Customer Reviews

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

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In 1969 Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend published their work in a book titled "Hamlet's Mill" putting forth the theory that ancient mythology was, in fact, the scientific language of the ancients. Since then numerous authors and researchers have endeavored to prove that megalithic structures of our ancient past served their builders in astronomical ways. However, proof has always seemed hard to come by concerning these megaliths. That was before Thomas Brophy examined a series of structures in the Sahara desert.

In his book Brophy proves that the ancient mind was sophisticated and able to accomplish sophisticated projects using precise calculations. His findings are astonishing. The Nabta Playa megaliths were a user-friendly star map of the constellation Orion applicable between 6400 and 4900 BC. And he proves his case in multiple ways. Even more astonishing is sculpted bedrock eight feet below the main megalith. Carved into its surface is a map of our galaxy! He doesn't stop there and also addresses the Giza Plateau as an astronomical Zodiac Clock.

This is no fringe theory either. Brophy's credentials as an astrophysicist are impeccable and the supporting documentation is excellent. Without a doubt this is one of the most important books ever written about ancient civilizations. Someday history will have to be rewritten and Brophy will be mentioned in the first chapter.

Astrophysicist Brophy has focused his considerable scientific background and research skills to demonstrate that a 17,000-year-old culture that lived in what is now the western desert of Egypt knew precise data about our galaxy. Analizing a recent archaeological find at the site of Nabta Playa (radio carbon dated to as early as 10,000 BC), he demonstrates that finely carved stones and engraved bedrock contained specific coordinates of stars as early as 16,500 BC. They also contained accurate information on the configuration of our Milky Way with the exact position of our Sun and the galactic center as of 17,430 BC. A valuable scientific detective story that confirms very ancient prehistoric human knowledge.

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.

Brophy has been criticised for writing the book in the language of his training. To do otherwise is like asking Usain Bolt to run a 10 sec 100 metres! Brophy has, in this book, transcended his training in many ways in that he offers explanations for convoluted and difficult scientific terms. So though the book is scientifically written, it is also quite lucid and to the point. There is no padding and flowery digressions: he elegantly deals with his subject with a spirited and empathic sincerity that I have not witnessed in most scholars.
What makes the study even more extraordinary is that he is dealing, not with Ancient Egypt per se, but with the Nile Valley, in this case Nubia which he shows to have had an extraordinary grasp of astronomical information that surpasses modern knowledge on some issues. He completely debunks the idea of linear development of humanity: from tabula rasa to modern Western man. He shows that humanity has always thougt, speculated, experimented as a result of sustained observation and transmission from generation to generation over thousands of years.
Brophy uses a scientific method that is balanced, promotes testing and interrogation, and sticks to scientific data and not imagined facts.

The ORIGIN MAP is presented in four parts:

Part 1: The Calendar Circle
Part 2: The Origin Map
Part 3: Giza Monuments Galactic Zodiac Clock
Part 4: Origin Map Discussion

Thomas Brophy's work relating to Nabta Playa builds on archaeologist Fred Wendorf's discovery of this very remote site in the Egyptian Sahara desert. The other AMAZON reviews are very good summations of the book, and most, like this one, highly recommend ORIGIN MAP. So I won't repeat those summaries of what's in the book.

I simply want to endorse ORIGIN MAP, to those people interested in looking beyond the confines of our Earthly existence, wanting to connect with the wider stellar environment that we live within, at this important time in society. Given the increasing number of intuitive and spiritual experiences occurring in people, its no wonder that our awareness is now strong enough to begin to comprehend a more accurate view of our role, and place, in the galaxy. That we may not be the highest evolved society that has existed on this planet, that evolution may not be linear, and that science has yet plenty to explain.

While Wendorf's work was published in 1998 Nature magazine, Brophy's seems to have been rejected by the mainstream scientific community. I feel disappointed that the study of nature seems to be able to be warped by selective filtering that when someone presents data inconsistent with some ivory tower mandate, gets rejected. This smacks of religious fundamentalism rather than a search for the truth. Scientists sometimes need reminding that science is a process; not a position.

I highly recommend ORIGIN MAP, and even if (like me) you don't fully comprehend the underlying astrophysics, is it really necessary - how many of us know in detail how aircraft, nuclear fusion, cell phone towers and IPODS work? Yet, as a society we use these things without thinking every day - even when there are harmful side effects. Rgds.

If you have ever heard of the Nabta Circle or are interested in henges,megaliths, ancient maps etc, then Thomas Brophy's book is for you. Not the easiest of reads for the completely uninitiated, but you will soon get his message and you will be astounded by his revelations. This completely rewrites our present concept of prehistory and will certainly challenge the traditionalists. However, that is not to say that Brohpy's work is not scholarly and dedicated towards unveiling the truth about our origins and the knowledge of previous civilisations. Roll on Mr. Brophy, bring us the next installment, I can't wait! Surely this book will inspire and challenge other achedemics to get out there with him and gather and varify further clues presently being revealed beneath the dust of ages.

How strange that a book of this importance should come from a small, print-on-demand press. It's pretty much the same with "Hamlet's Mill" mentioned in another review--another well-researched eye opener that few seem to read.

Quite simply, this book is extraordinary and should be read by anyone interested in archeology and anthropology.

On the other hand, despite his awesome credentials, the author diluted this book by having had John Anthony West write an introduction. Mr. West is a swell guy but his longtime association with the fringe and New Age pyramid set gives his presence here a corrosive quality. He wrote a book titled "The Case for Astrology." Worse, Brophy has authored another book that steers directly into New Age turf. Few tenured professors (and even fewer hoping for tenure) of Archeology will leave a copy of this book sitting on their desks for all to see. In fact they'll be frightened to death of it.

I know these sorts of folks, have great discussions with them, and ask them why we can't simply look at the possibilities of the past without dragging metaphysics into it. This stuff will always sit on the fringes as long as that happens.

However, the problem is so persistent (even Charles Hapgood, a former Military Intelligence guy, went woo-woo at the end of his career--authoring "Voices of Spirit") that I'm lately wondering if it isn't intentional. Take the recent book "The Hunt for Zero Point"-- a remarkable exploration of possible anti-gravity and exotic energy technology by an editor of Janes Publications--who is also a specialist in high-end military aircraft. The book is largely excellent and then, at the end, there's a totally gratuitous and jaw-droppingly flakey chapter about some bizarre Canadian psychic. There are a few other singularly odd moments scattered through the book including an odd "reverie" that plants the idea in the reader that exploring the topic at hand could be deadly for them. The result is that the reasonable content, for the critical reader, is thoroughly wrecked...and for no reason as these "extras" added nothing to his material!

So, we find this wrecking going on to some degree in the UFO field (which may be a sort of mega-wrecking machine anyway--no one who spots anything unusual in the skies is taken seriously any more) but almost always in anything about Black technologies (every book on Tesla is rife with wild speculation and goofy anecdotes), ancient civilizations (Atlantis), and ancient catastrophes. All the information is suspect but the common factor is what I'll call a "Strange Attractor," a ghostly presence touching a certain set of subjects and making absolutely sure that no books on these topics will ever be taken seriously by real scientists or thoughtful mainstream readers. The best one can hope for is to get a "sense" that something's up, that something's behind the curtain.

What's equally odd is the number of these more substantial authors--from this one, to Hapgood, to many others--who have fairly direct connections to governments, the military, or to intelligence organizations. For those believing in some vast government X-files conspiracy this only makes the material in their books more disreputable. Basically, if this indeed was a huge disinformation operation it's incredibly bullet-proof and utterly brilliant. A wild guess would be that a small number of subjects are profoundly important, critical even, and no information about them can be trusted because all of it is directly or indirectly controlled. Why evidence of sophisticated ancient civilizations is water worth muddying is beyond me but certainly worth a lot of thought!

I aim here to write an objective review of what will surely be considered a controversial work.

This book is a reprinting of two of Thomas G. Brophy's papers, with an additional section of Brophy's commentary on both papers. The first paper concerns the Nabta Playa complex and Brophy's discoveries there, while the second is an earlier work studying the astronomical aspects of the Giza complex. Each paper is succinct in its presentation of evidence and theory relating directly to the locations Brophy studied; there is absolutely no wild speculation or any talk of 'ancient aliens' and related topics that usually fill books like these. The papers show a clean and scientific format of points made, ground maps and other supporting data shown, and points summarized. Overall, I would rate this work of Brophy's very highly based on the research method employed -- as I have already said, it is clean, functional, and direct. Anyone familiar with this book will agree that the data speaks for itself.

Although Brophy's method is sound, there are a few small areas that I think this book is lacking in. My first criticism is simply that Brophy does not appear to be a skilled writer, but this obviously doesn't affect the validity of his research in any way. My second point of contention is that I wish the book included a section on explanations of possible alternative theories for the use and origin of the monuments discussed. Also, I found Robert Schoch's foreword and John Anthony West's afterword to be forgettable. For these reasons, I have rated this title 4/5.

As for the actual content of Brophy's discoveries, I find them fascinating beyond imagination. Anyone interested generally in history -- of Egypt or of mankind -- should read this book. At only ~150 pages, you will finish it in a night, and think about it for a week or possibly even longer. I would STRONGLY URGE anyone considering buying this book to click that button.

Although I believe to be a proficient scholar, both in astronomy and in egyptology, the findings by prof. Brophy were totally unknown to me, and only by chance I got aware of them.
After having read this book, I maintain that its contents are astonishing, aside some minor mistake by the authors.

Warning: The Origin Map primarily consists of two articles (Nabta Playa Star Map Circle and the Giza Monuments Zodiac Clock) that had been rejected for publication by two scientific journals. It appears that the neither of the articles had been edited for readability prior to publication in this book.

While it is readily obvious that the articles are "comprehensible only by individuals with a fairly advanced grasp of astronomy" (to quote John West in "After Word" in the book), it would have helped immeasurably if the author, Thomas Brophy, knew how to write. Without a clue on how to present technical data in a readable and interesting form, Brophy absolutely buries the reader with technical data with the "I'm smarter than you" attitude. Thus the Origin Map is, at times, a very difficult and confusing read.

It is a shame because the continuous discoveries at Nabta Playa should be exciting to everyone and Brophy's analysis of the alignment of the pyramids could have been at least interesting.