of the earth’s crust at different times, over the earth’s axis’. I think it would be clearer for most people if you said ‘shifting of the entire earth’s crust as a unit over its semi-molten interior’.
In light of the theory of crustal displacement the western hemisphere is at a disadvantage because of geography. In the eastern hemisphere migration can occur in many different directions in accordance with the climatic changes. In the Americas the opportunities for migration are much more limited. It is not safe to depend on considerations of elevation, because elevations can change greatly in a displacement. For example, it is certain that the elevations of the Andes were increased since agriculture was introduced. Thus we find agricultural terraces at present above the line of eternal snow, and marine fauna in Lake Titicaca.
Furthermore, there is evidence that the last displacement of the crust moved both American continents southward about 30 degrees, and absolutely devastated life and civilization on them, while climatic change was much less drastic in the Old World, and more avenues of escape existed. I have found evidence of the ancient existence of agricultural cultures in the United States, in Mexico and in South America.
Furthermore, in recent exciting discoveries I believe I have convincing evidence of a whole cycle of civilization in America and in Antarctica,3 suggesting advanced levels of science that may go back 100,000 years. I think setting any date for the beginning of agriculture is premature, anywhere on earth.
A good deal of the evidence I have on this will be included in the new edition of ESC.5
Finally, I am sure you realize that I am not suggesting a sudden displacement of the crust.6 I think it would take at least four thousand years. There could be very violent episodes during this time, such as the upheaval of the Andes must have been: but not mountain-high tidal waves.
Of course, another angle that must be carefully calculated is that in any displacement maximum movement of the crust would occur along a central meridian of travel, and movement on either side would be proportional to distance from this meridian, that is, to longitude, diminishing to zero at 90 from the meridian.
One of your references has great interest to me: Langway and Hansen, 1973.9
With best regards,
Sincerely,
Charles Hapgood
Appendix 3
Sacred Sites Linked to the udson Bay Pole (60 degrees north, 83 degrees west)
Rand Flem-Ath
These sacred sites are all within half a degree (30 nautical miles) of the former sacred latitude listed in the last column in the second table. Because so much of the world is ocean, some sites make it to this list that are the closest islands (marked with an asterisk*). Sometimes the exact co-ordinates could not be found and in these cases we put in brackets the closest known city, town or village.
We have also included two Egyptian sacred sites that were at latitude 14 degrees north since this number is so closely associated with Osiris.
Sacred sites linked to the Hudson Bay Pole, by latitude
Phi Equator (55:37) Bimini (North), Ojai
50 Chichen Itza, Dunecht,
Kilwinning/Loanhead/Rosslyn,
Newgrange/Knowth/Tara, Uxmal
45 Canterbury, Copan/Quirigu, Marden
Phi Pole (34:23) Canary Islands, Meknes
30 Carthage, Quito
25 Constantinople, Troy
Phi Pole/Pole (21:15) Catal Huyak, Chavin, Knossos, Praisos,Rhodes
10 Phi (16:11) Alexandria, Baalbek, Cuzco, Ehdin,Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Paracas,Sidon
15 Ashur, Gilgal,Giza Pyramids, Heliopolis,Jarmo, Jericho/Jerusalem, Nazca
12 Babylon, Kish, Pyongyang
10 Eridu/Ur/Uruk/, Ise, Karnak, Kumasi,Kyoto Heian, Lagash, Luxor/Thebes,Naqada, Nara, Susa
5 Byblos, Elephantine, Lalibala, Raiatea*,Tahiti*, Xi’an
0 Aguni, Easter Island, Lhasa, Mohenjo-Daro
Sacred sites (with co-ordinates) measured by their distance to the Hudson Bay Pole
Appendix 4
Sacred Sites Linked to the Yukon Pole (
63 degrees north, 135 degrees west)
Rand Flem-Ath
The Yukon Pole is more than 100,000 years old, although this does not necessarily mean that a civilisation existed at this time, as the locations of these sites might well only be geological markers left by Enoch’s ‘angels’ a mere 12,000 years ago. On the other hand, it is possible that a civilisation at this time might have initiated the Uriel machines to ‘reveal all the secrets of the depths of the earth’.
Sacred sites linked to the Yukon Pole, by latitude
Phi Equator (55:37) City of Atlantis (South)
Phi Pole (34:23) Kilwinning, Rosslyn
30º Avebury, Baldock, Barbrook, Bath,Glastonbury, London, Old Sarum, Mersea Island, Pyongyang, Rollright Stones, Royston, Stonehenge, Tintagel, Vestermarie
Phi Pole/Pole (21:15) Nanking, Rennes-le-Château
20 Aguni (Japan), No. 6 Pyramid (China)
10 Phi (16:11) Lixus, Yonaguni
15 Abdera, Meknes
12 Gozo, Samos
10 Knossos, Raiatea
5 Alexandria, Babylon, Bassae, Jericho,Jersualem, Susa, Tiahuanaco
0 Abydos, Byblos, Cuzco, Machu Picchu,Nazca, Ollantaytambo, Tongatapu
The sacred sites in the following table are all within half a degree (30 nautical miles) of the former sacred latitude listed in the last column. Because so much of the world is ocean, some sites make it to this list that are the closest islands (marked with an asterisk*). Sometimes the exact co-ordinates could not be found and in these cases we put in brackets the closest known city, town or village. Baalbek was exactly on the sacred number 7.
Sacred sites (with co-ordinates) measured by their distance to the Yukon Pole