Page 21 - 201205 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - May 2012

Ancient Builders Ancient Builders two questions that unavoidably come to mind mighty cataclysm that affected much of the The sacred sites of vanished people when contemplating these ancient sites: how Mediterranean world of its day. Only Egypt escaped destruction. Atlantean survivors have were they built, and why? and lost civilizations are scattered Archaeologists have argued been credited not only with passing on their across the globe, enigmatically convincingly that, given the willpower and wisdom to the Egyptians, but also with building punctuating the landscape. organization, ancient societies could certainly the megaliths of Europe and the great temples have built all these monuments unaided. But the and statues of the Americas. Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, the sophistication of their design and technical Atlantis has been speculatively placed in Ohio Serpent Mound, Chichen Itza - achievement involved in their construction has the North Sea, the Caribbean, and the what can these monuments of the provoked endless speculation that some other, Mediterranean, as well as the Atlantic Ocean. In past tell us of the wisdom of their more intelligent technological civilization the end, perhaps it is best to think of the island not as a real place that once might have existed, might have had a hand in their building. ancient builders? Many of these ancient societies had but as a continent of the mind, a conception of a myths that attributed all the wisdom and Golden Age when humankind lived in harmony In the earliest times, when humans lived in knowledge that humankind possessed to the with the spirits of the earth. It is just possible roaming tribes of hunters and gatherers, their teachings of a godlike visitor. Influenced by that the Atlantis myth may represent a dim sacred places were natural sites, such as springs, UFO reports and the development of space memory of earlier cycles of civilizations. caves, peaks, trees or rocky outcrops, which travel, a new version of this idea ha gained were thought to be inhabited by a god or spirit. currency in recent times, suggesting that the A human achievement But from about 9000 B.C., when people earth was visited thousands of years ago by Many researchers find it unnecessary and even in Europe and Asia started settling down to farm beings from another planet. Their powers were somewhat insulting to ascribe such great the soil - the dawn of what archaeologists call so great that they were looked upon as gods by achievements of human genius to the influence the Neolithic or New Stone Age - certain our ancestors. It is claimed that it was these of advanced alien beings from outer space or to cultures began instead to build their sanctified ancient space travelers who were responsible the actions of strange denizens from a lost places. On the surface of a planet previously for the construction of some of the greater continent. almost unmarked by the activities of monuments. The most likely explanation of the humankind, over the next 7,000 years great The best known of these several writers construction of the great monuments of ancient monuments arose. They ranged from large who promoted these ideas is Erich von Daniken, times is simply that our ancestors were much stones (megaliths), either erected singly ro in with his world best seller Chariots of the Gods? more intelligent and skilful than our stereotypes gaunt stone circles and rows, to the In his book he claimed that the enormous stone of “primitive” societies would lead us think. sophisticated masonry of Egyptian and Mayan figures on Easter Island, for example, were Just because ancient Egyptians did not have pyramids and classical Greek temples. Our erected by unearthly beings. Although Daniken computers or internal-combustion engines does ancestors also created earthworks, drawing vast did point out some unexplained aspects of not mean they were necessarily incompetent or and complex patterns of lines and images on the ancient artifacts and structures, many of his backward. ground, and raising mounds to mark burial ideas were fanciful. Some, such as the notion of This still leaves the unanswered places and other sacred sites. desert lines at Nazca, Peru, being landing strips question of why these massive structures were for spacecraft, were demonstrably false. built. Ancient civilizations certainly used many Awesome skills Another possible explanation for the of these edifices to worship their gods, but The quantity and quality of these structures, construction of the great monuments, much theories about their other possible uses abound - produced with only limited technology, is favored among New Age cultists, si that they ranging from moderately sensible and sober astonishing. The most famous sites represent were built by survivors from a former world hypotheses to the bizarre. only a tiny fraction of the total of those that civilization. The usual candidate is Atlantis, first have survived. There are over 900 stone circles described in the writings of the Greek Continued on Page 24 in the British Isles, for instance, and more than philosopher Plato (429-348 B.C.). According to 800 in the West African region of Senegambia. the philosopher, historians knew of a great "0- B&C (65- ),16 "$A!06= Even in our modern age, we can only gaze in island that lay to the west of Greece, upon with Rob McConnell awe at the work and skill that went into the which a civilization had emerged that was www.xzoneradiotv.com creation of a mighty megalithic monument such highly developed in technology and secret lore. or listen to our podcasts as Stonehenge, in southern England. There are Ultimately, Atlantis was submerged by a www.xzonepodcast.com