Dogon Study Notes

Compiled by Kaba Hiawatha Kamene

Blacks in Science, Ivan Van Sertima, ed., Journal of African Civilizations, April and
November, 1983, vol. 5, nos. 1 and 2), The Lost Sciences of Africa: An Overview, Ivan
Van Sertima, pgs 7-26.(IVS)
African Observers of the Universe: The Sirius Question, Hunter
Havelin Adams, III, pgs 47-50.(HHA,III)
Civilization or Barbarism, Cheikh Anta Diop, Lawrence Hill Books:Brooklyn, 1991,
pgs 310-332.(CAD)
Return To The African Mother Principle of Male and Female Equality, Vol 1, Oba
TShaka, Pan Afrikan Publishers and Distributors: Oakland, Ca, 1995, pgs 90-125.(OTS)
Kemet and the African Worldview, Jacob Carruthers and Maulana Karenga, eds.,
University of Sankore Press:Los Angeles, Ca., 1986, Similarities Between Egyptian And
Dogon Perception Of Man, God And Nature, Daima M. Clark, pgs 119-130.(DMC)
Taken from, Blacks in Science, IVS
-pg 11 The Dogon were studied very closely and over a considerable period of time by
two French anthropologists, Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen . From 1931-1956-a
whole generation.
-pg 11 Their education lasted longer than the American students passage from high
school to PhD- Not until the sixteenth year, as Adams tells us, did the Dogon call
together a conference to reveal to these Europeans the first leve3l in an eight-level stage
on the highest ladder of their knowledge. This stage was known as the clear word.
-pg 13 Dwarf-nova are stars that rhythmically expand and contract and, at certain times,
their luminosity is so great that they can possibly be seen with the naked eye.
-pg 13 They watch from caves and from the roof-top terraces of their homes. Their
eyes would be extremely dark-adapted.

Taken from, Blacks in Science, HHA

-pg 27 Through exacting, long-term observation, our ancestors determined that seasonal
cycles, vegetation growth cycles, and even animal migration and mating cycles correlated
with the cyclic changing position of the moon and sun. That information provided them
with a reliable and perpetual time frame-calendar-to schedule their societal festivals and
rituals and to know the optimum planting and harvest times. Their culture, along with
their economy, was wedded to the sky.
-pg 28 One of the stars important to the ancients calendrical systems was Sirius, the
brightest star in the sky. In fact, many temples and even streets throughout Mexico and in
Egypt are aligned to the rising of Sirius. But for the Dogon, then most sacred of their 700
year old traditions revolve primarily around not Sirius, but its small and incredibly dense
companion star, Sirius B.
-pg 28 In a mountainous area of the Republic of Mali, approximately 200 miles south
of the legendary city, Timbuktu, live several African families: the Dogon, the Bambara,
the Bozo and the Minianka.
-pg28-29 At first they received the word at face value (simple knowledge), then the
word on the side, then the word from behind. Only in 1947-16 years later-had the
elders decided that they were ready to receive the clear word, the abstract and esoteric
knowledge. Now they could learn the Dogons most sacred knowledge-the realization of
the nature of creation, from the creation of stars and spiraling galaxies to the creation of
plants-and to know the purpose of human existence. Yet in the end, although privy to an
extremely secret body of knowledge Griaule and Dieterlen still had reached only the
slight acquaintance level of the eight level clear word phase of knowledge.
-pg 29 This ceremony is related to the Sirius star system, Sirius called sigi tolo by the
Dogon (tolo means star), although it is important, is not seen as the basis of the system
but as one of the foci of the elliptical orbit of its tiny invisible companion star called po
tolo (Sirius B). Po is a cereal grain more commonly known throughout West Africa as
fonio and known to botanists in Europe and America as Digitaria exilis. Its seeds,
being extremely small, explain why they named Sirius B after it.
-pg 29 The Dogon say the po tolo (Sirius B) though invisible, is the most important
star in the sky. It is the egg of the world, the beginning and ending of all things seen and
unseen. The period of its orbit around Sirius (the visible one) is counted twice, that is
100 years, corresponding with their concept of twin-ness principles of
imperfection/perfection; singularity/duality; disorder/order; male/female and
human/divine. These principles of twin-ness are very important, for through their
antagonistic yet complementary character which the entire philosophical, social, and
territorial organization of the Dogon reflects, a systematic knowledge of the nature and
purpose of human existence is revealed to the initiate. Over the period of one year Sirius
B rotates on its own axis and this is honored during the bado celebration. This one year
rotation on its own axis is not yet known to modern astronomers.

-pg 29-30 Sirius B is not only the smallest type of star in the sky, it is also the heaviest.
It consists of a metal the Dogon call sagala which is a little brighter than iron an so
heavy that all earthly beings combined cannot lift it (the Dogon know of 86 fundamental
elements)! They say there is another star besides po tolo orbiting Sirius called emme
ya, which is larger than it but four times lighter and travels along a greater trajectory in
the same direction and in a period of 50 years. This star emme ya (sun of women) has
a satellite called nyan tolo (star of women).
-pg 31 Their chief instructor, Ongnonlou, drew in the sand a picture of the planet Saturn
showing its rings and said they are permanent (distinguishing them from the rings
occasionally seen around the moon). They were shown how, by the arrangement of large
stones (megaliths) and altars over a wide geographical area, along with the location of
mountain caves. The Dogon marked certain auspicious positions of the planet Venus
which then determined their Venus calendar, which also synchronized with their solar,
lunar, and Sirius calendars; the rotation pattern of Jupiters four largest moons were
described to favor the growth patterns of the leaves of a plant called sene.
They were told that the earth is in the Milky Way and that the Milky Way has a spiral
structure; that there are an infinite number of stars and spiraling worlds, and that the
heavenly motions are likened to the circulation of the blood.
-pg 31 Science-all science-be it physical sciences, the social sciences or the spiritual
(and by the latter I mean music, art, philosophy/religion) is the search for unity or
wholeness within or without all human experience. Dr, Wade Nobles says, science is the
formal reconstruction or representation of a peoples shared set of systematic and
cumulative ideas, beliefs and knowledge (i.e., common sense) stemming from thi9er
cultureit must be consistent with the essentials of its peoples common sense. (Wade
Nobles, African Consciousness and Liberation Struggles:Implications for the
Development and Construction of Scientific Paradigms,(1978), pg. 21,22).
-pg 34 there is a very close cultural and physical lineages between the Dogon, the
ancient Egyptians, and the Sumeriansthere is correspondence between the Bozos
mysteries and the highest level of Egyptian Mysteries-the Black Rite of AST (Isis) who is
identified with spdt, the Star Sirius.
-pg 34 The Bozo, cousins to the Dogon, describe Sirius B as the eye star, and here we
see the Egyptians designating Asari by an eye. The Bozo also describe Sirius as seated,
and a sear (throne) was the first sign in the name Ast. In Egypt, Sirius was a star in the
Bow and Arrow constellation while the fifty great Gods of Sumer, the Anunnaki, are
spoken of a s being seated in the celestial regions of the Bow Star. One of these Gods
was Asaru; in essence Asari of Egypt.
-pg 34 One final comment about the Anunnaki. The Anunnaki of Sumer, as celestial
entities, were known as Igigi. The Sumerians called themselves rather proudly sag
giggi the black headed people. Gig means black, In Tamil, a Dravidian language
spoken in Southern India, gig means black, Recent examinations of archaeological

evidence, along with the grammatical and lexical structure of Sumerian languages, such
as Ural and Elamite, has revealed striking correspondence with Dravidian languages
suggesting that the Dravidians were among the founders of Sumerian civilization.
-pg 36 - it might be argued that Eastern Africa, the Near East, Iran, and parts of India
formed a single cultural pool from the Neolithic period (28,000 years ago) onward almost
to the beginning of the Christian era, a region wherein ideas and objects traveled back
and forth. Sjoberg states, there is a good deal of archaeological evidence for maritime
relations during the first three millennia B.C., and perhaps earlier, between the western
coast of India and Iran, Mesopotamia, the Eastern Mediterranean, East Africa, Egypt and
parts of Arabia, (Sjoberg, Andree, Who Are the Dravidians? Symposium on Dravidian
Civilizations, Editor, Jenkins Publishing Co., The Pemberton Press, Austin and N.Y., pg
13, 1971.
-pg 36 President Leopold Senghor of Senegal, at a 1974 lecture delivered in India,
pointed out that geologists maintain that the Indian subcontinent was formerly attached
to East Africa, Senghor also reminded his audience that southern India is in the same
latitude as Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. He went on to
draw comparisons between the African and Dravidian languages, noting that as regards
metallurgy, the following comparisons might be made: in Bambara (Dogon) nummu is
the word for forge, and in Telugu (Dravidian), inumu, iron; in Wolof and Telugu, kamara
is the name given to the blacksmiths caste. Based on these and other similarities
Senghor concludes: It is indeed beyond question that the Dravidians share the same
Black blood as their brothers in Africa and those of the diaspora, (Leopold Senghor,
Negritude and Dravidian Cultures, journal of Tamil Studies, No. 5, pg 2, September
1974.
-pg 36 Dogon speak of the Nommos as being Masters of the Water, as the
Instructors, as Monitors, as the Fathers of Mankind, or as the Guardians of the
spiritual principles.