From: wheel@alla.as.utexas.edu (Craig Wheeler) Date: Sun, Nov 15, 1998, 9:22 PM To: kristin@astro.as.utexas.edu Subject: mail.outside >From j.mao@mail.utexas.edu Thu Oct 22 13:28:45 1998 To: "J. C. Wheeler" Subject: Final Email Draft MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000A_01BDFDC0.1E2C2680" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3155.0 Content-Length: 8342 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_000A_01BDFDC0.1E2C2680 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable PROFESSOR WHEELER, I USED A SPECIAL BULLET FEATURE IN MY EMAIL PROGRAM. = PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF IT TURNS OUT OK. THANKS! Dear Professor Malville and Professor Wendorf, =20 I represent a group of students at the University of Texas in Austin = currently studying ancient African astronomy, especially the megaliths = and their astronomical significance. After studying your recent = magazine article published in Nature (April 1998), entitled "Megaliths = and Neolithic Astronomy in Southern Egypt", we became intrigued by your = investigations of Nabta. =20 We hope that you can answer a few questions we have raised = concerning Nabta. a.. Do you know of any correlation between Nabta and Namoratunga? b.. What are your findings concerning possible astronomical = alignments for the megaliths? Do these findings correlate with = Namoratunga's alignments? If so, what would you suggest as the basis of = this correlation? Are migrating tribes (Nabtians moving to Namoratunga) = a possibility? =20 c.. Has build-up of sediment or erosion occurred after the site was = abandoned? d.. Where did the Nabtians come from? What were they like? Where = did they go? =20 e.. Do you have a better idea or more proof about the age and = purpose of Nabta? =20 f.. Is there any significance to the arrangement of the stones at = Nabta being circular and the ones at Namoratunga II being linear? g.. Is there any possible relationship between Nabta and other = megalithic sites, such as Stonehenge? =20 h.. Are there any other megalithic astronomical sites in Africa? = Would you guess that there are more? Do you have any idea of where or = how many? i.. Have there been any new discoveries since your last article? =20 j.. In that last article, the possibility of a second publication = later this year was mentioned. If this article is still scheduled for = print, when will it be due for publication? We have the intention of creating a web resource on African = astronomy and megaliths and your work will be featured. Thank you very much for any help you can give us. =20 = Sincerely, = John Mao =20 >From wheel Thu Oct 22 16:04:53 1998 To: j.mao@mail.utexas.edu Cc: wheel Subject: Re: Final Email Draft Content-Length: 42 John, That looks good. Fire away. Craig >From lbowman@mail.utexas.edu Fri Oct 23 14:32:55 1998 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: larry.robbins@sss.msu.edu CC: Craig Wheeler Subject: Namoratunga II Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 1548 Dear Dr. L. H. Robbins, I am writing on behalf of 11 other students here at the University of Texas at Austin who are currently enrolled in a course dedicated to the investigation of astronomy in ancient Africa. In conducting our research, however, we have raised many questions. We would greatly appreciate your insight into these issues. What were your first impressions of Namoratunga II? Was there any direct dating of Namoratunga II? Were the stones used at Namoratunga II brought in from else where? What is the signifigance of the stones sloping? How deep are the stones buried? Has build-up of sediment or erosion occured after the site was abandoned? To your knowledge has any scientist returned to Namoratunga II for futher research? What conclusions have you come to as far as the signifigance of Namoratunga II as an archaeoastronomical site? Could the site at Nabta in Egypt be related to Namoratunga II? If so, can you account for events and cultural evolution between the time of Nabta and that of Namoratunga II? Is there any signifigance to the arrangement of the stones at Nabta being circular and the ones at Namoratunga II being linear? Is one possibly more advanced astronomically than the other? Are there any other megalithic astronomical sites in Africa? Would you guess that there are more? Do you have any idea of where or how many? How has the Borana Calandar survived over the years when its practicality has been lost? Thank you for your time and help Sincerely, Luke Bowman lbowman@mail.utexas.edu >From lbowman@mail.utexas.edu Fri Oct 23 14:37:49 1998 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Craig Wheeler Subject: Email to lawrence robbins Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 214 sorry you got two of those emails to lawrence robbins. somehow i got a bad adress for him and had to go find it on the MSU site if you had this written down wrong his real adress is larry.robbins@ssc.msu.edu luke >From lbowman@mail.utexas.edu Tue Oct 27 12:12:45 1998 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Craig Wheeler , "AcadianYak@aol.com" , "fender@mail.utexas.edu" , "gurgi9@aol.com" , "hollyp@mail.utexas.edu" , "j.mao@mail.utexas.edu" , "jaming@mail.utexas.edu" , "jdwest@mail.utexas.edu" , "joshb@mail.utexas.edu" , "m902856@hotmail.com" , "mhyman23@hotmail.com" , "ncrow@mail.utexas.edu" , "qdnguyen@mail.utexas.edu" , "rebmak@mail.utexas.edu" Subject: [Fwd: Namoratunga II] Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------D98D4E3ED4760C2E2E78A180" Content-Length: 5545 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------D98D4E3ED4760C2E2E78A180 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --------------D98D4E3ED4760C2E2E78A180 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: Delivered-To: lbowman@mail.utexas.edu Received: (qmail 11263 invoked by uid 0); 27 Oct 1998 15:32:08 -0000 Received: from ssc.msu.edu (HELO sscntex.ssc.msu.edu) (35.8.70.66) by umbs-smtp-3 with SMTP; 27 Oct 1998 15:32:08 -0000 Received: by ssc.msu.edu with Internet Mail Service (5.0.1457.3) id <4ZFBMT6L>; Tue, 27 Oct 1998 10:28:19 -0500 Message-ID: From: "Robbins, Larry" To: 'Luke Bowman' Subject: RE: Namoratunga II Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 10:28:17 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.0.1457.3) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 To: Luke Bowan From: Larry Robbins Thank you for your very interesting questions. While my research is now in a different area, I will try and answer your questions to my best ability. Most of the Namoratunga work was done by the late Mark Lynch who was doing his doctoral research at the time. I first heard about Namoratunga II back in 1965/66 but did not see the site until later on. When Lynch and I first saw the site we did not initially think of archaeoastronomy. Mark looked into this when he returned to MSU. We thought that the site was very interesting and could see some relationships to Nam. I. However, on the whole it was different than anything that we had seen in the area. There was no date on Namoratunga II. We did not excavate the site (our permit was for Nam. I). Nam 1 has a radiocarbon date on a bone sample from one of the burials. The basis of dating Nam II was: A. similarity in rock art symbols at Nam I and II and similarity in grave construction at both sites (stones marking the graves). The Namoratunga II stones were available in the nearby area. Presumably the stones were sloped at angles on purpose, possibly to line them up with the stars and constellations reported in the Science article. I do not know how deep they are buried; probably not very deep. Strong winds blow through the area. I would presume that some erosion has occured. Check Laurance R. Doyle, Current Anthropology, vol. 27,#3, June, 1986, pgs. 286-287, also contact Doyle. Also see, Doyle and Wilcox, Azania, XXI (I do not have the year etc). Some work was done on a Namoratunga-like site found on the east side of lake Turkana in which the archaeoastronomical interpretation of Namoratunga II was disputed. I can't put my hands on the reference. It may have been in Nyame Akuma several years ago. (Check with my colleague Dr. James Denbow in the Anthro. Dept. at U. of Texas. He may have Nyame Akuma for you to look over). I am not sure what to think about the interpretation of Nam. II at this point. I do not think that there is a relationship between Nabta and Namoratunga, if the dates are correct. There appears to be a substantial gap between them. I am afraid that I can't answer the comparative question about Nabta and Namoratunga. There are other megalithic sites known to exist in Sudan and in west Africa, but as far as I am aware they have not been linked to archaeoastronomy. The last question is another interesting one that I can't answer. I would consult an Ethiopianist anthropologist on that one. Good luck with your interesting project. Please give my best to Dr. Denbow if you see him. Sincerely, Larry Robbins > ---------- > From: Luke Bowman > Sent: Friday, October 23, 1998 7:31 PM > To: larry.robbins@ssc.msu.edu > Cc: Craig Wheeler > Subject: Namoratunga II > > Dear Dr. L. H. Robbins, > > I am writing on behalf of 11 other students here at the University of > Texas at Austin who are currently enrolled in a course dedicated to the > investigation of astronomy in ancient Africa. In conducting our > research, however, we have raised many questions. We would greatly > appreciate your insight into these issues. > > What were your first impressions of Namoratunga II? > > Was there any direct dating of Namoratunga II? > > Were the stones used at Namoratunga II brought in from else where? > > What is the signifigance of the stones sloping? > > How deep are the stones buried? > > Has build-up of sediment or erosion occured after the site was > abandoned? > > To your knowledge has any scientist returned to Namoratunga II for > futher research? > > What conclusions have you come to as far as the signifigance of > Namoratunga II as an archaeoastronomical site? > > Could the site at Nabta in Egypt be related to Namoratunga II? If so, > can you account for events and cultural evolution between the time of > Nabta and that of Namoratunga II? > > Is there any signifigance to the arrangement of the stones at Nabta > being circular and the ones at Namoratunga II being linear? Is one > possibly more advanced astronomically than the other? > > Are there any other megalithic astronomical sites in Africa? Would you > guess that there are more? Do you have any idea of where or how many? > > How has the Borana Calandar survived over the years when its > practicality > has been lost? > > Thank you for your time and help > Sincerely, > Luke Bowman > lbowman@mail.utexas.edu > > > --------------D98D4E3ED4760C2E2E78A180-- >From wheel Tue Oct 20 14:56:51 1998 To: warner@physci.uct.ac.za Cc: AcadianYak@aol.com, clendenen@mail.utexas.edu, fender@mail.utexas.edu, gurgi9@aol.com, hollyp@mail.utexas.edu, j.mao@mail.utexas.edu, jaming@mail.utexas.edu, jdwest@mail.utexas.edu, joshb@mail.utexas.edu, lbowman@mail.utexas.edu, m902856@hotmail.com, mhyman23@hotmail.com, ncrow@mail.utexas.edu, qdnguyen@mail.utexas.edu, rebmak@mail.utexas.edu, wheel Subject: Namoratunga Content-Length: 1394 Brian, I'm teaching a seminar this fall in which we are exploring ancient astronomy in Africa including the monoliths at Nabta in Egypt and Namoratunga II on the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya. One of my students, Mary Tran, contacted someone who put her onto David Laney who in turn said that you had worked on this topic some. We are going to email various of the principles associated with Nabta and Namoratunga II, but I'd like to ask if you can point us to anything you have written on these general topics and see if you have any insights into some of the issues that have arisn in our class. One is whether you think there is any direct cultural link between Nabta and Namoratunga II. What about Stonehenge? Did this megalith technology migrate north as well as south or are the megaliths in Britain strictly a local invention? Do you know whether there has been any work to directly age-date Namoratunga II? Have you been there? Do you have any thoughts on how or how accurately the local cultures preserved the astronomical knowledge that seems to be reflected in the megaliths, e.g. the Borana calendar in the case of Namoratunga II? What is your guess as to the location and prevalence of astronomical megalithic sites throughout Africa, given the two we know? Are you convinced they are astronomical sites? We'll appreciate any insight you have. Best regards, Craig >From warner@physci.uct.ac.za Thu Oct 22 00:48:40 1998 To: wheel@alla.as.utexas.edu (Craig Wheeler) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Namoratunga Content-Length: 878 Dear Craig, Sorry for slight delay in answering - I have just got back from 5 weeks in Australia. I am afraid that I know little or nothing about the specific regions you are investigating. What Dave Laney must have had in mind was that I wrote a chapter called "Traditional Astronomical Knowledge in Africa", which was published in Astronomy Before the Telescope, British Museum Press, 1996. I highly recommend this book (for reasons other than my own chapter!). I did all of Africa other than Egypt (which I think was covered by Aveni). But there were no sites of astronomical significance that I came across in doing the research for that article. best regards, Brian >From hollyp@mail.utexas.edu Mon Nov 2 15:04:20 1998 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Craig Wheeler Subject: Re: third hour Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator ="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 1647 > I sent the letter to the wrong adress and it got sent back to me. I tried to > send it to you when it got sent back to me, but I'm computer illiterate, so > that didn't work out. Sorry about the tardiness of my letter. Holly Dear Mr. Snedegar, I am writing to you on behalf of my Ancient Astronomy in Africa class at the University of Texas at Austin. We are currently investigating the astronomy of ancient African tribes, including megaliths like Nabta and Namoratunga II. We are interested in any connections between this astronomy and present day Africa. We have read a couple of your articles and would like to ask for your help. We have compiled a list of questions to ask you: What ancient tribes used astronomy? What tribes used calendars, and did any tribes use the same calendar? Were different constellations used by the various tribes in Africa? Do you know much about astronomically related megaliths in Africa? Do you think that megaliths had anything to do with religious or worshipping beliefs? Could there be a linguistical relationship between the people who built Nabta and the people who built Namoratunga II? Do you have any recently published works? Could you give us any references for or pertaining to ancient astronomy in Africa? We would greatly appreciate it if you would respond to our questions and also add any information that you think would be helpful. We are planning to create a web page based on our findings. Sincerely, Holly Price >From hollyp@mail.utexas.edu Wed Nov 11 14:26:07 1998 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: wheel@alla.as.utexas.edu Subject: [Fwd: African astronomy -Reply] Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------0441EFCF0E5C03FA99889AEE" Content-Length: 2342 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------0441EFCF0E5C03FA99889AEE Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --------------0441EFCF0E5C03FA99889AEE Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: Delivered-To: hollyp@mail.utexas.edu Received: (qmail 18347 invoked by uid 0); 7 Nov 1998 18:45:14 -0000 Received: from mail.uvsc.edu (HELO UVSC.EDU) (161.28.224.120) by umbs-smtp-4 with SMTP; 7 Nov 1998 18:45:14 -0000 Received: from MAIL-Message_Server by UVSC.EDU with Novell_GroupWise; Sat, 07 Nov 1998 11:44:52 -0700 Message-Id: X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 5.2 Date: Sat, 07 Nov 1998 11:43:49 -0700 From: "Keith SNEDEGAR" To: hollyp@mail.utexas.edu Subject: African astronomy -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Dear Holly, Many thanks for your message. It's wonderful to think that a class is = actually being held on the subject of astronomy in Africa! The timing of = your note, however, is rather inconvenient as I am about to leave for a = conference in South Africa; so let me reply only briefly. 1. If you know about Nabta you know that McKim Malville has opened up a = whole new realm for speculation on where the Egyptians got their astronomic= al traditions from. The Nabta site seems to suggest that the paleolithic = peoples of the Sahara region thought about astronomy. 2. Megaliths. It is dangerous, I think, to assume that a megalithic = culture is erecting stones principally to mark astronomical alignments, = although many megalithic sites do contain alignments! Nabta and Namoratunga are the best studied, as you know. I wish someone = would survey the stone circles in Senegal & Gambia, and the megaliths in = the Central African Republic; to the best of my knowledge, no one has. 3. Publications. I do have some, though they do not pertain to ancient = cultures. I am sending them to Prof. Wheeler snail-mail. Apologies for the lack of solid information at this point. At all events, = I do look forward to your website! Best regards, Keith --------------0441EFCF0E5C03FA99889AEE-- From wheel Tue Dec 1 21:39:35 1998 To: abbottk@spot.colorado.edu Cc: wheel Subject: Nabta images Content-Length: 906 Ken, I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and we are constructing a web site based on our research. A significant portion of it will be devoted to the work of Kim Malville and Fred Wendorf and their collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate credit. I got your name from Doug Addison at StarDate, but I would be happy to contact Dr. Malville directly if you think that appropriate. The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the Nabta images we plan to incorporate. Some of them are from Fred Wendorf and I will contact him directly. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler Professor of Astronomy From abbottk@spot.colorado.edu Tue Dec 1 22:48:23 1998 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: wheel@alla.as.utexas.edu (Craig Wheeler) Subject: Re: Nabta images Content-Length: 1326 Yes, you should contact Kim Malville, as I was not the photographer for those images. His info is as follows: email: Kim.Malville@Colorado.EDU phone: (303) 492-8766 address: Campus Box 391 (see my info below for the rest of the CU address) >Ken, > >I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and >we are constructing a web site based on our research. A significant >portion of it will be devoted to the work of Kim Malville and >Fred Wendorf and their collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained >the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate >magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. > >I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate >credit. I got your name from Doug Addison at StarDate, but I >would be happy to contact Dr. Malville directly if you think that appropriate. > >The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. >It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the >Nabta images we plan to incorporate. Some of them are from Fred >Wendorf and I will contact him directly. > >Best wishes, > >Craig Wheeler >Professor of Astronomy Ken Abbott,MFA Principal photographer, Office of Public Relations University of Colorado at Boulder 303-492-3119 abbottk@spot.colorado.edu From wheel Wed Dec 2 18:48:34 1998 To: Kim.Malville@Colorado.EDU Cc: wheel Subject: web page Content-Length: 776 Dear Kim I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and we are constructing a web site based on our research. A significant portion of it will be devoted to your work with Fred Wendorf and other collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate credit. The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the Nabta images we plan to incorporate. Some of them are from Fred Wendorf and I will contact him directly. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler Professor of Astronomy  From wheel Thu Dec 3 09:06:17 1998 To: fwendorf@mail.smu.edu Cc: wheel Subject: web page Content-Length: 944 Dear Fred, I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and we are constructing a web site based on our research. One of my students, John Mao, contacted you on our behalf earlier and you sent some valuable references. A significant portion of the web site will be devoted to your work with Kim Malville and other collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate credit. The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the Nabta images we plan to incorporate. I have sent a similar note to Kim Malville, but some of these I believe StarDate acquired directly from you. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler Professor of Astronomy From fwendorf@mail.smu.edu Tue Dec 8 10:35:03 1998 To: wheel@alla.as.utexas.edu Subject: Re: web page Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Length: 211 Dear Professor Wheeler: You have my permission to use any of my images used in the StarDate magazine paper on Nabta in your web page. I believe some are mine, others are Malville's. Sincerely, Fred Wendorf From wheel Tue Dec 8 14:53:04 1998 To: fwendorf@mail.smu.edu Cc: wheel Subject: Re: web page Content-Length: 167 Professor Wendorf, Thank you very much. I'll send you the revised web address very soon. I hope you like what my students have done. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler To: Craig Wheeler Subject: Nabta Playa MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Length: 1493 Hi Craig, You certainly have permission to us all of my photographs. There are a few more on my web page. The Nabta story continues you will be pleased to know. The major southeastern alignment coincides with the rising position of CENSORED, at approximately 6800 BP, plus/minus about 200 years which is nicely bracketed by the radiocarbon dates; I've taken into account extinction and refraction. Precession calculations going this far back are fairly good for CENSORED. There is some scatter of the crumbling megaliths, but the distances are large. Fortunately since we are close to the equator this stellar alignment is less suspect than many others. CENSORED~ would have been heliacially rising around early June and thus would have been visible in the morning sky around summer solstice. When the rains began to fill the playa, the megaliths would have been partly submerged and the light of CENSORED on the horizon would have been quite a sight reflected in the lake along the megalith alignment. We are making more GPS measurements this January to double and triple check everything before we go public with the stellar material. Your page is a great product of your class. Congratulations to your students and you, also. If you do this again, I can get you more stuff on the site. all the best, Kim J. McKim (Kim) Malville "EX UNO FONTE" Professor, Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences Director, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program University of Colorado at Boulder From wheel Wed Dec 9 19:01:07 1998 To: Kim.Malville@Colorado.EDU Cc: wheel Subject: Re: Nabta Playa Content-Length: 455 Kim, Thank you very much for your permission and the exciting news about the alignment with CENSORED. Your image of it rising over the flooded lake is wonderful! We are still polishing the web site and will "release" it Friday, the last day any of us can work on it for a while. I've actually had some trouble finding your web site through the CU public relations department. Can you send me the direct URL so we can link to you? Best wishes, Craig From malville@spot.Colorado.EDU Wed Dec 9 17:38:36 1998 From wheel Tue Dec 1 21:39:35 1998 To: abbottk@spot.colorado.edu Cc: wheel Subject: Nabta images Content-Length: 906 Ken, I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and we are constructing a web site based on our research. A significant portion of it will be devoted to the work of Kim Malville and Fred Wendorf and their collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate credit. I got your name from Doug Addison at StarDate, but I would be happy to contact Dr. Malville directly if you think that appropriate. The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the Nabta images we plan to incorporate. Some of them are from Fred Wendorf and I will contact him directly. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler Professor of Astronomy From abbottk@spot.colorado.edu Tue Dec 1 22:48:23 1998 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: wheel@alla.as.utexas.edu (Craig Wheeler) Subject: Re: Nabta images Content-Length: 1326 Yes, you should contact Kim Malville, as I was not the photographer for those images. His info is as follows: email: Kim.Malville@Colorado.EDU phone: (303) 492-8766 address: Campus Box 391 (see my info below for the rest of the CU address) >Ken, > >I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and >we are constructing a web site based on our research. A significant >portion of it will be devoted to the work of Kim Malville and >Fred Wendorf and their collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained >the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate >magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. > >I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate >credit. I got your name from Doug Addison at StarDate, but I >would be happy to contact Dr. Malville directly if you think that appropriate. > >The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. >It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the >Nabta images we plan to incorporate. Some of them are from Fred >Wendorf and I will contact him directly. > >Best wishes, > >Craig Wheeler >Professor of Astronomy Ken Abbott,MFA Principal photographer, Office of Public Relations University of Colorado at Boulder 303-492-3119 abbottk@spot.colorado.edu From wheel Wed Dec 2 18:48:34 1998 To: Kim.Malville@Colorado.EDU Cc: wheel Subject: web page Content-Length: 776 Dear Kim I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and we are constructing a web site based on our research. A significant portion of it will be devoted to your work with Fred Wendorf and other collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate credit. The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the Nabta images we plan to incorporate. Some of them are from Fred Wendorf and I will contact him directly. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler Professor of Astronomy  From wheel Thu Dec 3 09:06:17 1998 To: fwendorf@mail.smu.edu Cc: wheel Subject: web page Content-Length: 944 Dear Fred, I am teaching a freshman seminar on ancient astronomy in Africa and we are constructing a web site based on our research. One of my students, John Mao, contacted you on our behalf earlier and you sent some valuable references. A significant portion of the web site will be devoted to your work with Kim Malville and other collegues on the Nabta site. I obtained the images of the Nabta site that appeared in our StarDate magazine and would like to integrate them into the web site. I would like to make sure that we have permission and give appropriate credit. The draft site is at: http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/africa/africa.html. It will evolve a lot over the next week, but you can look at the Nabta images we plan to incorporate. I have sent a similar note to Kim Malville, but some of these I believe StarDate acquired directly from you. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler Professor of Astronomy From fwendorf@mail.smu.edu Tue Dec 8 10:35:03 1998 To: wheel@alla.as.utexas.edu Subject: Re: web page Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Length: 211 Dear Professor Wheeler: You have my permission to use any of my images used in the StarDate magazine paper on Nabta in your web page. I believe some are mine, others are Malville's. Sincerely, Fred Wendorf From wheel Tue Dec 8 14:53:04 1998 To: fwendorf@mail.smu.edu Cc: wheel Subject: Re: web page Content-Length: 167 Professor Wendorf, Thank you very much. I'll send you the revised web address very soon. I hope you like what my students have done. Best wishes, Craig Wheeler From wheel Wed Dec 9 19:01:07 1998 To: Kim.Malville@Colorado.EDU Cc: wheel Subject: Re: Nabta Playa Content-Length: 455 Kim, Thank you very much for your permission and the exciting news about the alignment with Sirius. Your image of it rising over the flooded lake is wonderful! We are still polishing the web site and will "release" it Friday, the last day any of us can work on it for a while. I've actually had some trouble finding your web site through the CU public relations department. Can you send me the direct URL so we can link to you? Best wishes, Craig From malville@spot.Colorado.EDU Wed Dec 9 17:38:36 1998 To: Craig Wheeler Subject: Nabta Playa MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Length: 1493 Hi Craig, You certainly have permission to us all of my photographs. There are a few more on my web page. The Nabta story continues you will be pleased to know. The major southeastern alignment coincides with the rising position of Sirius, at approximately 6800 BP, plus/minus about 200 years which is nicely bracketed by the radiocarbon dates; I've taken into account extinction and refraction. Precession calculations going this far back are fairly good for Sirius. There is some scatter of the crumbling megaliths, but the distances are large. Fortunately since we are close to the equator this stellar alignment is less suspect than many others. Sirius would have been heliacially rising around early June and thus would have been visible in the morning sky around summer solstice. When the rains began to fill the playa, the megaliths would have been partly submerged and the light of Sirius on the horizon would have been quite a sight reflected in the lake along the megalith alignment. We are making more GPS measurements this January to double and triple check everything before we go public with the stellar material. Your page is a great product of your class. Congratulations to your students and you, also. If you do this again, I can get you more stuff on the site. all the best, Kim J. McKim (Kim) Malville "EX UNO FONTE" Professor, Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences Director, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program University of Colorado at Boulder