The Mystery of the Babylonian World Map

Abstract – In this article the angles present in the remnants of an eight-pointed star are extracted from the triangles present on the Babylonian tablet known as the Babylonian World Map. The extracted angles are compared with the angles present on an eight-pointed star that is found on a neolithic Jade Eagle from the Lingjiatan archaeological site in China. The two items, despite being constructed thousands of miles apart, reveal some similarities in the angles of the lines, with the two patterns being consistent with the Babel Text. However, the observed angles in each line-pair are not identical. This means the hypothesis that the eight “triangles” (the eight line-pairs bounded on the inner side by a circle) which are found on the front side of the Jade Eagle are the names of the planets cannot be confirmed, and further work is required to determine if there are any oother surviving sunburst symbols that contain identical angular data.

Author Derek Cunningham

Introduction

Through more than 10 years of slow, careful research, the structure of the Babel Text is now proven^1,2. In a recent statistical study, it was shown that the chance for the lines to be random and it was only through coincidence that the patterns consistently align to these specific astronomical values, with four-fold symmetry is in the order of 1 in 8.5 x 10⁹¹.

This is well beyond the six sigma certainty, that is considerd to be the degree of certainty required to determine if a result is proven in High Energy Physics; and in statistics, this probabilityis equivalent to tossing a coin 20 times in the air, and the coin landing on its side every single time time^3,4.

The fact is, the same angles are found on many ancient geometric images. The only question remaining is one that relates to language. Do these ancient lines create an alphabet.

Because there exists four-fold-symmetry, where the lines are aligned to the left and right of vertical, and to above and below the horizontal, it is possible that the four directions might relate to the sound of the vowel, and the angle of the lines might represent a consonant. This would give these geometric patterns both an astronomical meaning, as well as giving the lines a phonetic component, which could be used by a scribe to perhaps write a prayer, or as proposed in the case of the Lingjiatan Jade Eagle, to write the names of the planets^3,4.

With the same text being found worldwide (in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North and South America, it is reasonable to also argue that this the geometric text appears to be source for the fabled One Speech and One Language, which is mentioned in Genesis. Thus, the reason for this study is to see if perhaps the oldest starburst symbols with eight triangles are consistently narrating the names of the planets, and the names of the sun and the moon. The eigth triangle is uncertain, but it is most reasonable to assume it represents the Earth, with the Milky Way, or perhaps the stars (the heavens), being plausible secondary interpretations.

To test this idea it was decided to compare the Lingjiatan Jade Eagle with a Babylonian Table which is commonly known as the Babylonian World Map. This tablet is famous because the lines are believed to stylistically represent the local region, or a large part of the world and the block of text above the lines is known to describes various distant regions. The three surviving triangles, which are drawn outside two concentric circles are stylistically similar to that seen on the Chinese Jade pendant. CHina. The Jade Pendant from China is apparently complete, and it shows an eight-pointed star symbol (a sunburst symbol) where the eight “triangles” are bound between the two non-concentric circles.

The first result is the angles drawn by the Babylonian World Map are consistent with the lines representing the Sidereal Month, the 18.6 year lunar cycle, and a line at either 5 or 5.1 degrees which may represent the number of visible planets, or potentially the angle of the moon’s orbital plane relative to Earth. Here the latter angle is shown, in order to force its consideration but it is important to note that this does not insist that this is the correct interpretation. This is because some regional variations are apparent in the examples of linear text that have been recovered to date, and though it is clear in some cases that it is probable that the line at or close to 5 degrees do probably represent the number of visible planets from Earth, in some of the more accurate representations of the Babel Texts (such as the lines present on the Stonehange Lozenge), the line appears to be accurately drawn to 5.1 degrees.

Turning now to the Chinese example, the two sides of the Jade Eagle show substantial similarity and there is an overlap with 10 out of 16 of the lines being identical in both their drawn angle and their relative “locations”. This overlap clearly argues the angles present in these images were intentional.

However, upon comparing the two sides of the Jade Eagle with the lines present on the Babylonian World Map in total only four of the six lines (the 18.6/27.32 pair and the 27.32/9.3 pair) in the Babylonian world map can be argued to be identical to the lines present in the Jade Eagle. Here the primary problem is this is below the 100% overlap that archaeologists require to look at this proposed solution to the worldwide presence of these geometric symbols, and to this day archaeologists continuw to insist these lines are random doodles.

Thankfully a statistical study has already proven that it is highly unlikely for these coincidences to be coincidental, and I thus present this as yet another example of the same pattern appearing worldwide, with in this case the starbust symbol being far more complex than the hash mark.

Within the Babel Texts and The Map That Talked, I have compared these angles to ancient linear texts and the oldest known languages where the names of the celestial objects remain, and from this it was found possible to extract phonetic elements.

In the image of the Jade Eagle shown below, I have shown the ront side of the Jade Eagle with with the proposed original names for the planets. On this pendant it is proposed that the names are read anti clockwise, with Saturn read as NoNu, and Mars as NuNo. As can be seen, in the Babylonian world map the 27.32/9.3 line pair would need to be read clockwise to match the Jade Eagle.

Conclusions

On my side, I again have to note that I am restricted in what samples I can study. Being entirely shunned by the archaeological community, and refused access to both databases and unpublished images of lesser known versions of this text, I can only publish the results from examples that have been published. Often these images are distorted, and it is unclear how accurately the photographs truly capture the angles present in these patterms.

For this reason, I am now putting out a request for archaeologists, and others who may have access to these ancient geometric patterns to put aside their doubts and to finally begin to publish their data, complete with clear labels that show the camera settings used in taking any images, and also the distance from between the sample and the camera clearly documented.

If archaeologists truly believe there is absolutely nothing to see here, and these lines truly are as they claim random, then they should be confident enough to test their private dismissals, and put aside their disaraging remarks. Science is neutral. It exists to test and compare theories and resolve arguments. Only by realizing that can we begin to systematically analyse every single remaining ancient text, and finally start the task of recovering our ancestor’s amazing past.

References

1. Derek Cunningham, A Reanalysis Of The Angles Present Within The Babel Text: Does An Increase In The Size Of The Error Bars Change The Analysis? Babel Texts Research Letters, March 17, 2024.
2. Derek Cunningham, New Study Reveals Stone Age People Could Read – and were Homo sapiens the first species to learn to write?, Babel Texts Research Letters, February 25, 2024.
3. Derek Cunningham, The Map That Talked, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (first published Nov 2012 as Khyung, The Stone Age Astronaut), Amazon.com
4. The 5,000 Year Old Chinese Astronomical Text: A Statistical Analysis of the Reverse side of the Lingjiatan Jade Eagle, Babel Texts Research Letters, March 29, 2024.
5. Derek Cunningham, The Babel Texts, CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2018, Amazon.com
6. Derek Cunningham, Stonehenge And The Orbits Of The Planets. Do The Ancient Wood Posts Surrounding Stonehenge Mark The Planets Orbits?, Babel Texts Research Letters, Feb. 25, 2024.
7. Derek Cunningham A new look at the Babel Text on the Lingjiatan Jade Eagle Part I: Is this the Earliest Written Names of the Planets, Babel Text Research Letters, March 9, 2024.