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Contents
"There
is a growing belief that extraterrestrials might at one point in human
history have bequeathed to our race sophisticated aerial maps showing
the lay-out of this planets principal geographical features including
the main continents, oceans, and deserts!
Undiscovered Lands.
A
firm indication of this influence is the existence in the ancient and
medieval world, of maps apparently showing the existence of lands and
continents not officially discovered until many hundreds of years
later! Additionally these maps appear to show polar regions in the
northern and southern hemispheres as they would appear when stripped
away of their ice. Add to this the certainty that at least three
thousand years before Columbus the ancients of China and Greece both
knew the precise location of the Americas, and quite literally you have
a mystery that sets the history of the world on end! In particular it
raises the obvious question of just how the ancients knew the
whereabouts of these continents with such great precision!
Long term communication.
The
weight of evidence suggests this knowledge was not confined to merely
knowing of these places but must also have involved a prolonged and
sustained physical communication of cultures across the whole of the
ancient world! But how did this contact first occur? How did peoples
separated by vast stretches of ocean, suddenly find the confidence to
cross these immense distances of open water, in the sure and certain
hope they would find land there?
This
is a question of crucial importance. People don't suddenly load up a
boat with provisions and sail into the great blue yonder without
knowing where they are going. It would be suicide! Take Colombus for
instance. People of the time said the Atlantic was uncrossable! They
said there was no land there to find! Yet Colombus was confident! It
was a confidence built on ancient records stating that westwards of the
Pillars of Hercules there existed a sizeable continent at a distance of
barely one months sailing time!
The ancient records were certain
of it, and Columbus trusted in them. As history proves, it was a trust
that was more than amply rewarded. Let us then take a look at this
ancient perception of the world as they knew it, and see if it really
is as sensational as the evidence suggests! Let us see if there could
indeed be an extraterrestrial connection.
The Piri Reis Map.
By
far the best known map in this category of unknown territories is the
Piri Reis. Devotees of Von Daniken will be well acquainted with it, but
for those who may still not have heard of it, here is a brief outline.
The
Piri Reis map - a fine example of early cartography - is named after
the nephew of a famous Turkish admiral, Kemal Re'is! The map was
captured from the Spaniards in a naval engagement, and given to the
admiral by a Spanish prisoner who had sailed on three of Columbus's New
World voyages! The map, now heavily annotated in Turkish apparently
shows newly discovered lands and territories stretching far south
towards the tip of Latin America! In addition the coasts of Africa and
South America appear to be in precise latitudinal context!
Aerial Map.
In
Chariots of the Gods, Von Daniken claims the strange distortions
depicted on the map are explained by the fact that it was a copy of an
aerial map or photograph taken at a height of five thousand miles above
the Earth! At this height the curvature of the Earth would become
highly prominent thus rendering any flat based map in a seemingly
distorted perspective! Von Daniken believes the map also shows details
of continental Antarctica as it would appear when stripped of its ice!
In other words as it would have been thousands upon thousands of years
earlier!
Von Daniken gives the following verdict: 'Undoubtedly
our forefathers did not draw these maps. Yet there is no doubt that
these maps must have been made with the most modern technical aids -
from the air!' According to Von Daniken such mysteries could only be
interpreted in terms of alien involvement!
In his book 'Secrets
of the Lost Races', author Rene Noorbergen gives details of a
remarkable scientific analysis of the map conducted by Professor
Charles H Hapgood, and mathematician Richard W. Strachan. Together with
students at Keene State College in the United States, they came to the
conclusion that the centre of the Piri Re'is map was located on the
Alexandria meridian, as it crosses the Tropic of Cancer. Its incredible
accuracy baffled the entire team of investigators! Comments Noorbergen:
'The map bears irrefutable testimony to a scientific achievement far
surpassing the abilities of the navigators and map makers of the
Renaissance, the Middle Ages, the Arab world, or any of the ancient
geographers. It is the product of an unknown people antedating
recognised history!'
Noorbergen continues: 'Hapgood contends
that the original source maps from which the Piri Re'is was made must
have been drawn using a circular grid based on spherical trigonometry,
with the focal point situated in Egypt'.
Critics.
Sceptics
remain doubtful of these claims, pointing out that much of the map
below the River Plate estuary appears to be ill defined and largely
guesswork! Even so the question of its antiquity still poses questions.
Beyond doubt the map is a copy of a much earlier original. Colombus is
known to have relied on such maps and if it does predate his epic
voyage then this alone would make it a map of extraordinary importance.
And then of course there is the uncanny impression that this is indeed
an aerial projection! Whoever drew it had access to aerial surveying
techniques that far ahead of their time.
The Franco Rosselli Map.
An
even more revealing map is the Franco Rosselli, now kept in the
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. This is a relatively small but
richly illustrated copperplate engraving, hand coloured on Vellum by
Francesco Rosselli, a renowned Florentine cartographer of the 15th
century.
At the time Rosselli painted his extraordinary world
map measuring just 6 X 11 inches, cartography was still a new and
experimental art, which makes its revelations all the more astonishing.
A
careful study of the Rosselli map shows its its depiction of Antarctica
is extremely well painted. Features such as the Ross Sea, and Wilkes
Land are particularly easy to identitfy. It becomes clear this is a
work of supreme accuracy. In fact the map names this area quite
specifically as Antarticus! Even more perplexing is the fact that this
extraordinary map was painted around the year 1508, and at that time
Antarctica had still to be discovered, and indeed was not sighted until
several centuries later! So what is it doing on a 15 th century
Florentine map?
Important implications.
Whatever
the explanation it means a severe backward revision of Antarctica's
date of discovery! And there are many other implications. For instance,
a continent such as Antarctica is no easy place to circumnavigate.
Treacherous pack ice can engulf the sturdiest of todays ocean going
vessels, and it is well nigh impossible to believe that any sailing
ship of the 15 th century was up to the task of surveying the entire
Antarctic coastline. This after all runs to many thousands of miles. An
undertaking of this magnitude would be barely possible today, let alone
four hundred years ago! Yet we have the definite proof that somehow
this mapping was completed and the evidence is quite clearly
illustrated in this remarkable piece of Florentine cartography!
So
where lies the answer to this riddle? Who could possibly have
accomplished such a feat? Whatever the answer, it seems plain that the
Rosselli map, like the Piri Re'is, must have had to rely on aerial
surveying techniques! Any other method is quite unthinkable. True, the
map has glaring errors to it, but these occur in more northerly
latitudes that ironically were no mystery to the people of the
fifteenth century! Like the Piri Re'is map, this Florentine marvel is
obviously a copy of a much earlier original. But who could have
possessed aerial mapping techniques in the Middle Ages?
Who
indeed? The fact is that here yet again we find another map whose
existence challenges the cosy status quo of established history!
Orontius Fineus Map.
Other
maps broaden the mystery yet further. These include the Orontius Fineus
map of 1531, which apparently shows the outline of Antarctic rivers
covered by a mile thick glacier, and the Hadji Ahmed map of 1559 that
clearly depicts the outline of the Ice Age land bridge that extended
between Siberia and Alaska!
Zeno Brothers Map.
Another
cartographical mystery is the Zeno brothers map of the 14 th century!
The Zeno brothers from Venice were known to have carried out an
extensive exploration of the north Atlantic, including parts of
Greenland and Iceland, and are even rumoured to have sailed as far as
Nova Scotia in Canada! As a result of these voyages the brothers
brought back a map of their travels which was lost and then later
recovered several centuries later.
Although the map appeared to
confirm the fantastic extent of their travels, later scholars were
baffled by the fact that it seemed to depict the true outline of
Greenland as it would appear when stripped of its ice! There is simply
no way the Zeno brothers could have known of this outline, and it
became apparent that the map they had relied on must have been a copy
of a much earlier original! In addition the map appeared to be based on
a polar projection thought to be far beyond the modest abilities of 14
th century cartographers!
'Impossible' voyages.
As
well as strange maps we have evidence of 'impossible' early voyages,
that should never have happened! These are truly incredible feats of
navigation dating back to epochs so remote, they become difficult to
imagine. One of these is the habitation of Australia, around 30,000
years ago! The fact is Australia never formed part of the south-east
Asian mainland. Its history of habitation is consequently late! The
question is how did this migration occur?
Here the only logical
explanation is by sea. Yet the strange thing is that man at this time
is supposed to have been little more than a hunter gatherer. We hear no
mention of him acquiring boat building skills. We hear no mention of
him possessing the logistical and navigational capability to span at
least 100 miles of open sea ! Yet this is precisely how we are told
that prehistoric man reached Australia!
The question has to be
asked : How would men of that time know where they were going? After
all it's one thing to sail a boat in confined coastal waters barely a
mile or two from the shore, but quite another to sail off to a land so
far away that it isn't even visible! And remember that 30,000 years ago
boat building would have consisted of no more than cutting down a
likely shaped trunk of a tree and putting it straight in the sea.
It
is important to consider these implications because whichever way you
look at it there is no avoiding the fact that if 30,000 years ago man
did sail to Australia he must have known where his journey would take
him. He was hardly likely to load up his tree trunk and point it at the
open sea in the hope that he might find land there! That would almost
feel like committing suicide.
A probable explanation is that
like Colombus these early navigators knew exactly where they were
going, and to do this they must have had maps - maps that could only
have existed in a geographically cognisant society! Maps that were
either drawn up by former advanced periods of human civilisation, or
left behind by visiting aliens.
Easter Island.
Another
'impossible' voyage is the colonisation of remote Easter Island. This
is thought to have occurred around 1000 BC. But who at that time could
possibly have known of the existence of this remote speck of rock?
Renowned
for its enigmatic stone statues, Easter Island is one of the remotest
places on Earth. It is surrounded by thousands of mile of unbroken
ocean. Yet despite this, its early colonisers knew precisely where to
find it. By all accounts they were artisans of the high Andes plateau;
voyagers who travelled thousand of miles to this remote outpost with
the express purpose of building their strange statues!
Once
again this was not a stab in the dark, but a planned and deliberate
attempt to reach a tiny island whose location was known from the
outset! A feat that would have been completely impossible without
accurate maps! And the origin of these maps? Perhaps a clue can be
found in the ancient birdman cult of the early islanders! They believed
the bird-men lived in a celestial domain 'whose king possessed a
reflection of higher values'!
Another element linking Easter
Island to alien visitation is the fact that engraved effigies of the
creator god Make-Make look surprisingly like a helmeted astronaut!
It
is also interesting to note that statues found carved in the ground
were not left there through lack of motivation to raise them, but
because their eyes looked skywards towards the domain of the bird-men.
In fact the original name of Easter Island means 'eyes watching the
sky'. It is exciting to think this may have been to herald the return
of the 'Bird-men', by whose knowledge the island was discovered!"
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