The Basis of All Knowledge? Australia’s Stonehenge May Re-Write World History
4th October 2013
Contributing Writers for Wake Up World
During 1939 two extremely open-minded and dedicated men spent a great deal of time trying to come to grips with what one of those men, Frederic Slater, President of the Australian Archaeological and Education Research Society, claimed to be Australia’s “Stonehenge.”[1] Countless hours were spent measuring and drawing a huge variety of stone arrangements, alignments and engravings placed above and beside a series of “terraces”[2] and “mounds.”[3]
This ancient complex, according to Slater, formed “the basis of all knowledge, all science, all history and all forms of writing, which began in numeration.”[4]
Figure 1: Computer generated image of Standing Stones[5]
Our initial tasks are simple: examine and assess the work and notes of Slater and his colleague and compare this to available archaeology and geography, oral testimonies of Original and non-Original people past and present, and as always, consult with Original Elders and Custodians before embarking upon such a daunting investigation.
We also intend to pick up from where the two men left off. First and foremost it would seem Slater’s recommended next target, the smaller 70 metre mound, is deserving of discreet excavation. Consisting of material foreign to the region, Slater claimed that the nearest site able to cater for the sandstone tonnage on site is “14 miles” away.[6] If he is correct, questions relating to extraction, metal blades and transportation in a land of sticks and stones technology need to be addressed
What is a little more problematic is proving or refuting in absolute terms whether Slater was correct in proposing that “the mound is one of the oldest, I should say the oldest, forms of temples in the world, and dates back to the Palaeolithic age with the advent of first man.”[8] Equally, and possibly even a touch more sensational, is Slater’s belief that the most ancient of all tongues on Earth, the “Sacred Language,”[9] was first chronicled at this complex.
Figure 2: Smaller mound/burial site[7]
Just before anything could be resolved or formally investigated, the Second World War began, Government agencies pressured the landholder and the site was destroyed soon after. All discussion came to a close until mid-2013, when Slater’s correspondence was found amongst unmarked files in the local Historical Society.
Site Description
Very little, in terms of general location, specific soil types and geology, can be shared for fear that such information would betray either the position of this complex of “terraces,”[10] “mounds,”[11] “circles”[12] and “stone arrangements,”[13] or the landholders’ identity. All that can be said is that the site is quite remote and can be found within 40 kilometres of Mullumbimby NSW.
Figure 3 (Map 1): western slope of bigger mound[14]
The bigger mound is on a westerly slope and the smaller mound was built on top of a level swampy plain of black/grey loam. On parts of this flat wide plain, sugar cane is grown and the slopes that are cleared are carrying beef cattle. The alignment and distance from the ocean is known, but again sharing such information achieves nothing bar narrowing down possibilities and geography. What can be stated with absolute certainty is that this area contains no natural deposit of sandstone, while igneous rocks, some weighing hundreds of kilograms, can be found across all slopes and gullies and throughout the level paddocks.
Figure 4 (Map 2): Smaller mound and scatter of sandstone rocks[15]
On the two days we were permitted to conduct archaeology, the two mounds (see Maps 1 and 2) were of particular interest. The smaller mound, which is approximately 70 metres long and 5 metres high, seems in opposition with the surrounding landscape. There are hundreds of hectares of flat land all around, and this mound is at least 50 metres from any natural slope.
A variety of commentators had made note of the obvious artificial nature of this construction. A teacher from a nearby school, who was following up on the scant details still available in 1964, made reference to “the presence of a single mound of this type in an entire swampy flood plain, the locals say imported. So far I have not had time to carry out a profile examination, but again our geographers on staff cannot understand its presence.”[16] Even though the teacher maintained a degree of skepticism, he posed a rhetorical question that we must attempt to answer:
“How can a natural line of small sandstone pieces suddenly appear in a line and on a mound in a swamp when all surrounding rocks are igneous?” [17]
The much larger mound, which spans well over one hundred metres, was originally the place where the Standing Stones were carefully positioned and realigned throughout the year. Not only were all the stones of this construction and the many other arrangements nearby bulldozed and disc ploughed, it seems the actual mound itself was cleared of stones and ‘de-terraced.’
In one of Slater’s first letters to his on-site colleague, he not only asks “how many terraces on the mound,”[18] but reminds him if he can “ascertain the number of terraces on the hillside”[19] it would solve one of the many riddles associated with this site. He privately hoped that there were “six terraces.”[20] Further on, he requests that more investigation into the terracing be done, suggesting that if the terraces have “wavy lines”[21] it may “indicate something flowing or moving onwards.”[22]
Even though all signs of the terraces are gone, not so the displaced rocks that were on the mound. They are spread all over the slopes of the larger mound and some can be found down on the flats, over 50 metres from their original position. A large proportion of the sandstone rocks that are easily seen, seem to have worked edges, flat sides and straight lines, but bear no impact or percussion marks as would be expected if fashioned by rock tools. Apart from the two mounds and hundreds of sandstone rocks, no other stone arrangements or unusual formations are apparent.
Figure 5: Sandstone “shaped stones”[23]
to read more, go to: http://wakeup-world.com/2013/10/04/australias-stonehenge-may-re-write-world-history/