by Murray Byfield
Gosford Glyphs Investigation.
I first visited the Hieroglyph site many years ago I have been to the site numerous times and have taken many pictures studied them intensely and even made a short video.
This article is my final examination of the Gosford Hieroglyph mystery.
Common folklore and theories surrounding the Glyphs:
* Locals have known about the existence of the glyphs for over a century.
* Ancient explorers from Egypt carved the symbols after they were stranded in Australia and their captain was killed by a snake. The glyphs are a funerary text.
* The large rock to the east which the majority of the Glyphs are written on is in fact a tomb where the aforementioned Egyptian captain is buried.
* A Veteran from WWI learned the style of writing whilst stationed in Egypt. He settled on a farm nearby and carved the glyphs in his spare time.
* University students camped in the area for some time or on repeated visits carved the symbols as a prank.
* Someone copied them straight from an ancient Egyptian text found in a book or photograph.
* The Glyphs are not ancient and have been added to over the years by several individuals.
* Road construction workers carved them whilst “bludging”.
* The Hieroglyphs are supposed to have been written in an Archaic Egyptian style (according to White, 1996) which is quite different from middle Egyptian which most Egyptologists learn.
After I originally visited the site have really got stuck in to learning AEH (Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics). As the stories and speculations of the Gosford Hieroglyphs really intrigued me and furthermore I have been fascinated with Ancient Egypt as far back as I can remember. And I hoped I would be able to “translate” what the glyphs really said.
I quickly realized that while some of the glyphs are Egyptian many of them do not correspond to Ancient Egypt i.e. such as “a dog bone” “a UFO” “a stick figure” “a bell”. Some have claimed that these other strange figures are Phoenician. I found only two or three symbols that could relate to ancient Phoenician. These being: an X, a cross, and a T with three strokes. Which I believe is supposed to be a poor version of the AEH Djed. Considering it is contained in the Ra Djed Mer cartouche. Having said this some simple translations are possible such as the cartouches of Khufu, Sneferu and Nefersedeb.
The fact is Ancient Egyptian scribes were meticulous; they were neat and organized with much defined rules. You would read into the face of the animal or person follow it along in that direction either horizontally or vertically and very, very rarely did these figures face each other.
The translation by White 1996 claimed that the glyphs were written in an archaic style which most Egyptologists do not learn. The can easily be refuted by the fact that the cartouches that appear i.e. Sneferu and Khufu were 4th Dynasty Kings. (Archaic being Dynasty 0-1st) White dates the site as being around the third. The fact is that the Ancient Egyptian style of writing was well established by the 4th Dynasty and changed very little over a long period of time.
White’s translation of the captain of an Egyptian ship being killed by a snake is totally unfounded. Hieroglyphics of a ship, a dead person, a snake and fangs do appear. But respectively these individual glyphs stand for; A ship (to sail), a dead person (dead or to lie down), a snake (the consonant for d which is pronounced j) and fangs (det which represents the sky). These glyphs like the rest of the site do not describe anything that could be translated into such a detailed story.
The truth as to who most likely carved the glyphs is detailed below:
According to exwitch.com.au
Alan Dash, a surveyor with the Gosford City Council between 1968 and 1993, first noticed the carvings about 1975. Thoroughly familiar with the area, he revisited the site several times over the next 5 years, each time observing that more and more carvings appeared on the rock face. He considered the engravings the work of an irresponsible vandal.
Neil Martin, Ranger with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) at Gosford, himself found the man responsible. “In 1984 I was in the area helping to put out a fire”, he told me. “As I came around the base of the hill, I could hear a noise like someone chipping stone. I walked over to the cleft and found an old Yugoslavian man, chipping the stone with a Sidchrome cold chisel. Because this was national park property, I confiscated the chisel and the man left. Because he was mentally handicapped, we took no further action, but I later gave the chisel to the local historical society. We never saw the old man again.”
I am not sure as to what handicapped refers to in this case. It may mean that the man was simply slow or mentally retarded if this is the case it may explain why the non-Egyptian type glyphs such as the bell are present. Without sounding too insensitive perhaps a fantasy prone mind could explain the inconsistencies of the more bizarre symbols that appear.
If this is not the case I believe that the glyphs were deliberately written with the odd symbols to create intrigue. If the site was written completely in AEH by someone who could make complete sentences it would have been possible to translate the whole inscription. But what has happened is that ludicrous symbols such as the dog bone and UFO throw you off completely to create a mystery. And hence have the conspiracy theorists and new agers flapping with excitement. Not to mention all the ancient explorer theorists making translations of what “they” most want the Glyphs to say.
Now that I have successfully offended a few people don’t take me the wrong way I am not saying because I believe (with good reason) that the Gosford Glyphs are not ancient. Does not negate the fact that ancient explorers ever reached Australia. As I have stated elsewhere on this site. The existence of the the Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) proves the fact that these shores were visited by non European explorers. Genetically speaking the Dingo is related to Wolves found in Asia, most likely they were brought here by a seafaring culture such as the Chinese. Dingos have been in Australia for only approximately 5000 yrs. Aboriginals have existed in Australia for at least 40,000 years.
Conclusion
Unfortunately for me and for the believers out there I have come to the conclusion that the Gosford Glyphs are in fact fake. They were not written by stranded Egyptian sailors, they are simply too messy and jumbled to make any full sentences to describe such a tale.
That being said maybe the symbols appeal to our collective unconscious, I was immediately very attracted to the glyphs when I first saw them on the net. And the many people who consider the site “spiritual” are possibly drawn towards it form a deep subconscious association with the symbols. The ancient Egyptians considered the art of writing itself as a magical act. Writing was associated with the god Thoth who was also known for his knowledge of the magical arts if people do indeed visit the glyphs for spiritual reason, then fantastic, they are less likely to vandalize the site and “add” to the current glyphs. A spiritual place is what you make of it.
