Christian Arthur Edgar "Tim" O'Brien (9 January 1914 – 17 February 2001) was a British exploration geologist and author. In 1936 he was also involved in the discovery of the

Chogha Zanbil Chogha Zanbil (also Tchoga Zanbil and Čoġā Zanbīl) (; Elamite: Al Untas Napirisa then later Dur Untash) is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. It is one of the few existing ziggurats outside Mesopotamia. It lies appr ...

ziggurat in Southern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Appointed by BP In 1967, he retired in 1971 as chairman of the boards and general managing director of the Iranian Oil Operating Companies, stationed in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, and was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for services to the oil industry. O'Brien devoted his retirement to researching prehistory,

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

archaeoastronomy Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cultur ...

and the history of religion. His hypotheses have not gained acceptance by the scientific community.

Early life, education and career

Born in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, O'Brien was educated at Tiffin Boys School,

Kingston-upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

and then went to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

where he read

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, graduating in 1935. In 1936, he joined the

Anglo-Iranian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC; ) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling numbe ...

. His geological activities started in Southern

under senior geologist, Victor Boileau in the winter of 1936–37 where he assisted with Boileau's discovery of the

Ziggurat. O'Brien stayed for three years, and then was due for home leave. He happened to be in England when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started, and so joined up in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

, eventually becoming a major after service in Italy and

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. He returned to work in

after the war and was also involved in exploration geology in Canada & other countries. His later geological work included a survey of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

' Boule and Bosche ranges. On 16 October 1958 he married Barbara Joy Kelly.

Post-retirement work

After his retirement in 1970, O'Brien began researching and writing about ancient civilisations, taught himself how to read cuneiform, and published three books on the subject. O'Brien published several other papers and books. "The Wandlebury-Hatfield Heath Astronomical Complex" described his surveying and discovering what he calls the Wandlebury Enigma or Line A Loxodrome, a claim which has not gained much acceptance. "The Megalithic Odyssey" presents evidence for an astronomical complex on

Bodmin Moor Bodmin Moor () is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geology, geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough To ...

in Cornwall, England, dated no later than c. 2500 BC. In the book he presents his view that 13

stone circles A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being bu ...

and 86 ridge-top

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

s were designed and built for complex observational astronomy by a group of itinerant sages with links to

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

. A review in the journal ''Archaeostronomy'' describes the book as "a mishmash of erroneous statements and poorly conceived and unsubstantiated arguments." The reviewer suggests that O'Brien has misapplied statistical methods and that coupled with a dubious interpretation of the archaeology (e.g. assuming that all the cairns, all badly damaged and with only a few over two to three meters high, would have been over 10 meters high whereas similar sites have few cairns over 10 meters, with some of the 'cairns' possibly not prehistoric) "negates any value" it would have had as a claim for prehistoric archaeoastronomy. He further argues that the suggestion that the Sumerians introduced a calendar which made agriculture viable ignored the fact that agriculture had already existed in the area for over a thousand years, saying that "the book is full of statements which only confirm O'Brien's ignorance of our current knowledge of prehistory."

Positions, awards and accolades

* O'Brien was appointed a

in 1971 for services to British interests in

. * Chairman of the boards, managing director,

, 1967–1971

Books

* O'Brien, C.A.E., 1953, Salztektonik in Südpersien, Stuttgart. * O'Brien, C.A.E., 1957, Salt Diapirism in South Persia, London and Amsterdam. * O'Brien, C.A.E., 1960, The Structural Geology of the Boule and Bosche Ranges in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, London. * O'Brien, C.A.E., 1975, Thaxted. * O'Brien, C.A.E., 1983, The Megalithic Odyssey, A.C. Wellingborough. * O'Brien, C.A.E. & O'Brien B.J., 1985, The Genius of The Few, Wellingborough. (Revised edition by Dianthus Publishing 1999) * O'Brien, C.A.E., 1985, The Path of Light, The Deram Beas, India. (Revised edition by Dianthus Publishing 1999) * O'Brien, C.A.E. & O'Brien B.J., 1999, The Shining Ones, Dianthus Publishing (Revised edition by Dianthus Publishing, 2001) * O'Brien, C.A.E. & O'Brien B.J., 2005, Eastern Odyssey – Experiences of a Young Geologist, E & E Plumridge, Cambridge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Christian Pseudohistorians 20th-century British geologists British petroleum geologists English non-fiction writers 1914 births 2001 deaths Alumni of the University of Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Fulham BP people People educated at Tiffin School Atlantis proponents English male non-fiction writers Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham