The Giza Doomsday Clock (cont.)
By Scott Creighton
4) Current Time
Imagine that you want exactly 8 hours of sleep from when you go to bed. So, you are about to set the alarm hand on your analogue clock 8 hours forward from the current time but then realise that the clock has no hour or minute hands to show you the current time. So, since you do not actually know the current time, you cannot know if you will get your 8 hours sleep. If, by way of example, you assumed the time to be 12 midnight, you then point the alarm hand at the 8 hour position. Two hours later you are awoken with the alarm because the actual time was 6am and not midnight. In short, to get your 8 hours sleep you simply MUST determine the current time in order to know that the alarm time has been set 8 hours forward.
Now imagine that you look out the window to the night sky. You happen to know that on this particular date when a particular star in the sky reaches the centre of your window it is 3:30am. So, with this information you can now set the alarm hand 8 hours forward from the 3:30 position i.e. 11:30, thereby allowing you to obtain your 8 hours sleep.
This is similar to how time is set on the Giza Astronomical clock. It uses the culminations of the Orion Belt stars to (re)set the clock to the 'right' time (the right 'start' position) and, as stated earlier, this 'start time' is marked by the location of the Sphinx. Since the minimum culmination date of the belt stars is approximately 10,500BCE, this then becomes the 'start date' of the precession clock, marked (calibrated) by the location of the Sphinx sitting on the edge of the Giza astronomical clock.
The alarm hands of the precessional clock are then set the appropriate distance around the clock from the start date marker (i.e. the Sphinx) to set the alarm time. This is equivalent to setting the alarm hand in our example above 8 hours forward from the clock's 3:30 position as indicated by the star position in the window. In short the culmination of the belt stars of Orion are used to (re)set the clock's 'start time'. This is to say that when the belt stars reach maximum culmination c.2,500 BCE this date then becomes the clock's start date; it's first time marked on the clock by the location of the Sphinx just as the Dream Stele situated between its paws tells us, "…this is the place of the First Time….".
But when exactly is the Giza astronomical clock set to 'go off'? To answer this we must first find the alarm hands within the clock.
5) The Alarm Hands
We have now determined 4 components of the Giza Astronomical clock: the 'clock face', the calibration point, the timing mechanism and the clock's start time. To find the 'alarm hands' of the Giza Precessional Clock let us now return to the ground plan of Giza showing the astronomical clock:
Notice in the diagram above how the two sets of Queens Pyramids are aligned in near perfect horizontal and vertical rows. However, as we have seen, these structures also are representative of the belt stars (demonstrating their precessional max and min culminations). But, as we know, the least bright star of the belt stars - Mintaka - is slightly misaligned from the other two stars. Why then are we presented with an arrangement of near perfect horizontal and vertical alignments of the Queens' pyramids?
It is possible that these structures have been arranged in this fashion to 'point' to their intersection with each other, like so:
The Queens' Pyramid are Aligned to 'Point' to their Intersection Point
Had the Queens' pyramids been aligned more in keeping with the true appearance of the belt stars i.e. with one of the structures slightly off-set from the others then this concept of intersection would have been much less obvious. By setting the structures almost perfectly horizontal and vertical leads us to question why this should have been done and we can only logically conclude that they are then able to clearly point to their intersection. Indeed, this intersection of two pyramids (or sets of pyramids) reminds us of the Ancient Egyptian concept of the Akhet whereby the sun rises/sets on the equinoxes at the precise intersection of two pyramids:
The Akhet - When the Sun sits at the Midpoint (Intersection) of Two Mounds (Pyramids)
It would seem that the two cult pyramids may also have been placed for the same purpose - to present an intersection that marks a specific point (time) on the Giza clock face.
The Two Cult Pyramids 'Point' to their Intersection Point
We have now discovered the clock hands for the Giza astronomical clock. We now need to work out the times (dates) that the clock hands are pointing to.