SYNOPSIS
- The Awakening of Gaia was about realizing that we are connected to the Earth
and to the Universe itself. The Next Lost Civilization was about realizing the
truth about our society and our history. Self Actualization is about
discovering the truth about the nature of reality. That we are all one
consciousness experiencing itself as all manifestations of matter. The Universe
is a multidimensional fractal living organism. And, we are it. If enough people
realize this, it would grant an opportunity for a paradigm shift. Allowing
mankind to transcend into Neohumanism.
Dawn view of the temple of Angkor Wat, with 2 Nāgas in the
foreground, a gallery in the middle and the temple mountain in the back. The
Angkor Wat was first a Hindu and later a Buddhist temple complex built by the
Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century, and capital of the Khmer
Empire, today Cambodia. This temple complex is the best preserved temple in the
site and a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag.
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat or "Capital Temple" is a temple complex
in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was first a
Hindu and later a Buddhist temple. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman
II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, present-day Angkor), the capital
of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from
the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to
Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have
remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at
the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a
symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime
attraction for visitors.
Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple
architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple. It is
designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within
a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular
galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a
quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to
the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is
admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive
bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.
The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City"
or "City of Temples" in Khmer; Angkor, meaning "city" or
"capital city", is a vernacular form of the word nokor, which comes
from the Sanskrit word nagara (नगर). Wat is the Khmer word for "temple
grounds" (Sanskrit: वाट vāṭa ""enclosure").
Angkor Wat Aerial View – Photo by Charles J Sharp
Architecture:
Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique
combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state
temples and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a
representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods: the central quincunx of
towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the
surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple
was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the
lowest level.
Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the
west rather than the east. This has led many (including Maurice Glaize and
George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his
funerary temple. Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs,
which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction—prasavya in Hindu terminology—as
this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order
during Brahminic funeral services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also
describes a container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered
from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest
expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however,
note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern
orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication
to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.
A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by
Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the
content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure
represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the
measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of
Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers
and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the
deities manifest in the heavens above." Mannikka's suggestions have been
received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She
distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that
Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.
However, it is important to know the facts so below you will
find compelling information by Graham Hancock through his mathematical and
astronomical investigation of Angkor Wat.
According to Graham Hancock, Angkor Wat and all the temples
were conceived by its builders as a symbolic diagram of the universe. The
notion of a land that is the image of heaven on which are built cosmic temples
with halls that resemble the sky was an idea that took root in Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat consists of a series of five inter nested rectangular enclosures.
The short dimensions are aligned with high precision to true north-south,
showing no deviation whatever according to modern surveys. The long dimensions
are oriented, equally precisely, to an axis that has been deliberately diverted
0.75 degrees south of east and north of west.
The first and outermost of the five rectangles that we find
ourselves looking down on from the air is the moat. Measured along its outer
edge it runs 1300 meters north to south and 1500 meters from east to west.
Its ditch, (moat) 190 meters wide, has walls made from
closely fitted blocks of red sandstone set out with such precision that the
accumulated surveying error around the entire 5.6 kilometers of the perimeter
amounts to barely a centimeter.
Angkor Wats principal entrance is on the west side where a
megalithic causeway 347 meters long and 9.4 meters wide bears due east across
the moat and then passes under a massive gate let into the walls of the second
of the five rectangles. This second enclosure measures 1025 x 800 meters. The
causeway continues eastward through it, past lawns and subsidiary structure and
a large reflecting pool, until it rises on to a cruciform terrace leading into
the lowest gallery of the temple itself. This is the third of the five inter
nested rectangles visible from the air and precision engineering and surveying
are again in evidence with the northern and southern walls, for example, being
of identical lengths, exactly 202.14 meters.
Ascending to the fourth rectangle, the fourth level of
Angkor Wats gigantic central pyramid, the same precision can be observed. The
northern and southern walls measure respectively 114.24 and 114.22 meters. At
the fifth and last enclosure, the top level of the pyramid which reaches a
height of 65 meters above the entrance causeway the northern wall is 47.75
meters in length and the southern wall 47.79 meters.
According to a study published in the journal Science, these
minute differences, less than 0.01 percent, demonstrates an astounding degree
of accuracy on the part of the ancient builders.
The Draco-Angkor Correlation
The principal monuments of Angkor model the sinuous coils of
the northern constellation of Draco. There seems to be no doubt that a
correlation exists: the correspondence between the principal stars of Draco and
at least fifteen of the main pyramid-temples of Angkor are too close to be
called anything else.
Cycles of the Ages
A detailed survey of Angkor Wat published in Science
magazine in July 1976 reveled that even the causeway incorporates cosmic
symbolism and numbers encoding the cycles of time.
After establishing the basic unit of measure used in Angkor
as the Khme hat (equivalent to 0.43434 meters) the authors of the survey go on
to demonstrate that axial lengths along the causeway appear to have been
adjusted to symbolize or represent the great world ages of Hindu cosmology:
These periods begin with the Krita Yuga or golden age of man
and proceed through the Treta Yuga, Dvarpara Yuga and Kali Yuga, the last being
the most decadent age of man. Their respective durations are 1,728,000 years;
1,296,000 years; 864,000 years; and 432,000 years.
It therefore cannot be an accident that key sections of the
causeway have axial lengths that approximate extremely closely to 1,728 hat,
1,296 hat, 864 hat, and 432 hat the yuga lengths scaled down by 1000. We
propose, conclude the authors, that the passage of time is numerically
expressed by the lengths corresponding to yugas along the west-east axis.
Angkor wats dominant feature is its long and massive
east-west axis which locks it uncompromisingly to sunrise and sunset on the
equinoxes. In addition, the temple is cleverly anchored to ground and sky by
markers for other key astronomical moments of the year. For example, reports
Science:
It is interesting to note that there are two solstitial
alignments from the western entrance gate of Angkor Wat. These two alignments
(added to the equinoctial alignment already established) mean that the entire
solar year was divided into four major sections by alignments from just inside
the entrance of Angkor Wat. From this western vantage point the sun rises over
Phnom Bok (17.4 kilometers to the north-east) on the day of the summer
solsticeThe western entrance gate of the temple also has a winter solstice
alignment with the temple of Prast Kuk Bangro, 5.5 kilometres of the
south-east.
Origins:
The origins of the temple lie in what may be the world's
oldest religious text, the Rigveda, one of the four Veda Samhitas of Hindu
literature. This text describes the gods of heaven and earth, including the
earthly god Vishnu, The Preserver. It is to Vishnu that Angkor Wat is
consecrated, and with more than mere symbolic intent. Hindu temples were built
to be earthly abodes for the gods. The central sanctuary was the most sacred
place, directly in line with the vertical axis of the central spire that
provided the connection between the realms of heaven and Earth. The surrounding
architecture of the temple would then mirror Hindu cosmology, being essentially
a mandala in stone a diagram of the cosmos itself. Furthermore, the Khmer
civilization had by the time of Angkor Wat's construction incorporated the idea
that a king would, after his death, be transmuted into one of the gods. Hence,
it was at Angkor Wat that Suryavarman II, after his death, was believed to
reside as Vishnu.
Astronomical significance:
Astronomy and Hindu cosmology are inseparably entwined at
Angkor Wat. Nowhere is this more evident than in the interior colonnade, which
is dedicated to a vast and glorious carved mural, a bas-relief illustrating the
gods as well as scenes from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. Along the east wall
is a 45-meter (150-foot) scene illustrating the "churning of the sea of
milk," a creation myth in which the gods attempt to churn the elixir of
immortality out of the milk of time. The north wall depicts the "day of
the gods," along the west wall is a great battle scene from the
Mahabharata, and the south wall portrays the kingdom of Yama, the god of death.
It has been suggested that the choice and arrangement of these scenes was
intended to tie in with the seasons—the creation scene of the east wall is
symbolic of the renewal of spring, the "day of the gods" is summer,
the great battle on the west wall may represent the decline of autumn, and the
portrayal of Yama might signify the dormancy, the lifeless time of winter.
The architecture of Angkor Wat also has numerous
astronomical aspects beyond the basic mandala plan that is common to other
Hindu temples. As many as eighteen astronomical alignments have been identified
within its walls. To mention but three of them: when standing just inside the
western entrance, the Sun rises over the central tower on the spring (vernal)
equinox; it rises over a distant temple at Prasat Kuk Bangro, 5.5 kilometers
(3.4 miles) away, on the winter solstice; and on the summer solstice it rises
over a prominent hill 17.5 kilometers (10.9 miles) away.
Finally, some researchers have claimed that the very
dimensions of many of the structures at Angkor Wat have astronomical
associations. These associations emerge from consideration of the unit of
length that was in use at that time, a unit known as the hat or "Cambodian
cubit." There is some question as to how long a hat was, and indeed its
definition may not have been uniformly applied; but a value of 43.45
centimeters (17.1 inches) for the length of a hat is suggested by the
structures themselves.
Using this value, archaeologists discovered numerous
dimensions of the temple that seem to have astronomical and cosmological
significance for example, the following:
The dimensions of the highest rectangular level of the
temple are 189 hat in the east-west direction and 176 hat in the north-south
direction. Added together these give 365, the number of days in one year.
In the central sanctuary, the distances between sets of
steps is approximately 12 hat. There are roughly 12 lunar cycles, or synodic
months (from full Moon to full Moon, say the basis for our modern month) in one
year.
The length and width of the central tower add up to
approximately 91 hat. On average, there are 91 days between any solstice and
the next equinox, or any equinox and the next solstice.
Because of its orbit around the Earth, the Moon's apparent
position in the sky relative to the background stars will appear to shift from
night to night. Since it takes the Moon just over 27 days to complete one orbit
(known as its sidereal period), it will, during this time appear to move
through 27 successive regions of the sky. In Hindu cosmology, these regions
were known as the naksatras, or lunar mansions. In some contexts there were 27
lunar mansions, while in other contexts an additional naksatra containing the
star Vega was included, giving 28 lunar mansions.
Temples in the video: Angkor Wat (0:05), Angkor Thom (3:20),
Terrace of the Elephants (3:20), Baphuon (3:41), Bayon (4:09), Ta Prohm (6:15),
Preah Khan (7:56), Banteay Kdei (9:00), Pre Rup (9:35), Neak Pean (9:59),
Banteay Srey (10:11), Bakong (10:32), Phnom Bakheng (10:45).
Preah Khan Temple Ruins – Photo by Allie Caulfield
A view of the ruins of the temple of Preah Khan at Angkor in
Cambodia. Preah Khan was built by the powerful Khmer king Jayavarman VII in the
late 12th century who dedicated it to his father, Dharanindravarman II.
In 2015 Graham Hancock will bring out his new book,‘Magicians of the Gods’, the sequel to his worldwide bestseller ‘Fingerprints of the Gods’. In this lecture, recorded in March 2014 for Alternatives London at Saint James’s Church in Piccadilly, he reviews his past work and shares some of the research for the new book.
Magicians of the Gods - Snapshots of a Work in Progress
THE FINGERPRINT OF A GLOBAL CATACLYSM 12800 YEARS AGO
Graphic from Kinzie, Firestone, Kennett et al.
"Nanodiamond-Rich Layer across Three Continents Consistent with Major
Cosmic Impact at 12,800 Cal BP", The Journal of Geology, 2014, volume 122,
p. 475–506.
The graphic shows the vast swathe of our planet that
geologists call the Younger Dryas Boundary Field. Across this huge
"fingerprint" spanning North America, Central America, parts of South
America and most of Europe, the tell-tale traces of multiple impacts by the
fragments of a giant comet have been found. Some of these fragments, were TWO
KILOMETRES or more in diameter and they hit the earth like a blast from a
cosmic scatter-gun around 12,800 years ago. This was near the end of the last
Ice Age, from which our world had been emerging into a pleasant warming phase,
but the impacts set in train a kind of "nuclear winter" and plunged
the planet back into a period of deep cold and darkness that lasted until
around 11,500 years ago. It is this period of extreme cold that is referred to
as the Younger Dryas (after a characteristic Alpine tundra wildflower, Dryas
octopetala) but it is only now, with conclusive evidence of the comet impact,
that we can be sure what caused it.
For the past seven years academics have
been involved in such an intense dispute about whether or not a comet impact actually
occurred 12,800 years ago that the implications of what it might have meant for
the story of civilization have not yet been considered at all. But every
attempt to refute the impact evidence has in turn been refuted and the case for
the Younger Dryas comet is now so compelling that it is time to widen the
debate.
It is clear now that some of the largest fragments of the comet hit the
North American ice cap, which was still a mile deep 12,800 years ago, and
caused cataclysmic flooding (I had the opportunity to explore some of the
extraordinary effects of this on the ground in September 2014 when I drove from
Portland, Oregon, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with catastrophist researcher
Randall Carlson). Simultaneously other large fragments hit the northern European
ice cap with the same cataclysmic effects. The result was a global disaster
that lasted for 1,300 years. It is, I believe, the "smoking gun" that
made us a species with amnesia and wiped out almost all traces of a former high
civilization of prehistoric antiquity. But there were survivors, who preserved
at least some of the knowledge of the civilization that had been destroyed with
the intention of transmitting it to future generations, so it is not an
accident that the first traces of the re-emergence of civilization, in the form
of the earliest known megalithic architecture and the re-promulgation of
agricultural skills, occur at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey 11,500 years ago -- a date
that coincides exactly with the end of the Younger Dryas and the return to a
more congenial global environment. Everything we have been taught about the
origins of civilization occurs AFTER 11,500 years ago - in other words AFTER
the radical punctuation mark of the Younger Dryas. It is what happened before
that we desperately need to recover. These are amongst the mysteries that I am
exploring in "Magicians of the Gods", the book that I have been
researching for the past three years and am now in the midst of writing.
Hancock, Graham (1985). Ethiopia: The Challenge of Hunger.
London: V. Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-03680-X.
Hancock, Graham (1992). The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for
the Lost Ark of the Covenant. New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-57813-1.
Hancock, Graham (1995). Fingerprints of the Gods: The
Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN
0-517-59348-3.
Hancock, Graham; Robert Bauval (1996). The Message of the
Sphinx: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind. New York: Crown Publishers.
ISBN 0-517-70503-6. Published in the United
Kingdom as Hancock, Graham; Robert
Bauval (1996). Keeper of Genesis: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind.
London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-434-00302-6.
Hancock, Graham (1998). The Mars Mystery: A Tale of the End
of Two Worlds. London: Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-4314-0.
Hancock, Graham; Santha Faiia (1998). Heaven's Mirror: Quest
for the Lost Civilization. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-70811-6.
Hancock, Graham; Santha Faiia (2001). Fingerprints of the
Gods: The Quest Continues (New Updated Edition). New York: Crown Century. ISBN
0-7126-7906-5.
Hancock, Graham (2002). Underworld: The Mysterious Origins
of Civilization. New York: Crown. ISBN 1-4000-4612-2.
Hancock, Graham; Robert Bauval (2004). Talisman: Sacred Cities,
Secret Faith. Tisbury: Element Books. ISBN 0-00-719036-0.
Hancock, Graham (2005). Supernatural: Meeting with the
Ancient Teachers of Mankind. London: Century. ISBN 1-84413-681-7.
Hancock, Graham (2010). Entangled: The Eater of Souls. New
York: The Disinformation Company. ISBN 978-1-934708-56-9
Hancock, Graham (2013). War God: Nights of the Witch.
Coronet. ISBN 978-1-444734-37-9
When Earth and Space Collide – there’s been a ‘Geocosmic
Wreck’. The transition to our current geological epoch was sudden with violent
global ramifications, and substantial data has been accumulating that
establishes Earth’s collision with some debris from outer space at that time.
We define here our perspective focused on those myriad events that occurred
around 13,000 years ago. Consider that a disintegrating comet impacting the
continental ice sheets would produce widespread catastrophic floods and
extensive torrential rains. We repeatedly venture into the North American
landscapes on research expeditions to investigate the after-effects. Now there
is additional evidence pointing to multiple devastating impact events during
this epoch, directly affecting the progression of the human chronicle. Dare to
rock some paradigms with us on a quest for “Recovering the Lost History of the
World”.
Randall W. Carlson introduces the concepts to be addressed
in the upcoming series "Recovering Lost History" - evidence for
repeated catastrophes that have influenced or totally reset the clock on the
development of terrestrial civilizations.
------------------------------
Ice Age Floods - Introduction
One of the great unresolved scientific mysteries of our time
concerns an extensive body of evidence for extraordinary catastrophic flooding
events in the very recent geological history of North America. From the Pacific
Coast of Washington State, across the mountains and prairies to the Atlantic
Coast of New England, from the region of the Great Lakes to the mouth of the
Mississippi, from the arid deserts of the Southwest to the lush forests of the
Southern Appalachians, the geomorphological tracks of tremendous floods of
truly prodigious scale are etched indelibly into the landscape. Based upon
irrefutable field evidence, these colossal floods utterly dwarf anything
experienced by modern man within historical times, and yet, by geological
standards they occurred exceptionally close to our own time, at the close of
the most recent ice age, some 11 to 14 thousand years ago. Familiarity with the
currently reigning dogmas regarding the cause of these great ice age floods
would leave the casual observer with the impression that the explanation for
this diluvial phenomenon has been more or less determined to the satisfaction
of a majority of Earth scientists and the work remaining is only in sorting out
a few particulars such as the exact number and timing of the floods. However,
it is our contention that the model of causation, which is accepted at present
by the overwhelming majority of geologists who have investigated the
phenomenon, has inherent difficulties. We argue that researchers have not yet
grasped an accurate explanation and that the currently accepted hypotheses are
beset with unexamined assumptions, inconsistencies and contradictory evidence.
The most impressive evidence for ancient megafloods is found
in the Pacific Northwest, primarily in Washington State, Idaho and western
Montana. Here the flood features are attributed to a series of events usually
referred to as the Missoula Flood, or Floods, and these are blamed upon the
repeated failure of a large ice dam that held back an enormous proglacial lake
named Lake Missoula, allowing the lake to drain suddenly. The lake is supposed
to have occupied the mountain valleys of western Montana, and to have been held
in by a large valley glacier in the region of Lake Pend O’rielle in northern
Idaho and finally to have drained to the west across southeastern Washington.
The floodwater is then assumed to have entered the great valley of the Columbia
River from whence it was conveyed to the Pacific Ocean. In the process of Lake
Missoula’s repeated draining a massive complex of erosional and depositional
features were created that have almost no parallel on Earth.
While they may have been the most spectacular, the Missoula
Floods were not the only giant flood events to have occurred in North America
as the great Ice Age drew to a close. The effects of mega scale flood flows
have been extensively documented in the eastern foothills of the Rocky
Mountains in both Canada and the U.S.; across the prairie states; in the
vicinity of the Great Lakes; in Pennsylvania and western New York and in New
England. All of the Canadian provinces preserve large-scale evidence of
gigantic water flows. All regions within or proximal to the area of the last
great glaciation show the effects of intense, mega-scale floods.
Complicating the problem is the fact that areas far removed
from the immediate proximity of the glaciers have not been spared the ravages
of gigantic floods. The arid American southwest preserves extensive evidence of
vast flooding on a scale unprecedented in modern times. The Mojave Desert of
Southern California is replete with evidence of mighty flood currents drowning
entire landscapes. Likewise the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and New Mexico
preserves evidence of mighty flood currents. One also finds in the southeastern
United States, massive erosional and depositional features in the Appalachians
that allow of no other explanation than that of colossal floods. Another great
flood is attributed to the catastrophic draining of Lake Bonneville, which,
during the latter part of the ice age occupied large intermontane basins in
Utah. The Great Salt Lake is but a diminutive remnant of this giant lake. The
passage of catastrophic floods has left their mark in Pennsylvania and Western
New York.
The scientific documentation of these great floods reaches
back into the nineteenth century, with repeated discoveries of various effects
that could not be explained by invoking modern fluvial processes operating at a
familiar scale, nor could they be explained by invoking glacial phenomenon.
It appears that much of this continent wide flooding
occurred during, or at the close of, the most recent ice age. The exact timing
of the various events remains to be established. Much of the evidence points to
episodic events stretching back tens of thousands of years. However, it also
appears that much of this continent wide mega flooding happened concurrently at
the end of the last great ice age.
Evidence for megascale flooding at the end of the most
recent ice age, is not limited to North America, but has been documented from
all over the world. This evidence supports the conclusion that large scale
super-flooding events were globally ubiquitous throughout the ice age, but
occurred with exceptional power and size at or near its conclusion. Among the
places around the planet from which proof is emerging of floods of
extraordinary size – Siberia especially, in the Altai Mountains region near the
Siberian/Mongolian border, hosts evidence for massive floods equivalent in scale
and power to the largest western USA floods. Across northern Europe megaflood
evidence is found in abundance. South America, too, shows extensive evidence
for massive catastrophic flooding in the recent geological past, as does
Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Northern Africa. However, for the
time being, our focus will be on the great floods of North America. Eventually,
however, it will be our goal to document and correlate this imposing mass of
evidence for global catastrophe with a view to understanding its origin and
causes. Then, we will be in a better position to address the question of social
and cultural consequences.
Emerging evidence of earlier mega flood events, apparently
associated with global climate changes and transition phases from glacial to
interglacial ages implies a non random distribution in time, perhaps periodic
or cyclical.
The geographic distribution of megascale flood events also
appears to be non-random, certain areas being affected with greater intensity
than others. As stated, the Missoula Floods and Siberian floods were, as far as
can be determined from field evidence at present, the greatest known freshwater
floods in the history of the Earth. Other areas experienced floods of profound
magnitude, but, not apparently on the scale of these two events, although the
possibility of future discoveries should not be ruled out. The study of
megafloods from tsunamis is a related but distinct area of palaeoflood
hydrology, which in any comprehensive purview of catastrophism must be
addressed. However, for now we shall limit our discussion to floods involving
fresh water, meaning events related to glacial melting or rainfall.
The Missoula floods were the most powerful of the great
North American floods. The vast scale, the complexity and the sheer magnitude
of the forces involved bestow upon these mighty events a preeminent ranking in
any accounting of Earth’s great catastrophes. Even a preliminary acquaintance
with the awe-inspiring after effects of this extraordinary deluge can provoke a
deep sense of wonder and astonishment. Through a more prolonged acquaintance
with this landscape and the story that it tells, comes a humbling realization
of the almost inconceivable power of the natural forces involved. No flood
events even remotely close in scale are documented from anywhere within
historical times. They were one of the most significant geological occurrences
in the history of the earth. Their magnitude and the release of energies
involved rank them with the greatest forces of nature of which we are aware.
For a perspective on this refer to these graphs. But again, what renders these
diluvial events of exceptional importance and interest is that they occurred
only yesterday in the span of geological time, and, most significantly, well
within the time of Man.
Let us place the great floods in context. The final phase of
the last ice age, the Late Wisconsin, as it is called in reference to North
America’s version of the Great Ice Age, came to a conclusion only some 12,000
to 14,000 years ago. While the effects of the ice age were global, the Late
Wisconsin itself was the last episode of major ice expansion in North America
at the close of the larger cycle of glacial climate called simply the
Wisconsin, The final phase known as the Late Wisconsin appears to have lasted
from approximately 25 or 26 thousand years before present to around 10 to 12
thousand years before present, depending upon how one defines the precise point
of termination. The entire Wisconsin Ice Age lasted for around 100,000 years.
While the timing and extent of glacial recessions and expansions throughout the
Wisconsin Ice Age is still being worked out, it is clear that the fluctuations
of climate and glacial mass during this time were considerably greater than that
experience within historical times.
Three ice ages in North America that were earlier than the
Wisconsin have been documented by geologists and named after the states in
which their glacial effects are best preserved. From oldest to youngest they
were the Nebraskan, the Kansan and the Illinoian. Each of these glacial ages
was separated from the next by distinct interglacial periods. The warm interval
preceding the Wisconsin Ice Age and following the Illinoian is called the
Sangamonian. The European counterpart of the Wisconsin Ice Age is called the
Würm, which has been extensively documented in the Alps.
The signature of the Wisconsin Ice Age was, obviously, the
presence of huge volumes of glacial ice where no such ice now exists. In North
America this was most of Canada and a substantial amount of the northern United
States. The northern boundary of the great North American ice sheet reached to
the Arctic Ocean. From there south to the area now occupied by the Great Lakes
the entire region was entirely buried under glacial ice. At the southern
glacial margin the ice reached almost to the Ohio River in the eastern half of
the U.S. New York lay under a half mile to a mile of ice. Most of the states of
Wisconsin and Minnesota were buried as well as the Dakotas. The ice reached out
of Canada across what is now the border, from Montana to the Pacific Ocean,
with several major incursions further south in Idaho along the Rocky Mountains
and in Washington State. Great glaciers also occupied many areas of the Cascades
and the Sierra Nevada mountains. In all, some 6 million square miles was buried
beneath a mantle of ice, about the same size as that now occupying the South
Polar Region on Antarctica. Reference to this map will help to give you the big
picture of the Late Wisconsin Ice Age.
At the peak of the Late Wisconsin, around 18,000 to 15,000
years before present, the great ice mass reached from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. However, there were actually two separate ice sheets that began
separately some 5 to 7 thousand years earlier and eventually grew until they
coalesced near the final stage of the Late Wisconsin. The easternmost and the
larger of the two was named the Laurentide Ice sheet after a region in Quebec
where it appears the ice first began accumulating. This ice sheet appears to
have formed from the convergence of two centers of nucleation and outflow, one
center to the east of present day Hudson Bay and one to the west. A separate
ice sheet formed over the Canadian Rockies and has been designated the
Cordilleran Ice Sheet by glaciologists after the collective term for the great
mountain chain that forms both the Rocky Mountains and the Andes. As the Late
Wisconsin reached its maximum it appears that these three ice sheets coalesced
in an essentially single mass. One controversial question relates to the timing
and extent of an ice free corridor between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice
sheets, either prior to their convergence, or after, during the retreat phase.
A supposition would be that humans could have utilized such an ice free
corridor to migrate to the lower United States from Alaska, after crossing the
Bering Land Bridge, which, of course, was exposed during the lowered sea levels
of the Ice Age.
As described in more detail elsewhere, through most of the
late Nineteenth century and the first half of the Twentieth, it was believed
that the most recent ice age was essentially an unbroken episode of global
cooling and ice growth which for the most part continued uninterrupted for some
150 thousand years, or longer. It was also believed that the transitions into
and out of an ice age were protracted episodes lasting tens of thousands of
years.
However, during the second half of the Twentieth Century,
with improved dating, and with more precise and detailed stratigraphy
available, it became apparent that the climate changes associated with the
onset and termination of ice ages occurred much more rapidly than believed by
earlier workers. As the Twentieth Century drew to a close, high-resolution records
bore witness to climate changes that occurred with astonishing speed and
severity.
The most recent episode of widespread catastrophic flooding
occurred at the termination the Late Wisconsin. Some of these floods were
associated directly with melting of the glacial ice. Others are only indirectly
linked to glacial melting.The most
powerful of the terminal ice age floods was the complex of events known as the
Missoula Flood, although current theory would suggest a much more complex
series of floods rather than a single large scale event. The effects of the
Missoula Floods can be found imprinted upon the landscape of the Pacific
Northwest from western Montana to the Pacific Ocean, and, in addition to
Montana include the states of Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Our intention will
be to convey an understanding of these awesome floods and to raise some
questions concerning important issues that have not yet been answered, nor even
addressed under the current state of research.
The other catastrophic floods which occurred during this
period of transition out of the ice age, roughly from 13,000 to 11,000 years
ago, will be examined in an effort to understand the phenomenon accompanying
the end of the Great Ice Age, and which, hopefully, will shed light on the most
important question, which remains “What factor, or combination of factors,
brought about the abrupt and extreme climate changes which terminated the ice
age, and provoked catastrophic melting of the ice complex?”
Our purposes will be several— first, to acquaint the
interested catastrophist researcher with the field evidence which proves the
reality of the great floods; second—to present a summary of the scientific
thinking and research to date; third—to call into question some of the ingrained
dogmas that are invoked in the effort to explain these floods by means of
familiar, known processes; and, finally—to offer an alternative hypothesis, one
that we believe better fits the evidence and makes greater sense, albeit one
that invokes forces from outside the experience of modern historical man.
Visit Randall Carlson’s Official Website to keep up to date
with his important venture.
Randall W. Carlson discusses the influences that led him to
become a Catastrophist, believing that earth's history and man's development
have been impacted repeatedly by sudden disasters such as asteroid and comet
strikes, massive volcanic eruptions, mega-floods and climate shifts. His early
life experiences, and his later studies, have driven him to learn about the
processes that shape our planet, and the dangers it faces in the cosmic
environment. He is passionate about raising awareness of catastrophe as a
regular function of the geocosmic system, and its influence on human
civilization.
India is one of the oldest and richest civilizations in the
world. It is home to the world's first planned cities, where every house had
its own bathroom and toilet five thousand years ago.
The Ancient Indians have not only given us yoga, meditation
and complementary medicines, but they have furthered our knowledge of science,
maths -- and invented Chaturanga, which became the game of chess.
According to Albert Einstein, they "taught us how to
count", as they invented the numbers 1-9 and 'zero', without which there
would be no computers or digital age. Unfairly we call this system of counting
Arabic numbers -- a misplaced credit.
Two thousand years ago the Indians pioneered plastic
surgery, reconstructing the noses and ears on the faces of people who had been
disfigured through punishment or warfare. They performed eye operations such as
cataract removal and invented inoculation to protect their population from
Smallpox, saving thousands of lives.
The story of India is one of fabulous dynasties
and kings, timeless belief systems and golden ages of culture. This fascinating
program journeys through the centuries to demonstrate how glories such as the
Taj Mahal reflect the character of a unique people. Authoritative and
entertaining, this program features a stunning graphic re-creation of an Indus
Valley City of the Second Millennium BC.
3: Science Validates Vedic History
A common view among linguists is that there should be a
standard Indus Valley script
In a startling development Mahesh Keshavam, Gangadhar Yadav
and Akbar Patel have announced that they've deciphered the Indus Valley script.
Their task was made simple by the discovery of an Indian equivalent of the
Rosetta Stone. For those who don't know, the Rosetta Stone, an ancient
Pharaonic-Egypt decree discovered in the 18th century, helped decipher the
ancient Egyptian script.
The Indian equivalent of the Rosetta Stone, called the Naga
Stone by the trio who discovered it, has a message from a king who lived many
millennia ago, inscribed in three different scripts. One of these is the
ancient Brahmi script, which as we all know, has been deciphered already.
"We discovered the Naga Stone in Nagaland, and hence
the name, explained Mahesh. "It appears to be a message from a local
ruler, prescribing that a certain festival celebration be followed strictly. It
has the same message in three different scripts, one of which is Brahmi, which
we can read. Since the message is the same across the other scripts, it was a
simple job of matching words to decipher the other scripts.
Interestingly, all three scripts including Brahmi can be
identified as Indus Valley scripts since they contain symbols commonly found in
Indus Valley seals. The Indus script (which is a hieroglyphic script, like that
of Mandarin) has largely been found to be inscribed on small seals that were
probably used for trade and, some say, for inspirational quotes as well.
Akbar said, "What we have discovered is that there was
not one uniform Indus Valley script. There were many, each differing from the
other quite a degree, even if some of the symbols were similar. In fact, one of
the scripts is even written right to left!
It is a common view among linguistic experts that there
should be one standard Indus Valley script. It seemed logical as everything
within the Indus Valley civilisation seemed to be rigidly standardised, from
the dimensions of the bricks used in construction to the broad layouts for
cities. It appears that the linguistic experts were wrong. Different regions
did use different scripts. But was the language common?
"Yes, the language was common even though the scripts
were different, said Mahesh. "And the language was Sanskrit. At the look
of surprise on my face, Gangadhar stepped in. "You know, explained
Gangadhar, "the practice of using the Devanagiri script for the Sanskrit
language is a relatively recent phenomenon. In ancient times, many other
scripts were used, including the Brahmi script. In fact, ancient manuscripts
have been found in Kerala wherein Sanskrit had been written in the Malayalam
script. So the idea of using different scripts for the same language is not new
in India. Of course, originally, Sanskrit had no native script and was
primarily an oral language.
But this obviously raises questions about the version of
history taught to us. We are taught that the Indus Valley people were
Dravidians who were indigenous Indians. They were, apparently, overrun by
Sanskrit-speaking Aryan invaders and pushed to the south. So how can the script
of a defeated people be used for the language of the victors?
"If you read the message on the Naga Stone itself, said
Akbar, "your doubts will be cleared. There was no so-called Aryan
invasion. Unbiased historians have always marvelled at this strange dichotomy
in ancient Indian history-the Indus Valley civilisation, the largest, most
urban and richest civilisation of its time, purportedly left behind no
literature or markers of high culture; whereas the so-called Aryan invaders
from Central Asia, who didn't build any great cities and were apparently
barbaric warriors, left behind the largest body of literature when compared to
any other people of the ancient world. The only logical explanation is that the
Indus Valley civilisation and the Vedic-erroneously called Aryan-civilisation
were one and the same.
"In India, the study of history is unfortunately
heavily politicised, with left- and right-wing ideologues making arguments
based on their ideological positions rather than facts, said Gangadhar.
"They both, sadly, allow their ideological leanings to cloud their
thinking. Therefore, today, we have to turn to Westerners or non-professional
Indian historians who are still untouched by the politics that plagues our
history departments, to find unbiased interpretations of our history which are
based on facts. Most Western historians have already junked the Aryan Invasion
Theory as colonial-era, European myth-making.
But the convincing proof is the Naga Stone itself. The
message written on it is unambiguous. The local ruler of that time, Vasuki,
said that the ancient Naga celebration of Panchami must be followed since it
had come down to his people (whom he called Vedic people) from an ancient
10,000-year-old tradition from Sangam and Dwarka. Since the stone itself is at
least 3,000 years old, it makes the 'mother cultures' of Sangam and Dwarka more
than 13,000 years old, that is, before the end of the last great ice age.
But where were Sangam and Dwarka? "We believe that
Sangam refers to an ancient Tamil civilisation and Dwarka to an ancient
Gujarati one, said Akbar. "It would seem that the British writer, Graham
Hancock, was right. He had postulated that there were many ancient
civilisations spread across the world before the end of the last great ice age,
when the sea levels were a lot lower. Two of those civilisations were based in
India -one off the coast of modern Tamil Nadu and another off the coast of
modern Gujarat. These civilisations were destroyed when the ice age ended and
the sea levels rose. The survivors escaped to the north and established what we
call the Vedic civilisation. So, according to Graham Hancock, the ancient Vedic
civilisation descended from an even more ancient Tamil and Gujarati
civilisation. The Naga Stone has just confirmed this theory. Clearly, our
history books need some rewriting!
4: Flooded Kingdom’s of the Ice Age
Video Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEKyilcDCOo
A huge city is found under the sea off the Western coast of
India which could be related to the ancient Indus Valley civilisation. Does
this civilisation go back farther than five thousand years? Also, in southern
India a new site is found off the coast...
