(A documentary about the ancient Anasazi Indians of New Mexico concerning the findings of amateur archaeologist and professional photographer and sculture Anna Sophaer.)

·Sophaer observed a series of stone slabs leaning into the side of a Rock overlooking the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico a week before summer solstice. She noted a dagger of light that appeared an inch from the center of the spiral for a matter of minutes .

·Sophaer returned on the summer solstice to observe the dagger passing directly through the center of the spiral. The dagger appeared at the top of the spiral, moved through its center and passed out through the bottom rings of the spiral, spending 18 minutes on the face of the rock.

·Sophaer Discovered a second smaller spiral to the left of the first. On her return to the site at the equinox she was to discover that a second dagger between the three stone slabs pierced the center of the left hand spiral.

·At the winter solstice both daggers lit up the stone at the precise edges either side of the larger spiral.

·Sophaer was interested to discover wether the stone slabs and spirals would relate to the cycles of the lunar calendar as well. The moon sets and rises at its maximum and minimum points on the horizon every 19 years. In the Anasazi culture the moon was seen as the spirit of the sun, that passed through the darkness of night, or underworld as the light of day retreated.

·Using the sun, rising at an equivalent point on the horizon to the minimum? extreme rise of the moon it was revealed that the stone slabs cast a shadow which shears the spiral of 19 rings down it’s center.

· Despite the lunar cycle taking 19 years to reach from maximum to maximum extent, it is only nine or ten years between minimum and maximum. When pinpointing the shadow of the moon at its maximum?? extent using laser technology, ### found that the shadow fell ten rings away from the center of the 19 ring spiral, directly on its edge.

·Sophaer’s observances convinced her peers in the new scientific school of archaeoastronomy that the site at Chaco Canyon was indeed an instrument for recording both the lunar and solar calendars.

·Sophaer proved to the scientific body that the slabs were moved and shaped intentionally. This made the placement of the rocks and the alignment of both lunar and solar cycles a tremendous mathematical feat.

·At its height the Anasazi realm is thought to have covered 26,000 square miles, consisting of pueblos and ceremonial sites connected by a vast network of wide roads. Trade routes stretched well down into Mexico and to the Pacific Ocean. Artwork was highly complex and their built structures still exist today as multistoried structures of sophisticated and precise architectural elements.

·Sophaer explains the discovery of the lunar/solar calendar as a reflection of the Anasazi culture whose rich and complex artwork and craft was the manifestation of observations of the natural world. The environment was woven intrinsically into artwork, which reflected the landscape of the desert and its open relationship to the sky and the celestial bodies.

·The sense of communion with the sky is reflected in Native American lore today, which reflects the power of the sun to give energy to plants and animals on the earth which then fertilize the ground.

·The movement of the dagger of light from above the spiral though the center and the earthly dominion to disappear below the spiral in the earth may be reflective of this passing of energy between the skies and the land.

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Annaliese Bischoff

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