“for
every expert there’s an equal and opposite expert”
text translation service for many worldwide languages
The long-running
controversy over whether civilisation developed independently in various
locations around the world, or whether it developed in one place and spread
throughout the world from there, is getting increasingly heated. As amateur
and professional arch?ologists alike discover artifacts, monuments, and
odd structures both on land and under the sea which do not fit in with
the current model of prehistory as taught in our schools and universities,
the apologists for the ‘standard paradigm’ of prehistory
are becoming ever more hysterically defensive, it seems.
Whilst on
the other end of the spectrum, increasingly gullible millions are lapping
up the nonsense of those who seem to feel that everyone in authority in
Egypt is deliberately ‘spoiling their fun’
by ‘preventing THEM’
from revealing the truth that the Giza monuments hold the secrets of a
‘Lost Civilisation’ in prehistoric
times. In particular the Director of the Giza Pyramids, Zahi Hawass, has
come in for some pretty harsh criticism from the ever-growing exponents
“Giza Conspiracy” theory, and he has
recently commented on the problems caused by some of the so-called
‘New-Age Egyptologists’. The
belief amongst these ‘researchers’
is that the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and the Great
Sphinx, hold the secrets of Atlantis.
Dirty tricks
abound, and in apparent unholy alliance with certain elements in the world’s
media, this could not have been more evident than in the 1999 two-part
BBC “Horizon” programme purporting
to give the advocates of Atlantis, and the existence of a lost civilisation,
a fair and honest hearing.
Entitled “Atlantis Uncovered”, Part I, broadcast in Wales, Scotland, England
and the North of Ireland, on Thursday, November 28th 1999, began quite
sensibly by outlining the existence of pyramid structures on both sides
of the Atlantic ocean, in Egypt and Mesoamerica. Unfortunately, it then
went on to detail the work of various arch?ologists and prehistorians
in a manner that had been selectively edited to destroy the credibility
of almost everyone who has investigated the many arch?ological anomalies
that exist all over the world.
To the amazement and disgust of many of the viewers – some well informed arch?ologically,
others innocently curious about the mysteries of the past – the programme
deteriorated into a dangerous farce that, despite Feder disclaiming as
much, still left many viewers with the impression that even those simply
‘interested’ in the many myths
and legends about Atlantis were on a ‘slippery
slope’ leading to neo-nazi fascism, genocide and holocaust.
The following comments are quoted verbatim from the programme, and will give a good
idea of the apparent ‘hidden agenda’
that the BBC production team seems to have kept from many of those they
interviewed for the programme. The narrator was Dilly Barlow, who, after
asking the opinions of a number of arch?ologists about Atlantis, and receiving
responses such as “preposterous”,
“misleading”, “insideous”,
“garbage”, “and
you could summarise it by saying codswallop”, attempted
her own summing-up.
Barlow:
“But in spite of all the evidence the lure
of a lost civilisation is more powerful than ever.”
It then cut to
a computer-enhanced scene of people apparently ‘floating’
up the sides of a Mesoamerican pyramid.
Barlow:
“Every year crowds flock to ancient sites
in search of lost wisdom. Science continues to be ignored by a public
yearning for the romance of a more mysterious past. Should this be dismissed
as harmless fantasy? History has shown that fantasies about the past can
lead to disaster.”
It then
cut to arch?ologist, Prof. Colin Renfrew, who was sat in front of an impressive
building, presumably at Cambridge University, and apparently staged to
add credibility to the mischief the BBC “Horizon”
team then either allowed, or encouraged, him to pour upon those whose
views on prehistory differ from his own:
Renfrew:
“It is dangerous when people have myths about
their own past which have no foundation in reality. We’ve seen myths of
that kind in our own time have tragic consequences. The National Socialists
in Germany – the Nazis – had the notion of Aryan supremacy, and the Holocaust
was built on pernicious myths of that kind.”
On it’s own not
a truer word about the Nazis could ever have been spoken. But in the context
of the vested interests arch?ologists like Colin Renfrew have in perpetuating
the incomplete picture of prehistory we are still being fed in our schools and
colleges, his comments took on a pernicious slant of their own. Outrageously,
the next scene cut to original colour archive footage of goose-stepping Nazis
singing and marching with Swastika banners.
Barlow:
“The Nazi idea of an Aryan elite is well
documented. What is less well known is that prominent Nazis believed that
the ‘master race’ originated in Atlantis. One of the most passionate believers
was Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS. Himmler directed German scientists
to seek the descendants of the Aryan super-race in places from the Andes
to Tibet.”
From here
it cut to monochrome archive footage of a blond-haired man measuring the
head of a Tibetan woman.
Barlow:
“They scrutinised the physical features of
the natives in search of any shred of evidence to support Himmler’s notion
that his Aryan ancestors – the Atlanteans – had lived there. These claims
to an ancestral heritage in Atlantis fed the Nazi’s belief in the supremacy
of an Aryan master-race.”
The programme
then cut to arch?ologist, Dr. Ken Feder, of the Central Connecticut State University,
for an appropriate comment to end the programme with.
Feder:
“When we come to something like the lost
continent of Atlantis we are better off knowing that civilisations developed
more or less independently – just so nobody can say ‘some people are better
than others, some are smarter than others’. Because we know what happens
down the line when we believe that. So I’m not going to tell you that
belief in Atlantis is necessarily the first step to genocide or holocaust.
But what I’m telling you is we’re on a very slippery slope if we believe
in fantasies, and that those fantasies lead us down to places we really
don’t want to go.”
As the credits
rolled up the screen from the bottom, a male narrator voiced-over:
“Next week, in the second of this two-part ‘special’,
Horizon examines the controversial theory of best-selling author, Graham
Hancock, which is challenging mainstream archaeology.”
The full transcript of Part One of the two-part ‘special’
is available on the Horizon website, and
Graham Hancock’s comments about Part One are available on
his website which you can access directly by clicking on the banner
above. It might be a good idea for visitors to look at these links before
moving on to look at Part 2 …
…
exclusive …
October 2002 Morien Institute illustrated
interview with Professor Masaaki Kimura of
the
University of the Ruykyus, Okinawa, Japan,
about the discovery of:
“More megalithic structures found off the
coast of Yonaguni-jima, Japan”
see
the evidence with ‘unique underwater footage’
of the Yonaguni structures
in the DVD of the ‘History Channel’
July 2002 television programme
please take a look at our Ancient Mysteries Bookshoppe for a wide selection of books
that challenge orthodox views of prehistory on every continent
|
|
2019 Skywatching Calendar |
News & New Discoveries |
Marine Archaeology News 2019 |
Astro-Archaeology News 2019
The Morien Institute