The Sirius Mystery

　　　The Dogon country is situated in the granite escarpment of Bandiagara, to the south-east in Mali. The Dogon people, who are an indigenous tribe about 100,000 menbers strong, have kept their original masked rites and space mythology that tells their ancestor came from a fixed star, Sirius. Marcel Griaule, a French anthropologist, had researched the Dogon for most of his life and discovered the fact that the Dogon knew Sirius B, Jovian four major moons and Saturn's rings. They also had four calendars for the Sun, Moon, Sirius and Venus
and had long known that the planets orbit the sun. Isolated topographically and culturally from the outside world for countless centuries, they appear on first sight to be exceedingly, unlikely receptacles of highly advanced astronomical knowledge, which only goes to show just how easily wecanbe deceived by outward appearaces. They are believed to be of Egyptian descent, After living in Libya for a time, they settled in Mali, bringing with them astronomical legends dating from 3200 BC.

　　　In the late 1940s, four of the Dogon priests told two French anthropologists of a secret Dogon myth about the star Sirius, ( which is 8.6 light years from the earth).
They said that Sirius had a companion star that was invisible to the human eye.
They also stated that the star moved in a 50 year elliptical orbit around Sirius, that it was small and incredibly heavy, and that it rotated on its axis.

　　　All these things happen to be true, but what makes this so remarkable is that the companion star of Sirius, called Sikrius B, was first photographed in 1970. While people began to suspect its existence around 1844, it was not seen through a telescope until 1862 - and even then its great density was not known or understood until the early decades of the twentieth century. The Dogon beliefs, on the other hand, were supposedly thousands of years old.

　　　The Dogon name for Sirius B ( Po Tolo ) consists of the word for star ( tolo ) and the name of the smallest seed known to them ( po ). By this name they describe the star's smallness - it is, they say, " the smallest thing there is ". They also
claim that it is white, and the heaviest star. The Dogon thus attributes to Sirius B
its three principal properties as a white dwarf: small, heavy and white.

　　　This tribe claims that Po is composed of a mysterious, super-dense metal called sagala, which they declare, is heavier than all the iron on Earth. Not until 1926 did Western science discover that this tiny star is a white dwarf, a category of star characterized by very great density. In the case of Sirius B, astronomers have estimated that a single cubic meter of its matter weights about 20,000 tonnes.
　　　The Dogon describes a third star in the Sirius system, called Emme Ya ( Sorghum Female ). Even if these people had somehow seen Wetern astronomy textbooks, they could not have known about Sirius B. Also puzzlling was their knowledge of the rotations and orbits of planets in our solar system and of the four major moons of Jupitar and the rings of Saturn. How did they learn all this?
Dogon folklore says that says that this knowledge came from unearthly sources.

　　　The Dogon tells the legend of the Nommos,　awful looking being who arrived
in a vessel along with fire and thunder. After they arrived here - they put out a reservoir of water onto the Earth then dove into the water.
　　　
There are references in the oral history, drawings and cuneiform tablets of the Dogons, to human looking beings who have feet but who are portrayed as having a fish skin running down their bodies.

　　　According to legend, the Nommo was crucified and resurrested and in the　future will agin visit the Earth, this time in human form. Later he will assume his amphibious form and will rule the world from the water. The Nommos, who could live on the land but dwelled mostly in the sea, were part fish like merfolk ( mermaids and mermen). Similar creatures have been noted in other ancient civilizations - Babylonia's Oannes, Acadia's Era, Sumer's Enki, and Egypt's goddess Isis. It was from the Nommos that the Dogon claimed knowledge of the heavens.

　　　The Dogon affirmed that a third star ( Emme Ya ) existed in the Sirius system.
Larger and lighter than Sirius B, this star revolved around Sirius A. Dogon mythology is known only by a number of their priests, and is a complex system of knowledge. Such carefully guarded secrets would not be divulged to friendly strangers very easily. If the star Emme Ya is eventually discovered by astronomers in the Sirius system, this would give considerable weight to　the Dogon's story.

　　　The Dogon says their astronomical knowledge was given to them by the Nommos. The name comes from a Dogon word meaning " to make one drink", and the Nommos are also called "Masters of the Water", " Monitors" and the " Teachers".

　　　The Dogon shared the early Egyptian's belief that Sirius was the home of souls that have crossed over. Ancient civilization named the planets and created myths about them - all linked to the heavens and gods who creatd humans and came to Earth from the sky.

　　　The Dogon have described perfectly the DNA pattern made by the elliptical orbit created by the two stars as they rotate make around each other. They believe Sirius to be the axis of the universe, and from it all matter and all souls are produced in a great spiral motion.

　　　The Dogon calender is quite non-traditional in that its fifty year cycle is based nerther on the Earth's rotation around the Sun ( Julian calendar ) nor the cycles of the Moon ( a lunar calender). Instead, the Dogon culture centers around the rotation cycle Sirius B which encircles the primary star Sirius A every 49.9 - 50 years.