Before the Pyramids: Cracking Archaeology's Greatest Mystery
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Authors: Christopher Knight,Alan Butler
Tags: #Before the Pyramids
PYRAMIDS
Christopher Knight
is a businessman and marketing consultant who began his writing career after 20 years of research into the origins of Freemasonic rituals. His first book,
The Hiram Key
(co-authored with Robert Lomas and published in 1996) became an instant bestseller. It has since been translated into over 40 languages, selling more than a million copies worldwide. He is co-author, with Alan Butler, of the best-selling
Civilization One
,
Who Built the Moon?
and
The Hiram Key Revisited
.
Alan Butler
is a professional writer who has always possessed an absolute fascination for history. Originally an engineer, he set out on a two-decade search that led to the unravelling of some of the most important details regarding prehistoric knowledge and achievement in Europe. Alan has been writing on the subject of astrology since his early twenties and can probably claim to be the most published writer on the subject in Britain. His historical studies extend to in-depth research into the Cistercian monastic movement and the order of the Knights Templar, about which he has also written extensively. In addition to his interests in astrology and history, Alan Butler is also a time-served dramatist who has written many plays. He scored a significant success with
Aiden Dooley’s Homecoming
, written in 2003 for BBC radio.
By the same authors
Previous books by Christopher Knight
(co-authored with Robert Lomas)
The Hiram Key
The Second Messiah
Uriel’s Machine
The Book of Hiram
Previous books by Alan Butler
The Bronze Age Computer Disc
The Warriors and the Bankers
The Templar Continuum
The Goddess, the Grail and the Lodge
By Christopher Knight and Alan Butler
Civilization One
Who Built the Moon?
Solomon’s Power Brokers
(published in paperback as
The Hiram Key Revisited
)
PYRAMIDS
CRACKING ARCHAEOLOGY’S GREATEST MYSTERY
CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT
AND ALAN BUTLER
Dedicated to my dear uncle, Father Thomas Crean, a priest of great humility and remarkable insight, who has spent a lifetime helping others around the world.
CK
Dedicated to Josephine, Julie, Martin, Philip, Sarah, Carolyn and Cathy, my much loved stepchildren and nieces.
AB
11 Celts, Druids and Freemasonry
14 The Proportions of the Gods
1 The Planning of the Thornborough Henge Complex
4 Using the Megalithic Pendulum
5 The Minoan Foot and the Standard Foot
6 Estimating the Circumference of the Earth – James Russell BSc C. Eng. M.I.E.I.
7 The Megalithic System Explained
8 The Pentagon and the 32nd Degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry
9 The Centre of the District of Columbia
10 Thinking Styles and Academic Objectivity
First and foremost, of course, we wish to acknowledge the patience, tolerance and invaluable assistance of our wives Caroline and Kate.
We have many friends who have helped us across the years, academics, mathematicians, engineers, astronomers, biblical scholars and even some archaeologists. We thank you all but we would like to record our special thanks to the following people:
The late Professor Alexander Thom, without whose lifetime’s work and rigorous surveying none of our own research or investigations would have been possible;
Edmund Sixsmith, a London-based civil engineer and long-time champion of Alexander Thom who has picked up the gauntlet for our cause to push for a proper academic debate on our reconstruction of a super-science from prehistory, which he has designated the ‘Knight & Butler Symmetries’;
James Russell, a civil engineer from Northern Ireland who has conducted a range of highly impressive experiments to demonstrate how Neolithic astronomers would have measured the dimensions of the Earth with great accuracy;
Professor Philip Davies, a biblical scholar who has provided expert opinion over the years and has helped in every way he can, including introducing us to other experts;
Dr Jack Miller, a Cambridge University geologist who first alerted us to the reality of Noah’s Flood and to the fact that Rosslyn could never have been part of an intended collegiate church;
Professor Archie Roy, the astronomer who was first to confirm that our suggested pendulum method of timing stars explains the Megalithic Yard;
Robert Bauval, freethinking gentleman Egyptologist who first identified the correlation of Orion’s Belt with the Giza pyramids and has been very supportive of our investigations;
Dr Thomas Brophy, an astrophysicist for sharing his discoveries of super-ancient astronomical observatories in the Sahara;
Michael Mann, our publisher for his ongoing support and continued wise guidance;
Penny Stopa, our ever patient publishing manager who managed to deal with a very late manuscript when new discoveries impinged on deadlines. Our thanks also go to Shelagh Boyd, out tireless editor, and Paul Saunders who ‘set’ above and beyond the call of duty.
1 Diagrams showing the evolution of the pyramids
2 Giza pyramids showing offset
3 Stars of Orion’s Belt showing offset
4 Orion’s Belt superimposed onto the Giza pyramids
8 Thornborough henges circa 3500
BC
9 Thornborough henges with Orion’s Belt superimposed
10 Stars rising on an undulating horizon
11 Earth precession of the equinoxes
12 Orion’s Belt lining up towards Sirius
14 The relationship between the Megalithic Yard and the Egyptian
remen
18 The Pentagon, Washington DC
19 Dimensions of the Pentagon, Washington DC
20 The Scottish Rite Masonic Camp with pentagon and triangle
21 The Pentagon with an equilateral triangle
22 Masonic symbol for the 33
rd
degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry
23 Masonic regalia from the 13th degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry
25 Braced wooden frame for tracking planets or stars
26 Horizontal method apparatus
28 Apparatus to establish latitude
29 Pentacle drawn within the corners of a pentagon
This is an unusual book. It has caught us, its co-authors, completely by surprise.
Our intention was to catalogue an account of our researches into measurement systems used in Neolithic Britain, but what we ended up with is a story of the transmission of hugely ancient knowledge and priceless artefacts, spanning several millennia and culminating with 20th century power-play at the highest level. We began with an important archaeological breakthrough but ended with what our publishers believe is a full-blooded rival for any Dan Brown novel. However, the difference between our work and a novel is that everything contained in these pages is true – fully testable and checkable. And anyone with internet access will be able to put us to the test very quickly indeed.
For the last ten years we have been doing our best to reconstruct a stunningly accurate and elegant system of astronomy-based measurements used in Stone Age Britain. This research suddenly exploded when we found a direct connection between the astronomer-priests of Stone Age Britain and the pyramid builders of ancient Egypt from the third millennium
BC
. Then, due to a chance connection we came to lift the lid on a careful and secret plan to create a ‘New Jerusalem’ in the New World – using knowledge that may well have originated an incredible 18,000 years earlier. That new city was Washington DC.
We have pinpointed a small, deliberately carved stone in the centre of Washington DC that is a most important key – a marker in the ground that Thomas Jefferson declared to be point zero on the face of the globe and which Franklin D Roosevelt much later used as the datum point for the location of the Pentagon. We believe that there is a chamber beneath this stone that holds a great secret known only to an elite group that is always made up of exactly 33 men.
The findings in this book have ended up as nothing less than sensational. The evidence we put forward is easy to follow and to check out by anyone – without specialist knowledge. This is bad news for us in one respect, because the archaeological establishment may use the ‘sensational’ revelations in this book as an excuse to ignore our key findings and to declare them non-academic. If this is the case it is a shame, but we hope that the high-profile nature of the ‘conspiracy’ we have uncovered will force through a very public debate on the origins of civilization that is long overdue. We are fully aware that this book will be attacked – most likely by people who have not read it. The individual who does not like change will skim the pages and pull out unusual findings and scoff. We will ignore unsubstantiated comments but we will welcome constructive criticism and vigorous debate – as long as it is based on facts and not preconceived ideas or prejudice.
Because of the nature of our Washington findings we will be accused of being ‘conspiracy theorists’. It has become fashionable in some quarters to believe that this label automatically invalidates all evidence. This is not the case. There are two kinds of people who deny that conspiracies exist – conspirators and the naive!
There is nothing remotely odd about conspiracy. It is merely two or more people acting together in an undeclared way to bring benefit to themselves – and perhaps others. There are criminal conspiracies, unsavoury conspiracies, benign conspiracies and, we believe, benevolent conspiracies. The key component is simply secrecy. Did Bernard Madoff act alone in his Ponzi scheme that lifted billions of dollars from the wallets of the wealthy? If he was not acting alone, then it was obviously a conspiracy of embezzlement. We feel sure Madoff would have been a keen denier of conspiracies.
Whilst no one can know for sure, is it not probable that most conspiracies go undiscovered? After all, that is the entire point.
We hope you enjoy this book and that you find the revelations it contains to be helpful and significant. Please spread the word so that there is as much public opinion as possible pushing for a broad-based, academic evaluation of our findings. If you would like to keep up with developments please visit our website at:
www.knight-butler.com
.