Ancient Anomalies

Did the Ancients Have Advanced Technology?

For thousands of years, humans have been resourceful, making tools out of stone, wood, clay, and metal. In the land that is now occupied by Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran was once a highly fertile region dominated by ancient civilizations. It was from this land that the first civilization is thought to have originated. From there, civilization is said to have gradually progressed up to the present level of technology. It is commonly thought that prior to the Mesopotamian culture, humans were primitive cave dwellers. But, is this really the case?

The Bagdad Battery

In the central region of the Mesopotamia lies a country that has had much history. A country that has seen the rise and fall of great empires, a country that has been a subject throughout the Bible, Iraq (ancient Babylon) is not a location one would think advanced technology could be unearthed from. A short distance from Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, in the village of Khujut Rabbou'a, a German archeologist who was the director of the National Museum of Iraq, Wilhelm Konig made a unique discovery. In 1936, workers excavating the ruins of Kujut Rabbou'a, an ancient village near Baghdad, unearthed a pot made of yellow clay (6). World-Mysteries.com gives this description for the object:

A 6-inch-high pot of bright yellow clay dating back two millennia contained a cylinder of sheet-copper 5 inches by 1.5 inches. The edge of the copper cylinder was soldered with a 60-40 lead-tin alloy comparable to today's solder. The bottom of the cylinder was capped with a crimped-in copper disk and sealed with bitumen or asphalt. Another insulating layer of asphalt sealed the top and also held in place an iron rod suspended into the center of the copper cylinder. The rod showed evidence of having been corroded with an acidic agent [sic]. (6)

This mysterious object naturally drew the curiosity of the director of the National Museum of Iraq. Upon discovering the object in the museum’s collection, Konig published a paper in 1940 on his reasons for believing that the object was an ancient battery. He speculated that it, along with nearly a dozen other similar batteries, was used for electroplating gold onto silver objects (6). Other experts have concurred with Konig (6). Willard F.M. Gray, learned about Konig’s hypothesis and put it to the test. In 1940, he constructed a replica of the battery and filled it with a copper sulfate solution. The battery produced half a volt of electricity. Other replicas of the Baghdad battery, using grape juice as an electrolyte to transmit the electric current, have produced a current of just under one volt per battery (6). Arne Eggebrecht, the director of Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim (16), constructed a replica of the Baghdad battery in the 1970s (6). Using fresh grape juice in his replica--what he considered to be a more authentic electrolyte than that used by Gray--Eggebrecht succeeded in producing 0.87 volts (6). Then, Eggebrecht connected several of these replicas together with wire. Using the series of connected batteries, he claimed to have deposited a thin layer of silver--one ten thousandth of a millimeter thick--on another surface (16). Some skeptics have said that the copper cylinder was used for storing scrolls, but have not been able to account for the corroded iron rod and the asphalt or bitumen cap and why all three components were found together.

The Antikythera Mechanism



computer rendering

Some decades before the discovery of the Bagdad batteries, an object that had rested on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for thousands of years, had been discovered by divers off the coast of Crete, causing many historians to change their views on ancient history. In 1901, a team of divers were in search of sea sponges between the coasts of Crete and mainland Greece. They got a real surprise when they discovered a sunken ship with treasure onboard: treasure unlike anything they had expected. Inside a wooden box was an object made of many corroded, bronze gears (5). When scientists x-rayed the artifact, they found that it was composed of approximately 30 gears (22). In 1959, after much research on the Antikythera Mechanism, Derek Price, a British historian, theorized that the mechanism was used for astronomy to make calculations. According to Antikytheramechanism.org, the “complexity of the gears found within the Antikythera Mechanism baffled scientists, since this type of ‘technology’ was not though to have been in existence until around 1575” (5). Scientists have determined that the ancient device was built around 87 B.C. (22). Many scientists have built on Price’s work, agreeing that the Antikythera Mechanism was a kind of early computing device. It proves that ancient people knew that the Earth orbited around the Sun (5). It also shows that while some philosophers, such as Aristotle, believed that the Sun orbited around the earth, others knew better.

Ancient Egyptian Model Plane?

Ancient technologies are not limited to instruments such as batteries or calculators. Rare and astounding artifacts have been found around the world that suggest that the ancients may have not only used wind and muscle power for transportation. In 1898, archeologists excavating a tomb near Saqqara, Egypt discovered a small wooden object that looked somewhat similar to a bird. The object was stored in the basement of the Cairo museum and forgotten. At the time, operational planes had yet to be invented and the Wright brothers had not made their famous flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. According to the standard view, the first lighter-than-air flight had been achieved by two Frenchmen in a hot-air balloon, in the 1780s (21). When the wooden object was rediscovered years later and put on display, it was labeled as a model airplane (4). In the 1970s, a team of Egyptologists was formed to investigate the object. Because it strongly resembled a plane, a group of aviation experts was assembled to study the object’s aerodynamics and structure (14). After much research, they concluded that it was a glider. When they threw it into the air to see if it would glide, the small craft did so gracefully and with ease (14). When Dr. Khalil Messiha, an expert on ancient models, studied the ancient glider, he concluded that it had very advanced aerodynamics and was similar to modern pusher-gliders that require very little power to stay airborne (21). One interesting question arises: Is it possible that this glider was actually a model of an aircraft that the Egyptians planned on building or had built?

Strange Embossed Images in the Temple of Abydos

Corroborating evidence for the idea that the ancient Egyptians might have constructed aircraft can be found in the ancient temple of Abydos, Egypt. One of the most controversial and interesting finds relating to the idea that the ancient Egyptians might have had or known about aircraft was made by Dr. Ruth Hover, during a trip to Egypt. Dr. Ruth Hover and her husband visited the temple of Abydos, snapping pictures as they wandered through the vast complex. She photographed a wall that had remained after an overlying section had crumbled and fallen off of it (14). This older section revealed strange, embossed images of what appeared to be aerial vehicles. Others, who had heard about Hover’s discovery, went to Egypt, to the temple of Abydos, and confirmed that the embossed images were real, snapping their own pictures, proving that Hover had not created a hoax (21). One of these embossed images resembles a helicopter, having a distinct helicopter-like tail, a tapering fuselage, rotor blades, and a cockpit. No insect or bird even remotely resembles the shape of the “helicopter” image. Skeptics claim that the images are actually palimpsests, the combination of two or more overlapping hieroglyphics (21). These same skeptics, however, have no way of scientifically explaining how the pyramids were built. (We will look into that a little later.) Were these images depicting ancient aircraft, or were they depicting something else, or were they just palimpsests? There is not enough evidence to prove or disprove any of the above possibilities, but the possible connection to the ancient glider model is interesting.

Unusual Golden Artifacts

The ancient glider from Egypt is not the only ancient “aerial” object discovered. Thousands of miles away from Egypt, within the borders of South and Central America, a number of nearly-identical, golden objects have been discovered in ancient tombs and other places. According to modern dating methods, the objects are at least 1,000 years old (4). Archeologists have labeled these objects as zoomorphic, meaning animal-shaped (4). The question is: what animal do they represent? Each objects have a distinct, vertical tail fin very similar to the vertical stabilizer of an airplane. The tail could not be mistaken for a bird’s tail, which is horizontal and fanned out, or a fish’s tail, which does not have side fins directly below its tail fins. What is more, the objects each have horizontal tail stabilizers and triangular wings that are all in the same geometric plane (pun not intended). Zoomorphic objects clearly resemble the animals they represent, so that classification is incorrect.

In 1997, two Germans, Algund Eenboom and Peter Belting, decided to make models of the golden anomalies (14). In one model they inserted a propeller motor, in the front, along with the necessary components to remote control it. The model performed well when given a trial flight. The second model they built had a jet engine with landing gear. It took off by its own power and was not launched by hand, as the first was. It flew smoothly through the air and ended its flight with a perfect landing. This model was an exact replica of the golden object found in an Inca grave (14). In the parking lot of the Florida Mall, in Orlando, Eenboom and Belting gave a live demonstration of their models to a small crowd after having presented a video of their work to a conference in Orlando (14). A question arises: could these ancient objects discovered in South and Central America be representations of aerial vehicles? Assuming they were, the impact of such a discovery, if fully accepted by the scientific community, could drastically change our beliefs about our ancestors.

The ancients were not simple-minded, superstitious people that our culture has lead us to believe. Calculators, batteries, and flying models (and possibly aircraft) are only some of the unique and amazing technologies ancient people have been documented to have developed. Others anomalies, such as the Piri Reis Map (compiled from older sources in the 1600s) can be mentioned, but they are beyond the scope of this article. Ancient technology is best documented through ancient architecture that survives to this day. The architecture of past cultures is interesting, particularly the architecture found in three different locations: Baalbek, Lebanon; Cuzco, Peru; and the Giza Plateau (we will not cover the numerous other places where similar feats of architecture have been found).

Baalbek

Lebanon is an ancient country mentioned frequently in the Bible and in other historical accounts. In the ruins of Baalbek, Lebanon can be found some incredible masonry, unrivaled by anything accomplished in more recent times. Atop a huge platform constructed of multi-ton stones rest the ruins of a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter, the leader Roman pantheon. What makes this site most interesting is not the Roman ruins but the foundation. The stones used to construct the temple, though fairly heavy, are nothing compared to some of the stones used to construct the foundation. In the base, a group of three, massive blocks, called the “Trilithon”, are arranged in a row, side by side, some distance above the ground, resting atop much smaller blocks (2). The stones each weigh about 800 tons, larger than any blocks used by the Romans-- or any other known civilization--in other building projects (2). They are each 33 feet long and so snugly fit together that one could not fit a razor blade between them (2). Such precision is not found in other Roman structures. In the quarry the 800-ton blocks were removed from, less than half a mile away from the temple, a monstrous stone, weighing an estimated 1,000 tons, rests. If the Romans were to use the technology available to them, completing the task of moving the megalithic stones of the “Trilithon” into place would be an engineering miracle. Besides this, the platform itself is far larger than is needed for the temple of Jupiter (2). Is it possible that this platform was made by another culture, at another time?

Sacsayhuamán



Each stone fits perfectly.



Multi-ton stones, fitted tightly together, are not only to be found at Baalbek. Thousands of miles away from Baalbek, near the village of Cuzco, Peru, rests a huge, stone complex called Sacsayhuamán, which means "House of the Sun" (13). It was an ancient Incan fortress that was besieged and partially destroyed by Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro (13). One amazing and unique feature about the complex is the stones used to construct some of its walls. According to World-Mysteries.com, “The stones [in the walls] fit so perfectly that no blade of grass or steel can slide between them. There is no mortar. They often join in complex and irregular surfaces that would appear to be a nightmare for the stonemason” (17). It resembles a giant jigsaw puzzle. Such construction is incredible because modern masons cannot reproduce it if they were to use the tools that were available to the Incas. Graham Hancock, an archaeologist who investigated the complex, said that one of the stones weighs over 360 tons and is located above the base of the wall. The quarry is more than 10 miles away (19). Three-hundred sixty tons is the equivalent of 500 passenger sedans (19). How did the ancient Incas cut the multi-ton stones into such perfect-fitting, irregular shapes that modern stone masons would find nearly impossible to do; and transport them more than 10 miles; and lift them up, setting them precisely into place? Interestingly, the Incas did not claim to have constructed the fortress. Instead, they told the Spanish that “giants” had constructed Sacsayhuaman (13). If this account of the Incas is true, the “giants”, whoever they were, must have had the technology or resources to construct the enigmatic fortress.

The Great Pyramid

Ancient architecture that defies explanation is best exemplified in the largest pyramid ever built. Numerous articles abound on the subject of the Great Pyramid of Giza, but this article will only touch on some of the astonishing aspects of this structure that make the Great Pyramid truly great. Some of these features include: stones that fit together so perfectly that a slip of paper could not fit between them; perfect orientation with the cardinal points; limestone casing stones dressed on all six sides to tolerances of 0.01 inch; near-perfectly-straight, internal passageways; the incredible task of transporting stones weighing up to 50 tons; the impossible task of moving heavy stones into an area where only a handful (6 workers) could stand; the fact that the stones were moved over a distance of 600 miles from their quarry; the need for a massive, earthen ramp and the absence of such a ramp ever having existed; and the perfectly-flat, thirteen-acre base.



Notice how straight the edges are?

We will focus on a few of the above-mentioned items. The first item we will look at is the fact that the limestone casing stones, found in the Great Pyramid, fit together so perfectly that W. M. Flinders Petrie, an Egyptologist, said, "Merely to place such stones in exact contact would be careful work, but to do so with cement in the joint seems almost impossible; it is to be compared to the finest opticians' work on the scale of acres” (12). Each of these limestone casing stones is dressed on all six sides to a tolerance of 0.01 inch (10). The geometric tolerance for an object indicates the amount that it can vary from perfect geometry (7). Nothing in this world is perfectly geometrical, but the casing stones on the Great Pyramid come very close. Modern technology would have difficulty cutting stones with such precision.

Besides being precisely cut, some of the stones of the great Pyramid weigh between 2 and 50 tons. The King’s Chamber was constructed of massive, red granite stones that each weigh 50 tons. The reason for this is to support the immensely heavy roof. How hundreds of slaves could move 50 ton stones into place using only their own muscle power is beyond belief, especially when one considers that there was only an area large enough for six workers when the muscle power of at least 2,000 workers was needed in moving the 50-ton stones into place (10). Incredibly, the distance to the quarry where the 50-ton stones were cut from is 600 miles away from the location of the Great Pyramid. It has been theorized that thousands of workers constructed a ramp up to the top of the Great pyramid, which is nearly 500 feet tall (10).

P. Garde-Hanson, a Danish civil engineer, has calculated that such a ramp would require 17.5 million cubic meters of material (such as rock, sand, or dirt) in its construction (10). This is more than seven times the amount of building material that went into constructing the Great Pyramid itself (10). If the pyramid were constructed in Cheops’ reign, according to P. Garde-Hanson, 240,000 workers were required to build the ramp. Such an enormous ramp would then take more than 300,000 workers eight years to dismantle (10). Besides all this, none of the corners of the precisely-cut stones were damaged when set into place and they fit tightly together (10). We might also mention that the four sides of the Great Pyramid align precisely with the compass points. The precision of this alignment is incredible, being off from perfect alignment by less than 0.06 percent (10). The thirteen-acre base of the Great Pyramid is carved into bedrock and has been perfectly leveled, with laser-like precision, to a tolerance of less than half an inch across the entire base (12). Could the ancient Egyptians really have completed such a massive project that involved moving perfectly-cut stones hundreds of miles and setting the stones into place so that they fit tightly together, with almost no variation from perfection, on a 13-acre base that is almost perfectly flat, cut into solid bedrock? But, if the ancient Egyptians did not construct the Pyramid, who did?

Ancient Aliens or Something Else?

A modern theory about the origins of the pyramids and other incredible forms of ancient architecture (such as the Nazca Lines) has gained much popularity among UFO buffs after the publication of Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past by Erich von Daniken. Von Daniken’s book postulates that ancient cultures--such as the Egyptians, the Inca, and the Maya--got their amazing architecture (and thus technologies) from ancient alien visitors who supposedly visited mankind in the past. This theory assumes that mankind has been visited by aliens in the past and possibly in the present. When one looks at all the cases of people who have claimed to have been abducted or contacted by “aliens”, the evidence overwhelmingly indicates that people have been and are being contacted and affected by otherworldly visitors. But what are they exactly? The famous and highly respected researcher, Jacques Vallee addresses this topic in his book Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact:

The 'medical examination' to which abductees are said to be subjected, often accompanied by sadistic sexual manipulation, is reminiscient of the medieval tales of encounters with demons. It makes no sense in a sophisticated or technical framework: any intelligent being equipped with the scientific marvels that UFOs possess would be in a position to achieve any of these alleged scientific objectives in a shorter time and with fewer risks [sic]. (20)



Vallee

 Vallee is suggesting here that aliens abductions are similar to old accounts of demons. This is quite startling information coming from a man who is a highly respected, scientific researcher. But, he is not the only one to notice this connection. John Keel, a veteran UFO researcher wrote: “The UFO manifestations seem to be, by and large, merely minor variations of the age-old demonological phenomenon" (11). Dr. Pierre Guerin, a scientist and UFO researcher who is associated with the French National Council for Scientific Research, said that “the modern UFO -nauts and the demons of past days are probably identical [sic]" (8).



George Adamski's book

 Demonic activity has been witnessed and experienced by millions of people for thousands of years and there is much credible evidence, including alien phenomena, to indicate that demonic beings do exist. In the middle ages, people actually claimed to have seen elves, fairies, and nymphs. More disturbingly, others from the same period of history have claimed to have had encounters with demonic entities at night. Incubi and succubi--demonic entities that interacted sexually with people--were purportedly encountered. Today, people claim to have seen aliens, or to have been sexually experimented on by them, or both. UFO researchers see a connection between the demonic entities of the past (who appeared as nymphs, satyrs, elfs, fairies, incubi, and succubi) and the creatures today claiming to be from very distant planets.

They did not always claim to be from very distant locations. In the late 1950s, George Adamski, a UFO contactee, claimed he had been visited by human-like aliens coming from the planet Venus. When our understanding of our neighboring planets improved and we learned that Venus is inhospitable to life, the same human-like aliens claimed to have come from more distant worlds, such as the Pleiadian star system. Why would they change their location so quickly? Are “aliens” really visitors from other planets or are they something else entirely?

Giants

Did these beings, who now call themselves aliens, actually play a role in the construction of ancient temples and monuments? As mentioned earlier, when the Spanish conquistadors came to South America, the Incas told them that giants had constructed the fortress of Sacsayhuaman. Is it possible that the Incas had told the truth? Could these “giants” have been connected with the demonic beings Vallee and other notable UFO researchers have referred to?

An interesting passage appears in the Bible (Genesis 6:1-4):
　



And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

The “sons of God” is a phrase used in the Bible, in the book of Job, to refer to angels. If the “sons of God” were merely human, is it likely that their offspring would be described as “giants” and “mighty men”? And, why did the Bible call the mothers of these giants the “daughters of men” and their fathers “the sons of God”? There seems to be a clear distinction between the two. The women were “daughters of men”. Their husbands were not called the sons of men, but the “sons of God”.



Notice the train car in the background?



The Hebrew word for “giant” is nphiyl. This same word is also used in the book of Numbers (also a book of the Bible) to refer to giants. In Numbers 13:33, during the period where Israel was wandering through the wilderness after having escaped from Egypt, Hebrew spies that were sent into the land of Canaan (modern-day Israel) announced that there were giants in the land: “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Because of this act of “the sons of God” producing offspring by human women, and the wickedness that was rampant and widespread, the Bible says (in Genesis 6:7-8): “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” We can see that these giants were against God from the beginning.

One giant would have killed the future king of Israel, King David. In 1 Samuel 17:4--the famous biblical account of David and Goliath--we read that Goliath’s “height was six cubits and a span.” In modern measuring units, Goliath was roughly 9 feet tall or more. He was not the only giant mentioned by name in the Bible. The “sons of Anak”, in the quote from Numbers 13:33 above, were referred to as giants. We can assume that Anak himself was a giant. Another prodigious man mentioned in the Bible, Og, king of Bashan, had a bed that was given this description in Deuteronomy 3:11: “nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.” It would not make in sense for him to have such a massive bed unless he was indeed a giant, and the Bible says (also in Deuteronomy 3:11) that “only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants…” A cubit was the measure from the tip of the middle finger up to the elbow. According to The American Heritage College Dictionary, the cubit is 17 to 22 inches in length (3). That means that Og’s bed was between 12.75 and 16.5 feet long. Og would have to be close to the height of his bed, which would put him somewhere between 9 and 15 feet tall (or even 16 feet tall).



This pharaoh looks intimidating.

 The tallest man ever recorded in more recent times is Robert P. Wadlow who reached a height of 8 feet and 11 inches at the time of his death. He passed away at age 22. He suffered from gigantism, a medical condition in which a growth hormone, insulin, is excessively active (8). People with such a rare condition experience short life spans, joint pain, easy fatigue, decreased muscular strength, and many other problematic symptoms (1). Goliath, who was recorded in the Bible as a warrior who fought for the Philistines, did not seem to have any of those symptoms. The weight of his armor is recorded in the Bible, in shekels. Fully equipped for battle, Goliath would have gained an additional 273 pounds to support (18). According to one estimate, his spear head itself weighed about 24 pounds (15). Is it possible, then, that the giants in the Bible were similar to the giants various cultures, such as the Incas, have spoken of and recorded? Tales about giants have originated from many parts of the world. Some ancient depictions of giant men, in bas relief, have been found in Egypt and in the ancient land of Mesopotamia. A bas relief of an exceedingly tall pharaoh holding three men by the hair is only one of several examples that strong and well-proportioned giants might have occupied positions of authority. A Sumerian tablet displays a bas relief of a huge man sitting on a large throne. Regular-sized men, standing before this giant, appear quite small next to him. Giving all of the above information consideration, is it possible that giants played a major role in the construction of some of the strange, awe-inspiring, ancient buildings and architecture in the world? Is it possible that ancient man was not as simple-minded and as primitive as evolutionists and textbooks have made them out to be?

　



The man seated on the throne completely dwarfs the regular-sized men.

 In conclusion, we have looked at a small number of anomalies (there are many more), starting with ancient technologies that defy standard explanation. The presence of ancient batteries, computation devices, airplane models, and incredible edifices made of perfectly-shaped, multi-ton stones placed together so closely that razor blades could not fit between them are only some of the pieces of evidence one could look at which prove that ancient man was not as primitive or as simple-minded as is commonly thought. All of the above evidence also indicates that some ancient cultures had received knowledge, engineering aid, and technology that exceeded the limits of their own abilities. The presence of legends and the accounts around the world about giants, the depictions of giants in ancient artwork, and the description of giants in the Bible all give credence to the possibility that the giant offspring of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men” contributed to the technology and architecture of ancient cultures and civilizations.

　
　
　

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Works Cited
　

　

(1) "Acromegaly." PubMed Health. A.D.A.M., Inc, 25 Nov. 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.

(2) Alford, Alan F. "The Mystery of the Stones at Baalbek." World-Mysteries.com. World-Mysteries.com, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

(3) The American Heritage College Dictionary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Print.

(4) "Ancient Flying Machines." World-Mysteries.com. World-Mysteries.com, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

(5) "The Antikythera Mechanism." antikytheramechanism.org. Antikytheramechanism.org, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

(6) "The Baghdad Battery." World-Mysteries.com. World-Mysteries.com, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.

(7) Beardmore, Roy. "Geometrical Tolerancing." RoyMech. Roymech.co.uk, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.

(8) Ferry, Robert J. Jr., Melanie Shim. "Gigantism and Acromegaly." Medscape Reference. MD LLC, 8 Jul, 2010. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.

(9) Flynn, David. "UFOs & the Bible: Genesis 6 & Nephilim 101." mt.net. mt.net, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.

(10) Gray, Mark. "The Great Pyramid, Egypt." s8int.com. s8int.com, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.

(11) Keel, John. Operation Trojan Horse. Atlanta: Illuminet Press, 1996. Print.

(12) Larsen, David. "Technological anomalies in the contstruction of the Great Pyramids." Examiner.com. Clarity Digital Group, 2 Oct. 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.

(13) "The Mighty Fortress of Sacsayhuamán." rediscovermachupicchu.com. Rediscover Machu Picchu, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

(14) "OOPARTS (out of place artifacts) & ANCIENT HIGH TECHNOLOGY--Evidence of Noah's Flood?" s8int.com. s8int.com, n.d.

(15) "Perry Stone, Angels." Oracle Network. OracleMedia, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.

(16) "Riddle of 'Baghdad's batteries.'" bbc.co.uk. BBC, 27 Feb. 2003. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

(17) "Sacsayhuaman (Saqsaywaman) - Introduction." World-Mysteries.com. World-Mysteries.com, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

(18) "I Samuel Chapter 17." theseason.org. theseason.org, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.

(19) "Top Eleven Mysterious Mysteries of the Pre-Columbian Americas That We Decided to Cram Into One Article....Page 54." s8int.com. s8int.com, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

(20) Vallee, Jacques. Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991. Print.

(21) Wagner, Stephen. "Could Ancient Man Fly?" About.com. About.com, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

(22) "What is the Antikythera Mechanism?" antikythera-mechanism.com. Antikythera Mechanism, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

　

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Did Ancient People Believe that Dinosaurs Were Contemporaries of Humankind?

Like cultures today, ancient people created artwork based on real-life subjects. Many cave paintings (pictographs) and petroglyphs (shallow rock carvings) depict scenes from battles (24), ancient people performing various rituals (36), (and fauna, such as buffalo, seen by the native peoples. Sculptures, mosaics, figurines, and carvings made by people hundreds or thousands of years ago also depict some strange creatures that seem to closely resemble what we might call dinosaurs. This leads to a fascinating question: Did ancient cultures believe that dinosaurs were contemporaries of humankind and did they claim to see such creatures?

The Acambaro Figurines

In the summer of 1944, a German merchant, Waldemar Julsrud, made a discovery that has caused a stir in the scientific community (35). It was July 1944 and Waldemar Julsrud was riding his horse along the lower slope of El Toro Mountain near the town of Acambaro, Mexico, when he noticed something unusual poking out of the dirt (35). Dismounting, he tore into the ground and unearthed a few ceramic objects unlike anything he had ever seen before (35). His discovery led to the excavation of over 33,500 ceramic, stone, and jade figurines and artifacts (35).

Charles Hapgood, a professor of anthropology and history at Keene State College, learned about the figurines and decided that he would see them for himself (35). After investigating and researching the figurines for 18 years, and after seeing more of the objects turn up when workers dug in certain locations he determined, Hapgood, a self-confessed skeptic (35), authored a book on the Acambaro figurines: Mystery in Acambaro: Did Dinosaurs Survive Until Recently? No longer a skeptic about the origin and authenticity of the ancient figurines, Charles Hapgood believes that they were made by an ancient culture. At the same place where the artifacts were discovered, the teeth of an extinct horse, the skeleton of a mammoth, and human skulls were also unearthed (35). The fact that many of these unique figurines resemble dinosaurs has been a reason the majority of the scientific community has ignored the discovery, passing it off as a hoax.

Shang Dynasty "Saurolophus"

Besides the major discovery in Acambaro, a number of other figurines from other ancient cultures have sparked debate or been ignored by the majority of the scientific community. An artifact from the Shang Dynasty is described by Genesis Park website as a creature that "displays relief lines in a scale-like pattern, a broad beak, a dermal frill, and a headcrest that is strikingly like the dinosaur Saurolophus ..." (1). According to Genesis Park, the dinosaur-like figure "was advertised on the Chinese antiquities market as a dinosaur depiction" (1). Concerning it's authenticity, Genesis Park declares that: "This jade statute, now in the Genesis Park collection, is made of white colored nephrite with differential weathering, cleaving veins and earth penetration, demonstrating authenticity …" (1).
Besides the Acambaro figurines and the Shang Dynasty saurolophus, there are more examples of possible dinosaur-like figurines from ancient cultures that could be mentioned such as the figurine of a Dogon tribesman, from Africa, riding a strange, "prehistoric" creature or the painted pots and vases from the Moche tribe of South America. According to Genesis Park, the Moche tribe ceramics display "with singular realism medical acts, combative events, musical instruments, plants and animals" (1). Some of these painted vases and pots have what appear to be realistic dinosaurs painted on their clay surfaces (1). The Moche tribe pottery collection is currently located in the Larco Herrera Museum in Peru (1).

The Ica Stones

Besides clay, ancient humans used stone and metal to artistically record objects, events, or animals they had witnessed. They also carved images into individual rocks. An example of this can be found in the controversial Ica Stones discovered by Dr. Javier Cabrera outside of the town of Ica. Over the years, Dr. Cabrera had amassed a huge collection of stones with strange carvings in their surfaces depicting people and dinosaur-like creatures living together. Referring to Dr. Cabrera's collection, Josef F. Blumrich, a NASA scientist, said, "I am deeply impressed by what I have seen here, and I am happy to have found so much direct evidence of what I began to feel and understand before. There is not doubt in my mind about the authenticity of these stones" (10). Unfortunately, there is no way of scientifically determining whether or not the stones are ancient. Because of their controversial nature, Dr. Cabrera has received a lot of condescension by the scientific community (4).

The Granby Idol

A discovery made in 1920 by a rancher outside the town of Granby, Colorado bears the unique appellation "the Granby Idol". Bud Chalmers was removing rocks from his ranch one day when he lifted one that weighed more than he expected. Curious, he decided to wash it off. After the coating of dust and dirt had been removed, a set of grooves appeared in the rock. A crude, smiling face surrounded by strange symbols appeared on one side of the rock (22). On the reverse side of the stone, to Bud Chalmers amazement, the distinct carvings of a long-necked dinosaur and a woolly mammoth appeared (22). As an interesting note, Dr. Cyclone Covey, who wrote a book about the possibility that the ancient Chinese had come to America, studied photographs of the stone and identified the symbols carved into the stone as belonging to the ancient Chinese (22).

Mesopotamian Cylinder Seal

Another ancient artifact, created by carving into a stone chunk, that provides a clue that the ancients believed dinosaurs existed with them is a Mesopotamian cylinder seal, estimated to come from the year 3,300 B.C. (13). The seal displays two long-necked animals--that strikingly resemble modern renderings of a sauropod dinosaur--entwining their necks and tails. The shape of the muscles and length of the necks and tails of the creatures are remarkably realistic. One can only logically conclude that the artists who created the seal would have had to have seen either a representation of a dinosaur or a living specimen to make such an accurate depiction. The imagination alone could not produce such accuracy.

The Anasazi Dinosaur Petroglyph

Depictions of dinosaurs are not limited to figurines, stones, or cylindrical seals. Ancient dinosaur artwork has been found on cliff sides, on walls, and in buildings. Petroglyphs and pictographs made by ancient tribes depict strange creatures that do not match up with any that are known to exist today. In Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah, a very interesting petroglyph that resembles a sauropod (long-neck dinosaur) has raised eyebrows and questions. The petroglyph is attributed to the Anasazi Indians who lived in that area during the 1300s A.D. (15). Like the creators of the other relics mentioned above, the Anasazi Indians' ability to create such rock art could only be explained if the Anasazi Indians had actually seen a living dinosaur. The first complete dinosaur skeleton was discovered by William Parker Foulke in 1858, in Haddonfield, New Jersey (17). That is more than five-hundred years after the Anasazi Indian tribe left the area in which the dinosaur petroglyph was discovered.

The Water Panther Pictograms

Found on different cliff faces near the Great Lakes, another interesting native representation of a dinosaur-like creature draws the attention of curious hikers. The creature is called the water panther. The Sioux Indians believe that this creature inhabits the Missouri River. Vine Deloria, author of Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact, reports in his book what members of the Sioux tribe have said about the legendary creature. The creature had a backbone "just like a crosscut saw" and "in the middle of its forehead was one horn" (7). The pictograms of this creature show an animal with a jagged back similar to a dinosaur's back, and two horns protruding from its head. It looks strikingly like a triceratops, a member of the family Ceratopsidae, or a horned dinosaur of some kind.

Angkor Wat "Secret"

Representations of dinosaurs on large, flat surfaces are not limited to pictographs and petroglyphs on cliff sides. Some ancient buildings have eye-opening features either cut into or affixed to their walls and floors. One of the most clear examples of this can be found in the mysterious, ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. Richard Sobol, author of The Mysteries of Angkor Wat: Exploring Cambodia's Ancient Temple, wrote about his experience exploring the ancient temple. A group of kids he met wanted to show him a "secret" (29). They led him over to a rock wall filled with carvings. Richard Sobol writes, "I moved closer, and saw there, on the wall, carved inside a circle, a creature that could only be described as a dinosaur--a stegosaurus, in fact" (29). The image he took of the dinosaur, which is carved into a circle within the wall, resembles a stegosaurus. Whether or not it is a stegosaurus, it does have some of the distinct features of the family Stegosauridae: triangular plates on its back and tale, four muscular legs, a head attached to a short neck, a large body, and a thick tail.

The Tomb of Richard Bell

Another oddity is found in the tomb of a fifteenth-century bishop at Carlisle, Richard Bell. A brass fillet, dating back to the 1400s, runs around the perimeter of his tomb. Engraved into its metal surface are various animals such as a dog, a fish, an eel, a bird, a pig, etc (8). What is really intriguing is the engraving of what appear to be two long-necked creatures with long tails apparently struggling with each other. All the creatures in the tomb are fairly accurately portrayed, so it is most likely that these creatures were accurately portrayed as well (8). Having long necks, four legs, and thick, long tails, the creatures appear to be sauropods (8). No animal that we know of today fits that description.

The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina Mosaic

An incredible and yet very real mosaic from ancient Italy, the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina is a huge image that was originally set into the floor of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, which is located in Palestrina, Italy (9). Currently located in the Museo Nazionale Prenestino in Rome (20), the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina displays various scenes from the Nile River, showing life in Egypt during the Roman Empire. This mosaic is notable not only for its historical value but also for its depictions of strange creatures. One creature clearly looks like a large dinosaur resting on a rock, and the human figures standing beside it are small in comparison.

The "Hunt" Mosaic

A most intriguing mosaic from the same era was discovered in the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy. It was in the year 79 A.D., on the 24th of August, that Mount Vesuvius erupted, sending a hot cloud of vocanic ash through the city of Pompeii, preserving the ancient relics and artifacts within (9). It was from the house of a rich physician in this city that the "Hunt" mosaic was discovered. The mosaic shows people interacting with, or hunting, reptiles and large animals. The most unique aspect of this mosaic is the fact that the creatures are not normal animals one would expect to find. A man is riding atop a large reptile with vertical plates along the ridge of its back. The creature is not a poor fascimile of a crocodile because, elsewhere in the same mosaic, an accurately rendered crocodile is seen resting on a bank (9). Why more people are not aware of these amazing pieces of history appears to be due to an intentional suppression of the existence of these ancient Roman mosaics. If both these mosaics, all the abovementioned artifacts, engravings, and artwork were actually studied by unbiased scientists, historians, and other experts, and judged without any preconceived beliefs regarding the nature of the objects, then history books would likely have to be rewritten.

Considering the evidence above, a few questions emerge. Did ancient cultures believe that dinosaurs existed with humankind? Did ancient people actually see dinosaurs and encounter them? If so, did they tell their descendents what they witnessed?

Stories passed down by word of mouth--some of them originating apparently not that long ago--have come out of remote jungles and wilderness areas as western civilization has expanded to distant lands. Such information by word of mouth has come from the Australian Aboriginees, a people who have lived in the sub-continent for thousands of years. According to the Aboriginees, a number of large and powerful creatures once inhabited the vast expanse of Australia.

The Bunyip

In July 1845, and article appeared in the Geelong Advertiser of Victoria, Australia (12). It described the discovery of an un-fossilized bone of an unknown, giant animal. When the bone was shown to different, separate Aboriginal tribes, they all immediately identified it as a "bunyip" bone. The tribes were quite distant from each other and had no way of communicating with each other (12). According to their descriptions of the "bunyip", the animal was big, laid eggs, could walk on two feet, and was considered dangerous (Driver). According to the Aboriginees, the "bunyip" had "the characteristics of a bird and an alligator" (12). One native claimed that some deep scars in his skin were caused by a "bunyip" (12).

The Yarru

The Kuku Yalanji is a tribe located in rainforest of Far North Queensland, Australia (12). A missionary, Dennis Fields, learned from the elders of the Kuku Yalanji that a creature called the "Yarru" used to live in large waterholes in the rainforest (12). When Dennis Fields asked a tribal artist to paint the "Yarru" for him, the result was astonishing. The artist, who had no knowledge of what textbook dinosaurs or extinct creatures were supposed to look like, created a painting that was an accurate portrayal of what appeared to be a plesiosaurus (12). The painting was based entirely on the descriptions passed down to the tribal artist from ancient stories (12).

The Kultra

A creature that is described as a quadruped with a long neck and a long, pointed tail is said, by the Central Australian aboriginal tribes, to have lived in swamps which once covered the region. The Aborigines call this creature the "Kultra" (12). From the descriptions they give, it appears to be a type of sauropod.

The Mokele-mbembe

Thousands of miles away from the jungles of Australia, another rainforest spreads its leafy canopy over a vast area. The Congo Basin covers 1.5 million square miles with a swamp-filled jungle (3). Filling up a large portion of the Congo Basin, the Likouala Swamp is the largest swamp in the world (21). Covering roughly 55,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of Florida, the Likouala Swamp has been officially declared by the People's Republic of the Congo to be 80% unexplored (21). Over the years, starting in the year 1776 and up to the present time, people who have traveled to the Congo and talked to the native people have heard about a large creature that the natives call the "Mokele-mbembe" (21).

Various expeditions sent by different countries into the Congo have heard strange sounds coming from the jungle and have seen unusual footprints in the ground. A few have claimed to have actually seen the "Mokele-mbembe". In 1932, Gerald Russel, an animal trader, and Ivan T. Sanderson, a world famous zoologist at the time, were paddling up the Mainyu River in the Congo Basin. Suddenly, a large head, attached to a thick, "swan-like" neck, rose from the water (21). For a few seconds, the creature stared at the two men. Sanderson would later sum up his encounter with these startling words: "I don't know what we saw, but the animal, the monster, burned itself into my retinas. It looked like something that ought to have been dead millions of years ago. As a scientist, I should have been happy, of course, but this encounter was so frightening, so nasty that I never want to see it again" (21).

The natives describe the creature as being generally reddish-brown and about the size of an elephant, with a long neck and a long tail. It is known to devour plants and leave behind rounded tracts with three, prominent claws (21). Thus, it is a herbivore. These descriptions strongly suggest that the creature is a sauropod dinosaur (21).

The Thunderbird

Tribal people from Africa and Australia are not the only ones to have passed down stories about dinosaur-like creatures. Legends about large, scaly reptiles can be found in many ancient cultures. China, Europe, and the Middle East have tales about dragons. Though mythicized, the accounts of large reptiles capable of killing humans can hardly be the result of some highly imaginative people around the world who all happen to imagine very similar creatures. Though they do not have stories about dragons, Native American tribes, isolated from the rest of the world by giant oceans, have stories about dinosaur-like creatures. The Thunderbird is one such creature. The Thunderbird is claimed to have a huge wingspan and claws that it uses to pick up people. The belief is that the Thunderbird causes storms. Over the years many people have claimed to see a giant bird or pterodactyl flying through the air. As recently as the 2000s, people have claimed to have seen large, flying creatures. In the year 2001, several sightings of huge, "grayish-black", winged creatures were seen on June 13, July 6, and September 25, by various witnesses, in the state of Pennsylvania (32).

The Ogopogo

Besides the Thunderbird and the Water Panther (mentioned earlier), Native Americans also have another legend about a dinosaurian creature they called the "N'ha-A-Itk", which is commonly called the "Ogopogo". According to Native American legends about the N'ha-A-Itk, a "demon-possessed man" killed a tribal elder on the shores of a lake near his home (28). Completing his dastardly deed, he ran away, fearing retribution. Angered at the murderer, the gods captured the demon-possessed man, turned him into a "serpent", and cast him into the lake (which later was called Lake Okanagan) (28). He was to remain forever at the scene of the murder, as punishment. People who lived near the lake called the creature N'ha-A-Itk (28). It was later that the moniker Ogopogo was more commonly used, which was based on a line from an old song. To this day, sightings of a creature in Lake Okanagan have been reported (28). Besides Lake Okanagan, Lake Champlain, Lock Ness, and other lakes have had sightings of large creatures. Is it possible that some people actually have seen dinosaurian creatures in these lakes and have not been hallucinating or imagining what they have seen?

Ancient petroglyphs, pictographs, figurines, carvings, mosaics, stones, engravings, and legends on the subject of dinosaurian creatures are all interesting and intriguing pieces of possible evidence that dinosaurs may have (or possibly still do) lived as contemporaries of man. A question arises: If dinosaurs really had lived with humankind, explorers, scientists, or archeologists would most likely have found some remains or evidence to concretely prove it, correct?

Dakota

In 1999, Tyler Lyson, 16 at the time, was walking through the Hell Creek Formation badlands of North Dakota (25). His eyes locked onto a strange object protruding from a hill. As he looked at it longer, he realized it was a dinosaur bone. Five years later, excavation on the site began. On December 3, 2007, scientists announced to the world the discovery of a nearly intact, mummified hadrosaur, nicknamed "Dakota". According to an article from Wired.com, the dinosaur's "entire skin envelope appears to remain largely intact (25)." Phil Manning a paleontologist at University of Manchester (in England) who was leading the examination of "Dakota" said that the integrity of the skin envelope suggests that Dakota may have other "soft-tissue remnants" such as organs and muscles (25).

Leonardo

Discovered by a Judith River Dinosaur Institute expedition in the year 2000, and presented to the world in 2002, Leonardo is a duck-billed dinosaur (or a brachylophosaurus) that "will advance our science a quantum leap", according to Nate Murphy, curator of paleontology at the Phillips County Museum in Montana (18). The brachylophosaurus is estimated to have been either 3 or 4 years old when it died (37). Leonardo's muscles, skin, scales, foot pads, and a stomach are still intact. Skin scales and tissue have been found on less than a tenth of one percent of all the dinosaurs excavated over the years (18). Amazingly, 90 percent of Leonardo's skeleton is covered in soft tissue, such as a beak, nails, skin, and muscles (18). The actual tissue cells have been replaced by minerals, but the stomach contains a partially digested meal and scientists can actually see what exact plants the dinosaur had eaten (18). Ferns, magnolias, conifers, and the pollen of more than 40 different plants form the contents of the animal's stomach. It is likely that these all mineralized slowly over millions and millions of years without decaying?

B. rex

Discovered in the year 2000, the skeleton of a young, 18-year-old Tyranosaurus Rex (19) has drawn a lot of attention from scientists and laymen alike. The dinosaur skeleton was named "B. rex" after Bob Harmon, chief preparator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, who discoverer it (2). Because the dinosaur was too large to take by helicopter, it had to be broken in pieces (19). As a result, a thighbone was cracked open and Mary Higby Schweitzer and her team were able to examine the interior of the bone (19). What they discovered has shaken the scientific community, causing scientists to reconsider their long-held beliefs about dinosaurs. Inside the bone were life-like tissues that should not have been inside a "65 million"-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex (39). According to an article in Discover Magazine, Schweitzer found "supple bone cells, their three-dimensional shapes intact; and translucent blood vessels that looked as if they could have come straight from an ostrich at the zoo (39)." Hillary Mayell of National Geographic wrote about the discovery: "The vessels resemble blood vessels, cells, and the protein matrix that bodies generate when bones are being formed (19)." If the dinosaur was indeed 65 million years old, how could the actual cell tissues be preserved for so long? These tissues were not replaced by minerals and they were not mummified. Blood vessels, cells, and a protein matrix could hardly survive for a thousand years, much less a million. Is sixty-five million years with little decomposition possible?

The Age of B. rex

According to evolutionists, the earliest man (homo sapiens) existed in Africa nearly 200,000 years ago (23). The earliest form of civilization is considered, by evolutionists, to have come into existence 10,000 to 12,000 years ago (30). To get a picture of the length of time involved, imagine living to an old age of 100. Now, imagine, by some miracle, you keep going on and you make it to the age of 200. Say that scientists find a way to greatly extend human life spans and you get your life span extended so that you live a thousand of these 200-year-long life spans. You are now at an age equivalent to the time that has supposedly passed between the emergence of the earliest homo sapien and the present. You've live an incredibly long life. You've seen civilizations come and go, new buildings decompose into dust, animals become extinct, bodies die and rapidly decay into their constituent elements, and you've seen skeletons petrify. Now, imagine living 325 of these extremely long (200,000 year) life spans. You have finally reached the purported age of "B. rex". Think about all that time you spent and all the things you saw decay to dust. Does it make any sense at all that the cellular tissue within the bones of "B. rex" are millions and millions of years old? Is it possible that the methods evolutionists use to date dinosaur bones are erroneous?

When scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used the Carbon dating method to find the age of some dinosaur bones, they came up with an age of only a few thousand years (31). Because this date did not fit their beliefs about the age of dinosaurs, they ignored their findings and decided to use other methods instead (31). Some of these results can differ from each other by as much as 150 million years (31).
Soft tissues normally decompose quickly after an organism dies (6).

Therefore, is it likely that blood vessels and soft tissues could continue to exist inside a dinosaur bone for millions of years? Scientists with evolutionary beliefs have scrambled to come up with a plausible and realistic explanation for how the soft tissue found within the thighbone of "B. rex" was preserved for what they assume to be 65 million years. So far, they have no explanation they all can agree on.

Conclusion

If one believes that dinosaurs died out millions of years ago, long before mankind came into existence, why does such an abundance of artifacts and legends on the subject of large, dinosaurian creatures, coming from ancient cultures around the world, exist? Is it possible that the figurines, stones, petroglyphs, pictographs, engravings, carvings, mosaics, and legends depicting and describing large reptile-like creatures are based on animals that ancient humans actually saw alive? Is it possible that our ancestors saw living dinosaurs and told stories about their encounters with the dinosaurs, passing down the tales by word of mouth? Could our methods for determining the age of dinosaurs be flawed? These are questions we need to ponder. The implications for the Theory of Evolution are numerous and profound. One such implication leads to an important question: Did humankind and dinosaurs live together instead of millions of years apart, as evolutionists claim? I leave my readers to come to their own conclusions based on the information presented in this article.

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