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

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  • NEWS September 2023

    NEWS September 2023

    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 »
  • Joining The Dots

    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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Colin Wilson

Denisovans

Denisovan is the name given to an extinct sub-species of hominid(a). Their name is derived from the Denisova cave in the Altai mountains of Siberia. Only fragments of four individuals have been identified so far. While the first Denisovan remains were found in Siberia, there is now evidence that they were the earliest hominins on the Tibetan Plateau (b).

It has also been determined that they interbred with Neanderthals, while a recent DNA study(d) indicates that the Denisovans and modern humans were possibly ‘makin whoopee’ as recently as 15,000 years ago!

It did not take long for the speculative history brigade to jump on this new bandwagon. Andrew Collins has now prepared for publication The Cygnus Key[1509]  in which he claims to present “compelling evidence showing that the earliest origins of human culture, religion, and technology derive from the Denisovans, the true creators of the lost civilization long known to exist but never before proved.”

In 2019, Collins co-authored a new book  together with Greg Little in which they combine their speculative abilities to produced a full book on the physical and intellectual attributes of the Denisovans, based on a few bone fragments! >The full title of the book is rather revealing –  Denisovan Origins : Hybrid Humans, Göbekli Tepe, and the Genesis of the Giants of Ancient America [1672]. Collins discusses the book in an interview in New Dawn magazine(e).<

The book received the imprimatur of Graham Hancock, so the collective name recognition value of Collins, Hancock and Little should boost sales. Jason Colavito has critiqued this volume(c), highlighting the amount of dubious material that the authors have previously published is included in this offering.

This comment is nearly identical to that expressed by the late Colin Wilson relating to the Neanderthals whom he claimed had possessed highly sophisticated mathematical and astronomical knowledge and were precursors of the Atlantis civilisation. This extremely speculative assertion is made in Wilson’s Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals[0336].

(a) https://www.ancient.eu/Denisovan/

(b) https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232283-700-major-discovery-suggests-denisovans-lived-in-tibet-160000-years-ago/

(c) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-denisovan-origins-by-andrew-collins-and-gregory-l-little

(d) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/denisovans-mated-modern-humans-0011688

>(e) https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia3/historia_humanidad217.htm<

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is generally accepted to have been an Incan retreat, built in the middle of the 15th century on a barely accessible mountaintop of Peru about fifty miles northwest of Cuzco. It was apparently abandoned a century later and only brought to the attention of the outside world in 1911 when it was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham III (1875-1956).

In 2021 the use of a more advanced dating method (accelerator mass spectrometry) has pushed back the earliest date for the site by a couple of decades to 1420 AD(j).

machu picchu

Mark Adams, the American writer, wrote an account of his retracing of Bingham’s journey to Machu Picchu[976]. Along with the narrative of his pilgrimage, Adams has also interwoven a valuable history of the region.

In 2013, a Polish-Peruvian team, while exploring a previously unexcavated building on the site, claimed to have discovered that the structure was astronomically aligned(a).  The following year saw a newly discovered section of the Inca Road, which leads to Machu Picchu, announced by the Andina News Agency(c).

In July 2016, it was reported that what are considered pre-Inca petroglyphs were discovered in the Machu Picchu region(d)(e). Research is proceeding.

The siting of the sanctuary has been something of a mystery, Recent research suggests that the existence of geological faults that lie beneath it may offer some of the answers. Rualdo Menegat, a Brazilian geologist, presented a paper to the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in Phoenix, in which he claims that the Incas deliberately chose to build Machu Picchu and some of their cities where tectonic faults meet!(h)

It was revealed in 2019 that work had commenced on the building of a new international airport to service Machu Picchu, a development that has been vigorously opposed as a threat to the already fragile site. It is worth noting that in 2017, 1.5 million visitors, nearly twice the limit recommended by UNESCO, came to Machu Picchu(g).

Also in 2019, it was announced that an even older Inca site was discovered 1,500 metres higher than Machu Picchu using LiDar(i).

Some pathetic attempts have been made to link Machu Picchu with Atlantis. One of them claims that “This was the (summer?) residence of the continental governor, who at the time of the destruction of Atlantis was a woman.”(b) Others, such as Rand Flem-Ath along with the late Colin Wilson[063], as well as Jim Alison, have included the Andean site in proposed global grids linking prehistoric sites.

A less-known Inca site is that of Choquequirao(f), sometimes referred to as the ‘sister’ of Machu Picchu. Only a third of the site has been excavated so far.

>In March 2022, it was reported that a new academic paper argues that since its rediscovery more than a century ago, the site has been known by the wrong name. A Peruvian historian and a leading US archaeologist argue that the Unesco world heritage site was known by its Inca inhabitants as Huayna Picchu – the name of a peak overlooking the ruins – or simply Picchu.”(l)<

Charles R. Kos expressed a belief “that Macchu(sic) Picchu in Peru which is held to be ‘Inca’ is in fact, I am fairly certain, an Irish Monastery from the Dark Ages.”(k)

(a) https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/archive-2330/

(b) https://web.archive.org/web/20200219033018/http://www.thelighthouseonline.com/articles/atlantis3.html

(c) https://web.archive.org/web/20190105000701/https://www.livinginperu.com/news-new-inca-road-to-machu-picchu-discovered-103165/

(d) Researchers find Pre-Inca Petroglyphs at Machu Picchu that could rewrite Andean history | Ancient Code (archive.org)

(e) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/new-rock-paintings-discovered-machu-picchu-006393?nopaging=1

(f) https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/choquequirao-sister-site-machu-picchu-still-holds-hidden-secrets-003025?nopaging=1

(g) https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/may/15/archaeologists-outraged-over-plans-for-machu-picchu-airport-chinchero

(h) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923140814.htm

(i) https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/travel/archaeologists-find-ancient-site-older-than-machu-picchu-1.936503

(j) Machu Picchu older than expected, study reveals | YaleNews

(k) Home (archive.org) 

(l) Machu Picchu: Inca site ‘has gone by wrong name for over 100 years’ | Archaeology | The Guardian *

Geodesy

Geodesy is usually defined as the measurement and mapping of the Earth. James R. Smith, the author of Introduction to Geodesy [1947] has conflated several definitions to produce “Geodesy, from the Greek, literally means dividing the earth, and as a first objective, the practice of geodesy should provide an accurate framework for the control of national topographical surveys. Thus geodesy is the science that determines the figure of the earth and the interrelation of selected points on its surface by either direct or indirect techniques. These characteristics further make it a branch of applied mathematics, one that must include observations that can be used to determine the size and shape of the earth and the definition of coordinate systems for threedimensional positioning; the variation of phenomena near to or on the surface, such as gravity, tides, earth rotation, crustal movement, and deflection of the plumb line; together with units of measurement and methods of representing the curved earth surface on a flat sheet of paper.”

Geodesy as a science can be traced back to Pythagoras (6th cent. BC), who was thought to be the first to propose the sphericity of the Earth. Aristotle & Archimedes were apparently the first the offer a figure for the diameter of the Earth, suggesting 400,000 and 300,000 stades respectively. The difference might be partly explained by the use of a different length of stade. 

Later, Eratosthenes (276 BC– 195 BC) offered another early attempt to determine the dimensions of our Earth and succeeded with remarkable accuracy.

A controversial aspect of modern geodesy is the claim that many ancient sites were deliberately established at locations that had a specific geodetic relationship to each other and/or the dimensions of the Earth. For example(a) in ancient Egypt, the distance from Giza to the Equator was calculated to be 1/12th the circumference of the Earth, Amarna to the Equator is 1/13th, Luxor 1/14th and Philae 1/15th!

Graham Hancock in his Heaven’s Mirror[855] pointed to similar relationships around the globe suggesting a possible world grid. This idea of a world grid has a number of supporters but is often classified as a ‘fringe’ interest due to the attempt by some to link gridlines with UFOs and their use of the grid as a power source(w).>Hancock’s various claims regarding the dimensions of the pyramids and their association with a suggested world grid has been challenged in great detail by a Hall of Maat article by Thomas W. Schroeder(ah), concluded  that “Graham Hancock’s assertion that the Great Pyramid’s dimensions reveal knowledge of earth’s dimensions certainly lacks proof but also fails to hold up to any scrutiny as a viable theory. Each step argued by Hancock; that the Great Pyramid was built to a specific scalar, that the value of the scalar can be definitively demonstrated, that the scalar indicates precession, that the only way ancient Egyptians could estimate precession is to leverage or borrow knowledge from earlier advanced and unrecognized civilizations, are each filled with flaws when taken individually, let alone when strung together to complete his narrative.”<

Possibly related features may be the ley lines identified by Alfred Watkins in Britain(c)(g), the Alesia alignments in France discovered by Xavier Guichard(b) and/or the Heilige Linien of Germany claimed by Wilhelm Teudt(aa). 

Heinz Kaminski claimed to have discovered a megalithic grid system that stretched from Stonehenge across Europe with an east-west and north-south orientation and referred to as the Stonehenge/Wormbach System(h).

Even more exotic is the ancient Raetiastone navigation system rediscovered by Gerhard Pirchl (1942-2013) and outlined in a book by [1831] Thomas Walli(ae).

Ashley Cowie has published a paper(ac) related to Alesia and the work of Guichard and others, as well as his own investigations.

I should also point out that Marcel Mestdagh also identified a form of a road system, laid out in giant ovals with radials in France. At the centre of these ovals was the ancient city of Sens. Philip Coppens informs us [1275.184] that a further strange discovery by Mestdagh was that this ancient road network, centred on Sens, was mirrored by a similar network of roads in England centred on Nottingham!

‘The Way of Virachoca’ in the Andes which runs through Tiwanaku and is oriented exactly 45° west of true north and runs for over 1000 miles, has been studied by Maria Scholten d’Ebneth [1236] in the 1970s and expanded on by a number of Spanish speaking commentators and is now the subject of an article by Dave Truman(x).

In 1973, three Russians, engineers Valery Makarov and Vyacheslav Morozov along with Nikolay Goncharov, an artist, published in Russian an article with the eye-catching title of Is the Earth a Giant Crystal? (y) This was probably the earliest presentation of an earth grid based on ancient historical sites. A brief history of the earth grid theories that emerged around this time is available online(z). There is now a Russian geodesy website with an English translation(ab).

David Hatcher Childress published his Anti-Gravity and the World Grid [1303] in 1993, with the modest claim that he “proves that the earth is surrounded by an intricate electronic grid network offering free energy.” Obviously, Childress’ understanding of ‘proof’ is different to mine, as the only proof required is the production of some of this free energy, which he has not done.

Tom Brooks entered the fray with a study of 1500 prehistoric sites and his conclusion that the inhabitants of ancient Britain had designed a navigation system based on a grid of isosceles triangles(i). Brooks has gone a step further and speculatively claimed that the accuracy of this geometry-based system could only have been designed through “extraterrestrial intervention(r).  This concept is explored more fully in his latest book, Seeing Around Corners: Geometry in Stone Age Britain [863]  and in a series of video clips(s).   A more critical view of Brooks’ ideas is also available on the Internet(j).

Some years ago a former employee of a NASA sub-contractor, Maurice Chatelain claimed that within a 450-mile radius of the Aegean island of Delos that 13 mystical sites, when connected by straight lines formed a perfect Maltese Cross(u)!

Others such as Livio Stecchini(d) and Jim Alison(e) using geodetic calculations have identified São Tomé and Cape Verde respectively as the location of Atlantis. I must also include Hugo Kennes, a Belgian researcher with a passionate interest in global grids and sacred geometry(l). Kennes has also informed me of a new Facebook group(q) dealing with all aspects of the subject, as well as another(v) that includes submerged cities and other features.

Anyone interested in pursuing a study of this subject might like to look over James Q. Jacobs’ archaeogeodesy website(f) as well as the BioGeometry website (m).

If you have pursued all the links so far, you can pamper yourself further with a paper(k) by William Becker and Beth Hagens(n).  Another researcher in this field is Dan Shaw whose website(o) gives a good overview of the subject.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix added his weight to the debate with his 1998 paper entitled The Mapmakers from the Ice Age(t).

A global network of sacred sites was also put forward by Rand Flem-Ath & Colin Wilson in The Atlantis Blueprint [063]. This book was intended as a sequel to When the Sky Fell [062], but generally wandered off into other areas after the first couple of chapters.

I am somewhat sceptical about certain aspects of geodesy, particularly some of the claims of a world grid. However, it does raise many questions that require further study and explanation. In this connection, I would recommend John Sase’s Curious Alignments [1589]  as a good starting point. He confirms the work of Guichard and also offers a range of his own discoveries in the Great Lakes region.

In February 2020, Frank Maglione Nicholson, Ken Phungrasamee & David Grimason, collectively known as The Nazca Group(ad), published The Nazca Great Circle Map Hypothesis. Their claim is that “The lines and geoglyphs carved into the Nazca plateau represent a map of the Earth. The map is a Great Circle Map: a gnomonic projection with the center of the Earth as its cartographic viewpoint. Each line on the Nazca Plateau represents a great circle of navigation centred at the centre of the Earth and encircling the entire planet. The majority of the lines on the Nazca Plateau radiate from five loci of origin called radial centres.” I found this rather esoteric proposition difficult to absorb.

Arturo Villamarin has published many books [1864] and papers(af)(ag) in which the geometry and astronomy of archaeological monuments; Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge, Teotihuacán and Mohenjo Daro, among others, are discussed.

(a) http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/geodesy.htm

(b) http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/xavierguichard.htm

(c) http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/leylines.htm

(d) http://www.metrum.org/mapping/atlantis.htm (link broken Dec. 2020)

(e) http://home.hiwaay.net/~jalison/concl.html

(f) https://web.archive.org/web/20200917015056/http://www.jqjacobs.net/index.html

(g)https://liminalthresholds.blogspot.ie/2008/04/earth-energy-ley-lines.html

(h) https://atlantisforschung.de/index.php?title=Die_%22ganzheitliche_Atlantisforschung%22_des_Prof._Heinz_Kaminski

(i) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20160628154229/https://www.prehistoric-geometry.co.uk/

(j) https://www.badscience.net/2010/01/voices-of-the-ancients/

(k) https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/antigravityworldgrid/ciencia_antigravityworldgrid02.htm

(l) https://web.archive.org/web/20210518205346/http://users.telenet.be/kenneshugo/alternative history sciences.htm

(m) https://web.archive.org/web/20170328094319/https://www.biogeometry.org/page34.html

(n) Bethe Hagens – Geometry, Anthropology anf the Arts of Consciousness (archive.org)

(o) https://www.vortexmaps.com/grid-history.php

(q) https://www.facebook.com/groups/175027289350368/

(r) https://www.prehistoric-geometry.co.uk/ [See (i)]

(s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R35A80kV0AU&feature=relmfu 

(t) https://ancientcartography.net/geoAN.html

(u) https://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg28306.html

(v) https://www.facebook.com/groups/493298404177687/

(w) https://predictionsmargiekay.blogspot.ie/2014/08/lines-of-latitude-and-ufoparanormal-hot.html

(x) https://grahamhancock.com/trumand1/

(y) https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/archive-3193/

(z) https://www.vortexmaps.com/grid-history.php

(aa) https://www.cantab.net/users/michael.behrend/repubs/teudt_hl/pages/index.html

(ab) http://geolines.ru/eng/

(ac) Solstice Axis Of The Ancient Gauls — ASHLEY COWIE (archive.org)

(ad) The Nazca Solution – The final solution to what the Nazca Lines represent (archive.org)

(ae) https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413597

(af) (99+) (PDF) THE GEOMETRY AND ASTRONOMY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL MONUMENTS | Arturo Villamarin – Academia.edu

(ag) (99+) (PDF) THE GEOMETRY AND ASTRONOMY OF GOBEKLI TEPE | Arturo Villamarin – Academia.edu

(ah) https://www.hallofmaat.com/numerology/a-critique-of-graham-hancocks-forced-numerical-relationship-between-the-great-pyramid-of-giza-and-earths-dimensions-1/ *

Jakubowski, Peter

Peter JakubowskiPeter Jakubowski (1947- ) was born in Poland and after attaining a doctoral degree in physics he moved to Germany in 1985. His principal area of interest ‘is a complete refoundation of physics and its practical applications in modern industry’. His ideas are explained in his book, Naturics [734] and his website(a).

Jakubowski had devoted space on his website to air his thoughts regarding Atlantis but later removed them during a 2011 revamp of the site. He appears to closely follow the views of Axel Hausmann(c). He located Atlantis on Sicily and the Malta Plateau and explained that the circular features of the capital city were in fact the remnants of an asteroid impact crater.

Stelios Pavlou has noted that “In 2001, Jakubowski published Atlantis of the Neanderthals, in which he argues that Atlantis was a Neanderthal civilization that was destroyed in 4804 BC. After that, civilizations of [modern] man ruled. He also argues that all of humanity descended from Atlantis. It is unclear whether he means this in a spiritual, scientific, or physical sense. Jakubowski further claims that the people of Atlantis were [up to] about five or six meters tall.

The most recent revised edition of his book is dated February 2014 and draws extensively on the work of Colin Wilson. Jakubowski formerly supported the notion of Atlantis in Sicily and Malta. It is unclear if this is still the case as all mentions of Sicily and Malta were removed in the book’s recent revision.”(d)

>In 2014, coincidentally shortly after Wilson died, Jakubowski revised and expanded the 2001 paper into an ebook, Atlantis of the Neanderthals [1970] with the subtitle of Colin Wilson Corrected. The book, available online(e), offers a review of Wilson’s Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals [0336]. However, the purpose of the book seems to be to promote Jakubowski’s theories of ‘unified physics’ (naturics) rather than to criticise Wilson’s ideas.<

In 2016, Jakubowski sent an open letter(b) to Graham Hancock following the publication of Magicians of the Gods. In this somewhat rambling missive, he touches on the Younger Dryas, ancient giants and the evolution of human civilisation.

(a) https://naturics.info/

(b) https://naturics.info/an-open-letter-to-graham-hancock/

(c) https://web.archive.org/web/20040629174606/https://www.naturics.de/atlantis/index.html

(d) Peter Jakubowski – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) *

(e) Atlantis-of-the-Neanderthals-250314.pdf (naturics.info) *

The Atlantis Blueprint

Atlantis BlueprintThe Atlantis Blueprint[0063] by Rand Flem-Ath and Colin Wilson, is a follow-up to the highly controversial, When the Sky Fell by Rand Flem-Ath and his wife Rose. The focus of this book is on the claimed existence of a worldwide network that incorporates such famous sites as Giza, Machu Picchu, Easter Island etc., etc. The authors claim that these monuments were arranged in a global geometric pattern by an advanced ancient civilisation that included Plato’s Atlantis. This breathtaking idea is not one that I can subscribe to, as it seeks to tie up too many of the mysterious loose ends of ancient history at one fell swoop.

Neanderthals

The Neanderthals were claimed by the late Colin Wilson to have possessed highly sophisticated mathematical and astronomical knowledge and were precursors of the Atlantis civilisation. This extremely speculative assertion is made in Wilson’s Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals [336], a book that wanders all over the place with references to an extensive range of ancient mysteries from the Maya to Mary Magdalene without offering anything tangible to substantiate his central thesis.

Stelios Pavlou has noted that in 2001, Peter Jakubowski published Atlantis of the Neanderthals, in which he argues that Atlantis was a Neanderthal civilization that was destroyed in 4804 BC’.”(ah) In 2014, Jakubowski revised and expanded the paper into an ebook [1970] with the subtitle Colin Wilson Corrected. Pavlou also noted that “Jakubowski formerly supported the notion of Atlantis in Sicily and Malta. It is unclear if this is still the case as all mentions of Sicily and Malta were removed in the book’s recent revision.”

The idea of a Neanderthal connection with Atlantis is totally at variance with Plato’s description of a literate Bronze Age civilisation. While many atlantologists have chosen to reinterpret, modify or ignore aspects of Plato’s narrative, they have usually made some effort to justify their stance. Wilson, however, simply disregards the consistent Bronze Age references by Plato without any attempt at an explanation for this omission. Although it is generally accepted that the Neanderthals had died out by 20,000 BC and Wilson seems to believe that the cataclysmic flooding of Atlantis took place around 9500 BC, it leaves an insurmountable gap of over 10,000 years unexplained by him.

neanderthal

Model by Alfons and Adrie Kennis

Neanderthals are accepted to have been indigenous to Europe, although the are sites in Israel attributed to them. As far as I’m aware, the most southerly evidence in Europe of Neanderthal activity has been in Malta(l), which is outlined in Dr. Anton Mifsud’s beautifully illustrated book, Dossier Malta – Neanderthal [1587]+, which can now be read online.

In a 2008 article, NatGeo reported on a study of skulls that suggested that the Human-Neanderthal divergence took place around 300,000 to 400,000 years ago.

A January 2010 report(a) dated the demise of the last Neanderthal at around 35,000 BC, which conflicts with the last paragraph. An even more eyebrow-raising claim was made two years later in February 2012, when New Scientist magazine published an article(b) that suggested that the Neanderthals had a maritime history in the Aegean 130,000 years ago! However, to make such a claim does not seem to take adequate account of the fact that at the time sea levels were much lower and as a consequence, some islands were considerably larger and in many cases, individual islands that we know today were joined to each other or generally required shorter sea journeys between them.

Nevertheless, ongoing excavations at a site on the coast of Jersey, one of the British Channel Islands off the coast of France are indicating that Jersey may have been one of the last outposts of the Neanderthals in north-west Europe.”(u)

Now the suggestion has been made that the Neanderthals were possibly the first cave artists. This claim was put forward in the journal Nature (15/6/12). The El Castillo cave in northern Spain has some of this art dated to at least 40,800 years ago.

A 2021 study has suggested that a reversal of the magnetic poles around 42,000 years may have been a cause of the demise of the Neanderthals!(ac)

It was also proposed by Peter Fotis Kapnistos, who worked with Spyridon Marinatos, that Neanderthal Man may also have mastered sea travel and possibly played a part in the development of the Atlantis story(c). The idea of Neanderthal sailors has gained further support in a paper(s) by Professor George Ferentinos of the University of Patras.

Paola Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado’s Museum of Natural History has recently (April 2004) expressed the view that the intellectual abilities of the Neanderthals have been seriously underestimated(d). Similar views are expressed in an article(e) which traces the early characterisation of Neanderthals as ‘primitive’ and contrasts that with the current revised opinions that attribute much greater intellectual capabilities to them.

In 2018, an article by Joanna Gillen on the Ancient Origins website offers more evidence that the Neanderthals had a more sophisticated lifestyle than previously thought(n). This is based on the finds from the cave at Abric Romani in Spain’s Catalonia. For obvious reasons, the technological capabilities of Neanderthals are only hinted at from the scanty evidence available so far. One such clue was the discovery(r) that they seemed to have used birch tar to haft projectile points.

A December 2022 article offers evidence for possible technology transfer from Neanderthals to modern humans(aj).

Neanderthal cave discoveries continue to surprise. In 2016, Nature published(t) details of investigations carried out in the Bruniquel Cave in southwest France. The occupation was dated to around 175,000 years ago. Furthermore, apart from evidence of the use of fire, broken stalagmites are carefully arranged in circles.

An extensive two-part article describing the Neanderthals as ‘human’ is available online(g). This view is currently championed by Portuguese archaeologist João Zilhão, whose views are featured in an interesting article(m) in the May 2019 edition of the Smithsonian Magazine.

There appears to be an acceptance that many of us have some Neanderthal DNA within us. While this is usually in the form of small snippets, an article in New Scientist magazine has reported that longer strings have been identified in Melanesian populations(o) in the Pacific!

In 2015 the results of the mapping of the entire genome of a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal were published, which concluded that “There is now conclusive evidence that Neanderthals bred with Homo sapiens.”(f)

Further support has come in an article by Ashley Cowie with the eye-catching title of “Neanderthal Interbreeding with Humans Rampant on Jersey?” He relates that “Now, re-analysis of thirteen ‘48,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth’ originally discovered in Jersey between 1910 and 1911 has revealed that while they have always been assumed to have come from a single Neanderthal, they actually came from at least two individuals. Furthermore, the thirteen Neanderthal teeth from both individuals ‘share traits that are distinctive of modern humans.’ In short, this means Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a “shared ancestry.”(ab)

Also in 2015, genetic studies pushed back the origins of Neanderthals to a startling 765,000 years ago(i), twice as old as previously thought.

A 2020 report(v) claims that African populations have been revealed to share Neanderthal ancestry for the first time, in findings that add a new twist to the tale of ancient humans and our closest known relatives.” and that “The latest findings suggest human and Neanderthal lineages are more closely intertwined than once thought and point to far earlier interbreeding events, about 200,000 years ago.”

Geneticist David Reich had been sceptical of the idea that humans and Neanderthals had interbred until he engaged in a study of the DNA extracted from 40,000-year-old Neanderthal bones found in a Croatian cave. The result was that he was forced to conclude “that humans and Neanderthals did interbreed in their time together in Europe. Possibly even more than once.”(p)

>“Until now (October 2023), Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) were believed to have first interbred earlier than 75,000 years ago, according to a 2016 genetic analysis in the journal Nature. However, a new analysis, published Oct. 13, in the journal Current Biology, has revealed that one group of Homo sapiens from Africa interbred with Neanderthals in Eurasia around 250,000 years ago.”(ak)<

By way of contrast, another 2020 report highlighted the conflict between Neanderthals and humans, suggesting that The best evidence that Neanderthals not only fought but excelled at war, is that they met us and weren’t immediately overrun. Instead, for around 100,000 years, Neanderthals resisted modern human expansion.” (z)

In April 2016, the results of a study(j) of their ‘Y’ chromosome suggested that Neanderthals had diverged “almost 590,000 years ago from humans.”

Earlier studies based on skull size and shape suggested that the split took place between 300,000 and 400,000 years ago(af). This research is ongoing as one commentator(ag) in 2013 expressed it – “Researchers have suggested a range of dates for when the last common ancestor of our lineage and Neanderthals could have lived.

The dates range from more than 800,000 years ago to less than 300,000, with many estimates in the neighborhood of 400,000 years ago. According to some studies, this time frame would seem to match that of the extinct species Homo heidelbergensis, which has been found in Africa, Europe, and possibly Asia.

But this may not be so. A new study theorizes that the last common ancestor of H. sapiens and Neanderthals lived longer ago than previously expected, with fossil evidence yet to be uncovered.”

A study(x), published on 3 June 2020 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B concluded that “Ancient humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans were genetically closer than polar bears and brown bears, and so, like the bears, were able to easily produce healthy, fertile hybrids according to a study, led by the University of Oxford’s School of Archaeology.”

The apparent relatively rapid extinction of the Neanderthals has, understandably, led to a great amount of speculation. One suggestion is that the massive eruption of Campi Flegrei, a supervolcano west of Naples, 39,000 years ago led to consequent cooling that may even have helped bring about the end of the Neanderthals(aa).

One of the most recent(h) suggests that the lack of control of fire by the Neanderthals, in contrast with their human neighbours, was probably a factor that led to their demise! However, the use of fire by Neanderthals in Tuscany now appears settled with the discovery of tools shaped with fire(q).

2020 saw evidence emerge which suggested that even as far back as 41,000 – 52,000 years ago the Neanderthals had mastered the making of cords(w).

Even more important is the long-running debate on whether Neanderthals had the physical equipment that enabled them to speak. For a long time, it was thought that they were missing a pharynx and a larynx and so lacked speech. A 2021 paper brings the discussion up to date with evidence that Neanderthal speech was a possibility although not of the same quality as modern humans(ai).

It has now been reliably demonstrated that Neanderthals also played music using a flutelike instrument made of bear bone around 50,000 years ago(y).

Although we see above, various claims about the various technologies employed by Neanderthals, there is still debate regarding a fundamental capability, namely whether they had the ability to communicate with speech. The evidence seems to favour that they had.

More relevant to life today is a report(k) that the average 3% that modern Europeans share with Neanderthals has left us with a greater risk of nicotine addiction and depression.

A number of interesting articles relating to Neanderthals are also available on the q-mag website(ae).

 [1587]+ https://www.academia.edu/40076100/DOSSIER_MALTA_-_NEANDERTHAL?email_work_card=view-paper 

(a) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220321.htm

(b) https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328544.800-neanderthals-were-ancient-mariners.html

(c) https://web.archive.org/web/20090321022014/https://ufodigest.com/news/0309/more-terrible4.php

(d) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140430133054.htm

(e)  https://nautil.us/our-neanderthal-complex-235115/ 

(f) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/entire-neanderthal-genome-finally-mapped-amazing-results-001138

(g) https://theorbo1.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/neanderthals-they-were-human/

(h) https://www.livescience.com/50532-neanderthals-died-no-fire.html

(i) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/scientific-breakthrough-oldest-partial-genome-sequenced-reveals-020531

(j) https://popular-archaeology.com/issue/spring-2016/article/neanderthal-y-chromosome-offers-clues-to-what-kept-us-separate-species

(k) https://www.q-mag.org/neandertals-transmitted-a-taste-for-nicotine-and-a-propensity-to-depression.html

(l) https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160619/local/could-the-first-maltese-have-been-neanderthals.615901

(m) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-research-redefining-what-we-thought-about-neanderthals-180971918/

(n) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/discoveries-spanish-cave-suggest-neanderthals-had-hot-water-020505

(o) https://www.newscientist.com/article/2220381-long-strand-of-dna-from-neanderthals-found-in-people-from-melanesia/#ixzz639ABebgu

(p) https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/ancient-dna-history/554798/

(q) https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/neanderthals-used-fire-to-make-tools/

(r) https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/10/neanderthal-glue-was-a-bigger-deal-than-we-thought/

(s) https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328544-800-neanderthals-were-ancient-mariners/

(t) https://www.nature.com/articles/nature18291

(u) https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51299755

(v) https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/30/neanderthal-genes-found-for-first-time-in-african-populations

(w) https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=828400733

(x) https://phys.org/news/2020-06-humans-neanderthals-polar-brown.html

(y) https://amp.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/flute/worlds-oldest-instrument-neanderthal-flute/

(z) https://www.sciencealert.com/how-neanderthals-and-humans-battled-for-supremacy-for-over-100-000-years

(z) Campanian Ignimbrite volcanism, climate, and the final decline of the Neanderthals | Geology | GeoScienceWorld

(aa) Campanian Ignimbrite volcanism, climate, and the final decline of the Neanderthals | Geology | GeoScienceWorld

(ab) Neanderthal Interbreeding with Humans Rampant on Jersey? | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)

(ac) Reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles may have triggered Neanderthal extinction — and it could happen again – CNN

(ad) Did Neanderthals Have the Capacity for Verbal Language? gizmodo.com)

(ae) https://www.q-mag.org/_search.html?req=Neanderthals

(af) Archive 6625 | (atlantipedia.ie)

(ag) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/131021-neanderthal-human-evolution-teeth 

(ah) Peter Jakubowski – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) 

(ai) https://www.sapiens.org/biology/did-neanderthals-speak/

(aj) https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/toolmaking-teachers-surprising-skills-shared-between-neanderthals-and-021532 *

(ak) Humans and Neanderthals mated 250,000 years ago, much earlier than thought | Live Science *

 

 

Hapgood, Charles Hutchins

Charles Hutchins Hapgood (1904-1982) was born in New York. He graduated from Harvard and became a Professor of the History of Science at Keene State College of the University of New Hampshire.

hapgoodHe has written several books of which his work on medieval maps [369]+ is probably the best known. Hapgood had built on the valuable collection of ancient maps assembled by the Swedish scholar A.E. Nordenskiöld[370]. Hapgood’s book was the result of years of research in collaboration with his students that determined that the maps had been compiled from much earlier sources that included details of an ice-free coast of Antarctica. His conclusion, as the subtitle of his book states, was that these maps were evidence for the existence of an advanced Ice Age civilisation and have been seen as further support for the early date for Atlantis given to Solon. A review(a) of The Maps of the Ancient Sea-Kings on the Internet is worth a read.

However, Jason Colavito has pointed(g) out that as scholars have known for decades, the segment of the map identified by Hapgood as “Antarctica” was in fact the southern part of South America, bent to fit the shape of the skin on which it was drawn.”

According to Rand Flem-Ath and Colin Wilson[063.27], around 1958, Hapgood identified a location 1000 miles off the mouth of the Orinoco River, in South America, known as the Rocks of St. Peter & St. Paul as the site of Atlantis. These islets lie above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and according to Hapgood are the remnants of a large island, now submerged. He attempted to persuade President Kennedy to assist with a US Navy exploration of the area around the Rocks of St. Peter and Paul, but the assassination of Kennedy put paid to any possibility of any help from the White House.

Hapgood’s second controversial offering, Earth’s Shifting Crust [368]+, promoted his belief that the Earth’s crust had shifted. A revised edition of this was published in 1970 as The Path of the Pole [1494]+. Over time, Hapgood appears to have revised his view regarding the precise mechanism that caused this movement.>The idea of a pole shift is far from new as it was advocated in the seventeenth century by Robert Hooke(i).<

In Voices of the Rocks [454.158] Robert Schoch has drawn attention to “the most glaring omission in Hapgood’s argument is his inability to come up with a mechanism for crustal shifting. He describes what happens, but he can’t say why. He himself saw the problem and spelled it out. ‘it is necessary to admit, in the first place, that at the present time, there is no satisfactory explanation of the modus operandi of displacements in the lithosphere’ Hapgood wrote.” However, Schoch does concede that Hapgood may have been on the right track, but, for the wrong reasons.

Recently, Kyle Bennett has claimed that the idea of crustal displacement was proposed as early as 1866 by Sir John Evans. Bennett has reprinted Evans’ paper in support of his accusation of plagiarism(b). Hapgood has noted [1494.71] that in the 1950’s Karl A. Pauly [1496] and George W. Bain [1498] also supported a form of crustal shift, the former, building on the work of A.S. Eddington [1497], some decades earlier.

Hapgood also involved himself in the controversy surrounding the figurines discovered in Acámbaro, Mexico, which creationists offer as evidence that man lived at the time of the dinosaurs. The 32,000 figurines have been denounced as a hoax(e). Hapgood’s stance supporting their authenticity does little, in my opinion, to enhance the value of his judgement.

Hapgood was also actively interested in parapsychology and spirit communication(f) and wrote three books on the subject.

In 1953 Albert Einstein wrote to Hapgood offering support for his theory and subsequently expressed similar views in a foreword for Hapgood’s book.

Some of Hapgood’s ideas have been supported in a well-illustrated book[065] by the late Robert Argod, who uses both the Piri Reis and the Oronteus Finaeus maps to support his idea that the Polynesians originated in Antarctica and that their influence can be found elsewhere in the world.

Hapgood corresponded with Rand Flem-Ath who subsequently published[062] his theory that Atlantis had existed in the Antarctic. Argod’s book combined with the work of the Flem-Aths does offer a credible case for considering the possibility of an Atlantis-Antarctic connection. This idea was bolstered further when Graham Hancock gave the Antarctica theory additional exposure in one of his popular books, Fingerprints of the Gods[275] 

An independent critical overview of both Hapgood’s theory and Hancock’s related comments by Steve Krause can be read online(d).

Hapgood died in a tragic motor accident, which led at least one writer, Kyle Bennett, to suggest that it was murder, in an article now removed from his website.

In 1998, J. Bowles published his The Gods, Gemini and the Great Pyramid[834]  which he wrote with the encouragement of Beth Hapgood, a cousin of Charles. He intended to expand on the work of Hapgood relating to the shifting poles. He refers to Antarctica as alternating between Atlantis in the Atlantic and Moo in the Pacific. A fanciful idea, as both were reportedly submerged and at least one is imaginary. He later published a further defence of Hapgood in Issue 18 of Atlantis Rising magazine. (See Archive 7149)

Hapgood’s pole shift ideas continue to inspire researchers, an example of which is a 2018 book, Before Atlantis [1600], by Mark Carlotto, who claims to have “discovered that numerous sites throughout the world are aligned to what appear to have been four previous positions of the North Pole over the past 100,000 years. By virtue of their alignment to ancient poles, Carlotto proposes a new hypothesis: that the original sites were first established by a previous advanced technological civilization that existed throughout the world tens of thousands of years ago and was later co-opted by our ancestors who rebuilt and expanded over and around the older structures while preserving the layout and orientation of the site to the original pole.”

In a separate paper, Carlotto offers a more focused study that concentrates on antediluvian cities in Mesopotamia that appear to be aligned with different locations held by the North Pole in earlier times. Based on Hapgood’s theory of crustal displacement, Carlotto concluded that these cities should be dated much earlier than generally accepted!(h)

[368]+ https://archive.org/stream/eathsshiftingcru033562mbp/eathsshiftingcru033562mbp_djvu.txt 

[369]+ https://ia800909.us.archive.org/12/items/MapsOfTheAncientSeaKingsEvidenceOfAdvancedCivilization/maps%20of%20the%20ancient%20sea%20kings-evidence%20of%20advanced%20civilization.pdf  (link broken) *

(a) Archive 3085

(b) https://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/earth-crust-displacement-and-the-british-establishment/

(d) See: Archive 2761

(e) https://detecting.org.uk/html/Acambaro_Figures_Famous_Fakes_and_Frauds.html

(f) https://eduardopiperet.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/the-earth-crust-displacement-theory-by-charles-h-hapgood/

(g) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-ancient-aliens-s14e01-return-to-antarctica

(h) Alignments of the Antediluvian Cities and Other Sites in Mesopotamia by Mark Carlotto :: SSRN 

(i) https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2004JRASC..98..183B *

 

 

Gnomons

Donetsk sundial

Donetsk sundial

Gnomons are the vertical markers of sundials that casts the sun’s shadow. The oldest known sundial is possibly the one found in a burial mound in 2011 near Donetsk in Ukraine(c). Herodotus tells us that the Greeks learned the use of dials from the Chaldeans. The first use of gnomons by the ancient Egyptians is thought to be as early as 3500 BC(d).>Further afield, gnomons were widely used in ancient China(f)(g).<

Gnomons are also used to cast the shadows, by which means latitude can be calculated. Furthermore, the earth’s tilt (obliquity-of-the-ecliptic) may also be calculated using gnomon data and it was this feature that created problems for the Australian astronomer G.F. Dodwell who carried out a study of gnomons around the world over the past 4,000 years. It is generally accepted that the tilt of the earth’s axis varies cyclically between 22 and 24.5° over a period of some 40,000 years due to a number of factors. Dodwell’s difficulty was that his investigations revealed a distinct deviation from the expected, around 2345 BC. The only conclusion that Dodwell could arrive at was that either ancient observations were systematically in error all over the world or the earth’s tilt angle had been altered during historical times.

Dodwell was convinced that this date of 2345 BC was the date of Noah’s Flood when the obliquity-of-the-ecliptic was altered from 5° to its present 23.5°. Although Dodwell was a scientist, he was also fundamentalist in his Christian beliefs. It would appear therefore that his conclusions regarding the date of the Flood may have been an amalgam of his religious views and his scientific investigations.

Amy Smith of Flippin, Arkansas has a website(b) relating to Atlantis in which she highlights two references that indicate a prehistoric change in the earth’s axial tilt, one from the Book of Noah (65.1) and the other from Plato.

Colin Wilson refers[335] to the view of Rand Flem-Ath who maintains that many Mexican temples, which one would expect to be aligned with true north, and in the case of at least 50 of them, are consistently 15.5º adrift of this orientation, providing evidence for the crustal slippage suggested by Charles Hapgood. Although Hapgood proposed a date of 9500 BC for such slippage, long before the present temples were constructed, Wilson points out that religious edifices were frequently erected on the foundations of earlier sacred structures. Many Christian churches have been built astride pagan sites. Whether Rand’s ideas and Dodwell’s discoveries are in any way related, will require further investigation.

The idea of a global catastrophe around 2300 BC has gained support in a number of quarters including advocates such as Moe M. Mandelkehr an ardent catastrophist[337] and Barry Setterfield a dedicated creationist(a). Further support for an axial shift came from Malcolm Bowden of the Creation Science Movement[590].

For those interested in constructing their own gnomon, there are a number of sites giving clear useful instructions(e).

(a) Barry Setterfield Papers (archive.org)

(b) https://old.world-mysteries.com/mpl_10_atlantis_asmith.htm

(c) https://www.livescience.com/40220-album-ancient-bronze-age-sundial.html

(d) http://historyofsciences.blogspot.ie/2015/11/around-3500-bc-ancient-egyptian-develop.html

(e) Horizontal and Vertical Sundials (archive.org)

(f) http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/article00292.html *

(g) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomon *

From Atlantis to the Sphinx (L)

From Atlantis to the Sphinx: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of the Ancient World [335] by Colin Wilson, presents the idea that the inhabitants of Atlantis were the precursors of the ancient Egyptians as well as the Maya and Aztecs. He perceives Atlantis as a seafaring nation with worldwide reach. He contends that Atlantis was originally located in Antarctica and was destroyed in a worldwide catastrophe. This theme is developed further in a second book[063] that Wilson co-authored with Rand Flem-Ath. More recently Wilson has altered his views and supported Robert Sarmast’s claim for Atlantis being located off Cyprus.

To support an extended antiquity for Egypt, he outlines evidence for a 10500 BC construction date for the legendary Sphinx. Unfortunately, most of the material is a re-working of information to be found elsewhere.

Flem-Ath, Rand & Rose

Rand Flem-Ath

Rand and Rose Flem-Ath live in British Columbia, Canada. Both are librarians and have spent several years in the British Museum assembling evidence that they believe supports their contention that Antarctica was the home of Plato’s Atlantis. Together they wrote a highly controversial book,  When the Sky Fell [0062], promoting the Antarctic location, which included an Introduction by the late Colin Wilson.

In 2000, Rand published his second book[063], co-authored with Colin Wilson on the subject of ancient civilisations including Atlantis. However, Wilson subsequently changed his views and switched his support to Robert Sarmast’s theory of Atlantis being located off Cyprus. Wilson revealed later, in a 2007 edition of From Atlantis to the Sphinx [p381], that he was unhappy with the final content of The Atlantis Blueprint stating that “it did not represent his views” and wrote an account in Fortean Times(f) of how that book evolved.

In 2014, the Flem-Aths published Killing Moses[1090], which is a speculative account of the life and particularly the death of Moses, even identifying his killer(e)(g). Their narrative builds on ideas originally expressed by Sigmund Freud [1091]. In 2017, they published From Atlantis to the Promised Land 1594], which is a recycling of a variety of material already published by them over the past forty years. Rose Flem-Ath is also a thriller writer[297].

The Flem-Aths used to maintain an interesting and well-illustrated website(a). It recently included a paper on their theory of crustal displacement written over twenty years ago(d).

Professor Steven Earle at the Geology Department of Malaspina University in British Columbia uses the Flem-Ath’s Crustal Displacement hypothesis as the basis for his students to write an essay on its inconsistency with our current understanding of crustal and mantle processes(b).>Geologist Paul Heinrich offers a number of flaws in the claims of the Flem-Aths, particularly relating to glacial evidence that they have used to justify their Pole Shift contentions.(h)<Further criticism of the Flem-Aths work is offered by David L. Mohn(c), a Christian writer.

A new revised and expanded hardcopy edition of When the Sky Fell, entitled Atlantis Beneath the Ice, was published in 2012[981].

To put the Flem-Ath theory in its historical context see my Antarctica entry, where I show that they were not the first to suggest the southern pole as the location of Atlantis, a distinction that belongs to Roberto Rengifo, nearly a century ago.

(a) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20170720023341/https://www.flem-ath.com/

(b)  Wayback Machine (archive.org)  

(c) https://web.archive.org/web/20141005025030/http:/www.ccs-hk.org:80/DM/pyramids/Atlantis.html or See Archive 2858 

(d) See Archive 2893

(e) https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/fatal-secret-jesus-took-jerusalem-002820?utm_source=Ancient-Origins+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b13875770a-Top_Trending_Stories_June_No1_REAL_6_7_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2dcd13de15-b13875770a-85158329

(f) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20190107190740/https://subscribe.forteantimes.com/

(g) Atlantis Rising magazine #110  At – PDF Archive *

(h) https://www.hallofmaat.com/earth-crustal-displacement/paleoclimatic-reconstructions-and-scandinavian-and-scottish-ice-sheets/ *