DEAD MEN’S SECRETS
Tantalising Hints of a Lost Super Race
By
JONATHAN GRAY
PROLOGUE
At the time, Professor Martin Byron was in Melbourne, Australia, on a
scientific lecture tour. He had just stepped under the shower, when a
sharp tingle sent him scurrying to his bedside phone.
Pasadena, California. “Martin, there’s been another sighting of the
Black Knight. The NASA men are calling for details. Kazantsev in
Moscow is pushing for an immediate expedition to the vicinity. We want
you back as soon as possible.”
Byron set down the receiver. So it was on again. Not sighted for twenty
years. And now…He snatched up the mouthpiece and dialed another
number.
I was still some fifteen minutes away from Byron’s hotel apartment,
which afforded time for reflection.
It was, I recalled, in October 1957, that man’s most daring triumph—
Sputnik I—had been rocketed suddenly into orbit 584 miles above the earth.
With excitement, mingled almost with disbelief, millions worldwide had
scanned the night sky to glimpse that shining artificial moon skimming on
its path east to west against the canopy of stars. Within four months
America had followed suit.
So, after aeons of tortoise-paced development, humanity had suddenly
leapt off the planet; it was startling—and we were alive to see it!
Then came a bizarre discovery. It was hushed up quickly, I recalled.
I was now at Byron’s hotel. The ignition key off, I sat, musing.
As tracking stations swung into action to monitor these new moons, the
night sky had tossed up an awesome mystery. Another satellite was discovered already in orbit. Certainly it was neither American nor
Russian—and the uncanny truth was nobody else had the technology.
French astronomer Jacques Vallee of the Paris Observatory, saw it three
times in 1961 and got eleven data points in forty-five seconds. It seemed to
he orbiting in reverse at an altitude of over 22,000 miles above the earth.
Experts were jolted. Who put this satellite into orbit? How long had it
been there?
“I’m glad you could come.” smiled the professor. offering a chair.
“Now there’s something for your research. I might say the Russians have
the edge on us, in this investigation. Lev Gindelis and the Pulkovo
Observatory in Leningrad concur that the Black Knight is out there waiting
for us to explore its cargo, and God only knows, whatever we find aboard it
may change the course of history.”
I shuffled intently. ‘So you believe this is an intelligently placed
vehicle?”
“Well, it’s not a meteor, and you can rule out space junk.”
Truly the last twenty-five years had plunged us into some unsettling
mysteries concerning our unknown past.
I reminded Byron of that day in February 1961—the thirteenth to be
precise—when Mike Mikesell, Wallace Lane and Virginia Maxey were
exploring 4,300 feet up in California’s Coso Mountains and stumbled upon
a fossil-encrusted rock. That in itself was not unusual. But wait for this.
Expecting it to be a hollow geode stone containing crystals, they broke a
diamond saw on it the next day. The surprise turned wild when, instead of
crystals, they found inside the rock a mechanized device resembling a spark
plug. A sophisticated relic, if you please. But the riddle was its enormous
age. Authorities dated it at half a million years.
“Do you see the problem?” I asked. “Even if we dismiss such dating,
this mystery object was undeniably far too old to be explained by our
conventional theories.”
The professor grinned. He was clearly enjoying the puzzle.
“Discoveries such as these do pose awkward questions,” he chuckled.
“Tell me, Martin, scientifically speaking, is it possible that things which
ought not to exist, do in fact exist? Could there have been a remote era
when man-made wonders were as commonplace as they are today?”
Gradually the pieces seemed to be fitting together. I was beginning to
wonder, what if something very big had happened on this planet in the
past—something so big it wiped traces of just about everything from the face of the earth? Except for a few clues, upon which we were now
stumbling?
I can imagine what you are thinking at this moment. You are probably
intrigued. But skeptical. Right? Prehistoric man could never have
produced such things as earth-orbiting satellites and spark plugs.
Yes, I know. The nineteenth century evolution theory was hammered
into us as schoolchildren and is still taught in all places of learning. The
story goes that we ascended from savages to our present civilized state by a
slow, uninterrupted development.
The question now arises, Could this be a myth?
But hasn’t evolution been proved? A good question. The truth is,
evolution has always been only a theory. Yes, it is often presented as a fact,
even though it is impossible of any really positive proof.
Would it surprise you to learn that not in one spot, but all over the
world, “impossible” ancient inventions have been surfacing of late, and
some of them from a technology as advanced as our own?
Did you know that nearly all writings of ancient peoples worldwide tell
the same story, that of a decline from an original “Golden Age”? That a
cataclysmic disaster wiped out the advanced world?
Now here is the crunch. Today diggings all over the globe show that
these traditions tally with the facts. Enormous stone masses or metal
fragments are there; they cannot be argued away. This is tantalizing.
Actually, the concept of an original advanced world, which gave
impetus to all succeeding civilizations, is well within the framework of
scientific thinking. What is more, I believe this to be such a credible reality
that no longer can we evade it.
The story about to unfold concerns a technology whose citizens were
rich beyond our dreams. I shall show you how a global Flood minced it to
atoms. How subsequent attempts were made to revive the lost glory. And
how a fiery holocaust intervening, most of the survivors became savages.
It’s time the truth was out. So many theories have been foisted on so
many people for so many years. We’ll never know all the facts, but there’s
enough to ignite an explosion in conventional circles.
And when you consider we’re stripping bare our secret past, our own
early days on planet Earth, our very own family history, it grows exciting
indeed. I suspect that as the evidence progressively interlocks, you may
sense the swelling excitement of one who has suddenly touched down upon
some unknown new planet.
The discoveries are explained in everyday language in order to kindle
interest within the general population.
It’s a tale of vast riches—forfeited, forgotten and found.
There is something ominous here. We have, early in the twenty-first
century, awakened to find ourselves in the super culture arena. As we leap
to new, unimagined heights, we suddenly come eyeball to eyeball with our
past, awakening to the realization that we’ve been here before.
Last time, as now, the world scene was overshadowed with violence and
corruption. The end was almost total annihilation.
One is tempted to ask, Might something like this happen again? Could a
holocaust be looming of such proportions that it will parallel the first
“wipeout”?
We may be better able to evaluate this question at the close of our probe.
Meanwhile our excursion into the past offers a feast of hidden delights.
Let’s begin.
PART ONE
HOW AN ORIGINAL
SUPER WORLD VANISHED
Chapter 1
THE DAY THE EARTH TIPPED OVER
Sam stormed outside. Anna was such a sucker for cranks. That guy in
the news interview? A world wipeout, what rot!
Why couldn’t Anna be practical, like he was? Sam had built up this
market garden from scratch. Sixteen thousand pineapples, the best in the
south polar basin. And that clever little blackmail-well, Anna didn’t know
about that-but they’d soon be rich.
The hoverbus whirred into busy Adah Avenue and disgorged its load
outside the Green Pyramid Hotel. Sam’s favorite bar was ablaze with color.
Inside, at a corner table, sat an acquaintance from the electronics plant.
Sam was still fuming at Anna’s gullibility. He poured out his frustration
over a beer.
“So I told her, Mal, if a worldwide flood were imminent, surely our top
scientists would say so! When has nature let us down? Since time began
it’s been so smooth. Natural disasters? Pure fantasy, Mal. They just can’t
happen!”
“They do,” drawled his companion. “When this mug is empty, that’s a
natural disaster.”
Sam winced at the flippancy of that remark, and proceeded. “Anna says
the end’s coming, Mal. Have you heard anything so naive? That this entire
planet, equable and warm from pole to pole, will suddenly change under a
flood of water.”
Mal peered over his flask.
“How?”
“Oh, some stupid prophecy about sheets of water crashing from the sky
and erupting out of the ground,” Sam snorted. “Religious nonsense.
“Perhaps so,” responded Mal. “But you know pal, there is enough water
up there and down there.” He gesticulated with his flask.
“What do you mean?” Was Sam hearing right? Was Mal a fruitcake
too?
“Just this, Sam. You know why we have such an excellent climate?
Why we have vegetation in such lavish exuberance, so wonderfully teeming
with animal life?”
“Go on.”
“It’s that vapour canopy high above the planet. It filters out harmful
cosmic rays and keeps our climate just right. But there’s oceans of water up
there- and lots more in the underground basins. If something were to disturb
them…
”
Sam cut in. “Rubbish. I’ll believe it when the first drops fall. Look,
most of earth’s surface is not sea, but land, watered since time began-and
quite adequately, I might say-by nothing but the gentle morning mist. It’s
reliable, I tell you. What can go wrong?”
“Maybe if the earth keels over,” quipped Mal. “As I’m about to do.”
Sam bit his tongue. It was useless trying to extract sense from his
companion tonight.
He glanced up at the televiewer. The news was on:
With police scanners now in 70 percent of homes, arrests for dissent had
risen to six hundred per week.
A new planet had been detected beyond Pluto.
Hoodlums with a laser gun had decapitated a man on his way home.
Apparently he disturbed them during a pack rape.
Today a single bomb disintegrated another entire city on the equator.
Frightening, all this violence. Almost out of control.
Sam felt sick. Some cool night air, that’s what he needed.
Sam pushed through the sound-activated doors and onto the street.
It was soothing…calm…fresh…He felt better. Leaflets from peace
demonstrators littered the pavement. Sam watched, bemused, as one flitted
above the street and up the side of the half-completed Jared Building,
already towering 300 feet into the darkness.
It was partly his, thanks to photos in safe deposit; blackmailing the
corporation chief had been easy; the man could ill afford a fraud scandal.
Sam smiled; with his stake in the Jared Corporation, he was set for life.
And Anna, that silly woman, he wanted her so much, it hurt. Next week
was the wedding. A lifetime with her.
Suddenly the pavement rocked. Sam was hurled against a guardrail.
He looked up. Massive buildings were swaying. Loud bursts of noise
cracked the sky.
He stretched out his hand to steady himself. And felt them. SPOTS!
Sam fumbled for his neck phone, his face ashen…
Something like this was occurring on that final night of the antediluvian era. If we are to believe later traditions, that is.
As for the worldwide greenhouse environment, geology would one day
attest to it-as well as to its sudden demise.1
Traditions would later describe survivors of the Deluge who were like
gods-that is, they were members of a superior civilization, which ceased to
exist after the Great Flood. Egyptian records would contend that the reign
of the “gods” before the First Dynasty was one of superior and miraculous
powers.
After the Deluge, the Popol Vuh (the sacred book of the Quiche Indians
of Guatemala) would record: “The first race of men before the Flood
possessed all knowledge; they studied the four quarters of heaven and the
round surface of the earth.”2
Understood in this light, even Greek mythology begins to make some
sense. We see it as the recollection by a degenerate race, of a vast, mighty
and highly civilized empire, which in a remote past covered the world.
Pause for reflection. Can we possibly imagine that all of the peoples of
all continents independently invented such a story? Did they all speak of an
original Golden Age by chance, without any foundation?
Indeed, I am tempted to ask, if man evolved from beasts, then why is it
that there existed a long tradition of a Golden Age instead of that of a savage
past? Will anyone explain that?
Even where there was lack of writing in conditions of savagery imposed
by catastrophe, the same memory of the Golden Age was passed from
mouth to ear.
You may want to ask at this point, can we really place much credence in
ancient legends?
Surprisingly, a great deal. Too often, I’m afraid, we have been prone to
dismiss folklore and mythology out of hand. But is this not unscientific,
especially since traditions have often led us to discover physical remains?
LEGENDS ARE USUALLY
BASED
ON A CORE OF FACT
Pertinently, William Prescott, the great Americanologist, reminds us: “A
nation may pass away and leave only the memory of its existence, but the
stories of science it has gathered up will endure forever.”3
You see, folklore is a fossil of history; it preserves history in the guise of
colorful tales. Far from being a collection of fables, it is a recital of actual
past events, even though from generation to generation some facts have
become distorted or forgotten.
Professor I.A. Efremov, of the Soviet Union, cautions that “historians
must pay more respect to ancient traditions and folklore.” He accuses
Western scientists of snobbishness in rejecting the tales of the “common
people.”4
We must face it: legends are usually based on a core of fact.
Take the legend of Troy. No scholar took The Iliad or The Odyssey of
homer as history. But Schliemann, putting faith in it, discovered the
“mythical” city of Troy. The Iliad spoke of a cup decorated with doves
which Odysseus used. In a shaft Schliemann found that 3,600-year-old cup.
Herodotus told a fabulous story of a distant country where griffins
guarded a golden treasure. This land (Altai, or Kin Shan) has now been
found, together with ancient gold mines, and decorations from a high culture
prominently display the griffin. The vague myth is seen to be a fact.
Mexican Indian legends spoke of a sacred well of sacrifice, into which
maidens and jewelry were hurled. Historians dismissed this as a mere tale,
until the well, at Chichen Itza, was discovered in the nineteenth century.
More than any document, the Bible was assailed as a collection of
fanciful myths. Yet, to the embarrassment of the critics, archaeological
discoveries proved time and again that the fabled cities, mythical persons
and impossible events were true and reliable reporting in every detail.
Indeed, the Bible can now be regarded as the most accurate and trustworthy
source of history we possess.
OUR ANCESTRAL MEMORY
OF THE GOLDEN ERA
If we are to credit the collective testimony of all ancient races, man’s
early history was truly an incredible one. It was a Golden Age of advanced
civilization, of original giants who had superior intelligence and technology.
This appears to have been a universal truth, known to everyone in
ancient times.
Sacred records affirm that at the very beginning (soon after the fall from
Paradise) men possessed extraordinary mental abilities. Beginning with the
raw earth, they mastered a high level of civilization in just the first six
generations of their existence. In that short time they were able to build
cities, play complex musical instruments and smelt metals. Indeed, with
their scientific complexes, these earliest men, it seems, were no fools.
We might well wonder to what degree they further developed and
refined this technology in the final few centuries before the Flood struck.
Were the miracles of science as common as they are now? A perfectly valid
question, I think.
Imagine it, if you can. Paved rainbow cities whose “houses of crystal”
reflected every spectral hue; and we’re talking about air travel, computers
and plastics.
Did you know that when Alexander Graham Bell gave us the telephone,
he hinted that it had been done before? “The old devices have been
reinvented,” he observed.5
Yes, you read it right. That is exactly what Bell said.
In fact the question was pressed further by the eminent British scientist
Frederick Soddy, winner of a Nobel Prize in physics. He wondered whether
the ancients might “not only have attained our present knowledge, but a
power hitherto unmastered by us?” 6
PHYSICAL REMAINS ALSO
Where did Bell and Soddy get their information? Quite possibly from
some musty old records.
Nevertheless, our quest is not based on ancient texts and reports, but on
accepted scientific discoveries. There are recently discovered artifacts that
cannot be dismissed, namely, objects of metal sitting in museums,
unquestionably made in the ancient world, that would have required very
advanced technology to produce. A technology not to be repeated until our
day.
The weight of evidence grows daily-evidence that all the major secrets
of modern technology were known, and forgotten, long ago. Evidence that
early man did create a society that surpassed ours in all aspects of
development.
The entire world is really a ‘dead man’s tomb’, a treasure hunter’s
paradise. As we prize open the coffin, suspense builds. Slowly we’re lifting
8
the lid on a lost technology which almost smacks of science fiction. We
come face to face with such absurdities as brain transplants, colonies on
Mars and invisible men. And we wonder, What next?
Admittedly, such concepts almost strain credibility. We are tempted to
ask, Could the ancients have really advanced so far?
It may help to consider our own age.
As recently as a hundred years ago, were not most of today’s inventions
totally unknown, even unbelievable? Since then the spawning has been
sudden-and rapid. What is more, the present age of basic discoveries is
hardly at its end. It is forecast that just fifteen years hence our present
accumulated knowledge will have doubled. Do you grasp what that means?
How, then, can one possibly conceive of the state of knowledge attained
by the antediluvians before the Deluge struck?
THE DELUGE
A world war was raging at the time.
In the thirty-fourth century B.C., a catastrophe of incredible magnitude
intervened, causing the world to wobble and ripping the crust of the earth to
shreds. A great Flood swept the whole planet.
November 17, 3398 B.C. 7
That day was probably like most others:
temperate, balmy.
In one longitude, millions were dining…entertaining…relaxing.
Precisely at 8 P.M. the earth gave an enormous shudder.
Prodded by an outside force, the planet tilted on its axis, and amidst
lightning and the worst thunder ever heard by man, the pristine vapour
canopy began to disintegrate. A floodgate of rain was released upon the
earth.
There could be no gentle rising of water. Cosmic forces of horrific
violence came unleashed.
With a dreadful shock, large land masses with their populations slipped
into the sea. The surface of the entire globe became as a giant maelstrom, in
which continents and seas were churned up together.
Attended by a screaming hurricane, tidal waves of 6,000 feet swept
toward the poles. A blanket of lava and asphyxiating gases extinguished all
life.
This cataclysm wiped the Mother Civilization from the face of the earth
and consigned its products to a watery grave forever.
Not only were the antediluvian people buried, but their technological
achievements were destroyed, including all form of machinery and
construction.
It is quite possible that areas which were most densely populated were
submerged by the sea or buried under thousands of feet of debris. It has
been scientifically estimated that over 75 percent of the earth’s surface is
sedimentary in nature, extending, as in India, to 60,000 feet deep.
Indeed, the earth, torn and twisted and shaking, was not to quiet down
for centuries. With no less than three thousand volcanoes in eruption, a
dense cloud of dust enshrouded the earth, blocking out the sun and distorting
the climate for hundreds of years. Thus began the Ice Age. 8
Of the human race a mere handful remained; Indeed, their survival was
in every sense a miracle.
Forewarned, they had salvaged what records they might: a compilation
of knowledge which, in due course, would be imparted to their descendants.
Now for the sake of the reader who is unfamiliar with this event, it
should be stressed that the global Flood catastrophe is one of the key facts of
all history. Not only is there a mass of geological evidence-it has left an
indelible impression on the memory of the entire human race. 9
An analysis of some 600 individual Flood traditions reveals a
widespread concurrence on essential points:
• the prior corruption of mankind,
• a Flood warning unheeded by the masses,
• a survival vessel,
• the preservation of up to eight people with representative animal
life,
• the sending forth of a bird to determine the suitability of reemerging land,
• significance in the rainbow,
• descent from a mountain,
• and the repopulation of the whole earth from a single group of
survivors.
Especially remarkable is the persistence of that biblical name Noah.
And this is particularly so when you consider the ultimate language
differences between peoples, and the extreme local distortions which
developed in Flood legends.
Yet the name survived virtually unchanged in such isolated places as
Hawaii (where he was called Nu-u), the Sudan (Nuh), China (Nu-Wah), the Amazon region (Noa), Phrygia (Noe) and among the Hottentots (Noh and
Hiagnoh).
Think about this. Did each of these nations independently concoct the
same name for its flood-surviving ancestor? Or did these widely separated
peoples refer back to the same family of survivors?
The table of nations in Genesis 10 records the gradual dispersion of
Noah’s descendants and lists names, thus offering clues to their history and
dwelling place. It contends that all nations of the earth have sprung from the
family of Noah. 10
Professor W.F. Albright, internationally recognized archaeological
authority, describes this as an astonishingly accurate document…[which]
shows such remarkable ‘modern’ understanding of the ethnic and linguistic
situation in the modern world, in spite of all its complexity, that scholars
never fail to be impressed with the author’s knowledge of the subject. 11
So, in a nutshell, there is good reason to believe that, after the Deluge,
mankind sprang from a single group of people. Chapters 2 to 6 will confirm
that these were not idiots, imbeciles or illiterates; they were in a civilized
state, with an enormous cultural heritage, before they separated. Chapter 5
traces their ultimate slide into oblivion; while Chapters 7 to 9 raise three
challenging questions that need to be answered.
Thus prepared, we shall more intelligently evaluate clues salvaged from
the ancient world; an exercise to which the major portion of this work is
devoted.
Chapter 2
Search
Quick, jump!” shrieked Ed. “Get in, will you!” His jeep door was flung
open. I glanced back hurriedly. A fierce-eyed mob was closing the gap.
It had happened so fast. Camera strung, I was exploring a fertility
temple near Calcutta. To stumble upon a sacrificial blood rite was, to put it
mildly, unexpected.
Some hawk-eyed watcher raised the alarm and in seconds, I was the
focus of an inflamed pursuit. The foremost devotee was now so close you
could hear him panting. A quick sideward glance…the glint of a raised
knife…Persuasion enough! I leapt into the moving vehicle; it screeched to
top gear and flew.
Hours later my heart still pounded madly; but now the excitement had
shifted. Four bizarre coincidences were startling enough…but a fifth? Was
a world-shaking event soon to break, affecting all of us?
I had been pondering some old prophecies which declared the end of
modern civilization to be already known. The prophecies claimed
credibility on the basis of a certain past event.
Naturally, before one can begin to consider such prophecies seriously, it
must at least be established that the ancient event to which they are linked
did in fact occur.
I knew Ed Savage to be a bulldog of an archaeologist. Even so, his
announcement startled me to no end.
That evening I quizzed him over vegetable curry and iced mango juice.
“Putting it simply,” he began, “the commonly held view is that we came
up from savage, Stone Age beginnings. It was a slow but steady
development to civilization.”
He wiped dahl from his fingers. “Well naturally I expected on-site
investigation of the very first cultures to verify this ‘fact.’ But what really
emerged was something quite different. The coincidence in each case is
simply this: all cultures began suddenly—and fully developed! A long
preliminary period is not supported by archaeology.”
“But…” I faltered, groping for words.
“Before cities on earth,” he continued, “there was nothing; nothing, I tell
you, but a clean slate.”
“Are you telling me the evidence points to no transition whatsoever
between the ancient civilizations and any primitive forebears?”
“Precisely! They did not rise to their peak. They were at their peak
from the beginning.”
“Hogwash!” I snapped. “There has to be trial and error, refinement,
evolution.”
“SUDDEN” APPEARANCE
Edgar went on. “At first I could not believe it either; there was but one
pattern—the ‘sudden’ appearance of civilizations worldwide. Five
coincidences, or one pattern; call it what you like.”
“Meaning?” I looked at him.
“Well, there was Egypt. About 3000 B.C., Egypt sprang into existence
suddenly, fully developed—that is, without transition from a primitive state,
with a fantastic ready-made high society.
“Great cities, enormous temples,” he continued. “Pyramids of
overwhelming size. Colossal statues with tremendous expressive power.
Luxurious tunnels and tombs. Splendid streets flanked by magnificent
sculptures. Perfect drainage systems. A decimal system at the very start. A
ready-made writing, already perfected. A well-established naming system
(in which each Pharaoh had as many as five names). Society already
divided into specialist classes. An army, civil service and hierarchy
minutely organized. A court exhibiting all the indications of well-defined
precedence and form.”
Edgar stirred his dish. “In the remotest period of which there are
records, I tell you Egypt shows a level of civilization which is inexplicable.
It sounds crazy I know, but it’s a fact!”
I emptied my glass without tasting it, and poured another. “What if…”
“Go on,” said Edgar.
“Oh, forget it. I need a stroll in the night air.”
Outside was coal black. An almost eerie stillness. Above, the Milky
Way floated brilliantly close. A gentle, warm breeze brushed my face. My
mind wafted back…back…back.
Inexplicable, he said. Inexplicable unless…Suddenly it flashed. ‘That’s
it!” I heard myself shouting, glad that nobody could hear me. “Yes, it is
inexplicable, unless Egypt received her heritage basically from somewhere
else.” Egypt came from a clearly established civilization.
Triumphantly I strode back inside. Ed politely heard me out. “So she
got it from someone else, eh?” The archaeologist ran a finger under his
collar and swallowed. “Just, uh…” He cleared his throat and tried again.
“…just who was Egypt’s invisible mother?”
I have to admit, it stopped me for a moment.
“It wasn’t only Egypt,” he went on. “Take a look at Sumeria. The
appearance around 3000 B.C. of Sumerian civilization was likewise sudden,
unexpected and out of nowhere.
“H. Frankfort (Tell Uqair) called it ‘astonishing.’ Pierre Amiet (Elam)
termed it ‘extraordinary.’ A. Parrot (Sumer) described it as ‘a flame which
blazed up so suddenly.’ Leo Oppenheim (Ancient Mesopotamia) stressed
‘the astonishingly short period the civilization had arisen. Joseph Campbell
(The Masks of God) summed it up this way: ‘With stunning
abruptness…there appears in this little Sumerian mud garden…the whole
cultural syndrome that has since constituted the germinal unit of all the high
civilizations of the world.” ‘d’ within which 12
Ed crumpled the napkin on his plate. “There’s your second coincidence.
“But I’ve also been examining the evidence unearthed in Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro,” Ed stated. “They were the key centers of the Indus Valley
civilization. These also appear to have suddenly sprung up with no clear cut traces of having evolved from primitive beginnings. Your third
coincidence.”
The archaeologist opened his mouth and closed it again. “Perhaps I’ve
got an overwrought imagination,” he said carefully, “but there’s one
possibility I must explore. Do you think some explosive, unknown event
might lie behind all this?
“You see, the Maya of Central America are in it, too. The Mayan
calendar goes back to approximately the same time (c. 3000 B.C.). And sure
enough, at the outset of Mayan culture, their script was already perfect.”
Another bombshell. I arose and leaned against the plaster wall, studying
the evidence, sighing. “Four very odd coincidences. You said there were
five.”
“Indeed there are. The megalith builders of northwest Europe appeared
at precisely the same time. The achievements they demonstrated were identical, that is, the ‘simultaneous discovery of Pythagorean triangles, a
precise calendar, a true compass-bearing for north, knowledge of the
movement of celestial bodies (possibly including knowledge that the world
was round) and a minutely accurate system of measurement.’ 13
“Well, Jon, there’s no disputing the facts. Just wish I had an answer.
The very next day Edgar was Nepal-bound; one thing seemed sure, our
next meeting would be memorable.
That night I couldn’t sleep. My head was throbbing, the mystery
deepening.
How was all this possible? So many instant civilizations. I took a map,
encircled these suddenly appearing, ready-made cultures and stared at them.
A COMMON ORIGIN?
Was there any connection between them?
I began to sift every available isolated piece of information. Over the
next few months the search would lead through scores of countries.
Meanwhile, back of my mind the thought kept surfacing: what of the
prophecies?
Something told me there was a connection, though I knew not where.
As for a possible link between the “instant” civilizations, eight clues
emerged.
1. Symbols and hieroglyphics, identical worldwide, bore the marks of a
common heritage. Everywhere the swastika, snake and sun
combinations, as well as numerous specialized and intricate glyphs were
repeated with no chance of coincidence.14
2. Likewise, similar systems of writing were in use—again all over the
globe, even on isolated islands. This was striking.
3. And languages had similarities. The older these were, the more they
resembled each other. Practically all languages have connections
through both vocabulary and construction. In almost every language are
many words containing similar root words or combinations beyond what
mere chance would allow. (Take, for instance, the names of the
constellations. I found these were substantially the same whether in
Mexico, Africa or Polynesia.)
4. The calendars of Egypt and faraway Peru both had eighteen months of
twenty days, with a five-day holiday at year’s end.
5. I also took into account the great similarities in buildings, not only in
construction but in astronomical alignment. Sphinxes in Egypt and Yucatan; pyramids on every continent and on remote islands; monoliths
and stone circles also worldwide and often quarried elsewhere in the
world. I was struck by similarity even as to original purpose. The
Tower of Babel was built (according to Josephus, first-century Jewish
historian) to provide shelter should another Deluge destroy the earth.
And regarding the Toltec pyramids, the Mexican chronicler,
Ixtlilxochitl, states: “After men had multiplied, they erected a very high
‘zacuali,’ which is today a tower of great height, in order to take refuge
in it should the second world be destroyed.” Now I ask you, without a
common source, why should the purpose be identical in Babylon and
Mexico? 15
6. Customs again were similar, as in burial, mummification, circumcision,
or in binding babies’ heads to produce an elongated skull. (The Maya,
Incas, Celts, Egyptians and Basques did this.)
7. Forms of religious observance bore more striking similarities.
8. Finally I added to the list worldwide traditions of early history.
Traditions of a Garden of Delight, a Golden Age, a global Flood, one
original language, a tower where sudden language confusion resulted in
a dispersal—clearly these bore the marks of a common source.
Of one thing I was certain. The origins of cultures that were so different
and so widely dispersed could not wholly be explained by borrowing and
imitation.
The Russian poet Valeri Brussov seemed to express it well:
“At the
bases of the oldest cultures of mankind we must look for a single
influence…We must look back beyond antiquity for an X, for a still
unknown cultural world that set the engine we know in motion.
“The Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks and Romans were all our
teachers, but who were our teachers’ teachers?”16
My attention was riveted. Here were several fully developed cultures,
apparently related, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
Well, how does one deal with such a discovery? I must confess, my
curiosity was exploding. One more search was imperative. This time I had
to track down the common source of any footprints leading to these cultures.
Fig. 2—1. Comparison by Larry E. Arnold of scripts from ancient North American rock art
(NA). Egypt (E), China (C). Indus Valley (I) and Easter Island indicates a common origin.
SOURCE OF THE FOOTPRINTS
Fortunately, after 5,000 years, there were prints still visible enough to
read.
The evidence fairly tumbled out.
Language was the first clue. It was soon apparent that root words in
almost every language had their origins in the Middle East.
Written signs added to the evidence. A single system of signs used over
an extensive area of the earth by the Stone-writers originated likewise in the
Middle East.
Anthropology provided another helpful clue. I discovered that the best
reconstructions by anthropologists located man’s point of origin close to the
center of the Europe-Asia-Africa land mass.
Archaeological finds clinched it. Agriculture had spread all over the
world from, where else, but the Middle East highlands. In every instance
plants, shrubs and fruit-bearing trees basic to survival and advancement
came out of the Middle East first. Botanical genetic studies “confirm the
archaeological finds and leave no doubt.” 17
There it was. Our beginnings were in the Middle East highlands.
I suggested this to Ed Savage when next we met. The first thing he did
was throw at me a tricky question:
“So tell me, then, why did agriculture begin in the difficult arc of
mountains and highlands? Doesn’t it make you wonder? Why was it not
begun on the fertile, easily cultivated plains and valleys?”
It was a natural enough question. During my search I had found other
scholars expressing surprise at this most odd discovery.
“Have you considered a worldwide Deluge?” he suggested.
“You don’t mean Noah’s Flood?” I snorted.
“Just that,” clipped Ed. “It does shed some light on things.”
“Jon, don’t you see? Survivors of such a Deluge (an event most
scholars have overlooked) would still be in the mountains. The lowlands
were not yet dry enough following the global Flood.”
“And did you know, biblical sources not only point to Ararat (Armenia)
as the landing place of the Flood survivors, but state that they landed ‘in the
mountains.’” 18
Ed unfolded a world map; I elbowed over it on the table. He pointed out
the pertinent areas. “Artifacts uncovered suggest that settled communities
extended from the Americas in the west to Thailand in the east by 3000 B.C.
And overlaying that is a proven pattern of high cultures from Spain to
Pakistan.”
I stared, somewhat intrigued, at the map. Armenia, the dispersion point,
lay almost precisely in the middle.
(I would later discover that other researchers had reached a similar
conclusion. As says Howells: “If we look, first of all, for that part of the
world which was the hothouse of the races, we can make only one choice.
All the visible footsteps lead away from Asia. “) 19
“Ed,” I asked, “could this perhaps be the key to your five
coincidences?”
“Oh, I hardly think so. How?”
I recited to Edgar the succession of discoveries made since our last
meeting.
1. Each of the first civilizations appeared suddenly, already fully
developed. (Ed’s find.)
2. A connection existed between them.
3. Their footprints led back to the Middle East mountains.
The archaeologist thought a minute, eyes narrowed, working through all
the angles. Gradually a smile formed on those weathered lips. “By gum,
man, you’ve hit it! Only one thing could explain their high level of
civilization. Those nations got their heritage basically from the world that
was wiped out in the Deluge. They continued where the generation of the
biblical Noah left off!”
“Those Flood survivors must have carried sufficient knowledge of the
antediluvian era to give a rapid start to the new cultures that sprang up ‘out
of nowhere’ soon after.” He clicked his fingers. “And the timing. Four
hundred years—all it needed. The oldest civilizations appear just long
enough after the Deluge for a population density to support a culture.”
Of course we could hardly claim to be first. Sir Leonard Woolley
notched up a similar observation years before: “It was confidently expected
that the widely held view of a gradual development would be proved, but the
whole evidence has been to the contrary; indeed, it has grown to such
proportions where we contact the most ancient civilizations that we find the
peak was reached soon after the flood.”20
The sudden appearance of civilization is itself a memorial to history’s
one great catastrophe. More importantly, the Flood is a historical event of
tremendous testimonial importance to modern man.
As in the days of Noah, the world has reached an unprecedented stage of
material and technical progress. Then, as now, skepticism, corruption and
violence abound. Ancient prophecies treat Noah and the Flood as a prototype of the
coming sudden and fearful end of the present world.
For example: “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the Flood came, and took them
all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matt. 24:37-39.)
Other prophecies project that as the first world perished by water, so the
present world shall be destroyed by fire (2 Pet. 3:3-7). And as this second
world emerged from the Deluge stripped of its original glory, so shall
emerge from the final fire, a new world cleansed of evil, misery and death,
and restored to a perfection which shall transcend even its original glory.
WORLD ORDER FROM THE RUINS
It goes without saying that the small group of bewildered survivors from
the Deluge could hardly reproduce all of the aspects of the pre-Flood
technology. Nevertheless they would have bequeathed to their migrating
descendants the information of which they had personal or recorded
knowledge.
We know that the very earliest grains show genetic evidence of
sophisticated manipulation; that is, they were already uniform and highly
specialized immediately after the Flood.
In an attempt to reconstruct the antediluvian technology, the semblance
of an integrated global civilization emerged in various parts of the world. Its
achievements were astonishing; in some spheres, penetrating knowledge
which our science has scarcely begun to nudge.
I filed the results of my search under “C” for “Confirmed” and sat by
the fire, watching the coals on the hearth. It was time to call the Jigsaw
Team together.
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