Axial precession is that tilt slowly wobbling around in a circle, changing what we perceive as the celestial pole or “North Star.” (Image from Wikipedia entry on Axial Precession.)īut that point near Polaris, which we call the North Star, is actually slowly moving and tracing a circle through the night sky. The earth sits at roughly a 23 degree tilt. This wobbling effectively moves what we see as the center point that stars appear to revolve around each evening.įigure 1. In the simplest terms, it is the earth “wobbling” on its tilted axis like a gyroscope - but very, very slowly. In order to understand how the plaza marks the date of the dam’s construction in the nearly 26,000-year cycle of the earth’s precession, it is worth explaining what exactly axial precession is. With this in hand I was finally able to re-construct the technical intent of the plaza and how it works. The historian sent me a tube full of large blueprints and a CD of the same prints already scanned. I suspect that they generally don’t like to release technical plans of the dam for security reasons, but it seems they deemed my request a low security risk as the monument is not part of the structure of the dam. I contacted the historian again, and she obtained permission from her superiors to release the actual building plans. I now had some historical text and photos, but I was still missing a complete diagram of the plaza that would allow me to really understand it. (Image courtesy of US Bureau of Reclamation) Hansen next to the completed axial precession layout before the terrazzo was laid in. And so there it stands, a 26,000-year clock of sorts, for all the world to see, and yet still mired in obscurity. It is pretty hard to imagine the US Bureau of Reclamation using this type of write-up to interpret the monument… and they don’t. Who knows not all these postures of the mind if he would but stop to think of them as usable factors for determining proclivities of character? It is a knowledge bred down to us through the past experience of the whole race of men. There are as many others as there are fleeting emotions within the brain of each individual who inhabits the Earth. There is an angle for doubt, for sorrow, for hate, for joy, for contemplation, and for devotion. These postures may be matched to their corresponding reflexes in terms of angle and degree much as one would join cams in a worm-gear drive. While parts of it were helpful, the artist’s statement of intention was also highly convoluted and opaque. Hansen, the artist himself, which I thought would tell me everything I wanted to know. The first thing she sent me was a description of the plaza by Oskar J. As she sent me a few items, I began to see why the Bureau of Reclamation doesn’t explain very much about the monument’s background. I was able to get in touch with her after returning home. ![]() Right: Hansen laying out the axial precession. (Image courtesy of US Bureau of Reclamation). Left: Monument Plaza with access road on left.
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