Who Really Discovered America?

Did ancient Hebrews reach the shores of the North and South American continents thousands of years before Christopher Columbus? What evidence is there for Hebrew and Israelite occupation of the Western Hemisphere even a thousand years before Christ? Was trans-Atlantic commerce and travel fairly routine in the days of king Solomon of Israel? Read here the intriguing, fascinating saga of the TRUE DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA!

A stone in a dry creek bed in New Mexico, discovered by early settlers in the region, is one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries in the Western Hemisphere. It contains engraved on its flank the entire Ten Commandments written in ancient Hebrew script! Hebrew scholars, such as Cyrus Gordon of Brandeis University near Boston, have vouched for its authenticity. I visited the site of the huge boulder, near Las Lunas, New Mexico, in 1973 and photographed the Hebrew inscriptions. A local newspaper reporter guided me to the mysterious site, located out in the middle of the New Mexico desert. We watched for rattlesnakes, as we hiked in to the spot where the boulder lies, unmoved and in situ for who knows how many mysterious centuries. Who put it there? Who wrote the incredible inscription of the TEN COMMANDMENTS in an ancient Hebrew dialect.

In December, 1989, it was reported that an American explorer in Peru's highland jungles had found evidence that indicated king Solomon's legendary gold mines may have been in that region. The explorer, Gene Savoy, declared that he had found three stone tablets containing the first writing found from the ancient civilizations of the Andes. The inscriptions, he reported, are similar to Phoenician and Hebrew hieroglyphs!

Reports the San Francisco Chronicle: "The hieroglyphs on the tablets are similar to those used in King Solomon's time and include one identical to the symbol that always appeared on the ships he sent to the legendary land of Ophir, which the Bible described as the source of his gold, Savoy said" (December 7, 1989).

Savoy is no newcomer to archaeological discoveries. He was the discoverer of the last Inca city of Vilcabamba in 1964. Savoy declared that the three tablets each weigh several tons and measure about 5 by 10 feet. They were found in a cave near Gran Vilaya, the immense ruins of the Chachapoyas Indian civilization which he discovered in 1985.

This discovery is not surprising to me. In my book Beyond Star Wars, I suggest strongly that ancient Peru was the site of the mysterious "land of Ophir."

In 1973, while traveling to do research for an article I was writing for The Plain Truth magazine, I visited with Dr. Joseph Mahan in Atlanta, Georgia, an expert in ancient Indian ethnology of the southeastern Indians of the United States. He showed me samples of pottery uncovered from the waters around the Bahamas, and told me of Indian legends, including that of the Yuchis, stating they had migrated to the area of Florida and Georgia from the region of the Bahamas. According to their legends, the island sank beneath the sea and they fled for their lives.

These same Yuchis later migrated to the Oklahoma territory, where they eventually settled down. Amazingly enough, they show strong evidence that they had contact with the Old World in historic times. They have a custom which is unique among the American Indians. They are racially and linguistically different from their neighbors. Every year on the fifteenth day of the sacred month of harvest, in the fall, they make a pilgrimmage. For eight days they live in "booths" with roofs open to the sky, covered with branches and leaves and foliage. During this festival, they dance around the sacred fire, and called upon the name of God.

The ancient Israelites had the virtually identical custom, in many respects. In the harvest season in the fall, on the 15th day of the sacred month of harvest (the seventh month), they celebrate the "festival of booths" for eight days. During this time they lived in temporary booths, covered with branches, leaves, fronds. This festival goes back to the time of Moses and the Exodus from ancient Egypt (Leviticus 23).

Dr. Cyrus Gordon, of Brandeis University in Boston, was privileged to sit in on one of the fall harvest festivals of the Yuchi Indians, and listened to their chants, songs, and sacred ceremonies. An expert in Hebrew, Minoan, and many Middle Eastern languages, he was incredulous. As he listened, he exclaimed to his companion, "They are speaking the Hebrew names for God!"

Dr. Joe Mahan is a strong believer in cultural contacts between the Indians and the East, long before Columbus. He showed me a small tablet containing ancient cuneiform writing of the Babylonians. "This," he said, "was found not long ago by a woman digging in her flower bed, here in Georgia. The inscription appears to be genuine. There is no reason not to believe it is authentic."

More and more, scholars are coming to admit that peoples from the Middle East reached the New World long before Columbus or the Vikings. One stone, found at Fort Benning, Georgia, has unusual markings all over it. I saw the stone myself, and took photographs of it. Professor Stanislav Segert, professor of Semitic languages at the University of Prague, has identified the markings on the stone as a script of the second millennium before Christ, from the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete!

In Quest of the White God, Pierre Honore points out similarities between the ancient Minoan writing and the script of the ancient Mayas. Independently of him, other scholars have noted striking similarities between Aztec glyphs from Mexico, and Cretan glyphs on the Phaistos Disc from the island of Crete in the Mediterranean.

In addition to these remarkable discoveries, Dr. Cyrus Gordon told me that Jews were in America in ancient times. The inscription on the stone, he asserts, is in the writing style of Canaan, the promised land of the Hebrews. Concludes Gordon, whom I interviewed at his old, New England style home in the suburbs of Boston: "There is no doubt that these findings, and others, reflect Bronze Age transatlantic communication between the Mediterranean and the New World around the middle of the second millennium B.C."

In 1968 Manfred Metcalf was looking for slabs to build a barbeque pit. Several strange-looking, flat rocks caught his eye; he picked up a large flat piece of sandstone about nine inches long, brushed it off, and noticed odd markings on it. Metcalf gave the stone to Dr. Joseph B. Mahan, Jr., Director of Education and Research at the nearby Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts at Columbus, Georgia. Mahan sent a copy of the stone to Cyrus Gordon. Gordon reported:

"After studying the inscription, it was apparent to me that the affinities of the script were with the Aegean syllabary, whose two best known forms are Minoan Linear A, and Mycenaean Linear B. The double-axe in the lower left corner is of course reminiscent of Minoan civilization. The single verticle lines remind us of the vertical lines standing each for the numeral '1' in the Aegean syllabary; while the little circles stand for '100.'"

Concluded Gordon: "We therefore have American inscriptional contacts with the Aegean of the Bronze Age, near the south, west and north shores of the Gulf of Mexico. This can hardly be accidental; ancient Aegean writing near three different sectors of the Gulf reflects Bronze Age translatlantic communication between the Mediterranean and the New World around the middle of the second millennium B.C."

Gordon offers the exciting thought, "The Aegean analogues to Mayan writing, to the Aztec glyphs, and to the Metcalf Stone, inspire the hope that the deciphered scripts of the Mediterranean may provide keys for unlocking the forgotten systems of writing in the New World. A generation capable of landing men on the moon, may also be able to place pre-Columbian Americas within the framework of world history" (Manuscripts, summer of 1969).

Further proof that transatlantic travel and communication existed in the Bronze Age, in the middle of the second millennium B.C., during the time of David and Solomon, and before, comes to us from South America.

In 1872 a slave belonging of Joaquim Alves de Costa, found a broken stone tablet in the tropical rain forests of Brazil's Paraiba state. Baffled by the strange markings on the stone, Costa's son, who was a draftsman, made a copy of it and sent it to the Brazilian Emperor's Council of State. The stone came to the attention of Ladislau Netto, director of the national museum. He was convinced of the inscription's autthenticity and made a crude translation of it. Contemporary scholars scoffed. The very thought of Phoenicians reaching Brazil thousands of years before Columbus was viewed with disdain. Few scholars took the stone at all seriously.

In 1966 Dr. Jules Piccus, professor of romance languages at the University of Massachusetts, bought an old scrapbook at a rummage sale containing a letter written by Netto in 1874, which contained his translations of the markings on the stone and a tracing of the original copy he had received from Costa's son. Intrigued, Dr. Piccus brought the material to the attention of Cyrus H. Gordon. Dr. Gordon, the head of the Department of Mediterranean Studies at Brandeis and an expert in ancient Semitic languages, as well as author of some 13 books, was amazed. He compared the Paraiba inscription with the latest work on Phoenician writings. He discovered that it contained nuances and quirks of Phoenician style that could not have been known to a 19th century forger. The writings had to be genuine!

Gordon translated the inscription as follows: "We are Sidonian Canaanites from the city of the Mercantile King. We were cast up on this distant shore, a land of mountains. We sacrificed a youth to the celestial gods and goddesses in the nineteenth year of our mighty King Hiram and embarked from Ezion-geber into the Red Sea. We voyaged with ten ships and were at sea together for two years around Africa. Then we were separated by the hand of Baal and were no longer with our companions. So we have come here, twelve men and three women, into New Shore. Am I, the Admiral, a man who would flee? Nay! May the celestial gods and goddesses favor us well!"

Cyrus Gordon believes the king mentioned in the script can be identified as Hiram III who reigned 553-533 B.C. The inscription seems to verify an unusual statement found in the Old Testament. An ancient Biblical chronicler wrote:

"And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon" (I Kings 9:26-28).

In the days of Solomon there was an alliance between Hiram, the king of Tyre and the Israelites under Solomon. They were not only allies, but very friendly toward one another (II Chronicles 2:2-12). Israelites and Phoenicians even worked together to build the Temple of God in Jerusalem (vs.13-18). This alliance included shipping together, although the Phoenicians were known to jealously guard the secrets of oceanic navigation from other nations. We read in II Chronicles 8, beginning verse 8:

"Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom. And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon" (v.17-18).

In the heyday of Solomon silver was "not any thing accounted of" (11 Chron. 9:20). We read, "And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance" (v. 27). Solomon had his own personal fleets and dominated world trade. "And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom" (v. 22).

There is archaeological evidence, in fact, that the fleets of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre circumnavigated the globe, sailing from Ezion-geber, a port at tne terminus of the Red Sea, near modern Aqaba or Eliat! Hebrew customs, discovered by the early English settlers in the Americas, were found among some of the Indian tribes, including the wearing of phylacteries! Minoan and Phoenician coins have been found, and inscriptions of ancient Phoenician and Minoan scripts, in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and the Star of David was even found in an ancient ruin of the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico! In the middle of the second millennium, B.C., and down to the time of Solomon, circa 1000 B.C., oceanic travel by maritime powers in the Middle East seems to have been fairly common.

Were Hebrews in the Americas long before Columbus? More evidence comes from the investigations of Dr. Alexander von Wuthenau, whom I interviewed at his home in Mexico City. His living room was filled to overflowing with terra cotta pottery figures and objects d' art. In his book The Art of Terra Cotta Pottery in Pre-Columbian Central and South America, Dr. Von Wuthenau published scores of photographs of these art objects. He tells of his astonishment, when he first noted that in the earliest, lower levels of each excavation he encountered -- not typical Indian heads -- but heads of Mongolians, Chinese, Japanese, Tartars, Negroes, and "all kinds of white people, especially Semitic Types with and without beards" (p. 49).

At Acapulco, von Wuthenau found that early Semitic peoples lived in considerable numbers. "The curious points about these essentially primitive figures are that, first, there is an emphasis on markedly Semitic-Hebrew features," he declared (p. 86). Female figures found in the region are also markedly Caucasian, with delicate eyebrows, small mouths and opulent coiffures.

Cyrus Gordon, who has studied the collection, points out: "In the private collection of Alexander von Wuthenau is a Mayan head, larger than life-size, portraying a pensive, bearded Semite. The dolichosephalic ("long-headed") type fits the Near East well. He resembles certain European Jews, but he is more like many Yemenite Jews."

Near Tampico, the early Huastecan culture reveals portrait heads with a predominant Semitic, white element, but also Negroid features appear. At Veracruz, meanwhile, a figurine of a female dancer possesses the features just like those of a Frenchwoman of Brittany! She wears a headdress reminiscent of Phoenician fashion. Also at Veracruz a figure with a false beard, styled like an Egyptian beard, had a snake-like protrusion on the forehead.

Again and again, figures with definite Semitic features have been found. A sample of Maya ceramic painting shows a lady with a flower who has an undeniable Negroid character. The figure has an affinity with Egyptian painting, says Wuthenau. yet it was not found along the Nile, but in Central America! On the Pacific coast of Ecuador, also, evidence for the presence of early Hebrews has been found. Also discovered was a figurine of a lovely girl who wore a headdress with a remarkable Phoenician affinity. Other Ecuadorian heads show definite Semitic features. Clearly, the Semites penetrated a large part of the American continent in "prehistoric" times!

In the past century, several Brazilians have found inscriptions on rocks along the Amazon river. Over a period of 50 years, four men, including two who were scientists, uncovered inscriptions which they independently concluded were Phoenician in origin.

The first man, Francisco Pinto, in 1872 found over 20 caves deep in the Brazilian jungle and uncovered about 250 strange inscriptions upon the rocks. He thought they were Phoenician, and Brazil's Director of History and Geography corroborated his suspicions. A German philologist who studied the markings in 1911 felt they were genuine.

In the 1880s, Ernest Ronan, a French scientist, combed the jungles and found several more inscribed stones. In the 1920s a scholar by the name of Bernardo da Silva discovered many more inscriptions along the Amazon. It makes good sense. It explains why the Mayans,who considered Quetzalcoatl as the bringer of their arts and laws, depicted him as being unusually blond!

When the Spaniards discovered the New World in the early sixteenth century, perhaps fifty million inhabitants lived in the Western Hemisphere, speaking over 900 languages. Such linguistic diversity has long puzzled scholars, and logically attests to a diversity of origins. Carleton S. Coon reported that the conquistadores "commented on Montezuma's light skin, but did not remark that this ruler rarely exposed himself to the bright sun." Coon adds: "George Catlin, in his portraits of the Mandan Indians, depicted some of them as blond. . . . Another case of allegedly abberrant Indians is that of the Pomo, Hupa, and neighboring tribes in north-central California whose beard growth seems to have been Caucasoid when they were first seen" (Coon, The Living Races of Man, p.154).

Another mystery to ethnologists is the existence of a white skinned, red-bearded tribe discovered by builders of Brazil's Trans-Amazon Highway. Called the Lower Assurinis because they live south of the route of the highway, they have ear lobes (which is uncharacteristic of other tribes), and their language differs from traditional dialects in the region.

Sir Walter Raleigh in his History of the World mentioned that the Indians he encountered used many Welsh words long before the Welsh were known to have come to America. Linguistic studies prove that the Welsh language is very closely akin to ancient Hebrew!

There is evidence among the Maori and people of eastern Polynesia that the sun was deified as Tane and that Ra, the sun god, was the tutelary god of Borabora. The Maoris, also, made use of ancient solar observatories. "At Kerikeri, in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, there is a miniature Stonehenge, the blocks standing about 7 feet out of the ground; and near Atiamuri, north of Taupo, there are other great monumental blocks -- some fifty of these still standing erect" (Maori Symbolism, p.137).

Interestingly, ancient Maori traditions relate that since antiquity the Maoris have observed ceremonial and dietary laws very similar to those of the ancient Hebrews. They even kept the seventh day "Sabbath" as a day of rest! Also, every 7 times 7 years -- or 49 years -- they observed a Jubilee Year similar to that of the ancient Hebrews." These similarities simply cannot be explained away as "mere coincidence"! The Maoris, like the Hebrews, even had a "sacred month" given over to Harvest thanksgiving, corresponding to the Hebrew month of Tishri and the Festival of Tabernacles.

How can these fascinating facts be explained? Such similarities must be more than mere coincidence. Like the Yuchi Indians of North America, the Maoris, at some very early stage of history, must have come in contact with ancient Hebrew mariners, roaming the seven seas, who taught them Hebrew customs and left behind signs of Hebraic influence!

How was this contact achieved? Was the ancient world covered by a global cultural continuity, indicating a globe-girdling civilization?

In his book Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, Charles H. Hapgood tells of the Piri Re'is map of 1513 A.D. Studies of this map show that it correctly gives latitudes and longitudes along the coasts of Africa and Europe, indicating that the original mapmaker must have found the correct relative longitude across Africa and across the Atlantic to Brazil. This amazing map gives an accurate profile of the coast of South America to the Amazon, provides an amazing outline of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico (supposedly not yet discovered!), and -- incredibly enough -- shows a part of the coast of the Antarctic Continent which was not discovered, in modern times, until 1818!

This map does not stand alone. A world map drawn by Oronteus Finaeus in 1531 gives a truly authentic map of Antarctica, indicating the coasts were probably ice-free when the original map was drawn (of which Oronteus Finaeus' map was a later copy). The Oronteus Finaeus map was strikingly similar to modern maps of the Antarctic. How could this be?

Another fascinating map is the map of Hadji Ahmed of 1559. It is evident that the cartographer had some extraordinary source maps at his disposal. Says Hapgood: "The shapes of North and South America have a surprisingly modern look, the western coasts are especially interesting. They seem to be about two centuries ahead of the cartography of the time. . . . The shape of what is now the United States is about Perfect" (p.99).

Another map of the Middle Ages, the Reinel Chart of 1510 -- a Portuguese map of the Indian Ocean -- provides a striking example of the knowledge of the ancients. Studying the identifiable geographical localities and working out from them, Hapgood was astounded to find that "this map apparently shows the coast of Australia . . . The map also appeared to show some of the Caroline Islands of the Pacific. Latitudes and longitudes on this map are remarkably good, although Australia is shown too far north" (ibid., p.134).

How can such remarkable accuracy be explained on the basis of almost total ignorance of the earth during that time? Obviously, at an earlier period of earth's history, sea-faring nations must have travelled around the world and accurately mapped the major continents, and fragments and copies of their ancient maps survived into the Middle Ages and were copied again.

Concludes Hapgood: "The evidence presented by the ancient maps appears to suggest the existence in remote times . . . of a true civilization, of a comparatively advanced sort, which either was localized in one area but had worldwide commerce, or was, in a real sense, a worldwide culture" (p.193).

How advanced was this ancient culture? Says Hapgood, "In astronomy, nautical science, mapmaking and possibly ship-building, it was perhaps more advanced than any state of culture before the 18th Century of the Christian Era." He continues: "It was in the 18th Century that we first developed a practical means of finding longitude. It was in the 18th Century that we first accurately measured the circumference of the earth. Not until the 19th Century did we begin to send out ships for purposes of whaling or exploration into the Arctic or Antarctic Seas. The maps indicate that some ancient people may have done all these things" (Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, p.193).

The evidence is overwhelming. The Semitic features discovered in Mexico and South America, the Hebrew and Phoenicians inscriptions, the Hebrew religious customs found in the Americas, and similar customs in far off New Zealand among the Maories of ancient times, all attest to the fact that worldwide oceanic travel, trade and commerce was occurring during the time of the Solomonic Empire!

Hapgood says such mapmaking would indicate economic motivations and vast economic resources. Further, organized government is indicated, since the mapping of a continent such as Antarctica implies much organization, many expeditions, and the compilation of many local observations and maps into a general map under central supervision. He adds that it is unlikely that navigation and mapmaking were the only sciences developed by this ancient people. Such a comprehensive enterprise could only have been achieved during a relative time of world peace, and by a very powerful and extremely wealthy kingdom! What ancient kingdom could have accomplished this?

Based on Biblical evidence, from the Scriptures, there can be no doubt. The ancient Israelite kingdom of king Solomon, noted for its wealth, peace, and power, and incredible trade empire, must have been involved in leaving this ancient world-wide evidence behind -- including Hebrew customs, language, and practices.

God told Ezekiel, "And say to Tyre, 0 you who dwell at entrance to the sea, who are merchants of the peoples of many islands and coastlands. . . The inhabitants of Sion and [the island] of Arvad were your oarsmen; your skilled wise men, O Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots. The old men of Gebal [a city north of Sidon] and its skilled and wise men in you were your calkers; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise and trading" (Ezekiel 27:3, 8-9).

Ezekiel goes on, "Your rowers brought you out into the great and deep waters; the east wind has broken and wrecked you in the heart of the seas . . . When your wares came forth from the seas, you met the desire, and the demand, and the necessity of many people; you enriched the KINGS OF THE EARTH with your abundant wealth and merchandise. Now you are shattered by the seas . . ." (vs.26, 33-34, Amplified Bible).

This sounds like the description of a globe-girdling nautical nation -- one which brings its wealth from afar! -- one which travels throughout the entire earth in its quest for material goods and trade!

We also read in the Bible: "For the king [Solomon] had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (I Kings 10:22).

Is it not significant that Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the globe, requiring three years -- from 1519-1522? Is it not meaningful that Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, took three years to do so (1577-80)?

Mariano Edward Rivero and John James von Tschudi in Peruvian Antiquities (1857) point out that after the most thorough examination and minute comparison, the religious rites of the American Indians plainly present many points of agreement with those of the Hebrew people (p.9). Continue these authors: "Like the Jews, the Indians offer their firstfruits, they keep their new moons, and the feast of expiations at the end of September or in the beginning of October; they divide the year into four seasons, corresponding with the Jewish festivals. . . . In some parts of North America circumcision is practised . . . There is also much analogy between the Hebrews and Indians in that which concerns various rites and customs; such as the ceremonies of purification, the use of the bath . . . fasting, and the manner of prayer. The Indians likewise abstain from the blood of animals, as also from fish without scales; they consider divers quadrupeds unclean, also certain birds and reptiles, and they are accustomed to offer as a holocaust the firstlings of the flock" (ibid.).

Surely, all these parallels are not mere coincidence! Can anyone in their right mind consign these similarities to mere "accident"?

Say Rivero and von Tschudi: "But that which most tends to fortify the opinion as to the Hebrew origin of the American tribes, is a species of ark, seemingly like that of the Old Testament; this the Indians take with them to war; it is never permitted to touch the ground, but rests upon stones or pieces of wood, it being deemed sacrilegious and unlawful to open it or look into it. The American priests scrupulously guard their sanctuary, and the High Priest carries on his breast a white shell adorned with precious stones, which recalls the Urim of the Jewish High Priest: of whom we are also reminded by a band of white plumes on his forehead" (p.9-10).

These two reputable scientists of the last century also point out, "The use of Hebrew words was not uncommon in the religious performances of the North American Indians, and Adair assures us that they called an accused or guilty person haksit canaha, 'a sinner of Canaan'; and to him who was inattentive to religious worship, they said, Tschi haksit canaha, 'You resemble a sinner of Canaan'" (ibid.).

Though such evidence does not prove that the Indians themselves were Jews or Israelites, it does show that long before Columbus, Hebrews had reached the New World and had left their imprint upon its inhabitants. There undoubtedly was some intermarriage. Such incredible parallels are beyond the remotest possibility of being due to mere chance!

Why should it seem strange that peoples of the ancient world-in particular Phoenicians and Hebrews -- reached the New World and travelled to South America, and even crossed the Pacific? Is it really so incredible? The trouble is, most of us of the present generation have been brainwashed to think that the ancients were merely superstitious savages, terrified of sailing out to sea lest they fall off the edge of the earth.

But the Phoenicians had already sailed out beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" (Straits of Gibralter) by 1200 B.C. They developed the keel, streamlined their ships, covered the decks, and improved the sail. Their ships were from 80-100 feet long and used a single square sail besides oars. Their ships could average 100 miles in a day's time (24 hours). They were busy traders. Commerce was their principal aim. Tyre and Sidon, their home ports, were cities of immense wealth. Did ancient Phoenicians reach the New World? The evidence is inescapable.

Also interesting is the fact that the Quichua word for the sun, Inti, may very likely be derived from the Sanscrit root Indh, meaning "to shine, burn, or flame" and which corresponds to the East India word Indra, also meaning "the sun." It is also significant that the pre-Incas worshipped the invisible, Creator God, the Supreme Being, by the appellative Con, very similar to the Hebrew Cohen, the word for "priest," from the root Kahan meaning "to meditate in religious services, to officiate as a priest."

When all is said and done, Rivero and von Tschudi declare: "It cannot be denied, that the above tradition of the creation of the world, by the invisible and omnipotent Con, the primitive happy state of men, their corruption by sin, the destruction of the earth, and its regeneration, bears a distinct analogy to the Mosaic chronicle of the earliest epoch of the history of the human race . . ." (Peruvian Antiquities, p.149).

In the book of Isaiah we read the enigmatic statement: "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir" (Isa. 13:12). Where was the legendary "Ophir"? What was this "golden wedge"?

The Hebrew word for "wedge" is leshonah and refers to a "tongue," an instrument of some kind. The wedge of gold was, then, a bar or instrument of gold-literally, a "tongue of gold."

What could this "tongue" of gold have been? The gold of Ophir was not a scarce commodity since Solomon received 44 tons of it in a single year. Ophir was a place famous for its gold. Could it be that Isaiah was referring to a particular instrument of gold -- something famous in Ophir?

The Inca Empire was famous for the quantity and quality of the gold it produced. The Incas of modern Peru have a tradition that their earliest king was Pirua Paccari Manco. In modern Quichua Pirua means a granary or storehouse. The first dynasty of kings, called the Pirua dynasty, included the first eighteen kings in the king list. One of the commonest titles of the early kings was Capac which means "Rich."

One of the first kings was Manco Capac who founded the city of Cuzco ("Navel" in the special language of the Incas). Manco Capac is generally regarded as the progenitor of the Incas. Legends of the Incas tell us that he got rid of his three brothers and led the people of Cuzco. We read, "He took with him a golden staff. When the soil was so fertile that its whole length sank into the rich mould, there was to be the final resting place" (Markham, The Incas of Peru, p.50, 53).

Another story calls this golden staff a "sceptre of gold about a yard long and two fingers thick" (Markham, Royal Commentaries of the Yncas, p.64). Could this have been the "golden wedge" or "tongue" of Ophir?

John Crow relates another tradition of the ancient Incas. It is the story of "the Golden Wedge, according to which the Sun, wearied of the crude, barbaric ways of the uncivilized Indians, sent two of his children, a son and a daughter, to lift them from their primitive life. Placed on the earth near the banks of Lake Titicaca, these two children of the Sun were given a golden wedge which they were to carry with them wherever they wandered; and on the spot where this wedge sank without effort into the ground and disappered they were told to found their mother city. When the divine pair reached the vicinity of Cuzco, their talisman slid into the earth and vanished from sight" (The Epic of Latin America, p.25).

Was this mysterious talisman -- this "golden wedge" -- the same thing mentioned by the prophet Isaiah -- the "golden wedge of Ophir"?

There is a close resemblance between the Pirua dynasty and the Hebrew word Ophir. In Hebrew, Ophir ("ph" can be pronounced either as an "f" or a "p") was the name of a place rich in gold (I Kings 9:28); sometimes the term Ophir was used for gold (Job 22:24). Ancient Peru would certainly fit the Biblical description of Ophir. It was famous for its gold. In the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco was a fantastic display of wealth. The four inside walls were covered with paper-thin sheets of gold. A giant golden figure of the Sun hung suspended over the main altar. A huge silver room was dedicated to the Moon. Surrounding the Temple of the Sun and several chapels was a huge stone wall, covered with a cornice or crest of gold a yard wide. Inside the Temple were decorations of gold and silver flowers, plants and animals. The Spaniards sacked the Temple and seized all the gold and silver ornaments.

From 1492 to 1600 about two billion pesos' worth of gold and silver flowed out of Spain's New World colonies -- at least three times the entire European supply of these precious metals up to that time. The total production of gold and silver in the Spanish colonies between 1492 and 1800 has been estimated at six billion dollars.

Historian Fernando Montesinos visited Peru from 1629-1642, a century after the conquest by the Spaniards. He travelled fifteen years through the country collecting material for a history of Peru. Montesinos wrote Ophir de Espana, Memorias Historiales y Politicas del Peru. He believed Peru was the Ophir of Solomon. He contended that Peru was first settled by Ophir, the grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:29).

Montesinos has been ridiculed and derided by historians. But since the early settlers of Peru were white-skinned and red bearded; since there was abundant gold in the region; since the name of the Pirua dynasty may correspond to the Hebrew Ophir; since the voyages of Solomon's fleet took about three years to complete; and since the "golden wedge" of Ophir could very well correspond to the "golden wedge" of Manco Capac; and since there is so much overwhelming evidence of cultural contacts betweens the ancient Peruvians and the Israelites, with close affinities in cosmology; and since there is definite evidence of the presence of ancient Semitic peoples in Peru, Equador, and the Western Hemisphere -- it seems very likely that Montesinos was right! Indeed, there is strong reason to believe that Peru was the ancient Ophir of the Bible!

When we examine all the evidence, the picture comes startlingly clear. Ancient Semites -- early Hebrews -- sailed to the Western Hemisphere 2,500 years before Columbus. Much of this knowledge has been lost to mankind. But now a great deal of it is being re-discovered. The ancient Israelites were here before us! They left signs of their presence everywhere -- in customs, language, religious similarities, archaelogical artifacts, and even the Ten Commandments inscribed on a remote stone in a dry creek bed in New Mexico!

Lots of dates in here blam, Interesting that scientists think Niagara Falls is 3600 years old which means it would have began around 1560 B.C.:

Scientists See Evidence of Rapid Climate Change

MSNBC Online, October 28, 1999 In a study that may sound a warning, researchers have found evidence that the world's climate can change suddenly, almost like a thermostat that clicks from cold to hot. A new technique for analyzing gases trapped in Greenland glaciers shows that an ice age that gripped the Earth for thousands of years ended abruptly 15,000 years ago when the average air temperatures soared. "There was a 16- degree abrupt warming at the end of the last ice age," said Jeffrey P. Severinghaus of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, lead author of a study to be published Friday in the journal Science. "It happened within just a couple of decades. The old idea was that the temperature would change over a thousand years. But we found it was much faster." Change in Water Temperature -- Severinghaus said the rapid rise in air temperature in Greenland may have been touched off by a surge in warm currents in the Atlantic Ocean that brought a melting trend to the vast ice sheet that covered the Northern Hemisphere. It still took hundreds of years for the ice to recede, but the start of the great thaw was much more sudden than scientists had once thought. This suggests, Severinghaus said, that the Earth's climate is "tippy" -- prone to be stable for long periods, but then suddenly change when the conditions are right. This raises a red flag of caution.

Earth in Upheaval by Immanuel Velikovsky

(This guy was a buddy of Albert Einstein's) The Ivory Islands, pages 4-6 -- In 1797, the body of a mammoth, with flesh, skin, and hair, was found in northeastern Siberia. The flesh had the appearance of freshly frozen beef; it was edible, and wolves and sled dogs fed on it without harm. The ground must have been frozen ever since the day of their entombment; had it not been frozen, the bodies of the mammoths would have putrefied in a single summer, but they remained unspoiled for some thousands of years. In some mammoths, when discovered, even the eyeballs were still preserved. (All) this shows that the cold became suddenly extreme ... and knew no relenting afterward. In the stomachs and between the teeth of the mammoths were found plants and grasses that do not grow now in northern Siberia ...(but are) ... now found in southern Siberia. Microscopic examination of the skin showed red blood corpuscles, which was proof, not only of a sudden death, but that the death was due to suffocation either by gases or water.

Whales in the Mountains, pages 46-49 -- Bones of whale have been found 440 feet above sea level, north of Lake Ontario; a skeleton of another whale was discovered in Vermont, more than 500 feet above sea level; and still another in the Montreal- Quebec area, about 600 feet above sea level. Although the Humphrey whale and beluga occasionally enter the mouth of the St. Lawrence, they do not climb hills.

Times and Dates, pages 202-203 -- Careful investigation by W.A. Johnston of the Niagara River bed disclosed that the present channel was cut by the falls less than 4,000 years ago. And equally careful investigation of the Bear River delta by Hanson showed that the age of this delta was 3,600 years. The study by Claude Jones of the lakes of the Great Basin showed that these lakes, remnants of larger glacial lakes, have existed only about 3,500 years. Gales obtained the same result on Owen Lake in California and also Van Winkle on Abert and Summer lakes in Oregon. Radiocarbon analysis by Libby also indicates that plants associated with extinct animals (mastodons) in Mexico are probably only 3,500 years old. Similar conclusions concerning the late survival of the Pleistocene fauna were drawn by various field workers in many parts of the American continent. Suess and Rubin found with the help of radiocarbon analysis that in the mountains of the western United States ice advanced only 3000 years ago. The Florida fossil beds at Vero and Melbourne proved - - by the artifacts found there, together with human bones and the remains of animals, many of which are extinct -- that these fossil beds were deposited between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago. From observations on beaches in numerous places all over the world, Daly concluded that there was a change in the ocean level, which dropped sixteen to twenty feet 3,500 years ago. Kuenen and others confirmed Daly's findings with evidence derived from Europe.

Dropped Ocean Level, pages 181-183 R.A. -- Daly observed that in a great many places all around the world there is a uniform emergence of the shore line of 18 to 20 feet. In the southwest Pacific, on the islands belonging to the Samoan group but spread over two hundred miles, the same emergence is evident. Nearly halfway around the world, at St. Helena in the South Atlantic, the lava is punctuated by dry sea caves, the floors of which are covered with water-worn pebbles, now dusty because untouched by the surf. The emergence there is also 20 feet. At the Cape of Good Hope, caves and beaches also prove recent and sensibly uniform emergence to the extent of about 20 feet. Marine terraces, indicating similar emergence, are found along the Atlantic coast from New York to the Gulf of Mexico; for at least 1,000 miles along the coast of eastern Australia; along the coasts of Brazil, southwest Africa, and many islands in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. The emergence is recent as well as of the same order of magnitude, (20 feet). Judging from the condition of beaches, terraces, and caves, the emergence seems to have been simultaneous on every shore. In (Daly's) opinion, the cause lies in the sinking of the level of all seas on the globe. Alternatively, Daly thinks it could have resulted from a deepening of the oceans or from an increase in their areas. Of special interest is the time of the change. Daly estimated the sudden drop of oceanic level to (have occurred) some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago.

Shifting Poles, pages 111, 44, and 46 -- All other theories of the origin of the Ice Age having failed, there remained an avenue of approach which already early in the discussion was chosen by several geologists: a shift in the terrestrial poles. If for some reason the poles had moved, old polar ice would have moved out of the Arctic and Antarctic circles and into new regions. The glacial cover of the Ice Age could have been the polar ice cap of an earlier epoch. The continent of Antarctica is larger than Europe. It has not a single tree, not a single bush, not a single blade of grass. Very few fungi have been found. Storms of great velocity circle the Antarctic most of the year. E.H. Shackleton, during his expedition to Antarctica in 1907 found fossil wood in the sandstone. Then he discovered 7 seams of coal. The seams are each between 3 and 7 feet thick. Associated with the coal is sandstone containing coniferous wood. Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean is as far north from Oslo in Norway as Oslo is from Naples. Heer identified 136 species of fossil plants from Spitsbergen. Among the plants were pines, firs, spruces, and cypresses, also elms, hazels, and water lilies. At the northernmost tip of Spitsbergen Archipelago, a bed of black and lustrous coal 25 to 30 feet thick was found. (Spitsbergen) is buried in darkness for half the year and is now almost continuously buried under snow and ice. At some time in the remote past corals grew and are still found on the entire fringe of polar North America -- in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. In later times, fig palms bloomed within the Arctic Circle.

Sea and Land Changed Places, pages 14, 74, and 180 -- (Cuvier) found in the gypsum deposits in the suburbs of Paris marine limestone containing over eight hundred species of shells, all of them marine. Under this limestone there is another -- fresh water -- deposit formed of clay. Much of France was once under sea; then it was land, populated by land reptiles; then it became sea again and was populated by marine animals; then it was land again, inhabited by mammals. And as it was on the site of Paris, so it was in other parts of France, and in other countries of Europe. The Himalayas, highest mountains in the world, rise like a thousand mile long wall north of India. Many of its peaks tower over 20,000 feet, Mount Everest reaching 29,000 feet. Scientists of the nineteenth century were dismayed to find that, as high as they climbed, the rocks of the massifs yielded skeletons of marine animals, fish that swim in the ocean, and shells of mollusks. This was evidence that the Himalayas had risen from beneath the sea. In many places of the world, the seacoast shows either submerged or raised beaches. The previous surf line is seen on the rock of raised beaches; where the coast became submerged, the earlier water line is found chiseled by the surf in the rock below the present level of the sea. In the case of the Pacific coast of Chile, Charles Darwin observed that the beach must have risen 1300 feet only recently -- within the period during which upraised shells have remained undecayed on the surface.

Floods -- The Flood, by Charles Ginenthal

The evidence I present below is a melange of data regarding more than one global flood. Apparently, the earlier global floods occurred when major ice caps covered the continents, and later floods occurred after these were destroyed. Recent findings verify that such global floods occurred and negate the uniformitarian argument that the flood evidence indicates only local flood episodes. The basic uniformitarian argument is that the great floods were unique events caused by ice-dammed lakes unleashed when the ice dams broke. However, if individual, localized floods occurred repeatedly during the last Ice Age, they would have washed away the whale fossils found on or near the earth surface. However, whale bones and other marine fossils have been found far inland, without having been either destroyed or eroded down to tiny fragments. This strongly supports the global flood hypothesis and contradicts the local flood theory. This evidence fully supports Velikovsky's hypothesis. If the Earth's axis tilted or the crust suddenly, violently, moved over the mantle, then the oceans would move en masse, as immense tidal waves, away from the equator and toward the poles. On the rotating Earth, due to the Coriolis force, these tidal waves would move, not only north and south, but also counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Since the Pacific Ocean lies between the continents of North America and Asia in the northern hemisphere, and the continental coastlines form an inverted V (/ \) with its apex at the Bering Strait, the tidewater would veer east, over Alaska and Canada, and west, over Asia. In the Atlantic Ocean, the tidewater would flow more easily near the poles, covering a larger area; this would create smaller continental floods. Any ice caps in these regions would be swept away from their landlocked moorings out into the northern Atlantic Ocean and would break up, depositing large amounts of detritus on the sea bed. Since neither eastern Siberia nor Alaska were covered by such a continental ice sheet, minute amounts of glacial detritus should have been deposited in the Pacific Ocean compared to that laid down in the Atlantic Ocean.

Climate Changes in Prehistory and History

Switzerland Climate Changes in Prehistory and History, By Ken Hsu -- Studying the varves of Silva plana, my student Andreas Lehmann found no Holocene varves older than 4000 years, when there was no "glacial-milk" sediment.. The conclusion is inescapable: There were no varves because the Engadine lakes were not frozen every year. There were no "glacial milk" deposits when there were no Alpine glaciers! I was excited by Lehmann's discovery and called my former student Dr. Kerry Kelts at Minnesota. He headed our Limnology Laboratory at ETH-Z before accepting a professorship at University of Minnesota. Kelts was not surprised. He told me daily: "I have been telling you all those years of the 4000 BP event, and you did not listen. There was a global cooling when the Climatic Optimum came to an end.

North Africa Climate Changes in Prehistory and History, By Ken Hsu -- Prof. Nicola Petit-Maire, at University of Marseilles, described the vast lacustrine deposits in the Sahara desert: the sediments were laid down during a humid phase between 9,500 to 4,000 BP. Rainfall was so abundant then that Mali was not a desert but land of great lakes. The Cro-Magnon people came across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to the savannas of Sahara. They hunted elephants, rhinoceros, buffaloes, hippopotamus, antelopes, and giraffes, as depicted in their wonderful rock paintings. The deserts of North Africa expanded, however, and an early clustering of cold centuries around 5200 BP caused the deterioration of environments. Hunters and grazers left Sahara and settled on as farmers of the alluvial plains of Egypt. The cooling and aridity continued and the last of the Saharan lakes dried up 4,000 BP, ending the Saharan civilization, at about the same time when the glaciers advanced in the Alps. Mild and wet climate prevailed during the Climatic Optimum in the Near East. I visited the Canannite City Arad on the edge of the Negev Desert: it was a populous settlement of several thousand inhabitants during the Early Bronze Age. Suddenly Arad was abandoned. The deserted city showed no signs of destruction by war; the exodus was necessitated by a shortage of water supply. Indeed, the centuries- long drought in the Middle East was the cause of the collapse of the Early Bronze Age civilization in Mesopotamia, as Prof. H. Weiss of Yale and his colleagues concluded. A marked increase in aridity caused the abandonment of settlements in the north and the collapse of the Akkadian Empire in the south. The impact of it was extensive: there were synchronous collapses of the civilizations in Hindus Valley and in Egypt. The climatic catastrophe started around 2200 BC and came to an end 300 years later. This was the expression of the 4000 BP Event in Middle East.

Central Europe Climate Changes in Prehistory and History, By Ken Hsu -- In central Europe, the 4,000 BP Event brought, not aridity, but increased precipitation. The cold and wet climate caused the advance of the Alpine glaciers. In the region of Prealpine lakes, the Lake Dwellers had enjoyed warm and dry climate, and they had built villages on the shores of lowland lakes. When the cold and wet climate came, the settlements were flooded; the Lake Dwellers had to leave their homes when the lake-level rose. The Zurich archaeologists discovered, for example, that the villages on the shores of the lake were abandoned about 2,400 BC, and they remained uninhabited for about 800 years. In northern Europe, cattle farming had brought prosperity to the megalithic kingdoms. The 4000 BP Event brought forth late springs and cold and wet summers. Crops were not harvested because of late planting, and cattle were famished when it became impossible to make hays. The Indo-Europeans of northern Europe had to move. Carrying battle axes and corded-ware pottery, they went to southern Russia, from there to southeastern Europe, to Anatolia, to Persia and India. and to northwest China.

China Climate Changes in Prehistory and History, By Ken Hsu -- The 4000 BP event hit China also. When the legendary King Huangti ruled in China, at about 3,000 BCE, mulberry trees grew in north China where elephants and rhinoceros roamed. The climate turned cold and arid then. Yu, the first king of the Xia Dynasty, received credit for having tamed devastating floods. He may in fact not have done more than his predecessors, except flooding eased when rainstorms ceased their visitation. India -- Academic Press Insight, 5 April, 1999, by Diana Steele The people of the Harrapan-Indus civilization, who lived in what is now northwestern India, flourished between 2600 and 2000 B.C. To probe the region's climate history, a team of geologists from Israel, the United States, and India used carbon-dating and chemical analysis to examine sediments from a now-dry lake, Lunkaransar, in the Thar Desert. As the level of the briny lake fell, salts and other minerals precipitated in distinct layers. "These lake sediments give a very high-resolution record of changing lake levels, which reflect changing amounts of precipitation in the region," says Lisa Ely, a geologist at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Ely and her colleagues found that the lake has been mostly dry for the last 5500 years. Before then, they found, the region was wet for 15 centuries -- a period that ended a millennium before the Harrapan-Indus peoples began to prosper. But an arid climate by no means rules out a healthy civilization, notes Blair Kling, a historian at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Even without plentiful rain, the Harrapan- Indus inhabitants, he says, could have depended on the Indus River for irrigation. Kling says there is evidence that a flood may have forced refugees into the cities around 1600 B.C., leading to overcrowding that could have played a role in the civilization's downfall.

Sahara -- In the July 15, 1999 paper published by the journal, Geophysical Research Letters, the Sahara desert's arid climate change occurred quickly and dramatically 4000 to 3600 years ago. A team of researchers headed by Martin Cluassen of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact research analyzed computer models of climate over the past several thousand years. They concluded that the change to today's desert climate in the Sahara was triggered by changes in the Earth's orbit and the tilt of Earth's axis. The switch in North Africa's climate and vegetation was abrupt. In the Sahara, "we find an abrupt decrease in vegetation from a green Sahara to a desert shrub land within a few hundred years" scientists reported. No longer were grasses and other plants collecting water and releasing it back into the atmosphere; now sand baked in the stronger sun and rivers dried up. The scientists do not say what caused the change in the tilt of Earth's axis.

"3,600 Years Ago --The Canaanites' earliest real presence was 1550 BC (Source: The Canaanites, by John Grey). According to the World Book Encyclopedia, an unknown civilization with an alphabet that has yet to be deciphered lived in the Indus Valley (W. Pakistan). Around 1500 BC they disappeared. Around 1500 BC, a civilization arose on the banks of the Hwang Ho river in north central China. According to Encarta, The 1st dynasty of Babylon ended in 1595 BC. In the Semitic culture, Hyksos was deposed in 1570 BC, and the Jewish exodus led by Moses happened shortly thereafter. This featured a river Nile filled with "blood" and water they could not drink. The Cycladic settlement on the island of Thera was destroyed by a great volcanic eruption about 1500 BC. Hittite internal strife caused great disorder and ended in 1525 BC with King Telipinu. China gave birth to one of the earliest civilizations and has a recorded history that dates from some 3,500 years ago. Pottery pieces found in Fiji suggest the islands were settled in the west from Melanesia at least 3,500 years ago. Iron manufacturing originated about 3,500 years ago when iron ore was accidentally heated in the presence of charcoal. The Tongon and Samoan islands were probably settled from Fiji about 3,500 years ago. According to M.I. Farley, author of Early Greece, 1970, there was total catastrophe all over Crete about 1400 BC. The Santorini eruption (about 1500 BC) was several times greater in scope than the 1883 Krakatoa eruption. The book Ancient Europe, by Stuart Pigget (1965) states that around 1500 BC, Zimbabwe and Dhlodhlo were built. According to Earth in Upheaval, by Velikovsky, Research by W. A. Johnston on the Niagara Riverbed disclosed that the present channel was cut by the falls less than 4000 years ago. Careful study of the Bear River delta by Hanson showed the age of this delta was 3,600 years. A study by Claude Jones of the Great Lakes showed that these lakes have existed only 3,500 years. This is confirmed by several geographic historical maps of Michigan available in Michigan libraries. Gales obtained the same result on Owen Lake in California. Van Winkle obtained the same result on Abert and Summer lakes in Oregon. Radiocarbon analysis by Libby also indicates that plants associated with mastodons in Mexico are probably only 3,500 years old. Similar conclusions concerning the late survival of the Pleistocene fauna were drawn by various field workers in many parts of the American continent. From observations on beaches throughout the world, Daly concluded that there was a change in the ocean level, which dropped sixteen to twenty feet 3,500 years ago. Kuenen and others confirmed Daly's findings with evidence derived from Europe.

According to Stuart Struever and Felicia Antonelli Holton, authors of the Koster Settlement in Koster, IL. "It is apparent that people occupied Horizon 4 for a much shorter time and less intensely than the other levels." They were referring to the site that began in 2000 BC. Other earlier sites ranged from 3900-2800 BC, and then 5000 BC. 7,200 Years Ago -- According to Basil Davidson, author of Lost Cities of Africa, new types of humanity appeared in Africa around 5,000 BC (3500 x2). According to Ancient Europe by Stuart Pigget, stone using agricultural peasantry began in Europe near 5,500 BC (3750 x 2). According to a December 17, 1996 New York Times article entitled, Black Sea Deluge May Be Tied to Spread of Farming in Europe, an international team of geologists and oceanographers reconstructed the history of a catastrophic flood from data gathered by a Russian research ship in 1993. Seismic soundings and sediment cores revealed traces of the sea's former shorelines, showing an abrupt 500 foot rise in water levels. Radiocarbon dating of the transition from fresh water to marine organisms in the cores put the time of the event at about 7,700 years ago (5,500 BC). According to the September 10, 1996 issue of the Seattle Times: the research ship JOIDES (Joint Oceanographic Institutions for the Deep Earth Sampling) Resolution "could easily see the light colored ash deposited from the eruption of Oregon's Mount Mazama 6,950 years ago. That titanic eruption created Crater Lake and threw out at least 40 times as much magma as Mount St. Helens did in 1980 and serves as a useful marker to date mud layers. JOIDES is a Hubble telescope for the ocean, the most advanced drilling vessel in the world. "It has 12 laboratories, more than 100 research computers and can drill in water up to 27,000 feet deep." ... "The planet appears to operate in a quasi-stable mode and pops up to a new state," said NSF's Corell. Other Cycles -- According to the September 10, 1996 issue of the Seattle Times, The lodge pole pine forest suddenly died 10,900 years ago (3633 x 3). "The weather here changed so fast and so severely that the forest of the lodge pole pine that had succeeded Ice Age glaciers died in a blink." ... "This is catastrophic climate change", said paleobotanist Richard Hebda.

Ice Age glaciers retreated from the Seattle area 14,000 years ago (3500 x 4). Page 22-23 of Early Man in the New World, by Kenneth MacGowan (1950), shows charts of major glacial changes 18,000 years ago (3600 x 5), 25,000 years ago (3570 x 7), 40,000 years ago (3636 x 11), and 65,000 years ago (3611 x18)! According to Encarta, The Dalton era started about 10,500 (3500 x 3) years ago and lasted about 1,000 years in Arkansas. The first animals used in husbandry were domesticated in southwest Asia 11,000 years ago (3636 x 3). Most sequoias suffered extinction 11,000 years ago (3636 x 3) About 11,000 years ago (3636 x 3), the axis of the earth pointed so as to give the northern hemisphere colder winters and warmer summers. Norway was inhabited 14,000 (3500 x 5) years ago. Indianapolis is located on the Tipton Till Plain, an area of flat to gently rolling land shaped 18,000 (3600 x 5) years ago. The peak of the last ice age was 22,000 (3667 x 6) years ago. The Great Salt Lake is a shallow remnant of Lake Bonneville, a large deep fresh water lake that occupied much of western Utah and parts of Nevada and Idaho from approximately 50,000 (3571 x 14) years ago to approximately 25,000 (3571 x 7) years ago. According to an October 9, 1998 article from the Associated Press and Science magazine, a major ice age occurred 22,000 years ago (6 x 3666).

Tsunami Signatures -- From Geo Science, "Tsunami Along the South Coast of NSW": The first event probably occurred concomitantly with the rise of Holocene sea-level near modern levels around 7000 BP. ...The impact of these tsunami upon the coastal landscape has been profound. Several signatures provide estimates of the magnitude of run-up of these events. The height to which chaotic mixes of sediment and imbricated boulder stacks have been deposited and the height of headlands that have had a smear of clay, sand, and shell plastered across them give general estimates of the run-up height. The elevation of eroded landscape features on headlands gives information about the depth and velocity of flow. The presence of sand laminae and splayed sand units within deltaic sediments permit the landward limit of tsunami impact to be determined. This geomorphic evidence indicates that the largest tsunami waves swept sediment across the continental shelf and obtained flow depths of 15- 20 m at the coastline with velocities in excess of 10 meters per second. Along cliffs, and especially at Jervis Bay, waves reached elevations of 40-100 m with evidence of flow depths in excess of 15 m. Preliminary evidence on the Shoalhaven delta indicates that waves penetrated 10 km inland for at least one event. This geomorphic evidence suggests that the New South Wales south coast is subject to tsunami waves an order of magnitude greater than that indicated by historic tide gauge records. Recent work indicates that the southeast coast of Australia may not be the only coast to be affected by catastrophic tsunami. The geomorphic signatures of such events have been found on Lord Howe Island in the mid-Tasman Sea, along the north Queensland coast and along the northwest coast of Western Australia. At the latter location, there is good evidence that a recent wave swept more than 30 km inland, in the process topping 60 m high hills more than 2 km from the coast. Finally, bedrock sculpturing features have been identified on the islands of Hawaii and along the east coast of Scotland. The latter location is within the zone affected by the tsunami generated by a large submarine landslide near Storegga, Norway, also 7,000 years ago. Friday, 7 September, 2001, 18:28 GMT 19:28 UK Giant wave hit ancient Scotland --By BBC News O

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	For a nice blast from 2002, check out Carry_Okie's post (in the area of #26). Anyway, just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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Thanks . Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. Linked via reply to message 22, which I was talking about the last time I updated the ping message. :') Thanks Carry_Okie. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.