An A-Z Guide To The Search For Plato's Atlantis

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    September 2023. Hi Atlantipedes, At present I am in Sardinia for a short visit. Later we move to Sicily and Malta. The trip is purely vacational. Unfortunately, I am writing this in a dreadful apartment, sitting on a bed, with access to just one useable socket and a small Notebook. Consequently, I possibly will not […]Read More »
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    Joining The Dots

    I have now published my new book, Joining The Dots, which offers a fresh look at the Atlantis mystery. I have addressed the critical questions of when, where and who, using Plato’s own words, tempered with some critical thinking and a modicum of common sense.Read More »
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Al-Mas’udi

Pyramids

Pyramids are designed and built to be very stable structures. They were first encountered in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC, known as ziggurats. Unfortunately, they were built of sun-dried mud bricks and so, over time have crumbled. These early pyramids were stepped with between two and seven tiers. Their function was ceremonial.

In August 2023, the first pyramid ever identified in the Central Asian Steppes was reported. This stepped (no pun intended) feature has been dated to the 2nd millennium BC and situated near the city of Karganda in Kazakhstan. There is also evidence of a horse cult associated with the site(fz).

Pyramids around the World

Pyramidal structures are now to be found around the globe; whether this is a consequence of diffusion or independent design is uncertain, possibly both.

For Ignatius Donnelly, the pyramids of Egypt and Central America were the results of a shared heritage originating in Atlantis. However, the millennia that separate their construction in the two regions would seem to militate against this idea. Nevertheless, in 1967 Egerton Sykes published a paper supporting diffusionism with particular reference to pyramid building on both sides of the Atlantic(fk).

Although most pyramids are four-sided, round pyramids, although fewer in number, have been identified in various parts of the world(fm).

The Mayan pyramid at Mirador in Northern Guatemala was thought to be the largest by volume in the world, at 2.8 million cubic metres, however, the Great Pyramid of Cholula is 4.45 million cubic metres(au)(bq). This is now rivalled by the Mayan pyramid at Toniná, Chiapas(bd). The Great Giza Pyramid is 2.5 million cubic metres in volume.

Even more spectacular was the 1996 discovery of pyramids on the southern Atlantic coast of Brazil dated as early as 3000 BC, predating the earliest Egyptian Pyramids by a few hundred years. However, two sites in Peru, Caral, and Sechin Bajo have claimed pyramid complexes with dates of 3500 BC(j). Very ancient pyramids have also been claimed for Crimea(af).

What is arguably the greatest concentration of pyramids in the world is to be found in the Lambayeque Valley of northern Peru, numbering 250, built of mud brick, and dated to circa 750-1100 AD. The late Philip Coppens referred to the valley in his book, The New Pyramid Age [0759] and it was also the subject of a BBC documentary(an).

Apart from Meso-America, pyramids have also been discovered as far apart as the Canaries (dx), Sicily(ga)*, Sardinia and Mauritius(k) as well as Ukraine(dw), and China(cp). Russia is claimed to have pyramids in the far east near Vladivostok(fc) and the Kola Peninsula(dc) in the west near Finland! A website by Gabriele Lukacs, dedicated to possible European pyramids is now available(g). The remains of three pyramids have also been identified on the Greek Peloponnese, one of which has been dated to 2720 BC ± 580 years. (dr)(ds)

In 2005, an ongoing debate was ignited when the Bosnian-American ‘archaeologist’ Semir Osmanagic announced that he had identified a gigantic manmade pyramid beside Visoko, 30km north of Sarajevo. Highly publicised excavations began in 2006. Readers should be aware that Osmanagic has expressed [0519] rather bizarre notions including a belief that the Maya were descendants of the Atlanteans who in turn arrived on Earth from the Pleiades!

Osmanagic has also published a fully illustrated paper on the Koh Ker pyramid in Northern Cambodia, which he claims to act as an energy amplifier(eb).

A French commentator, Douglas Moonstone, disagreed with Osmanagic’s suggested  origin for the Atlanteans suggesting instead that they came from the constellation of Orion and that the “Neanderthals fled their bases on another near planet, probably a planet of Sirius B and a planet of Alnitak, as we have seen in previous volumes, and they have saved Hopis, Sapiens, in a space station in orbit.”(cc)

On one side, we had Philip Coppens offering support for Osmanagic(cl), while on the other, an on-site investigation by Robert Schoch concluded that the Visoko ‘pyramid’ was probably not man-made!(cm).

Osmanagic updated his claims in December 2011(o) and as recently as August 2016, He was still offering a spirited defence of his views(bi).

Gigantic pyramids have also been proposed for Germany by K. Walter Haug(ab). and demonstrated on his heavily illustrated website(aj).

Maxim Yakovenko was the founder of the world-pyramids.com website(bf). in 2008. It has a range of interesting articles that relate to pyramids around the globe. Unfortunately, the news section does not appear to have been updated over the past two years.

A recent (2010) site, lists(h). the eight largest pyramids in the world. Also, a wide range of free papers, in pdf format, relating to the Giza Pyramids is available online(l).

Perhaps even more dramatic is a recent claim(q) of a pyramid older and larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza, known as Mount Sadahurip in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. However, the proliferation of step pyramids is not very well known, but Dhani Irwanto has, at least, partially redressed this in a 2019 article on his website(ey).

July 2012 saw Linda Moulton Howe publish(r) a two-part illustrated article about an anomalous feature in Alaska which has been identified as a buried pyramid larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza. This feature was first identified twenty years ago, but the story appears to have been suppressed, according to a retired U.S. Counter-intelligence officer who contacted Howe. A comparable claim has also been made for pyramids in Antarctica and later shown to be a hoax(w).

Now for some further light relief, earlier in 2012, a nonsensical report(s) of an underwater glass pyramid in the Bermuda Triangle emerged. I’m sure it will be soon followed by a sighting of Elvis creating crop circles in Antarctica.

In September 2013, it was reported(y) that “researchers have discovered an underwater pyramid 60 meters high with an 8000 meters square base near the Bank De João de Castro, between the islands of Terceira and São Miguel” in the Azores. Shortly afterwards the Portuguese Navy denied the existence of any such structure.(aa) This claim has now spawned its own website(ad).

However, in August 2013, the Portuguese American Journal reported that the many step-pyramids on Pico, one of the Azores, are clear evidence of extensive human activity in the archipelago long before the arrival of the Portuguese(fw). As a consequence, some have suggested that the seafaring ability of these pyramid builders to reach the Azores from Europe opens the possibility that they went further and reached America!

Even more ridiculous was a report in the UK’s Daily Star which claimed that an underwater pyramid estimated to be between 3.5 and 11 miles across had been spotted on Google Earth, situated off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific(cd).

Finally, it appears that to satisfy the public interest in pyramids the meaning of the term itself has been extended to include a range of natural features as well as man-made structures. Robert Schoch is happy to see Newgrange as a type of pyramid, others see Silbury Hill as a pyramid(e). while some writers apply the term to mountains as is the case with Jeff Nisbet(f). who sees ‘pyramids’ in Scotland. Nisbet attempts to justify his view with a very unconvincing suggested link between ancient Egypt and Scotland incorporating freemasonry and Princess Scota(bh). Similar stories are widespread in Ireland where Scota is allegedly buried in Kerry in Gleann Scoithin, now known as Foley’s Glen. Scotia was another ancient name for Ireland. Andrew Power expands on the Scota story in his Ireland: Land of the Pharaohs [1026] as well as Ralph Ellis [1684] and Loraine Evans [1781].

This claim of an Egyptian link with Ireland has been recently repeated by Steve Preston in his Egyptians in Ireland [1183]. David Halpin, an Irish writer from Carlow, has also written a three-part paper on the connections between Egypt with Ireland(av).

Pyramids of Egypt

The actual number of Egyptian pyramids recorded is variously cited as 118 or as many as 138. However, the greatest number of pyramids is to be found in Sudan, with around twice as many as Egypt, but are far less spectacular(df).

August 2012 brought a report(u) that two possible new Egyptian pyramid complexes have been discovered using Google Earth. However, subsequent inspection on the ground showed them to be less interesting(v).

Egypt’s oldest pyramid is generally accepted as that of King Djoser (2687-2668 BC), a six-stepped structure at Saqqara(dh).

Giza

For anyone coming to the subjects of the pyramids and Sphinx at Giza for the first time should begin by reading Giza The Truth [1690] by Ian Lawton and Chris Ogilvie-Herald, which offers a unique overview of the place, the personalities and the politics involved in the 3 square kilometres of this amazing site.

>Jason Colavito noted [1876.8] that with a height of 455 feet (139 metres) it was “the tallest building on Earth until it was finall surpassed in 1311” by Britain’s Lincoln Cathedral.<

A site providing a wonderful 360º view of the Giza Plateau is now available(m). while another site offers a remarkable panoramic aerial view(t).

Another site offers a remarkable collection of old images of the pyramids dating back to the mid-nineteenth century(be). Also in the 19th century, a book by Dr Everett W. Fish can give modern readers a flavour of ideas regarding the pyramids to be found in the 1880s(du).

Wim Verhart has written a paper in which he argues the pyramids on the Giza Plateau were designed with an overall mathematical plan in mind((dz).

Another matter that has caused continual controversy is the layout of the three Giza pyramids. Robert Bauval is probably best known as the original promoter of the Orion Correlation Theory, which claims that the layout of the three principal Giza pyramids mirrors ‘Orion’s Belt’ in that constellation. This received widespread coverage when it was outlined in The Orion Mystery [1707]. written by Bauval and Adrian Gilbert and in Keeper of Genesis [1050]. written with Graham Hancock, published two years later. In fact, Bauval first published his theory in 1989 in Discussions in Egyptology(cw).

In a paper(ft) published on Graham Hancock’s website in 2022, Freddy Silva proposed an additional OCT – in Scotland. He suggested that the Pyramids of Giza, and by extension, Orion’s Belt matched the layout of the three stone circles of Stenness, Brodgar and Bookan. In the same paper, he goes further identifying other megalithic monuments in Scotland with counterparts in Sardinia and Armenia!

However, Andrew Collins has disputed the OCT and has instead offered evidence that the alignment of the three principal Giza pyramids matches more closely the ‘wing’ stars of the Cygnus constellation than the ‘belt’ of Orion!(dg).

Early 2020 brought a claim by amateur historian Matt Sibson that there had been a fourth large pyramid at Giza. His contention is based on a sketch by a Danish sea captain, Frederik Ludvig Norden, in 1737, that appears to show this fourth edifice. The only explanation offered for its disappearance is that it was dismantled in the 1700s to build the city of Cairo! I would have thought that considering the effort required to dismantle a pyramid from the top down would have been much greater than quarrying new blocks. The larger pyramid blocks would need to be cut anyway. Then you would expect that at least the base or its location would still be identifiable today! This is just another incredible attention-seeking effort by Sibson(eo).

Manu Seyfzadeh wrote a lengthy paper(di). on the orientation of one particular minor stepped pyramid on Elephantine Island on the Nile. He concluded that it was associated with Sirius, which was so important to the ancient Egyptians as the heliacal rising of Sirius coincided with the summer solstice which heralded the next flooding of the Nile.

While the theory of Bauval & Gilbert is very well known, a more elaborate claim was proposed by Scott Creighton in his The Giza Oracle [1817], in which he suggests that 11 pyramids in the Giza complex along “with the Great Sphinx forms a grand ‘Precession Wheel’, indicating key dates from humankind’s remote past – and indeed, its future”!(cy)

Hans Jelitto has put forward the idea that the three pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure at Giza were intended to represent the three inner planets of our Solar System, Mercury, Venus and Earth(fl)!

John Patrick Hill, an independent researcher, claims that “Barringer Crater, Stonehenge and Giza are all related to one another.” He tells us that the distance between the outside corners of the main Giza pyramids is 0.72 miles which is the exact diameter of the Barringer Crater! As Michael Caine would say “Not many people know that” (dv). Hill had this paper published on the Academia.edu website, but it has now been removed. I have saved a copy, without images, as Archive 6555. He has also managed to produce a paper(fu) combining catastrophism and Roman Catholicism!!!

Further alignment claims and debate relating to two shafts that some believe were originally directed at particular stars(cx).

Date of the Egyptian Pyramids

The Pyramids of Egypt are generally accepted today to have been constructed in the third millennium BC in the period 2700 – 2150 BC. However, some investigators have inferred much greater antiquity for some of these remarkable structures particularly the Great Pyramid (G.P.) at Giza. They believe that pushing back the date for the construction of the Great Pyramid and/or Sphinx endorses the possibility that Plato’s early date of 9600 BC for the Atlantean War is factual.

>Jason Colavito [1876.95] has noted that some of the Muslim scholars of the Middle Ages attributed an early date to the construction of the pyramids, possibly before Noah’s Deluge!<

Hossam Aboulfotouh calculated the date of the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza as 3055 BC, which he claims was also the time of the Deluge or what he refers to as the “tsunami of the Mediterranean”.(da)(db)

Perhaps related to the Deluge is the claim from archaeologist Sherif el Morsi that he has evidence that indicates that the Great Pyramid had been covered by seawater(em)(en).

David Rohl in his introduction to Andrew CollinsGateway to Atlantis [072]  refers to the work of Egyptologist Kate Spence who “demonstrated that the north alignment of all the Old Kingdom pyramids shifted through time in the relative position of the circumpolar stars. This tracking of the north celestial pole (relative to the stars) plots the known wobble in the earth’s axis of rotation (referred to as precession), which can be dated using astronomical retrocalculations.”  Spence concluded that the Great Pyramid had been built c.2470 BC(ej). Archaeastronomer Giulio Magli has taken issues with some of Spence’s claims(ek).

Ralph Ellis, a British researcher, has investigated the erosion to be seen at Giza, Meidum, and Dashur and concluded [0517] that there is evidence for 8000 BC or an even earlier date for the construction of these structures(a). Ellis also has an article on the internet outlining his evidence for an earlier date for the construction of the Great Pyramid. More recently Robert Schoch announced the discovery of evidence of erosion INSIDE the Great Pyramid suggesting that a more ancient core had been exposed to the elements for a long period before being built upon to give us the structure we have today.

Edgar Cayce ‘revealed’ in 1932 that the Great Pyramid was built over a hundred years from 10,490 to 10,390 BC(ap). At the other end of the time spectrum, Huang Heqing, a professor in the Department of Art & Archaeology at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, amused the world with the claim that the Egyptian pyramids were built in the 19th century, he goes further and maintains “that all the achievements of ancient Western cultures were fabricated in the nineteenth century”, including the Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus in Athens and the ruins of Persepolis in Iran(cu).

The late Joseph Jochmans related [0518] how it was recorded that the outer casing stones showed water marks halfway up the height of the Pyramid before the Arabs removed them. Geologists have found evidence of a final catastrophic flooding event in Egypt circa 10,000 BC. Furthermore, radiocarbon dating of organic inclusions in a fourteen-foot layer of silt around the base of the Great Pyramid offered a date of around 9600 BC.

This suggested extended age for the pyramids has been incorporated into the argument to prove the possible existence of other advanced ancient civilisations that were concurrent with the 9600 BC date given by Solon for the antiquity of Atlantis.

Understandably, these revolutionary ideas have been met with fierce opposition by established archaeologists. This is a debate that will run for some time yet.

The earliest historical references to the pyramids can be found in early Egyptian and Greek documents(ch). However, the oldest known papyri, discovered at the Egyptian site of Wadi el-Jarf offer evidence supporting a date of about 2500 BC for the construction of the Great Pyramid, which reinforces conventional dating theories. One of the documents, written by Merer an overseer, records details of the construction of the final stages of the G.P.(ce). This, of course, seriously undermines the extended antiquity of the pyramids by proponents such as Graham Hancock.

Zecharia Sitchin, the controversial ‘alternative’ historian, entered the fray in 1980, with the claim that the only concrete evidence that the Great Pyramid had been built by Khufu, was an inscription forged by Colonel Richard Howard-Vyse(d). (see below). Philip Coppens has also written an article(cq). about Sitchin’s claim. The Howard-Vyse forgery debate has been stirred up again by a researcher, Scott Creighton, who produced copies of Howard-Vyse’s papers to support the claim of fraud(ah). If true, this would lend some support to a redating of the structure.

2014 began with a report that two Germans, Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann, had chiselled off part of the ‘Vyse’ cartouche from inside the Great Pyramid, which led to an international incident. They claim that the objective of their foolhardy act was to demonstrate that the Pyramid is older than generally accepted and was a remnant of the Atlantean empire(z). A March 2015 statement issued by Dr Goerlitz offers a quite different view of the episode(ei). I have published an English translation as Archive 6944. The initial claim seems to have originated with Zahi Hawass in an attack on Robert Bauval(fn).

At the opposite end of the speculation spectrum is a recent book by Emmet Sweeney, The Pyramid Age [0520], in which he claims that the pyramids were in fact far more recent and bravely suggests a date of around 800 BC for their construction. In this regard, it is to be recorded that the Bible makes not the vaguest reference to one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world. It has been erroneously stated that Herodotus, a prolific recorder of trivia who claims to have travelled as far south as Elephantine, failed to mention the pyramids. This is not true, as can be seen in Book II of his Histories 124-134. However, it is possible that it was meant to say that Herodotus did not refer to the Sphinx! It has been claimed that he was describing the pyramids at Dashur and not Giza(ao)!

In May 2013, Peter James, a structural engineer, published a new theory on why the building of pyramids ceased(x).

The Pyramid Builders

For a long time, it was thought that the pyramids had been built by slaves, possibly Israelites. Recent years have seen this idea debunked(at)(fd). and reinforced by papyri put on display for the first time in July 2016, which indicates that the pyramid builders were paid and were not slaves (or extraterrestrials)(be)(dy). However, a 2017 paper by Damien Mackey has reverted to claiming that the Jews were slaves who contributed to the building of the pyramids(fs).

A more sober review of the development of pyramid building and the technology involved was offered by Owen Jarus in June 2016(bo).

Unfortunately, there are some commentators such as von Däniken [1333.95], who have attributed the construction of the Great Pyramid to extraterrestrials, who cannot accept that the Egyptians built the pyramids, in desperation have interpreted the existence of the pyramids as ‘evidence’ of extraterrestrial visitations!(ae).    

One such proponent is Peter Lemesurier who identifies the Elohim of the Old Testament as the designers of the GP and that they came from the star Sirius [1798]. He claims that they left prophetic messages in the structure of the GP for humanity.

Many and varied are the claims regarding the pyramid builders and their methods, including that they were built by refugees from Atlantis(bl). In October 2017 Gerry Cannon & Malcolm Hutton claimed (bx).  that the Great Pyramid was built by an advanced civilisation, which may have been Atlantis! Graham Hancock holds similar views.

Gernot L. Geise offers the following comment, “In order not to have to trouble some extraterrestrials for the construction of the pyramids, an early human high culture can certainly be assumed. The available periods of time for the development of such cultures are completely sufficient after Cremo & Thompson proved that “modern man” is already millions of years older than conventional science would have us believe.

The pyramids of Giza present me with the following picture: The builders of the pyramids – whoever they were, wherever they got their knowledge from and wherever they came from – possessed a high level of technology that was far superior to ours today. This is an inevitable fact, because the pyramids prove it: we cannot (yet) rebuild them with our current technology. However, Pharaoh Cheops (if he existed) would probably have laughed out loud if he had been told at the time that future archaeologists would have interpreted his little temples around the pyramid as a sign that he had built the gigantic structure…”(fj)

Even more entertaining is a claim by two Irishmen, Francis J. and Francis P. Ward, that druids from Ireland, which they consider to have been Atlantis, built the pyramids at Giza!(bt) 

Rico Paganini is the creator of the Giza Legacy website that offers some interesting titbits of background information relating to the Giza structures(eg). Much of the content consists of excerpts from his book of the same name. However, when he came to discuss a possible Atlantean connection he completely fell off the cliff of reality as the excerpt below reveals!

“According to the ancient tales, the Atlanteans lived according to the role model of the Lemurians. There were three Atlantean cycles or three periods when civilization flourished in the Atlantic era. People there are said to have had mental skills including telepathy (which remained active among the Aborigines in Australia until the 20th century), telekinesis, teleportation and similar powers. This made them seem like gods to other cultures to the east and west of Atlantis. The Atlanteans were technically adept and built megalithic structures, such as the great pyramids in Giza. However, in the later period the people in Atlantis had begun to place their own wills above that of their kings, and priests and even above the will of the gods, until, as happened before when Lemuria flourished, they were attacked from outer space.” Consequently, I suggest that you treat anything that he has written with great caution.

The Great Pyramid Building Methods

It has been suggested that the course of the Nile was different at the time of the pyramid building, which together with canals enabled the building materials to be brought closer to the Giza Plateau, saving time and effort(fh).

The idea that a gently sloping ramp was used has been a popular idea for a long time, but weaknesses in the concept were soon apparent. For example, the material required to build some of the proposed ramps, with the required incline, would have been greater than the pyramid itself. Franz Löhner developed what he calls a ‘rope roll’ to demonstrate that simple technology available to the Egyptians could have been used to lift the pyramid’s blocks into place. Löhner has worked in a quarry and consequently has an intimate knowledge of the practicalities involved. He has co-authored a book (German only) [1590], with Dr Heribert Illig which expands on his idea, and has developed an interesting website(cg), in English and German, with further information.

The most persistent question relating to the pyramids and in fact all megalithic structures is “how did they manage to build them using such large heavy rocks and blocks”? Many ingenious solutions are on offer but perhaps the most remarkable is that proposed by W. T. Wallington who has demonstrated(n)  that using basic materials, which were available to the Egyptians, one individual can manipulate a 4500kg stone block. His website includes a remarkable video clip of his method. A review(bu) of this video is worth a read. More recently a collaboration between Matter Design and CEMEX Global R&D has demonstrated that irregularly shaped cement objects weighing many tons can be moved easily by hand, suggesting that the manpower required to build many ancient monuments was far less than is generally assumed today. The conclusion is that technique is the key to how many of the ‘impossible’ structures of the past were constructed(ci)Ashley Cowie has written an article in which he looks at how these techniques may have been applied to the construction of the megalithic walls of Cuzco in Peru, the ancient capital of the Inca(cj).  Cowie also holds that a huge earthquake caused a major change in Inca construction methods(ck)

 Two suggestions that still have considerable support are that (A) many of the stone blocks were ‘cast’ in situ as proposed by Joseph Davidovits(bm) and (B) that an internal ramp within the pyramid was used as claimed by Jean-Pierre Houdin(bn).

Antoine Gigal has drawn attention to another proposal of some years ago from Hasan Sayid Ahmed, who claims that the ascending and descending passages were used as ramps(el).

In 2006, Dr Michel Barsoum of Drexel University of Philadelphia claimed to have proof that the Egyptians had used lime-based cement in the building of the pyramids(cz)

What may be relevant was what was found at Giza(bk) and described as ‘melted limestone’, which led Robert Schoch to consider it the result of a ‘plasma event’.

Margaret Morris offers a comprehensive account of the features of the Great Pyramid and possible construction methods on her website(bb) and in three books [683][1200][1201]. Morris is a supporter of Joseph Davidovits who proposed the controversial idea that the building blocks of the Pyramid were cast in situ.

In 2007, petrographer, Dipayan Jana, refuted Davidovits’ theory and as far as I’m aware, no rebuttal has been forthcoming from either Davidovits or Morris. Later in 2008, Ioannis Liritzis and his team also challenged the theory of Davidovits, when they pointed out that the material used to build Egypt’s most famous monuments “contain hundreds of thousands of marine fossils” that are distributed throughout the rock in a manner compatible with natural rock(dd)

However, it struck me that if Davidovits was correct, this ‘rock’ might instead be some of his liquid geopolymer that had been spilt and hardened in the sun!

In 2019, Fehmi Krasniqi produced a three-and-a-half-hour video(cv)  on the building of the Egyptian pyramids, primarily based on Davidovits’ claim that the Egyptians used a form of concrete to make the building blocks in situ. However, Krasniqi ventures beyond Egypt, suggesting that the ancient Egyptians travelled to America, stopping off for supplies in Atlantis, now the Azores.

Davidovits has also gone beyond Egypt for evidence of artificial stone being used to create some ancient monuments, in Tiwanaku, Puma Punku and Easter Island(ff). While it is beyond my competence to argue with Davidovits’ chemistry, there are a number of details that still trouble me. In Egypt, the proposal that pyramid blocks were cast rather than carved, there are no images in any of the tombs and temples portraying such a practice. Secondly, casting implies the use of moulds, of which no remains have been found and finally a study of the Great Pyramid reveals that the blocks are of many different sizes, which would require a multiplicity of different moulds in a country where timber is in very short supply.

The catchpenny.org  website agrees that “the theory is very nice and well-described. Unfortunately, it totally ignores a huge body of evidence. Davidovits works hard to explain away the existing quarries, the abundance of tools found during the Third and Fourth Dynasties, and the decrease in pyramid quality after the Fourth Dynasty.” (dq)

A 2014 study(ag)  revealed that the Egyptians were able to move the pyramid building blocks over wet sand. “By using the right quantity of water they could halve the number of workers needed.” This is comparable with the documented method employed by the Chinese to transport 200/300-ton blocks used in the construction of their ‘Forbidden City’(ai).  In October 2018 it was revealed that the remains of a ramp flanked by two staircases with postholes were discovered at an ancient quarry at Hatnub in Egypt’s Eastern Desert. “Using a sled which carried a stone block and was attached with ropes to these wooden posts, ancient Egyptians were able to pull up the alabaster blocks out of the quarry on very steep slopes of 20 percent or more.”(cf).  While this may explain how blocks could have been moved, with relative ease, to pyramid-building sites, it does not tell us how the pyramids were actually constructed.

Mario Pincherle in his book, La Grande  Piramide [1835], offers a radical explanation of how the Egyptians raised the huge granite slabs used to roof the King’s Chamber and the relieving chambers above it. Pincherle studied Herodotus’ references to the pyramids and concluded that an ingenious process of wetting and then drying wooden blocks, slowly forced the slabs up the slope of the Great Gallery(dk).

Twenty years ago Chris Dunn wrote an interesting article for Atlantis Rising magazine(es) in which he discussed the possible reasons for constructing the relieving chambers in the manner that the Egyptians did, concluding that they did so because the granite beams above the King’s chamber were an essential and integral part of making this pyramid machine……hum!!!! Subsequent editions of AR brought further comments from readers on the subject(et).

In an article(ew) by Steven Mehler, he wrote that “Chris Dunn suggests that there is evidence that the Great Pyramid may have experienced a cataclysmic event, an explosion, some time in its distant past which ended its role as an active power plant, a machine, which Dunn proposes was its primary function. I further advanced Dunn’s hypothesis of an explosion in the pyramid in my book, The Land of Osiris.”

Australian Paul Hai has now offered an ingenious suggestion for the construction of the pyramids using an unusual pulley system. He arrived at this theory based on components that are still available and decoding of chapter one of the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel combined with some comments from Herodotus. He offers all this in an extensive and fully illustrated website(fg) as well as a book Raising Stone 1 [1941].

By way of complete contrast is the opinion of Gernot L. Geise, who, as a guest author offered a controversial paper on the Atlantisforschung.de website with the self-explanatory title of ‘The Giza pyramids were not built by ancient Egyptians’(dl). He maintains that the Egyptians lacked the technology to build the pyramids, but instead, were constructed by a much older and more advanced civilisation.

Naturally. there are those among us, who will never be happy with conventional explanations and the mystery of the Egyptian pyramid-building methods has provided an ideal opportunity to serve up exotic solutions. One of the most commonly offered is that some form of levitation was employed; a claim usually based on an account by Al-Masudi, who reported that a ‘magic papyrus’ was used(dn). Others have claimed the use of sound to achieve levitation. However, although this is theoretically possible it has been shown to be impractical(do). This idea of acoustics being used in some obscure manner was introduced in a theory that claimed the use of ‘tuning forks’(fr).

Nick Redfern, best known for his books on UFOs, alien abductions and conspiracy theories, has now published How Antigravity Built the Pyramids[2061], a title that tells you all you need to know(fy).

[I should mention that William Bramley also published a book entitled The Gods of Eden in 1989 [1942]+]

Lawton & Ogilvie-Herald discuss the possible use of sonic levitation in the building of the pyramids in Giza the Truth [1690.203]. However, They were at the receiving end of criticism from the late John Anthony West in 2000, when West published an article in Atlantis Rising magazine that ended with a scornful “The point is that the facile assurances given by Ogilvie-Herald/Lawton endorsing the orthodox view are illegitimate, their exclusion of contrary, genuinely informed opinion is typical of their selective bogus scholarship, and their long-winded acoustic levitation hypothesis is pure speculation and self-contradictory besides. We still don’t know how the pyramids were built/ Period. Full stop.”(er)

Alan Alford discussed the acoustics of the Great Pyramid in Pyramid of Secrets [010] and in a paper in Atlantis Rising magazine #50(ez).

Nevertheless, a paper entitled ORMUS and Pyramids by Barry Carter refers extensively to the work of Dr Philip Callahan (see: Smutny, Pavel | (atlantipedia.ie) who has associated paramagnetism and the Great Pyramid(dt).

Mike Molyneaux offers a study of the building techniques of the ancient Egyptians and their application to the construction of the pyramids and the raising of obelisks(dp).

In a paper by Domenic A. Narducci III entitled In Control of the Pyramids in which he outlines the need for Geometric Control (GC) that must have been employed in the building of the pyramids. He defines GC as “a system of procedures that establishes and then maintains the geometry of a structure during the course of the construction process.” He offers a detailed description of the procedures used by the Egyptians(ec).

Great Pyramid’s Function

Edward Malkowski supports(ax)  the ideas of Edward Kunkel(ay)  and John Cadman(az), who believed that the Great Pyramid was designed to function as a water pump. However, Malkowski goes further, suggesting that this pump was used to generate subtle electrical fields that were used to assist plant growth, which seems unnecessary, considering the fertility of the Nile Valley was renewed naturally by the annual flooding of the river.

Frank Joseph also referred to Kunkel’s theories in an Atlantis Rising article in edition #56(fa). Two issues later, Joseph returned to this idea of the Great Pyramid having an electrical function. The title of the article was Atlantis and the Great Pyramid, so to justify the inclusion of Atlantis he added The citadel of Atlantis, where the holy-of-holies was enshrined, as defined by Plato, was the same diameter (seven hundred fifty-eight feet) as the base side of the Great Pyramid. This revelation becomes clear only after the dimensions of the citadel, as given in Greek stadia for Plato’s account, are transposed into an original Egyptian unit of measurement, known as the aroura.” His fertile imagination did not bring him to explain what the other two huge pyramids at Giza were for!(fb)

The American scientist Philip Callahan, like Malkowski, proposed that the electromagnetic properties of the pyramid were used to enhance agricultural production and added “I am firmly convinced that the pyramids, both Egyptian and Central American, were huge antigravity structures for levitating the priests.

The pyramid acted like a huge “enlarger-type” condensing lens which concentrated the cosmic energy into the hollow resonant stone tower, which in turn was filled with the IR-paramagnetic, organic breath of chanting priests.”(fv)

Hermann Waldhauser has also proposed that a hydraulic system was used in the Great Pyramid as explained in a series of articles by Stefan Erdmann(fi).

Steven Myers has written two books(ba) on the subject of ancient Egyptian hydraulics.

In 2001, Joseph P. Farrell published The Giza Death Star [1917*], in which he claimed that the Great Pyramid had been designed as a weapon of mass destruction! His website has a number of papers relating to the pyramids(eu).

In 2009, Dean Talboys published his theory(co).  which suggests that the remarkable internal features of the GP, including the King’s Chamber and the Grand Gallery, were part of a device that used seawater to generate enough torque to drive an electric dynamo. Talboys suddenly ends his dissertation with the unexpected admission that “we are still left with the problem of what to do with the electricity it generates we could, at least, be a little closer to understanding why someone went to all that trouble”!

Nearly half a century ago, Kurt Mendelssohn (1906-1980), a physics professor put forward the idea in The Riddle of the Pyramids [1885] that “what mattered was not the pyramid – it was the building of it. The pyramid does not represent an aim in itself but the means to achieve an aim: the creation of a new form of society. These huge heaps of stone mark the place where man invented the state.”

Many and varied are the theories that have been put forward regarding the intended function of the Great Pyramid. A most recent (Jan.2021) has been offered by Konstantin Borisov, who suggested that the purpose of the Great Pyramid of Giza was to emit free electrons to the Ionosphere, to create light on the planet! This capability was enhanced by Giza’s location near the maximum geographical centre of Earth and the use of nummulitic limestone in the construction of the Great Pyramid! Further details are revealed in an article published on the Ancient Origins website(ct).

Donald E. Jennings has speculated that the Great Pyramid and its polished, and possibly painted casing stones, could have sent sunlight from the pyramids to other important locations.(dj) Today, only remnants of the original layer of casing stones remain. This is often explained as the result of being removed to be used as a building material for the expanding nearby Cairo. Another explanation on offer is that the casing stones were shed by earthquakes. Some years ago, Will Hart published an article in Atlantis Rising #42-43(ex) in which he questioned both of these theories.   

2014 also saw the publication of Pyramid Gravity Force(ac) by John Shaughnessy in which he claims that “The pyramids were built to prevent and/or control tectonic plate movement, volcanic activity, tidal waves, major earthquakes, land movements and the magnetic field movements on Earth.” I suggest that all the Amazon reviews be read before purchasing.

It was recently revealed(ar). that, Ben Carson, a former Republican candidate for the US presidency, once proposed to an assembly of students at Andrews University that the Egyptian pyramids were built to store grain! This idea has been traced back to the sixth century when there was a belief that the pyramids had been the granaries of Joseph, as Julius Honorius (Cosmographia, c. 500 CE), Antoninus of Piacenza (Itinerary 43, c. 570 CE), and Geoffrey of Tours (History of the Franks 1.10, 594 CE), among others, all testify! This theory was later popularized by works such as ‘The Book of John Mandeville’, a hugely popular 14th-century travelogue.”(bs). Jason Colavito has pointed out [1876.63] that this silly idea was debunked in 1646 by Professor John Greaves.

In early 2021, Konstantin Borisov published his hi-tech explanation for the purpose of the GP which he proposed “was to emit free electrons to the Ionosphere, to create light on the planet . The hydrogen gas produced in the subterranean chamber was used as a source of electrons needed for the process.” (ef).

John DeSalvo has gathered a collection of old theories, many dating from the 19th century, regarding the purpose of the pyramids. They range from interesting to amusing(fo).

Perfection of the Great Pyramid!

Among the numerous mysteries related to the Great Pyramid is the fact that each side of the structure is actually slightly concave, making it the only known eight-sided pyramid (pedants would probably claim nine sides, including the base). This feature was first photographed in 1940(al). Jean-Paul Bauval has written a paper on this concavity, arguing that it was a design feature and not a construction error. He goes further and proposes “that the geometry generated by the concavity on the overall shape of the monument shows a clear relationship, whether intended or by accident, between the Egyptian Royal Cubit (RC) to the meter unit (m). Finally, this geometrical design has the peculiarity of creating a ‘virtual space’ at the top of the monument on which might have been placed a spherical object”(cr).

The assumed accuracy of the orientation and dimensions of the Great Pyramid was recently called into question by Mark Lehner and Glen Dash(bj).

Apart from the disputed question of the age of the Great Pyramid, its very structure has prompted its own share of debate with persistent claims that its location, dimensions, and orientation have significance in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, and geography. Lists of these connections are available online(p).

A June 2016 report revealed(bc). that the builders of the Great Pyramid had made a very minor miscalculation resulting in the west side being around 5 inches longer than the east side. The research team, led by Dash and Lehner, also noted that the pyramid is not oriented as precisely with the cardinal points as we have been led to believe since “The pyramid’s north-south axis (or meridian) runs 3 minutes 54 seconds west of due north while its east-west axis runs 3 minutes 51 seconds north of due east, he told Live Science. The east-west axis also runs through the center of a temple built on the east side of the pyramid. These measurements mean that the Great Pyramid is oriented just slightly away from the cardinal directions, the degree of error from north-south and east-west being almost the same.” However, these very minor defects cannot detract in any way from the magnificence of the structure constructed so long ago.

In a 2018 paper(ca), Glen Dash returned to the very slight misalignment of the Great Pyramid with the cardinal points.“The builders of the Great Pyramid of Khufu aligned the great monument to the cardinal points with an accuracy of better than four minutes of arc or one-fifteenth of one degree.” Dash claims that the engineers who designed the plans for the Great Pyramid used the fall equinox to seamlessly align this pyramid to the cardinal points. “He also claims that all three major Giza pyramids exhibit the same degree of error in that they are rotated slightly counter-clockwise from the cardinal points.”(fe)In fact, all three of the largest Egyptian pyramids – two at Giza and one at Dahshur – are remarkably aligned, in a way you wouldn’t expect to see from an era without drones, blueprints, and computers.

Manfred Greifzu has also written a fairly forensic study of the orientation of the Giza pyramids for the atlantisforschung.de website(dm).

November 2017 began with an exciting claim published in Nature magazine(bv). that a huge cavity had been identified above the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid of Giza. This discovery was made using non-invasive technology, which suggests that physical verification will require some degree of interference with the structure of the pyramid, which may not be allowed by the Egyptian authorities. The initial announcement was quickly followed by a refutation of the claim of a void over the Grand Gallery by Zahi Hawass(bw). Nevertheless, further investigation now (2019) seems to have confirmed the existence of this void(cn).

Not long after, it was reported in the UK’s Daily Mail that an Italian archaeoastronomer, Giulio Magli, believes that the void at the centre of the Great Pyramid houses a throne made from meteorites, used to help the pharaoh in the afterlife(bz). Magli has previously received public notice with a paper that explored the possibility that Göbekli Tepe had been constructed to “celebrate and successively follow the appearance of a new, extremely brilliant star in the southern skies: Sirius.”(ca).

Moving forward to March 2023 we had the dramatic announcement that a 30 feet-long and over 6-foot wide corridor had been identified inside the north side of the Great Pyramid. This was the result of investigations by the ‘Scanpyramids‘ project carried out since 2016(fp)(fq).

PYRAMIDIOCY

In 2020, some notes of Isaac Newton’s from the 1680s were auctioned, which revealed Newton’s interest in the pyramids. It seems that “Newton was trying to uncover the unit of measurement used by those constructing the pyramids. He thought it was likely that the ancient Egyptians had been able to measure the Earth and that, by unlocking the cubit of the Great Pyramid, he too would be able to measure the circumference of the Earth.” (cs).

The pseudoscience of pyramidology took off in the 19th century, with a range of outlandish claims(aq), based on external and/or internal dimensions of the Great Pyramid, supporting anything from the British Israelites or the early Jehovah’s Witnesses to being a source of divine prophecy!

In the 20th century, Adam Rutherford, a British Israelite, founded The Institute of Pyrmidology in 1940. Between 1957 and 1974, Rutherford published a set of four books on the subject, although a fifth volume was planned [1772]. When Adam died, his son James took over the Institute, but following his death in a car accident, the Institute ended.

Also in the mid-20th century, we had crazy pyramid ideas being offered by John O. Kinnaman including a report that “Dr Kinnaman said that during their 1924 investigation of the Great Pyramid they (Kinnaman & Petrie) located a hidden vault which contained amazing technical objects, including what appeared to be an anti-gravity machine or parts of such a machine, and thousands of crystal prisms which they speculated may all have been brought from Atlantis.”(ed). Unsurprisingly, no evidence was produced.

Richard W. Noone is the author of 5/5/2000: The Ultimate Disaster which seems to have achieved near cult status. J. Douglas Kenyon wrote a favourable review of Noone and his book in Issue 14 (1999) of Atlantis Rising magazine (AR). Noone published a further article in AR #22 supporting his doomsday claim(eq)

 “Noone studied the mysterious mathematics of the Great Pyramid and calculated its cosmic calendar. He concluded that the end of history was pinpointed on May 5, 2000, and he correlated the doomsday date to a cataclysmic melting of the polar ice caps.” However, when Noone’s date for the promised catastrophe passed without any major event occurring, comments became more critical(ep).

Nevertheless, pyramidology was given a new twist in November 2015 when a Spanish architect, Miquel Pérez-Sánchez, added the old alphanumeric system of gematria to the mix and claimed that he had identified the name ‘Atlantis’ when ‘translating’ some of the dimensions in the structure of the Great Pyramid(by). Scott Onstott is also a modern advocate of the existence of Mathematical Encoding in the Great Pyramid.(as)

For those interested in the possible significance of numbers and the Great Pyramid, there are three related papers available on Keith M. Hunter’s website(aw). However, readers should be aware that “fringe pyramidologists persist in their claims despite a 1992 effort to debunk them by Dutch astrophysicist Cornelis de Jager, who demonstrated the dimensions of any object can be manipulated to yield a desired outcome; he derived the speed of light and the distance between the Earth and Sun from his measurements of a bicycle.”(fx)

Ralph Ellis, mentioned above, is a controversial English revisionist of biblical and ancient Egyptian history, who bravely argues(b) that Mount Sinai, of Ten Commandments fame, was in fact the Great Pyramid of Giza [656]! John Taylor (1781-1864) claimed in 1859 that Noah was the builder of the Great Pyramid [1451]. Even more imaginative was the claim by C.E. Getsinger in the 1920s that Noah’s Ark was in fact the Great Pyramid(bp)!

[1942]+ https://www.academia.edu/27402718/Bramley_William_The_Gods_of_Eden 

(a)  Archive2925

(b) Archive 2926

(d)  Archive 2494

(e) http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=207802

(f) Jeff Nisbet’s Mythomorph — Myth, History, and the Quest for Truth (archive.org) 

(g) EUROPEAN-PYRAMIDS – AMAZING DISCOVERIES IN EUROPE (archive.org)  

(h) http://www.touropia.com/largest-pyramids-in-the-world/

(i) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/worlds-oldest-pyramids-are-discovered-1353095.html

(j) Archive 2138

(k) http://www.gigalresearch.com/uk/pyramides-maurice.php

(l) (99+) (PDF) dating civilizations Jonathan Gray | NoStarPanel TruthSeeker – Academia.edu

(m) http://www.360cities.net/image/pyramid-of-khafre#105.63,0.00,96.0

(n) Pyramids, Stonehenge, Easter Island and the Great Pyramid explained by Wallace Wallington! (archive.org)

(o) https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe-opinion-guest-authors/world-history-and-bosnian-pyramids-00220 *

(p) Archive 3620

(q) http://realitysandwich.com/132648/great_pyramid_garut/        

(r) Updated Part 1: Is There A Large Pyramid Underground Between Mt. McKinley and Nome, Alaska? – Earthfiles

(s) http://www.apparentlyapparel.com/2/post/2012/03/pyramids-of-glass-submerged-in-the-bermuda-triangle.html

(t) http://www.airpano.com/360Degree-VirtualTour.php?3D=Egypt-Cairo-Pyramids

(u) https://www.seeker.com/lost-egyptian-pyramids-found-1765918313.html

(v) https://web.archive.org/web/20161202051640/http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/04/13661093-see-the-google-pyramids-up-close?lite

(w)  https://web.archive.org/web/20150905142440/http://www.mountainguides.com/report_2006.shtml  (See Last Image)

(x) http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/05/mystery-solved-a-new-theory-about-why-egypt-stopped-building-pyramids/275738/

(y) http://beforeitsnews.com/beyond-science/2013/09/giant-underwater-pyramid-found-near-azores-island-associated-with-atlantis-portuguese-navy-investigating-2443658.html

(z) Why did two German ‘hobbyists’ deface a cartouche of Khufu inside the Great Pyramid and what does it have to do with Atlantis? (archive.org)

(aa) http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=255178&st=75

(ab) http://www.migration-diffusion.info/article.php?year=2013HYPERLINK “http://www.migration-diffusion.info/article.php?year=2013&id=375″&HYPERLINK “http://www.migration-diffusion.info/article.php?year=2013&id=375″id=375

(ac) https://web.archive.org/web/20200225142822/http://www.pyramidgravityforce.com/

(ad) https://web.archive.org/web/20190604070011/https://www.azores-pyramid.org/

(ae) http://robertjrgraham.com/?s=Pyramids  (link broken) 

(af) Archive 3619

(ag) http://phys.org/news/2014-04-ancient-egyptians-pyramid-stones-sand.html

(ah) Archive 2806

(ai) http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/incredible-discovery-reveals-how-chinas-forbidden-city-was-built-001001#!bdmL22

(aj) megalith-pyramiden.de (archive.org) 

(al) http://www.catchpenny.org/concave.html

(am) See: Archive 2564

(an) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00792v2

(ao) See: Archive 2818

(ap) The Stars Above, the Great Pyramid Below: 10,400 BCE | Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. (archive.org)

(aq) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidology

(ar) Ben Carson: Egyptian Pyramids Built For Grain Storage, Not By Aliens Or As Tombs (archive.org)

(as) http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa-opinion-guest-authors/mathematical-encoding-great-pyramid-002323

(at) http://www.jpost.com/Features/War-of-the-pyramid-theorists

(au) http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/once-hidden-plain-sight-and-surprisingly-ignored-great-pyramid-cholula-020650?utm_source=Ancient-Origins+Newsletter&utm_campaign=56d12fe000-Top_Trending_Stories_Dec_No2_REAL_14_12_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2dcd13de15-56d12fe000-85158329

(av) http://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/thoth-s-storm-new-evidence-ancient-egyptians-ireland-005187

(aw) Lost Age Secrets, World Mysteries & Forbidden Knowledge (archive.org) 

(ax) http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.ie/2012/01/new-theory-for-great-pyramid.html

(ay) https://web.archive.org/web/20191118024438/http://www.linux-host.org:80/energy/ebuilt.html 

(az) https://web.archive.org/web/20200318074200/http://sentinelkennels.com/Research_Article_V41.html

(ba) http://www.thepump.org/

(bb) Archive 3057

(bc) http://www.livescience.com/55118-great-pyramid-giza-is-slightly-lopsided.html

(bd) http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/researchers-confirm-recently-discovered-tonina-pyramid-largest-pyramid-mexico-020433?nopaging=1

(be) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3692283/The-diary-pyramid-builder-Oldest-papyrus-existence-details-workers-shifted-stones-sheep-ate-reveal-secrets-inside-Great-Pyramid-Giza.html 

(bf) https://web.archive.org/web/20180723084725/http://world-pyramids.com/en/

(bg) https://www.ancient-code.com/15-extremely-rare-ancient-images-of-the-pyramids-of-giza-youve-probably-never-seen/

(bh) http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/scota-mother-scotland-and-daughter-pharaoh-003798

(bi) http://dailygrail.com/Hidden-History/2016/8/The-Man-Who-Discovered-the-Bosnian-Pyramid-Answers-Critics

(bj) http://www.archaeology.org/issues/227-1609/trenches/4738-trenches-egypt-pyramid-measurement

(bk) http://www.dailygrail.com/Hidden-History/2016/8/What-Created-Melted-Limestone-Beside-the-Pyramids-Giza

(bl)  https://web.archive.org/web/20150627184535/https://dublinsmick.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/the-atlanteans-built-the-great-pyramid-not-the-egyptians/

(bm) https://www.geopolymer.org/archaeology/pyramids/are-pyramids-made-out-of-concrete-1/

(bn) Archive 3631

(bo) http://www.livescience.com/32616-how-were-the-egyptian-pyramids-built-.html

(bp) The Thomson Review, Thomson, Illinois, July 19th, 1922 – p.3

(bq) http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/04/mexico-is-hiding-the-world-s-largest-pyramid.html 

(br) https://web.archive.org/web/20200218000652/http://gizapyramid.com/oldphotos1.htm

(bs) http://io9.gizmodo.com/10-bizarre-theories-about-the-pyramids-that-dont-involv-1648634533

(bt) http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2012/02/the-great-pyramid-was-built-by-the-druids-of-ireland-1795923.html

(bu) https://www.anvilfire.com/bookrev/index.php?bodyName=wallington/forgotten_technology.htm&titleName=The%20Forgotten%20Technology%20by%20Wallace%20Wallington

(bv) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaap/ncurrent/full/nature24647.html

(bw) https://phys.org/news/2017-11-egypt-archaeologist-criticises-pyramid-void.html

(bx) Archive 3618

(by) http://www.lavanguardia.com/lacontra/20151031/54437578233/la-contra-miquel-perez-sanchez-pla.html

(bz) https://nypost.com/2018/01/15/great-pyramid-may-have-throne-carved-from-ancient-meteorite/ *

(ca) http://www.nescientist.com/article/mg21929303.400-worlds-oldest-temple-built-to-worship-the-dog-star.html

(cb) An Archaeologist May Have Finally Unraveled The Mystery Of The Flawless Alignment Of The Great Pyramid Of Giza – The Inquisitr (archive.org) *

(cc) https://earthistheaim.wordpress.com/

(cd) https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/713508/Atlantis-found-proof-conspiracy-google-earth-underwater-pyramid-Mexico-video-google-maps

(ce) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ancient-egypt-shipping-mining-farming-economy-pyramids-180956619/

(cf) https://www.livescience.com/63978-great-pyramid-ramp-discovered.html 

(cg) https://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/khufu-pyramid/e-mail.html

(ch) https://web.archive.org/web/20190105210122/http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/ghizahistoricaccounts.htm 

(ci) https://www.archdaily.com/915358/these-smart-megalithic-stones-can-move-and-assemble-easily-with-the-hands

(cj) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/ancient-megalithic-structures-0011761

(ck) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/machu-picchu-earthquake-0011195

(cl) https://www.eyeofthepsychic.com/nap_art4/ 

(cm) https://web.archive.org/web/20200219065954/http://www.robertschoch.net/Bosnian%20Geology%20Robert%20Schoch%20%20Pyramids%20Colette%20Dowell.htm

(cn) https://www.dailygrail.com/2019/11/mysterious-hidden-chamber-in-great-pyramid-confirmed-by-new-scans/

(co) https://old.world-mysteries.com/dtalboys_gp1.htm

(cp) https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.eyeofthepsychic.com/nap_art8/

(cq) https://web.archive.org/web/20190128150937/https://www.eyeofthepsychic.com/nap_art9/

(cr) https://www.academia.edu/27541864/THE_CONCAVITY_OF_THE_GREAT_PYRAMID_a_design_feature_Did_the_designer_know_the_Meter_Unit?email_work_card=view-paper 

(cs) Revealed: Isaac Newton’s attempts to unlock secret code of pyramids | Isaac Newton | The Guardian

(ct) Has the Function of the Great Pyramid of Giza Finally Come to Light? | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)

(cu) Art History Professor in China Claims Egyptian Pyramids Are Modern Fakes – JASON COLAVITO

(cv) The Movie Great Pyramid K 2019 – Director Fehmi Krasniqi – Bing video

(cw) Discussions in Egyptology, volume 13, 1989, pp. 7-18

(cx) https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/are-the-egyptian-pyramids-aligned-with-the-stars

(cy) The Giza Oracle: A New Theory Concerning the Design of the Pyramids of Giza – Graham Hancock Official Website 

(cz) Solving the Mysteries of the Pyramids | Drexel Engineering (archive.org) 

(da) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266350431_THE_HORIZON_THEORY_PART-I_ORIGINAL_CONCEPT_PLAN_OF_THE_PYRAMIDS_PLATEAU

(db) https://web.archive.org/web/20190603114325/http://www.geocities.ws/fotouh28/H-Aboulfotouh-Horizon-II.pdf

(dc) https://www.eyeofthepsychic.com/nap_art10/ 

(dd) Pyramids packed with fossil shells › News in Science (ABC Science) (archive.org)

(de) Zangkunchong : Ancient Art Homepage (archive.org)

(df) In The Reign Of The Black Pharaohs (freerepublic.com)

(dg) (99+) (PDF) Orion: The Eternal Rise of the Sky Hunter | Andrew Collins – Academia.edu 

(dh) https://www.ancient.eu/article/862/the-step-pyramid-of-djoser-at-saqqara/ 

(di) https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=79265

(dj) https://www.dailygrail.com/2021/04/the-shining-ones-did-the-egyptian-pyramids-produce-reflections-that-illuminated-other-sacred-sites/ *

(dk) http://www.gizapyramid.com/pincherle.htm  

(dl) Die Pyramiden von Gizeh wurden nicht von Altägyptern erbaut – Atlantisforschung.de  (Ger)

See: Archive 6401 | (atlantipedia.ie) (Eng)

(dm) Pyramid Puzzles – Atlantisforschung.de (German)

(dn) Understanding the Ancient Art of Levitation (liveabout.com) 

(do) https://brucedrinkwater.com/2016/12/01/acoustic-levitation-of-the-pyramids-is-theoretically-possible/

(dp) http://www.catchpenny.org/mmbuild.html

(dq) http://www.catchpenny.org/theories.html

(dr) https://eaglesanddragonspublishing.com/the-pyramids-of-ancient-greece/

(ds) Diamantis Koutoulas – Elliniki Agogi. Dec. 2001 p 1823

(dt) http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/tw/pyramids.htm

(du) https://archive.org/details/egyptianpyramids00fish/page/n1/mode/2up?q=hyksos

(dv) Archive 6555 | (atlantipedia.ie)  

(dw) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/07/ukraine.tomparfitt

(dx) https://atlantisonline.smfforfree2.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=8693.0

(dy) https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/who-built-the-pyramids/ 

(dz) https://www.academia.edu/51260091/The_Mathematical_Layout_of_the_Giza_Plateau_RESUME

(ea) https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chinese-pyramids-of-xian

(eb) https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/revealing-mysterious-story-koh-ker-pyramid-cambodia-008013 

(ec) In Control at the Pyramids – World Mysteries Blog (world-mysteries.com) 

(ed) http://thesecondsight.blogspot.com/2006/12/great-pyramid-of-lunacy.html 

(ef) https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa/has-function-great-pyramid-giza-finally-come-light-009861 

(eg) https://evol-forum.ch/giza-en/?noredirect=en_US

(eh) Prehistorical History – GIZA-LEGACY (archive.org) 

(ei) Press Release by Dr. Dominique Goerlitz & Stefan Erdmann – Atlantisforschung.de 

(ej) (99+) (PDF) Ancient Egyptian chronology and the astronomical orientation of pyramids | Kate Spence – Academia.edu

(ek) https://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0307/0307100.pdf

(el) Who Solves The Mystery Of The Great Pyramid Building ? (gigalresearch.com) 

(em) The Menkara petrified shallow marine creature (gigalresearch.com) 

(en) https://curiosmos.com/fossil-discovery-suggests-the-pyramids-and-sphinx-were-submerged-under-water/ 

(eo) Missing Fourth Great Pyramid of Giza may Finally Have Been Found (thevintagenews.com) 

(eq) Atlantis Rising magazine #22  https://media.oiipdf.com/pdf/8cc846c3-42b2-4ec1-b499-50cb1008e2c0.pdf 

(er) Atlantis Rising magazine #23  http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(es) Atlantis Rising magazine #29  http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(et) Atlantis Rising magazine #31 http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(eu) https://gizadeathstar.com/?s=great+pyramid  

(ev)Atlantis Rising magazine #35  http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(ew)Atlantis Rising magazine #39  http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(ex) Atlantis Rising magazine #42/43  http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(ey) Pyramids Building | Atlantis in the Java Sea (atlantisjavasea.com) 

(ez) Atlantis Rising magazine  #50 http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(fa) Atlantis Rising magazine  #56 http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(fb) Atlantis Rising magazine  #58 http://www.pdfarchive.info/index.php?pages/At  

(fc) https://culturacolectiva.com/travel/russia-pyramids-kola-peninsula-discovery-older-egypt/ 

(fd) Records of the pyramid builders: discovering eye-witness accounts of a legendary construction project | The Past (the-past.com) 

(fe) The Secret of The Pyramids’ Perfect Alignment Might Be Explained After All (sciencealert.com) 

(ff) https://www.geopolymer.org/library/video/they-came-from-america-to-build-easter-island/ 

(fg) Ezekiel 1-29 decoded via the re-discovery of ancient Egypt’s four-lobe pinion-pulley via composite artifacts, proves Khufu’s Great Pyramid was constructed with mass production techniques requiring well developed critical flow analysis for perfect completion within the historically documented twenty year time-frame. (haitheory.com)

(fh) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/pyramid-builders-0017205  

(fi) Hermann Waldhauser’s Theory of the Great Pyramid Stefan Erdman (erdmann–forschung-de.translate.goog) (English) 

(fj) Die Pyramiden von Gizeh wurden nicht von Altägyptern erbaut – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) (Eng)

(fk) Is Atlantological diffusionism ‘old news’? – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) 

(fl) Hans Jelitto – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) 

(fm) Round pyramids – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) 

(fn) URGENT URGENT! BREAKING NEWS: EGYPT – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) 

(fo) THEORIES ON WHY THE GREAT PYRAMID WAS BUILT (gizapyramid.com) 

(fp) New discovery in Great Pyramid of Giza: A 30-foot hidden corridor (usatoday.com) 

(fq) Precise characterization of a corridor-shaped structure in Khufu’s Pyramid by observation of cosmic-ray muons | Nature Communications 

(fr) Mystery Of Tools Used To Build Giza Pyramids: What If They Were Never Lost? (howandwhys.com) 

(fs) https://mosesegyptianised.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/israelite-slaves-did-build-egypts-mighty-pyramids/ 

(ft) Scotland’s Hidden Sacred Past – Graham Hancock Official Website 

(fu) https://www.academia.edu/67887392/The_Younger_Dryas_Impact_A_Catholic_Perspective_Eden_was_our_shared_time_of_peace_on_Earth_From_Land_Dotted_with_Holy_and_Famous_Landmarks 

(fv) https://ayda.net/healthy-living-research-and-development/philip-callahan-an-entomologist/philip-callahan-and-round-towers/ 

(fw) http://portuguese-american-journal.com/pico-new-archeological-evidence-reveals-human-presence-before-portuguese-occupation-azores/ 

(fx) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/no-really-there-is-no-secret-code-in-the-pyramids-17662247/ 

(fy) Acoustic Levitation Today – Graham Hancock Official Website 

(fz) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/pyramid-kazakhstan-0019062 

(ga) Archive 2006 | (atlantipedia.ie) *

Strait of Gibraltar

The Strait of Gibraltar according to Greek mythology was created by Herakles. Neville Chipulina explains that “it seems that the person responsible for the myths about Hercules was Peisander of Rhodes, a 7th century BC Greek epic poet who apparently got the story from an unknown Pisinus of Lindus who almost certainly plagiarised it from somebody else. In other words, it’s a pretty old story.”(c)

The Strait is very much a part of many current Atlantis theories. Primarily, it is contended that the region itself held the location of Atlantis. This is based on Plato’s statement that Eumelos, also known as Gadeirus, the twin brother of Atlas the first king of Atlantis gave his name to Gades, known today as Cadiz. Andalusia in Southern Spain has been the focus of attention for over a hundred years. In recent years Georgeos Diaz-Montexano and his rival Jacques Colina- Girard have been investigating the waters of the Strait itself while south of the Strait Jonas Bergman has advanced his theory that Atlantis was located just across the Strait in Morocco.

Although there is general acceptance that the Pillars of Heracles had their final resting place in the vicinity of the Strait of Gibraltar, it must be noted that there have been other candidates at different times with equally valid claims. The location of the ‘Pillars’ referred to by Plato at the time of Atlantis is the subject of continuing debate.

>Archaeologist Josho Brouwers has noted(g) that “according to Strabo (3.5.5), Hercules raised the Pillars during one of his Twelve Labours to mark the western edge of the inhabited world. One pillar was identified as the Rock of Gibraltar (called Mount Calpe in ancient times), with the other was Ceuta (Mount Abile) on the African side of the narrow strait.

Diodorus Siculus mentions that Hercules put the Pillars in place as a monument to himself (4.18.4). He also adds that Hercules either narrowed the passage in order to prevent sea-monsters from the Atlantic to enter the Mediterranean, or to actually open the mountain so that the Atlantic could mingle with the Mediterranean. On this issue, as Diodorus puts it, “it will be possible for every man to think as he may please” (4.18.5).” For me it raises a warning flag regarding the hasty acceptance of ancient myths and traditions as having an historical basis.<

Strato, the philosopher, quoted by Strabo, spoke of a dam separating the Atlantic and the Mediterranean being breached by a cataclysm. This idea was reinforced by comments of Seneca. Furthermore, a number of Arabic writers, including Al-Mas’udi, Al-Biruni and Al-Idrisi, have all concurred with this idea of a Gibraltar land bridge in late prehistory.

A more radical theory is that of Paulino Zamarro who contends that the Strait was in fact closed by a landbridge during the last Ice Age because of the lower sea levels together with silting. When the waters rose and breached the landbridge, he believes that the flood submerged Atlantis, which he situates in the Aegean. Others support Zamarro’s idea of a Gibraltar Dam amongst whom are Constantin Benetatos and Joseph S. Ellul.

Terry Westerman on his heavily illustrated website surveys impact craters globally. He suggests that The Strait of Gibraltar was formed by two meteor impacts. The first blasted the round area in the western Mediterranean Sea to form a land bridge between Spain and Morocco.” He maintains that a second impact broke the landbridge around 5.33 million years ago, creating what is called the Zanclean Flood which refilled the then desiccated Mediterranean(d).

A German-language website(a) presented some of the following data+, apparently recording the dramatic widening of the Strait of Gibraltar between 400 BC and 400 AD. The same list was included in the ‘Strait of Gibraltar’ entry of the German Wikipedia(b) until a few years ago. It has since been removed.

Alexander Braghine offered [156.139] similar data*, which, unfortunately, is also unreferenced.

+Damastes of Sigeum, circa 400 BC. – about 1.3 km

+Pseudo-Skylax, probably fourth Century BC – about 1.3 km

*Turiano Greslio? 300BC – 8.0 km

*+Titus Livius (Livy) 59 BC- 17 AD – 10.5 kmStrait_of_Gibraltar_perspective

+Strabo 63 BC- 24 AD – from 9.5 to 13.0 km

+Pomponius Mela , 50 AD – about the 15.0 km

+Pliny the Elder, 50 AD – about 15.0 km

*+Victor Vicensa (*Vitensa?), 400 AD – about 18 km

Procopius, 550 AD – about 15.0 km

The above figures suggest that in the latter half of the first millennium BC, the Strait of Gibraltar was gradually widened. However, the figures given suggest that between 400 and 550 AD the Straits narrowed again seems absurd. Nevertheless, until the methods used and all the data on offer have been verified, the idea must be treated with great caution.

My list had originally included Euctemon, the 5th century BC Athenian astronomer, however, Werner E. Friedrich notes that Euctemon was referring to the Sea of Marmara near the entrance to the Black Sea [0695.38].

However, more recently, John Jensen Jnr. has offered a comparable, if shorter, number of dates showing the reducing width of the strait the further back you go, from which he extrapolated that around 3450 YBP when he believes that a landbridge there was breached(e).

Georgeos Diaz-Montexano has also referred to the descriptions by ancient writers of the Strait of Gibraltar indicating a width of around two kilometres. Unfortunately, he does not cite references(f). He also is sympathetic to the existence of an earlier landbridge at Gibraltar.

(a) https://de.academic.ru/dic.nsf/dewiki/1337738

(b) https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stra%C3%9Fe_von_Gibraltar&oldid=60093153

(c) https://gibraltar-intro.blogspot.ie/2015/10/bc-pillars-of-hercules-if-ordinary.html

(d) The Formation of the Strait of Gibraltar (archive.org)

(e) https://www.migration-diffusion.info/article.php?id=514

(f) https://web.archive.org/web/20200630064033/http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1011563/posts

(g) The Pillars of Hercules – Ancient World Magazine *

 

Mediterranean Sea Level

Mediterranean Sea Level. There is general acceptance that, on more than one occasion, the Strait of Gibraltar was closed completely. Tectonic plate movement, worldwide sea level drops due to the onset of Ice Age glaciation or a combination of both, could have caused this. There is also clear undisputed evidence that the Mediterranean Sea has dried out completely on a number of occasions. What is not clear is when the last desiccation or partial drying-out of the Mediterranean ended. The conventional date given for the last breaching of a Gibraltar Dam is 5 million years ago. However, there is a small but growing opinion that there was a more recent breach of a dam within the memory of modern man and preserved in history and myth.

>Not only have sea levels changed, but a 2020 report has now offered evidence that the Mediterranean was over three degrees hotter 2,000 years ago and that it remained hotter for about 500 years during the time of the Roman Empire(c).<

bathymetric medWhere one theory on the location of Atlantis is concerned, the existence of a Gibraltar dam before the end of the last Ice Age is critical, namely that Atlantis was situated near modern Cyprus. The site chosen by author Robert Sarmast is 1650 metres beneath the present level of the Mediterranean. His theory is totally dependent on proving the existence of this dam. It would seem prudent to have carried out a more detailed study of the evidence for a relatively recent removal of the dam before engaging in a very costly exploration over a mile under the eastern Mediterranean.

There are a number of facts that appear to suggest a more recent Mediterranean inundation but even collectively they do not offer any more than circumstantial evidence.

(i) The Mediterranean sea level must have dropped by as much as from 150 to 300 meters or more. Several years ago, by chance divers found submerged entrances (below sea level) in Southern France, which subsequently led them to discover the now famous prehistoric cave paintings there. There are many man-made stone structures around the Mediterranean that are now under water as well.

Cosquer Cave, near Marseilles, has its entrance 37 metres underwater. It contains several dozen works painted between 25000-17000 BC. The opening was once several miles inland until about 10000 BC when the sea began to rise at the end of the last Ice Age. It has been estimated that that it was originally at a height of 80 metres above sea level, according to anthropologist, James Q. Jacobs(a).  This cave art depicts the Auk, which had never been found this far north.

(ii) Submerged Maltese structures, although their inundation may have been caused by local seismic activity rather than global sea level changes.

(iii) H. S. Bellamy claimed[091] that ancient geographers hinted at the non-existence of the Strait of Gibraltar within human memory.

(iv) A modern Guide to Provence(b) also claims a relatively recent removal of the Gibraltar land bridge.

(v) Medieval Arab writers such as Al-Biruni, Al-Idrisi and Al-Mas’udi suggest the existence of a Gibraltar landbridge, again within the memory of man.

(vi) The sunken port of ancient Syedra in Turkey.

(a) http://www.jqjacobs.net/rock_art/dawn.html

(b) Landmark Visitors Guide – Provence & Côte D’Azure by Richard Sale. (p.16)

>(c) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/mediterranean-sea-temperature-0014032<

 

Gibraltar Landbridge or Dam

A Gibraltar Landbridge or Dam is generally accepted to have existed on several occasions during the earth’s history. There is a broad consensus among geologists that the last time an enclosed and desiccated Mediterranean had its barrier to the Atlantic breached was around 5.3 million years ago. A paper by Daniel García-Castellanos on the refilling of the Mediterranean deserves a read(u).

Today, we generally think of the Strait of Gibraltar as the only gateway between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, while in fact there is evidence that millions of years ago the Strait was closed but that there were earlier access routes between the two bodies of water(n). The Betic Corridor in the north, which later became part of the Spanish Guadalquivir Basin and the Rifian Corridor in the south, in what is now Morocco(t).

However, a number of experts in different fields (noted by Van Sertima) have opted to suggest a more recent landbridge, perhaps 120,000 years ago, in order to explain some of the faunal migrations from Africa to the Iberian Peninsula[322].

When the last opening of the Mediterranean was demonstrated by Kenneth Hsu to have taken place 5.5 million years ago, the idea of a landbridge at Gibraltar being destroyed within the memory of man seemed rather unlikely. However, when I saw the bathymetric maps of the Mediterranean produced by Brosolo, Mascle & Loubrie, relating to the Younger Dryas Period, it raised new questions for me.

However, Hsu’s date for the last flooding of the Mediterranean has, understandably, found little support from young-Earth creationists, such as Lambert Dolphin(o). and Barry Setterfield, who have striven to reconcile the irreconcilable with obscure ideas, such as changes in the speed of light!

The 18th-century writer Georges-Louis Buffon speculated as early as 1749 on the existence of a Gibraltar Dam. Alexander Braghine refers[156.21] to Bishop Tollerat, a contemporary of Bory de Saint Vincent, claiming that a Gibraltar landbridge was breached by an earthquake and led to the submergence of Atlantis. Unfortunately, I have been unable to track down Tollerat.

Even popular fiction featured the idea of a Gibraltar landbridge. In 1869, Mark Twain in chapter 7 of Innocents Abroad[1123] voiced a then-current theory that there had been dry land between Gibraltar and North Africa allowing the passage northward of the so-called ‘Barbary apes’ that live on the ‘Rock’ today.

In 1921, H.G.Wells, in The Outline of History, offered a graphic, although speculative, description of the breaching of the Gibraltar Dam(g).  He wrote that “This refilling of the Mediterranean, which by the rough chronology we are employing in this book may have happened somewhen between 30,000 and 10,000 B.C., must have been one of the greatest single events in the pre-history of our race.” 

Manuel Sánchez de Ocaña was the Spanish Lieutenant General during the 1909 war in Africa. In a rare 1935 book, Accion de España en Africa(a)  (Spanish Action in Africa) he refers to the ancient isthmus that linked Spain and North Africa as well as landbridges linking Europe and America on which he believed Atlantis had been situated.

François de Sarre (1947- ) was a noted French evolutionary zoologist who proposed that a landbridge had existed at Gibraltar, which was only destroyed in relatively recent times, possibly in the second millennium BC. In support of his view, he quotes Pomponius Mela, Diodorus Siculus and Pliny. He has also published a paper, in English, supporting his opinion with a spectrum of faunal evidence(k). 

Others have ventured further and proposed that a dam existed within the experience of man and that its last destruction led to the sinking of Atlantis which many claim was located in the Mediterranean. H. S. Bellamy refers to Strato quoted by Strabo, declaring that originally the strait did not exist but that the barrier was broken through in a cataclysm. Bellamy also quotes Seneca describing how Spain was separated from Africa by earthquakes. Neither of these references could have originated without human witnesses.

Alexander Braghine also added to the idea of a relatively recent landbridge when he wrote[156.139]  We possess a whole series of records of the width of these Straits, left by ancient and medieval writers of various centuries. At the beginning of the fifth century B.C. the width was only half a mile, but the writer Euton in 400 B.C., estimated it at 4 miles; Turiano Greslio, in 300 B.C., at 5 miles; and Titus Livius, at the beginning of the Christian Era, at 7 miles. Victor Vitensa, in A.D. 400, gives the width of the Straits as equal to 12 miles, and at present it is 15 miles wide.” John Jensen offers the same information as a graphic.

C. M. Hardy subscribed to the view that there had been a dam at Gibraltar that was breached around 4500 BC with such a force that it also led to the destruction of a landbridge between Tunisia and Italy. He believed that remnants of Atlantis will be found in the seas around Greece.

C. S. Rafinesque, the famous naturalist, claimed that there was a Gibraltar landbridge that was destroyed 654 years after Noah’s Flood. These claims are to be found in chapter 14 of Vol II of The American Nations published in 1836. This volume can now be downloaded for free(e). A creationist website(i) links the breaching of the landbridge with Noah’s Deluge, which the author claims not only flooded the Mediterranean but also spilled into the Black Sea, the Red Sea and also the Persian Gulf. (see below)

floodmapfinalThe standard argument against the landbridge theory is that although the Atlantic was dramatically lower during the last Ice Age it was not sufficient to expose a land bridge between Spain and Africa at Gibraltar. However, it should be noted that the underwater sill between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean would have been much higher than now. When we consider that the breaching of a landbridge at Gibraltar would have caused an incredible flow of water through the breach (hundreds of times the flow of Niagara Falls), scouring its bottom, so that by the time the levels in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean had equalised, the erosion of the sill between them would have been considerable and when viewed today would misleadingly suggest that the Mediterranean had not have been completely cut off from the Atlantic during the last Ice Age. In the future, the consequence of this is that when (not if) the next Ice Age begins the ocean levels will have to drop even lower if the Mediterranean is to be isolated from the Atlantic once again. An example of what a sudden release of large bodies of water can do is visible in the scablands of North America, created by the breaching of the glacial dam retaining Lake Missoula.

The Spanish researcher Paulino Zamarro contends, in his 2000 book, Del Estrecho de Gibraltar a la AtlantidaGibraltar Landbridge that a Gibraltar dam was created by silting when the Atlantic was very much lower during the last Ice Age and that it lasted until 7,500 years ago when it was breached and destroyed Atlantis, which he locates in the Cyclades, with the island of Melos containing its capital city. Details of his theory can be found on the Internet(d). A larger version of Zamarro’s map is shown on the right.

Other researchers such as Constantin Benetatos maintain that this idea is supported by comments of ancient writers who suggest that at one time the Mediterranean had no existence. The philosopher Strato supported by Seneca refers to the sundering of such a dam linking Europe and Africa. The same idea was expressed by Diodorus Siculus, who said that Africa and Europe were joined and separated by Heracles. Such ideas could only have arisen if there had been a Gibraltar Dam far more recently than the conventionally accepted 5.3 million years ago. The lowering of the ocean levels at the beginning of the last Ice Age and the exposure of a landbridge or dam between Spain and Morocco would have had the effect of drying out the Mediterranean due to the fact that loss of water through evaporation in the region is greater than the amount of water from rivers that feed into it.

It is worth considering that although the catastrophic breaching of the Bosporus and consequent expansion of the Black Sea is generally accepted as fact, there are no specific legends to support it apart from a reappraisal of the Flood of Noah. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to point out that there is little by way of local myth or legend relating to the breaching of a Gibraltar Dam which is not proof that such an event did not occur.>Although, as you will see below, a number of highly regarded Arabic scholars have endorsed the idea of a breached dam at Gibraltar.<Furthermore, the area around the mouth of the Mediterranean is geologically unstable and could have been subjected to seismic activity that could have breached or even blocked the strait.

Alberto Arecchi agrees(a) with the concept of a historical land bridge at Gibraltar, but places its breach to around 2300 BC. John Jensen puts it about a millennium later and suggested that the sundering of the Gibraltar Dam was probably outward from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic(q) rather than the more generally accepted other direction. As already intimated, Constantin Benetatos also supported(b) the existence of the Gibraltar Dam.

Joseph S. Ellul the Maltese writer was probably the first modern author to link the breaching of a Gibraltar landbridge with the destruction of Atlantis, which he claims to have been located adjacent to Malta. He identifies this submergence of Atlantis by the waters of the Atlantic with Noah’s Flood. Ellul interprets Genesis 7:11, 8:2, which refers to the “fountains of the great deep” bursting forth, as a reference to the collapse of the Gibraltar Dam.

David Hatcher Childress also supports the idea of such a landbridge and has ventured a date of around 9000 BC for its collapse[620.261] and the consequent flooding of a desiccated Mediterranean.

Georgeos Diaz-Montexano, who has been searching for Atlantis off the coast of Spain and Gibraltar, has favourably referred to Zamarro’s silting theory and included the illustration, shown above, from Zamarro’s book on his websites. A further reference to silting can be read on another website(f).

When the Mediterranean eventually filled up, it is highly probable that it was then that the pressure of its waters led to the flooding of the Black Sea. It is reported that there are scouring marks at the entrance to the Black Sea that are very similar to those at Gibraltar. The date of the putative collapse of the Gibraltar Dam would therefore be marginally earlier, while the Mediterranean basins filled, than the accepted date for the breaching of the Bosporus currently calculated to have been around 5600 BC.

Robert Sarmast’s apparently dormant theory of Atlantis submerged off the coast of Cyprus under what is now a mile of water is totally dependent on the existence of a Gibraltar Dam during the last Ice Age and it being subsequently breached when the level of the Atlantic rose or the even more improbable lowering of the seafloor by a mile, as a consequence of seismic/tectonic activity in the region.

On the basis of evidence(c) offered by the quoted classical writers, the fact that sea levels rose hundreds of feet after the last Ice Age and examples of water damage to temples on elevated ground in Malta and nuraghi in Sardinia it is not unreasonable to conclude that a rupturing of a landbridge at Gibraltar within the last ten thousand year was possible if not probable.

The most dramatic suggestion regarding the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar has been offered by Terry Westerman(h), who proposed that the rupturing of the landbridge was caused by two meteor impacts.

>Finally, it is worth considering the comments of a number of respected Arabic scholars such as Al-Biruni, and Al-Mas’udi who lent support to the idea of a Gibraltar landbridge. Additionally, Al-Idrisi recounts how the Gibraltar landbridge was breached by Alexander the Great. While the introduction of Alexander, who was very highly regarded by the Arabs, is obviously a folkloric embellishment, it demonstrates an underlying belief in the existence of such an isthmus in the distant past. Adding strength to this idea is that al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta on the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar and consequently would undoubtedly have been fully aware of local traditions regarding a landbridge there in ancient times.<

However, all that must be reconciled with the scientific findings of Kenneth Hsu who dated the last opening of the Gibraltar Strait to 5.5 million years ago(m). This date has been unchallenged as far as I’m aware.

A paper published online in May 2022 would appear to contradict the idea that a landbridge blocking the Gibraltar Strait had collapsed, flooding the Mediterranean and contributing to the destruction of Atlantis.

This paper(a)  includes a map showing the gradual encroachment inland by the Mediterranean at Spain’s Pego-Olvia (opposite Ibiza), between 9000 BC and 8100 BC. This was the result of post-glacial melting of the glaciers gradually raised sea levels allowing water to slowly move inland over the flat coastal plain at a rate of about a kilometre every century. Little has changed since then, indicating that any suggested landbridge could not have been breached after 8100 BC without a more significant expansion inland by the Mediterranean. It also suggests that in a scenario where a Mediterranean Atlantis was flooded during that period and particularly during the second millennium BC, it should still be in relatively shallow waters!

(a) https://www.liutprand.it/articoliMondo.asp?id=111

(b) See: Archive 2365

(c) https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/601935/posts

(d) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20180820052424/https://www.atlantidaegeo.com/autor.html

(e) https://books.google.com.mt/books?id=8GMFAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

(f) https://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_depth_of_the_Mediterranean_Sea_during_the_last_Ice_Age

(g)  https://archive.org/details/OutlineOfHistory

(h)  https://www.geoledgers.com/Europe/Gibraltar/Gibraltar.html (link broken)

(i) https://www.makesyouthinkblog.com/?m=201204 (link broken) See Archive 2536 

(k) https://www.migra(o)tion-diffusion.info/article.php?year=2015&id=477

(m) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messinian_salinity_crisis

(n) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014PA002719/full

(o) http://www.ldolphin.org/meddead.html

(p) Full article: Impacts of sea-level rise on prehistoric coastal communities: land use and risk perception during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in central Mediterranean Spain (tandfonline.com) 

(q) (99+) Earth’s Axis Tilt, Global Catastrophe, Breach of Gibraltar Strait and a Global Calendar Change -3,450 Years Ago | John Jensen – Academia.edu *

(r) http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Nr64Fountains.pdf 

(s) https://www.grisda.org/origins-01067  

(t) https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2014PA002719

(u) https://mappingignorance.org/2014/02/07/how-the-mediterranean-was-refilled/ 

Norov, Avraam Sirgeievitch (L)

Norov_A_S_Avraam Sirgeievitch Norov (1795-1869) was, at one stage of his career, a minister of public instruction (1853-1858). Norov was probably the first Russian to produce an original work[491] on Atlantis. The German text is now available online(a).  He referred to a large number of Greek and Arabic sources and concluded that the Pillars of Heracles were located in the eastern Mediterranean and that they referred to shrines rather than geographical features.

Two of the renowned Arabic scholars quoted by Norov, al-Bruni and  al-Mas’udi, relate local stories that suggest a time when the Strait of Gibraltar did not exist as we know it. However, the accounts suffer from the inevitable distortions and accretions that can develop with ancient tales when transmitted orally.

(a)  https://www.archive.org/details/dieatlantisnach00norogoog

Al-Mas’udi

Al-Mas’udi (896-956) was born in Baghdad and was renowned as a masudigeographer and historian, who became known as the ‘Herodotus of the Arabs’.*He is known to have written over twenty books, one of which, Akhb?r al-zam?n (The History of Time), was comprised of thirty volumes.*  

Al-Masudi tells of an old tradition that relates how the Strait of Gibraltar was crossed by a bridge of stone and bricks under which it appears that there was at one time a gentle flow of water from the Atlantic that grew and as the level of the Mediterranean rose, the bridge was eventually washed away. This report, when combined with the comments of other Arab and Greek writers, demonstrates a widespread acceptance of the existence of a dam at Gibraltar in the distant past.

Al-Biruni

Al-Biruni (973-1048) was born in what is now Uzbekistan and is considered by many to have been one of the greatest scientists ever. He is credited with having developed elements of what we would now class as the modern ’scientific method’.

>He wrote 146 treatises totalling 13,000 pages in virtually every scientific field. One of his most notable accomplishments was the near-accurate measurement of the Earth’s circumference using his own trigonometric method; he missed the correct measurement of 24,900 miles by only 200 miles. Unfortunately, al-Biruni’s works were never translated into Latin and thus did not have much influence beyond the Arabic world.(a)<

His interest in astronomy is reflected in the naming of a lunar Al-Birunicrater after him. Six centuries before Galileo, al-Biruni was aware of the fact that the earth rotated on its axis daily and circled the sun once a year.

Al-Biruni recalls an ancient tale which speaks of brackish land extending from Egypt to Constantinople suggesting that at some time in the very distant past, but still within the experience of man, that the eastern Mediterranean dried out. This idea was reinforced by the comments of al-Mas’udi and in the 12th century by al-Idrisi in collaboration with King Roger II of Sicily who all quote ancient traditions that clearly support the concept of a Gibraltar dam that was probably breached as sea levels rose at the end of the last Ice Age.

>(a) https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/why-the-arabic-world-turned-away-from-science<