A Journey to
The Ruins
of the Map Machine
Foreword by the Author
It has in recent years in this country and others repeatedly
been called into question whether what we call the Map
Machine has ever existed.
Some critics acknowledge the validity of the archeological
research concerning the individual ruins, but dispute that
there is any connection between them.
Others go as far as to refute the authenticity of the ruins
altogether, attributing them to a much later romantic period - doubting they were ever anything but ruins, let alone
functioning machines.
In the course of these disputes, some critic shave not even
shied back from accusing the author of this book of forgery
and fraud.
It is for this reason that in this “Journey to the Ruins of the
Map Machine”, I am presenting the overwhelming proof
and scientific evidence in favour of my research.
And it is with great confidence that I am leaving it to the
curios reader to form his or her own view.
In the August of 2010 - jm
On Exactitude In Science
by Jorge Luis Borges
‘… In that Empire, the Art of Cartography
attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and
the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no
longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds
struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that
of the Empire, and which coincided point for point
with it.
The following Generations, who were not so fond
of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had
been, saw that that vast Map was Useless, and not
without some Pitilessness was it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters.
In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals and
Beggars; in all the Land there is no other Relic of
the Disciplines of Geography.’
Suarez Miranda,Viajes de varones prudentes,
Libro IV,Cap. XLV, Lerida, 1658
On the Impossibility of Drawing a Map of the Empire on Scale 1 to 1
by Umberto Eco
“We would have to postulate an empire that
achieves awareness of itself in a sort of transcendental apperception of its own categorial apparatus in action. But that would require the existence
of a map endowed with self-awareness, and such a
map (if it were even conceivable) would itself become the empire, while the former empire would
cede its power to the map.”
As the two introductory quotattions in this book show, the concept of the
map on scale 1:1 is one very well established in literature.
Where Borges lays out the general idea of
the map, Umberto Eco’s essay is essential
for understanding why the map can be a
machine and why that machine also is a
computer at its heart.
For, the map can only exist as a process, as an ever changing mechanism,
equipped with a sense of awareness. It is
therefore only consistent to assume that
the map machine has logical components
and - with even more certainty - that it is
operated by humans.
The state we find the machine in today
- the state of a ruin - relieves it from its
mission. Territory and map are inseper-
The Map Machine
ably entangled in the map’s deteriorating
devices. And it does not seem reasonable
to speculate, that its builders sought exactly this reconcilation of map and territory when they eventually gave up the
machine’s maintainance.
But is the story of the map not just a
myth?
The ancient city of Troy was long believed to belong merely to the realm of
legends. Only few archeologists took
Homer’s writing as founded on historical
fact. Had they caved in to the ridicule of
their peers, how great would the loss to
our knowledge be today. Therefore, in
the following chapters the truth about the
map machine will be revealed by describing some of its components.
Cyanometer
In scientific circles it is a widely
held opinion that device A had the function of a Cyanometer. Its postion was adjusted depending on the blueness of the
sky, using a colour scale on the floor of
the device.
Cyanometer (Device A)
It is believed that a mirror on the floor of
the device was used to give an image of
the patch of sky visible through the oculus above and to compare it to the colour
scale. However, neither the mirror nor the
colour plates have yet been found.
Historically the invention of
the Cyanometer is attributed to HoraceBenedict de Saussure, a Swiss aristocrat
and physicist who lived from 1740 to
1799. The blueness of the sky was believed at the time to be a useful indica-
Cyanometer (Device A)
tor for weather forecasts. Also, it was
unknown in Saussure’s time why exactly
the sky has a blue colour.
Alexander von Humboldt used a Cyanometer throughout his travels to South
America.
Cyanometer
as used by Horace-Benedict de Saussure
Since Saussure’s and Humboldt’s time the blueness of the sky has
been of interest to artists more than it has
to scientists. Michael Surtees study of the
sky over New York may serve as an example for this.
Cyanometer (Device A)
The Cyanometer appears to be a late addition to the map machine. Theories on
the reasons for this are mere speculation.
There even is a minority of scientists who
call the identification of device A as a Cyanometer into question.
New York Color Study
by Michael Surtees
Logic Gates
Device B is part of the core of
the map machine site. It is one of the earliest components and erected on top of a
number of predecessor buildings, four of
which could be dated and mapped to this
day.
Logic Gates (Device B)
For a long time device B was falsely believed to be part of the storage facilities
and only recently could be proven to have
held the function of a fluidic logic gate.
One segment of the aqueducts that fed the
logic gates has been restored.
Recently discovered archival
material may give an idea of what the
earlier predecessors of Device B have
looked like (see right hand side).
Few remains have been found of these
earlier constructions. However, through
Logic Gate (Device B)
the analysis of well preserved foundation
piles and the reconstruction of the canal
layout in the immidiate surroundings,
there is today little doubt that they too
were logic devices of consderable size.
System Clock
When the system clock was
first discovered at the beginning of the
last century, the water tower was still
standing and even parts of the mechanical clock were still in their place.
System Clock (Device C)
The tower was since toppled by a winter
storm. Parts of the clockwork were taken
down and brought to the National Museum but have since been lost.
Earlier versions of the system
clock were housed in masonry towers.
In course of the general modernisation
of the map machine those towers were
mostly replaced by ones of the Device C
building class.
System Clock (Device C)
The image on the right shows a model
one of these towers of the earlier period.
Parts of the clockwork are visible and the
large pendulum that gave the system timing to the map machine.
Documents show that Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne was given
the task to test a clock in 1765.
Final proof is still to be brought but many
indications suggest that his tests were in
some connection to the system clock.
System Clock (Device C)
As the highest ranking astronomer of the
country it is reasonable to assume, that he
would be called upon when questions of
the map machine were discussed.
Mechanical Tentacle
Device D can clearly be identified as a part of the machine that was
originally completely underground - only
opening to the surface through a circular
oculus. Part of the surrounding ground
has eroded and left the device exposed in
Mechanical Tentacle (Device D)
the way we find it today. Unfortunately
in its current exposed state, the structure
itself is eroding at an exceeding rate.
Preservation is proofs to be difficult in
the remote mountainous area.
A team of Danish archeologists in a recent excavation found proof
for the long held theory that the structure
extends further underground and is in fact
connected to a larger fluidic network.
The expedetion brought to light a num-
Mechanical Tentacle (Device D)
ber of new artefacts and also was able to
draw up a detailed reconstruction plan
(see right). It is assumed, that the device
featured a large scale hydraulic piston,
that enabled it to be pushed out of its cavity - making it a Mechanical Tentacle
Mechanical Tentacle - Reconstruction Drawing
Reflection Catchers
Being more filigrane than most
of the other machine components, today
only few well preserverd examples of the
Reflection Catcher device can be found.
These devices were part of the input side
of the map machine.
Reflection Catchers (Device E)
They were always custom made for a particular place, tracing the shape and trajectory of the sun’s reflections on that place.
Device E was found in a forest - there
were no traces of its former surroundings.
Computer simulations have
been carried out to determine the original position and movement of the devices
found at the forest.
The device has a first screen that catches
reflections from a rectangular surface
Reflection Catchers (Device E)
- presumably a window - and a second
screen that shades the first from direct
sun light.
The simulations allowed for a surprisingly detailed reconstruction of the reflective
surfaces the devices once mapped.
Mechanical Tentacle - Reconstruction Drawing
Matching this reconstructed
information with archival material suggests a striking congruence with Red
Lion Square.
Reflection Catchers (Device E)
Etchings of Red Lion Square The Red Lion Square Theory is supported by most of the historical drawings available
Memory Basins
The memory basins are part of
an elaborate system of data storage.
The large vessels are connected to the
logic devices of the machine by underground piping.
The pulsed water stream received from
Memory Basins (Device F)
the logic devices is distriputed by Device
F into different memory basins.
As new information is coming in, the
stored water is cascading down to lower
basins.
The switch from open canals to
steel piping and high-pressure pipelines
is the biggest turning point in the history
of the map machine.
The design of the memory basins was
drastically influenced by this change.
While the predecessor device relied sole-
Memory Basins (Device F)
ly on gravity and the principle of communicating vessels (see reconstruction
drawing), the new memory component
was less dependent on the terrain and
therefore for data safety reasons mostly
placed in remote areas.
In addition to the machines
described in this book, there is a wealth
of machine ruins around the world that
await thorough scientific investigation.
Many will have no connection to the map
machine, but almost certainly many more
Logic Gate (Device B)
will be identified as vital parts of it.
While in the past people were indifferent to theses traces at best, there is now
a growing movement to find, record and
analyse these testimonies of the past.
Machine Ruins the former Yugoslawia
Photographs by Jan Kempenaer
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded
by Lewis Carroll
“ ‘That’s another thing we’ve learned from your
Nation,’ said Mein Herr, ‘map making. But we’ve
carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?’
‘About six inches to the mile.’
‘Only six inches!’ exclaimed Mein Herr. ‘ We very
soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried
a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the
grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of
the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!’
‘Have you used it much?’ I enquired.
‘It has never been spread out, yet,’ said Mein Herr:
‘the farmers objected: they said it would cover the
whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we
now use the country itself as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well.’”