About this slide show The many thousands of artefacts unearthed at archaeological sites around the world present a clear linear picture of human history, a picture of gradual progress from humble beginnings to the sophistication of the modern world. Linear history has become the bedrock for understanding the past and consequently information that appears to contradict this concept challenges a commonly accepted principle. In the 1970’s the late Professor Thom presented evidence that Neolithic people, about 5,000 years ago, measured the perturbations of the Moon and working with a common yardstick across Europe, produced very precise ‘Pythagorean’ geometry. His evidence demanded a conceptual shift in the principle of linear history because it revealed a Neolithic culture that was highly technically advanced in geometry, astronomy and geography, but that shift never took place. Evidence suggesting that the geography of the planet was once, in the distant past, understood as clearly as we understand it today is anachronistic. To find such evidence is therefore problematical and to present such evidence even more so because it is the presentation of a paradox. The slideshow investigates this starting at Avebury and then at other ancient sites around the world. To navigate through the show move the cursor to the bottom of the screen a double click may be necessary to go back one slide.

A google earth image of the Avebury area. The two red triangles indicate the summits of the two highest regional points, Milk Hill and Tan Hill. The white circle, about 4 kilometres distant, outlines Silbury Hill, the largest Neolithic earth mound in Europe. Silbury Hill is equidistant from the two natural summits, an isosceles triangle has been drawn between them.

The larger circle outlines Avebury Henge, the smaller circle outlines Silbury Hill. The lines connecting the hills to the ancient monuments run tangent to the circles.

A line shown in the previous slide joining Avebury Henge, Silbury Hill and Tan Hill can be extended in a great circle around the world.

The extended line intercepts the western extreme peninsula of Eurasia, and the western extreme peninsula of Africa.

Detail showing the line (a great circle) connecting Avebury, Silbury Hill, the western peninsula of Eurasia and the western peninsula of Africa.

The same line extends to the northern peninsula of Antarctica.

The same line is extended northwards from Avebury where it reaches the highest mountain in Scandinavia, Galdhopiggen. The central arrow in the image indicates Eurasia’s western peninsula. This peninsula is equidistant between Africa’s extreme western point (the lower arrow) and Scandinavia’s highest point Galdhopiggen (the upper arrow).

Summary The single line illustrated in the previous slides joins Avebury Henge and Silbury Hill in alignment with three cardinal peninsulas on three continents, and also with the highest point on the Scandinavian peninsula. When the highest point in the United Kingdom, Ben Nevis, is aligned with Avebury the line continues to the southern extreme of Africa.

A line from Ben Nevis to Avebury Sanctuary extends to the southern extreme point of Africa.

The second highest regional point in the United Kingdom is Mount Snowdon. A line from Mount Snowdon to Stonehenge extends to the northern extreme peninsula of Africa.

A line from the summit of Ben Nevis to the summit of Mount Snowdon extends to the Grand Menhir Brise, the largest Neolithic standing stone in Europe (21 metres long, weighing aprox 300 tons, now fallen). The Grand Menhir is part of the Carnac site, this is the largest Neolithic site in Europe, the location of the longest alignments of Neolithic standing stones.

Summary. The two white arrows indicate the alignments: a) Ben Nevis, Avebury and the southern tip of Africa. b) Snowdon, Stonehenge and the northern tip of Africa. Ben Nevis and Snowdon are in alignment with The Grand Menhir Brise at Carnac.

The Grand Menhir Brise is also in alignment with the northern peninsula of Africa and Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro.

The Grand Menhir Brise is also in alignment with the two highest mountains in the world, Mt Everest and K2.

Kilimanjaro and an eastern extreme of South America are equidistant from the Grand Menhir Brise.

The eastern extreme of the Asian continent and the Grand Menhir Brise are equidistant from Mount Everest.

Detail from previous slide showing the extreme eastern limit of Asia. The northern red dot is at the corner of an isosceles triangle, Mt Everest is at the apex of the triangle and the Grand Menhir Brise is at the other corner. The lower red dot is in alignment with Mt Everest and the southern extreme peninsula of India. (Scale: from the nose to the island is 35 km)

A satellite view of K2 showing the line joining Mt Everest’s summit with the Grand Menhir Brise. The line crosses the confluence of two glaciers at the base of K2 about 10 km from the summit. The K2 highland region has a chevron like shape pointing north

The Mount Everest highland region has a chevron like shape pointing north. The line from the tip of the chevron joins the Grand Menhir Brise with the summit of K2. The lower line, from Mount Everest’s summit, joins the Grand Menhir Brise with the base of K2.

The slides shown so far open the door to the possibility that the locations of the monuments at Stonehenge, Avebury and Carnac were chosen, in part at least, because these sites are aligned to, or in equidistant relationships with, extreme topographical points, both locally and globally. The geometry can be tested with other ancient monuments to see if it prevails. During this study an alignment between the tip of the horn of Africa, the Bosnian Pyramids and the Rollright Stones was discovered, and then a further alignment between Ben Nevis, The Bosnian Pyramids and The Giza pyramids was found. The Bosnian Pyramids are a relatively recent discovery and it is not generally agreed that they are Neolithic or that they are man made. The largest of the three, The Sun Pyramid, is by far the largest pyramid in the world, if it proves to be a constructed monument. The geometric relationship between the location of the Bosnian pyramids and topographical extremes of Europe follows the same pattern as with Stonehenge, Avebury and Carnac.

The Bosnian Pyramids are in alignment with Giza and Ben Nevis and are equidistant between Giza and the English mainland’s most westerly point, Land’s End. The baseline of the triangle (from Land’s End to Giza) passes over Western Europe’s highest point, Mount Blanc.

Detail from the previous slide. The southern and western extreme points of the English mainland (shown below) are on the corner of an isosceles triangle with the Giza Pyramids on the other corner and the Bosnian Pyramids at the apex. Mt Blanc is on the baseline of this triangle.

The Bosnian Pyramids are equidistant from Mt Blanc and the southern peninsula point of mainland Greece.

The Bosnian Pyramids are also equidistant from Mt Vesuvius and Italy’s Heel tip.

Mount Etna is equidistant from the Bosnian Pyramids a second southern fingertip of Greece.

Detail from previous slide. The two southern fingertips of mainland Greece are found at the corners of two isosceles triangles with Mt Etna, Mt Blanc and the Bosnian Pyramids on the other corners of the triangles.

A line from the Bosnian Pyramids to the highest mountain in the Sahara Desert extends to the southern extreme tip of Africa. A previous slide showed the alignment of Avebury and Ben Nevis with this same point on Africa’s southern extremity.

A line from the Bosnian Pyramids to the Sahara Desert’s second regional high point continues to northern peninsula of Antarctica.

A line from the Bosnian Pyramids to Mount Vesuvius extends to the southern peninsula of America.

The two lines shown on the previous slides meet the two peninsulas as shown below. The two arrowed points are equidistant from the Bosnian pyramids.

An earlier slide showed that Mount Everest is equidistant from the Grand Menhir Brise and the eastern peninsula of Asia. This slide shows that Mount Everest is equidistant between the Bosnian Pyramids and the southern fingertip of the Kamchatka peninsula.

Detail, the arrows indicate the two corners of two isosceles triangles, the Grand Menhir Brise and the Bosnian Pyramids are located at the other two corners and Mount Everest is at the apex of both.

A more detailed view of the two corners of the triangles shown in the previous slide. The point indicated on the pronounced finger of Kamchatka (on the right) is also in alignment with Europe’s highest mountain summit (El Brus) and all three of the large pyramids on the Giza Plateau.

The Giza Pyramids are also aligned between the eastern extreme of Asia and the southern extreme of Africa.

An isosceles triangle can be drawn with the Giza pyramids at the apex and India’s southern peninsula and Mount Everest at the base corners.

The isosceles triangle shown on the previous slide falls short of the precise southern extreme of India by about 20 km. The more precise corner (for the Giza, Everest, India isosceles triangle) is at a point just north of India’s southern extreme. This is an isolated high point rising from relatively flat ground, about 200 metres high and about 500 metres around the base.

The isolated hill shown in the previous slide is also at the corner of an isosceles triangle with the Banteay Srei temple at Angkor on the other corner and Mount Everest at the apex. The image below illustrates a geometrical connection between Angkor (1200 to 800 AD) and Giza (3000 to 2000 BC). No historical connection can be made between Angkor and the early Egyptian Pyramids, however these are the two largest temple building sites in the world.

A line from Angkor Wat to the extreme southern tip of India extends to Kilimanjaro’s summit. The line continues to the summit of Mount Meru (Kilimanjaro’s smaller neighbour)

An isosceles triangle can be drawn between Angkor Wat, the Great Pyramid and Mt Meru as shown below, one side of the triangle aligns with the southern tip of India.

Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are on a line joining the northern and southern extremes of mainland Asia. This line is a meridian.

Another isosceles triangle can be drawn between the tip of the Horn of Africa, the southern tip of India and the Great Pyramid.

Continuing to use google earth’s path measuring facility an exact isosceles triangle can be drawn between the tip of the Horn of Africa, the southern tip of India and the northern tip of mainland Asia.

Summary The previous slide showed an isosceles triangle with three continental landmass extremes at the corners. It is possible that the ancient monuments were located in order to reflect geometry in the natural world. If so, the pyramid symbolism is appropriate, i.e. straight lines and mountainous isosceles triangles in a geometric landscape. When ancient monuments are considered as geometric points in a landscape and when the cardinal extremes of landmasses and the highest points on those landmasses are also considered as geometric points, a geometric relationship will, of course, always be found. But the properties of that geometric relationship consistently appear to be, a) alignment on a great circle with cardinal landmass extremes. b) equidistant relationships. This same alignment and isosceles geometry is found at a local level as well as a global level indicating that the monument builders were not creating this geometry by chance. The Neolithic monuments on Orkney provide a good example.

Maeshowe, the largest chambered Cairn in Europe is aligned between the northern and southern extremes of West Mainland Orkney. Maeshowe is also at the corner of an isosceles triangle with the other corner as shown to the south and the island’s highest point, Ward Hill, at the apex.

The same map shows the location of the three great stone circles on Orkney, Bookan, Brodgar and Stennes . An oblique isosceles triangle can be drawn between these three circles giving a similar configuration to the layout of the three large pyramids on the Giza plateau. At Giza the two northernmost pyramids are aligned at 45 degrees to the meridian, the same is true of the two northern circles, Bookan and Brogdar. A line (not shown) running tangent to Brookan and Brogdar extends to Orkney’s highest point, Ward Hill.

Similar geometry is found on a global scale. The Giza Pyramids are equidistant from Kilimanjaro and the highest point in the Atlas Mountains, Toubkai. The baseline of the triangle passes over the highest point in the Western Sahara, Tahat.

The previous slide draws attention to the alignment of Toubkai, Tahat and Kilimanjaro (a line can be drawn joining the bodies of each mountain). This is a natural alignment of three regional high points and the Giza Pyramids form the apex of an isosceles triangle with these three points on the base line. On the next slide a similar relationship is seen with the Bosnian Pyramids and Mount Rasdajan, the 3rd (or 4th) highest point in Africa. The highest region in the Sahara is Tibeski. The two highest points at Tibeski are indicated by circles on the next slide. The second regional high point in the Sahara is the summit Tahat to the west. Tahat, Tibeski and Mt Rasdajan are in alignment. This is a natural alignment of three regional high points and the Bosnian Pyramids form the apex of an isosceles triangle with these three points on the extended base line. In this case the line passes between the two highest points in Tibeski. Both these high points are volcanoes giving a near circular shape viewed from above. The base line passes tangent to these circles.

Tahat, Tibeski and Rasdajan are aligned. The Bosnian Pyramids form the apex of an isosceles triangle as indicated.

This slideshow began with an illustration of the isosceles relationship between Silbury Hill and the two local regional high points Milk Hill and Tan Hill. Further slides illustrated similar relationships between monuments and regional high points in Africa and Asia. There appears to be more than blind chance involved in the placement of these monuments, rather the reverse. It seems the monument locations were selected to serve as geometric points on a world sphere where high points and cardinal extreme points were themselves viewed as geometric points. How this view was achieved in the Neolithic is not known, but the evidence indicates that it was. Somehow the planet was recognised but with that recognition came the vision of a calculating object. The slideshow has skipped from one monument site to another in order to illustrate that the alignment and isosceles relationships are not simply a fluke occurring at one or two sites, it is prevalent at Giza, Stonehenge, Avebury, Ankor etc, the monuments at these sites are among the most substantial and immutable objects ever created and like all works of art they make a statement, or multiple statements. The statement illustrates geometry prevailing in topography. Asian and African monuments are not alone in this, the following few slides from the Americas help to illustrate that monuments were located in geometric relationships with topographic extremes.

South America has an extreme southern peninsula (lower arrow) but it also has an extreme ‘tip’ (upper arrow). Both these points are aligned with ancient monuments as the following two slides illustrate.

A line joining the northern and southern extremes of the Americas passes over the Akapana pyramid at Tiahuanaco. ( The southern extreme point of America was shown on the previous slide, the northern extreme is at the north point of Ellesmere Island.)

A line from Machu Picchu passing over the highest mountain in the Americas (Aconcagua) extends to the ‘tip’ of South America.

The site of Teotihuacan is located on a line joining Mount Elbert (the highest point in the Rocky Mountains) and Popocatapetl (the second highest point in Meso-America). The line extends to intercept the tips of South America and Antarctica.

The largest Pyramid in the Americas, the Cholula Pyramid, is located in an isosceles relationship with the summits of two regional high points Popocatepetl and La Malinche as shown below.

A right angle triangle can be drawn over the earth sphere with Teotihuacan, Aconcagua and Easter Island at the three corners.

An isosceles triangle can be drawn between Easter Island, Tiahuanaco and the southern extreme peninsula of the Americas.

The monuments draw attention to the relationship between extreme topographical points. They make the geometric link between these points. This link appears in the natural world, for example when a line is drawn joining the highest summit in the Americas and the highest summit in Asia the global correspondence between ‘highest points’ and ‘most extreme points’ becomes evident by alignment. The line is shown below.

Conclusion The location of ancient monuments in the landscape draws attention to the topographical extremes of the earth i.e. the most extreme cardinal points of landmasses and the highest points on landmasses. A topographical pattern emerges on all continents when cardinal extreme points are joined. A) Africa’s northern and southern peninsulas align with Mt Mckinley (North America’s highest point. B) South America’s northern and southern peninsulas align with Mt Aconcagua (South America’s highest point). C) The southern and eastern peninsulas of Australia align with Mt Kosciusko (Australia’s highest point). D) The eastern and western peninsulas of South America align with Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa’s highest point). E) The southern peninsula of Australia and the northern peninsula of Antarctica align with the Vinson Massif (Antarctica’s highest point). F) The southern peninsula of India and the eastern peninsula of Asia align with the world’s highest point, Mt Everest. Another slide show on this website “Geometry in Geography” investigates this in more detail. Further topographic geometry is illustrated in my book “The Star Mirror”, Mark Vidler, Thorsons, 1998. END