The Memory Code: The traditional Aboriginal memory technique that unlocks the secrets of Stonehenge, Easter Island and ancient monuments the world over

Whenever an attempt is made to convey indigenous knowledge in writing, a great deal of the original genre is lost.

The oral tradition itself is retained in the memory of the owner, the device being an aid to that memory.

These silos of generic information are an artefact of literacy, where so much is written and research is so focused that much of the interconnectedness of the human experience is lost.

Rituals, by definition, are simply acts that are repeatedly performed. Those performances include the songs and dances that encode knowledge of a wide range of the practical subjects I was exploring, not just the navigational routes. What intrigued me was the way the songlines acted as an organiser, a table of contents to so much of the knowledge.

Imagine the situation where the tribe finds itself in a severe drought. Many decades ago, their forebears had survived a similar drought. As the stories of the drought recorded, without water the plants in their territory would offer only minimal sustenance, not enough for survival. However, the bush with the red leaf tips was safe even though they

They were so much more than navigational tools. At each sacred place along the route, songs were sung and rituals performed.

Orality, I soon discovered, was about making knowledge memorable. It was about using song, story, dance and mythology to help retain vast stores of factual information when the culture had no recourse to writing.

The fact that many of these monuments are circular is indicative of the way time is cyclic for indigenous cultures when they talk of resource management and agriculture.

If the songs are not sung, the stories not told, the knowledge not repeated, then valuable information may be lost.