Page 127 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

Stirling.
Historical dogmatists of that period, I remembered, had held
tenaciously to the view that the civilization of the Mayas was the oldest in
Central America. One could be precise about this, they argued, because
the Mayan dot-and-bar calendrical system (which had recently been
decoded) made possible accurate dating of huge numbers of ceremonial
inscriptions. The earliest date ever found on a Mayan site corresponded
to AD 228 of the Christian calendar. It therefore came as quite a jolt to
5
the academic status quo when Stirling unearthed a stela at Tres Zapotes
which bore an earlier date. Written in the familiar bar-and-dot calendrical
code used by the Maya, it corresponded to 3 September 32 BC.
6
What was shocking about this was that Tres Zapotes was not a Maya
site—not in any way at all. It was entirely, exclusively, unambiguously
Olmec. This suggested that the Olmecs, not the Maya, must have been
the inventors of the calendar, and that the Olmecs, not the Maya, ought
to be recognized as ‘the mother culture’ of Central America. Despite
determined opposition from gangs of furious Mayanists the truth which
Stirling’s spade had unearthed at Tres Zapotes gradually came out. The
Olmecs were much, much older than the Maya. They’d been a smart,
civilized, technologically advanced people and they did, indeed, appear to
have invented the bar-and-dot system of calendrical notation, with the
enigmatic starting date of 13 August 3114 BC, which predicted the end of
the world in AD 2012.
Lying close to the calendar stela at Tres Zapotes, Stirling also unearthed
a giant head. I sat in front of that head now. Dated to around 100 BC, it
7
was approximately six feet high, 18 feet in circumference and weighed
over 10 tons. Like its counterpart in Santiago Tuxtla, it was unmistakably
the head of an African man wearing a close-fitting helmet with long chin-
straps. The lobes of the ears were pierced by plugs; the pronounced
negroid features were furrowed by deep frown lines on either side of the
nose, and the entire face was concentrated forwards above thick, down-
curving lips. The eyes were open and watchful, almond-shaped and cold.
Beneath the curious helmet, the heavy brows appeared beetling and.
angry.
Stirling was amazed by this discovery and reported,

The head was a head only, carved from a single massive block of basalt, and it
rested on a prepared foundation of unworked slabs of stone ... Cleared of the
surrounding earth it presented an awe-inspiring spectacle. Despite its great size
the workmanship is delicate and sure, the proportions perfect. Unique in character
among aboriginal American sculptures, it is remarkable for its realistic treatment.
The features are bold and amazingly negroid in character ...
8

5 Mexico, p. 637. See also The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico, p. 24.
Ibid.
6
7 Mexico, p. 638.
8 Matthew W. Stirling, ‘Discovering the New World’s Oldest Dated Work of Man’, National

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