Ancient Wisdom Atlas

The apparatus

The Lab

Every number the story cites, with the machinery visible. Three instruments are laid out here: the preregistered isolated-lineage prediction test, the permutation null models behind the constellation, and the agreement between independent readers. All figures regenerate from the evidence indexes.

Instrument I · preregistered

The isolated-lineage prediction test

The constellation was learned from 84 connected traditions (40,933 records, 334 conserved edges), predictions were fixed in the preregistration, then 23 isolated lineages (7,226 records) were opened.

82.9% edges reproduced

80.3% null mean

84.4% best shuffle

192/200 permutations beaten

×1.033 lift

leakage_flag

Held-out lineages. “Training edges present” counts trained-web edges whose member families both occur in that lineage’s records.
Lineage Records Training edges present
native american plains 2,212 209
native american northwest coast 1,014 162
native american southwest 808 151
australian aboriginal 572 84
native american great lakes 326 86
inuit 318 85
guiana amerindian 284 86
siberian 264 99
native american southeast 212 126
zulu 199 33
hopi 146 138
zuni 126 91
andamanese 123 50
navajo 122 64
nahua maya inca 102 150
hawaiian 84 68
san 66 13
indigenous australian 65 23
amazonian 52 10
maya 50 6
khoisan south african 46 2
nahua 19 21
mesoamerican 16 23

Instrument II · null model

The constellation against chance

200 degree-preserving shuffles across 103 traditions (edge thresholds: pair count ≥ 3, traditions ≥ 4).

346 observed edges

324.64 null mean

332 null max

6.81 z-score

0.00498 p-value

The 12 conserved edges chance reproduced least often, of 300 tested. “Null hit rate” is the fraction of shuffles in which the edge appeared at all.
Edge Traditions Null hit rate
axis mundi — sacred fire 5 0.0%
sacred fire — sacred waters 5 0.0%
sacred fire — sacred time 4 0.0%
axis mundi — sacred waters 7 0.5%
flood and renewal — sacred waters 6 0.5%
sacred fire — sacred love 6 0.5%
sacred fire — serpent guardian 5 0.5%
sacred fire — trickster 4 0.5%
initiation — sacred fire 4 5.0%
sacred waters — serpent guardian 9 7.5%
death and transformation — sacred fire 7 9.5%
sacred fire — shapeshifter 5 9.5%

Instrument III · replication

Agreement between independent readers

Independent model readers extracted motifs from the same passages. Agreement is the mean Jaccard overlap of their canonical-family assignments per shared passage.

Extraction runs entering the comparison.
RunPassages parsedParse failures
motif-extraction-2026-07-17-azure-wave1 3,217 60
replication-gpt54-2026-07-17 3,093 293
replication-gpt56terra-2026-07-17 3,371 15
replication-gpt51-2026-07-17 1,287 2,097
canon-wave10-2026-07-21 7,895 16
replication-gpt54-wave10-2026-07-21 6,794 1,057
Pairwise agreement over shared passages. Raw = surface motif labels; canonical = after normalization to families; exact = identical family sets.
Reader pair Shared passages Raw Jaccard Canonical Jaccard Exact match
motif-extraction-2026-07-17-azure-wave1 ×
replication-gpt54-2026-07-17
2,970 61.9% 63.3% 31.9%
motif-extraction-2026-07-17-azure-wave1 ×
replication-gpt56terra-2026-07-17
3,215 51.1% 52.5% 25.0%
motif-extraction-2026-07-17-azure-wave1 ×
replication-gpt51-2026-07-17
1,229 50.2% 52.1% 19.8%
replication-gpt54-2026-07-17 ×
replication-gpt56terra-2026-07-17
3,090 61.7% 62.8% 38.8%
replication-gpt54-2026-07-17 ×
replication-gpt51-2026-07-17
1,226 44.5% 46.1% 18.4%
replication-gpt56terra-2026-07-17 ×
replication-gpt51-2026-07-17
1,278 35.0% 36.0% 14.8%
canon-wave10-2026-07-21 ×
replication-gpt54-wave10-2026-07-21
6,771 70.2% 71.1% 54.6%

Instrument IV · falsification

The sequence-grammar test

72 strong precedence pairs (one family consistently before another within texts) were tested against within-text permutation. A pair survives when chance matched its consistency in at most 5% of shuffles: 61 dissolved, 11 held. Survivors are marked in gold.

All 72 candidate orderings, most chance-resistant first. “Chance as extreme” is the fraction of permutations reaching the observed consistency.
Ordering Texts Consistency Null mean Chance as extreme Verdict
sacred knowledge → trickster 240 83.3% 72.7% 0.0% survives
sacred knowledge → mystical quest 289 80.6% 72.1% 0.0% survives
sacred knowledge → death and transformation 313 79.9% 70.5% 0.0% survives
sacred knowledge → divine judgment 293 77.1% 71.5% 0.0% survives
hero journey → afterlife passage 275 76.7% 70.4% 0.0% survives
sacred knowledge → initiation 304 76.0% 69.1% 0.0% survives
sacred knowledge → royal legitimacy 272 75.4% 69.6% 0.0% survives
sacred knowledge → descent 186 91.4% 85.9% 1.0% survives
sacred knowledge → sacred twins 246 82.9% 78.0% 1.0% survives
sacred knowledge → sacrifice 319 75.9% 71.0% 1.0% survives
hero journey → trickster 240 76.7% 71.7% 4.0% survives
sacred knowledge → sacred love 255 80.4% 76.4% 6.0% chance suffices
cosmic origin → sacred fire 81 80.2% 73.3% 7.0% chance suffices
divine judgment → covenant 200 76.0% 72.1% 8.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → covenant 208 88.0% 85.2% 11.0% chance suffices
hero journey → sacred love 256 75.4% 72.4% 11.0% chance suffices
miraculous child → sacred waters 125 90.4% 86.8% 13.0% chance suffices
divine judgment → mother goddess 116 80.2% 75.7% 13.0% chance suffices
miraculous child → descent 181 77.3% 74.1% 14.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → afterlife passage 274 80.3% 78.4% 19.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → sacred time 275 79.3% 77.0% 20.0% chance suffices
hero journey → descent 186 88.2% 86.0% 24.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → ascent 302 76.5% 74.7% 26.0% chance suffices
miraculous child → sacred fire 95 90.5% 88.5% 32.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → axis mundi 276 83.3% 82.3% 34.0% chance suffices
shapeshifter → sacred fire 96 87.5% 85.5% 36.0% chance suffices
sacred love → sacred waters 114 83.3% 81.7% 36.0% chance suffices
royal legitimacy → sacred fire 97 85.6% 84.2% 41.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → duality 304 78.6% 78.1% 41.0% chance suffices
sacred love → sacred fire 88 86.4% 85.4% 42.0% chance suffices
flood and renewal → sacred waters 121 76.0% 75.3% 42.0% chance suffices
hero journey → axis mundi 274 75.5% 75.1% 43.0% chance suffices
axis mundi → sacred waters 123 78.0% 77.5% 44.0% chance suffices
shapeshifter → sacred waters 123 84.6% 83.3% 46.0% chance suffices
duality → sacred fire 96 80.2% 79.2% 46.0% chance suffices
hero journey → covenant 209 80.9% 80.7% 47.0% chance suffices
axis mundi → sacred fire 94 81.9% 80.7% 48.0% chance suffices
hero journey → sacred waters 131 91.6% 91.4% 51.0% chance suffices
divine judgment → sacred fire 100 88.0% 87.1% 51.0% chance suffices
flood and renewal → sacred fire 95 78.9% 78.7% 55.0% chance suffices
divine judgment → sacred waters 126 84.1% 84.3% 60.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → flood and renewal 269 81.8% 82.2% 60.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → sacred waters 132 93.9% 94.1% 62.0% chance suffices
sacred exchange → sacred waters 129 92.2% 92.8% 65.0% chance suffices
culture hero → sacred fire 90 81.1% 82.1% 66.0% chance suffices
sacred exchange → descent 184 81.5% 82.3% 69.0% chance suffices
shapeshifter → descent 170 75.9% 77.5% 69.0% chance suffices
royal legitimacy → sacred waters 122 82.0% 83.4% 71.0% chance suffices
ascent → sacred waters 127 80.3% 82.0% 71.0% chance suffices
hero journey → sacred fire 101 92.1% 92.8% 74.0% chance suffices
hero journey → mother goddess 116 75.9% 77.4% 75.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → sacred fire 101 94.1% 95.1% 76.8% chance suffices
culture hero → sacred waters 112 76.8% 79.1% 81.0% chance suffices
serpent guardian → sacred waters 122 79.5% 81.2% 82.0% chance suffices
death and transformation → sacred waters 128 83.6% 85.9% 85.0% chance suffices
sacred exchange → covenant 204 78.9% 81.1% 88.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → cosmic origin 211 83.4% 86.0% 89.0% chance suffices
miraculous child → mother goddess 116 76.7% 80.1% 89.0% chance suffices
sacred time → sacred fire 91 75.8% 79.9% 89.0% chance suffices
sacred knowledge → mother goddess 117 82.1% 85.9% 90.0% chance suffices
death and transformation → sacred fire 97 84.5% 87.9% 91.0% chance suffices
sacred exchange → sacred fire 101 90.1% 93.3% 93.0% chance suffices
sacrifice → sacred fire 100 83.0% 87.0% 94.0% chance suffices
serpent guardian → sacred fire 95 78.9% 83.3% 95.0% chance suffices
ascent → sacred fire 98 79.6% 85.4% 96.0% chance suffices
initiation → sacred waters 128 79.7% 84.7% 98.0% chance suffices
mystical quest → sacred fire 93 78.5% 86.1% 98.0% chance suffices
mystical quest → sacred waters 121 79.3% 84.4% 99.0% chance suffices
afterlife passage → sacred fire 87 77.0% 84.6% 99.0% chance suffices
sacrifice → sacred waters 128 78.1% 85.1% 100.0% chance suffices
initiation → sacred fire 99 77.8% 86.3% 100.0% chance suffices
sacred exchange → mother goddess 116 75.9% 83.1% 100.0% chance suffices

Preregistration: docs/prereg-isolated-lineage-test.md · indexes regenerated 2026-07-23.