This paper examines how ancient monumental architecture may have functioned as a durable system for encoding long-term astronomical knowledge, catastrophic memory, and civilizational survival strategies. Focusing on the Great Sphinx of Giza and Göbekli Tepe, it argues that these sites can be interpreted not only as ritual or political structures, but also as deep-time markers aligned to the slow celestial mechanics of axial precession. The study introduces the Great Year as the governing framework behind this interpretation and explores how precessional astronomy may have been materialized in stone through symbolic form, orientation, and horizon alignment. The Sphinx is reconsidered as a possible equinoctial marker linked to the Age of Leo, while Göbekli Tepe is examined as a monument of astronomical memory potentially preserving knowledge of catastrophic sky events. The paper further situates these interpretations within broader discussions of the Taurid meteor stream and the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, assessing the possibility that myth, monument, and cosmology together formed a cultural technology of survival. By bringing together archaeoastronomy, comparative mythology, catastrophe studies, and ancient architectural analysis, this study proposes that certain prehistoric and protohistoric monuments may represent a deliberate attempt to preserve celestial knowledge across episodes of environmental and civilizational disruption.
Ceisiwr et al. (Sat,) studied this question.