The McDaniel Report Newsletter

Revision of Some McDaniel Report Evaluations

Copyright © 1996 by Stanley V. McDaniel

The McDaniel Report gave the details of a number of geometric measurements made by science writer Richard C. Hoagland and reported in his book The Monuments of Mars. These measurements, which make up Hoagland's proposed "Cydonia Complex" of geometrically arranged landforms, have been interpreted by him as drawing attention to certain aspects of tetrahedral geometry, and as providing virtual "proof" that the Cydonian objects are artificial. Since publication of the Report, I have had the opportunity to discuss these measurements with a number of scientists, and have revised my own evaluation of some of the measurements.

Alignments of the D&M "Pyramid"

It is important to note that the object referred to as the "D&M Pyramid," which Mr. Hoagland has generally presented as a symmetrical five-sided pyramidal structure with a unique geometry, does not presently have such a shape and is not known to have originally had such a shape. The symmetrical shape referred to is one that has been proposed as the possible original shape of the object as a result of careful measurements made by a skilled cartographer, Mr. Erol Torun. Torun's work is outstanding. It raises significant questions about the morphology of that landform. But The McDaniel Report made it clear that Mr. Torun had presented a hypothetical model based on the assumption that the object originally had a single apex, and had not claimed to have confirmed that this was indeed its original shape.

In the absence of ground measurements, one way to test the validity of the Torun proposal is to demonstrate some corroboration of the proposed geometry by referring to measurements made outside the object itself. Hoagland has made such measurements (the "Cydonia Complex") and has concluded that they do support the Torun model. These measurements are reported in The McDaniel Report and in Hoagland's book The Monuments of Mars.

Unfortunately, many of the key geometric measurements cited by Mr. Hoagland are made using the hypothetical apex of the Torun model as a reference point, which means that these measurements are as hypothetical as the model itself, and cannot be used, therefore, to support the validity of the model. Similarly, several key reference points for the Hoagland measurements, located near or on the Face, do not appear to correspond to any clearly identifiable features.

Alignment of "Mounds" with the "Cliff"

Several isolated small objects which have been called "mounds," north of the D&M, were said by Hoagland to be aligned with the north and south ends of the enigmatic landform called the "Cliff." Careful inspection of a new orthographically rectified blowup of the region has revealed that this is not the case. These erroneous "alignments" were reported on pages 116, 121, and 122 of The McDaniel Report. In view of the new measurements, we cannot consider these particular alignments to exist.

4.7 Degree Angles Questioned

Another set of measurements mentioned in the Report is a group of 4.7 degree angles, which Hoagland had argued is significant because two constants, e (the base of the natural logarithms) and the square root of 3, when multiplied together equal 4.7 degrees. Aside from the fact that such a result could be simply coincidence and would have stronger significance only if the Torun model were validated, the margin of error for these angular measurements is 0.2 degrees, which would mean that the angles could be anywhere from 4.5 to 4.9 degrees. In my opinion this is too great an error margin to render these particular measurements significant.

Summary

The extreme heterogeneity of the various objects selected by Mr. Hoagland for his measurements (they are of all different sorts) renders the idea that they represent some sort of geometric complex designed to convey intelligence questionable. Of all the measurements, the one angle of 19.5 degrees (a tetrahedral constant) measured between the objects known as the Tholus, the Cliff, and the Cliff Crater Pyramid appears to be the most reliable. However, recent research by independent investigators, to be reported in this Newsletter in May, appears to lend support to at least some of Hoagland's measurements.

Even discounting some of Hoagland's measurements, however, and recognizing the hypothetical nature of the Torun model, there remains more than enough data regarding the Face, the "D&M Pyramid," and other objects at Cydonia to keep the question of artificiality open and to support the need for further investigation.