Two Ogams

This essay has been published in Volume 10, Number 61 of Ancient American. (March 2005.) A brief addendum follows the article posted here.

This is a report on two Ogam stones in Northern California. One is secret, the other is not. One is in danger, the other is safe. I will tell you how to find one, but not the other. Both are equally ancient, equally sacred, equally mysterious.

The first part of this essay is actually a follow-up to an article of mine published in Ancient American, Volume IV issue #27. That article concerned a stone usually referred to as “Baby Rock” and located in Lake County, California, not far from Clear Lake. At the time we examined this first stone, it was clear that Ogam script covered nearly all available surfaces. However, there was one prominent petroglyph on top of the stone the like of which I had seen nowhere else. Because of its compass orientation, there was good reason to think it might be a summer solstice marker. However, this idea had not yet been verified at the time the previous article was published.

For those not familiar with the Ogam controversy: Ogam is an alphabet originally made on notched sticks as well as carved on stone. Conventional scholars continue to insist that Ogam was invented by the Irish during Roman times. This belief flies in the face of overwhelming evidence of its use on the European Continent and elsewhere millennia before the Romans. Ogam is probably one of the oldest forms of writing on Earth: Dr Barry Fell was able to show how closely it is related to Hittite cuneiform.[1]

Ogam script is usually composed of vertical lines across a horizontal baseline; or it may be drawn vertically with horizontal lines across a vertical base. The Celts wrote horizontal Ogam from left to right, but there is a Semitic form found on the Iberian peninsula and in North Africa, written from right to left. There are several criteria we use to determine whether a petroglyph is genuine Ogam or merely random scratches on a rock. One is the presence of a baseline, which is sometimes only implied by the relative positions of other strokes. A second determinative is the number of strokes present and their grouping. An Ogam letter may include from one to five strokes. If there are six or more strokes in one group I would rule it out as writing (though it could indicate a number).

Most important is the presence of syntax. Is it possible to put the letters together so they make sense? If I see the same group of letters repeated several times in one location, I assume that the writer was endeavoring to communicate a definite, symbolic meaning and not just making random scratches.

Our Ogam stone #1 easily fulfilled all these criteria. For example, in one area we find the letters “L-G” repeated over and over. This could indicate the Celtic Lugh, god of light. This would be appropriate for a solstice observatory, which the artifact is in fact. Also noted is what appears to be the Druidic “awen” sign, in several places.

This stone has been referred to as “Baby Rock,” since it was supposedly used in Pomo fertility rituals. (Pomo Indians have continuously occupied this area for the past 10,000 years.) The fertility story may or may not be valid, but it was certainly an observatory.

The only way we could check on this theory was to go to the stone’s location on June 21, Summer Solstice, and observe the sunrise. I realized I could insert a small twig (or in this case, a pencil) into the hole in the center of the petroglyph referred to earlier.

On the morning of Solstice, a shadow cast by the stick exactly reaches to the end of the triangular pointer below it. Note that this does not happen until after 8:30 a.m. Although sunrise is much earlier, the sun does not actually clear the hill to the east, and cast a shadow, until then.

What I had failed to realize at first was that this glyph is not only a marker for solstice sunrise – it also works at sunset! There is a second pointer above the circle. At sunset on June 21, a shadow cast by the inserted stick almost exactly reaches the end of the upper pointer.(2) This is a double verification of the purpose of this petroglyph, which occupies the most prominent position on the stone.

Further, notice there is another line in each of the triangular pointers which goes across, dividing them in two. I was puzzled by this line, until I watched the stick shadow gradually lengthen as the sun just touched the horizon. At this point, if the inserted stick is the correct length, its shadow will meet the perpendicular line.

As the sun finally sinks below the visible horizon, the stick’s shadow just reaches the tip of the pointer. In other words, the area between the line and the tip defines the apparent diameter of the sun.

Why was this detail important to the ancient astronomers who invented this device? I can’t answer that question, but evidently it was important.

I therefore refer to this artifact as “Solstice Rock,” which name I believe adequately justified. Aside from the Solstice indicator, there are a number of other petroglyphs with probable astronomical functions. One is a “star” formation which seems to point to the four cardinal directions as well as the four cross-quarter points. As far as I know, this artifact is absolutely unique in the United States; there is nothing else exactly like it.

Solstice Rock is located on private property in Lake County. It is not protected by any Government or institution. It’s situated on the bank of a seasonal creek which is gradually eroding. The owners and neighbors do their best to preserve it by not broadcasting its existence to tourists, which is why I am not more specific about its location. I can only hope that someday Solstice Rock will be properly studied by those capable of understanding it – while it still exists.

The second artifact I will discuss, I refer to as the “Willits Rock.” Its existence and location are no secret. Anyone can go and look. Personally, I have spent many a long, hot day in the countryside peering at rocks, looking for possible ancient writing. The only reason I did not “discover” this one earlier is that no one told me it was there.

The Willits Rock is located outside the front door of the Willits Museum, in Mendocino County. A plaque next to it acknowledges that it was donated to the museum in 1972 by the Hansen Ranch. The museum itself was opened in that same year.

Willits is a small town located about fifty miles from Solstice Rock, in the neighboring county. Originally both Lake and Mendocino Counties were territory of the Pomo Indians. The plaque referred to above identifies the rock only as “Pomo petroglyphs.”

This stone is somewhat smaller than Solstice Rock, but appears to be composed of the same type of hard andesite – or so I thought at first. At some point in its history it has broken through the middle – probably decades ago, judging by the degree of erosion.

The Willits stone has prominent Ogam style script, but only on one side. The other side is occupied by a large number of cupules, small round depressions which are a typical trademark of West Coast Native Americans. No one knows the meaning of these shallow depressions, except for the fact that they probably had some ritual purpose. (To me, the surface of the rock resembles a large, pock-marked meteorite, but I’m assured it isn’t one!)

I asked the museum curator for any information regarding this stone. She could tell me only that it came from the Hansen Ranch, which is located somewhere to the east of town.

It was at this point I encountered another annoying but ubiquitous obstacle to scholarly research – lack of public funds. I asked the curator if I could examine any documents relating to the stone’s original location and position – with photographs if possible. I was told the museum would be happy to oblige, but I might have to wait several months for an appointment to use the document files. This delay is due to shortage of staff and impending reorganization.

Nevertheless, I did fill out an application for an appointment. (You have to complete the paperwork to see the paperwork!) I am interested in learning if the Willits rock had any particular astronomical orientation – bearing in mind the functions of our Lake County rock. Information may or may not be on file somewhere – archeology is often more a matter of digging through files than digging through dirt.

I found this rock extremely difficult to photograph. This is because of a shade tree which blocks the sun and casts speckled shadows all over the rock’s surface. In fact, my first observation was on an overcast day, and due to poor contrast I failed to note a number of important details. For example, I at first failed to see the baseline of the three prominent vertical strokes at the front.

You will recall that one of my criteria for identification of Ogam is the presence of a baseline. In this case, the line is eroded and faint, but definitely present. This fact identifies those three strokes as the letters “L-B,” in Ogam.

Dr Barry Fell has pointed out that this is the Semitic form of the name Baal, an ancient sun god, written right to left.

Another interesting detail, and one that makes me suspect an astronomical meaning, is one of the round cupules located near the edge of the Ogam area. This one has three vertical lines extending from its lower edge, giving it the shape of a comet – or the sun with descending rays. Just to the right is the letter “L,” inscribed vertically.

The three lines below the cupule form the letter “L-B,” turning it into a rebus. A rebus, of course, is a picture formed with letters which spell the name of the picture. In this case we have the ancient sun god Bel, or Baal, spelled right to left, in the Semitic style. The circular cupule therefore represents the sun. And just to the right is the prominent letter “L.”

There is only one word in modern Irish or Old Gaelic which can be spelled with the single letter “L.” (The older form of Ogam usually included no vowels.) This word is “la,” written with an accent in English letters.

“La” turns out to be an Indo-European cognate related to a Sanskrit word, “latha”; the most common meaning in several different languages is “to shine.” In modern Irish the meaning is “day.” “La” is related to English “light.”

Thus, our unknown rock writer did his best to make sure we understand his meaning. He draws a picture of the sun, with the name of Bel. So that we don’t miss it, he repeats the name “Bel” above, and the word “shine” to the right. Thus, the three glyphs have the meaning “sunshine!”

Unfortunately, it seems that most of the thousands of people who have looked at this book in stone have missed its meaning. The bronze plaque on the ground reads simply, “Pomo petroglyphs.”

There are other glyphs here which I do not understand. There is, for example, a vertical line with a curve starting from its top and descending to the right. I suspect this may have some astronomical meaning, or it may be a map.

I find all these ancient glyphs extremely difficult to study. I have found that photographing a particular glyph from two slightly different angles may reveal different details. Often I may miss something with the naked eye which later appears obvious in a photograph – or I may find it nearly impossible to photograph something I can easily see.

I’m not sure of the mineral composition of the Willits rock, but some parts of the surface look like marble or possibly obsidian. It’s an extremely hard type of rock. Given its advanced state of weathering it must be quite old. How did Ogam writing arrive in California in some remote past age? I have no idea. It is a mystery. I can only hope that with further study by qualified scholars, it may not remain a complete mystery forever.

[1] Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, Volume 13, 1984.

[2] The alignment is not quite exact, a problem which I will address in the following article.