Welcome to the Before Orion portal with Bernie Taylor. On these pages you will find images, videos and interviews exploring Bernie Taylor’s Before Orion: Finding the Face of the Hero (2017) and Biological Time (2004) hypotheses. Peer through the combined lenses of archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, depth psychology and mythology to rediscover some of mankind’s greatest secrets. Please share this material on social media through the icons on the bottom of the following pages and follow Bernie Taylor through the Before Orion social media links, academia.edu and ResearchGate for the latest content releases.

Are you ready to find the face of the hero?

Joseph Campbell spoke of the hero’s journey monomyth which he believed is at the core of all great myths. Was there an original hero’s journey myth or is the archetypal hero embedded in our collective unconscious as Carl Jung proposed? Could there be a mix of the two? Explore more 2 minute videos.

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Recorded Presentations

Were Göbekli Tepe and other Anatolian megaliths a cultural beginning, an end, or something along the way? Consider these Ice Age images and more recent traditions in “Founding Megaliths (PDF),” as presented at the Fourth International Symposium Megalithic Monuments and Cult Practices – 2024. Learn more about cultural astronomy.

Can we connect millenniums of Upper Paleolithic cave art to indigenous traditions in our present time? Consider the evidence with “Animistic Roots of Prehistoric Art (PDF),” as presented at the 2024 VANDA Conference – #VANDAConf. Learn more about Ice Age art.

Could birds have mediated the real and imaginary in Ice Age art? Consider these Ice Age artifacts and their pictorial sources in “Feathered Beings in Ice Age Art (PDF),” as presented at the European Association of Archaeologists 2024 Annual Meeting – #EAA2024. Learn more about Ice Age art.

Is there a link that connects the range of Upper Paleolithic cave art? Consider the evidence with “Animistic Undercurrent in Ice Age Art? (PDF),” as presented at the 2024 Unravelling the Palaeolithic Conference – #UnravelPalaeo. Learn more about Ice Age art.

Connecting lunar timing traditions of animals as depicted in Franco Upper Paleolithic cave art with Native American calendars and rock art. Presentation and discussion of “Lunar Timekeeping in Upper Paleolithic Cave Art” (PDF), at The Society for Cultural Astronomy in the American Southwest.

Scientific study relies on our ability to measure time so as to organize and analyze data. The conscious measurement of time is not innate to primates and appears to be a realization unique to humans. How did we come to this conscious state of measuring time? Consider the evidence in “The Measurement of Time” (PDF), as presented at the History of Science Society 2023 Annual Meeting – #HSS23. Learn more about the path of scientific discovery.

Is there evidence of Neanderthal art? Consider these images from the San Diego Rock Art Association 2023 symposium presentation “Neanderthal Art? A closer look at La Roche-Cotard” (PDF). Learn more about the origins of art.

Can rock art be dated by the seasons of flora and fauna? Are we able to measurably survey terrestrial planes and night skies from distant millennia? Could we truly see the visions of Ice Age artists? Consider these approaches in “The Archaeometry of Space,” (PDF) as presented at the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP) 2023 World Congress – #UISPP2023. Learn more about precession of the equinoxes.

Did we create art or were artistic visualizations first found within our reach? Consider these Ice Age artifacts and their pictorial sources in “Sacred Landscapes in Rock Art,” (PDF) as presented at the European Association of Archaeologists 2023 Annual Meeting – #EAA2023. Learn more about landscape archaeology.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/836799130?h=b46c8332a7

Deep discussion on lunar timekeeping and humanity at the University College of London Anthropology Department “Radical Anthropology Group” evening class series. More on lunar timekeeping.

Are there “as above, so below” themes in rock art? Consider early evidence in “Parallel Planes in Rock Art” (PDF) as presented at the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO) 2023 Inter-Congress Symposium.  Learn more about rock art.

Did we invent painting, engraving and sculpture or were these forms of art earlier found thru the eyes of the beholders? Consider these artifacts in “Origins of Cave Art – Evidence from the Archaeological Record,” (PDF) as presented at the Society for American Archaeology 2023 Annual Meeting – #SAA2023Portland. Learn more about the origins of art.

Hunter-gatherer and ancient peoples are globally recorded as teaching their cultural histories and geography through engaging ordinary and supernatural characters on a journey. Can geographic methods be taught with these epic narratives? Find the methodology in this American Association of Geographers 2023 Annual Meeting – #AAG2023 presentation “Mapping Hercules – A Geographic Teaching Tool.” (PDF) More indigenous and ancient perspectives.

Was cave art founded in altered states of consciousness? Consider the evidence in “Altered States in Ice Art?” as presented to the Association for the Anthropology of Consciousness in 2023. Explore more anthropology presentations.

Did Native Americans and European Ice Age artists share a common awareness of the natural world? Consider the evidence in this 2022 San Diego Rock Art Association symposium presentation “Rock Art in Time” (PDF) Explore more archeoastronomy research.

Was landscape pareidolia projected onto the walls of Ice Age caves? View the archaeology record through “Living Landscapes in Ice Age Art,” as delivered at the International Association of Landscape Archaeology conference – IALA 2022 (PDF). Explore more cultural heritage presentations.

Do marks in Ice Age caves form our first verifiable calendar? Consider the evidence in “Lunar Timekeeping in Ice Age Art,” as presented at the European Society for Astronomy in Culture / Société Européenne pour l’Astronomie dans la Culture conference – SEAC 2022 (PDF). Explore more archaeoastronomy presentations.

Was there a perceived connection between the Underworld, Terrestrial Realm and the Sky World in Ice Age Europe? Re-discover our hunter-gatherer cultural heritage in “Living Mountains in Ice Age Art,” (English PDF) as presented at The Arts in Society 2022 conference in English, Spanish, French and Basque. Explore more cultural heritage presentations. #ICAIS22

Did peoples on distant lands reinvent fundamental animistic traditions or have we been carrying them with us on our migrations? Explore this American Anthropological Association 2021 Annual Meeting presentation (PDF) and other videos of early animistic traditions.

A journey before the records of the Mesopotamians and ancient Greeks to re-discover earlier sources of our scientific heritage in “Upper Paleolithic Constellations” (PDF). Presented at the European Society for Astronomy in Culture / Société Européenne pour l’Astronomie dans la Culture Conference on Cultural Astronomy & Ancient Skywatching – SEAC 2021. Explore more archeoastronomy presentations.

Are sacred mountains psychological and archaeological connections between world cultures? Consider this Iberian-western North African archeological evidence in “Sacred Mountains in the Upper Paleolithic” (English PDF), as presented at the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP) World Congress XIX. This video playlist offers narrations and text in English, español, française, berber/Tifinagh and Moroccan darija.

Hunter-gatherers and ancient peoples around the world have the common tradition of a bird-person intermediary to the divine. Is this proof of a Great Almighty or that this spiritual tradition comes from a common source deep in time? Explore one answer with “Angelic Messengers or Mortal Projections?” (PDF), as presented at the International Association for the Psychology of Religion 2021 Conference. Discover other Upper Paleolithic traditions.

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Was the first art constructed by the hands of people or did we identify art in the world around us? Consider Pablo Picasso’s revelation about humanity from the Paleolithic Cave of Altamira and a more recent intriguing observation. Unveil Picasso’s secret.

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