Pillar 43 - the Horus Stone?
Left: Pillar 43 from Gobekli Tepe (courtesy of Alistair Coombs). Right: wine? jar recovered from the Scorpion King's grave, Cemetery U-j, Abydos, by Gunther Dreyer (Director of the German Archaeological Institute in Egypt), image from Wikipedia.
I discuss the Scorpion King in 'Prehistory Decoded' as I quickly trace the pre-history of Ancient Egypt back to its supposed origins around 6000 BC - just after the 8.2 kiloyear event. He is thought to be involved, somehow, in the unification of Egypt, circa 3200 BC. But it is not clear whether there actually was any king named Scorpion, or what role he played in Egypt's history, or exactly when he lived.
Evidence for his existence is mainly interpreted from inscriptions on a variety of recovered objects that involve a falcon, or Horus, symbol above a scorpion symbol. In Egyptian hieroglyphics the Horus (falcon) symbol often precedes the name of a king, or pharaoh, which is why this combination is interpreted as the Scorpion King.
In this particular case, we are looking at a jar or cylindrical vessel recovered from a grave near Abydos thought to be the final resting place of the Scorpion King himself (actually, there are thought to be two Scorpion Kings, I and II, and this grave is thought to belong to King I). I mention this jar in 'Prehistory Decoded' in passing, but here I want to discuss it in more detail.
This jar is unusual in that in addition to the 'Scorpion King' label we have, below a horizontal line, another bird, this time resembling a duck. Although this jar is thought to have originated from outside Egypt, possibly from the Levant (near the Jordan-Palestine area), it is nevertheless still thought to display the Scorpion King's name - it is one piece of evidence used to justify the grave as belonging to the Scorpion King. But the duck at the bottom is curious, and usually ignored by Egyptologists. It's just a random duck, apparently.
Now compare with the main part of Pillar 43 from Gobekli Tepe, which has the sequence 'eagle/vulture, scorpion, duck'. Similar, aren't they? Now, my research shows, almost certainly, the animal symbols on the pillars at Gobekli Tepe represent constellations - similar to ones we use today in the West. In this case, these three symbols represent 'Sagittarius, Scorpius, Libra', three successive zodiacal symbols, that are used to write the date of the Younger Dryas impact event on this pillar. So, do the three animal symbols on the jar actually represent the same constellations, and are therefore also giving a date?
If this association is correct (and I think it very likely is), then it has several consequences.
1. This is another piece of evidence that ties the origin of Ancient Egyptian deities to constellations.
2. The upper bird on pillar 43 is normally interpreted as a vulture, which is why this pillar has become known as the 'Vulture Stone' in popular media. Its interpretation as a vulture is one of the reasons this pillar has been suggested, by archaeologists, as indicating a 'death cult', because the vulture in early Neolithic times is associated with excarnation, or open-air burial. But according to my interpretation it could instead be known as the 'Eagle Stone', or 'Falcon Stone', or perhaps even the 'Horus Stone'.
3. If the inscription on the jar is interpreted as a date, I suspect the horizontal line represents the horizon at sunset, with Libra below it and the Sagittarius-Scorpius pair above. But why write a pair of symbols above the horizon? Surely, only one constellation is needed above the horizontal line to write a date using precession of the equinoxes? In this case, I suspect we have both constellations because the sun is transitioning between Sagittarius and Scorpius on the autumn equinox. If this is true, then the date written on this jar is 3500 BC, to within a few hundred years, which happens to coincide with another extreme climate event - the 5th most extreme dip in northern hemisphere climate of the last 10,000 years. I will present further evidence to this effect in a later post.
4. Hieroglyphics probably evolved from astronomical notation. After all, we already know the Ancient Egyptians were very keen on astronomy, and my research shows our interest in astronomy likely goes back, probably, over 40,000 years.
5. The link between the people who built Göbekli Tepe and pre-dynastic Egyptians appears to be very strong. We know Göbekli Tepe gradually 'wound-down' and was abandoned by around 8000 BC. But we don't know where they went next. Perhaps they went to Egypt, and settled alongside the Nile. Of course, this is highly speculative. But if true, what happened between 8000 BC and the beginning of pre-dynastic Egyptian history? There is no evidence of any settlement besides the Nile for several millennia before 6,000 BC. Or is there? See my book 'Prehistory Decoded' for a potential solution to this riddle.
In this particular case, we are looking at a jar or cylindrical vessel recovered from a grave near Abydos thought to be the final resting place of the Scorpion King himself (actually, there are thought to be two Scorpion Kings, I and II, and this grave is thought to belong to King I). I mention this jar in 'Prehistory Decoded' in passing, but here I want to discuss it in more detail.
This jar is unusual in that in addition to the 'Scorpion King' label we have, below a horizontal line, another bird, this time resembling a duck. Although this jar is thought to have originated from outside Egypt, possibly from the Levant (near the Jordan-Palestine area), it is nevertheless still thought to display the Scorpion King's name - it is one piece of evidence used to justify the grave as belonging to the Scorpion King. But the duck at the bottom is curious, and usually ignored by Egyptologists. It's just a random duck, apparently.
Now compare with the main part of Pillar 43 from Gobekli Tepe, which has the sequence 'eagle/vulture, scorpion, duck'. Similar, aren't they? Now, my research shows, almost certainly, the animal symbols on the pillars at Gobekli Tepe represent constellations - similar to ones we use today in the West. In this case, these three symbols represent 'Sagittarius, Scorpius, Libra', three successive zodiacal symbols, that are used to write the date of the Younger Dryas impact event on this pillar. So, do the three animal symbols on the jar actually represent the same constellations, and are therefore also giving a date?
If this association is correct (and I think it very likely is), then it has several consequences.
1. This is another piece of evidence that ties the origin of Ancient Egyptian deities to constellations.
2. The upper bird on pillar 43 is normally interpreted as a vulture, which is why this pillar has become known as the 'Vulture Stone' in popular media. Its interpretation as a vulture is one of the reasons this pillar has been suggested, by archaeologists, as indicating a 'death cult', because the vulture in early Neolithic times is associated with excarnation, or open-air burial. But according to my interpretation it could instead be known as the 'Eagle Stone', or 'Falcon Stone', or perhaps even the 'Horus Stone'.
3. If the inscription on the jar is interpreted as a date, I suspect the horizontal line represents the horizon at sunset, with Libra below it and the Sagittarius-Scorpius pair above. But why write a pair of symbols above the horizon? Surely, only one constellation is needed above the horizontal line to write a date using precession of the equinoxes? In this case, I suspect we have both constellations because the sun is transitioning between Sagittarius and Scorpius on the autumn equinox. If this is true, then the date written on this jar is 3500 BC, to within a few hundred years, which happens to coincide with another extreme climate event - the 5th most extreme dip in northern hemisphere climate of the last 10,000 years. I will present further evidence to this effect in a later post.
4. Hieroglyphics probably evolved from astronomical notation. After all, we already know the Ancient Egyptians were very keen on astronomy, and my research shows our interest in astronomy likely goes back, probably, over 40,000 years.
5. The link between the people who built Göbekli Tepe and pre-dynastic Egyptians appears to be very strong. We know Göbekli Tepe gradually 'wound-down' and was abandoned by around 8000 BC. But we don't know where they went next. Perhaps they went to Egypt, and settled alongside the Nile. Of course, this is highly speculative. But if true, what happened between 8000 BC and the beginning of pre-dynastic Egyptian history? There is no evidence of any settlement besides the Nile for several millennia before 6,000 BC. Or is there? See my book 'Prehistory Decoded' for a potential solution to this riddle.
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