Humans have a long history of altering their environment by producing an extensive lexicon of geometric and pictographic earthworks. One of the first major discoveries of geoglyphic formations was the mysterious Nazca lines in Peru. These formations were left unseen for centuries as travelers unwittingly trampled over this sacred text. The world was not aware of these odd linear features, such as this Trapezoid (Figure 1,) until the 1930s, when trans-Andean aviators began flying over the arid Nazca plateau. Pilots saw a vast assortment of lines that formed images of different types of geometric patterns and animals scattered across this ancient landscape.
Archaeologists believe that many of these early formations were created by some of our earliest cultures to establish memorials or monuments for worship and sacred ritual. Astronomers speculate that many of these mounds and linear formations may have been created to represent prominent constellations or to mark important planetary and solar alignments.
The creation of geoglyphic art works may also have been produced as territorial markers establishing tribal boundaries that could be seen from a high vantage point, such as a surrounding hill side or a distant mountain peak. Still, others believe they were constructed for no other reason than to communicate with the gods above, or be seen by the watchful eye of extraterrestrials.
(Figure 1) Trapezoid, Peru. (Google Earth).
In the 1820’s Carl Friedrich Gauss, a well-known German mathematician, had the idea of creating an immense geometric landform to communicate with extraterrestrials. He proposed the construction of an enormous diagram depicting the Pythagorean Theorem, also known as the 47th Problem of Euclid in the thick Siberian forest.
The proposed landform would consist of one large right triangle and three squares cut into the dense pine forest. Once the imprint was complete, wheat would be planted inside each of the cleared areas to provide a contrasting color to the pine trees. This massive agricultural imprint would be so large it could be seen from the Moon or Mars. Gauss believed that a complex geometric image of the Pythagorean Theorem would demonstrate the existence of intelligent life on Earth and get the attention of alien observers. His proposed geometric landform was never realized.
Whatever rational we use to consider or reject the idea of constructing such enormous geoglyphic formations here on earth, it is clear that mankind’s obsession with transforming his environment and producing pictographic or geometric monuments is a long held human tradition. Perhaps these early builders also contemplated the idea of constructing a visual “marker” that could be seen from space by a watchful eye in the sky and establish contact between two worlds.
This vary question of finding a “marker” on another planet was addressed by a group of mainstream scientists in a 2014 book entitled; Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication. The report, which was led by astrobiologist Douglas A. Vakoch, included NASA and SETI scientists along with archeologists and anthropologists, determined that the observation of rock art and sculptural carvings on a planetary surface should be considered as possible examples of extraterrestrial communication. The authors make the case that scientists may have difficulty identifying “manifestations of extraterrestrial intelligence” because they might “resemble a naturally occurring phenomenon.” This leaves the door open for the idea that an unknown, lost civilization could have left us a message on Earth or our moon or even on Mars that we are totally unequipped to understand or even recognize.
The Exclamation Mark
On January 11, 2011 the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft acquired an image of something unusual within the Syrtis Major hemisphere of the planet Mars. sitting in an area known as Libya Montes. The on board HiRISE camera snapped an image of what appeared to be an odd wedge-shaped formation with an attached circular dome (Figure 1). The HiRISE image ESP_020794_1860 was taken in the early afternoon with an exceptional resolution of 50 cm per pixel. The official release on the University of Arizona web site included a caption that accompanied the image, which referred to this odd, geometrically-shaped formation as an “exclamation mark” Traditionally, the basic shape of a conjoined wedge and dome formation is commonly referred to as a keyhole.
(Figure 1) Keyhole Structure- rotated 90° east. Detail of MRO HiRISE image ESP_020794_1860 (2011).
The formation was brought to my attention during the summer of 2013 by a colleague of mine at the Society for Planetary SETI Research, Greg Orme. Soon after down loading the image and examining it up close, I posted an article about it on The Cydonia Institute’s discussion board tilted Keyhole – Exclamation Mark on Mars, with a link to the original image. Its reception was overwhelming and the Keyhole structure quickly became the new hot topic of numerous YouTube videos and online news articles. Many of the reports actually published parts of my article along with my drawings without any mention of me or The Cydonia Institute. The Keyhole was everywhere.
MRO & THEMIS
Excited with the discovery and all the attention it was getting, I performed an extensive search of the NASA archive and I found two additional images of the keyhole structure that were taken three years earlier, during the winter of 2007.
The first image of the Keyhole structure was acquired by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HiRISE spacecraft in November with its smaller context camera (CTX). The image P14_006672_1836_XN_03N267W was taken during mid-morning, with a resolution of 5 pixels per meter (Figure 2).
(Figure 2) Keyhole structure. Detail of MRO HiRISE CTX image P14_006672_1836_XN_03N267W (2007).
The second image of the Keyhole structure was taken by the Mars Odyssey THEMIS camera, which again captured the entire structure. The narrow-angle image V26406033 was taken in December, during the early afternoon, with a lower resolution of approximately 17 meters per pixel (Figure 3).
(Figure 3) Keyhole structure. Detail of Mars Odyssey THEMIS image V26406033 (2007).
The wedge and dome-shape of the keyhole structure is easily seen in both images, which are similar in tonality. It sits alone within a flat terrain with sun light hitting the western side of the wedge form and the dark shadows giving form to its southeastern side. The MRO HiRISE CTX image provides more detail and shows the ribbed texture of the dome and the sharp edge of the wedge is more defined.
Top image: The planet Mars.
Source: Andrea Luck/CC BY-SA 2.0.
By George Haas
George Hass is the founder and premier investigator of the Mars researh group known as The Cydnonia Institute. A member of the Society for Planetary SETI Research, he is the author of The Great Architects of Mars: Evidence for the Lost Civilizations on the Red Planet, and has written multiple peer-reviewd science papers related to anomalous formations on the surface of Mars. He has appeared on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and on the History Channel's Ancient Aliens, The Proof is Out There, and The UnXplained with William Shatner. He lives in Waterford, Virginia.
