Page Content (OCR)
The observatory at Chichen is the first and oldest round building of the Mayas. Even today the restored building looks like an observatory. The circular edifice rises far above the jungle on three terraces; inside it a spiral staircase leads to the uppermost observation post; in the dome there are hatches and openings directed at the stars and giving an impressive picture of the firmament at night. The outer walls bear masks of the rain god ... and the image of a human figure with wings. Admittedly the Mayas' interest in astronomy is not sufficient motivation for our hypothesis of relations with intelligences on other planets. The abundance of hitherto unanswered questions is bewildering: how did the Mayas know about Uranus and Neptune? Why are the observation posts in the observatory at Chichen not directed at the brightest stars? What does the stone relief of the rocket- driving god at Palenque mean? What is the point of the Mayan calendar with its calculations for 400 million years! Where did they get the knowledge required to calculate the solar and Venusian years to four decimal places? Who transmitted their inconceivable astronomical knowledge? Is every fact a chance product of the Mayan intellect or does each fact, or rather do all the facts added together, conceal a revolutionary message for a very distant future, as seen from their point in time? If we put all the facts in a sieve and roughly separate the wheat from the chaff, there are so many inconsistencies and absurdities left that research needs spurring on to make a large-scale new effort to solve at least some of the enormous number of problems. For in our age research should no longer remain satisfied when confronted with so-called 'impossibilities'. I have one more, rather gruesome story to tell, the story of the Sacred Well of Chichen Itza. From the stinking mud of this well Edward Herbert Thompson excavated not only jewellery and objects of art, but also the skeletons of youths and maidens. Drawing on ancient accounts, Diego de Landa stated that in times of drought the priests used to make pilgrimages to the well to appease the wrath of the rain god by throwing boys and girls into it in the course of a solemn ceremony. Thompson's finds proved de Landa's claim. A horrifying story, which also brings up more questions from the bottom of the well. How did this water-hole c come into being? Why was it declared a sacred The exact counterpart of the sacred well of Chichen Itza exists, hidden in the jungle barely seventy-six yards from the Mayan observatory. Guarded by snakes, poisonous millipedes and troublesome insects, the hole has the same measurements as the 'real' well; its vertical walls are equally weathered, overgrown and swamped by the jungle. These two wells resemble each other most strikingly. The water is the same depth and the colour shimmers from green to brown and blood-red in both wells. Unquestionably the two wells are the same age and possibly they both owe their existence to the impact of meteorites. Meanwhile, contemporary scholars speak only of the sacred well of Chichen Itza; the second well, which is so similar, does not fit into their theories, although both wells are 984 yards away from the top of the biggest pyramid, the Castillo. This pyramid belongs to the god Kukulkan, the 'Feathered Serpent’. the jungle, for observatories were built, too. well? Why this well in particular, for there are several like it? The snake is a symbol of nearly all Mayan buildings. That is astonishing, for one would have