Dear Robert

Many thanks for your constructive reply to my last letter. We have both had a few "digs" at each other in these opening exchanges, but I am sure we can now concentrate fully on the matter in hand.

You have concentrated exclusively on the 10,500 BC dating issue in your reply, so let us begin with that. As far as using Skyglobe is concerned, I deliberately did this because, certainly in the Orion Mystery and Keeper of Genesis, it is what you indicated you had used yourself. If you have written papers elsewhere which are more specific about your use of more advanced methods, then perhaps I can be accused of laxity in not knowing about this, but generally speaking I expect that this revelation will be news to most readers of your books and most interested researchers. Indeed, although I am clearly not an astronomer, I am aware of the effects of proper motion, nutation etc, and that they are not factored into Skyglobe, but had been led to believe they would not play a significant part.

At any rate, I checked the accuracy of my "on-screen" Skyglobe readings over the epochs by printing several of them out, and they are not in error by more than 1-2 degrees maximum (remember that the "zoom" function allows one to be much more accurate), which would lead me to question why if you were using the same software at least when you wrote the Orion Mystery you pinpointed 10,500 BC when the angle derived therefrom is only 35 degrees - I think even you would agree that this is not within "acceptable visual tolerances". However you have provided the answer, which is that the "lock" on this date was always much less the precise angle of the belt stars, and much more the fact that at this date the constellation of Orion was at its lowest point in the precessional cycle. I cannot disagree with this fact (as we indicate in "Giza: The Truth"), and I accept that you do make the point in your own books. However I think anyone who has followed this debate will agree that the confusion arises as a result of your placing the emphasis at least as much on the angle of the belt stars, which - using Skyglobe at any rate - is seriously questionable.

The other factors which you use to obtain your "lock" onto 10,500 BC are twofold, and I have problems with both. First, there appears to be a consensus of scholarly opinion that the constellation of Leo was not recognised in the major pyramid-building era c. 2500 BC - or certainly not as a Lion at any rate; (I know your opinion of some scholars, but I still feel that you have not proved your case on this point). Second, you emphasise the Sun rising due east at the vernal equinox in 10,500 BC, with the Sphinx pointing directly towards it; however, as you yourself admit, this is true in ANY era, so of itself this hardly supports your case. In "Keeper" you seem to be suggesting that the TIMING of the sunrise at the vernal equinox coincided with the culmination of Orion on the meridian c. 10,500 BC - and that this happened to be also its lowest culmination. If that is the case (and clearly Skyglobe is not sufficiently accurate for me to check it), it is clearly an astronomical "coincidence" which is rendered somewhat less symbolic if the Sphinx wasn't even there at this time (see below).

Nevertheless, in the light of your revelation about the updated methods you use to calculate the angle of the belt stars, and if Professor Bruck's confirmation of the approximate angle is reliable (I mean no disrespect, only that I do not have the time or the inclination to learn about the more advanced calculations to check them for myself, for reasons which will become clear), then your theory might appear to have improved viability. However clearly any interested party must then decide how important it might have been to the ancient Egyptian pyramid-builders to pinpoint the start of Orion's precessional cycle - especially since the implication is clearly that they not only wanted to demonstrate their knowledge of precession, but that they were commemorating the "first time" of the elder gods. The significance you attach to the re-dating of the Sphinx then comes into play, and you clearly believe that this is the final piece of the jigsaw since it was built in this epoch of the "first time" by these "gods", who were therefore a genuine "ancient civilisation" of whatever origins. From my personal perspective, you will no doubt be aware of my antipathy to the redating of the Sphinx, which is purely on the grounds of my analysis of the evidence rather than any embedded preconceptions - indeed I am always at pains to point out that I do not reject the notion of advanced civilisations in great antiquity, but I do not believe the Sphinx is proof thereof. For this reason, and others which I will come onto below, I still find your case unsound.

Incidentally, lest I am consigned by you back to that most terrible of fates - that of double-entry book-keeping - I think it only fair to say that I am well aware of the unrivalled role which symbolism and archetypes played in the lives and works of ALL the ancient cultures around the globe, and of the extent to which this is sometimes underplayed and misunderstood by orthodox academics. This should be clear, for example, from our conclusions about the "star-shafts" and the acoustic knowledge of the pyramid-builders in "Giza: The Truth". Indeed my own research is now moving strongly in this direction. Accordingly I have no problem with the obvious importance of the concept of "as above, so below". However, I still maintain that theories such as yours must be subjected to the same rigorous scrutiny as any other, albeit while making allowances for a change in mindset, and I still find them lacking, not least for the following additional reasons.

As I indicated at the outset, you concentrated your reply exclusively on the dating issue. However you completely ignored the new points I made about the basic correlation theory. To reiterate, these are as follows: First, the massive (and not in any sense pedantic) differential between the size of the Third Pyramid and that of Mintaka relative to their earthly and celestial counterparts. And second, the incontrovertible evidence for significant replanning of the Second and Third Pyramids, both in terms of size and location; (readers should refer back to my original communication of the 5th December). Both of these, in my view, detract from the fundamental hypothesis of a correlation in the ground plan to such an extent that the dating issues we discussed above in fact becomes completely irrelevant.

Perhaps after such heavy prompting you would now like to turn your attention to these latter points...

Best regards, Ian

PS Two minor points. First, personally I am not a major supporter of conspiracy theories, and certainly not in relation to yourself and Graham Hancock. Second, yes of course I want to generate publicity for our book by placing "open letters" on the Internet. We all have to make a living, and I am now writing full-time. However, I am actually far more interested in bottoming out the real issues about the various theories we have discussed in our book, in good faith, and in allowing the general public to witness a constructive and important debate in progress. If I am failing in this objective, I am sure Greg will pull the plug on me in no time!