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An illiterate West African tribe known as the Dogon-who live in the Bandiagara Cliffs of Southeastern Mali-startled the scientific world in the 1950s when it was discovered that their priests have had extremely complex knowledge of astronomy for at least 700 years… …Two French Anthropologists, Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, lived and worked with the Dogon from 1931 to 1956 and eventually became so loved and trusted that they were initiated into the tribe. After 16 years of stage by stage initiations, the Dogon called a conference and revealed to these Europeans their intimate secret knowledge of the solar system that was eventually recorded in a book entitled The Pale Fox. The Frenchmen were told that our solar system consists of a fixed star with planets rotating around this star and moons rotating around the planets. They said a force we describe as “gravity” was responsible for holding the planets and moons in place. The Dogon gave names and a complete description of the properties and behavior of the planets, moons, and fixed stars such as Polaris, Sirius, and the Pleiades. Mars, for example, was called “Yapunu toll” meaning “planet of menstruation” perhaps because of its red color. A calendar based on the six positions or phases of Venus determined when the Dogon would plant and harvest their food for best results. However, no aspect of Dogon knowledge has created more astonishment than their description of the properties of the star known as Sirius B (po tolo to the Dogon).