Close to the entrance there is an information centre where you can obtain a free booklet on the park. There is also a shop that sells a few tinned goods, firewood, refreshments, wine and beer — and petrol can be obtained.

There is a restaurant next to the shop, and picnic places nearby — set among trees along one of the river’s channels. There are braai sites here, with water and toilets. (No drinking water is available elsewhere in the park.) There are also two swimming pools here, and a play pool for younger children.

There are several roads in the park leading to out-of-the-way corners. Two places worth visiting are Ararat and Oranjekom, and the road to both passes a 1 km side- road that leads to the base of the bare Moon Rock. At Ararat there are fine views up the rugged gorge, but there is little shade. At Oranjekom there is a roofed shelter with cement tables and benches — able to accommodate 30 to 40 picnickers — and there are also toilets. From Oranjekom there are wide views over the river ‘kom’ (basin), between towering cliffs.

Since the re-introduction of black rhino on the north bank, visitors are no longer permitted to cross the suspension bridge above the falls, but you are allowed to walk onto the bridge to obtain a good ‘midstream’ view.

CHRISTIAAN SCHRODER’S LEGACY

One of the main crossing points on the Orange River became known to the early European explorers as Olyvenhoutsdrift (olive wood drift), and a missionary, Christiaan Schröder, established a mission station here in 1871. In 1884 the name of the small settlement that had grown around the mission was changed to Upington, in honour of Sir Thomas Upington, the new Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.

One year before the name change, the first of an intricate system of irrigation canals had been constructed, and Upington now serves as the centre of a rich farming district — thanks to the abundant waters of the Orange. Fruit, vegetables, cotton and wine are produced here.

Augrabies to Upington

Retrace your outgoing route as far as Keimoes, but when you reach the traffic lights in Keimoes, continue straight ahead instead of turning left towards Upington — noting your kms at the lights. After 900m the road surface changes to gravel, and at 1,5 km you cross a single-lane bridge. At 2,4 km turn right for the Keimoes Nature Reserve.

Drive slowly from here, as the road is bumpy and becomes steep as it approaches Tierberg (tiger or leopard mountain). From the summit of Tierberg there are superb views over Keimoes and the irrigated lands nearby — the great expanse of green being in sharp contrast with the landscape near the Augrabies Falls, where the river is channelled into a rocky ravine.

Return from Tierberg to the traffic lights in Keimoes, and turn right. Stay on this main road (R27) the whole way to Upington, passing on your right the road on which you entered from Kanoneiland •

A BATTLE IN THE DESERT

World War I began in August 1914, and in September the government of the Union of South Africa decided to invade what was then German South West Africa. An invasion force was assembled near Upington, with 6000 men encamped south of Kakamas.

The German commander, Major Franke, decided to attack rather than wait to be invaded. At that time the Orange River was crossed by means of two ponts which were heavily guarded by the South African forces. These ponts were the target of the leader of the German expedition, Major Ritter.

Shortly after dawn on 4 Feburary 1915, four German field guns opened fire, at a range of over 1 km, from a position near the site of the present monument. The rest of Ritter’s forces, who had advanced closer to the river, opened fire on the troops guarding the ponts. The battle lasted six hours — the Germans being forced eventually to withdraw, with a loss of seven lives.

The simple monument was erected in 1960 by the Volksbund Deutschen Kriegs-graberfürsorge, and the remains of the six soldiers whose graves could be found were re- interred here.

KANONEILAND

This is probably the best known of the many islands in the Orange River, and it has been occupied as an agricultural settlement since 1926. The island received its name during the Second Northern Border War of 1878-9, fought between the Cape Colony forces and the Koranna, led by Klaas Pofadder.

It is thought that the island takes its name from a cannon that Pofadder and his men constructed here from a hollowed-out aloe stem. This was loaded with gunpowder and stones, and pointed at the Cape Colony forces. When fired, the cannon exploded; killing several Koranna men.

THE GOLDEN PEACH FROM KAKAMAS

For many years experts at the Elsenburg Agricultural College near Stellenbosch struggled to find a variety of peach that would be suitable for canning — a potential fortune in fruit lay rotting on the ground unable to be preserved.

Eventually a former Elsenburg student, A D Collins, found a promising peach tree near Kakamas. Evidently a natural mutation — the peach proved to have all the qualities needed for successful canning. The newly discovered variety was carefully propagated, and from a single tree has come 75 per cent of all the peach trees now supplying South Africa’s giant canning industry.

Our first stop of the day is Upington’s famous avenue of palms at the Eiland (island) holiday resort. To get there,

Drive south-west along Schröder Street, passing on your left the old mission complex that now houses the town’s museum. Turn left at the stop sign, noting your kms. After some 200 m you pass on your left an irrigation canal and a bakkiespomp (bucket pump).

Cross a bridge over the northern channel of the Orange River and after 800m turn left at the ‘Research Centre’ sign. Turn left again immediately to reach the entrance to the resort area (a small entrance fee may be charged at weekends and during holiday seasons). The main avenue through the resort is said to be the longest palm avenue in the world, and has been declared a national monument.

When you drive out of the resort area, turn left and note your kms. You cross the southern arm of the Orange, and at 1,2 km turn right onto the tarred R359 for Louisvale. The road leads after a short distance through irrigated fields and vineyards — this is the northernmost wine-making region of the Cape. After a little over 14 km you pass through the small farming settlement of Louisvale.

26,9 km after leaving the resort, turn right, staying on the tar. (The road ahead leads to Neilersdrif, and the surface changes to gravel.) You now pass on your left a Voortrekker centenary monument and a Roman Catholic mission, then cross the 400m single-lane Eendragbrug (unity bridge) to Kanoneiland. As you cross the bridge you can see the river tumbling over a prominent weir on your right.

Kanoneiland to Augrabies

At 28 km you reach a road on your left that leads to the village on the island. Unless you wish to call in at the village, drive on past this turn-off, crossing the Manie Conradie Bridge over the northern arm of the river and then two sets of railway lines. When you reach the T- junction with the R27, turn left for Keimoes — which you reach after a further 13 km.

As you enter Keimoes, turn right into Hoofstraat. On your left you pass a bakkiespomp at work in an irrigation canal, and on the opposite side of the road from this, just a few metres back, you can see the Dutch Reformed Mission Church that dates from 1889.

Continue along Hoofstraat, which becomes the R64 to Springbok. Roughly 5 km from Keimoes you pass a road on your right that leads to the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. After this the road moves away from the river, the irrigated fields are left behind, and the country takes on a desolate appearance.

About 33 km from Keimoes the road draws close to the river again, as you approach Kakamas. Watch for a small sign on your right to ‘The German War Graves 1914-18′ (a few hundred metres before you pass a small cemetery set back from the road on your left). To visit the war graves and a monument commemorating the 1915 Battle of Kakamas, follow this sign onto a narrow gravel road and drive straight, crossing the cattle grid and following the main track. The monument soon becomes visible ahead of you and to your right, and you reach it after 1 km on the gravel road. There is a good view over the Kakamas Valley from the top of the hill.

Return to the tarred R64 and turn right, noting your kms. After 700m you pass a road on your right that leads to South West Africa/ Namibia and the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Shortly after this you cross a bridge over the Orange River and enter Kakamas. 2,9 km after re-joining the tar you come to a crossroads. Turn left here to see, in the course of roughly 2,5 km, a number of the old-fashioned bakkiespompe still at work supplying the irrigation canals — making a picturesque scene.

Return to the crossroads and turn left to continue your journey on the R64 /R359, noting your kms as you turn. After 8,2km turn right on the R359. 4,5 km along this road you pass the small town of Marchand on your right. Here and there you will see some of the sloping cement ‘floors’ that are common in this region. They are used for drying fruit in the sun — mainly sultanas and raisins.

9,1 km beyond the turn-off into Marchand you pass the small Augrabies village on your right. Roughly 11 km later, turn right, and after a further 4,6 km, in the course of which you cross one of the channels of the Orange, you reach the entrance to the Augrabies Falls National Park (small entrance fee; no animals and no motor cycles allowed).

From here there are a number of walks and drives that you can take to outlying viewpoints. One of the most popular walks is along the 2,5 km path leading to the Arrow Head viewsite. From here you can look out over the rapids that career along the bottom of the gorge far below. For the more energetic there is the Klipspringer Hiking Trail which runs for 26km along the southern bank of the river. This is a three-day hike and walkers stay overnight in huts along the route. The trail passes Ararat, a granite rock that offers a magnificent view along the gorge, and also Moon Rock, which provides panoramic views over the whole park.

Walking through the park, you will discover that there is a far richer variety of animal and plant life than one would expect in such a barren landscape. Camel-thorn trees (Acacia erioloba) and kokerbome (Aloe dichotoma) are the most prominent plants, while the fauna includes the klipspringer, springbok, a number of smaller mammals and 150 bird species. The park is particularly rich in reptiles. At the edge of the gorge you can often see the beautifully coloured red-tailed rock lizard (Platysaurus capensis) and various geckos and agamas. In the hot summer months, you will frequently see snakes basking on the rocks — the Cape cobra (Naja nivea), the spitting cobra (Naja mossambica mossambica), or the ubiquitous puff-adder (Bitis arietans arietans).

Treacherous granite walls

As a safety measure, chest-high fences have been erected at most of the popular observation points, but there will always be over-eager tourists who tempt fate by climbing over the fence for a slightly closer look. Since the proclamation of the park in 1966, some twenty people have died after losing their balance on the edge of the gorge and slipping down its steep erosion-polished granite walls.

To slip over the edge spells almost certain death, but occasionally miracles do happen. In 1979 a Scandinavian visitor lost his footing and slid the whole way down the rock face. The friction was so great that his clothes were ripped from his body. He suffered lacerations and broken bones, but was still able to clamber out of the river onto a rock. From this point he was saved by park wardens. Even his wallet containing R400 was found on a ledge.

The open nature of the countryside in the park, and the clear light, offer rich opportunities to the photographer, and eager cameramen have tried many stunts to capture the falls from a new angle. One of the first of these photographic adventurers was an acrobat named Lulu Farini, who toured the region with his stepfather Guillermo. He photographed the falls from many angles, but could find no way of capturing the main fall from the bottom of the gorge. Eventually he set his sights on an outcrop of rock about 100 metres down the sheer rock face — a point that could be reached only with ropes. After joining some kudu-hide ox-straps to the rope they had, the two men lowered the camera equipment, then climbed over the edge. From the outcrop below, Lulu made two exposures of the falls, before climbing back ‘hand over hand, quicker than we had come down, for we were now sure of the rope’s strength’.

Year-round attractions

The park can be visited at any time of year, and each season has its own particular attractions. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for hiking, as the temperatures in summer and winter are too extreme for comfort. The falls, however, are at their most spectacular in summer, between October and January, when the greatest flood of water rushes down from the highlands of Lesotho and the eastern Cape. (If you are planning to photograph the falls, note that they are best captured in the afternoon when the sunlight catches them — often creating a bright rainbow in the spray.)

The first white man to see the falls was a Swedish-born soldier named Hendrik Wikar. Wikar deserted his post at the Cape in 1775 to escape an accumulation of gambling debts, and for four years he wandered through the uncharted country now known as the northern Cape describing in a journal, and sometimes also mapping, many of the places that he visited. Three years after leaving the Cape, he came to the verge of this immense granite gorge, with the full mass of the Orange River surging down over the ancient rocks.

Today visitors can share in Wikar’s experience by viewing the falls from various observation points along the edge of the gorge. They may also view the river from a suspension footbridge that links the southern bank to the northern, just a short distance above the falls. From these sites one can see how the river, in the course of many million years, has worn through the granite-gneiss base-rock to form a 250 metre deep and 15 km long chasm. This erosion of granite by water is considered by many geologists to be the finest example of its kind in the world.

Contrasting scenery

The Augrabies Falls National Park covers a large area of land on both banks of the river, completely surrounding the falls. One of the most striking aspects of the park is the contrast in its scenery. The banks of the river are painted bright green by the lush vegetation, yet only a few metres away there is little but sand and rock, a virtual desert stretching away to the horizon. The falls themselves are of course the centrepiece, mighty and harshly beautiful, with the river tumbling 65 metres over the edge of a massive granite barrier — into a mysterious pool, 92 metres across and believed to be 130 metres deep.

These falls are regarded as one of the six greatest waterfalls in the world. When the Orange River is in flood, up to 405 million litres of water crash over the granite shelf every minute in 19 separate falls. Best known of the secondary falls is the Bridal Veil Fall, which becomes part of the main falls when the river is in flood. The gorge at this time is shrouded in mist and the noise of the water is deafening.

The deep pool into which the falls plunge is surrounded by sheer cliffs, and is reputed to contain a fortune in diamonds — washed down the river and trapped in the gravel at the bottom. The pool is also claimed to be the home of a ‘river monster’, but sightings of this creature can perhaps be attributed to shoals of giant barbel, which grow to a length of two metres. During a severe drought in the 1930s, a group of thirsty cattle wandered up the dry river bed to the edge of the pool in search of water. Astrong wind blew them into the pool and they were never seen again — which helped to convince many local people that a monster of some kind lurks in the depths.

Augrabies Falls National Park is centred on Klaas Island, just to the west of the main falls. Here there is a caravan park with picnic sites and swimming pools, several bungalows that can be hired, and also an information centre, a shop and a restaurant. In front of the restaurant there is a succulent garden containing roughly 100 species of aloe.

A reserve between two rivers

The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park covers almost 1 000 000 ha of rugged desert country, sandwiched between South West Africa/Namibia in the west and Botswana in the east. An even larger game park adjoins it in Botswana, and animals roam freely between the two reserves — which together form the largest game park in the world.

The boundaries of the South African park are marked by the watercourses of two rivers — in the west the Auob (’bitter tasting’ in the language of the San people) and in the east the Nossob (’big water‘). The rivers rarely flow, but more than 40 boreholes have been sunk along the river beds, at intervals of several kilometres, and these make a small supply of water available to the game. The two principal routes in the park follow the courses of these rivers, and are linked by a road that switchbacks its way over the dunes that lie between them. (The roads in the park are untarred, but are usually in fairly good condition.)

Evocative names

Each borehole, with its attendant wind-pump, has an individual and often evocative name, ranging from ‘Groot Skrij’ and ‘Kijkij’ to the unexpected ‘Montrose’, and the no-doubt heartfelt ‘Lekkerwater’ (lovely water). The waterholes offer excellent vantage points for game viewing, especially in the early mornings and the late afternoons. It is here that cheetah, leopard and lion stalk the antelope that are attracted to the precious water, and few visitors leave the park without sighting one or more of the ‘big cats‘. Vultures, hyenas and black-backed jackals then clean the carcasses that the large predators leave behind — until a pair of horns and a few bones are all that remain of a once proud antelope.

There are more than 10000 springbok in the park, and visitors may be treated to the amazing sight of enormous herds of these agile animals flowing effortlessly over the dunes. Also to be seen are smaller herds of the park’s namesake, the gemsbok, with their fearsome, rapier-like horns. Other animals commonly seen are blue wildebeest, eland (large numbers of which occasionally migrate across the park), kudu, red hartebeest, ostrich, bat-eared fox, silver fox and porcupine. Some 170 bird species have been recorded in the park. In addition to the ostriches, you are likely to see kori bustards, secretary birds, martial eagles, bateleur eagles, and various owls.

The most prominent trees in the park are the umbrella-shaped camel- thorns (Acacia erioloba) — often supporting the huge nests of social weaver birds. The camelthorns provide a small amount of welcome shade, and their seed-pods are a valuable source of food for many species.

Adapt or die

The animals that live in the park have all had to adapt in one way or another to an almost waterless world. There are roughly 250 lion in the park, which are able to live for years without water, drawing moisture from the animals they kill. Gemsbok and other desert antelope can survive without water as long as tsamma melons and wild cucumbers are available. There are no elephants, giraffe or zebra in the park; they have not been able to adapt to the extremely dry conditions.

A lot of game can be spotted as you travel between the three rest- camps in the park. (Allow for one or two nights at each camp, if possible.) All the camps have fully equipped cottages and pleasant, albeit sandy camping sites. You can buy basic, non-perishable provisions at all three camps, including firewood and liquor, but no fresh produce or camera film is available. The camps have filling stations for petrol and diesel, but no repair facilities.

The largest of the three camps is Twee Rivieren (two rivers), situated at the southern entrance gate, where the Auob and the Nossob meet. This is also the administrative headquarters of the park. This is the only camp that stocks frozen meat, and it also provides simple meals in a lapa’. The smallest of the camps is Mata Mata (the very pleasant place), which lies on the Auob River at the entrance to the park on the South West African/ Namibian border.

Guidelines for visitors

In the northeastern area of the park is the Nossob camp. There is an interesting information centre here, and this is regarded as the best camp to head for if you wish to see lions.

The park is open throughout the year, but visitors are advised to avoid the months of December, January and February, because of the extreme heat during the summer. (And note that winter nights can be very cold, with the temperature often falling below freezing point.) There are several access roads leading to the park, all involving fairly long drives on sandy, untarred surfaces. One route leads from Kuruman, another from Upington, and several roads in South West Africa/Namibia converge on the entrance at Mata Mata.

Visitors to the park are advised to start a course of anti-malaria tablets before departure, and when driving to and through the park, always carry a plentiful supply of water.

Although most of the mounds at Cahokia are approximately oriented to the cardinal points, half of the ridge-top mounds are aligned northwest—southwest or southwest—northeast. Mound 72 has its axial orientation 30 degrees from an east—west axis. Archaeoastronomer Ray A. Williamson sees this as part of the overall significance of the mound:

At sunrise on the winter solstice the shadow of the post would fall right along the axis of the mound. As the sun rose and moved south, the shadow would move north of the ridge. On the summer solstice, the setting sun would cause the post to cast its shadow along the axis of the ridge in the opposite direction. Although the present ridgetop shape of mound 72 was not reached until about a hundred years after its construction began, the orientation of the mound seems to merit further examination by archaeologists. The number of high-status burials found there, from several phases of construction, suggests that the mound was known as a sacred, special place for many years. Its orientation along the solstice directions may indicate a conceptual link between burial and the winter solstice direction.6

Ridge-top mound 2, at the eastern extremity of the Cahokia site, and the now-destroyed ridge mound 86 at the western limit formed the east— west axis, which crossed the meridian at Monks Mound. Some hundreds of yards westwards from Monks Mound, close to this axis, is the so- called Woodhenge’, a feature that was possibly instrumental in the laying out of the geomantic orientation of Cahokia. In 1961, while conducting rescue archaeology in advance of road building, Warren Wittry and team uncovered a series of stains in the ground, indicating post holes. On excavating some of these, fragments of cedar were found and evidence of earthen ramps within the holes, which would have facilitated the raising of tall poles. Further investigation has revealed that there had been five circles at the site, and radiocarbon dates suggested that they had been created separately over a period bracketing AD 1000. The western end of the site had been destroyed by road building operations. Studying ‘Circle 2′ (now known to be the third in the sequence, in fact), Wittry concluded that it had been a Sun Circle (and the others may have had astronomical significance, too). It had been about 410 feet (125m) across, and contained possibly 48 posts. Three of the post positions on the eastern arc of the circle could have marked the equinoctial and solstitial sunrises (spring and autumn equinox sunrises, of course, share the same horizon position). The viewing point could not have been the geometric centre of the circle, however, and would have had to have been slightly off-set. Sure enough, in exactly that position, Wittry found a post hole. In 1978, Wittry set up utility poles to mark the central pole and the three sunrise marker poles, and in 1985, after separate explorations by Wittry and William Iseminger had accurately located 39 post holes, the site was reconstructed using red cedar and black locust logs which had been debarked, trimmed with stone celts and stained with red ochre.

The sight-lines at the site were found to work well at the appropiate times of the year. Most of Monks Mound is visible from the Sun Circle, and to a viewer at the central observation post it would seem as if the equinoctial sun was rising out of the mound itself. Doubtless, this was a ceremonial augmentation of the status of the leader or priest-king who occupied Monks Mound. There is little ethnographic information regarding sun watching in this region, but a Menomini legend collected many miles north of Cahokia does refer to observing the sun when it `stands on the treetops’.

The function of much of the circle’s posts would seem to have been simply to enclose a sacred space. We must always be aware that to the ancient mind specialized functions, astronomical or geomantic, were not divorced from religious significance, as was noted at mound 72. Also, early travellers in America referred to rings of wooden posts being used by Indians for ritual purposes. This possible ceremonial aspect of Woodhenge seems to be borne out by Wittry’s discovery of a piece of pottery close to the midwinter sunrise marker post. It was the fragment of a beaker, probably ritually broken, which had a design on it that Wittry interpreted as representing the Earth and the Four Directions (the encircled crosses in the centre) and the sun (radiating lines) defining a circular path (the sun’s passage) opening to the winter solstice sunrise — the channel in the lower right (see illustration above). The closed channel in the lower left of the design may indicate midwinter sunset.

That the ‘Sun King’ on Monks Mound may have had a shamanic-priestly role is suggested by a fascinating find on the eastern side of the mound. In 1971 investigators unearthed a small, engraved sandstone tablet. On one side it depicts a winged man, apparently wearing a bird-mask and costume. This echoes a design engraved on a 13-inch-long (33cm) marine shell found at Spiro Mound, Oklahoma, within the immense Mississippian sphere of influence, which shows a man in bird-costume. On the back of the tablet is a criss-cross pattern which, it has been suggested, could represent a rattlesnake’s skin. This would fit in well with Joseph Campbell’s observations that the ‘fundamental legend’ of the Feathered Serpent, which had appeared in Central America by at least the first millenium BC, seems to have been represented in Mississippian art by the winged rattlesnake.’ The winged man is a well-known image of the shaman, referring to his ’spirit flight’ to the Otherworlds. Elsewhere in the USA there are ancient Indian effigy mounds showing winged humans. Campbell remarks generally with regard to bird masks that they are ‘characteristic . . . of the lore of shamanism to this day throughout Siberia and North America.’

Finally, there are tenuous, tantalizing hints — no more — of a possible usage, or awareness, by the Cahokians of natural energies. It was found that seven of the original posts in the southwest sector of Circle 2 had been replaced. The reason for this is not clear, but Williamson notes: ‘If the modern experience at Cahokia is any guide to the past, lightning damage appears to have been a particular problem. . . . In 1980, the [reconstructed] observer’s post was struck by lightning and shattered. The winter solstice post shows some signs of lightning damage as well.’ If the posts of Woodhenge were prone to lightning strikes, how much more so must the great pole on top of Monks Mound have been! And what more dramatic way could the link between heaven and earth be demonstrated to the populace than by a bolt from the sky linking with the sacred omphalos? (Not to mention the enhancement of the ‘Sun King’s aura of power — he would seem literally to have a hot-line to heaven!) Also, the Cahokia mounds happen to be adjacent to faulting connected with the New Madrid seismic zone, which saw one of the greatest known earthquakes in 1811. A map plotting 488 quake epicentres monitored between 1811 and 1974 shows a modest cluster in the East St Louis — Cahokia mounds region. Such areas tend to have notably varied magnetic and gravity anomalies.

The present State Historic Site containing the core of the mounds area is hemmed in all around by gravel pits, small workshops and sundry other modern features, and a highway cuts through the site immediately .at the southern foot of Monks Mound. Nevertheless, within the now protected area, the local authorities have done a remarkable preservation job making the site most accessible.

The first inhabitants were Indians of what archaeologists call the Late Woodland culture (AD 300-800). Large, permanent villages were established, and cultivation of certain crops supported subsistence off the abundant wildlife. The population grew and social complexity developed during the period AD 800-1000, the `Emergent Mississippian’ period, and corn became an important part of the diet. The full development of Cahokia, however, occurred during the Mississippian period proper (AD 1000-1400). These names for periods of prehistoric Indian culture are invented by archaeologists, because no one knows what the actual people involved called themselves. These Indian peoples based around the Mississippi valleys have also been referred to as ‘The Mound Builders’. Whatever one calls them, they are lost to us, except in the remains of their structures and artefacts.

Cahokia at its peak had its central portion surrounded by a defensive palisade enclosing a large D-shaped area. The main mounds and certain dwellings were contained within the palisade, but more mounds, habitations for the ordinary population and the cultivated areas stretched out beyond this boundary. The people lived not in teepees but in pole-frame dwellings that had clay-plastered walls and thatched roofs. Over 120 mounds originally existed on the site, but the locations of only 106 have been recorded. Approximately 68 are preserved within the tract defined by the modern State Historic Site.

There are three basic types of mound at Cahokia — platform mounds, which have flat tops and square or rectangular bases, looking like earthen pyramids; round, conical mounds, and long, oval-based ridge-top mounds. Platform mounds supported buildings on their summits — temples, charnel houses and residencies for the elite. The less common conical mounds (which used to be called ‘chocolate drop’ mounds because of their shape) seem to have been primarily for burial, and many seem to have been associated with platform mounds.

Cahokia archaeologist Melvin Fowler suggests that the platform mounds ‘represent the location of charnel structures and the associated conical mounds were the burial mounds‘.’ The ridge-top mounds also contained burials in a few cases, but their key function seems to have been geomantic: Fowler notes that five of the eight ridge mounds mark the extreme limits of the mound area, and three align with Monks Mound to form a north—south line.

The mounds were placed around open areas or plazas, highly reminiscent of ancient Mesoamerican cities. Most experts now think, however, that these features evolved locally rather than resulting from Mesoamerican influence. Cahokia was laid out to the cardinal directions, and where the east—west and north— south axes crossed stood Monks Mound, a mighty platform mound raised in four terraces, itself orientated close to the cardinal directions. It was not only the largest mound at Cahokia, but the largest in the North American continent. It stands over 100 feet (30m) high, covers more than 14 acres (5.6ha) and contains around 22 million cubic feet (622,600 cubic m) of earth. The depredations of time together with, in recent centuries, building and cultivation on its terraces (by, among others, the French Trappist monks in the nineteenth century after whom the mound was named) has caused Monks Mound to lose some of its shape, and it has slumped in parts. Fortunately, enough survives for its basic form and massive bulk to be still appreciated. (Some idea of its original, pristine appearance is shown in the illustration, which was drawn by Cahokia’s current curator, William R. Iseminger.) So large is it, that even into the beginning of the twentieth century some could still seriously argue that it was a natural feature! This view, Fowler comments, was ‘probably influenced by racist attitudes. Many believed that the ancestors of the American Indian did not have the capacity to apply themselves to any task as time consuming and elaborate as the building of Monks Mound.” The site of the mound was occupied in AD 800, but the actual mound was built in various stages and developments from about AD 950 until approximately AD 1200. On the fourth or summit terrace, the Mississippians built a huge building 105 feet long, 48 feet wide and an estimated 50 feet high (32 x 15 x 15.3m). This was presumably the king’s or chieftain’s dwelling — a palace or even a temple, if we see the leader as a religious figure, as is likely. A great post was erected outside the building, and on the southeastern corner of the third terrace was a small mound.

Quite apart from its size, the central position of Monks Mound, at the hub of the four directions, marks it as Cahokia’s omphalos, a role no doubt emphasized by the massive pole surmounting it. The late Joseph

Campbell noted the significance of the great mound’s positioning:

Since it is in the middle of the site, its symbolic function, as representing the axial height joining earth and sky, is evident. The idea of such a generative center is already represented in the Spiro Mound gorget, which is an unmistakable representation of the mythological archetype of the quartered cosmos: an ‘elementary idea’ of which the swastika and equal-armed cross are abstractions. The prominence of these symbols [from Spiro Mound, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, and other sites] speaks for the importance of this concept in Mississippian thought.’

A large ceremonial structure, quite possibly a shrine, was built on the southwest corner of the first terrace of Monks Mound. The first building burnt down around AD 1150, and was replaced by a small platform mound and a new building. In the following century, eight rebuildings took place at this spot. It was clearly a significant location, and it cannot be accidental that it is through here that the north—south axis of Cahokia passes. Running south from this point, the meridian passes through a ridge-top mound (number 49 in the archaeological categorization used at Cahokia), between a great platform and conical mound pair nicknamed `Twin Mounds‘, across the southeast end of ridge mound 72, and to the southernmost ridge mound, the massive Rattlesnake Mound, number 66.

Aztecs who encountered its awesome ruins. In Nahuatl, the language the Aztecs spoke, Teotihuacan means ‘place of the gods’, or, ‘the place of the creation of the gods’. This great site, dominated by two pyramids, was ‘regarded by the Aztec as the original source of civilization and government, and the place where cosmic order was established.” In Aztec myth, Teotihuacan was where Nanahuatzin, a dying god, jumped into a ceremonial fire which the four creator gods (representing the Four Directions) were too fearful to enter. Thus turned to flame, Nanahuatzin became the ‘Fifth Sun‘ — the Aztec sun of the present cosmic age. His companion, Tecciztecatl, joined him in the sacrificial fire and became the moon. The Aztecs thus decided that the two pyramids were dedicated to the sun and moon respectively. The Fifth Sun agreed to orient the world by his risings and to organize the passage of time. This legend clearly is a narrative mnemonic for orientation and astronomy, for geomancy, and Teotihuacan is certainly a place where this is demonstrated.

No one knows who the Teotihuacanos were, but they occupied the Valley of Mexico well over a millenium prior to the Aztecs, and even before the Toltecs. Teotihuacan began to be laid out in the first century AD, and at its height (AD 300-650) it had a population of up to 200,000 and extended to around 10 square miles (2,590ha). It was made up of temples, shrines, plazas, dwellings and workshops, was ruled by a priestly elite, and was both a sacred and an economic centre. The influence of this city, the largest in its day in the western hemisphere, spread over vast distances, even as far north as Cahokia or beyond, according to Joseph Campbell. It was burned and abandoned in the eighth century.

The city plan was laid out on a four-fold division scheme, but it was not aligned to the cardinal points. The whole layout is skewed 15′/z degrees east of north. It took archaeologists and astronomers some time to understand what this odd orientation was all about.

The effective omphalos of the place is the Pyramid of the Sun, which rises well over 200 feet (60m) in tiers, and is composed of 35 million cubic feet (990,500 cubic m) of material. It faces westerly towards Cerro Colorado, though E. C. Krupp states that it actually aligns to Cerro Maravillas, 41/2 miles (7km) distant. Either or both may well have been sacred hills to the Teotihuacanos. But the researcherssought a primarily astronomical answer for the curious angle of orientation that the city planners adhered to so rigorously that not only were streets and structures kept to the established axial plan, but even the course of the San Juan River at the site was canalized to conform to it. The skewed north—south central axis is marked by the Street of the Dead, and the Pyramid of the Sun is set just to the east of this with its sides oriented appropiately. The Street of the Dead is about 11/2 miles (2.4km) long and aligns to the Pyramid of the Moon at its northerly end. It is really a series of plazas, flanked by platforms and multi-roomed structures which opened out onto it, and was probably a ceremonial way. It ultimately aligns to Cerro Gordo, a major source of the city’s water and thus also probably considered holy. But no astronomical target could be identified in the east of north orientation.

The answer came from the study of the other axis. This is believed to intersect the northerly— southerly axis a short distance to the south of the Pyramid of the Sun at a point marked by a `pecked cross’. This feature is in the plaster floor of a ruin complex archaeologists call the Viking Group, on the eastern edge of the Street of the Dead. It measures about a yard (1m) across, and consists of two concentric rings of pecked holes, quartered by two pecked lines crossing at the circles’ common centre. Another such circular motif, containing a similar number of pecked holes, was found 2 miles (3.2km) westwards on a boulder on Cerro Colorado. Archaeologists suspect that these symbols are benchmarks left by the early surveyors. Some 70 similar pecked designs occur in ruins from Guatemala to northern Mexico. (These features probably had ritual use as well, as we know the ancients worldwide could combine spirituality and pragmatism at the same place.) The northeast axis seems to have been a perpendicular struck from the line linking the two pecked crosses, which, archaeoastronomer Anthony Aveni verified, aligned to the setting point of the Pleiades in AD 150. At the latitude of Teotihuacan the sun passes directly overhead on two days each year. At noon on those days no shadow is cast and the sun god was said to descend to the Earth briefly. In AD 150 the first annual pre-dawn appearance of the Pleiades heralded the first day of the zenith sun. These conspicuous stars seem to have had great importance not only in ancient Mesoamerica but, indeed, ‘are recognized by nearly everyone as something special. Worldwide, they are seasonal heralds.”

So the orientation of Teotihuacan seems ultimately to stem from an astronomical connection with the Pleiades. But the geomancy goes literally deeper than this. In 1971, a heavy rainstorm caused a depression to appear in front of the Pyramid of the Sun. On investigation, ancient steps were revealed descending into a natural cave beneath the pyramid. It is a four-lobed cave with a lava tube extension. Archaeoastronomer John B. Carlson described it as ’something like a four-leaf clover with its stem lying flat’.’ Archaeologist Doris Heyden suggested that the four lobes corresponded to the four-fold cosmos of the Teotihuacanos, with the stem indicating by extraordinary coincidence what was later confirmed as the Pleiades setting point. The Teotihuacanos embellished the cave, and it was clearly a sacred shrine, for many ancient Mesoamericans considered that their final ancestors had emerged from caverns within the Earth. It was also, perhaps, where shamanic initation was conducted. The Pyramid of the Sun and the axial plan of the city seem to have evolved from this holy spot.

It seems, therefore, that the axial arrangement of Teotihuacan echoes both subterranean and celestial configurations at the site. A marriage of heaven and earth.

The cardinal directions are also clearly indicated at Teotihuacan, however, for the Pyramid of the Sun lies due south from the city’s other great monument, the Pyramid of the Moon (which had a well penetrating its structure). This alignment extends beyond the southern pyramid to ‘pyramid-shaped Cerro Patlachique’ visible on the skyline.’

It has been suggested that all major solar, and possibly lunar, events are accommodated by alignments extending from the central complex out to other temples and pyramids lying within a 11/4 miles (2km) radius.

At the southern end of the Street of the Dead is a complex called The Citadel, which also marks the course of the main ‘east—west’ thoroughfare. Within this ritual plaza is a seven- tiered pyramid covered with carvings depicting Quetzalcoatl, the classic expression of the plumed serpent archetype. American engineer Hugh Harleston claims that the dimensions of the steps on this structure provide a mathematical basis for a mercator-like projection of the earth.’ If this is so, then it means the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl encodes geodetic information.

Taking Teotihuacan as a whole, the sky and topography were welded into a classic geomantic expression. ‘Locked within the city’s monuments, avenues, and relationships to outlying sites seems to be a complex system of associations,’ Krupp observes. ‘The order is there.”

Any possible energy aspects of Teotihuacan are uninvestigated, but David Zink notes that:

In 1906 an archaeologist . . . found a thick sheet of mica covering the top of the fifth level of the pyramid [of the Sun]; this material was lost in the reconstruction. Its presence suggests that perhaps some now unknown energy property of this pyramid may once have been utilized by the priests .. . it would be based, of course, on the electrical insulating properties of mica . . .⁸

A structure like a pyramid is a notable collector of atmospheric electricity, as has been noted at Egypt’s Giza Pyramid. The enormous statues which originally adorned the summits of both main pyramids may have been, effectively, instruments in some elemental technology, a technology perhaps echoed in more primitive form at Cahokia.

Particularly impressive are those sight lines achieved through a set of horizontal shafts that feed into a sealed rectangular chamber at the top of the tower. The extreme northerly and southerly disappearance points of Venus over the western horizon give a nearly perfect match to the measured directions of the azimuth of the shafts. . . .3

Additionally, the diagonal of the slightly asymetric upper platform on which the tower stands gives summer solstice sunrise in one direction and winter solstice sunset in the other. There are possibly other astronomical lines embedded in the building.

In AD 987, a breakaway group of the fierce Toltecs arrived at Chichen Itza and took over by force. They began constructing new buildings about a mile northeast of the older city. The Castillo, the Great Ball Court and the Temple of the Jaguars show their influence. ‘A complex mix of Mexican and Mayan traditions . . . merged into a system with new artistic and political styles.”

The Castillo is a stepped pyramid, a temple to Kukulcan, the Mayan version of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. It stands on a line connecting the two great cenotes of Chichen Itza. Cenotes are natural wells formed by the collapse of subterranean caverns revealing the groundwater in this arid limestone country. The two at Chichen Itza are probably what attracted the first settlers. One is called the Cenote of Xtoloc, the other the Cenote of Sacrifice, which is nearly 200 feet (60m) across its opening at the top and 60 feet (18m) down to the water, which itself is another 40 feet (12m) deep. This was the sacred well (that of Xtoloc being used as the water supply), and was worked into a circular form at the top. (`Chichen‘ means mouth of the well.) Votive artefacts were thrown into the water as were, apparently, human sacrifices. A ceremonial way links the cenote with the plaza containing the Castillo, on which its western edge seems to be aligned (through the Platform of Venus).

An interesting light-and-shadow play is created at the Castillo each equinox. On each side of the pyramid there are cermonial stairs. In the last hour before equinox sunset, the northwest corner of the pyramid throws a serrated shadow onto the west-facing balustrade of the northern staircase. This produces a pattern of sunlight and shadow similar to the markings of Yucatan’s indigenous rattlesnake. At the bottom of the balustrade are stone-carved serpents heads to which the shadow ‘attaches’ itself.

This dramatic effect producing the symbol of the `feathered serpent’ was presumably used in a ceremonial capacity by the Mayans or Toltec- Mayans. The spectacle certainly attracts several thousands onlookers today! It is thought that the Pyramid may also be aligned to sunset on the day of zenith passage. The four stairways plus the platform step give 365 steps in all, possibly representing the days of the year, and each side of the pyramid has nine terraces divided into three segments by its stairway, creating 18 terrace units, the number of months in the Mayan year. Finally, some of the temples at Chichen Itza have remnants of sacbeob aligned to them. These are Mayan sacred ways, and while their existence within ceremonial complexes has long been noted, it has been only relatively recently that awareness has developed that such stone ways linked one centre with another. This system of straight sacred ways is known at present only from fragmentary discoveries, and a full picture is nowhere near being assembled.

Certainly northern Yucatan contained systems of sacbeob — the region around Uxmal, another important Mayan centre about 100 miles (160km) southwest of Chichen Itza, for example. One of the earliest accounts of a sacbe was that of Thomas Gann in 1925, who stumbled across one between Coba (about 56 miles (90km) east of Chichen Itza) and Yaxuna. He describes ‘a great elevated road or causeway 32 feet wide, and varying, according to the configuration of the ground from 2 to 8 feet in height . . . the sides were built of great blocks of cut stone, many weighing hundreds of pounds; the central part was filled with unhewn blocks of limestone, and the top covered with rubble which . . . was cemented over. It . . . ran as far as we followed it, straight as an arrow, and almost flat as a rule.’ This 60-mile long segment of a sacbe is the longest known, and was one of 16 roads which originated at Coba.

Remnants of straight roads linking sacred centres have also been discovered on the island of Cozumal off the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. There are doubtless many more Mayan roads to be discovered.

Clearly, the Maya, like so many pre- Columbian Amerindians, had an obsession with old straight tracks that would have done Alfred Watkins and his ley theory proud!

The ancient Maya encompassed a huge area, ranging from western Honduras and Guatemala in the south through to the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula at the north. They emerged from the background of ancient peoples in the second century BC when their first pyramids appeared in what is present-day Guatemala.

By about AD 300 their architecture had developed to remarkable levels of expertise, and the Classic Maya period ran from then to approximately AD 600. Great ceremonial centres were the focus for populations living scattered around them in the jungles. In the Late Classic period these centres were abandoned and northern sites like Chichen Itza came into their own.

The Mayans had advanced their development of architecture, painting and sculpture, and used hieroglyphic writing. They entered records in paintings, in carvings on stelae and in books or ‘codices’ made from strips of deerskin or paper made from bark, which had been plaster- coated.

They were also ‘fascinated by the passage of time’, archaeologist Iris Barry tells us:

They developed an advanced arithmetical system and made accurate observations of the heavens which allowed them to compute astronomical events. Their science, however . . . was far more like astrology, being based on a firm belief in the cyclical nature of time and its control by supernatural forces. . . .

The timing of every ritual and ceremonial act, such as sacrifice, marriage or baptism, was dictated by the Maya calendar, which was one of the most complicated ever devised.’

The sacred Mayan year (Tzolkin) was based on a 260-day cycle in which 20 named days ran serially, with a number from 1 to 13 as a prefix, thus taking the 260-day period for the same combination of number and day-name to recur. No one knows why this system developed, for it does not relate to any apparent astronomical cycle. However, there was also a secular calendar year (Haab), with 365 days like our own, running concurrently with the sacred system. It was divided into 18 months of 20 days each, with five days of bad omen added at the end of the year. The months not only had names, but were also numbered from 0 to 19. These two systems of 260 and 365 days were meshed together, and it took 52 years for a date to be repeated in both systems. This period is known as the Calendar Round, the end of each of which caused nervous anticipation among the Maya. The crowning complexity was the Long Count, in which the two cycles of the Calendar Round were combined with lunar months and the 584-day cycle of Venus. The Long Count commenced in 3113 BC, according to Mayan history or myth, a remote date that mystifies archaeologists. Perhaps there is more to be discovered of an unprecedented early date lying in the jungles of Central America. . . .

Venus was a major player in Mayan cosmology and, indeed, in that of other ancient Mesoamericans. The Mayan codices reveal complex computations regarding Venus — for instance, the Grolier Codex has a 104-year Venus alamanac. John B. Carlson explains that to ancient Mesoamericans the bright planet was the opposite of ancient Rome’s Venus, the goddess of love; it incarnated warfare and blood sacrifice. Therefore one purpose of the Venus almanac was apparently astrological — to determine a propitious time for ritual combat and sacrifice. Although we believe the stylised battles resembled the jousts of medieval Europe, the `knights’ fought for their lives, and the losers were put to death — sacrificed with honor.²