extraterrestrials

Countryman, Jack

Published October 9, 2016

Jack Countryman is the author of many books with Christian themes. He also wrote Atlantis and the Seven Stars^[1312] in which he expressed qualified support for some of Ignatius Donnelly’s theories,*although, he identifies Atlantis as the biblical Tarshish.

However, for me, his book is marred by his promotion of the idea of genetic manipulation by extraterrestrials from the Pleiades (the seven stars in the book title).*

Tagged Atlantis, extraterrestrials, Ignatius Donnelly, Jack Countryman, Pleiades, Tarshish

Pumapunku

Published November 20, 2015

Pumapunku is a terraced earthen mound, faced with blocks and an important part of the Tiwanaku archaeological site on the Bolivian Altiplano. It has unique architectural features including the use of building blocks with up to 80 faces on them. The Tiwanaku site is pre-Inca and has given its earliest radiocarbon date as 536-600 AD and was in use until circa 1000 AD^(a), which is a far cry from the flawed 12,000-15,000 BC date claimed by Posnansky^(e)(f). Details of how these late dates were arrived at are available in a paper by Jason Yaeger and Alexei Vranich on the Academia.edu website^(j).

As with so many other enigmatic ancient sites, various members of the ‘lunatic fringe’ have attributed the construction at this location to either ancient astronauts or Atlanteans or an exotic combination of both, based on either over-fertilised imaginations or flawed data or again, both. Jason Colavito has written a critique of some of the more silly suggestions^(b).>>In September 2024, Ancient Aliens revisited Puma Punku (S20.E20), recycling silly claims about extraterrestrial visitors. Once again, Colavito was obliged to put fingers to keyboard to review this latest episode^(l).<<

Ancient astronaut advocate Von Däniken^[¹¹⁴⁷^.221] and Brien Foerster^(d) among others have claimed that the stones of Pumapunku were composed of diorite, an exceptionally hard stone, which would have required a modern diamond-tipped drill to work it. The implication is that only Atlanteans with their advanced technology or extraterrestrials could have worked the stone with such precision.

Brien Foerster also published a paper on the Academia.edu website in Feb. 2023 in which he decries “The extraction, wanton destruction, and recycling of much of the Puma Punku site that can be easily seen in the small nearby town also called Tiwanaku, where many of the buildings, including the church, contain the telltale grey andesite blocks, with smooth flat surfaces, which clearly came from Puma Punku.” He also points out that while Tiwanaku has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, Puma Punku has received little attention^(k).”

However, Colavito and Michael Heiser^(c) have pointed out that this identification is untrue and that they were composed of the softer andesite and red sandstone. Apart from this, the Code of Hammurabi was incised on diorite, without Atlantean or extraterrestrial assistance, 2,000 years before the development of Pumapunku!

Joseph Davidovits who controversially proposed that Giza’s Great Pyramid stones had been cast rather than carved has also claimed that other well-known structures had been created in a similar manner, such as at Tiwanaku and Puma Punku in Peru(g) and Easter Island^(h).

Javier Escalante Moscoso is an architect with a degree in archaeology who has extensively excavated and surveyed the Tiwanaku monuments. (see map above).

A fully illustrated guide to the monuments of Tiwanaku/Puma Punku is an excellent introduction to the site including a map by Moscoso⁽ⁱ⁾.

^(a) https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4202

^(b) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-in-search-of-aliens-s01e07-the-mystery-of-puma-punku

^(c)See: https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/archive-2803/

^(d) https://hiddenincatours.com/posts/videos/#!/keyword_filter=Puma%20Punku

^(e) The age of Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) Site, Bolivia (archive.org)

^(f) https://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg62910.html

^(g) https://www.geopolymer.org/archaeology/tiahuanaco-monuments-tiwanaku-pumapunku-bolivia/

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

⁽ⁱ⁾ Tiwanaku, the mysterious pre-Inca capital – mapaymochila.es

^(j) (82) A Radiocarbon Chronology of the Pumapunku Complex and A Reassessment of the Development of Tiwanaku, Bolivia | Alexei Vranich – Academia.edu

^(k) (99+) The Enduring Enigma Of Puma Punku in Bolivia | Brien Foerster – Academia.edu

^(l) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-ancient-aliens-s20e20-resurrecting-puma-punku *

Tagged Alexei Vranich, Altiplano, ancient astronaut, Andesite, Brien Foerster, Code of Hammurabi, Diorite, Erich von Daniken, extraterrestrials, Jason Colavito, Jason Yaeger, Javier Escalante Moscoso, Joseph Davidovits, Michael Heiser, Posnansky, Pumapunku, Tiwanaku, UNESCO

Cohane, John Philip

Published February 23, 2014

John Philip Cohane is an American archaeologist with Irish ancestry who published The Indestructible Irish^[¹²⁵⁴^] in 1969, which included a proposed Mediterranean origin for the Irish. This was followed a few years later by The Key^[0971], in which he proposes a form of hyperdiffusion based on his view of global linguistic connections. If he was on thin ice with The Key, in my opinion, he fell through it with his third offering in 1977, Paradox: The Case for the Extraterrestrial Origin of Man ^[1250].

In The Key he touches on the subject of Atlantis when he claims that “much of Donnelly’s research tends to support the major premise of this book” (p23).

Tagged extraterrestrials, Ignatius Donnelly, John Philip Cohane, The Key

Baalbek *

Published December 2, 2013

Baalbek, situated in the Bekka Valley in Lebanon, undoubtedly presents us with what I consider to be one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world. It was the site of a most impressive Roman temple complex dedicated to Jupiter. However, the very name Baalbek suggests an earlier connection with the Caananite/Phoenician god Baal.

Peter Mungo Jupp has suggested that the original temple at Baalbek had involved Holy Prostitution in the service of Baal^(z), while another commentator has even suggested a link with Indian yogis!^(t)

Although the Roman remains are still impressive, it is some blocks in the lower and presumably earlier courses^(d), that have continued to stump archaeologists, three of which are of cut limestone and are estimated to weigh up to 800 tons^(c). (compare with the content of the link^(k))

An article^(q) by Gian J. Quasar regarding this strange masonry is worth a read.

Even more disturbing is a block still lying in a nearby quarry, where it was cut, and which has been calculated to exceed 1000 tons and named The Stone of the Pregnant Woman. Another block, in the same quarry, was only discovered in the 1990’s and is thought to be even heavier at 1200 tons^(g).

In 1997, Andrew Collins ventured to suggest that Baalbek because of its high elevation “hints at the fact that it once served as some kind of platform for the observation of celestial and stellar events”^(v). Collins expanded on his views in two later papers on his website^(w)^(x).

While the Baalbek monoliths are astoundingly impressive, they would appear to be outshone by the unfinished stele in the quarry at Yangshan in eastern China. Its estimated weight has been put as high as over 6,000 tons. Its creation is attributed to the reign of the Yongle Emperor in the early 15th century. However, others claim much greater antiquity, insisting that “although it is a limestone quarry, the stones were not cut and shaped with hammer and chisel, as you will see. They were machined.^(y)!

Hugh Newman, a self-described ‘megalithomaniac’^(r), has produced a paper^(s) on the enormous Baalbek monoliths, in which he cites Graham Hancock speculatively dating the age of Baalbek megaliths at 12,000 years or more.

In March 2014, it was widely reported^(e) that even heavier megaliths had been identified on Siberia’s Mount Shoria. However, the images I have seen suggest to me a natural origin^(f). A short video clip is available^(j).

We do not know how such huge objects were made or moved in ancient times. I often think that the bigger question is why did they bother to cut such large blocks! An online article^(b) tells how the ingenuity of our ancestors produced the most powerful hand crane in history which multiplied the force of its operator 632 times. However, just because we do not yet know precisely how the Baalbek blocks were manipulated, does not justify wild claims that they were moved by high-tech Atlanteans or extraterrestrials. I may not know how stage magicians saw ladies in half, but that does not compel me to label them Atlantean or alien.

The most persistent question relating to 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 demonstrated 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⁽ⁿ⁾ of this video is worth a read. Another or comparable technology may have been used by Edward Leedskainin when he single-handedly built Coral Castle in Florida City^(o). What is certain is that Leedskainin had no help from intergalactic visitors.

The late Alan Alford wrote an extensive paper on Baalbek^(a). Immanuel Velikovsky and others have supported the idea that Baakbek was in fact the location of the biblical city of Dan, recorded as the most northern city of ancient Israel. Furthermore, the earlier notes on the subject by Velikovsky are also available online⁽ⁱ⁾in which he suggested that Baalbek was the temple built by Jeroboam in the north of the former Kingdom of Israel to compete with Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem in the south.

December 2014 found the latest estimate for the weight of the largest dressed stone found at Baalbek was calculated to be 1650 tons^(h). It is clear that some explanation is required, hopefully, something better than the implication of extraterrestrial intervention. I would like to think that if we had alien visitors that their technology would be in advance of the ‘stone’ age. Surely they would have something better to produce than enormous foundation stones, which to my puny mind does not smack of the best that a civilisation capable of travelling across the cosmos would have to offer! I find the claims of Graham Hancock or Erich von Dániken equally unconvincing in this instance.

A sober well-referenced article outlining the arguments in favour of identifying the megaliths as Roman is available online^(k)as well as supportive blogs from Frank Dörnenburg^(m).

A UNESCO-sponsored hitech survey of the Baalbek site as part of a Risk Preparedness Strategy is now proposed so that the most appropriate remedial action can be taken in the event of natural deterioration or even war damage^(l).

Brian Foerster’s website^(p) has some remarkable images of the Baalbek masonry.

There are a number of YouTube videos featuring the Baalbek ruins^(u).

^(a) See: Archive 3414

^(b) https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/03/history-of-human-powered-cranes.html

^(c) https://vejprty.com/baalbek.htm

^(d) https://grahamhancock.com/third-megalith-baalbek-hancock/

^(e) https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/megaliths-russia-advanced-civilisation/

^(f) https://www.academia.edu/6200990/Super_Megaliths_in_Gornaya_Shoria_Southern_Siberia

^(g) https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/forgotten-stones-baalbek-lebanon-001865#!biIakW

^(h) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/largest-known-megalithic-block-antiquity-revealed-baalbek-002385

⁽ⁱ⁾ https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/arqueologia/esp_baalbek_5.htm

^(j) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXeuTK2fhwI

^(k) See: Archive 2653

^(l) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301701044_Protecting_Baalbek%27s_Integrity *

^(m) https://www.ramtops.co.uk/baalbek.html

or See: https://web.archive.org/web/20170711050921/https://www.ramtops.co.uk/baalbek.html

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

^(o) https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/overcoming-gravity-enigma-coral-castle-005051

^(p) https://hiddenincatours.com/worlds-largest-megalithic-stones-baalbek-lebanon/

^(q) http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Baalbek_Temple_of_Jupiter.html

^(r) https://www.megalithomania.co.uk/hughnewman.html

^(s) See: Archive 3409

^(t) Baalbek – Lebanon’s Ancient Yogic Connection – The Isha Blog (archive.org)

^(u) https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=baalbek+Lebanon

^(v) https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/arqueologia/esp_baalbek_4.htm

^(w) https://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/baalbek.htm

^(x) https://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/baalbek2.htm

^(y) http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/yangshan.html

^(z) Baalbek Temple prostitutes and Holy Prostitution for Baal (archive.org)

Tagged Alan Alford, Andrew Collins, Baal, Baalbek, Bekka Valley, Brian Foerster, Caananite, Coral Castle, Dan, Edward Leedskainin, Erich von Daniken, extraterrestrials, Frank Dörnenburg, Gian J. Quasara, Graham Hancock, Holy Prostitution, Hugh Newman, Immanuel Velikovsky, Israel, Lebanon, Mount Shoria, Peter Mungo Jupp, Phoenician, Romans, Russia, UNESCO, W. T. Wallington, Yangshan

Zeitlmair, Hubert

Published June 13, 2010

Hubert Zeitlmair is a retired German real-estate investor, who became fascinated by the ancient history of Malta when he first visited there in 1993. >He has been personally responsible for the organisation and discovery of an underwater ‘temple’, in less than 50 feet of water, one and a half miles off the east coast of Malta in 1999. Zeitlmair has speculated that these remains date back 10,000-12,000 years, that is, millennia before the recognised temple-building period of Malta. This impetuous interpretation of the discovery is understandably disputed by some Maltese archaeologists^(d).<

His ideas are a strange mixture, as he believes that the temple was submerged at the end of the last Ice Age by Noah’s Flood, but attributes its construction to alien visitors from Planet X – Nibiru a la Zechariah Sitchin. He has published, in German, his ideas in a recent book^[⁴⁶⁵^] and also has a website^(a) where he organises tours.

Some of his most recent pronouncements can only be described as New Age drivel. In order to justify this overgenerous comment, I quote just one selection from his website^(b).

“The 11^th 3 mount pattern in the middle is the representation in miniature of the whole Mediterranean, with Gozo as the dominating extinct volcano, and its two sediment mounts MALTA, and COMMINO. It was once called at.la.ams which means:

»The Pillar Towering Towards Heaven«;

This is the name of Malta when spoken from right to left.

Malta, The Place Of The Vortex pillar!!

This place Malta was doubtless the matrix of the Atlantean magnetic power system. It brought together the other sub-energy points around the world, which all converged here. Besides the fact that the these stone circle temples erected along the Coastline of today as well as those on the seabed, were meant to serve as a vast stone astronomical calculator , they also form altogether, an incredibly powerful ring of energy. They are responsible for this now invisible vortex of energy generated by a vast electromagnetic field system and here is the biggest sphere of activity in Europe.

The thirty-six Stone Circles temples are a prehistoric power plant; an installation to generate …Non-Lethal High Frequency Active Auroral Energy; Incredibly this prehistoric power plant is a High Power Microwave System.”

What a load of tosh!

Zeitlmair appeared on the US TV show In Search of Aliens in October 2014, where he again demonstrated his penchant for the use of verbal bovine manure.

Jason Colavito who regularly reviews the show applied his forensic skills to the episode that included the Zeitlmair segment^(c), which included his ideas on Planet X, extraterrestrials and genetic manipulation by space aliens.

⁽^a⁾ https://www.maltadiscovery.org/ (offline June 2016)

^(b) https://maltadiscovery.org/en/index.html#guided_journeys,03_Journeys/01.htm (offline June 2016)

^(c) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-in-search-of-aliens-s01e10-the-alien-code

^(d) ?ebel ?ol-Ba?ar – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) *

Tagged drivel, extraterrestrials, Hubert Zeitlmair, Ice Age, Jason Colavito, Malta, Planet X, Zechariah Sitchin

Maya

Published June 10, 2010

The Maya of ancient Mexico and Guatemala have generated much controversy regarding their origins^(w). Recent studies indicate that the story of the development of this remarkable civilisation may be more complex than previously thought^(k). The demise of the Mayan culture (800-950 AD) has now been definitively shown to be the result of persistent drought, particularly in the southern lowlands^(o).

Maya Area of Occupation

Nevertheless, a recent (Sept.2021) article^(ac)with contributions from several authorities, highlights the complexity referred to above, while one area might be collapsing another could be flourishing – “A number of Maya cities rose and fell at different times, some within that 800 to 1000 time period, and some afterwards, according to scholars. For example, while areas in southern Mesoamerica, such as Tikal in what is now Guatemala, declined in the eighth and ninth centuries due to environmental problems and political turmoil, populations rose in other areas, such as Chichén Itzá, in what is now the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula,” and “When Chichén Itzá declined, largely because of a lengthy drought during the 11th century, another Yucatán Peninsula city, called Mayapán, started to thrive.”

“We should always remember, the last Maya state, Nojpetén, fell only in 1697 — pretty recent,” said Guy Middleton, a visiting fellow at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University in the U.K. “It is really important to get the message out there that though classic Maya cities and states did collapse, and culture did transform, the Maya in no way disappeared,” said Middleton, adding that “we should pay attention to the story, the state and status of the Maya descendent population in Mesoamerica now.”

The commonly held idea, that the Maya were destroyed by drought is now disputed^(ah).

The Maya of Central America today are estimated to number seven million.

Inevitably the Maya have been linked with Atlantis by some writers such as Lewis Spence and E.H. Thompson who claimed that the Maya were descendants of Atlanteans. The maverick, Augustus Le Plongeon, was alone in identifying Atlantis as a colony of the Maya and that their language was in fact Greek! Others, such as Jean-Frédérick Waldeck, included an Egyptian linkage as well.

Richard Cassaro has published a fascinating collection of parallels between the Mayan and Egyptian cultures on Graham Hancock’s website ^(ag).

The controversial American politician Charles Gates Dawes was convinced that there had been a connection between Atlantis and the Maya.

Joachim Rittstieg claimed that the Maya and the Vikings had contact for nearly 500 years (754-1224 AD)^(ae).

However, trumping all that is a recent claim that the Maya had contact with extraterrestrials and that a documentary providing evidence is planned^(b). In a similar vein is the latest English language publication from Erich von Däniken entitled: Astronaut Gods of the Maya^[¹⁴²²^]. Semir Osmanagic, of Bosnian pyramid fame, added a twist to this proposed linkage when he claimed^[⁰⁵¹⁹^] that the Maya had come from Atlantis, which in turn had been founded by visitors from the Pleiades!

For some comic relief, I can suggest a 1976 book^[833] by brothers Eric & Craig Umland which ‘reveals’ that the Maya ‘are remnants of space explorers whose attempts to colonise our solar system went awry more than 40,000 years ago.’ Nearly every page is full of hilarious nonsense and nearly worth the £0.01 currently quoted on Amazon.co.uk. A website⁽ⁱ⁾ dealing with ‘unreason’ uses extracts from the Umlands as good examples! If you wish to read about the Maya in Antarctica, the Canaries as well as the Moon, this is the book for you.

July 2012 saw a report^(j) on the discovery of the largest Mayan manmade dam at Tikal in Guatemala, which was 33ft high and 260ft long and included sand filters.

The Maya had a sophisticated writing system that occupied the attention of some 19^th-century writers including Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg and Le Plongeon. Unfortunately, de Bourbourg followed the work of the 16^th-century bishop of Yucatán, Diego de Landa whose interpretation was seriously erroneous. It was Constantine Rafinesque who partially deciphered some of the Mayan numerals in 1832.

A report in 2013^(l) indicated that substantial progress has been made in the decipherment of any outstanding difficulties in the translation of the Mayan script through Internet cooperation.

July 2012 saw a report^(j⁾ on the discovery of the largest Mayan man-made dam at Tikal in Guatemala, which was 33ft high and 260ft long and included sand filters. Ten years later, it was discovered that the Maya had also the ability to engineer a water fountain in their city of Palenque^(v) and had advanced water management systems^(z). A recent BBC article^(ab) took an in-depth look at the remarkable hydrological capabilities of the Maya.

Since Tikal was first seen by a European, probably in 1696, it became recognised as Guatemala’s largest archaeological site. In 2021 the use of lidar revealed that the city was four times more extensive than previous thought. The March 2024 edition of National Geographic has an article highlighting the wonderful discoveries regarding the sophisticated society of the Maya revealed by lidar. Unfortunately, looting continues to be a serious problem compounded by a lack of funds to properly exploit the tourism potential of places such as Tikal.

In 2020, the largest and oldest Mayan monument in Mexico was identified. It is in the form of a ceremonial platform that is between 33 and 50 feet tall and is nearly a mile long^(x). The structure, dated to around 3,000 years ago and was discovered with the help of LIDAR in the state of Tabasco.

James O’Kon, an engineer, has investigated Mayan technology for decades, including the discovery of a suspension bridge at the ancient Mayan city of Yaxchilan in Mexico in 1995, which is believed to be the longest bridge of the ancient world^(r⁾. This and other aspects of Mayan technology he explores in his book, The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology^[¹⁴⁹⁰^].

One of those technological secrets was the unusual acoustics found at Mayan sites, particularly Chichen Itza^(ad). In 1931 Leopold Stokowski, the renowned conductor, spent four days at the site to determine the acoustic principles that could be applied to an open-air concert theatre he was designing. He failed to learn the secret.

More recently, Lorraine Stobbart has written Utopia: Fact or Fiction^[^0476], which suggests that the ‘Utopia’ of Sir Thomas More was inspired by the Mayan culture although his text was written before Mexico was ‘officially’ discovered. Stobbart recently revealed that she is now revising her views.

However, a more serious claim relates to the idea that Mayan inscriptions revealed that a global catastrophe was to occur in 2012. This nonsense^(g) turned into a minor publishing industry. Some even tried to link this daft idea to Atlantis. Fortunately, May 2012 saw evidence from excavations in Guatemala that shows the Mayan calendar extending well beyond 2012^(h).

The Mayan calendar has provoked speculation and controversy ever since its discovery. Its origins are obscure, but one interpretation is that the world we live in was created on this day in 3114 B.C. A quite different view was proposed over seventy years ago by Georg Hinzpeter of the German Hoerbiger Society who claimed that our Moon was captured by the Earth in June of 8498 BC and that it became the zero date for the Maya.^(y)

Aloys Eiling, the German researcher, commented on the accuracy of the Mayan calendar “The Mayan calendar even surpasses the precision of the Gregorian calendar in use today. Not only did the Mayan calendar measure the duration of the Earth’s orbit around the sun more accurately than our current calendar, but the Maya gave an even more precise value for the average duration of the Moon’s orbit around Earth. The precision achieved is all the more remarkable as the Moon in deserts or regions with clear skies may have played an important role in everyday life as a nightly source of light. But of what use is its dull light in the rainforest or cloudy regions of the world?”^(af)

>>The accuracy of the Mayan calendar is such that it loses just one day in 6,000 years^(ap).<<

In 2012, it was reported that Mike Baillie, the renowned dendrochronologist, had discovered a correlation between ice core chemistry spikes and the Mayan Long Count Calendar^(al)(m).

The late David H. Kelley, a Harvard-educated archaeologist and epigrapher at Canada’s University of Calgary, had been investigating ancient links between Asia and pre-Columbian America. In that regard, he published a paper outlining similarities between the Mayan and ancient Chinese calendars that were too numerous to be explained by independent development^(p). A more sceptical view is offered^(an)by Jason Colavito, who traces the idea back to Alexander von Humboldt^(q).

In a paper entitled On the Mayan Chronology^(ao), Emilio Spedicato offers several ideas regarding ancient Meso-American chronologies. For example, he proposes that the large numbers used by the Maya and Toltecs record days rather than years. Many of his ideas stem from the work of Immanuel Velikovsky, John Ackerman and the Tollmans.

The work of Teobert Maler at the end of the 19th century was invaluable in the advancement of Mayan studies. Subsequent researchers have seized upon his discovery of a frieze at Tikal, which he interpreted as a depiction of the destruction of Atlantis, as evidence of the existence of Atlantis in the Atlantic. Apart from Maler’s conjectural ideas, no tangible link has been found between the Maya and Atlantis apart from the use in their glyphs of elephants, an animal that features in Plato’s narrative.

The authenticity of the photo of the frieze has been called into question by Jason Colavito and his related blog⁽ⁿ⁾ is worthy of consideration.

Otto Muck overstated it somewhat when he wrote “If Atlantis had not existed there would be no way of explaining the origins of the Maya civilisation”^[^098.^243]

In late 2011 controversy erupted when it was claimed that the Itza Maya had migrated to North America, more specifically Georgia^(c). It was also suggested that earthen pyramids in Georgia and Florida can be attributed to the Maya^(e). Richard Thornton led the charge with this claim, which understandably generated considerable controversy. This led to a frosty exchange between Thornton and Jason Colavito^(ai).

Among their other accomplishments is the claim that the Maya were capable of predicting meteor showers^(s).

Gene Matlock, the well-known advocate of Atlantis in Mexico, is certain that the Maya were originally Tamils from Sri Lanka^(a) and Sumerians!

Kurt Schildmann’s 2003 book ^[1759], was reviewed by Dr Horst Friedrich who commented that “One of the provisional results of Schildmann’s decipherment of the Maya script, and study of the Maya language, is the rather sensational discovery that words from several Old World languages (Sumerian, Accadian, Indo-Iranian, Phoenician, Hebrew and Basque) have somehow found their way into the Maya language.”⁽^aa⁾ I’m sure this will be disputed!

A recent article^(f)gives an interesting firsthand account of encountering the important Mayan city of Calakmul deep in the Yucatan jungle. Potentially even more important are recent LiDAR surveys carried out in Guatemala that have revealed an astounding number of previously unidentified Mayan structures. The number of additional Mayan sites identified through the use of LiDAR continues to grow at an incredible rate^(u). It was estimated in 2022 that “researchers using laser technology have located nearly 1,000 previously unknown Maya settlements in Guatemala – the sites include ceremonial centers, sporting facilities, roads, and reservoirs“^(ak).

In June 2023, it was announced that once again that LiDAR had enabled another forgotten Mayan city to be located in the Yucatan⁽^aj⁾.

Muddying the waters further is an Islamic site that claims that the Maya were Atlantean^(m).

⁽^a⁾ https://viewzone2.com/ancientturksx.html

^(b)Mayan Filmmaker Offers Photo as Proof of Aliens, Says Hawking Agrees (Exclusive) (archive.org)

^(c)http://www.billdawers.com/2011/12/22/is-there-an-1100-year-old-mayan-site-in-north-georgia/

^(e⁾ http://www.mayainamerica.com/2012/01/pyramids-in-florida-and-georgia.html

^(f)https://travel4wildlife.com/deep-jungle-puerta-calakmul-mexico/#.U5K8MpAU9to

^(g)https://web.archive.org/web/20140811054919/https://2012hoax.wikidot.com/oldstart

^(h) https://www.christianpost.com/news/earliest-mayan-mural-contradicts-dec-21-2012-doomsday-74788/

⁽ⁱ⁾https://web.archive.org/web/20200925184903/https://www.jfk-online.com/exploring.html

^(j)https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120716191443.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ffossils_ruins%2Fancient_civilizations+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Fossils+%26+Ruins+News+–+Ancient+Civilizations%29

^(k) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130425142343.htm

^(l)https://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/28/maya-script-glyph-language-decoding?INTCMP=SRCH

^(m)https://mashiyah.blogspot.ie/ (offline 1/8/14)

⁽ⁿ⁾https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2014/02/did-the-maya-depict-the-end-of-atlantis-at-tikal.html

^(p) https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/mayan-calendar-similar-ancient-chinese-early-contact-006612

^(q)https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/newly-published-articles-claim-mexican-calendar-derives-from-chinese-original

^(r) The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology (archive.org)

^(s) Ancient Maya May Have Foreseen Meteor Showers – Eos *

^(t) https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/lasers-shed-some-light-on-the-maya-snake-kingdom/

^(u)https://news.artnet.com/art-world/technology-transforming-mayan-archaeology-1558456

^(v) https://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/03/maya-pyramid-plumbing-unearthed-by-archaeologists/1#.Xm-Nb2BFBVc (link broken)

^(w) Mexico and atlantis | Truth Control (archive.org)

^(x) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/largest-and-oldest-maya-structure-found-mexico-lidar-180975037/

^(y) Atlantean Research, Vol 3, No.1, May, 1950

^(z) Maya Water System Discoveries Show the Ancient Civilization in a New Light | Discover Magazine

^(aa) https://www.migration-diffusion.info/books.php

^(ab) The Maya’s ingenious secret to survival – BBC Travel

^(ac) https://www.livescience.com/why-maya-civilization-collapsed.html

⁽^ad⁾ https://www.nature.com/articles/news041213-5

^(ae) http://atlantisorschung.de/index.php?title=Joachim_Rittstieg

^(af) https://grahamhancock.com/eilinga3/

^(ag) The Ancient Egyptians and Mayans: Ten Unexplained Parallels – Graham Hancock Official Website

^(ah) Ancient Maya lessons on surviving drought: Huge variety of plant foods made their starvation unlikely — ScienceDaily

^(ai) Richard Thornton and the “Maya” of Georgia – JASON COLAVITO

^(aj) https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/lost-maya-city-discovered-deep-in-the-jungles-of-mexico

^(ak) https://news.artnet.com/art-world/guatemala-mirador-calakmul-karst-basin-lidar-maya-settlements-2235254

^(al) Mayan Match: Baillie discovers correlation between ice core chemistry spikes and Mayan Long Count Calendar – The Cosmic Tusk

^(am) Microsoft Word – Science Brevia paper.doc (cosmictusk.com)

^(an) Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya – JASON COLAVITO *

^(ao) ON THE MAYAN CHRONOLOGY – Ruggero Marino – Cristoforo Colombo *

^(ap)Celestial and Mathematical Precision in Ancient Architecture (redicecreations.com) *

Tagged 2012, Alexander von Humboldt, Aloys Eiling, Augustus le Plongeon, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Calakmul, Calendars, Chichen Itza, David H. Kelley, Drought, E.H.Thompson, Edith & Alexander Tollman, Emilio Spedicato, Eric & Craig Umland, Erich von Daniken, extraterrestrials, Florida, Gene Matlock, Georg Hinzpeter, Georgia, German Hoerbiger Society, Guatemala, Guy Middleton, Horst Friedrich, Immanuel Velikovsky, Itza Maya, James O'Kon, Jason Colavito, Jean-Frederick Waldeck, Joachim Rittstieg, John Ackerman, Kurt Schildmann, Leopold Stokowski, Lewis Spence, LIDAR, Lorraine Stobbart, Maya, Mayan Long Count Calendar, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Mike Baillie, National Geographic, Otto Muck, Pleiades, Richard Cassaro, Richard Thornton, Santorini, Semir Osmanagic, Tamils, Teobert Maler, Thomas More, Tikal, Toltecs, Yaxchilan, Yucatan

Andrews, Shirley *

Published May 31, 2010

Shirley Andrews from Massachusetts is the successful author of two books^[⁰⁵⁷^][⁰⁵⁸^] on Atlantis but unfortunately she has completely devalued her work by using the output of what she refers to as ‘intuitively gifted psychics’ as research sources. This is a ploy used by those that are unable to produce anything new on the subject through conventional investigative methods. She also blindly follows the ‘ideas’ of the late Zechariah Sitchin and introduces extraterrestrial visitors and Edgar Cayce’s Atlantean use of crystals into the history of Atlantis.

Her output is a poor reworking of old material covered with a heavy layer of conjecture and mystic waffle. Andrews is probably one of the better-known writers who blend channelled ‘information’ with the limited historical data at our disposal. Not content with writing bosh about Atlantis she subsequently extended her output of poppycock to include Lemuria. A sample of this nonsense can be experienced on her website⁽^a⁾.

⁽^a⁾Atlantis Insights (archive.org) *

Tagged Atlantis, Edgar Cayce, extraterrestrials, Lemuria, psychics, Shirley Andrews, Zechariah Sitchin

Advanced Technology*

Published May 31, 2010

Advanced Technology is regularly claimed by ‘fringe’ writers to have existed in ancient, even prehistoric, times. These claims usually have one of two aims, either to support the idea that in ancient times there was a civilisation/s with highly advanced technology since lost, or that such technology was given to ancient societies by aliens from other planets and which was also lost over time. Both schools of thought offer the same ‘evidence’ to support their claims.

Technology can be defined as techniques, skills, methods and processes, usually intended to improve the human lifestyle. ‘Advanced’ is a relative term implying superiority over what had previously existed – wheeled vehicles were an improvement on sledges or bronze tools were better than copper ones.

When such writers refer to advanced technology, they really mean apparent anachronistic technology, which is frequently inferred from the existence of structures that cannot be duplicated with today’s technology. It is argued by proponents of ancient advanced technology that many ancient monuments, such as Stonehenge, Lixus, Baalbek or the Pyramids, could not have been built without some unknown power source, frequently attributing the existence of such technologies to extraterrestrials from the planet ‘Zog’.

Also from Egypt is the claim that there is compelling evidence of powered stone cutting ‘machinery’ there in antiquity. Similar evidence is also claimed to be found in South America. A one-hour Russian video with English dialogue, relating to this, is quite thought-provoking^(g). While the evidence is strong, we cannot rule out the possible existence of long-forgotten techniques rather than mechanical technologies, of which nothing has been found. In the case of ancient Egypt, we have the remains of their primitive tools as well as tomb walls decorated with the same implements. If they had possessed some advanced technology, why did they need those simple tools, which are still available to us, or depict such technology on their tomb walls?

For me, it is also remarkable that cultures such as that of the Pueblo people of the American Southwest managed to “create architectural complexes using advanced geometry — with incredible mathematical accuracy”^(o) despite having no written language or system of numerical notation.

Chris Dunn, famous for his belief that the Great Pyramid was in fact built as a power generator^[1234], has also claimed that the ancient Egyptians were capable of advanced machining^(k) . Margaret Morris, a respected Egyptologist, took issue with Dunn, challenging him to a debate, which, as far as I can ascertain, never materialised. Morris encapsulated her objections thus^(l): “In short, Chris Dunn’s methodology is so poor that he has resorted to inventing a cataclysm that cannot be scientifically substantiated and he elevates the pyramid builders to the technological level of space travelers, with no physical evidence at all for either assertion.”

Amenhotep III

For my part, if the 2.9m high red granite head of Amenhotep III was carved by the Egyptians, without alien intervention, Dunn’s claims are pretty shallow. However, I think it is only fair that readers should have access to Dunn’s side of the dispute^(m), which can be found in Atlantis Rising magazine #26^(aa). The debate continued in issue #27 with further comments from Morris and Stephen Mehler joining the fray, generally in support of Dunn^(ab).

However, I must point out that the late Dr Jose Alvarez Lopez was insistent that he had seen evidence of ancient machining on exhibits in the Cairo Museum that were later removed!^(t).

Sometimes the process is reversed and simple technology is discovered today, which could have been known in the past, but since lost, which might explain the megalithic structures that still fill us with awe. An example of this is the discovery by W.T. Wallington^(j), which he calls a ‘rediscovery’, of a simple method using a lever and a couple of pivots, for moving concrete blocks weighing many thousands of pounds.

Another or comparable technology may have been used by Edward Leedskainin when he single-handedly built Coral Castle in Florida City⁽ⁿ⁾. What is certain is that Leedskainin had no help from intergalactic visitors. In 2016, Jim Solley published an unnecessarily long paper^(ab) claiming that Coral Castle had been built using artificial stone, poured or cast, rather than sculpted. This would have been similar to the building method proposed by Professor Joseph Davidovit s that he claims was used for the building of the Egyptian pyramids, as well as other ancient structures!

While Wallington’s ‘rediscovery’ may not answer all the mysteries of the past it does raise the real possibility that future discoveries may provide unexpected explanations for some of today’s ‘mysteries’.

A recent article on the Ancient Origins website by Lia Mangolini^(r) offers her view that crude chemistry, using plant extracts, provided the means of dissolving rock, which could explain how some quality artefacts as well as tight-fitting ancient masonry, such as found in Peru and Egypt, may have been achieved. This is certainly worth a read, but I would prefer to see a demonstration. She expanded on the use of this acid, known in the Middle East as ‘shamir’, in a separate paper^(ae).

The idea that advanced technology existed in Atlantis has been regularly claimed by various writers since the latter part of the 19th century. However, I must emphasise that Plato offered no suggestion of the existence of any such technology.

In 1886, Frederick S. Oliver (1866-1899) wrote a channelled book entitled A Dweller on Two Planets^[¹⁰¹⁴^] in which he attributed a number of technologies to the Atlanteans including anti-gravity and flying machines. This book has been the source of much more recent New Age drivel. Edgar Cayce also spoke of Atlantis having flying machines, but more entertainingly, he had them made of elephant skins!

However, leaving all that speculative nonsense aside, is it not strange that this ‘technologically advanced’ civilisation was defeated by the Athenians and that such a culturally sophisticated society was referred to by Plato as barbarians? Even more important is the fact that Plato, who provided such a detailed description of Atlantis, never gave the slightest hint that the Atlanteans had anything more technologically advanced than the chariot.

Technology worldwide, circa 9600 BC, is generally accepted as having been greatly inferior to that described by Plato in Atlantis. The reconciliation of this conflict is the greatest challenge facing supporters of such an early date for Atlantis. Their stance is quite understandable given that Plato refers to the war with Atlantis occurring 9,000 years before Solon’s visit to Egypt around 600 BC and that Atlantis was destroyed ‘afterwards’.

Plato’s description is totally consistent with a Late Bronze Age society. Not only does Plato’s Atlantis appear to be technologically advanced, in Bronze Age terms, but also their military might imply the existence of equally powerful potential enemies supported by similar technology. Consequently, it is not sufficient to claim that Atlantis disappeared along with its superior skills. It would be reasonable to expect that archaeology would uncover comparable technologies in various locations that existed around the same time, particularly since imperial Atlantis is supposed to have occupied or at least heavily influenced both north and south of the Mediterranean as far as Tyrrhenia and Libya respectively.

Some authors in an effort to verify Solon’s date have highlighted a number of controversial instances of apparently anachronistic advanced technology to support the possibility of an early Atlantis date. Artefacts such as the Antikythera Mechanism, the Baghdad Battery^(a) and even the Ark of the Covenant^(b) have all been adduced to give credence to such an idea. Even more daring are the independent claims that both the lighthouses at Pharos in Egypt and Faro in Portugal were powered by electricity. The claim of ancient Egyptian electricity is regularly trotted out^(f) and was the subject of a recent book^[0948], edited by Larry Brian Radka. More recently, engineer Andrew Hall offers his evidence for claiming that the ancient Egyptians had used electricity in a YouTube video^(ai). However interesting his ideas are they are still based on speculation and a subjective interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyphs and wall paintings.

In all these instances hard proof is clearly lacking, with the sole exception of the Antikythera Mechanism, which was mechanical, not electrical, cannot be dated earlier than the 2nd century BC. The ingenuity of our ancestors was often underrated until something such as the Antikythera Mechanism was found and we were forced to modify our view of the past, but not necessarily abandon the accepted view that technology has evolved gradually, even if there are a few ‘missing links’ in the chain.

Even more worrying is the recurrent claim that atomic warfare was engaged in on the Indian subcontinent thousands of years ago^(z). The late Philip Coppens wrote a short paper on this possibility in 2005^(c). David Hatcher Childress has also endeavoured to cash in on the same claim in a number of his books ^[1355] and online^(u). Childress also offers a list of his top-ten technologically advanced ancient civilisations^(y). Nick Redfern has also entered this market with his Weapons of the Gods ^[1832].

Debunking such ideas is a free 25-page ebook published by Jason Colavito^(v).

Equally persistent are claims of flying machines in ancient India^(w) which were given impetus by the publication of Aeronautics, a Manuscript From the Prehistoric Past, a translation of the 3,000-year-old Vymanika Shastra by G.R.Joyser ^[¹³⁴⁰^].Some have gone so far as to claim that space flight had been achieved thousands of years ago in India^(x).

Casey Terry notes^[1542.36] that Pavel Smutny, a Slovakian researcher has proposed that “maybe it is unusual and surprising, but in ornaments in old carpets are woven-in schemes, and principle plans of advanced technologies, which come from vanished cultures and thousands-year-old civilizations. These residues are probably the last ones, which can help revive forgotten, very sophisticated technologies and methods for exploitation of natural electrostatic energy sources.”

Smutny goes on to claim that the layouts of Egyptian temples “to a person familiar with the basics of computer technologies or even better to a person experienced with the construction of microwave circuits in bands above 1 gigahertz (GHz), he will tell you that these plans (of the temples) are schemes of PCB’s (boards for electronic circuits).”

Commenting on the Maltese temples Smutny proposes in his book Atlantis Unveiled ^[^1733], that the complexes “were used probably as generators of high-frequency acoustic waves. Purpose was (maybe) to arrange a communication channel between various islands.”

Although the idea of electricity in ancient Egypt is a recurrent speculation, the possibility of electricity in ancient India is only marginally more credible. However, James Hartman refers^(p) to another Sanskrit text which supports this belief, telling us that “In another amazing Indian text, the Agastrya Samhita, gives the precise directions for constructing electrical batteries:

‘Place a well-cleaned copper plate in an earthenware vessel. Cover it first by copper sulfate and then moist sawdust. After that put a mercury-amalgamated-zinc sheet on top of an energy known by the twin name of Mitra-Varuna. Water will be split by this current into Pranavayu and Udanavayu. A chain of one hundred jars is said to give a very active and effective force.’ Agastya Samhita (Indian Princes’ Library)

By the way, MITRA-VARUNA is now called cathode-anode, and Pranavayu and Udanavayu are to us oxygen and hydrogen. This document again demonstrates the presence of electricity in the East, long, long ago. In the not-so-distant past strange events are recorded in Europe’s past.”

A sceptical view of these claims is presented by Jason Colavito^(d)^(e)(q)who points out that, according to some sources, the passage quoted above is not to be found in the original text!

My scepticism was reinforced when I looked at details presented in a paper(s) claiming to offer 17 artefacts that“suggest high-tech prehistoric civilizations existed.” Similar lists, frequently citing many of the items on the list below have been offered on various sites.

Prehistoric Wall Near Bahamas? Explained^(aj)
500,000-year-old spark plug? Debunked ^(ad)
Million-year-old bridge? Debunked^(ac)
Prehistoric work site?
100-million-year-old hammer?
Viking sword Ulfberht Explained
The Iron Pillar of Delhi Explained
2.8-billion-year-old spheres?
Drill bit in coal
The Antikythera Mechanism
150,000-year-old pipes? (Explained)^(ah)
2,000-year-old earthquake detector Invented by Zhang Heng – So what?
Piri Reis Map (An ongoing controversy)
1.8-billion-year-old nuclear reactor. (a natural phenomenon)^(af)
Great Wall of Texas (An unusual but a natural geological formation)
Ancient Egyptian light bulb? Debunked
2,000-year-old batteries (So-called Baghdad Battery – debunked)^(ag)
Columbian (Quimbaya) Gold aircraft – debunked^(ak)

When a newcomer is first confronted with a list such as the above they are often overwhelmed. However, if you dig beneath the headlines the picture is less clear. For starters, a third of them are not prehistoric (6,7,10,12,13,17 & 18) and would appear to be deliberately included as ‘red herrings’ or just padding. Most of the remainder have been effectively debunked over the past century (1,2,3,11,&16), others are the result of misinterpretation and/or wild speculation (1,2,4,11), while others are natural features (1,3,8,11&14). If you look up ‘concretion’ in Wikipedia and the related images offered by Google you will see that nature has created some highly symmetrical concretions that could easily be thought to be manmade (2&8). Tara MacIsaac, the author of this list, in discussing (4) conceded that “as stated in the case of the hammer above (5), limestone has been known to form relatively quickly around modern tools. “

However, people believe what they want to believe, irrespective of any evidence to the contrary. Along with this, one should keep in mind Carl Sagan’s aphorism which demands that “extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence”. The list above does not provide ‘extraordinary evidence’.

^(a) https://web.archive.org/web/20200927011940/http://www.unmuseum.org/bbattery.htm

^(b) https://thothweb.com/article-print-3190.html

^(c) https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ancientatomicwar/esp_ancient_atomic_07.htm

^(d) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/the-case-of-the-false-quotes.html

^(e) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2013/11/searching-for-the-winged-iron-chariot-in-the-mahabharata.html

^(f)https://www.theepochtimes.com/ancient-egypt-illuminated-by-electricity_996220.html

^(g) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyxtFkjBWk8

^(h) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20181226050814/https://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/trades/tools.htm

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

^(k) https://www.gizapower.com/Advanced/Advanced%20Machining.html

^(l) See: Archive 3113 & Archive 3118

^(m) https://rense.com/general5/morris.htm