Read Online Twilight of the Gods: The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials by Erich Von Daniken - Free Book Online
Authors: Erich Von Daniken
Ads: Link
are all aligned in perfect symmetry; not a 10th of a millimeter is free on either side. The master of engraving who committed his ideas to stone all those millennia ago must have used some sort of stencil; otherwise this work would just not have been possible. But what was the message he or they were trying to convey? What was it all supposed to show?
The Great Idol during and after its excavation. Public domain images.
Arthur Posnansky deciphered the engravings as a calendar and promptly became a figure of scorn. One reason was that Posnansky's calendar stretched back more than 15,000 years into the past, which is something that could never be accepted by the "guild" of archaeology. As far as they were concerned, the oldest cultures belonged to the Egyptians and Sumerians, and certainly not some unknown South Americans. This was the same logic behind the criticism of the calendar variant on the Gateway of the Sun, as deciphered by Edmund Kiss. It was just not acceptable that any culture on the South American continent could be older than those of the Near East. If you thought that archaeo- and other-ologists didn't start getting in each other's hair until our times, then think again! You should read some of the polemic and ridicule being propagated in pamphlets between 1910 and 1945. Back then, as now, no trick was too low. The interpretations developed by Posnansky, Kiss, and others were subjected to academic scorn, without anyone taking the time to actually check out the facts. Kiss and Posnansky (and a number of later researchers) clearly showed the existence of the tidemark of a former major body of water on the Bolivian high plateau-it can still be seen today!-but this was ignored. Posnansky and Co. revealed the thick layer of bone-bearing sediments through which the Lake Titicaca railroad still runs today. That didn't interest any of the academic critics. Posnansky, and many after him, clearly demonstrated the glacial trails in Tiwanaku and the ruins that lay under them. But who cares about that? (Any tourist who visits the Inca city of Cuzco in Peru can marvel at such "glacial chutes" next to the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman. And they are not hundreds of thousands of years old; otherwise they'd be just as weathered as the other rocks all around.)
1.15. Detail of the unbelievably precise work on the back of the statue the "Great Idol. " Public domain image.
Without exception, all of the geologists who examined Tiwanaku between 1900 and 1950 confirmed that the area-along with some of its ruins-must have stood underwater at some time. The residues show it too clearly. I can remember the great staircase well. It is covered in a layer of lime scale (calcium) that is so hard you need a knife to scratch it off. That didn't interest any of the critics who-and this is the greatest irony-never even visited the highlands. Back then, it was standard practice to fudge, lie, fake, and suppress-anything to avoid destroying the image of beatific archaeological evolution. Geological facts are ignored by archaeology when they don't fit into the establishment's rigid view of the world. It was so back then, and it often still is today.
Of course, Posnansky and Co. did make the odd mistake, and their interpretations of the calendar did sometimes stretch the imagination. Nevertheless, it can be clearly seen that Tiwanaku and Puma Punku could never in a million years fit in with a Stone Age culture. And it's easy enough to substantiate this claim.
After Posnansky's death, Professor Hans Schindler Bellamy and Dr. Paul Allen picked up the work on the engravings on the huge statuecommonly known as the Great Idol. This was already a few years after the Second World War. And again, the conclusion was that it was a kind of calendar. Professor Schindler Bellamy even believed that the engravings on the statue were older than those on the Gateway of the Sun. He presented tables and lists; every minute detail was calculated forward and
The Great Idol during and after its excavation. Public domain images.
Arthur Posnansky deciphered the engravings as a calendar and promptly became a figure of scorn. One reason was that Posnansky's calendar stretched back more than 15,000 years into the past, which is something that could never be accepted by the "guild" of archaeology. As far as they were concerned, the oldest cultures belonged to the Egyptians and Sumerians, and certainly not some unknown South Americans. This was the same logic behind the criticism of the calendar variant on the Gateway of the Sun, as deciphered by Edmund Kiss. It was just not acceptable that any culture on the South American continent could be older than those of the Near East. If you thought that archaeo- and other-ologists didn't start getting in each other's hair until our times, then think again! You should read some of the polemic and ridicule being propagated in pamphlets between 1910 and 1945. Back then, as now, no trick was too low. The interpretations developed by Posnansky, Kiss, and others were subjected to academic scorn, without anyone taking the time to actually check out the facts. Kiss and Posnansky (and a number of later researchers) clearly showed the existence of the tidemark of a former major body of water on the Bolivian high plateau-it can still be seen today!-but this was ignored. Posnansky and Co. revealed the thick layer of bone-bearing sediments through which the Lake Titicaca railroad still runs today. That didn't interest any of the academic critics. Posnansky, and many after him, clearly demonstrated the glacial trails in Tiwanaku and the ruins that lay under them. But who cares about that? (Any tourist who visits the Inca city of Cuzco in Peru can marvel at such "glacial chutes" next to the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman. And they are not hundreds of thousands of years old; otherwise they'd be just as weathered as the other rocks all around.)
1.15. Detail of the unbelievably precise work on the back of the statue the "Great Idol. " Public domain image.
Without exception, all of the geologists who examined Tiwanaku between 1900 and 1950 confirmed that the area-along with some of its ruins-must have stood underwater at some time. The residues show it too clearly. I can remember the great staircase well. It is covered in a layer of lime scale (calcium) that is so hard you need a knife to scratch it off. That didn't interest any of the critics who-and this is the greatest irony-never even visited the highlands. Back then, it was standard practice to fudge, lie, fake, and suppress-anything to avoid destroying the image of beatific archaeological evolution. Geological facts are ignored by archaeology when they don't fit into the establishment's rigid view of the world. It was so back then, and it often still is today.
Of course, Posnansky and Co. did make the odd mistake, and their interpretations of the calendar did sometimes stretch the imagination. Nevertheless, it can be clearly seen that Tiwanaku and Puma Punku could never in a million years fit in with a Stone Age culture. And it's easy enough to substantiate this claim.
After Posnansky's death, Professor Hans Schindler Bellamy and Dr. Paul Allen picked up the work on the engravings on the huge statuecommonly known as the Great Idol. This was already a few years after the Second World War. And again, the conclusion was that it was a kind of calendar. Professor Schindler Bellamy even believed that the engravings on the statue were older than those on the Gateway of the Sun. He presented tables and lists; every minute detail was calculated forward and
Similar Books
