M Campbell
- Aug 2, 2021
- 23 min read

30. Classifying ancient and sacred places according to properties of latitude

Updated: Jun 1, 2022

I've noticed on a few occasions that many important places from the ancient world, or in the religious world, seem to be on very similar latitudes. I first began to look more deeply into this when I looked at Le Puy-en-Velay in the south of France, home to formidable structures dedicated to the Archangel Michael and the Virgin Mary. Le Puy is on a very similar latitude to the Sacra di San Michele and the sanctuary of Crea, dedicated to Mary, both in Italy. The link between these places is as much in the latitude, as in the connection to rocky places, and the dedication to the Archangel Michael and / or the Virgin Mary. Specifically, at this latitude, on the the 14th May, the Phi point between the 17th March (day of equal day and night) and the summer solstice, daylight and night-time are in Phi ratio, with 14:49:58 hours of daylight. Phi is the golden ratio, 1.618033.. , and it seems to make a double appearance here.

This Phi point between the day of equal day and night (on the 18th or 17th of March, again depending on the year), and the summer solstice (21st to 23rd June) is on the 14th or 15th of May. Counting the 14 days left in March after the 17th, then 30 for April, 31 of May, and 21 for June, till the first day of the solstice, adding them together, dividing by 1.618, and subtracting from that the 14 days of March and the 30 days of April, we are left with 15.33. This means that a Phi point between equal day and night and longest day comes on the 15th of May. Alternatively, in a year when the day of equal day and night is on the 18th March, replacing 14 by 15 in the above calculations gives a date of the 14.95th (!) , call it the 14th of May. You can see below that in the year 2021 for example, when the day of equal day and night was on the 17th, the Phi point on the 14th May corresponds very well to the azimuth of the Carn Lês Boel line: 58.91° and 58.92°. Equally, when in 2023 the day of equal day and night falls on March 18th, the Phi point on the 15th May, a day later, also matches quite well: 58.7° and 58.92°. The values below are for 2022, and the 14th May.

1. A Phi line through France and Italy

I was taken aback then to find that the Basilica in Bordeaux, though not in a rocky place, but also dedicated to St Michael, and the Pic Saint Michel in the Alps, a simple mountain peak named after the Archangel, were also on a similar latitude. What was more, the Pic was at the same distance from Le Puy as it was from the Sacra. Then I found that Rocamadour and Notre-Dame-de-la-Roque-Gageac also fitted in with all this, being on similar latitudes and built in rocky places, and all were dedicated either to the Virgin Mary or to Michael, and all but the basilica in Bordeaux are rocky or hilly spots. Rocamadour is a famous sanctuary to the Virgin Mary, situated high up, overlooking a gorge. There is also a chapel to St Michael there, and a sword attributed to the Archangel, stuck in the rock face. Notre-Dame-de-la-Roque Gageac is a church built into the rock face, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rock.

When I realised the Lascaux caves were on this line, and when I checked the daylight hours for the 14th May, I was pretty astounded to find it was an almost perfect fit, with 14 hours, 49 minutes and 44 seconds. Because of the paintings inside the cave, it is a UNESCO world heritage site. The wonderful art in these caves doesn't of course feature the Archangel Michael, but it does contain many bulls. Bulls are a feature of Michael places, and are part of the histories of the Mont Saint-Michel and Monte Gargano, because is both places, a bull chose the precise spot where the shrine was to be built. Bulls are also central to the imagery in mithraeums, which themselves are often found in proximity to a Michael shrine or church. Not only did the connections between these places on a similar latitude involve lengthy distances, but there was a huge span also between time periods.

Nearby Rouffignac cave is also on a similar latitude, a UNESCO world heritage site with 250 engravings and paintings.

Le-Puy-en-Velay is famous for its chapel to Saint Michael, perched on top of a volcanic plug, and the huge red statue of Our Lary overlooking the city, even higher up. The cathedral there is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is on the pilgramage route to Compostela. It also seems to share the same day to night ratio. Heading further east, this line runs into a mountain peak dedicated to Saint Michael, and then, across the border to Italy, the Sacra di San Michele, the Sanctuary of Our Lady at Crea, Pavia and Mantova.

Basilique Saint-Michel, Bordeaux, Wikimedia Commons

14th May:14 h 48 mins 28 secs (2021 value)

An ideal Phi day would have 14 hours 49 mins 58.27 secs

Eglise Notre-Dame-de-la-Roque-Gageac, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 48 mins 22 secs (2021)

Cave painting in the Grotte de Rouffignac, Wikimedia Commons

Grotte de Rouffignac, Wikimedia Commons

14 May: 14 hours 48 minutes 54 seconds (2021)

Lascaux Caves, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours, 49 mins 44 secs (2021 value)

Grotte de Font-de-Gaume

Chapelle Saint-Michel, Rocamadour, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 48 mins 12 secs (2021 value)

Le Puy-en-Velay, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 49 mins 40 secs (2021 value)

Pic Saint-Michel (Vercors) Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 50 mins 9 secs

Sacra di San Michele, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 49 mins 58 secs

Sacro Monte di Crea, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 49 mins 56 secs

The Sacro Monte di Crea is a complex of chapels positioned around a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, high up in the hills of Basso Monferrato in the Piedmont. It is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The Sacro Monte of Serralunga di Crea (Piedmont, Italy) Image of the so called "Paradise Chapel", Wikimedia Commons

Then, going further to the east, I discovered that this line could be extended at least all the way to the Adriatic, taking in Pavia, Ferrara, Mantua, Cremona, the Isola San Michele in Venezia, and Sant'Angelo di Piovo di Saco, all with Michael and / or Mary connections (Mantua has a cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter, who can definitely be considered associated with rocks).

Basilica di San Michele, Pavia, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 50 mins 29 secs

Castillo Estense or Castillo San Michele, Ferrara, Wikimedia Commons

14th May: 14 hours 48 mins 22 secs

Chiesa di San Michele Vetere a Cremona, Wikimedia Commons

14th May:14 hours 50 mins 9 secs

San Michele in Isola, Venice, Wikimedia Commons

14th May:14 hours 51 mins 59 secs

Sant'Angelo di Piove di Sacco, Wikimedia Commons

14th May:14 hours 51 mins 56 secs

In fact, there were important places of worship, though not as close together, but often with a connection to a hill or rock, all the way to Japan, on roughly this latitude, and within two and a half minutes of a Phi ratio of daylight to night at the Phi point between the 17th March (day of equal day and night) and the summer solstice.

Beyond Croatia, the town of Băile Herculane also qualifies. It's a mountainous spa town, there are caves, and there have been many pre-historical finds there. Oh, and Hercules was there. But there is no St Michael church.

Then moving a little further east, to Romania, there are several Michael churches in and around Pitesti.

Then in Crimea, the city of Kerch is of interest, as it was once a Greek colony and has a hill in the centre called Mount Mithridat - though it appears not have been named after Mithras, but after a local ruler. There are two archaeological sites of interest nearby, also within the same daylight time, called Pantikapaeum, once the capital of the Kingdom of Pontus, and Nymphaion.

Ancient Pantikapaeum

Then, there's a large gap with nothing, until a ruined monastery in the Gobi desert.

The ruins of Ongiin Khiid monastery in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia.

14 hours 50 mins 47 secs

Finally, Rishiri Island, in Japan, which has several shrines on it.

Rishiri Island, Japan

14 hours 49 mins 31 secs

Going further west from France, however, the line goes through Montreal, a ancient underwater stone circle near Traverse City, and some Indian Mounds: Chambers Island mounds, and Rattlesnake and Indian mounds, St Paul, Minnesota.

Church of St Michael, Montreal

14:52:21 hours of daylight 15th May 2022

Two prehistoric Native American burial mounds in Indian Mounds Regional Park, St Paul, MN, USA. Photo by McGhiever, Wikimedia Commons

ndian Mounds, St Paul, Minnesota: 14:49:09

There is no proof that any of these sites have connections to some property of latitude. What links all these places on the first line is that the days of the year when daylight and night time are in Phi ratio also falls at exactly the point in the year which is at a Phi point between the spring day of equal day and night (17th March) and the summer solstice, i.e. the 14h May.

On a second line that I stumbled across, there are close to 800 minutes of daylight on the 15th August, the Assumption.

2. A Second Line: 840 minutes of daylight on the 15th August (Feast of the Assumption)

Having read something about how the shepherds in the Croatian hills celebrate the 15th August, the Assumption, I looked up the daylight hours for that date and found that there were 14 hours, 1 minute and 43 seconds for 2021. That's within two minutes of being 14 hours, or 840 minutes exactly. Not the most impressive number on the face of it, but in seconds that's 100,800 / 2 = 50,400. It's also exactly 1440 minutes (of the full 24 hour period of a day) x 7 / 12. So this line goes through the Santuario della Madonna Bianca and the Church now dedicated to St Peter, on a site that was once a temple to Venus, in Porto Venere, then San Michele di Garfagnana in Lucca, the Santuario Maddonna dell'Acero, and the Abbey of San Mercuriale in Forlí. A combination of the Virgin Mary, Peter, Venus, Mercury and Michael, all of which seem to have rocky connections. In fact this 15th August 7/12 daylight / day ratio line goes through many interesting places. This line also goes west - though that side of the line is not as close a match to the 14 hours of daylight period.

San Miguel de Breamo

15th August: 13:57:43 hours of daylight

Monastery of Santa Maria La Real de Obona, Wikimedia Commons

15th August 13:58:08 daylight hours

Ermita de San Miguel, Olea

Daylight hours 15th August 13:56:31

Starting with San Miguel de Breamo, a templar church in Galicia, Spain, though here the daylight hours are 13 hours 57 minutes and 43 seconds (according to ww.sunearthtools.com), so just under 14 hours but within two and a half minutes. All along the north coast of Spain, there are sanctuaries and churches, many dedicated to the Archangel Michael and Mary, such as: Ermita de San Miguel de Buscalte, Capela de San Miguel, Lugo, San Miguel de Reinante, Monastery of Santa Maria La Real de Obona, Plaza San Miguel, Gijon, San Miguel Asturias, Ermita de San Miguel d'Eros, in fact there are too many to mention, there are so many ermitas de San miguel around the Cantabrian coast - see image below.

But was there a connection to some property of latitude?

Perhaps the most important site in this region is Altamira cave.

Bison, Altamira Cave, Wikimedia Commons

13 hours 57 mins 39 secs on 15th August (just within a 2.5 minute margin of 14 hours)

The earliest paintings date from around 36,000 years ago.

The Altamira cave was the second cave to appear on a possible line, famous, like Lascaux, for it's stunning art. Was there a reason why this cave had been selected for the beautiful paintings, possibly linked to its latitude?

Moving up the Basque coast is the cathedral at Bayonne, dedicated to Mary. This cathedral is in fact at the end of a Michael line itself, linking the Mont Saint-Michel and Stonehenge. Heading towards Italy, Moissac Abbey and Bruniquel come next. Here we come back to an exact 14 hours of daylight (to within 40 seconds). Once more, an ancient cave seemed to link itself up with important Christian centres. Bruniquel cave is the site of the oldest yet found human construction.

Bruniquel Cave, earliest human-made structures known, Wikimedia Commons

Bruniquel Castle

Bruniquel 15th August 2022 14:01:07 hours of daylight

Cordes-sur-Ciel (Tarn). Between 1858 and 1907. Wikimedia Commons

The abbey of Moissac, important stopping point on the route to Compostela.

15th August 2022 14:01:19 hours of daylight

Next are Alès, Nîmes, and the Palais des Papes at Avignon, where the popes once resided, also exactly 14 hours daylight. Then a whole load of Michael churches and chapels scattered around, including Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire, Saint-Michel-de-Cousson, le Col Saint-Michel, Chapelle Saint-Michel de Clans, Eglise Saint-Michel-de-Gast, then further south to include Vence, and on the Cote d'Azur, Cannes, Villefrance-sur-Mer, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Eglise Saint-Michel-de-la-Turbie, and the basilica at Menton, all dedicated to the Archangel. A little north of that is Sospel Cathedral, on a Place Saint-Michel, and Olietta San Michele. Then a Michael chapel in La Brigue and a Michael church in Alto. Albenga Cathedral is on a Pizza San Michele. This brings us back to Porto Venere.

Would a random line drawn across France and Italy go through a similar number of sites dedicated to the Archangel Michael or the Virgin Mary?

3. Baba, Mother Earth

Velebit Mountain has many very old chapels. I looked for a long time for a Michael chapel in this area, as I had read that there was one near Vratnik mountain pass, but couldn't find any trace of it online. I found a great blog post on these chapels here, called Old European Culture, with an emphasis on the "replacement of the Mother Goddess, Mother Earth, Baba with Mary, the Holy Mother."

The stone walls, which were built using dry wall building technique, were 1.3 meters thick. The most unusual thing about this chapel is the altar stone. The altar is actually bedrock, which existed there before the church was built. Bedrock is in the Balkans known as "kamen živac, živi kamen, živa stena" (living stone, living rock) and is venerated as sacred. They are called so, because they are believed to be still part of the living body of the Mother Earth. These types of stones are also known as "baba" stones. The fact that the altar stone was carved out of bedrock shows that this was an ancient pre Christian altar stone which was later encased inside of the Christian church, surrounded by the thick church walls in order to have it's "evil" power contained.

This idea of the living stone fits in so well with the many sites dedicated to Mary and Michael in rocky places. Yet not all hills and mountains are considered scared. Is their latitude the key? The author of this blog cited above informs us that Sveto Brdo, also near the Croation coast, is a holy mountain. I placed it Google Earth, curious to see if it would be on a similar latitude to all the places so far, from Bordeaux to Venice, but it was much too far south. But then I looked again and it was in fact on a similar latitude as the majestic rocky coastal church in Porto Venere. Porto Venere's name refers to the goddess Venus, and it seems to be on the Michael line from Skellig Michael, via Saint Michael's Mount and the Mont Saint-Michel ( a winter Phi day line).

The author of the blog "Old European Culture" adds a couple of very interesting things, both in relation to the orientation of the one of the chapels towards the winter solstice sunrise, and about the importance of stone traditionally:

She quotes an article by Andrej Pleterski, "Nekateri topografski vidiki obrednih mest [Some Topographic Aspects of Ritual Places ]":

"One of the diagonals of the church is aligned exactly to the east west line. The longitudinal axis of the church has azimuth of 123,5° (angle from geographic north). This means that the church is oriented towards the local point of the Christmas sunrise. Therefore, it is very likely that the original orientation of the pagan temple which was replaced with the church, was towards the winter solstice sunrise."

This fits with many of the lines.

The author goes on to say:

Next to old bedrock altar lies a large stone slab. The locals say that this slab marks "the grave of an innocent child". Every year on the 15th of August, on the day of the Assumption of Mary the shepherd's used to drive their flocks over this slab in order to cleanse them from decease and evil.

On it there is a similar stone block which local shepherd's called "Baba". On the arrival, shepherd women used to bring food offerings and leave them on the stone. They also used to lite candles on the stone on various holy days. The stone was also known as "the altar".

According to the local informer Dara Babac :) , who was 80 years old when she was interviewed, Baba stone on Malo Rujno was blessed by a priest from Lika region, and this is why this stone is also called Babin kuk (Baba's stone, kuk being another word for rock, boulder) or Popov kuk (Priest's stone). Women who couldn't have children were praying to the Baba stone to help them to stay pregnant and give birth to a healthy child. During this prayer they were kissing the stone. After the second world war, the stone lost it's cultic importance, but the act of kissing the Baba stone was transferred to kissing any old woman. Young girls which were earlier urged to kiss the Baba stone "for their own good" were urged to kiss any old woman that they see, also "for their own good". The kissing ritual was also transferred from the Baba stone to its Christian replacement, the statue of the Holy Mary. During the prayer in the chapel on Veliko Rujno, women circled the altar on their knees. At the end of the prayer they would kiss the feet and the dress of the statue. They were also kissing the picture of the Holy Mary during the procession which circled the church.

I actually believe that both of these last two chapels, the one dedicated to St Jacob and the other one dedicated to St Antun, were originally dedicated to Holy Mary and were only later "rechristened". The same was done with the chapel on Jezera, which is today called the chapel of St Antun, even though it is known from interviews with the locals, that the church was originally dedicated to the Holy Mary...Is this being done to remove the link between the original Baba worship and its Christian replacement, the worship of the Holy Mary? I believe so.

It seems that the shepherd's from south Velebit, both Orthodox and Catholic, preserved many pre-Christian traditions, customs and ceremonies until the mid 20th century. The most important set of these pagan rituals is linked to the veneration of the Mother Goddess, the female symbol of fertility and wealth - Baba, Mother Earth. These rituals were performed on and around protruding amorphous lumps of bedrock which are in this region, as well as in many other parts of the Balkans, known as Baba stones, like this one.

(...)

The fact that Baba (stone, mountain, earth) was specially venerated on Velebit can be seen from a large number of toponyms with the root Baba which are found in immediate vicinity (20 km radius)

Babin kuk (Baba's hip or baba's rock), Bobički kuk (Baba's hip or baba's rock), Babin kamen (žrtvenik), Babino jezero (Baba's lake), 3 mountain tops called Babin vrh (Baba's peak), Babino brdo (Baba's hill), Babin dolac (Baba's valley), Babino vrelo (Baba's well), Babac, Babica,

So what happened after the local population was Christianized? The same area became the most important center of the Marian cult. Coincidence?

It seems that the shepherd's from south Velebit, both Orthodox and Catholic, preserved many pre-Christian traditions, customs and ceremonies until the mid 20th century. The most important set of these pagan rituals is linked to the veneration of the Mother Goddess, the female symbol of fertility and wealth - Baba, Mother Earth. These rituals were performed on and around protruding amorphous lumps of bedrock which are in this region, as well as in many other parts of the Balkans, known as Baba stones, like this one.

It seems that ancient rituals based around Mother Earth, Baba, which went on until around eighty years ago, in tandem with Christianity, because this resonates perfectly with many things connected to the worship of Mary, of Michael, of Mithras, and of course, many other divine figures such as the Buddha. The belief that bedrock or any kind of rock was sacred must account for many of the megalithic constructions, and go some way towards explaining why the stones used had to be so big, despite the great impracticality of moving and raising them.

Something did make me lean towards the possibility of an ancient widespread system whereby sacred places were positioned according to a key number of hours of daylight at a key time of year, either because the number was considered sacred, or because the ratio of daylight to night was considered sacred, such as Phi. After several years of looking into ancient sites, as well as reading work by researchers such as David Warner Mathisen and Jim Alison, I had no trouble in believing in the possibility of sophistication in our ancestors, as well as the idea of a system that was very widespread, across countries and continents. However, this idea of latitude lines was perplexing. When I found that a row of rocky mountain temples and monasteries in the Himalayas all shared similar latitudes, and all had a summer solstice day which was in √3 ratio to the full 24 hour period, I felt convinced that there was more to it than coincidence. In fact, this could be the mark of a very old and highly sophisticated culture that has been forgotten. From then on I started routinely checking the properties of latitude in terms of daylight hours of every ancient or sacred site I came upon.

4. Maps

I've put together a map which rows of sacred or ancient places which have connections to hills of rocks, or to the Archangel Michael, or are simply very important. It's far from being an exhaustive list of places, and so far I don't have too many places in the southern hemisphere. All the places on the lines are there because they correspond to whatever property that line has, generally daylight hours at one of the solstices, or some other date, to within two and a half minutes.

Above is the key for the most northerly part of the northern hemisphere, and below are some details from the map across North America, Europe and Asia.

Middle East and Khazakstan:

Here is the key for the next rows:

Northern Africa:

Here is the row of Himalayan temples and monasteries, from Mohenjo Daro in the west:

Japan:

Here is the key for the southern hemisphere:

South America and Easter Island:

Australia, so far not so many places.

4. Jim Alison's Great Circle

Jim Alison's spectacular great circle goes through several of the places above, see his article here.

Easter Island, Nazca, Ollantaytambo, Paratoari, Tassili n'Ajjer and Giza are all aligned on a single great circle. Additional ancient sites that are located within one tenth of one degree of this great circle include Petra; Perseopolis; Khajuraho; Pyay, Sukothai and Anatom Island.

Near Ollantaytambo, Machupicchu and Cuzco are within one quarter of a degree. The Oracle at Siwa in the western Egyptian desert is within one quarter of a degree. In the Indus Valley, Mohenjo Daro and Ganweriwala are within one quarter of a degree. The ancient Sumerian city of Ur and Angkor temples in Cambodia and Thailand are within one degree of the great circle. The Angkor temple at Preah Vihear is within one quarter of a degree.

Many of these sites have interesting latitudinal properties.

Easter Island: Summer Solstice has 24/√3 hours of daylight

Nazca: Summer Solstice has 780 mins of daylight

Machu Picchu & Ollantaytambo: Winter Solstice has 700 mins of daylight

Perspolis, Petra, Giza all on similar latitude: 844 mins daylight at summer solstice, and 800 mins on the 1st of May.

Khajuraho on similar latitude to Lao's Buddhist Temple (Wat Lao Bhuddhagaya International

Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India), Qiongzhu Temple (China), Guandu Temple and other temples in Tapei City, Taiwan, and to the East, Karachi (many temples & Cathedral) & Chaukhandi tombs (Pakistan), Jumeirah Mosque (Dubai), Temple of Edfu, Apollinopolis, (Egypt), Tassili n'Ajjer, and on to the Bahamas, with 820 mins daylight in summer solstice, or winter solstice daylight period is 24 hours divided by √(36/7).

And Preah Vihear Temple is at a similar latitude to Ayutthaya Wat Phra Si Sanphet, the former capital of Siam, Yerragudi Gooty in India, The Great Mosque in Zabīd - Yemen, and Copán, Mixco Viejo, and Kaminaljuyu in Central America, all have very close to 13 hours or 780 minutes of daylight at the summer solctice (so one hour more than the equinox). In fact in the Guatemala, there are other sites that also fit this, such as Quiriguá, El Portón, Takalik Abaj, Izapa, Paso de la Amada, La Blanca, Ujuxte, Chocolá, El Baúl, and Monte Alto, all within 2.5 minutes of a 13 hours daylight period at the summer solstice.

Finally Angkor Wat has 700 minutes of daylight (and 17 seconds) at the winter solstice.

5. Another line: 13 hours or 780 minutes of daylight at the summer solstice

Here are some of the places on the '13 hours daylight period at the summer solstice' line:

Yerragudi Gooty, Site of one of the Major Rock Edicts of the Indian Emperor Ashoka. The author of a blog named Journeys across Karnataka desribes the site as follows:

I parked my car at the end of the road where a foot path leading to the hillock began. At the entrance is a pair of granite slabs installed by ASI Kurnool Sub Circle. The English board reads as follows: The great Mauryan emperor Ashoka issued the rock edict at this place during 3rd century BC. The rock edict was inscribed in Brahmi script and Prakit language. The inscription refers to Dharma as follows: Thus saith the beloved of Gods you should act as instructed by the beloved of the gods. You should order the Rajukas in their turn should order the people of the countryside as well as the local officers called Rastrikas in the following words. "Mother, Father and elders are to be loved, living being should be treated with kindness. Truth must be spoken."

(...) The Yerraguidi inscriptions contained in 28 parts on nine rocks which advocated that one should be obedient to one’s parents, one should likewise be obedient to one’s elders, one should be kind to living beings, one should speak truth, one should propagate the attributes of dharma, no-living being be slaughtered for sacrifices. The rock edict says “on the roads, trees have been caused to be planted and wells dug for the enjoyment of animals and men.” The edict declares that “these records related to dharma have been caused to be written by me (Ashoka) for the purpose that it may last and that my sons and grandsons may exert themselves for the welfare of all men.” Dr. Abdul Khader, historian and principal of S.J. College, has said the rock edict could be considered the first law enacted for the welfare of wildlife in the entire world. In fact they were directive principles of state policy of Mouryan Kingdom. He underscored the need for preserving it for posterity and exposing the site to school and college students in Kurnool district.

The great Mosque of Zabid. Zabid is one of the oldest towns in Yemen and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Daylight hours on summer solstice: 12 hours 59 minutes 38 seconds (22 seconds short of 13 hours.