Geomancy, Architectural (Glossary)

This article is focused on forms of geomancy in which buildings, particularly royal buildings, are pointed toward a specific geographic landmark.

The most widely-known example today is the orientation of mosques toward the qiblat-al-Mecca, the direction of Mecca.

A contention of this blog is that the Nusantao traders beginning in the Neolithic began spreading the idea of a sacred mountain, namely Mount Pinatubo, to different regions of the world. This concept gave rise to notions such as Dilmun and the Garden of Eden according to this theory.

Direction of Eden

Starting in the third century, Christian altars were placed in the east end of the church so that the people faced east toward the Garden of Eden while praying. For a time, in Byzantine churches, the bishop also faced east and then eventually the priest as well, so that they were not facing the congregation during services.

Although one could argue that Christians of that time had only vague ideas of Eden's location, they nevertheless had some conception of its location. And these concepts may date back at least to apocryphal books like Enoch and Jubilees with their references to the Mount of Eden, if not earlier.

Medieval European maps showed that Eden was not only in the Far East but also in the equatorial regions. Such thoughts may have influenced Protestant church architecture in which the pulpit was often located in the southeast corner of the church.

Direction of the Phoenix

In ancient China, the emperor and kings faced their thrones and palaces toward the South.

The South was the direction of Feng the Phoenix, the clan of the first king, Fu Hsi, and the emblem of the empress.

Emperor Shun, from legendary times, is especially noted for his position facing toward the South. This may refer to his capital in the Qi kingdom, which was at about the same longitude (117 East) as Mount Tai (Taishan), the location of the royal sacrifice of Fu Hsi "the dog-man sacrificer."

Kuahelani and the "Blue Mountain"

The Hawaiian royal palace faced the West and also overlooked the seashore. It is likely this orientation is rooted in ancient Hawaiian belief.

The Hawaiians of old had two orientation systems -- one involved land/sea (uka/kai) opposition and the other was an absolute reference based on east and west (hikina and komohana).

In the absolute orientation system, one faces toward the west as a reference, and thus 'akau "right" corresponds with "north" and hema "left" with "south."

The West is the direction of Kuaihelani the location of Paliuli "the Blue Mountain." The latter mountain is the Hawaiian equivalent of the Garden of Eden.

Located far to the West, it is said that one embarking from Kuaihelani "the floating land" sails for 40 days and then smells the kiele flowers of Hawai`i. Journeys to Kuaihelani from Hawai'i were usually made from Niihau or or Kauai according to ancient chants.

It was a land inhabited by the diminutive Menehune and the Muaimaia or "banana eaters." The voyager Hawaii-loa was said to have sailed from Kuaihelani, also known as Kahiki-honua-kele, to Hawai`i following Hoku'ula or Aldebaran (16° declination) toward the East.

Ancient temples known as luakini used for royal sacrifce were always built on the east-west axis although they could face in either direction.

The Kraton

The Kraton or royal palace of Yogyakarta is often said to face north. Actually it faces in the direction of Mount Merapi, the "Mountain of Fire," and thus orients a bit east of north.

Further north, the older Surakarta Kraton also faces northeast, although it is nearly due East of Mount Merapi.


Map shows the northeastern orientation of the Kasunanan and Mangkunagaran kratons of Surakarta marked by red stars. Click image for larger view.

Is there another ancient "Mountain of Fire" in which direction these palaces are oriented?

The throne of the Susuhunan kings of Surakarta was also said to face north which if this means the same "north" as that of the palaces would mean rather east of north.

Unfortunately little remains of earlier royal structures. The lone exception may be Kraton Ratu Boko, the Palace of the Heron King, although this structure looks very much like a temple.

If the main building of Kraton Ratu Boko, Batur Pendopo is used as a measure, this complex also faces north but a bit toward the West, probably pointing toward Mount Merapi.

The great Hindu temple complex of Prambanan has an outer wall that faces Northeast, although the temple structures themselves follow the Vedic and Hindu orientation towards the East as used in India where temple structures look to the East.


Diagram of the Prambanan temple complex, built maybe in the 9th century, showing the outermost rectangular gate where the main entrance of the complex was located on the northeast side. Source: http://www.borobudur.tv/

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Beckwith, Martha. Hawaiian Mythology, University of Hawaii Press, 1977, p. 79.

Kieckhefer, Richard. Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley, Oxford, 2003, p. 154.

Pemberton, John. On the Subject of "Java", Cornell University Press, 1994, p. 98.

Valeri, Valerio, Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii, University of Chicago Press, 1985, p. 254.

Fu Hsi (Glossary)

Fu Hsi (also Fu Xi) is mentioned in Chinese legendary history where he is said to have ruled before the advent of writing.

However, this ancient sage is credited with the origin of the trigrams used for divination and knotted cord records both of which lead eventually, in Chinese tradition, to the written script.

Traditional dates vary for Fu Hsi's period, but they tend to cluster around the late 4th millennium and early 3rd millennium BCE.

Fu Shi hailed according to prevalent traditions from around present-day Jining in Shandong province. It was in Shandong and neighboring Henan that the Dongyi peoples were based. Fu Hsi is called the leader of the Dongyi, usually referred to in such capacity by one of his other names, Taihao.


Fu Hsi is often credited with inventing or introducing the qin, a horizontal stringed instrument. The image showing the stringing of a qin comes from the Sung dynasty text Xinkan Taiyin Daquanji

The "Hsi" part of Fu Hsi's name is indicated with the character meaning "a sacrificer." The same meaning is given by Fu Hsi's alternate name Pao Hsi. The "Fu" character combines glyphs meaning "dog" (quan) and "man" (ren).

So, "Fu Hsi" symbolically could mean something like "a dog-man who sacrifices" or "one who sacrifices a dog." Fu Hsi was said to have instituted the great royal sacrifice on Mount Tai in Shandong.

There may be some allusion here to the cosmic being Pangu who some believe may be related to the Hmong-Mien culture hero and dog-human Panhu. Besides the similarity of the names which are identical among many southern peoples, Pangu is said to have existed originally in a "cosmic egg" that resembled a 'dog without eyes or ears.'

Fu Hsi's surname was Feng meaning "Phoenix" indicating probably totemic or clan lineage.

Another of Fu Hsi cultural gifts was the establishment of an early form of kingship. He was said to have established his capital at Chen, near modern Kaifeng in Henan province. His successor Shen Nong also had his capital in Chen but latter moved to Qufu in Shandong.

Given that Fu Hsi appears to predate agriculture, or at least plow agriculture which is usually credited to Shen Nong, the former's kingship was certainly of the most primordial kind. Fu Hsi is linked with the establishment of fishing, hunting and animal husbandry.

However, the royal institutions he is credited with introducing continued to provide the root model for China's kingship system through much of history. His was originally a priest king, or shaman/sage king model. One of his legendary successors Shun, was said to have ruled properly simply by maintaining good conduct and facing his throne and palace toward the South like the Pole Star.

Nu Gua, Fu Hsi's wife, is said to have sacrificed a turtle and used its legs to prop up the sky. This reminds us of the turtle(s) said to carry Penglai, the legendary isle of the blessed, on their backs. Indeed, Fu Hsi's sacrifice on Mount Tai might relate ultimately to Mount Penglai in the immortal paradise.

Feng sacrifice

Followed by 72 kings starting with Fu Hsi, the Taishan sacrifice had as one of its goals, the immortality of the emperor, something likely transferred from Mount Penglai.

The location of Penglai has been the subject of much debate. Most Chinese traditions locate it off the southeast coast and thus theories have connected it with the Penghu islands (Pescadores) off southwest Taiwan.

The Shiyi Ji states that "Penghu" is another name for "Penglai" and uses the name Penghu for the mountain of Penglai. Penghu means the "Pot of Peng" and in ancient texts Penglai and the other blessed isles are described as pot-shaped.

However the early text Shi Ji locates Penglai in or east of the Bohai sea. A late Zhou writer thought the paradise peak was Mount Fuji in Japan.

Whatever the case, during Fu Hsi's period we have suggested that the Nusantao trade network had established itself in locations like Shandong and Japan, following some of the theories put forth by Shun-Sheng Ling and Wilhelm Solheim. The presence of these trading peoples can help explain the Malayo-Polynesian adstrate in the Japanese language.

Nusantao would then have made up an important component of the Dongyi people linked with Fu Hsi. The Dongyi were the eastern component of the "Yi" peoples known to the ancient Chinese. The Yi were often termed "Niao Yi" or "Bird Foreigners" in reference possibly to the use of the bird totem. Eventually Niao-Yi and the related word Dao-Yi "Island Yi" became general names for people in southern China and from foreign island nations.

Knot records

The introduction of knot records by Fu Hsi might also relate to these early Nusantao trader/voyagers. The widespread use of this method even in the Pacific would suggest that the Lapita explorers already used knotted cords for recording and tallying at an early date.

Some scholars believe the trigrams arose from knot records, while others attribute them to counting rods/sticks. Either way both items were widely used in the Asia Pacific region for numerical calculation and record-keeping, as well as for divination.

The trigrams and the figures made by knots eventually became the basis for the early ideographic and pictographic Chinese script.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Bonnefoy, Yves. Asian Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1993, p. 253.

Ching, Julia. Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Heart of Chinese Wisdom, Oxford University Press, p. 51.

Soothil, William Edward. The Hall of Light: A Study of Early Chinese Kingship, James Clarke & Co., 2002, p. 133.

News: Asian and non-Asian origins of Mon-Khmer- and Mundari-speaking Austro-Asiatic populations of India.

I don't have access to the full article yet, so I don't know or can I even guess at what is meant by "non-Asian" origins of Mon-Khmer and Mundari-speaking Austro-Asiatic peoples of India.

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Am J Hum Biol. 2006 Jun 20;18(4):461-469 [Epub ahead of print]

Asian and non-Asian origins of Mon-Khmer- and Mundari-speaking Austro-Asiatic populations of India.

Kumar V, Langsiteh BT, Biswas S, Babu JP, Rao TN, Thangaraj K, Reddy AG, Singh L, Reddy BM.

Biological Anthropolgy Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Habsiguda, Hyderabad 500 007, India.

In the present study, we analyzed 1,686 samples from 31 tribal populations of India for the mitochondrial DNA 9-base-pair deletion/insertion polymorphism, and characterized them based on the relevant mitochondrial DNA coding-region single nucleotide polymorphisms and hypervariable region I motifs, to test the genetic origins of the ethnically and linguistically heterogeneous Austro-Asiatic tribes of India. A comparative analysis of our results with the existing data suggests multiple origins of Austro-Asiatic tribes in India, and particularly the Asian and non-Asian origins of the Mon-Khmer and the Mundari populations. We also identified a novel subclade of haplogroup B in the Mon-Khmer Khasi tribes that distinguishes them from the Nicobarese, indicating two different waves of migration of the Mon-Khmer tribes in India. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 18:461-469, 2006. (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Tattoo in Southeast Asia and the Pacific

The word "tattoo" comes from the Tahitian word tatau.

The art of tattoo was and is widely practiced in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Most "tribal" people here practice it to some extent.

Where tattoos are used in this region, they tend to be associated with high status and heroic deeds. This is in marked contrast to many other areas where tattoos are associated with the lower classes, or even with the criminal underworld.

Even in many areas of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, those educated in modern institutions will commonly tend to eschew such ancient practices.

Marks of distinction

Tattoos often were forbidden to men unless they had performed some heroic feat in war. In many cultures, including the Polynesian, the higher classes such as the chiefs often had rights to greater use of tattoos. The lower classes in such cases were only permitted to tattoo certain parts of the body. And specific tattoo markings commonly indicated the nobility of the wearer.

In many of these cultures, tattoos could be 'read' as they delineated various types of information about those who displayed the markings.

For example, the 19th century Maori chief Te Pehi Kupe had facial tattoos that indicated his descent from two paramount chiefly lines. A marking in the center of his forehead showed the geographical extent of his chiefly domain. Koru designs in front of his left ear meant that he claimed descent from a Supreme Chief, the highest ranking in Maori society.

And tattoos on the lower jaw, indicated that Te Pahi Kupe was a master builder and also claimed descent from master builders.



The Maori tattoos had bilateral symmetry or bilateral disrupted symmetry with each side of the face, for example, telling different stories.

These tattoos closely resembled the designs found on the rafters of Maori ceremonial buildings. The ridge-pole in these buildings represents the main chiefly lineage while the rafters indicate cadet lines from the main branch. These rafters are decorated with patterns known as kowhaiwhai, reminiscent of the kumara or sweet potato tendrils.

These kowhaiwhai are rare examples of Oceanic fractal art displaying aspects of recursion, scaling and symmetry.



Maori rafter and tattoo designs displaying bilateral symmetry, two-color symmetry, anti-symmetry, scaling and recursion.

The similarity between tattoo design and other artistic design used in architecture, textiles, pottery, village spatial patterns, etc. is widely found throughout the region.

Very often these designs indicate clan lineage or noble status, but at times they are used to ward off evil spirits, provide good luck or spiritual power, or simply as decorative patterns.

Most researchers specializing in this area believe that tattoo art was practiced by the Lapita peoples who entered into the Pacific. Many tattoos resemble Lapita designs or earlier geometric patterns found on Neolithic pottery further West. Tattoo needles have been found at some Lapita sites. There are many commonalities between tattoos in Southeast Asia and those found in the Pacific.

The tattoo designs are overwhelmingly geometric in character, although other imagery is not unknown. In some cases, as with the Maori and ancient Bisayans, these geometric patterns became exceptionally complex, and in most cases tattoos conveyed deeper information with reference to the tattoo wearer.



Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Gardner, Helen Fred S Kleiner and Christin J Mamiya. Gardner's Art Through the Ages With Infotrac: Gardner's Art Through the Ages (with Artstudy..., Thomson Wadsworth, 2004.

Gell, Alfred. Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 253.

Neich, Robert. Carved Histories: Rotorua Ngati Tarawhai Carving, Auckland University Press, 2002.

Digging up the Past -- Developing the community

Here is a nice article from Chiang Mai News discussing the role of archaeology in preserving cultural heritage.

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Digging up the Past --
Developing the community
How archaeology makes a real difference in northwest Thailand
http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/2006/jun06/46_47_digging.php



Archaeology in Thailand, and Southeast Asia generally, is full of impressive monumental architecture and delicately decorated ceramics. It is easy to see why this is the case - these artefacts have tremendous aesthetic appeal and are easily appreciated by ambling through the ruins at Sukhothai or getting lost in the spirals on Ban Chiang ceramics. Some writers, such as Ian Glover of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, argue that the focus on monumental and spectacular archaeology in Thailand is a strategy to cultivate a contemporary national identity that traces its roots to powerful, centralised and skilled ancient cultures (as well as making picturesque attractions to capture tourist markets).

Maybe there’s some truth to the suggested political purposes of archaeology in Thailand. But this isn’t all that’s going on, if you’ve had enough of the glitter of empires past then you might be interested to see some of the more exciting and innovative directions that Thai archaeologists have been taking recently. The old-school habits of large military-style surveys and excavations with sweating coolies supervised by monocled, elder gentlemen are well and truly gone. The new directions have two important features: firstly, using archaeology as an instrument of local community development and secondly, telling the stories of the ancient cultures that lived in Thailand for tens of thousands of years before any monuments or ceramics appeared.

The Highland Archaeology Project in Pangmapha (HAPP) is a microcosm of the new directions of contemporary Thai archaeology. One important detail is that the project is run by a woman, Rasmi Shocoongdej, currently Assistant



Professor at Silpakorn University. Rasmi’s long experience of Thai archaeology has been complemented by a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan, where she developed productive relationships with many prominent international scholars. Her doctoral degree was an archaeological investigation into the life of prehistoric hunter-gatherers at some caves in Kanchanaburi. This was distinctly unglamorous work – no ceramics with delicate curlicues and certainly no atmospheric ruins to wander amongst. Rasmi’s doctoral work was more or less pure research and many Western archaeologists agree that it is some of the most substantial research on prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies in mainland Southeast Asia. Within Thailand it is distinguished as one of the few archaeological studies to go beyond the tedious work of cataloguing and describing artefacts to actually explain ancient human behaviours using anthropological concepts.

The HAPP, started in 2001, is an extension of Rasmi’s doctoral work, but on a much larger scale and in the mountainous northwest rather than lowland Kanchanaburi. The main results so far are the recording of nearly 100 sites from the Stone Age and Metal Age scattered across the district, as well as the excavation of two major rockshelter sites with evidence of over 20,000 years of habitation and several human burials. For the specialists, Rasmi and her staff have published a variety of academic articles in international archaeology journals (in English and Thai) as well as a book (in Thai) on the scientific results of the project so far. But the HAPP is more than just pure research. The project is funded by the Thai Research Fund (TRF), the equivalent of the prestigious National Science Foundation in the United States. The TRF requires that the project must include a research component and a development component. Internationally, archaeologists often struggle to think how they can do ‘development’ in addition to their research, the big question is: how do we make this work relevant, useful and easy to understand?

Rasmi’s HAPP has risen to many of these challenges with considerable success. Although the scientific analysis and report writing is still in progress for the HAPP, they have already had several major public education and outreach events, with more planned for this year.

In August 2005 the HAPP ran a training activity for the women who guide visitors through the 600m of caverns and formations at Tham Lod. Tham Lod is a vast cave in Pangmapha, Mae Hong Son, that draws about 10,000 tourists each year and just happens to be a few hundred metres from the key excavation site of the HAPP and the HAPP field laboratory (located in the Tham Lod Forestry Department building). The guides all come from the adjacent Shan village, and over 90% of the guide fees goes directly to the guides. Almost by accident, cave tourism at Tham Lod has become an ideal eco-tourism operation. Although many of the guides possess an impressive knowledge of local history and ethnobotany, Rasmi was keen to provide them with some useful information about ancient societies who used the area. In addition to teaching the guides some basic details about cave science and the story of the past from archaeological evidence, the workshop provided the guides with some English language training to help them communicate this knowledge to foreign visitors.

The guides were trained with simulated tour situations during the workshop and given scripts and a CD so they could continue to practice at home. If the guide gets tongue-tied and loses her confidence she can simply show tourists the laminated information cards that the workshop has prepared. The guides also direct curious tourists to visit the nearby HAPP office for a hands-on experience of the archaeological lab work.

Rasmi’s concept of development is not just about economic development through improving tourism, it also extends more broadly to empowering local people by giving them knowledge about their landscape and past. A good example of this was the HAPP workshop in April 2005. This workshop was a camp for children in the district to give them some insight into the world of archaeology. The activities were designed for the children to learn how prehistoric people made their artefacts, how archaeologists find sites and artefacts and how archaeologists try to understand what they find. As expected for a children’s camp, everything was accompanied by a good deal of singing and laughter.

The aim of the HAPP camp was to cultivate in the children, and hopefully their families, a sense of the value of the remains of the past and the importance of preserving them. By giving them a narrative of their unique local past - a past that they encounter the evidence of everyday - rather than a homogenising national past, they can feel a more positive sense of belonging and connection to heir heritage. This camp was so successful that it will be repeated later in 2006 in another village close to the HAPP study area.

Rasmi’s HAPP has also undertaken more conventional public education activities, such as poster displays on-site and at district fairs, and workshops featuring internationally famous experts. A notable example was the specialist HAPP workshop in October 2004, on the archaeology of human bones with some of the participants later finding their new skills useful to assist in the tsunami disaster.

But exactly what kind of story about the past is coming out of these workshops and going into the minds of the guides and local children? Much of the story is about the almost-forgotten life of hunter-gatherers, an unfamiliar story especially in Thailand, where the timelessness of the agricultural way of life is reinforced by Buddhist and animist mythology.

These ancient hunter-gatherers understood the landscape well. During the dry season they lived mostly in the river valleys, making use of the abundant river cobbles to craft stone tools, which were probably used to make a great variety of bamboo utensils and hunted a wide variety of animals. Like hunter-gatherer societies around the world, they probably lived in small nomadic groups of extended family members. During the wet season they changed their lifestyle, moving on to the high ridges, away from the mosquitoes and uncomfortable humidity. They adjusted their stone technology to adapt to the increased distance to the sources and adjusted their diet to include highland animals like primates. This simple, but flexible and finely tuned lifestyle carried on for over 20,000 years in Pangmapha.

In more recent periods (the last 5000 years) the story gets more complex with people probably coming in from different places, speaking different languages and having more complicated lifestyles, like planting crops, making pots and having herds of animals. Then there are the distinctive log coffins, which were made by an enigmatic group of people from about 2000 years ago until 900 AD. The coffins come in a variety of different styles, probably indicating the group or family identities of the people they contained. The problem with the log coffin people of northern Thailand is that they were rather like the Stonehenge builders of southern England – they left impressive and rugged marks on the ancient landscape, but few clues about what it all meant.

This is of course an abbreviated account of what we know from the HAPP work in Pangmapha. The easiest way to find out more, and to see the results of the HAPP community development in action, is to simply drop in and visit at Ban Tham Lod (it’s in most guidebooks because of the big cave). The English historian Lowenthal famously wrote that the past is a foreign country, a place we travel to in order to give some meaning to the present. The good news is that, in this case, it welcomes visitors, and it’s just a few hours on the bus from Chiang Mai.


by Ben Marwick
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Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Geomancy (Glossary)

The word "geomancy" means in essence "earth divination" and generally refers either to a system of architectural alignment, or a divinatory art based on 16 "signs" or "figures."

Of the most advanced forms of the latter type of geomancy are the sikidy divination of Madagascar and the Bamana divination of Senegal.

Sikidy uses a randomly-generated set of columns of seeds to produce what is known as a mother sikidy. Then, through a set algorithm, 16 columns are generated by combining mother columns using an exclusive-or (XOR) operation.

The sikidy master, known as ombiasy, uses three checks to make sure the algorithm has been carried out correctly.

One check involves what is known as even parity checking of a specific column. The other two checks are based on algebraic logic after establishing the algebraic properties of the columns or combination of columns. One check involves making sure that at least two columns are identical, which will always be true if the algorithm is properly performed.

The other involves what are called "the three inseparables" in which the XOR of three different pairs of columns should produce the same sum.

Each column permutation represents a cardinal direction, and if any particular cast results in all four directions appearing it is known as a sikidy unique. This type of divination is considered particularly auspicious, and ombiasy are said to have secret rules for producing these outcomes.

One might see here similarity with modern computer techniques. Indeed, Leibniz was inspired to write his binary code after studying the binary notation of the I Ching, and also geomancy-inspired works of Raymond Hull, which have their ultimate origin in African systems like Bamana and Sikidy divination.

The boolean logic of Sikidy reminds us also of the work of Boole, while the XOR operation and parity checking were used by Shannon and Hamming respectively who were particularly interested in encryption and network communications.

Even the 16 figures/signs of sikidy and related geomancy forms brings to mind the 16 bit register which heralded the invention of the microprocessor.

Origins

The question of origin and spread of the 16-sign geomancy is quite a matter of controversy. Often it is tied together with similar theories on games/gambling of the type described under the general terms mancala or sungka.

The connection with mancala is not without merit. First of all, there are many cases of divination systems mutating into game or gambling forms, or vice a versa. Chinese chess originally was a form of battlefield divination in which magnetic pieces were cast on to the ground or a divining board. The disposition of the pieces allowed the diviner, according to this system, to predict an outcome or conditions of a future battle.

In the Philippines, the Dado dice divination of the Ayta is now largely, but not entirely, used for gambling purposes. Sungka in the same region is mostly a sedentary past-time, but previously it was also a gambling game. In Bergano's dictionary of Kapampangan, the word sungca could refer to the game, but also to a wager placed on the game.

Mancala and 16-sign geomancy also share a number of morphological and possible genetic features. Both have a strong binary structure.

For example, with sungka-type games having two pieces -- one each in cup 1 and cup 2 -- one can replicate the situation in two moves. The pieces will end up in cup 3 and cup 4. On a 16-cup board, one can move recursively around the board with each cycle ending one cup advanced from the last starting point.

Or one can start with two pieces in one cup and produce the same recursive pattern. In imagery that will become clearer later in this article, we can think of the two pieces in unison as analogous to a New Moon with Sun and Moon together. On the next move, the two will be in separate cups representing the opposition/separation of a Full Moon. And then on the second move, they are back together again. So the first move would represent the bright fortnight, and the second move the dark fortnight.



With the 16-cup Sungka-type game, one counts modulo 8 with reference to the opponent's side, and modulo 15 for circling around the whole board.

The cups are also set in opposition to each other to include the "mother" cups in the Sungka game. When one captures pieces in this game it is always from both opposing cups.

Both 16-sign geomancy and mancala-type games also share an emphasis in randomization. In contrast to board games like checkers and chess, it is very difficult to consider many moves in advance of the one at hand. This is one reason why computer scientists have a much harder time programming computers to play mancala as oppossed to chess, where some computers have defeated grandmasters.

In fact, with the more complex mancala games it has been proven that there is no solution to finding total permutations for a signifanct number of advance moves.

This is because unlike chess, where any one move usually effects only the piece involved, or at most two pieces during a capture or castle, a single move in mancala will often change every position on the board.

Because of this randomizing effect, a mancala player usually must face unpredicted and unpredictable situations more often than with games like chess.

In 16-sign geomancy, we have shown also that randomizing is an important feature. In advanced forms like sikidy and bamana divination, the diviner goes through extra procedures to assure a random distribution.

Also the two systems share many morphological similarities. For example, 16-sign geomancy often uses the same cups, pits, seeds, cowries, pebbles, etc. as mancala, and arranged in similar fashion. Both rely mainly on counting methods.

Finally, the geographical distribution of mancala and 16-sign geometry share some important overlapping that does not appear coincidental.

Competing theories

Numerous theories arise as to both the origin and distribution of mancala and 16-sign geomancy either as paired cultural items or as separate events.

P. Townshend and R. Eglash make strong arguments for the African origin of both items. They note that the mathematical systems and cultural milieu of both 16-sign geomancy and mancala are right at home in Africa.

For example, base 2 mathematics defines most tropical African numeration being used even for multiplication and division. The randomization and recursiveness of the two cultural systems also show up pervasively in African weaving and other design-making techniques displaying complex fractal symmetry.

On the other hand, the same systems seem out of place in the Islamic Arab schools of thinking, thus addressing another major theory of origin and diffusion.

Wim van Binsbergen, for example, suggests that mancala originates in the "Fertile Crescent" and was mostly spread through Islamic carriers. However, the maps he shows in support of this contention might surprise many who have studied this subject. It seems that all the early evidence he uses to support the Fertile Crescent is of archaeological nature.

Most of the examples don't even have any precise morphological similarity to modern mancala-type games other than consisting of horizontal surfaces with cup-markings.

Using such methodology, one might mistake konane of ancient Hawai`i with mancala as it often uses pitted boards together with pebbles. However, konane is not primarily a counting game and is similar to Malayan Tjuki (and European draughts, checkers) instead. It may be that these games have some relationship, but one should not be confused for another.

The current distribution of mancala games betrays no bias toward Muslim populations. For example, in India, counting-type games often appear more common and popular in eastern parts of the country and among tribals.

In Africa, these games are highly important elements of the local culture and dispersed often without linguistic or historical evidence of Muslim influence.

Also, van Binsbergen dismisses the Pacific distribution of mancala-type games without giving any supporting evidence for his conclusions.


Tumtum al-Hindi

Turning to 16-sign geomancy, the earliest texts we have for this system are actually European. There are earlier Islamic texts that mention geomancy of some type, but none give details until the work of al-Zenati.

However, the European works themselves are merely translations or translated paraphrasing of Arabic works from Toledo.

Both the Muslim and European writings credit this form of geomancy to one Tumtum al-Hindi. Although the line of descent is sometimes taken back to Idris (Enoch), most works mainly reference Tumtum in explaining the origins of the various facets of 16-sign divination known in Arabic as 'ilm al-raml.

European tradition states that Tumtum learned the art directly from the angel Gabriel.

Now, Tumtum originates from al-Hind, which in this blog we have explained as referring to "Greater India" or "India Major." This generally meant South India starting at Malabar, and further India, or basically all of mainland and insular Southeast Asia.

We should note here an interesting work by Jean-Pierre Grind, that points out the similarity between the figures used in Arabic, and thus also European geomancy, and the 16 tetragrams of Zhu Xi (1130-1200 AD) and Shao Yong (1011-1077).

These appear, or at the least Shao Yong's work appears before the writings of Hugues de Santalla sometime in the 12th century, where we first meet with a detailed description of 'ilm al-raml.

Zhu Xi in particular was interested in I Ching divination so the striking correspondence between the tetragrams and figures cannot be ignored.

However, there still is a great deal of difference between the practical aspects of the I Ching and 'ilm al-raml. The signs used in the latter also seem more similar to the pits or cup signs used in African systems and in mancala-type games.

And what of Tumtum al-Hindi?

There is indeed evidence, as we have dicussed earlier, of some transfer of Chinese knowledge to the Islamic and European worlds at the time in question.

Durng the same period, Prester John of the Indies makes his appearance on Europe's horizon. There was a definite influence also from the "Indies" that gets profuse mention even in the medieval romantic cycles.

Could Tumtum have been a traveler from Hind (India Major) to Madagascar and/or other places in Africa?

If Tumtum did indeed exist, and where ever he came from exactly, it's unlikely he was carrying some fully-formed 16-sign sikidy-like geomancy with him. Such systems are nearly absent from the classic territory of al-Hind (which must be separated from Sind or Zanj, the other two "Indias").

Prototypes

However, Tumtum could have brought ideas that merged with local African thinking to help develop the geomancy that eventually reached North Africa and Europe.

In my other writings, I have theorized that these ideas involved the combination of divination techniques with what is known as electional astrology.

Like many others, I believe that the mancala games were diffused first, but at an earlier time than generally considered. It may be they were part of the package of cultural exchange that began with the opening of the spice trade routes between Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. This could explain the concentration of distribution in tropical Africa and the Indian Ocean.

Mancala could have been distributed into the Pacific isles of Micronesia and Papua at the same time as cultural items like betel nut and coconut wine fermentation.

It also seems highly likely to me that mancala was diffused in Africa before the Bantu expansion, which helps explain its presence in inner Africa and in places where it shows little sign of Islamic influence.

Also, I believe the 16-cup Sungka game using a canoe-shaped board is related to the knot divination of the Caroline Islands. Here we find the 16 Bwe spirits consulted in that divination system depicted in the "canoe of destiny."

Knot records were widely used in Southeast and East Asia. There are also records of knot divination.

Miguel de Loarca, for example, writing in 1582 mentions such use among of the natives of the Philippines:

These natives have a method of casting lots with the teeth of a crocodile or of a wild boar. During the ceremony they invoke their gods and their ancestor, and inquire of them as to the result of their wars and their journeys. By knots or loops which they make with cords, they foretell what will happen to them; and they resort to these practices for everything they have to undertake.

--- Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas

The loops mentioned above may refer to string figures or cat's cradles so popular in this region and out into the Pacific. Early observers mention some 400 types of string figures in the Pacific, with 115 in Hawai`i alone. String figures were also used for divination in this region as in the Hawaiian art of kaula.

The 16 Bwe of the Carolines are known as Tilifek, Lipul, Pukenamar, Saupith, Mesauk, Pwainek, Sauya, Lithanwel, Inemain, Inifau, Momo, Inipwai, Laneperen, Lifar, Inoaeman and Toalefailan.

Tilifek is portrayed as sitting on the outrigger of the canoe of destiny, while Inoaeman and Toalefailan sit on the platform. All the others are seated within the canoe.

In various myths of the Bwe, the canoe of destiny comes down from Heaven, and events in the story are often coordinated with successive Full Moons. In one myth, at the end, the Bwe sail back to heaven in the canoe of destiny.

The heavenly connotations are important here because I have suggested that the 16 cups of the Sungka board are related to the lunar fortnights. The two large "mother" cups on each end would represent the New and Full Moons, and the the two rows of seven smaller cups stand for the two weeks in each fortnight.

The actual mean length of the synodic fortnight is 14.765295 days, but in most cultures this would be rounded to the nearest day with the remainder handled by intercalation if necessary.

In the Sungka method of play, one drops cowries or other pieces into each cup and into one's own mother cup, but not into one's opponent's mother cup. Thus, the counting for a full circle around the board is modulo 15, the length of a fortnight.

Electional astrology

In many areas of this region, electional astrology, the choosing of auspicious times for undertakings, is among the most pervasive of predictive systems.

These usually involve either the synodic or sidereal lunar month. In the case of the sidereal month, the conjunction of the Moon with certain stars or asterisms was used to choose good or bad days for various ventures and undertakings.

Also, numerous written divination calendars are found in Sumatra and Borneo, which outline auspicious days, although these often combine outside cultural influences.

At some time, there may have been a desire to combine divination with electional astrology resulting in the creation of a 16-sign system based on the lunar days.

Here then the canoe shape of the Sungka board like the "canoe of destiny" represents the movement of the celestial bodies in heaven.



We can seen something very similar possibly in the Dado dice divination. On four sides of the six-sided dice are representations of constellations important to the Ayta. These stars may have been watched at one time for conjunctions with the Moon in electional astrology.

For divination purposes, each lunar day was associated with particular deities, spirits, significations, etc. and the answer to a query would depend on the disposition of the entire set.

The use of the Sungka board in a simpler fashion for folk divination has continued up until recent times, if not till the present. In this case, Sungka is played in "solitaire" fashion by family diviners with the query answer based on the outcome of the game.

However, at some point the board became more used as a game than a divination device.

Fusion

The idea of lunar signs however continued to be used as, for example, in knot divination.

Eventually these 16 signs may become more abstract and not so much associated with the lunar days (or the associated deities, significations, etc.).

Possibly such a system was taken by Tumtum al-Hindi from some place in al-Hind to Africa.

Here, Tumtum learned African mathematics consulting with local savants. This would include African techniques of randomization and modulo 2 arithmetic.

By fusing these techniques together he developed the sikidy-like forms of divination, or at least the forms that eventually led to `ilm al-raml and European geomancy.

Although the spice trade faciliated cultural exchange, regions from both sides of the Indian Ocean retained their specific cultural tendencies.

Eglash, for example, has categorized the "Eulerian" designs of the Pacific and Southeast Asia as basically Euclidian and algebraic, while African designs are inherently fractal. Also, determinism is an important part of African divination in combination with randomization, but not so important further East.

For example, the strict algorithms and multiple checks, along with the rumored rules for generating sikidy uniques are evidence of the determinism mentioned by Eglash.

In sikidy and 'ilm al-raml, we find these aspects of determinism, algebraic logic, binary logic, electional/time orientation, etc. fused together.

This might explain the legends in Madagascar that attribute the origin of Sikidy to ancestors who came across the sea, which also could ultimately explain the origin of Tumtum al-Hindi as found in Muslim and European texts.

In this sense, the Arabic elements found in Sikidy, and often used to give an Arab origin to this system are better explained as adstrata. The same elements could, however, explain the transmission of the science to the Arabs that eventually led to 'ilm al-raml.

At this time, the Indian Ocean was a very active place with strong competition for control of the trade routes. The Prester John contacts with Europe begin during this period, and also similar approaches with China and India.

Thus, we find the wide diffusion of 16 lunar-based signs starting in the 11th century or so from China to Europe. But strangely, Tumtum's Africanized system never took hold in his supposed homeland of al-Hind.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Ascher, Maria, Mathematics Elsewhere: An Exploration of Ideas Across Cultures, Princeton University Press, 2002.

Eglash, R. "Fractal Geometry in African Material Culture." Symmetry: Culture and Science, 1995b, Vol 6-1, pp 174-177.

___. "When Math Worlds Collide: Intention and Invention in Ethnomathematics," Science, Technology and Human Values, 22(1), 1997, pp. 79-97.

Selin, Helaine and Ubiratan D'Ambrosio, Mathematics Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Mathematics, Springer, 2000.

Townshend, P., "Mankala in eastern and southern Africa: A distributional analysis," Azania, 14: 109-138, 1979a.

___, "Games of strategy: A new look at correlates and cross-cultural methods," in: H.B. Schwartzman, ed. Play and culture, New York: West Point, 1979b, pp. 217-225.

___, "Bao (Mankala): The Swahili ethic in African idiom," Paideuma 28: 175-191, 1982.

van Binsbergen, Wim, Board-games and divination in global cultural history, Part 1, http://www.shikanda.net/ancient_models/gen3/mankala/mankala1.htm and Part II, http://www.shikanda.net/ancient_models/gen3/mankala/mankala2.htm, 1999.

RI ships in 10th century superior to those of Europe (News)

The shipwreck mentioned in the article below is the same one from earlier news stories mentioning cargo of trade items from China and Egypt.

It is also the same ship which led to the arrest of foreigners by the Indonesian government for alledged pilfering.

---
'RI ships in 10th century superior to those of Europe'

http://thejakartapost.com/

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Five hundred years before groups of ocean conquistadors from Portugal began their journey to look for new territories, ships from the islands now known as Indonesia were traveling around Asian waters with very advanced technology.

The preliminary scientific reconstruction of a shipwreck recovered from the Java Sea found that the ship had better technology than those from Europe, China or Japan.

The ship, believed to have sunk between 930 AD and 990 AD in a storm, was also bigger and better constructed.

"Our preliminary analysis concludes that the ship was 25 to 35 meters long and 12 meters wide. At that period, China still had no ships that could sail the oceans, while European ships were much smaller. Imagine, the ship Columbus used to sail to America and 15th century European ships were all less than 20 meters," German ship expert Horts H. Liebner told The Jakarta Post recently.

Liebner, one of probably only three or four world-class experts in traditional and sunken ships, said that looking at the technology and construction, the recovered ship was definitely an Indonesian ship possibly from Sumatra, Kalimantan or Sulawesi.

He said the discovery of wood nails as binders of planks for the ship, as well as of boxes for ivory binders (tambugu) used to strengthen the ship suggested that it used technology from West Austronesia, referring to an area of what is now the Indonesian archipelago.

"Indian and Arabic ships used ropes to connect planks while the Chinese used iron nails. So, it can't be an Indian, Arabic or Chinese ship," Liebner said.

Other proof that supports the scientific claim that the ship belonged to the West Austronesian ship making tradition is the use of longitudinal and traverse strengthening, which experts have long believed to be characteristic of Indonesian ships.

The application of standardized hole size -- 27 millimeters each -- for the wood nails shows a method of ship making that employed the most advanced technology of its time.

Hence, Liebner said, the discovery was very important because it could confirm many assumptions by experts, who have speculated for many years that Indonesians, especially Makassar and Bugis traders and fishermen, reached many areas of the world before Europeans arrived there.

"I believed such ships with this size and technology were commonplace in the archipelago. It proves that Indonesian ancestors were far in front of others in maritime affairs at that time," he said.

He said at that time the Europeans, Chinese and Japanese did not possess the technology to make ships capable of sailing away from the shore, let alone crossing the ocean, such as the Indian Ocean or the Pacific Ocean.

Liebner said the technology of the ship suggested that many traders from what people now know as Indonesia crossed both oceans in order to reach Africa, Arabia and islands in the Pacific.

"We can make all of the conclusions from analysis of several samples taken from the shipwreck. Who knows how many other things can be revealed if we continue our examination of the samples. Unfortunately, the police confiscated them all," he said.

Police confiscated in January over 490,000 pieces of ancient ceramics, gold coins and glassware salvaged from the shipwreck, as well as samples used for laboratory analysis. Police alleged that the materials were salvaged illegally.

Liebner said with all of the samples stored in containers and kept under the scorching sun for months, further analysis would be difficult.

---
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Tala (Glossary)

Tala is the name for the Morning Star, the planet Venus, in various languages of the Philippines.

In Kapampangan myth, Tala descends to earth sent by his grandfather the Sun to save the world from the great flood. He is born in human form and brings the gift of rice agriculture among other things.

Venus coming to earth as a human savior is rather a common theme. In Irian Jaya to the south, Papuan nationalists emblazon the Morning Star on their flag based on a local legend of the descent of Tala as bringer of good.

Dissecting the Kapampangan myth, I have suggested that Tala is associated with a epoch-making volcanic eruption involving the two peaks Pinatubo and Arayat. After this eruption, there is a political change in which one clan network emerges as victorious over another.

Probably due to the eruption itself, and the resulting clan warfare, both clans are dispersed broadly throughout the Nusantao maritime trade network. This dispersion actually acts in their favor and they gain control over vast reaches of this network. Both groups constantly fight over control over important trading routes and their conflict is coded in the mythology of this region and beyond.

Of these clan networks, one establishes itself in the region dominated by the sacred volcanoes. In doing so, it actually displaces the former ruling clan network, which becomes its main adversary.

That clans of the sacred mountain trace the descent of their priest-king lineage to Tala, the culture-bearing prince associated with the Morning Star and whose totemic symbol is the dog.

The idea of the celestial descent of a dog or dog-man is preserved near by in the Tinguian myth of Kimat, the lightning dog, who is sent by the Supreme sky god Kadlakan. Lightning is a common symbol of the descent of heavenly bodies to earth.

Tala may have been the name for a local Nusantao trading prince who helped transmit the knowledge of rice agriculture over vast expanses of the trade network. Whatver the case he is credited with bringing rice culture to the local area.

In many regional mythologies, we find the theme of a dog coming at the time of a great flood bringing knowledge of rice farming.

As the Nusantao greatly expanded their network geographically around this time (4th millennium BCE), I have suggested that these motifs spread also into other cultures.

For example, the dog is associated with Venus in many cultures spread from ancient Egypt to ancient Mesoamerica.

Furthermore the dog is closely linked with royal lineage in most of the same cultures. In Egypt, J. Griffiths suggests that the word anpu from which we get the name of the dog-god Anubis, means both "dog" and "king's son."

During the Pyramid Era, the king was said to have the body of Atum and the face of Anubis. When the king died and united with Ra, the sun god, he was said to take Anubis/Anpu with him on his neck.

In biblical literature, the Morning Star symbolizes both the princes Lucifer, expelled from heaven, and the Messiah.

Among the Dayak, the god-ancestor Mahatala may be related in some sense to Tala of Kapampangan myth. Mahatala actually refers in this case to the hornbill creator god who unites with the female watersnake, Jata. The union of the bird and dragon clans.

Tala is rather the son of the male rooster and the female dawn serpent.

Jata is linked with the Mountain of Gold, while Mahatala with the Mountain of Diamonds.

In comparison, Manalastas, the father of Tala, comes from the Mountain of the Moon, Pinatubo, while Munag Sumalâ, Tala's mother, hails from Arayat, the mount of her father, the sun god Apung Sinukuan.

Dayaks believe that Mahatala created the Sun and Moon from clay, the same clay later used to fashion sacred Dayak jars.

Alternatively, among the Ngaju of Borneo, Mahatala represents the Sun and the sacred spear, while Jata is the Moon and the sacred cloth.

After the union of the two, Mahatala is enthroned on the primeval mountain which is supported on the back of Jata. In the Kapampangan version, Tala, the prince arising from the union of dragon and bird clans, takes the throne over the holy mountains which rest on the back of the great dragon Apung Iru.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Mystery Maps of 15th and 16th centuries (Article)

Gavin Menzies has been in the news again lately this time regarding his controversial theory about the origin of the Maori.

Menzies is also still heavily publicizing the recently discovered Chinese map which he claims supports the theories in his book.

As such it would be good to review some of the claims made here with reference to the mystery maps of the 15th and 16th centuries that may provide much enlightenment on the geographical knowledge transmission.

At his website, Menzies and his colleagues mention a few important maps from this period that have been discussed previously in the blog. Antonio Galvão, the "Apostle of the Moluccas," in 1563 writes:

In the year 1428, Don Pedro, the king's eldest son, who was a great traveller, went into England, France, and Germany, and thence into the Holy Land and other places, and came home by Italy, through Rome and Venice. He is said to have brought a map of the world home with him, in which all parts of the earth were described, by which the enterprizes of Don Henry for discovery were much assisted. In this map the Straits of Magellan are called the Dragons-tail, and the Cape of Good Hope the Front of Africa, and so of the rest.

I was informed by Francis de Sosa Tavares, that in the year 1528, Don Fernando, the king's eldest son, shewed him a map which had been made 120 years before, and was found in the study of Alcobaza, which exhibited all the navigation of the East Indies, with the cape of Bona Sperança, as in our latter maps; by which it appears that there was as much discovered, or more, in ancient times as now.

We have discussed Galvão's comments earlier and how they indicate a knowledge of the "New World" before the voyage of Columbus.

In our last blog entry, we also mention the map described by Alfonso de Albuquerque in 1512:

I am also sending you an authentic portion of a large map belonging to a Javanese pilot, containing the Cape of Good Hope, Portugal and the Land of Brasil, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and the Spice Islands. It also shows the navigation fo the Chinese and the Gores, with the rhumbs and the routes taken by their ships and the interiors of the various kingdoms and which kingdoms border on which. It strikes me as the finest piece of work I ever saw and I am sure Your Highness would be delighted to see it.

The names were written in Javanese script and I found a Javanese who could read and write the language. I send Your Highness this fragment that Francisco Rodrigues copied from the original, in which Your Highness will see where the Chinese and the Gores really come from and the route your ships should follow to reach the Spice Islands, where the gold mines are located and the islands of Java and Banda, where nutmeg and mace come from, and the territory of the king of Siam. You will see the extent of Chinese navigation and where they return to and the point beyond which they will not sail. The main part of the map is lost in the Flower of the Sea. I interprested this map with the pilot Pero de Alpoim, so that they would be able to explain it to Your Highness. You may take this portion of it as very authentic and accurate, because it shows the routes they take in both directions. It does not show the archipelago called Celate. which lies between Java and Malaca. Your Highness´ creature and servant, Alfonso de Albuquerque.

Such a sophisticated map written in Javanese and including Brazil only 12 years after it was "discovered" by the Portuguese is astonishing, and de Albuquerque demostrated its high value in sending it to the king.

According to a note at Menzies site, another map possibly showing or mentioning Brazil in 1447 has been discovered with the following reference (unverified by this author):

O Brasil num Portulano do Sec. XV - Portuguese National Library - ref. H.G. 17204 / 17v.

This map stands as the best link for the mysterious charts mentioned by Galvão as existing less than a century earlier, and supposedly showing the Straits of Magellan and the Cape of Good Hope.

Francisco Rodrigues, mentioned by de Albuquerque, in 1513 wrote a manual of roteiros or rutters, maritime charts for the East Indian trade. The notes of his work indicate that they were copied from charts used by local East Indian pilots. They contained detailed descriptions of coastlines and were among the first charts to show latitudes for southern and eastern Africa.

When the Portuguese entered the area of Southeast Asia, we have mentioend that the Luções were controlling most of the trade with China in Southeast Asia. The Ming dynasty was clamping down on foreign trade with a few exceptions. Of these the most important according to Portuguese sources was the trade arrangement between Lusung and Guanzhou.

The Luções showed great eagerness in assisting the Portuguese with their explorations which is in-keeping with one of the themes of this work.

Thomas Suarez suggests that the first mention of indigenous maps in Insular Southeast occurs in the Yuan dynasty annals of the 13th century. Interestingly the Yuan and Insular Southeast Asian maps, and at least one Gujerati map mentioned by Vasco de Gama, followed the "Mongolian style" of marking grid lines on the map together with geographical descriptions.

Menzies theorized that the maps mentioned by Galvão were transmitted to Dom Pedro by Nicolo di Conti in Florence in 1428. His theory though rests on maybe a less accepted dating of di Conti's return to Italy from Asia.

The evidence does seem to suggest that di Conti provided important information that revolutionalized the European conception of the globe. Some information traced to di Conti and related to southern Africa does turn up in maps and globes of the time, but nothing else related to the New World.

According to di Conti's testimony to papal secretary Poggio Bracciolini, the Venetian traveled through Asia for 25 years starting his journeys in Damascus.

After maybe six or seven years of travel, di Conti's tale ends in the kingdom of Champa. Then about four years before he returns to Florence, di Conti states that he departs from Champa for South India.

This would indicate that between his arrival and departure from Champa, some 15 years may have elapsed.

According to di Conti, during most of his Asian travels he was a member of the court of Prester John of Greater India. It was also the latter king that married him to his wife. By the time di Conti reached Egypt and met Pero Tafur, he had four children with his wife.

All of this would suggest that di Conti met Prester John either in Champa or somewhere near Champa, where he got married and began having children. No information is given for this time period by Bracciolini, but Tafur gives us some idea of di Conti's activities.

Of course, Champa was a natural trading partner of Lusung, which was located off its eastern coast, and where I have suggested that "Prester John" was located.

After spending much time in this region, di Conti would eventually learn that the Indian Ocean was not enclosed by land as suggested by Ptolemy. Indeed the Venetian is credited with dispelling this myth.

And we can also say that if the information contained in the Galvão and de Albuquerque maps did indeed exist in Southeast Asia during his time he would have been the natural person to transmit such knowledge. No other person since Marco Polo had spent so much time in the region.

And many scholars do in fact believe that Paolo Toscanelli's suggestion to Christopher Columbus to sail to the East Indies from the East, was inspired by Nicolo di Conti.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Bracciolini, Poggio: De varietate fortunae, book iv [c.1445] (ed. by Abbé Oliva, Paris 1723).

Brotton, Jerry. Trading Territories: Mapping the Early Modern World, Reaktion Books, 2003.

Cartas de Afonso de Albuquerque seguidas de documentos que as elucidam. Edited by Raymundo António de Bulhao Pato, 7 vols. (Lisbon , 1884-1935) volime I, carta IX, 1 April 1512, pp. 29-65.

Major, R.H. (ed.). India in the fifteenth century: Being a collection of narratives of voyages to India in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society) (English trans. by J. Winter Jones, Hakluyt Society, London 1857). Republished by Asian Educational Services, June 30, 1992.

Magnetic Compass and Navigation (Glossary)

Joseph Needham suggested that the magnetic compass, portolan chart, sandglass and tavalo di marteloio were part of a package that appeared rather suddenly in Europe and might have owned much to Chinese developments.

The whole set of techniques gave rise to the practice of dead reckoning and "quantitative navigation" that made the European age of exploration possible.

China indeed has a long history of knowledge of the magnetic compass. As early as the 4th century BCE, there is mention of use of a south-pointing compass for use in long overland voyages. A magnetized ladle was used as a geomancy compass starting in the Qin dynasty.

Adelard of Bath in 1117 was the first European to note that the lodestone pointed in a certain direction. In 1190, Alexander Neckham mentions magnetic needles used for marine navigation.

Muhammad al-Awfi writes of a fish-shaped magnetic compass in 1232 and 10 years later Bailak al-Qabajagi states that mariners in the Indian Ocean used an iron leaf shaped like a fish and rubbed with a magnet to find direction.

The fish shape of the compass mentioned in Muslim works is important because a description of a floating fish compass occurs in Chinese texts dating back to 1027.

According to the Shih Lin Kuang Chi dated sometime between 1100 and 1250, it is said that the floating fish compass was the invention of the Daoist Immortals:

They (the magicians) cut a piece of wood into the shape of a fish, as big as one's thumb, and make a hole in the belly, into which they neatly fit a piece of lodestone, filling up the cavity with wax. Into this wax a needle bent like a hook is fixed. Then when the fish is put in the water it will of its nature point to the south, and if it is moved with the finger it will return again to its original poistion

(translation by Colin A. Ronan, The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China)

While I have written previously that the earliest Austronesian navigation did not require the compass, the device was nonetheless known to Southeast Asian mariners when the first Europeans arrived at the start of the colonial period.

Even when ages-old techniques were still used by most mariners in the region, there was also evidence of at least some use and knowledge of more modern techniques:

Ludovico de Barthema mentions his East Indian pilot to Java in 1505, who used a compass and chart with coordinates:

The captain of the said ship carried the compass with the magnet after our manner, and had a chart which was all marked with lines, perpendicular and across.

Alfonso de Albuquerque in 1512 describes a sophisticated chart he had acquired in Southeast Asia in a letter to King Manuel of Portugal:

...a large map of a Javanese pilot, containing the Cape of Good Hope, Portugal, and the Land of Brazil, the Red Sea and the Sea of Persia, the Clove Islands, the navigation of the Chinese...It seems to me, Sir, that this was the best thing I have ever seen.

According to Albuquerque's account, Southeast Asian navigators already had ample knowledge of world geography at this time and were able to portray such knowledge on map charts.

As mentioned previously in this blog, the earliest advances in map-making in Europe came with the appearance of the portolan chart. This chart in many ways resembled the star and wind compasses used by Austronesian navigators.

With all respects to Needham, the Chinese and European systems were not likely the first examples of "quantitative navigation." They may have been the first to use modern mathematical techniques, but ancient Austronesian navigation was also quantitative techniques.

Journeys to any destination were represented in time-distance units. In this blog, we have referred to these with the Micronesian term etak.

However, this quantity did not need to be divided as in the other systems. Instead, the navigator dynamically adjusts the distance covered by an etak through mental imagery. An etak one day may mean 20 miles and the next day 100 miles. But numerical processes are not at work here so much as a mental shortening or lengthening of the etak.

Such a system might be difficult to transmit to someone in a totally different cultural milieu. However, the general principle of time and distance is the same.

The use of the sandglass allowed the day to be divided into watches. At each watch, the sandglass was turned upside down with an accompanying chant by the watch-person.

This system worked for mathematical computations especially with the newly-popular Indo-Arabic numerals.

Likewise, the traditional Austronesian navigator corrected course deviations using dynamic mental imagery. In Europe, they used instead the tavola di marteloio or traverse tables.

Again, it would be difficult to transmit the Austronesian system to one not raised in the same cultural background. What is accomplished with right-angled trigonometry on the one hand, is handled totally with mental images, on the other.

Needham believed the sandglass may have arose from the many advances in clock technology that evolved in China. It is worth noting though that one particular time-keeping device bore a unique resemblance to the floating fish compass used in the Indian Ocean.

The sinking bowl clepsydra was found in Southeast Asia in the form of coconut shells with holes punched in the bottom. These devices are still used by fisherman in Insular Southeast Asia.

Although no accounts of this device being used in navigation exist, both this "water clock" and the floating fish compass share the quality of being stabilized by flotation. Thus both were useful on ships.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge University Press, 1971.

Suarez, Thomas, Early Mapping pf Southeast Asia, Tuttle Publishing, 1999.

"Quests" and The Da Vinci Code

The movie, The Da Vinci Code, is scheduled for release this May. The film covers many subjects also dicussed in this blog, or least the portions of this blog that cover the medieval period of history.

While The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction by Dan Brown, it is based on historical claims made by the Frenchman Pierre Plantard.

Plantard asserted that the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks were descendents of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. According to his testimony, he was of Merovingian lineage himself, and a member of an organization called the Priory of Sion. The latter group linked with the medieval Knights Templar were pledged to protect the "Holy Grail," which he said was actually the Jesus/Mary Magdalene/Merovingian bloodline.

In this blog, we have dicussed aspects of the Holy Grail motif, the Knights Templars, etc. but with relation to the medieval history of the "Indies." Let's review the thesis presented here with regard to this subject matter.

First we presented Wilhelm Solheim's theory of the Nusantao, Malayo-Polynesian maritime traders who established an extensive trade network starting in Neolithic times. Chinese ethnologist Shun-Sheng Ling suggested that the people known in Chinese legendary histories ascribed to this period as Dong Yi were of Malayo-Polynesian ethnicity.

I have asserted that the medieval empires of Zabag (Sanfotsi) and Wakwak (Toupo) originated from the older Nusantao network, as represented in the derivative culture known as Sa-Huynh-Kalanay or in related cultures.

These two medieval trading empires based in Insular Southeast Asia established trade relations throughout eastern Asia and the Indian Ocean. The spice routes through which cinnamon, cloves, aloeswood and similar products were traded depended on Nusantao merchants and seafarers.

I claim that the Nusantao purposely approached political entities beyond their normal ports-of-call during medieval times.

In particular, the kingdom of Zabag was interested in protecting its trading interests against a tide of Islamic expansionism and against the competition of its ancient southern foe, Wakwak.

Zabag was ruled by a king known to Muslim writers as the Mihraj, and I have claimed that the same king was known among Tibetan Buddhists as Rigden and among European Christians as Prester John.

Among the native titles of this king were Pagbansagan and Apung Iru.

Those countries first approached by the king for political and military alliance were China, India and Tibet. In the latter nation, the kingdom of this monarch, known as Rigden, was called Shambhala, which I have connected with the geographical location of Sambal or Zambales on Luzon island, the Philippines.

Further abroad, news of the Caliphate's enemies in the Far West, also reached the Pagbansagan. He sent embassies to the Christian Byzantine and Frankish empires under the name of "Prester John" or Priest John. He was indeed a priest-king in a kingdom that was traditionally syncretic in religious belief even though it had its own spiritual agenda. Prester John's claim of being a "Christian" king should be viewed with this background in mind.

Prester John became known in Europe through his letters to the Pope and local royal families. He also became a character in the chivalric romances such as Parzival whom Wolfram von Eschenbach attributes to one Flegatanis through Kyot of Provence. Connected with these bardic legends are the themes of the Swan Knight and, even earlier, the Quinotaur, founder of the Merovingian dynasty.

Using his established presence in South India and Sri Lanka, Prester John may have utilized the network of Sayabiga established along the northern Persian Gulf shores to eventually make contacts with Christians in Palestine. I have shown how this probably occured via the communication and relationships that existed between the Knights Templar and the Assassins.

At the same time, contacts would have been facilitated through African spice trade linkages eventually entering Europe through North Africa probably via Spain.

Among the propaganda used to lure Europeans into Indian Ocean geopolitics were tales of Lost Eden and the Holy Grail. One of the best accounts of Prester John's interest in European alliances was given at the closing end of the Prester John era by Nicolo di Conti.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Magnetism, Ancient

In the Philippines and neighboring regions, the use of magnets by indigenous shamans and doctors for healing and occult purposes is very widespread in both "Westernized" and "tribal" culture.

It's difficult to determine the age of this practice. There is evidence of the use of magnets for healing purposes in ancient Chinese, Egyptian and other texts. And the words for "magnet" and "magnetic compass" in Southeast Asia tend to be indigenous ones.

From Austronesia, comes a term often linked with ancient ideas of magnetism. The Polynesian word mana is used in anthropological literature to describe a type of non-personal, unconscious energy that can be found in all objects.

Scholars have long recognized the similiarity of mana with early European concepts of "animal magnetism" and "personal magnetism."

Mana has several aspects that resemble electricity and magnetic energy. It is raw energy without personality that can be found in all things.

However, mana is especially linked with place i.e. geographic location, and thus the Earth. The concept of the energy of the earth reminds us of geomagnetic energy especially when we consider some other aspects of the term.

Like electromagnetic fields, mana radiates from a place, person or object. As one approaches a powerful source, the mana can be detected as becoming stronger the closer one comes to the destination.

Too much mana can be harmful, and to escape excessive radiation one distances oneself from the source.

Like electricity, mana can flow from one object to another. And this flow can also be manipulated by various means, either increasing or decreasing the quantity.

And mana, like magnetism, has the power of attraction. Places or persons with great mana attract other persons and objects.

In the Philippines, the term for magnetism, balani means "to attract, to charm." The term "charm" here also refers strongly to magical practices meant to attract others.

Indigenous healers in this region use a form of "laying on of the hands" in which the healer's hands act as healing instruments as if charged with a mysterious magnetic energy.

Following the advent of magnetic philosophy in Europe with the works of William Gilbert, the idea of magnetic healing also came into vogue in among Europeans.

Paracelsus mentions a practice of this type in Magnale. F. A. Mesmer developed the theory of animal magnetism in the late 1700s suggesting the existence of "magnetic fluids" in all living creatures.

Concepts of mana existing in varying quantities in different locations also has some similarity to practices of geomancy, or terrestrial "astrology."

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

Adam Crabtree: Animal magnetism, early hypnosis, and psychical research, 1771-1925. An annotated bibliography. White Plains, N.Y., Kraus International Publications

Kaplan, F. Dickens and Mesmerism: The Hidden Springs of Fiction, Princeton University Press, 1975.

More on Lapita skeletons from Efate

More information on the headless "Lapita" skeletons found in Vanuatu. The reports come from the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Congress in Manila.

I don't know why they use the term "Polynesian" as the site is too early and located in Melanesian areas.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

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http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5772/360a

INDO-PACIFIC PREHISTORY ASSOCIATION CONGRESS, 20-26 MARCH 2006, MANILA
Little is known about the Lapita peoples, the first settlers of the Western Pacific, other than their ubiquitous calling card: red pottery fragments with intricate designs. But in what's being hailed as one of the most dramatic finds in years, researchers at the meeting offered a glimpse of the first-known early Lapita cemetery. "This is the closest we're going to get to the first Polynesians," says archaeologist Matthew Spriggs of Australia National University (ANU) in Canberra, a member of the excavation team.

The graves on Efate, in the Vanuatu Islands, are estimated to be 3000 years old. That's around the time that the Lapita peoples began hopscotching across the Pacific from New Guinea's Bismarck Archipelago, fanning out as far as Samoa and Tonga. The site reveals unknown facets of their burial customs, and DNA from the bones may offer clues to their origins. "The find has opened a new window on the Lapita people as a biological population as well as an archaeological culture," says Lapita expert Parick Kirch of the University of California, Berkeley.

Since the first Lapita shards came to light a half-century ago, more than 200 sites have been found, but skeletal remains are very rare. Then just before Christmas in 2003, workers quarrying soil for a prawn farm came across a chunk of pottery with a complex pattern. They showed it to a field worker with the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Salkon Yona, who luckily had just been trained in Lapita identification. Yona consulted ANU archaeologist Stuart Bedford, who in a second stroke of luck was on the island for a wedding. Bedford confirmed the shard as early Lapita, skipped the wedding ("my friends understood," he insists), and scrambled to protect the site, near Teouma Bay.

But the biggest surprise came when the team, led by Bedford, Spriggs, and Ralph Regenvanu of the Vanuatu National Museum, began excavating bones. Because so few Lapita burials had been found, the researchers assumed these were recent graves until paleoanatomy expert Hallie Buckley o f the University of Otago in New Zealand confirmed the remains were Lapita. Everywhere they dug, it seemed, was a skeleton. "It blew us away," says Bedford. In two seasons, they excavated 25 graves containing three dozen individuals.

All skeletons were headless, a feature of other Pacific cultures. In some graves, cone shell rings were placed in lieu of the skulls, indicating that the graves were reopened after burial and the heads ceremonially removed, Bedford says. (The rings are 3000 years old, according to radiocarbon dating.) The heads were reburied. In one grave, three skulls (see photo, above) were lined up on the chest of a male skeleton, whose grave the bulldozers missed by centimeters. His bones bear scars of advanced arthritis. "He must have been in a lot of pain and was clearly looked after," says Spriggs.

The pots too are revelatory. Some are burial jars, by far the oldest in the region. The inner rim of one features four clay birds peering into the vessel. The vessels are similar in form to early "red-slip" pottery found in Taiwan and islands of Southeast Asia, bolstering the argument that Lapita peoples at least tarried in this region on their eastward migration. An article on Teouma is in press in Antiquity.

After excavations this summer, the team hopes to extract DNA from bones to compare with modern populations. In the meantime, Teouma has become the pride of Vanuatu, which has featured its Lapita heritage in a set of postage stamps.