The fact that physical evidence of such technology does exist is highly disturbing and lends support to the idea that an advanced race of flesh-and-blood Gods could have created us “in their own image” This chapter covers a selection of sites which represent historical anomalies, based on my personal travels over the past few years. Many readers will already be familiar with places such as Tiwanaku and Nazca, whilst other readers will be totally unfamiliar. I will therefore attempt to strike a balance by keeping things reasonably briefly covering the essentials but also offering some fresh insights. As those who have visited these places will appreciate, there is no substitute for being there. Indeed. I cannot count the times that I have been surprised to find things to be quite different from how I had imagined them to be. I am also including in this chapter some rather less familiar locations. Chavin de Huantar, for instance, is interesting for its original, highly advanced underground aqueduct systems, and I will be drawing a fascinating parallel between these and the waterworks of Tiwanaku. Another little known site is that of Baalbek in Lebanon. As a result of war and terrorism, Baalbek has been a “no go” area for more than twenty years. However, in May 1995, I finally managed to visit the Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek, and I am delighted to be able to share my first-hand impressions of the amazing 800-ton stones which have been miraculously transported and positioned in one of its foundation walls. The difficulties of performing these manoeuvres, even with twentieth century technology, are most enlightening! Some of the sites not covered in this chapter are dealt with elsewhere. The pyramids of Giza, for instance, warrant a whole chapter in their own right (chapter 4), whilst the ancient astronomical observatory of Stonehenge is covered in chapter 5. A full discussion of the astronomical aspects of Tiwanaku and Machu Picchu is also held over until chapter 5. In the pages which follow, I will be aiming to demonstrate a common pattern of anomalous technology in the prehistory of mankind. In particular, I will be examining the weaknesses of the current scientific explanations for these anomalies, where such theories exist at all. In some locations, such as Nazca, we find a wide divergence of scientific opinion, which amounts to little more than a confession of ignorance. In most of the other locations, however, there is a complete void of scientific opinion, and a tendency to blatantly ignore crucial evidence. Puma Punku is a classic example of this approach, its precision-cut stones generally being excluded from the archaeologists’ reports on the associated site of Tiwanaku. One of the most frustrating areas of ancient technology is that of construction methodology. Almost every engineer has a theory on how his ancient precursors might have carved and erected hugs precision-cut stones, but few such engineers have been brave enough to roll their sleeves up and put their theories to the test. On the few occasions where the experts had dared to venture forth into the field, the results have been dismal. For example, one of the most prominent Egyptologists, Mark Lehner, recently led a team which attempted to erect an Egyptian obelisk using ancient tools and materials. The team had great difficulty explaining how the obelisk was transported up the Nile, since loading it onto a boat seemed to be physically impossible. The same team then had a dreadful struggle to erect an obelisk which was only one tenth the size and weight of the genuine article. Mark Lehner belongs to a group of experts who believe that the ancient stonemasons worked granite (one of the hardest types of natural stone) by constantly pounding it with other, smaller stones. These experts typically demonstrate how the pounding technique can, after a few hours of effort, produce small indentations in the granite. They then claim this as proof that the pounding method does actually work. Unfortunately, not one of these experts has ever carried such a job through to completion, in order to show us how the stonemasons achieved perfect edges, especially the “inner edges’ of holes which are excavated into the face of the stone. In this chapter, we will see several amazing examples of such stonework, which could not possibly have been produced by the simple stone or copper tools which the ancient people supposedly used. It is not my intention to speculate on exactly what kind of advanced technology was used to cut these stones, nor to answer the question of how they were moved over -impossible” distances and gradients. We map never know. The question which I personally find more pertinent, and equally fascinating, is “why did they do it?”. It is at this point that conventional scientists and historians attempt to distract us from their lack of understanding by vaguely referring to primitive religious beliefs. Some of the most curious anomalies in the world are thus conveniently labelled as temples, altars and ritual baths, when in fact their original purpose and function are totally obscure. Unless we can understand the significance of an object, the question of “why was it made’!” will get us nowhere. For instance, asking why someone built a Stonehenge temple is a very different question from asking why someone built a Stonehenge Astronomical observatory. It is therefore essential for us to cast off the religious interpretations and examine ancient objects with an open mind. Nevertheless, the significance of some objects is sufficiently clear to frame the relevant questions. Among the questions which I will be asking are: why were 800-ton stones used in a wall at Baalbek when smaller stones would have been quite adequate: why were sophisticated waterworks so important to the original designers of Tiwanaku and Chavin? And why were the figures at Nazca designed only for viewing from the air? Inevitably, I cannot avoid dropping a few immediate hints towards my answers to the above questions. However, readers must appreciate that a complete solution requires a fundamentally different frame of reference, which will be gradually introduced in the chapters which follow. In due course, and at the appropriate time, I will revisit nearly all of the sites in this chapter, to confirm their chronologies and to offer my explanations of their functions or meaning. In the meantime, I invite you to share my preliminary thoughts on our mysterious past. Baalbek The imposing ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon are situated in the fertile Bekaa valley at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon mountains. 53 miles north-east of Beirut. Baalbek was once one of the world’s most sacred sites, and its temples one of the wonders of the ancient world. In modern times, however, Baalbek lies forgotten - wiped off the map by more than twenty years of warfare and terrorism. The site has become so neglected that some archaeology books omit any mention of it. What a contrast from two thousand years ago, when Roman emperors would journey 1,500 miles to this remote location, to make offerings to their Gods and receive oracles on the destiny of their empire. Indeed, it was here that the Romans built their grandest ever temples, crowned by the magnificent temple to their chief God, Jupiter. Only six pillars from that temple have survived the series of earthquakes which have laid the site to ruins, but these pillars, shown in Plate 1, still form a spectacular sight today, rising to a commanding height of 66 feet. The size of this temple literally dwarfs the Parthenon of Athens. However. as magnificent as the Temple of Jupiter certainly is, it stands on a pre-Roman terrace of colossal stones which is even more impressive. At the bottom of Plate 1 can be seen a row of nine blocks in the south-east wall of the terrace, each measuring approximately 33 by 14 by 10 feet, and thus weighing more than 300 tons apiece. At the same level in the adjoining south-western wall, we find six further 300-ton stones, above which are situated three enormous megalithic blocks, referred to as “the Trilithon or the “Marvel of the Three Stones”. Plate 2 shows the three granite blocks of the Trilithon (the light colored course), forming the sixth visible layer of the wall. Each of these stones measures an amazing 64 feet in length (on average). with a height of 14 feet 6 inches and a thickness of 12 feet.? They are estimated to weigh a staggering 800 tons each. Michel Alouf, the former curator of the ruins, notes that: “... in spite of their immense site, they [the Trilithon stones] are so accurately placed in position and so carefully joined. that it is almost impossible to insert a needle between them. No description will give an exact idea of the bewildering and stupefying effect of these tremendous blocks on the spectator.” The angle of the photograph in Plate 2 (hampered by the perimeter fence) hardly does justice to the immense size of the Trilithon. Fortunately, however, its dimensions can be judged by a slightly larger block, known as the “Stone of the South”, which lies in a nearby hillside quarry, ten minutes walk to the south-west. Plate 3 demonstrates the huge scale of this stone slab, which measures 69 feet long by 16 feet wide by 13 feet 10 inches high. This block is estimated to weigh around 1,000 tons, the equivalent of three Boeing 747 aircraft. How were the 500-ton stones of the Trilithon moved from the quarry to the acropolis? The distance is not huge, no more than a third of a mile. Nor is the elevation very different between the two points. And yet, when one considers the size and weight of these stones and the fact that the route from the quarry to the acropolis is not entirely flat, transportation via any conventional means presents a seemingly impossible dilemma. Furthermore, an even greater mystery surrounds the manner in which the Trilithon stones were then fitted more than 20 feet high into the wall, without mortar and with perfect precision. Some experts would have us believe that the Romans constructed this vast stone terrace at Baalbek as a foundation for their temples. However, it is a fact that no Roman emperor ever claimed to have accomplished this fantastic achievement, and as one authority has noted, there is a huge contrast in scale between the Roman temples and the size of the terrace on which they stand. In addition, we have no evidence of any Roman technology that could have moved stones weighing 800 tons. In fact, there is no evidence of any known civilization having the technology to erect the colossal stones which we see in the terrace at Baalbek! Who could have built these huge stone foundations and why? It is a mystery that has inspired the imaginations of men for thousands of years. The Arabs believed that Baalbek belonged to the legendary Nimrod, who once ruled this area of Lebanon. According to an Arabic manuscript found at Baalbek, Nimrod sent giants to rebuild Baalbek after the Flood, whilst another tale relates that Nimrod rebelled against his God and built the Tower of Babel at Baalbek. Other legends associate Baalbek with the Biblical figure of Cain, the son of Adam, claiming that he built it as a refuge after his God Yahweh had cursed him. According to Estfan Doweihi, the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon: Tradition states that the fortress of Baalbek... is the most ancient building in the world. Cain, the son of Adam, built it in the year 133 of the creation, during a fit of raving madness. He gave it the name of his son Enoch and peopled it with giants who were punished for their iniquities by the flood. The local Muslims also believed that it was beyond the capability of humans to move the enormous stones of Baalbek. Instead of giants, however, they credited the work to demons or djinn. The English traveller, David Urquhart, in a similar vein, suggested that the builders used mastodons huge extinct elephant-like mammals - as mobile cranes to help them move the stones! It is sometimes claimed that modern cranes cannot lift stones as heavy as Baalbek’s 800-ton monoliths. This is actually incorrect. I posed the problem of the Baalbek stones to Baldwins Industrial Services, one of the leading British crane hire companies. I asked them how they might attempt to move the 1,000-ton Stone of the South and place it at the same height as the Trilithon. Bob MacCrain, the Technical Director of Baldwins, confirmed that there were several mobile cranes currently available that could lift and place the 1,000-ton stone on a support structure 20 feet high. Baldwins themselves operate a 1,200 ton capacity Gottwald AK912 strut jib crane, whilst other companies operate cranes capable of lifting 2,000 tons. Unfortunately, these cranes do not have the capability to move whilst carrying such heavy loads. How then might we transport the Stone of the South to the acropolis? Baldwins suggested two possibilities. The first would use a 1,000-ton capacity crane fitted with crawler tracks. The disadvantage of this method would be the need for massive ground preparation works in order to provide a solid, level roadway for the crane to move. The alternative to a crane would be a series of modular hydraulic trailers, combined to create a massive load carrying platform.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 00:50:19 +0000
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