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THE POLAR MYSTERIES
I3I
equator to 111,700 m at the pole, while one degree of longitude
varies from zero at the pole to 111,321 m at the equator. These
two basic units of longitude or latitude were divided by an appropriate
round number to obtain a measurement of length that
approximated the average natural dimension of
a human foot,
finger, hand, or forearm. The Semites expressed their units in
their usual system of counting by 10, while the Sumerians registered
theirs by counting by 12 or by 60, and the Olmecs and the
Mayas by counting by 20. But the basis for all these different
calculations was the same—the true dimensions of earth.
The recognition of this fact does not, however, explain where
our remote ancestors obtained such advanced scientific knowledge.
Even the Greeks did not have it. Eratosthenes of Alexandria,
the philosopher and mathematician, calculated the circumference
of the earth 2,200 years ago and obtained a very
passable value for it, but we know now that this happened by
sheer luck. He made wrong calculations with wrong data but
these mistakes were opposite in values and compensated each
other. Even Rerre Mechain and Jean Delambre, the careful
French surveyors who from 1792 to 1799 measured the distance
from Barcelona in Spain to Dunkerque in France to obtain the
base for the French metric system erred by a full 5 km over the
length of their chosen meridian.
How come then that our forefathers back in the Stone Age had
values so exact which we oiu-selves were only able to obtain after
October 4, 1957, when the Soviet satellite Sputnik started to
trace and measure the first orbits around the globe? We then obtained
the exact measurements by observing the irregularities in
the orbits of the first artificial satellites in order to calculate the
true shape and dimensions of our globe. There is no better or
easier way to do it. And yet our Stone Age ancestors had the
same data. And this is why the measurement imits of our ancestors
become so utterly important for the scientific unraveling of
the mysteries of our origin.
The nimierous ancient drawings and sculptures found all
around the globe showing astronauthke figures in helmets and
space suits are pictorial testimonies from the farthest past that
indeed visitors from outer space left their footprints here. But
these paintings in caves and on cliffs are not scientific proofs of