By B.L. Freeborn © 2013, updated Nov. 2018
Right side of Newark Earthworks from Burks drawing.
The most accurate existing map of the Newark Mounds was made by David Wyrick who found the much debated Holy Stones. It is similar in appearance to a map made by Burks and is found in Alrutz’s book. The most striking difference between the latter two and the Squier-Davis map is in the depiction of the large oval north of Wright Square which appears as a half circle in the Squier image. The structure lay very close to Raccoon Creek which was probably used to fill the oval for ceremonial use during spring festivals when the creek would have been full. The Squier survey gives a cross section of the neck of the oval that projects to the southwest towards the creek. It seems to be constructed in such a manner that water flow could have been restricted. (The east-west straight line is a railroad and the north-south wavy line is the canal built through the structures.)
Detail through neck of Oval at Newark Earthworks from Squier-Davis drawing.
The concept that this Oval could have been filled with water would be even more important to the Decalogue Debate if it can be shown to relate to the story of Noah, the ark and the flood as was suggested in the sideways “ark” appearance of the Decalogue Stone.
We leave the oval and notice that the square and oval are connected via mound lined paths to the Octagon very similar to those we saw at Thornborough. Those were about 200 feet across. These are also 200 feet across. The path from the Oval is different in that its middle is raised perhaps to allow foot traffic while the ditch on each side is flooded ceremonially.
The paths at Newark Earthworks form angles as they meet at the Octagon. Drawing made from satellite image and blending in missing portions from Squier-Davis Drawing. By B.L. Freeborn.
Having arrived at the Octagon via the path we note that the paths form angles as they converge. They are depicted by each artist in a strikingly similar manner. Their angles and a bit of math is shown in the above image. We find a repeat of the number 56 and the reappearance of 584. The 140 is twice 70 which we have seen before. A new and simple number appears and that is an angle of 50 degrees.
Does 50 have any pertinence to our growing list? Indeed it does! The engineer of the past left no possible element in his design to chance. The sin 50 degrees = .766. We have seen this number in Newark’s distance from the Serpent Mound (76.6 nautical miles). We shall see it again. We might want to pause to note that the square root of 7.66 is 2.76767…. (repeating infinitely) which makes it quite interesting. While the root of 7.7 is a slightly less impressive 2.77 although the 7’s are repeated in the root. From Geller Hill, which sits rather quietly to the southwest of the Earthworks, it is 7.7 miles south to where Wyrick and others found the Decalogue stone at the site where the Great Stone Mound was. In other words, Geller Hill and Great Stone Mound are located 7.7 miles apart. We might want to add that from Grave Creek Mound it is 79.2 miles to Geller Hill, a strikingly important number! We shall look next at what else Romain discovered about this hill.
noahsage 