The Origin Map: Discovery of a Prehistoric, Megalithic, Astrophysical Map and Sculpture of the Universe

This book presents a story, based on compelling evidence found at a long-forgotten egyptian site, that the ancients had detailed astronomical knowledge of the Milky Way and beyond that should not be possible if our current theories of the ancients are true. The evidence presented bolsters the ideas of researchers like Graham Hancock who cite overwhelming evidence of a highly advanced, pre-cataclysm civilization. The theory presented in this book certainly requires further analysis and the rigors of peer review but nonetheless, the possibilities presented here are quite exciting.

I've read the book twice so far, and with each visit find the implications of his analysis exciting and illuminating.Dr Brophy begins his investigations by admitting his work was not accepted for peer review and explains why he bypassed this customary scientific step. Primarily it was because the site was under threat of destruction. In the last decade it has been decimated by interlopers, as well as by the negligence and incompetence of the Egyptian Antiquities division. Doctor Brophy makes a plea at the end of his paper for preservation of the site for further study by prevailing upon public indignation. International politics and tourism has infested the Egyptian government, preventing mankind from further unlocking the historical secrets of our past in Egypt. Today the Playa is formally restricted but unprotected, and the calendar circle along with other stones has been removed to a museum, complicating further analysis (according to Bauval). Some people grant too much weight to peer review, as if consensus in scientific analysis lent any further validity to proposed hypotheses. I consider peer review a method for implementing the doctrine of infallibility by the high priesthood of science. When it operates this way, and no one knows when it does or does not, it stifles the true spirit of inquiry and investigation. I laud Thomas for bravely publishing his analysis in the hope it would provoke greater serious study. Detractors here of Dr. Brophy for his foray into metaphysical aspects forget that our modern science was founded upon people like Laplace, Newton, and dozens of others who not only were in error in some of their hypotheses but spent the bulk of their life investigating the metaphysical. Yet we close an eye to this and celebrate the parts they were accurate in deducing. We forget too that the peer review process as we know it today was not extant 300-400 years ago.The investigation is composed of basically three parts: the calendar circle and peripheral stones, the nearby and related buried stone carvings, and an enhanced review of the Giza plateau structures in relation to astronomical alignments. Thomas employs a more sophisticated computer modeling for celestial timing than Robert Bauval. The model is predicated upon astrophysicist Berger's calculations. These appear to be tabular, which accounts to some degree for the inability to predict star locations beyond a specific time frame. Present day funding and sophistication of satellite instrumentation preclude more precise measurements of the solar system's motion. But it is more than adequate compared to the level of dating in archaeology and paleontology at present.The implications of a civilization capable of deducing star distances, velocities, and locations relative to the local galaxy are astonishing. So far no evidence of technological hardware has been identified to indicate such abilities in any ancient culture, yet there it sits before us, enticing, perplexing, and threatening to overturn all conventional postulations of our ancestors. Thomas deftly hints that there are alignments of the pyramids and the calendar circle stones which have a better computer model fit farther into the past than present theories allow for man's presence, skill, and sophistication. If true, it corroborates some historical views that man has been devolving, at least up until the last few centuries. To contemplate that Man in his earliest time upon the earth had knowledge of our position in the Galaxy, as well as our origins from a celestial perspective provokes a deep desire to investigate this site to its fullest and most rigorous analysis, free of preconceived ideas bearing the burden of uniformism bequeathed to us by our predecessors.It is a stimulating and thought provoking read. It is a welcome addition to my library of ancient history and yields far more bang for the buck than any other book I have purchased in the last decade. The value in this analysis is not whether Dr. Brophy is correct, but the possibilities of investigation that revolutionizes our search to understand our Past.

Several decades ago a team of archaeologists discovered a megalithic stone circle in a remote corner of Egypt's extreme southern desert, an area known as the Nabta plain. In photos the megalithic stones resemble a pile of derelict rocks -- no more. But thanks to Brophy's astute analysis the Nabta stones now speak to us after thousands of years of neglect. The henge circle lies in a wind blown desert that is desolate beyond belief. But at one time -- when it was laid out -- the region was a well watered (and well peopled) grassland.The archaeologists who discovered the Nabta stones puzzled over their meaning. But Brophy's The Origin Map succeeds in showing that the megaliths are anything but a jumble of random stones scattered across the plain. Whoever laid them out had a purpose in mind -- and an astonishingly advanced knowledge of astronomy.Based on his analysis of the Nabta stones, Brophy argues that Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert were essentially correct (see The Orion Mystery, 1992) that the pyramids of Giza were laid out to represent the three stars of Orion's belt. The much older Nabta stones were laid out in a similar fashion. In fact, the monuments of Giza were probably based on the astronomy recorded at Nabta. If Brophy is correct, the dozens of megaliths at Nabta actually comprise an intricate star map involving knowledge of astronomy so advanced it may even surpass our own.Brophy shows that the pyramids of Giza match the celestial alignment of Orion at two dates: 9,420 BC and 11,772 BC. He then raises the key question (p 74): Why would the ancients monumentalize these dates? Brophy thinks the reason had to do with bracketing the Zodiacal year with the culmination of the Galactic Center at around 10,600 BC. But in my view his answer is less persuasive than the rest of his case.Still, he may be onto something big: 9,420 BC is not just any random date. I suspect the henge was constructed after a major earth upheaval that occurred at the end of the Pleistocene. Two other writers, DS Allan and J.B. Delair argued in their book Cataclysm that around 9,500 BC earth encountered a huge object -- probably a comet. The intruder wreaked devastation on our normally peaceful planet. It caused vast floods, moved the crust, and triggered mass extinctions, especially on N and S America. The henge circles of the world, including the one on the Nabta plain, were probably erected in the aftermath to reconstruct the calendar and preserve ancient astronomical knowledge.Brophy will not venture into such terrain. But it's likely his work will contribute (in ways he does not anticipate) to a drastic revisioning of human history, one that ultimately explains the cyclical rise/fall of successive civilizations. It appears that Plato was right, and Aristotle wrong.The Origin Map is a stunner. Even though the argument is rather technical the book succeeds in being a page turner. Brophy's writing is adequate, if not inspired. But his thesis is revolutionary. The book is highly recommended.

I've had this book for quite a while. I'm recommending it to a friend who is into 'this sort of thing'.Dr.Brophy is that rarest of scientists; an intelligent and open minded scientist who isn't afraid to go to the fringe, work it with rigorous scientific method AND imagination, then give the reader the result to judge for themselves. That he was ostracised by his scientific peers simply shows them in a very poor light. I can understand them ignoring subjective,fanciful and non-scientific findings; but to treat Dr Brophy as they have done is shameful.However, on with the review. His analyses and tentative conclusions could be described as mind-blowing. The more so because he arrives at them through rigorous scientific method. Without wishing to spoil anything, the bedrock sculpture of the Milky Way Galaxy he shows on p. 51 is either looking down upon it or looking directly up to it. Noone making a representation of the Galaxy from Earth without at least 20th C technology could know to make a representation from that viewpoint as Earth is within the Galaxy, not outside of it.Whoever made that sculpture either had to use siome form of remote seeing or had to have the ability to travel outside the Galaxy. So either way we are speaking of spiritual development and/or physical technology way beyond the present.Thank you Dr. Brody for bringing this to our attention.

There is so much evidence that the human race as we know it did not suddenly spring out of nowhere about 5,000 years ago, but had been around for millennia - until a catastrophe destroyed the then advanced civilisation. Yet so-called experts in history and archaeology will not accept that. Although Brophy's theory is a novel one, his evidence is compelling and links with so much other research that shows how the stars that make up Orion, and in particular Orion's Belt were important to our forebears. The big, unanswered, question is - why?

An astonishing book which I rate as being in the Top Ten of the most influential books I have ever read in my entire life. As an astrologer I have tied in Thomas Brophy's findings at Nabta Playa with my research into the astrology of the Great Year. Ancient people with advanced astronomical knowledge many thousands of years ago left us a zodiac clock.I am constantly referring to and re reading this book in my research.

Needs a lot of concentration to understand but very interesting.

would recommend great book to read!