This is a wonderful site with a lot of information, and some unusual things as well, worth a look, from ancient travelers to the America's
to small artifacts found in South America that resemble Air planes, and more. Thought I would share what this team has put together
to help us understand they many mysteries, and possibilities, and added questions about the ancient pasts of the America's.
(This is just a taste of what this site has to offer the searchers of history, click on "Pre-Columbian America" above to go to the full site.)
|Featured Pre-Columbian Locations:|
The Chaco canyon 'Sun-dagger'
In what is now the state of New Mexico in an area known as Chaco Canyon are the remains of an elaborate development of the Anasazi people who lived in the region from about 500 to 1300 AD. Some 120 meters (400 feet) above the canyon floor near the top of an outcropping known as Fajada Butte, three slabs of sandstone were placed against a rock wall creating a shaded space. Carved into this shaded wall are two spiral petroglyphs, one large and one small. Sunlight passes over them at various times throughout the year as it streams through chinks between the sandstone, but it was not until the 1970s that their true purpose was literally illumined.
The stepped pyramid-temple (Right), records the equinoxes in a unique way. The sun creates a shadow of a huge 'snake' to ascend the steps in spring, and descend again in autumn (2). Whether or not this was a deliberate design feature is speculative, but other astronomical features at the site certainly lend weight to the idea that it was intentional. Each step corresponds to a day, each platform to a Mayan month. The temple is erected above the 365 steps. (17)
Machu Pichu - (Mountain Citadel)
This Pre-Columbian Inca mountain citadel was only rediscovered in 1911. It shows several strong indications of astronomical observation. The structures are built from white granite, with blocks reaching up to 3.7 metres in length.
Location of the famous Intihuatana stone, also called "The Hitching Point of the Sun" because it was believed to hold the sun in its place along its annual path in the sky. At midday on March 21 and September 21, the equinoxes, the sun stands almost above the pillar—casting no shadow at all.
Skeletal remains show a 10:1 ratio of females to males. (12)
San Agustin, Columbia: (Megaliths and Hypogea).
The San Agustin archaeological park in Colombia includes a wide variety of stone sculptures (Megaliths), mostly carved between AD 100 and 1200. In the park are an amazing array of separate stone sculptures, in the shapes of animals and warriors and human faces, some mythical, some realistic. They are carved out of volcanic rock - some are over 4 meters tall and weigh several tons. The site, excavated by K. Th. Preuss during the 1940s, has been declared a World Heritage Site.
It was suspected by Stansbury Hagar, that the city had been built as a 'map of heaven'. During the 1960's and 1970's a comprehensive mathematical survey was carried out by Hugh Harleston Jr who determined that the principle structures line up along the street of the dead (and beyond), and that the city was a precise scale model of the solar system. (21)
The Pyramid of the sun (Right), has the same base dimensions and half the height of the great pyramid in Egypt.
Copper ingot from Crete (Left), and a British Museum Ingot from the 'Foundry Hoard' at Enkomi, Cyprus c. 1225-1150 BC (Right).American sites have yielded considerable numbers of copper tablets shaped like the hide of an animal; and they were named 'reels'. In 1896, in Cyprus, and subsequently in many Mediterranean excavations, corresponding 'Bronze Age' copper objects, recognised now as ingots used in international currency, have been found. The American examples indicate an international trading system existed. (1)
|The Mound Builders.|
|The Olmecs: An African Presence?|
La Venta was not alone in its depiction of Negroid faces in stone. Apart from the four found there, two were excavated in Tres Zapotes and a further ten at San Lorenzo in Vera Cruz, one of which, the largest known, is nine feet, four inches high, and is estimated to weigh around 40 tons (3). The theory forwarded by Van Sertima reinforcing the theory that the 'Olmec' sites of La Venta and Tres Zapotes were governed by Negroid Africans and Middle-eastern Caucasians between 800-600 BC,
|An Australian presence in Pre-Columbian America:|
Article: BBC. Science News. (August, 1999)
'The first Americans were descended from Australian aborigines, according to evidence in a new BBC documentary. The programme, Ancient Voices, shows that the dimensions of prehistoric skulls found in Brazil match those of the aboriginal peoples of Australia and Melanesia. Other evidence suggests that these first Americans were later massacred by invaders from Asia'.
|The Pre-Columbian Pyramid Builders:|
Pyramids and the Feathered Serpent.
The step pyramid of Kukulcan (Quetalcoatl), at Chitchen Itza (Note the snakes on the left side)
The Great stairwell at Hatshepsut's Mortuary temple includes a huge feathered serpent running down each side of the stairwell.
We know without question that the Egyptian pyramids came first, and by a few thousands years, so there is no suggestion of contact between the pyramid builders themselves. However, it is undeniable that the theme of pyramid building was a global phenomena which occurred around the world, and not just in Egypt. In fact, it is also seen in the middle east, the far east, on the Pacific Isles, in the Americas, and even in Europe.
Indian Maize (Corn)...?
|The Piri Reis Map:|
The Piri-reis map (c. 1513), is a fragment of a larger composite map of the world, with its epicentre in Egypt. It was created with a working understanding of longitude and latitude and a system of geometry which allowed the cartographer to accurately draw the outlines of Africa and America relative to each other.The legend on the map dates it to 'Muharran' in the Muslim year 919 (1513 AD), only 20 years after the official discovery of the Americas by Columbus in 1492. The legend itself however, gave claims an origin far older than 20 years, revealing that it was a section of a world map composed from more than twenty source maps, some drawn in the time of Alexander the great, and that 'some were based on mathematics' (7).
The map has pre-Columbian provenance.
The centre of the map is at the junction of the 23.5˚ parallel and the longitude of Alexandria.
|The Mystery of the Cocaine Mummies:|
In 1976 a German scientist, Dr Svetla Balabanova, made a discovery which was to baffle Egyptologists, and call into question whole areas of science and archeology to chemistry and botany.
She discovered that the body of Henut Taui contained large quantities of cocaine and nicotine. The surprise was not just that the ancient Egyptians had taken drugs, but that these drugs come from tobacco and coca, plants completly unknown outside the Americas, unheard of until Sir Walter Raleigh introduced smoking from the New World, or until cocaine was imported in the Victorian era.
Following this discovery, other experts began testing Mummies and discovered Tobacco for example the substance was found in Mummies from the British Musuem by their keeper Dr.Rosalie David. There was even some found on the bandages of the great Rameses II himself by Dr. Michele Lescaux!
Report on the morphological and trace element findings of several internal organs from an Egyptian mummy approximately dating from the year 950 B.C. according to C-14-analysis. By use of a multidisciplinary approach the authors succeeded in discovering evidence for severe and presumably recurrent pulmonary bleeding during life. This was suggested by the finding of massive haemosiderin deposits in the lung and a selectively and markedly elevated level of iron in trace element analysis of the lung tissue. Furthermore, an enhanced deposition of birefringent particles in the lung tissue, without significant fibrosis, was observed. The histological analysis of liver, stomach and intestine confirmed the macroscopic organ diagnoses without evidence of any major pathological processes. In addition, analysis for various drugs revealed a significant deposition of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), nicotine and cocaine in several organs of the mummy. The concentration profiles additionally provide evidence for a preferential inhalation of THC, while nicotine and cocaine containing drugs seem to have been consumed orally.
- Hand-Shaped Incense Spoons. - Van Sertima mentions the presence of similar 'Hand shaped incense spoons' in both 'Old-world' and 'New-world' cultures.
|The Model Aircraft:|