Intuitive Archaeology – The man who sees beyond time.

The weather is overcast and rain threatens, yet I am filled with energy. I am standing where prehistoric peoples once lived, in a grove of aspen trees next to a small creek which flows out of the mountains of central Montana. I am a member of a small group of people exploring what may be the future of scientific research. George McMullen a Canadian in his seventies and an intuitive archaeologist, is the reason this group is here. McMullen is a world-traveled intuitive who has worked on ancient archaeological sites around the world. Working on a site in Egypt in 1978 McMullen correctly indicated where Cleopatra's palace would be found. With us is archaeologist Patrick Rennie, a scientist who works for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. We are attempting to further our understanding of the intuitive process and discover its usefulness and potential compatibility with hard science.

McMullen walks slowly over a section of the meadow that runs beside the creek. He is quiet and appears drawn inward. After a few minutes by himself he calls us over. "This is a good spot" McMullen says. "One of the most recent cultures was living here. They stayed back in here for shelter, and water, everything they needed. The people were sanitary." he says. "They weren't ignorant people; they were rather cultured, in fact and they kept their hair cut. They didn't let themselves go or anything like that. This was almost a tropical place. I can feel the heat. There were sloths, big, and they were one of the main foods because you could kill them easier."

To most people, the concept of intuitive archaeology is new. This merging of hard science with intuition may even seem an impossibility to some. Consciousness, an indefinable quality of human beings which cannot be measured, historically has not been considered in scientific inquiry. McMullen, however, is very comfortable with this approach. He has possessed "psychic" abilities from childhood though he kept very quiet about his ability for most of his life. "The Indians who built here, their energy is still here. There is a greater intelligence you can tap into because you're part of it. When you do that it becomes easier, you become more aware." "Eventually you become of aware of spirits," McMullen continues. "When we were in that canyon yesterday I was aware of spirits all around me, even of the stones and trees. It was a powerful force. As you become more aware you become more part of it. Then things open up to you as your awareness grows. You are aware that you do have contacts to greater information on the plane of consciousness that you are aligned with."

George points to one stone among several in front of the aspen trees. "There's a purpose to that stone. It has to do with identifying a people that were here, to let other people know that this is where they stayed," he says. "The later people were more mobile, transient. The farther back in time you go the more the people were permanent. ItÍs hard to get my bearings. . ." He pauses, taps his walking stick on the ground and looks around. "I would say there's three different cultures down below here. When they excavate they'll probably hit sedimentation gravel, then below the gravel you'll hit the oldest culture. The gravel is washed in from a flood, or something. You may find some stone tools down there."

The concept of "Intuitive Archaeology" is considered to have been developed by the late Dr. Norman Emerson, one of the forefathers of Canadian archaeology. Using McMullen's abilities on archaeological sites throughout Canada, Emerson boldly risked his reputation by utilizing intuition as part of his scientific work. "It rapidly becomes evident," Emerson once wrote in a paper presented to his peers, "that by availing myself of such sources of information — using intuitive or psychic informants — a whole new picture of man's distant past was readily available. The story of prehistory so revealed is richer, deeper, more human, and, in the last analysis, perhaps more 'true' than that produced by the traditional scientific archaeologists to date, with almost no exception."

Though using intuitives within scientific protocols may be rare, the revolution that Dr. Emerson foresaw — the wedding of intuition and science — is now being realized. More and more, science is utilizing human consciousness. The leading edge of quantum physics seems to indicate a connection between consciousness, which is unquantifiable, and physical matter. Quantum mechanics suggests that consciousness, a quality not measurable by current scientific instrumentation, cannot be left out of the equation because it affects the outcome of scientific experimentation. McMullen has practiced intuitive archaeology at sites as far afield as Ecuador, Columbia, France and Israel. His work has been mentioned in numerous books and magazines and extensively documented in "The Secret Vaults of Time" and "The Alexandria Project," by Stephen Schwartz of the Mobius Group.

"What did they look like?" someone asks McMullen, referring to the people who lived at the oldest level. "Fairly primitive, covered in skins." he answers, "Primitive tools, mostly stone. The other things, like feathers, are gone. I'm talking about 8,000 years ago. The animals were different, more aggressive, fierce. Most of the low shrubbery has been replaced. Evergreens were growing profusely, and other trees. The animals and birds were more numerous.

"For some reason they followed the receding ice," McMullen continues. "The people went north later on. Man was was receding after the ice. Food was abundant, bird life was heavy and many animals walked through the valley. Not much worry about food." As a scientist and the archaeologist who supervised on this site, Patrick Rennie listens intently and doesn't say much. He doesn't want to "front load" the experiment giving McMullen information that he can use cognitively. Later Rennie said he didn't know what to think. "Basically, I had no comprehension of how psychics worked. I was somewhat skeptical but I wanted to learn more. I now see it as another possible tool to use, however.

"Some of the things George said were very general," Rennie said, "but there were some things that he couldn't have known by ordinary means. When he was focusing on the oldest cultural level he said he had a difficult time getting his bearings. I couldn't see how there would be any difference between how the site looked when we were there and how it looked in the past. But later the soil scientists found a layer of stone below the younger layers that showed the whole area had been disturbed by a large event, like a landslide. The valley was subsequently reworked by the creek. This impressed me," Rennie said, "because on the surface the geology seemed to show that things had been pretty stable but that one event in the past may have significantly changed the appearance of the landscape."

"Another thing George said was that the older people stayed much longer in one place. This is information we've been able to confirm by sourcing the carbonized seeds of plants found in the older levels," Rennie explained. "One seed we found will only grow in highly disturbed soil, which indicates they must have lived there long enough to disturb the soil either through heavy cultural use or through cultivation." The question that continues to come up is what actually happens when McMullen works with invisible, nonphysical energy. What forces are at work? We've questioned McMullen extensively about what happens to him when he accesses the information about these ancient sites. McMullen's answers seem to echo discoveries being made in cutting-edge physics, which reveals that consciousness affects physical matter. "Each one of us, when we build, create or do," he explains, "creates energy. We put ourselves into it and that energy stays within that object. The energy is there," McMullen says. "My guides see the energy and flush it out. They build on that energy so I can see what it was. They put flesh on the bones; they put body on the energy, then I can see what happens."

This process may seem indefinable and fantastic to the scientific mind. Regarding McMullen's abilities, the late Dr. Emerson wrote, "George's statements seemed to indicate that he was doing things other than just performing intuitively. He was recalling or relating events far back in time (retrocogrition); he was seeing events taking place (clairvoyance); he was going up in the air to make observations while his physical body stayed on the ground ('astral traveling"), and he spoke of receiving symbolic and verbal messages (clairaudience and clairsentience). Such realization, combined with George's accuracy was, as I have said, 'mindboggling'."

In the field, McMullen's matter-of-fact demeanor makes the process seem quite natural. As he walked slowly over the site McMullen continued to speak of his impressions: "The women were more inclined to be heavy-set, heavy-legged and heavily armed. The men were about the same. There wasn't any fat on their bodies; they were fairly lean, well-built, muscular. They could run like hell. The subsisted mostly on the slower animals and birds, different birds than you see around today. They were isolated from other tribes of the same type. They knew of other tribes; they even visited them sometimes. They traded for different things. There was no antagonism between them because food was plentiful."

The shadow of the connection between intuition and science always has lurked under the surface of scientific inquiry. How many times have we heard the "flash of insight" that has come to the scientist or researcher who has reached an impasse in his or her experiments or investigations? It has been documented that scientific breakthroughs and inventions have appeared, for instance, in the dream of a sleeping scientist. A famous example of this is how the 19th century chemist Kekule von Stradonitz discovered the molecular structure of Benzine while dozing in front of a fire.

It is common knowledge that experienced and proficient police officers often employ a "sixth sense" as a guide in their investigations. This sense can reveal a previously unrecognized clue or can serve to forewarn an officer of impending danger. In order for this type of information to come through it seems to require some degree of open-mindedness, a lessening of skepticism that leaves an opening. McMullen has said that it is distracting, if not actually self-defeating, to have hardened skeptics with him while he is doing his work. When this occurs, he says, there often is little or no useful information revealed.

On the other hand, runaway optimism also can be a limiting factor. Our research has shown that there needs to be some structure in which to access and utilize intuitive information. Intuitive sources are not always correct, or the information revealed may not relate directly to the investigation at hand. On criminal investigations this has even led to the discovery of the wrong body! Information gained in this manner needs to be substantiated and corroborated whenever possible. It seems that in order to access and use intuitive information efficiently, a balance of open-mindedness, honest intention, and the rigors of a scientific protocol is required.

Patrick Rennie said that even if some of the information is non-verifiable it supplies more satisfaction on a personal level. "It can also help me direct my investigation, whether perhaps to continue some particular research or indicate the need for a new approach." Rennie said. "I think that what George said was much more than guesses and was consistently better than the odds. McMullen has stated that his abilities are not unique or "supernatural" and that they are accessible to everyone. He says these abilities can be learned and integrated into our evolving understanding of what it is to be truly human. Though using intuitives within scientific protocol may be rare, the "revolution" that Dr. Emerson foresaw – the merging of intuition and science – more and more is being realized within our own time.

Patrick Marsolek does multi-disciplinary research with Inner Workings Resources in Montana and has been exploring related aspects of consciousness, geology, archaeology and spirituality in his writing.

copyright 2003 – Patrick Marsolek