265: Chapter 265: Two Moons in the Sky!!!

Jiang Zhe continued operating his tablet and found an image of a collection of ancient rock paintings from the Altai Mountains in Northern Xinjiang.

"Xiaoyu, the following rock paintings were all carved by ancient people twelve thousand years ago, before the Great Flood."

He pulled up the image, zoomed in, zoomed in again, and pointed at the screen, saying, "This is a large collection of ancient rock paintings discovered by our country's archaeologists in an ancient cave in the Altai Mountains of Northern Xinjiang in the early 1960s."

Xiaoyu leaned closer to the screen, carefully examining the black-and-white photograph before her.

In the image, the rock wall was densely covered with various symbols and figures.

Jiang Zhe used his finger to outline an area on the screen and zoomed in. "Look at this set of lunar phase diagrams: the crescent moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter, and waning crescent—they are all there."

He pointed to one of the full moon images. "The most critical part is this. Look closely. What is in this position on the full moon image—the lower left near the south pole?"

Xiaoyu squinted her eyes, pursed her lips, and carefully identified it.

"There are… there are radial fine stripes, it looks like there are seven or eight of them!"

"Exactly." Jiang Zhe nodded. "Those are the radiation patterns of the craters on the lunar surface; the radial stripes spreading outward from the center of the crater are called radiation patterns, or light rays."

He looked up and feigned curiosity as he looked at Xiaoyu. "The problem is, today we need an astronomical telescope to clearly see the craters and radiation patterns on the lunar surface. But ancient people tens of thousands of years ago accurately drew these details on lunar maps with the naked eye."

"Furthermore," Jiang Zhe continued, pointing at the image, "the rock containing this painting was located beneath the Quaternary alluvial layer of the Cenozoic era; based on this, archaeologists have determined that this is a work from the Paleolithic era, tens of thousands of years ago."

"Tens of thousands of years ago?" Xiaoyu gasped.

"Yes! Ancient people tens of thousands of years ago drew lunar details that can only be seen with an astronomical telescope." Jiang Zhe looked at Xiaoyu, a slight smile forming at the corner of his mouth. "What does this mean?"

Xiaoyu swallowed hard. Before she could speak, a frenzy of comments flooded the live stream.

"Holy crap, people tens of thousands of years ago saw craters with the naked eye?"

"Damn, the myths of the Sumerian Civilization were like that too, right? Did they see Neptune with the naked eye back then too?"

"What the heck, is it that their eyesight was good, or...?"

"What else could it mean? It just means that a long time ago, the celestial bodies in the Solar System were very close to Earth, and as time passed, they gradually moved away. And it also means the Moon was incredibly close to Earth!"

"Right, it's not that their eyesight was good, it's that only if the Moon was close enough to Earth could those details be seen with the naked eye!"

"I've got goosebumps again!"

"I think I've seen this Northern Xinjiang rock painting in some documentary."

"So twelve thousand years ago, the Moon was really just overhead?"

"Does this mean the Moon was really closer to Earth than we modern people imagine?"

Xiaoyu covered her mouth in disbelief, her face full of astonishment.

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly without responding. "There is even more direct evidence."

He pulled up another ancient rock painting image and pointed to the screen. "This is a rock painting from Tiantai Mountain in the Greater Khingan Range. Archaeologists have verified that this is a sacrificial site from twelve thousand years ago."

Xiaoyu stared at the screen, observing carefully. On the image was a huge brown rock platform, with clear patterns carved into the rock wall.

Jiang Zhe zoomed in on the image. "Look at this set of rock paintings. In the image, there are seven human figures in a worshiping posture, with their arms parallel and slightly raised. However, in the sky above their heads—"

At this point, he pointed to two circular patterns above the image. "Two moons are carved there, with stars and clouds beside them."

Xiaoyu's eyes widened. "Two moons?"

"That's right!" Jiang Zhe nodded. "On the rock painting from twelve thousand years ago, two moons are clearly carved."

He looked at Xiaoyu with a slight nod. "In their sacrificial rituals, the ancients recorded the sky they saw, which had two moons."

Xiaoyu opened her mouth wide. "This!!!"

Jiang Zhe did not respond and continued, "There is also the legend of the Hopi Tribe in North America."

He pulled up a text document, which came from a geological paper in English from abroad.

"The Hopi Tribe is an ancient Indian tribe in North America. Their oral history says, 'There was once a dancing moon in the sky; later it stopped, and it no longer dances.'"

"'The dancing moon'—if all this is true, what were the ancient people of the North American Hopi Tribe referring to?"

Xiaoyu gasped. "It refers to... the Moon just after being captured by Earth, while it was still rotating!!!"

"Correct, perfect answer!"

As he finished speaking, the comments in the live stream went completely wild!

"Two moons!"

"Good heavens, so when Venus threw the Moon over, there really were two moons in the night sky!"

"One was Venus's original moon, the other was Earth's original moon, or what? Or did I misunderstand?"

"No, it must be that while the Moon was approaching, it looked exceptionally large, and the ancients thought there were two, right?"

"My scalp is tingling!"

"Wait, I study North American Indian culture!"

"I've heard the Hopi Tribe's legend of the 'dancing moon.' They also said the Moon used to be a 'naughty child,' appearing now here, now there, sometimes far, sometimes near. If you compare it like this... damn, my scalp is tingling!"

"Yes, yes, yes, I've heard that too. The moon in the Hopi Tribe's oral history moves, unlike today where it quietly faces the Earth with one side!"

"So it's not a myth, it's an eyewitness account???"

In the living room, Jiang Zhe smiled slightly. "Xiaoyu, do you understand now?"

"Twelve thousand years ago, there was no moon in myths around the world. That wasn't because the Moon didn't exist at all!"

"It was because, at that time, the Moon was tumbling and dancing in the sky, and changing drastically. The ancients had no idea what it was. Was it the Moon? No, how could there be two moons?"

"It wasn't until the Moon's orbit gradually stabilized, it stopped wobbling and dancing, and after it became tidally locked with Earth, always facing Earth with the same face, that the ancients began to record it, worship it, and finally named it the 'Moon.'"

Xiaoyu sat blankly on the sofa, unable to speak for a long time.

"This..." At this moment, Jiang Zhe's easy-to-understand explanations made millions of viewers gasp and feel their scalps tingle.

Not only that, even the experts hidden in the live stream from all over felt inferior. This was truly the Great Dao is simple, the Great Dao is simple!

Why must modern people doubt everything about the ancients? The ancients weren't stupid; they just didn't have modern vocabulary to tell modern people, so they could only use eyewitness accounts and murals to preserve it!!!

Some newly joined astronomy online course teachers were silent, feeling that they had been teaching useless textbooks for half their lives! ...

At this moment, at the National Astronomical Observatory. Director Wang Weiguo stared intently at the rock painting of the two moons on the screen, speechless for a long time.

"Two moons!" He repeated the phrase many times.

Professor Zhang Qinian stood up and walked to the projection with a profound expression.

"The archaeological date of this rock painting is twelve thousand years ago, which is exactly the time node that Jiang Zhe spoke of."

"Seven people worshiping on the mural, with two moons above their heads—this is not artistic imagination at all; this is a record from ancient times."

Zhang Lin couldn't help but say, "If there really were two moons back then..."

"Then that means the Moon had just been captured." Director Wang realized and took over the conversation. "That satellite of Venus was approaching Earth, or rather, it was in the process of being captured by Earth."

"It is also possible that the other moon was actually Venus, and the ancients just didn't know what it was!"

Several young researchers looked at each other. "So those myths are true, and not just history?"

Wang Weiguo shook his head slightly. "Before today, I didn't believe myths were real. I would only think they were the ancients' worship of the sky. But as the evidence provided by Jiang Zhe becomes more and more..."

"I am starting to waver!" As he finished, Professor Zhang Qinian raised his hand. "Same here."