The Martian Miniatures
THE MARTIAN MINIATURES
AS we travel our highway of yesterdays, we come to another area where surely the great road in the sky, in some far distant time, swept down to the Earth planet and left traces of its coming.
We don't know the date, but it is many hundreds of years ago; the day is exceedingly warm; there isn't a cloud in the sky and the sun burns fiercely upon us. We have walked a long way and finally see in the distance the form of another human being. As we approach closer we see that this other being is holding a great globe or sphere in one hand, and with the other hand deft fingers seem to be moving rapidly over the rounded surface. As we continue to walk towards the working figure we suddenly realize that this must be a map-maker at work-someone is adding details to a many-colored globe. The pattern is indistinct at such a distance and we pause for a moment in wonder. What sphere is this? What world could it represent? Surely it is not the Earth!
We continue on and move ever closer, and then the stark reality of the scene falls into place and we step into the freshly swept yard in front of a mud and stone house belonging to a Pueblo Indian family of the Great American Southwest. For a time we felt as though we were watching a medieval chart-maker creating some fantastic land surfaces on an even more fantastic planet. But we were in North America, and it was hundreds of years before the advent of Columbus in 1492. Our 'vision' from the past is vivid as we look down at the seated figure of a very old and wrinkled Indian. She sits beside her yucca leaf brushes, her many pigments in shallow receptacles, and a great polished clay vessel that is ready for more decorations. With a start we realize that the `fantastic sphere or globe' of a few minutes before is really the `polished clay vessel', a great pottery bowl that the Indian woman had been painting. She picks it up again and begins to apply her colors; her skill is amazing for she does not sketch her design in advance, nor does she do any measuring. If a pattern of the design is repeated around the entire bowl, it simply comes out right. If we ask her how she manages to do this, she will say: 'Well, it seems as if something is telling me what to do, and I just do it.' The elements of her designs, often complex, are painted with complete accuracy. A curve moves smoothly and its arc is correct, a straight line does not waver and does not vary in its width, yet, her work is swiftly done. Was it just the heat of the burning desert sun that had blurred our vision and made the great painted, polychrome bowl appear to represent some unknown terraqueous globe? Was it the distance that had made all details seem indistinct, or was it the desert haze that had given the entire scene an unearthly, unreal quality? What had caused us to think that our journey backwards in Time had brought us to an old chart-maker's shop or ancient astronomer's observatory--observatory! --that was it!
In the modern 20th Century we had often gone to the hill overlooking Flagstaff, Arizona, and there we visited the Lowell Observatory; we had seen its 24-inch refracting telescope and its odd museum. It was in the museum that we recall seeing the great white globes on which Dr. Percival Lowell had drawn his surface markings of the 'Red Planet' Mars. He had been the foremost observer of the continually changing surface of this planet. In 1894 he had built his observatory and later charted a total of nearly 700 canals on the face of Mars, some as much as 3,000 miles in length. The canals intersected, he said, and at such points existed the 'cities' or oases where the inhabitants of Mars came together to be near the precious and dwindling water supply. From 1894 until 1915, Dr. Lowell and his staff of astronomers studied the `Red Planet' carefully. 'Mars is inhabited,' said Lowell, `we have absolute proof!' It was those 'white globes' of Mars with the unique markings indicating surface features that our mind recalled when we had walked in the desert sun towards the quaint old Indian woman of the early Pueblos. But surely we would find no scientific study of the planet Mars in such a setting. Areology couldn't possibly exist among the primitive agricultural people of the American Southwest removed only a millennium from the birth of Christ.
Why had the ceramic designs viewed at a distance reminded me of a global map, and why had I later tied them in with the globes made by Lowell of the planet Mars? We look down again as the deft fingers of the old Indian continue to move rhythmically over the partially painted bowl and we realize suddenly that there is no change, for as we study the designs they no longer appear to be the abstract geometric patterns of vessels, but appear for all the world like Lowell's charts, maps and globes of Mars. We look out over the sandy wastes to see the long straight lines of the irrigation canals, and along their border grow many plants and stunted desert trees that eagerly grasp for the water brought to the fields by the men of the tribe. We realize that these are the canals whose ruins have been excavated by archaeologists in the 20th Century.
When we return from our `Time Trip' a greater revelation comes to us. What were the potters of an Indian tribe doing when they made their sacred designs painted on pottery so resemble the known surface features of the planet Mars that almost anyone could use these `ceramic charts' as reliable maps if he were to find himself on the `Red Planet'? We also wonder if there is any connection between the fact that the Indians of that day lived in an arid country that required the construction of elaborate canal systems and the fact that Lowell said the Martians had built canals because they lived in a dry world and had little water? What do the irrigation canals of a planet millions of miles away in space have to do with an Indian tribe that also constructs canals in the desert and makes strange designs on clay vessels that unmistakably resemble the surface complications of the said planet?
We could call this Indian work `planetary pottery portraits', for here are representations on a much reduced scale that might have been conceived by a Schiaparelli or a Lowell while observing Mars. These, then, are 'The Martian Miniatures'.
Recently, a friend wrote to me and gave me some ideas which most definitely were connected with the research I was engaged in at that time. Briefly, this is what she had to say:
A number of years ago, while going through some examples of Southwest Indian pottery designs in search of new material for jewelry and fabric designs, I was struck by the resemblance of one of these designs to an area on a map of Mars. This seemed like an interesting 'coincidence', so I copied the design and made a map of the area it resembled. I did this just for the sake of curiosity at the time.
However, because I have almost no faith in 'coincidence', I kept my eyes open, and somewhat later two more fragmentary designs turned up and both bore the same strange resemblance to part of the surface markings of the planet Mars.
Time passed until last year (1957) when I happened to read the large two-volume Smithsonian Institution reports on the archaeological research undertaken in 1900-1901 in the Little Colorado-Gila River area, This included the sites of Homolobi, Kintiel, Chaves Pass, Chevelon, Four Mile Ruin and others. The illustrations I found were startling. Not only was I able to check up on the fragments I had found previously, but there were other and even better examples showing the same kind of unbelievable correspondence.
By this time, I had a much better and more detailed map of Mars to work with. This was the Mercator Projection Map from : Astronomy For Everyman. However, the projection distorts the designs to some extent, although the main elements still appear quite clearly. I obtained a small globe and proceeded to transfer the Mercator Projection Map back to a sphere! When I had finished, I was startled to find that the correspondence stood out even more clearly, and I was greatly impressed by the fact that most of the Indian designs appeared in bowls or on the rounded surfaces of jugs and jars.
The Martian surface features as found on ancient Indian bowls were stylized into the nearest geometrical shapes according to the potter's usage of designs and the custom of the day in artistic ceramic expression. However, this does not prevent recognition of the features at once, for every salient detail of the Martian area is retained.
Anthropologists now give very modern interpretations or meanings to the various shapes and figures. To arrive at these deductions they use 'informants' among the Indians who are now the present inhabitants of the ancient area where the polychrome pottery is found buried in countless ruins. The geometric designs are called : 'rain clouds,' 'arrows,' `mountains', 'feathers,' 'valleys,' `eagle,' `sun,' etc.
Certainly the modern Indians do not really know what those very ancient designs mean, and like the scientists, they have invented names for them-what looks like a`mountain' becomes a`mountain' and so forth. The original meaning is lost in antiquity for contact was broken off with the ancients who at one time apparently had a use for the strange `ceramic charts'.
In the Smithsonian Institution (Bureau of American Ethnology) reports of 1900-1901, we read:
`A symbol of the rain cloud among the people of the pueblo, now a ruin, at the mouth of Chevelon Fork, was a triangle enclosing a rectangle. These symbols were found on a stone slab excavated from that ruin in 1896, and were figured in reports of the work accomplished in that year.'
This so-called `rain cloud symbol' is one of the most prominent elements of design found in ancient Indian pottery. The triangle (sometimes it is plain and sometimes it is stepped) stands on its base and generally contains a rectangle within it which is always lighter in color than the triangle.
If you will look at Fig. No. 33 you will immediately see that one does rot have to employ imagination at all to recognize the prominent triangle of the Syrtis Major area on Mars with the brighter (and lighter) area of Hellas at its base. Fig. No. 33a is one of the ancient designs from Chevelon which displays the triangle, the bright area translated into a rectangle for the sake of design, and a birdlike figure surmounting the entire drawing. Fig. No. 33b is a variation of 33a which is sometimes found on Indian pottery. Its stepped outline is even more similar to the lines of Syrtis Major. Fig. No. 33c is a map of the Martian features.
The 'bird-like figure' has some very interesting features. There is a bifurcated `tail' bearing an oval area within the fork and there is a triangular 'body' with a 'head' that has a peculiar stepped line separating it from the rest of that 'body'.
If we look directly beyond the apex of Syrtis Major we can see a triangular area formed by the Martian canals Nilosyrtis and Nasamon. Where Nasamon runs up towards, but not into, Nubis Lacus, we find the angles which are similar to the stepped line of the 'bird head'. Nubis Lacus is in the position of the 'head' and the canals Casius and Bareosyrtis form the 'back' of the bird-like figure. Silacus and Phison form the bifurcated tail, and in the same place where it appears on the ancient Indian design is the oval area of Coloe Palus.
Of course, the entire design, as used by the Indians, has been stylized. But the major elements have been preserved and are in their proper relationship to one another.
Syrtis Major, in common with certain other areas, shows points, or inverted deltas, where Martian canals run out from it into the desert regions of the planet. In some pottery designs these features are preserved and depicted in their exact number! In others, however, the idea of `steps' is retained but without any apparent attention to the number.
If we look at Fig. No. 34, we see yet another example of the features of Syrtis Major being employed for ceramic decoration. Figure No. 34a is of a jar that was found at Homolobi. It contains the familiar triangle and light rectangle within it. However, in this design strong vertical lines run up either side of the triangle and frame the entire motif. Crosses extend around the shoulder of the vessel well above the apex of the big triangle. Fig. No. 34b shows more details of the Syrtis Major area, and we can plainly see two heavy vertical 'lines' in the exact position where the Indian artisans painted them on their pottery vessel. These two `lines' are actually the very wide Martian canals, Euphrates and Amenthes. Fig. No. 34c reveals even more Indian ingenuity. We have already seen that the triangular bird-shape is directly above and connected with the apex of Syrtis Major. However, let us ignore this connection (as it is ignored on the jar from Homolobi) and leave out the major part of the bird-like design. In Fig. No. 34c then, we add that Martian surface feature which is just above the 'back' of the bird-like area. In the map of the area we find Bareosyrtis and Casius again, the same canals we depicted in Fig. No. 33c. This time, however, they are shown entering Copais Palus, and the canals Pierius and Heliconius go off towards the Martian polar region. Comparing this map (Fig. No. 34c) then, with the design elements of the Homolobi jar (Fig. No. 34a), we see that the canals Bareosyrtis, Casius, Pierius and Heliconius actually form the four sections which make up the cross on the shoulder of the jar, and Copais Palus forms the very centre of this cross.
Fig. No. 35 concerns a beautiful bowl from Four Mile Ruin and the area of Mars surrounding Nubis Lacus. Fig. No. 35a shows only a part of the complete bowl design. Actually, the complicated design elements omitted here represent other surface features near Nubis Lacus in a startling way, but for matters of simplification they are not considered here. Fig. No. 35b really speaks for itself. If you will compare the elements of the Indian bowl with the Martian canals and features you will discover the amazing similarity. The 'butterfly' wings are formed by canals. The `head' is represented by Nubis Lacus, and the long 'body' by the formation of Aleyonius. The `antenna' is beautifully made by Nepenthes and Rhesus. The canal Amenthes becomes part of the line of the spiral effect shown in Fig. No. 35a, and Hellas (the bright or lighter area) becomes the very centre of the spiral. The dotted lines in Fig. No. 35b indicate the position of the lines as added in the Indian decoration of Fig. No. 35a. Once again, the Pueblo craftsmen stylized the entire design to conform to the standards of their day.
Fig. No. 36 also shows a highly decorated bowl from Four Mile Ruin. You will notice that the bowl was 'divided in half' by the potter so that each half contains the same identical design. Therefore, when the bow is rotated you will always see the design in the same position as it faces you. Fig. No. 36a shows the bowl with 'three arrows', two dark triangular areas, an elongated stepped area and a peculiar little square towards the rim of the bowl (bottom centre). The square is divided by a diagonal line running from one corner to another. Of course, the design has been stylized to make a good balanced pattern, but the Martian area represented here is startling. Fig. No. 36b is of the corresponding area of Mars. From Trivium Charontis three great canals branch out. They are Tartarus, Lastrygon, and the double-canal Cerberus. Looking at Fig. No. 36a we see all three canals are shown as `arrows' and represented as double-canals. We wonder if this was done by the Indian designer for symmetrical reasons or if all three canals are actually double-canals like Cerberus? If astronomers some day declare Tartarus and Lastrygon to be double-canals also, we will know that some Indian potter hundreds of years before them knew this fact. Below Trivium Charontis we find a dark triangular area that is almost identical in shape to the area painted dark on the bowl. This area is formed by the canals Hades, Styx, and Boreas. Where Hades and Boreas join at Propontis, another similar dark triangle is indicated formed by the canals Rhyndacus, Choaspes, and Granicus. This area is also painted as a dark triangle on the Indian bowl. The two dark triangular areas on Mars have shown more indications of vegetation than the other areas immediately surrounding them. Therefore, the artisans depicted them exactly as they are on Mars, on the clay bowl. Where the canal Myrmidan joins Hecates Lacus and the canal Gyndes joins Stymphaliusacus we find another triangular area which is lighter in color. On the bowl we find an almost identical area which is also lighter in color. A distinguishing feature of this lighter triangular area in Fig. No. 36b is the odd-shaped and square Sithonius Lacus. In the bowl design we see the same square depicted at the end of the triangular area. Even though the potter made a few changes, these are so slight that the comparison is amazing. In Fig. No. 36b, we look to the left of Propontis to find a square area with a diagonal division. Two corners of the square are Euxinus Lacus and Castorius Lacus, and two sides are formed by the canals Phlegethon and Midas. One side is formed by another canal which is not named on the existing Martian maps. The canal Fevos forms the diagonal line cutting across the square. In the bowl design of Fig. No. 36a we find the same square area divided by a diagonal line (and going in the right direction) towards the rim of the bowl (bottom centre).
The many corresponding elements in this design alone make 'coincidence' seem absurd.
The Smithsonian Institution reports of 1900-1901, have this to say about this strange design of Fig. No. 36:
'The design shown... is unique among all forms of ornamentation known and its meaning is incomprehensible to the author.'
What we have given above on the correspondences between Martian surface features and the designs on prehistoric Indian pottery vessels is, of course, only a very small example of what really exists. There are countless Indian patterns that duplicate the surface formations of the `Red Planet' Mars. What is the answer? Here is the great enigma of the Southwestern American desert.
All of this reminds us of another enigma, one of the so-called 'mysteries' of the southern Peruvian desert-the `Lines of Nazca'. In both the American and Peruvian areas we find that primitive people made polychrome vessels using highly stylized designs. We also find that both the ancient Americans and Peruvians transferred those pottery designs, in the form of birds, spiders, men, etc., and placed gigantic duplicates of them on the ground. (Recently gigantic patterns of such forms were discovered from the air on the North American deserts.) We also find that the Pueblo Indians of America depended on a complicated irrigation system, and so did the Nazca people of Peru. As a final addition to our large list of correspondences, we find that the great canal system of Mars also indicates that a race there has developed an enormous irrigation system covering their entire planet.
Why is it that in three great desert areas (American, Peruvian, and Martian) we find the people of two of those areas (American and Peruvian) have constructed immense patterns on the ground after transferring such patterns from pottery motifs? Who were supposed to view those patterns from the air? Were they built for the people of the third desert area (Mars) who had irrigation systems like the people of the first two areas (America and Peru)?
And finally, what were the ancient Pueblo Indians of North America doing when they made their sacred designs (which are even now interpreted as symbols of the sky and its phenomena) painted on pottery so resemble the strange surface features of a far away planet that men of a future age would recognize the connection after studying 20th Century maps of Mars?
'Ceramic charts'? 'Planetary pottery portraits'? Why were they made; what were they used for? This is the mystery of the 'Martian Miniatures'.