Know the 7 wonders of the ancient world? Think UFOs built the pyramids? Are you worried about 2012? If you answered no, yes, yes, then you should ask for your money back from the schools you attended. Then read The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Pyramids and Aztec and Maya and reclaim your education.
Ancient Sites
Oldest European Structure in America?
For many decades, if not centuries, the whispers of Viking voyages to the New World were met with skepticism. Supposed finds were written off as misidentifications or hoaxes. The old Norse sagas and their documenting of the voyages were considered fanciful legends. Then the ruins were found in Canada that turned the legends into history. Yet there still has been a great reluctance to examine any potential Viking evidences. Why?
Perhaps it’s a response to those who have tried to turn possible pre-Columbus explorers into reasons to explain away any advanced native civilizations (like the mound builders). Or those who would weave tales to support their beliefs at the expense of the original inhabitants of these lands. So these extreme views produce the extreme view at the other end of no significant contact prior to 1492.
A more scholarly approach would be to realize that the likelihood of the people of the Americas remaining isolated for thousands of years is highly improbable. After all, they found their way here, didn’t they? Contact doesn’t mean they didn’t predominately build their societies on their own. However, no peoples of the world go many millennia without outside influence of any sort.
In Rhode Island there is a relic known as the Newport Tower that has stood for centuries. For much of this time Vikings were seen as probable builders. Historians have long tried to attribute the ruin to the first governor of the state, but he never claimed to have built it, only to have owned the land it sits on.
It is also interesting to note that Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano located a “Norman Villa” on a 1527 map drawn from his voyages in the region. This inconvenient problem is often overlooked by those hoping the tower doesn’t predate Columbus and has never been adequately explained away by opponents.
For a detailed review of the Newport Tower and its history, go here.
Categories: Ancient America, Ancient Sites
Tags: Newport Tower, Rhode Island, Vikings
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Atlantis Found?
Researchers announced today a possible location for the fabled Atlantis in Spain. This region, either off the coast or on land, has long been a frontrunner in Atlantis locations. Among others, E.M. Whishaw’s Atlantis in Spain argued for it in 1928. I haven’t read it, but I bet it will be selling out soon. As with any ancient legend, there’s probably bits of truth in it. Since so many fringe and mystical folks have co-opted Atlantis, many scholars won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. Perhaps in Spain the truth will finally be uncovered.
Should we Destroy the Past for Energy’s Sake?
I don’t think so. Read more here.
Categories: Ancient America, Ancient Sites, Native Americans
Tags: Native Americans, sacred sites, solar energy
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Religion Came First
Believers of the Bible have long argued religion or belief in God existed from the beginning as the Bible would indicate. Others have theorized religion came later after man developed civilization. Why would they think this? Mostly it would seem because they don’t want to believe the Bible. Archaeological finds in Turkey are challenging such unfounded theories:
This theory reverses a standard chronology of human origins, in which primitive man went through a “Neolithic revolution” 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. In the old model, shepherds and farmers appeared first, and then created pottery, villages, cities, specialized labor, kings, writing, art, and—somewhere on the way to the airplane—organized religion. As far back as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, thinkers have argued that the social compact of cities came first, and only then the “high” religions with their great temples, a paradigm still taught in American high schools.
Religion now appears so early in civilized life—earlier than civilized life, if Schmidt is correct—that some think it may be less a product of culture than a cause of it, less a revelation than a genetic inheritance. The archaeologist Jacques Cauvin once posited that “the beginning of the gods was the beginning of agriculture,” and Göbekli may prove his case.
Lost Civilizations Under Persian Gulf
In the news are discoveries of civilizations that lived in areas now flooded by the Persian Gulf. This interesting for a number of reasons. One, finds in this region continue to show people were sophisticated early on. People didn’t start out dumb or animal-like. Two, past discoveries of settlements and dead rivers under the Persian Gulf have given rise to the possible location of the Garden of Eden. Others have seen the flooding of the Gulf as the source of the Noah and other flood accounts. But the flooding of the Gulf doesn’t seem catastrophic enough to be the source of those writings. We will take a look at a later date at some of those and draw out the history. For now consider that there were many millienia of history before scrolls, books and other records. We have only scratched the surface.
The Battle Over David
The current issue of National Geographic features the conflict between scholars who believe they have found a lot of evidence for David and his biblical empire and those who do not. Few doubt David existed, but how accurate is the Bible? It is an instructive read seeing scholars question each other’s bias. One side claims the other looks for David in the littlest of finds (but one guy uses a “gut feeling” to dismiss a David find). The other side claims the anti-Davids are looking for an unreasonable standard of evidence as if they need fully intact palaces and cities.
Considering that few doubt David’s existence, the thinking person might ask: Why is archaeology in this region so difficult? Could it be that the area was repeatedly overrun and attacked by foreign armies? Cities built on top of cities? The article, and some of the scholars, seem to forget the history of the region they work in.
Mystery at Lovelock
In 1911, two workmen digging bat guano in a cave near Lovelock, Nevada ended up making an incredible find. They began uncovering hundreds of artifacts. Eventually thousands of artifacts and dozens of bodies were found. Many of the bodies were mummified, very tall and had red hair.
These remains affirmed local Indian legends about red-haired giants. Lovelock Cave was once near Lake Lahontan, one of many lakes that existed in now dry Nevada. It’s hard enough for us to imagine this desert state teaming with life and people. Giant red-haired residents decidedly doesn’t fit with what we know about native history. The site was largely ignored because it didn’t agree with the reigning theories and many of the original finds were lost. However, these weren’t the only giants found in the region.
So the question is, who were they and where did they come from?
Categories: Ancient America, Ancient Sites, Mysteries, Native Americans
Tags: Giants
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Darrick Dean 