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The Georgia Guidestones in Elbert County, Georgia.
The Georgia Guidestones in Elbert County, Georgia.

The Georgia Guidestones are a huge granite artifact located on a hilltop in Elbert County, Georgia, USA. Granite (ˈɡrænɪt is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, Felsic, igneous rock. Elbert County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. The State of Georgia ( is a state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule The United States of America —commonly referred to as the It is sometimes referred to as the "American Stonehenge", [1] a title which has been applied at times to a number of other structures. Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury A message comprising ten guides is inscribed on the structure in eight modern languages, and a shorter message is inscribed at the top of the structure in four ancient scripts: Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical

The artifact is almost twenty feet tall, and made from six granite slabs weighing more than 100 tons in all. One slab stands in the center, with four arranged around it. A capstone lies on top of the five slabs, which are astronomically aligned. A capstone or coping stone is one of the finishing or protective stones that form the top of an exterior An additional stone tablet, which is set in the ground a short distance to the west of the structure, provides some clarifying notes on the history and purpose of the Guidestones.

Contents

History

In June 1979, an unknown party under the pseudonym R. C. Christian hired Elberton Granite Finishing Company to build the structure.

The Message of the Georgia Guidestones

The stone featuring the English version.
The stone featuring the English version.

A message consisting of a set of ten guidelines or principles is engraved on the Georgia Guidestones in eight different languages, one language on each face of the four large upright stones. Moving clockwise around the structure from due north, these languages are: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Ancient Chinese, and Russian. The message in English reads:

*In order to achieve a population of 500,000,000, 90% of all people would have to die. The world is currently over a population of 6.6 billion. The world population is the total number of living Humans on Earth at a given time

A shorter message appears on the four vertical surfaces of the capstone, again in a different language and script on each face. The explanatory tablet near the Guidestones identifies these languages/scripts as Babylonian Cuneiform (north), Classical Greek (east), Sanskrit (south), and Egyptian Hieroglyphs (west), and provides what is presumably an English translation: "Let these be guidestones to an age of reason. " This last may be a reference to the book, The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine and is no doubt a nod to Thomas Carlyle's Sartor Resartus. The Age of Reason Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, a Deistic treatise written by eighteenth-century British radical and American Thomas Paine (January 29 1737 &ndash June 8 1809 was an English Pamphleteer, Revolutionary, radical, Inventor, and Intellectual Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881 was a Scottish essayist satirist and historian whose work was highly influential during the Victorian era. Thomas Carlyle 's major work Sartor This could also mean the coming of the Age of Aquarius, which is set to occur in the year 2012.

The content of the message bears a remarkable resemblance to the so called Earth Charter, a statement of vision of the Earth Charter Initiative of Mikhail Gorbachev (Green Cross International) and Maurice Strong (Earth Summit). The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental values and principles from Earth Charter International that it considers as necessary for building a just sustainable and peaceful global The Earth Charter Initiative is the collective name for the extraordinarily diverse global network of people organizations and institutions who participate in promoting the Earth Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician Green Cross International is an environmental organization founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993, building upon the work Maurice F Strong PC, CC, OM, LLD, FRSC (born April 29, 1929 in Oak Lake, Manitoba) is one [1]

The Message in Russian

The message in Russian is facing North-East. The message is a loose translation of the message in English, sometimes to the point of being completely incorrect or meaningless. The text contains a total 11 punctuational, grammatical and spelling errors. It is also shorter than the English equivalent - the last words "Leave room for nature" are stated only once, because the makers ran out of space on the stone.

The full text of message is as follows (literally), with reverse Russian-to-English translation in parentheses:

ПУСТЬ ЗЕМНОЕ НАСЕЛЕНИЕ НИКОГДА (let earthly population never)
НЕ ПРЕВЫШАЕТ 500. 000. 000 (exceed 500. 000. 000)
ПРЕБЫВАЯ В ПОСТОЯННОМ (being in constant)
РАВНОВЕСИИ С ПРИРОДОЙ (balance with nature)
РАЗУМНО РЕГУЛИРУЙТЕ РОЖДАЕМОСТЬ (regulate birth rate reasonably)
ПОВЫШАЯ ЦЕННОСТЬ ЖИЗНЕННОЙ (increasing the value of life . . . )
ПОДГОТОВКИ И МНОГООБРАЗИЯ (. . . preparedness and diversity)
ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСТВА (of humankind)
НАИДЕМ НОВЫЙ ЖИВОЙ ЯЗЫК (let's find a new living language)
СПОСОБНЫЙ ОБЪЕДИНИТЬ (capable of uniting)
ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСТВО. (humankind. )
ПРОЯВЛЯЙТЕ ТЕРПИМОСТЬ (exercise tolerance)
В ВОПРОСАХ ЧУВСТВ, ВЕРЫ, (in matters of feelings, faith,)
ТРАДИЦИЙ И ИМ ПОДОБНЫХ (traditions and the like)
ПУСТЬ СПРАВЕДЛИВЫЕ ЗАКОНЫ (let just laws)
И БЕСПРИСТРАСТНЫЙ СУД ВСТАНУТ (and an impartial court stand up)
НА ЗАЩИТУ НАРОДОВ И НАЦИЙ (to defend peoples and nations)
ПУСТЬ КАЖДАЯ НАЦИЯ (let every nation)
САМА РЕШАЕТ СВОИ ВНУТРЕННИЕ (decide its internal affairs itself. . . )
ДЕЛА, ВЫНОСЯ НА МИРОВОЙ СУД (. . . bringing to a mediation court)
ОБЩЕНАРОДНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ. (nationwide problems. )
ИЗБЕГАЙТЕ МЕЛОЧНЫХ СУДЕБНЫХ ТЯЖБ (avoid petty lawsuits)
И БЕСПОЛЕЗНЫХ ЧИНОВНИКОВ. (and useless officials)
ПОДДЕРЖИВАЙТЕ РАВНОВЕСИЕ (maintain balance)
МЕЖДУ ЛИЧНЫМИ ПРАВАМИ (between personal rights)
И ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫМИ ОБЯЗАННОСТЯМИ (and social duties)
ПРЕВЫШЕ ВСЕГО ЦЕНИТЕ ПРАВДУ, (above all prize truth,)
КРАСОТУ, ЛЮБОВЬ, СТРЕМЯСЬ К (beauty, love, seeking)
ГАРМОНИИ С БЕСКОНЕЧНОСТЬЮ. (harmony with the infinite)
НЕ БУДЬТЕ РАКОМ ДЛЯ ЗЕМЛИ, (don't be a cancer for the earth)
ПРИРОДЕ ТОЖЕ (for nature, too)
ОСТАВЬТЕ МЕСТО! (leave space)

Explanatory Tablet

The explanatory tablet, immediately west of the edifice.
The explanatory tablet, immediately west of the edifice.

A few feet to the west of the artifact, an additional granite tablet has been set level with the ground. This tablet identifies the structure and the languages used on it, lists various facts about the size, weight, and astronomical features of the stones, the date it was erected, and the sponsors of the project. It also speaks of a time capsule buried under the tablet, but the positions on the stone reserved for filling in the dates on which the capsule was buried and is to be opened are missing, so it is not clear whether the time capsule was ever put in place. A time capsule is a historic cache of goods and/or information usually intended as a method of Communication with people in the future The tablet is with one edge to each of the cardinal directions, and is inscribed such that the northern edge is the "top" of the inscription.

The complete text of the explanatory tablet is detailed below. The accompanying image shows the overall layout. The tablet is somewhat inconsistent with respect to punctuation, and also misspells "pseudonym". The original spelling, punctuation, and line breaks in the text have been preserved in the transcription which follows.

The text of the tablet is as follows:

-At the center of each tablet edge is a letter representing the appropriate compass direction (N, S, E, W), contained within a small circle.

-At the top center of the tablet is written:

THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES
CENTER CLUSTER ERECTED MARCH 22, 1980

-Immediately below this is the outline of a square, inside which is written:

LET THESE BE
GUIDESTONES
TO AN AGE
OF REASON

Around the edges of the square are written the names of four ancient scripts/languages, one per edge. Starting from the top and proceeding clockwise, they are:

BABYLONIAN CUNEIFORM
CLASSICAL GREEK
SANSKRIT
EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS

"Egyptian Hieroglyphics" is not properly the name of a script; a better name would be "Demotic. "

-On the left side of the tablet is the following column of text:

ASTRONOMIC FEATURES:
1. CHANNEL THROUGH STONE
INDICATES CELESTIAL POLE.
2. HORIZONTAL SLOT INDICATES
ANNUAL TRAVEL OF SUN.
3. SUNBEAM THROUGH CAPSTONE
MARKS NOONTIME THROUGHOUT
THE YEAR
AUTHOR: R. C. CHRISTIAN
(A PSEUDONYN)

-The word "pseudonym" is misspelled on the stone.

SPONSORS: A SMALL GROUP
OF AMERICANS WHO SEEK
THE AGE OF REASON
TIME CAPSULE:
PLACED SIX FEET BELOW THIS SPOT
ON
TO BE OPENED ON

-The words appear as shown under the time capsule heading; no dates are engraved.

-On the right side of the tablet is the following column of text:

PHYSICAL DATA:
1. OVERALL HEIGHT - 19 FEET 3 INCHES
2. TOTAL WEIGHT - 237, 746 POUNDS
3. FOUR MAJOR STONES ARE 16-FEET,
FOUR INCHES HIGH, EACH WEIGHING
AN AVERAGE OF 42, 437 POUNDS.
4. CENTER STONE IS 16-FEET, FOUR-
INCHES HIGH; WEIGHS 20, 957
POUNDS.
5. CAPSTONE IS 9-FEET, 8-INCHES
LONG; 6-FEET, 6-INCHES WIDE;
1-FOOT, 7-INCHES THICK. WEIGHS
24,832 POUNDS.
6. SUPPORT STONES (BASES) 7-FEET,
4 INCHES LONG 2-FEET WIDE.
1-FOOT, 4 INCHES THICK, EACH
WEIGHING AN AVERAGE OF 4,875
POUNDS.
7. SUPPORT STONE (BASE) 4-FEET,
2 1/2 INCHES LONG, 2-FEET, 2-INCHES
WIDE; 1-FOOT, 7-INCHES THICK.
WEIGHT 2,707 POUNDS.
8. 951 CUBIC FEET GRANITE.
9. GRANITE QUARRIED FROM PYRAMID
QUARRIES LOCATED 3 MILES WEST
OF ELBERTON, GEORGIA.

-Below the two columns of text is written the caption:

GUIDESTONE LANGUAGES:

Below this is a schematic diagram of the upright stones of the structure, consisting of a small rectangle surrounded by four longer rectangles projecting to the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast. The names of eight modern languages are inscribed along the long edges of the projecting rectangles, one per edge. Starting from due north and moving clockwise around the diagram (so that the upper edge of the northeast rectangle is listed first), they are:

ENGLISH
SPANISH
SWAHILI
HINDI
HEBREW
ARABIC
CHINESE
RUSSIAN

-At the bottom center of the tablet is the following text:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT ELBERTON GRANITE MUSEUM & EXHIBIT
COLLEGE AVENUE
ELBERTON, GEORGIA

Location

The Georgia Guidestones are located in Elbert County, Georgia, approximately 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Atlanta, 45 miles from Athens (precise distance is 44. Elbert County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. The State of Georgia ( is a state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule 3322 miles), GA and 9 miles (15 kilometers) north of the center of Elberton. Elberton is the largest city in Elbert County, Georgia, United States. The stones are standing on a rise a short distance to the east of Georgia Highway 77 (Hartwell Highway), and are visible from that road. Small signs beside the highway indicate the turnoff for the Guidestones, which is identified by a street sign as "Guidestones Rd. "

References

  1. ^ The Earth Charter Initiative.

2. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Thomas Carlyle Sartor Resartus

External links

See also

Judi Ann T McLeod (born 1944 is a Canadian journalist who operates the conservative news website Canada Free Press (CFP The Ecopedagogy movement is an outgrowth of developments in Critical pedagogy, a body of educational ideas and practices influenced by the philosopher Paulo Freire This article refers to the 2006 book The Great Turning From Empire to Earth Community by David Korten, and The Great Turning Initiative based on that book and others'
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