Rock Drawings in Scandinavia May Show European Astronomy Origins

It was the ancient ordering of the stars of the heavens, which, according to Bertrand Russell, gave men their first conceptions of natural law.

We have been successful - so we allege - in deciphering the entire complex of Scandinavian rock drawings at the World Heritage Site of Tanum, now in Sweden, and formerly in Norway (until the year 1658 - see the Treaty of Roskilde).

Our decipherment shows that the more than 1500 petroglyphs (rock drawings) at Tanum and its rock art affiliate locations form an enormous ca. 70 square kilometer planisphere (sky map of the heavens).

The graphic presentation of the decipherment is found below:

The Decipherment of the Tanum Petroglyphs by Andis Kaulins 2007

This sky map forms a shape of the stars along the Milky Way which was probably intended by its makers to represent a heavenly boat of the ancient Nordic seafarers. We have drawn in the line of the Milky Way to show this, but it is not, as far as we know, actually drawn on the ground.

As we shall be presenting a paper on this topic in May of this year in Horn / Bad Meinberg, Germany, at the Machalett Conference on Preshistory and Early History, this posting just contains the basics of our discovery.

It was 30 years ago in the year 1977 that this author first visited the petroglyphs (rock drawings) of Tanum, located in Tanumshede, Västra Götaland (historically Bohuslän), about a two-hour drive north of Göteborg (Gothenburg). Tanum was not well known internationally in 1977, in spite of over 1500, in part gigantic, rock drawings.

Tanum includes the following petroglyphic locations covering many square kilometers of countryside: Vitlycke (where the museum is located), Tanum, Tegneby, Aspeberget, Gerum, Ryland, Oppen, Slänge, Varlös, Fossum, Lycke, Hoghem, Västerby, Ljungby, Tuvene, Litsleby, Kyrkoryk, Orrekläpp, Rungstung, Satetorp, Ryk, Tyft, Hovtorp, Björneröd, Bergslycke, Kalleby and Trättelanda.

One key to our decipherment was the Tanum rock drawing location map found at the World Heritage Site for Tanum. Without such a complete overview of the area, such a decipherment as ours would be impossible, since it is the entire complex of petroglyphs which builds the secret to this enormous site. All of these petroglyphs as a whole represent the stars of the heavens, with multiple petroglyphs in clusters representing constellations of stars known to us today. Many of these along the ecliptic of course form our modern Zodiac.

One cannot escape the feeling at Tanum that we are witnessing the birth of modern astronomy among the ancient seafarers, whose need for a knowledge of star orientation in sea navigation is beyond dispute.

These ancient men formed these constellations primarily for practical purposes and not, as mainstream archaeology persists in advocating regarding these petroglyphs, for unproven rites and rituals, which may have been a part of the complex of the ancient world, but certainly not as its moving force.

It is in fact little wonder that there are so many boats (ancient ships) represented in the petroglyphic figures. To the seafaring ancients, the night sky was a sea of stars. We think it possible that this might be the location at which our modern stellar constellations were initially "grouped" by European man - for purposes of navigation in seafaring travel.

There are other proofs - beyond the evidence of the rock drawings themselves - that this astronomical decipherment is correct, e.g. the names of locations at which the rock drawings are found, but these proofs will first be discussed in a paper in German to be presented to the 41st Conference of the Machalett Study Group on Prehistory and Early History in May of this year.

NATO Summit in Riga Latvia

We subscribe to the White House Weekly Review in order to get a simple overview of the agenda of the US President's activities which is not twisted by the partisan political opinionating which invariably accompanies mainstream media accounts of those activities.

A good example is the past week's visit of President Bush to the Baltic countries, where Bush was in Estonia on November 28 and in Riga, Latvia on November 29 for the NATO Summit where Bush stated:

"One of the great responsibilities of this Alliance is to strengthen and expand the circle of freedom here in Europe. In the nearly six decades since NATO's founding, Europe has experienced an unprecedented expansion of liberty. A continent that was once divided by an ugly wall is now united in freedom. Yet the work of uniting Europe is not fully complete. Many nations that threw off the shackles of tyranny are still working to build the free institutions that are the foundation of successful democracies. NATO is encouraging these nations on the path to reform -- and as governments make hard decisions for their people, they will be welcomed into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community. "

As can be read at the Fact Sheet of the NATO Summit 2006, the RULE OF LAW is an important element in the expansion of liberty in Europe.

Indeed, we think that the rule of law is the most important significant difference between democratic nations and countries or regions who are suffering under tyrannical governments or who are plagued by factions who are enemies of democracy.

European Union Copyright Reform is a War of the Worlds

Helena Spongenberg in her 29.11.2006 EUobserver.com article

MEPs push for new copyright law in digital era

quotes Pia Raug, spokeswoman collective rights management lobby CISAC, who says about the current situation of copyright law in the European Union, that:

"It's a war of the worlds"

on issues such as digital rights management (DRM), collective rights management, and private copy levies.

Spongenberg writes:

"Interest in copyright reform is being sparked by explosive growth in the digital music market which is set to become a €3.9 billion a year industry in the EU by 2011, but which is throwing up new challenges both for independent artists trying to exploit the new medium and the companies trying to make money from downloading songs. "

How right she is. We ourselves have uploaded our musical compositions and performances to Kaulinsium at MySpace in order to participate in this new 21st century "gold rush". Happy listening.

EU 50th Anniversary Logo : Togetherness

In the competition for the 50th anniversary logo of the European Union, the three top logo selections from a field of 10 finalists resulting out of 1700 entries are featured at the EU site of the Logo Competition 2006.

The winning logo was designed by Szymon Skrzypczak of Poland (bio). Here is the original English language version of the logo which we have reduced to 25% of the size of the original logo as found on the EUROPA Audiovisual Service website:


That logo now is to appear as the 50th anniversary logo of the EU in each of the official languages of the European Union Member States plus candidates:

Original version	English version	French version
German version	Italian version	Spanish version
Greek version	Portuguese version	Dutch version
Danish version	Finnish version	Swedish version
Czech version	Estonian version	Latvian version
Lituanian version	Hungarian version	Maltese version
Polish version	Slovakian version	Slovenian version
Bulgarian version	Romanian version	Gaelic version

ALL the various language logos are accessible at the European Union's EUROPA Audiovisual Service. Click on the logo or the language version above to get to the actual original graphic of the logo online which is substantially larger than the thumbnail versions above.

The motivation of the jury in selecting this logo was as follows:

"In line with Plan D this logo gives a graphic interpretation to the voice of all Europeans, especially the new generations. These Europeans look for peace, stability and prosperity without taking anything away from their rights of individuality and diversity. The word “together” expresses in a simple and immediate way what was originally bound to the idea of Europe: not only politics, or money, or geographic boundaries, but most of all co-operation and solidarity. And furthermore it aims to stress that despite all of our differences, we are celebrating 50 years of peace as one community. The different letters, using different typefaces, express the diversity in European history and culture and are kept “together” by the meaning of the word itself. Also, being based on one word, the logo can easily be adapted to every language and still keep its power as a sign, as a symbol because of the different typefaces used. The irony inspired by fashion labels is well suited to a single outstanding activity such as the celebration of the 50th anniversary. The sub-line “SINCE 1957” is an essential part of this irony, and most importantly the main link to the Treaty of Rome. The logo can be adapted to a wide variety of media and can be used effectively both in colour and in monochromatic versions. For a better usability however, the expert jury recommends that particular attention be paid to the sequence and shades of colours and to the use of specific phonetic symbols. For the sub-line “SINCE 1957” the use of a European typeface is advised. But this is general advice for all the 3 best proposals considering Europe’s rich tradition in type design and excellence in this field. A further recommendation is to provide an application manual for the logo, in order to ensure its correct application in every situation and to give specific rules on how the logo should interact properly with the EU identity."

Keyword Monitoring of Documents of European Union Institutions and European Organizations

Political Wizard has a keyword document monitoring service for institutions of the European Union (European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Ministers, Court of Justice) covering over 50 English language databases. Also covered are documents produced by independent European organizations who are major players in Europe.

The European Counterweight to the USA

The magazine The Real Truth has begun a series of articles on the European Union with The European Counterweight -- Part One: A Leaderless Superpower.

The Future : Europe, USA and the Rest of the World

Compare these two articles on the future of America, Europe and the Rest of the World:

Europe's Good Intentions Have Gone Sour
by Victor Davis Hanson June 1, 2006 (C) 2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

How Long Will America Lead the World?
by Fareed Zakaria, June 12, 2006 issue of Newsweek

Via CaryGEE.