Circles of Stone Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are a work of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance or reference to any actual locales, events or persons, living or dead is entirely fictional and is intended as entertainment only.

  CIRCLES OF STONE

  COPYRIGHT © 2017

  DAN ARNOLD

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. THIS BOOK OR ANY PORTION OF IT MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED OR PRESENTED IN ANY MANNER WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.

  Cover design by Dan Arnold

  Cover art © Dan Arnold

  To Lora

  Thank you for challenging me, encouraging me and being my biggest fan.

  To my children, grandchildren and theirs, and anyone else who happens to read this work of my… imagination?

  I hope you enjoy this book and learn something about our world, yourself, and maybe even just a little about the author.

  PROLOGUE

  The high priest, Mbulu Njoribe spoke his judgment. His voice was low and resonated with dire warning.

  “Do not force the cave dwellers to delve too deeply into the earth. The spirits of the earth will not forget the wounds we inflict, or the things we steal. We are given what we need upon the surface. With this we should be satisfied.”

  The King, Karib-ilu, nodded his understanding.

  “But, the shining people of the north and the sea folk desire the stone with golden flakes. They will come here in search of more. If we have it, we can trade with them. If they come and find we have it, but won’t dig it out, they will enslave us and force us to dig. It is true, the vein runs deeper than we have ever dug before, but it must be done.”

  “The penalty for assaulting the hidden places will be severe. Do not anger the gods. The Anunnaki will punish us. I say let the sea folk and the people of the north find their rocks somewhere else.”

  “They seek the gold wherever it lies. They say this is the place with the greatest abundance of the golden flakes. We will find it for them and make good trades.”

  “If you will not heed my warning, standing before you today, I pronounce this curse; let the spirits of the earth devour all who dig too deep. May greed suck dry those who desire wealth and power. May they be enslaved by strangers even as we have enslaved the cave people. Let the spirits of disease and decay walk among them. I call upon the demon, Gotu-Noingo, to take the greedy and powerful, twisting them to his pleasure, now and in each subsequent generation. I have spoken. It is so.”

  “No, Mbulu. Do not say this. You will bring destruction on us all.”

  The high priest turned on him.

  “I bring nothing. It is you who choose this path. Let it begin with you.” He pulled his stone knife so quickly the king’s body guards struck too late. The high priest’s blade slit the king’s throat, severing both jugular veins, even as the spears of the guards drove into him.

  His last thought was, “I have spoken. It is so.” He was horrified to find Gotu-Noingo waiting for him.

  1- Pretoria, new findings, old things

  “A Doctor Jacob Walker to see you, sir.”

  The Minister of Antiquities for the Republic of South Africa looked up from his desk.

  “Walker? Oh, yes, the American anthropologist. Show him in, Vasil.”

  Jake Walker made a different impression in person than he did in his Emails and text messages. Even the photograph on his book jacket didn’t represent the man himself. The scientist with two doctorates was almost two meters in height, with wavy dark hair and an olive complexion. The laugh wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were the chief clue to his age, putting him somewhere in his forties. His casual dress and the cowboy hat didn’t exactly fit the image of a typical academic.

  Dr. Stefan Aleksander found himself sucking in his somewhat ample belly as he stood up to shake the tall American’s hand.

  Once the formalities were addressed, Dr. Aleksander got down to business.

  “Dr. Walker, your interest in the so called “Adam’s Calendar” site affords us an opportunity to gain better understanding of what’s up there. The site itself is just a bunch of stones standing in a rough circle of about 30 meters in diameter. Although there is no actual evidence, some claim it’s more than 75,000 years old. Because we’ve heard conflicting opinions as to its origins, there’s been no official recognition of the site. Some of your peers have said it appears to be nothing more than an ancient kraal. These are very common in South Africa. Others have noted there seems to be some alignment of the pillars with celestial objects. This would be consistent with any number of ancient temples. If the pillars themselves were in fact erected by humans, no one can tell us with any certainty, who set them there, when, or why they did. I hope you can shed some light on the subject.”

  “Please call me Jake, Dr. Aleksander. I understand your concerns. I’ve read that the stone itself has been identified to be dolomite, possibly the oldest known sedimentary rock on earth. While that’s interesting, it tells us nothing about when the structure was built. If I’m not mistaken there’s a rock outcropping of the same type of dolomite only a couple of kilometres from the site. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, Jake. Most of those who’ve visited the site agree that the outcrop is the source of the pillars. The stone is used commonly in the region. Many of the old kraals were built using dolomite. By the way, the oldest known caves on earth are near there. Have you ever heard of the Sudwala Caves?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “They’re especially notable because they’re dolomite caverns.”

  “I’m not entirely familiar with the term ‘kraal’, Dr. Aleksander. I believe it refers to a circular cattle pen. It would be similar to what we in Arizona call a corral. Is that correct?”

  Dr. Aleksander nodded.

  “Please call me Stefan, Jake. Actually, the term refers to any type of fence or wall that is roughly circular. Kraals are usually brush fences or could be stone walls. They might surround a village, or just be temporary livestock pens. Here in South Africa the word has also been used historically to describe any native settlement. The Bantu people introduced them to the region. Kraals are built of whatever materials are abundant at the location. Some of them have been used for centuries and the landscape is dotted with the ruins of tens of thousands of ancient stone kraals.”

  “The images I’ve seen of kraals didn’t incorporate tall stone pillars.”

  “True. As I said, some have suggested the possibility the pillars are erected with astronomical or celestial alignment. That could be consistant with sites like Stonehenge in England, the temples in Central and South America, the Pyramids of Giza and so on. If that proves to be the case, then we have to determine who built the structure and when. South Africa has many ancient cave paintings and other archological sites, but nothing quite like this, if it is in fact some sort of ancient temple.”

  “You mentioned the Bantu people. We anthropologists believe they migrated here from the Niger River country about three thousand years ago. We base that primarily on the linguistic and cultural evidence. But if the structure we’re discussing is demonstrably older than that, it would be very significant. If the site is part of an ancient civilization previously unknown, it would be an extaordinary find.”

  “I doubt that will be the case. I’m familiar with your work. I’d really like to hear about what happened on that expedition in Australia. The news stories were senational, but vague on details. I understand several people died.”

  Jake nodded.

  “That’s right. We encountered something new to science, yet ancient on the earth. That’s why I love my work. Everything new we discover is ancient in its origins. How soon can I visit the site?”


  “We’ll go up there first thing tomorrow. Can I pick you up at your hotel, say eight o’clock? I’ve arranged for a helicopter. It will get us there faster, and from the air you can better see the structure and the surrounding landscape.”

  “Terrific. I’ll look forward to it.”

  2-The calendar

  The flight from Johannesburg up to Mpumalanga, South Africa’s smallest province, went without incident. On the way up, Jake learned the area was a mining district. The largest gold mine in South Africa was only a few kilometers from the site.

  “It’s called the Sheba mine. That name isn’t coincidental. You may remember the story of King Solomon and the queen of Sheba.” Stefan said.

  Nodding, Jake quoted from the Book of Kings.

  “And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.

  And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

  And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not.”

  “I guess you do remember the story. It’s a prominent legend in Jewish folklore, as well as Muslim and Christian mythology. ”

  “I was quoting from the Bible, but I always thought the ancient kingdom of Sheba was farther north of here, closer to Egypt, and stretching across the gulf into the Middle East.”

  “It’s a legend, so it may never have existed. If it did exist, no one really knows for certain where the exact location was, or how large an area it supposedly encompassed.”

  “I don’t believe it’s just a myth. So many references to people and places in the Bible have been proven true through archeology. This may be one of them. Are you familiar with the discovery of an ancient gold mine in Ethiopia?”

  “Yes, and it isn’t that far north of here. Finding an ancient gold mine doesn’t prove anything, except that humans have been mining for gold on this continent for a very long time. All of southern Africa is dotted with old mines like that.”

  “I understand. The time of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba corresponds to the time the Bantu people migrated to this area, some three thousand years ago. Gold has been considered precious for far longer than that. I’ve found gold artefacts in Central America which may be about ten thousand years old. I understand cave art and artifacts have been found here in South Africa of about the same age, even older. As I said, the story of the Queen of Sheba is about three thousand years old. Some empires or dynasties last for centuries, even thousands of years. There’s no telling how far back the kingdom of Sheba existed.”

  “Hmmph, if there ever was such a place.”

  “I think there was. There are too many ancient references for it to have been entirely mythological. Are you aware the nation of Ethiopia traces its existence all the way back to the son of the queen of Sheba?”

  “Yes, I’ve heard that silly story. According to legend he was the bastard son of Solomon, right?”

  “Yes, and the legend also goes on to say he carried the Ark Of The Covenant from Jerusalem back to Ethiopia, where it remains to this day.”

  “I believe that’s been pretty thouroughly debunked. The thing probably never existed. Didn’t some guy claim he found the Ark of the Covenant in a cave in Jerusalem back in the nineteen eighties? Poppycock, I say. Where is it now?”

  Jake shrugged.

  “I have no idea. There’s so much we don’t know. I’m more interested in what we’ll find next.”

  “Yes, as am I. If you look down there, you’ll see the ruins of dozens of old stone kraals. There are hundreds just like them in this area. In South Africa they’re as common as trees in a forest.”

  The helicopter approached the edge of the Drakensberg Mountains. Shortly later, it banked to the left, and hovered above the more or less flat top of a mesa.

  “There it is, Jake. The so called ‘Adam’s Calendar’. We’ll circle around it a couple of times, before we set down.”

  From the air the roughly circular orientation was obvious, though bearing no similarity to Stonehenge. Two pillars were clearly visible standing in the centre of the circle. The circle itself was on the edge of an escarpment that dropped away from the plateau. The pilot spiraled down and landed about a hundred metres from the site.

  “The view from here is spectacular.” Jake said.

  Stefan grinned.

  “Yes, isn’t it? Most people are too interested in the stones to notice the view. You’re looking at the lowveld. Over yonder is the Barberton Valley. We’re up on the edge of the highveld, behind us are the mountains, and just north of here is Kruger National Park.”

  “This is as pretty as the high country back home in Arizona. The landscape is even similar, with the mountains, mesas and escarpments.”

  “It’s one of the reasons this site is becoming a popular tourist attraction. The mountains and Kruger National Park draw a lot of people to the region.”

  Jake wandered around the edge of the site and then approached the two stones at the centre of the circle.

  “This is interesting. Have you ever seen a kraal that looked like this?”

  “No, most of them are easier to identify. The structures are obviuos. This looks like a bunch of loosely organized individual stones. There are no walls.”

  “Right, very large, individual stones placed here. They appear to be aligned in a specific way. Look at these two. The taller may have been deliberately shaped, or chosen for its existing shape. Can you think of a reason two tall stones like this would be standing in the centre of a kraal?”

  “Not that I’m aware of, but that’s not my line of work.”

  “Do you see the way the shadow of the taller stone falls on the lower, wider stone? I don’t think that’s an accident.”

  “What are you suggesting? Do you think it’s a sun dial?”

  “It could be, but it tracks the seasons, not the hours.”

  “So, is it a calendar, then?”

  “That appears to be a plausible description. The shadow probably moves across from one equinox to the next, then back again.”

  “Huh. That’s surprising.”

  “Why?”

  “They say the guy behind all the hoopla about this place is some kind of weirdo.”

  “Really, in what way?”

  “He believes in time travel, and he says humans were planted here on earth, at this very spot, by extraterrestrial aliens.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  No, he writes books about it.”

  “As I understand it, that gentleman was among the first to recognise there was something here. I’m convinced he was right about one thing. This is not just another cattle kraal. Let’s continue to examine the evidence in the hopes of establishing some facts, and leave speculation out of it.”

  “I suppose that’s fair enough, but I suspect that fellow is just a huckster trying to make money any way he can.”

  “Perhaps, but as I said, let’s examine the evidence. Another thing I find interesting is the number of stones present on this plateau. You’re right, they’re loosely organized, but they are only here on this edge. They’ve mostly fallen; still, you can see they were probably arranged in a circle. It’s possible they were all standing at some point, but even if they weren’t, why are they here?”

  “Perhaps it occurred naturally.”

  “…Only on this spot, at the very edge of the plateau? The nearest natural outcrop is some distance away. These stones are incredibly heavy. How many are there?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “It looks like nearly a dozen are standing, and many more lie scattered about here along the edge of the escarpment. Let’s take a closer look at some of the others.”

  The first stone they examined showed faded tool marks creating a groove on each end. Several other stones ha
d similar marks. One looked almost like the head and torso of a man.

  “Well, Jake, what do you think? Is there anything to this?”

  “Yes, the size of the standing stones qualifies them to be thought of as megaliths. There’s no question the structure could have been built by man, but the site is so ancient and weathered, it’s hard to tell what we’re looking at.”

  “What do you think it is? Is there some simple explanation of why these stones are here?”

  “I can’t speculate. All I know is they’ve been brought here and some of them have been shaped. I’m an anthropologist. Anthropology incorporates four primary disciplines or areas of study. We’re interested in the cultural, linguistic, archeological and biological clues to present and past human development. Where we are now and how we came to be here, are questions whose answers pre-date recorded history.

  The only thing certain at this point is that these stones appear to have been carried here, arranged and shaped, for some unknown reason. The weathered condition of the site and the erosion of the markings suggest they are ancient. How ancient they are or what their purpose was is yet to be determined. That’s the archeological perspective.

  At this point, there is no known linguistic connection or evidence of written language or recognizable symbol.

  Biologically speaking, the naturally occurring vegetation around the stones has not been disturbed. There are some trees growing at the edge of the site. The lichens on the surface of the stone are very well established, meaning they’ve been on the stone for a long time. All that tells me is the stones weren’t put here recently.

  Culturally, we see the stones were carried here fom another location and they’ve been placed in a pattern. We know people don’t go to that kind trouble without a reason. There are megaliths like this all over the world. We know what some of them are. Most of them remain a mystery. Tell me, Stefan, are the native kraals often decorated or given some sort of embellishment, maybe to ward off spirits or something?”