Temple Illuminatus
2024-03-28T09:39:11Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/66635163?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?groupUrl=ancient-worlds-come-to-life&user=0im6ybf6x8er5&groupId=6363372%3AGroup%3A1446&feed=yes&xn_auth=no
3 Legendary Ancient Lands: Atlantis, Thule, and the Isles of the Blessed
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2023-04-22:6363372:Topic:3633483
2023-04-22T23:45:13.397Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<div class="row"><div class="col-md-12 pb-3 align-self-center"><h1 class="display-4 secondfont mb-3">3 Legendary Ancient Lands: Atlantis, Thule, and the Isles of the Blessed</h1>
<p class="mb-3">The ancient world was a curious place where legends and reality could coexist. Ancient legends of fantastical places include tales of Atlantis, Thule, and Islands of the Blessed.</p>
<div class="author-top"><span>Nov 3, 2022</span><span> • </span><span>By …</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row"><div class="col-md-12 pb-3 align-self-center"><h1 class="display-4 secondfont mb-3">3 Legendary Ancient Lands: Atlantis, Thule, and the Isles of the Blessed</h1>
<p class="mb-3">The ancient world was a curious place where legends and reality could coexist. Ancient legends of fantastical places include tales of Atlantis, Thule, and Islands of the Blessed.</p>
<div class="author-top"><span>Nov 3, 2022</span><span> • </span><span>By </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/author/vedran-bileta/">Vedran Bileta</a><span class="education">,<span> </span>MA in Late Antique, Byzantine, and Early Modern History, BA in History</span></div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-12 d-md-block"></div>
</div>
<center><span><img alt="cole thoma course empire arcadia trirem thule" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cole-thoma-course-empire-arcadia-trirem-thule.jpg?width=1400&quality=70" class="figure-img img-fluid"/></span></center>
<p class="firstL"> </p>
<p class="firstL">For the ancient travelers and explorers, the boundaries of geographical knowledge were narrow. People understood that they lived in the vast world but knew little of what lay beyond. The ancient Greeks traveled extensively across the Mediterranean. The Romans went even further, following the paths cleared by their conquering armies. Yet, unknown land —<span> </span><i>terra incognita —</i><span> </span>surrounded the known world. Those who dared to venture into the blank space on the map would encounter things they had never seen or even heard about before. The Ocean, seemingly without end, was a terrifying, wonderful place where legends and facts mingled, and where anything imaginable was possible. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the case of remote islands, real or imagined. Thule, Atlantis, and the Isles of the Blessed were places that were more than places, the sources of<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/medieval-bestiary/">fantastical stories and myths</a>, tempting ancient explorers to venture into the unknown and inspiring generations to follow their example</p>
<div><div id="primisPlayerContainerDiv" class="primisslate"><div id="primis_container_div"><div id="primis_playerSekindoSPlayer6444704daac71"><div id="Player-Div-SekindoSPlayer6444704daac71"><div id="Video-Div-SekindoSPlayer6444704daac71"><div id="Video-iFrame-SekindoSPlayer6444704daac71"><div id="videoContainerDiv"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><div id="AdThrive_Content_1_desktop" class="adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-1 adthrive-ad-cls"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/18190176,22049841610/AdThrive_Content_1/6086cc27fa0c1f83d970ab09_0__container__"></div>
</div>
<h2><b>1. Atlantis: The Legendary Sunken Islands</b><img alt="cole thomas the course of empire" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cole-thomas-the-course-of-empire.jpg?width=1400&quality=55" class="figure-img img-fluid" style="font-size: 13px;"/></h2>
</div>
<br />
The Course of Empire: Destruction, by Thomas Cole, 1836, New York Historical Society<br />
<br />
<p> </p>
<p>Undoubtedly,<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/atlantis-truth-behind-myth/">Atlantis</a><span> </span>is the most famous legendary place from the ancient world. However, the mythical isle-continent lost beneath the waves in one day and one night was not an actual location. Instead, Atlantis was a fictional place invented by the<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/plato-philosophy-ion-art/">Greek philosopher Plato</a><span> </span>for a morality tale. Plato’s story, written in the fifth century BCE and narrated in two of his dialogues —<span> </span><i>Timaeus</i><span> </span>and<span> </span><i>Critias<span> </span></i>— was never supposed to be taken literally. Aristotle, Plato’s pupil, dismissed the Atlantis legend as pure fantasy. After all, the details contained in these two dialogues were too fanciful to be true.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Plato described Atlantis as a large island-continent in the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar). It was a marvelous land inhabited by an advanced and wealthy civilization. However, their knowledge and might corrupted the Atlanteans, making them vain, over-ambitious, and degenerate. Not satisfied with their splendid island, the Atlanteans declared war on all the people of<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/ancient-mediterranean-pirates/">the Mediterranean</a>. However, the Athenians fought back against the invaders. In the end, the Atlanteans fell out of the gods’ favor. In a single day and night, Atlantis was destroyed by an earthquake and flood, along with all its inhabitants.</p>
<p> </p>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<p> </p>
<p>While this story is an elaborate allegory, clearly intended to praise Athens’s democracy, it seems that not everyone considered the legend of the sunken island to be a work of fiction. Writing in the second century CE, the historian Plutarch, in his<span> </span><i>Life of Solon</i>, described the philosopher’s discussion with an Egyptian priest in Sais. During the conversation, the priest mentions Atlantis, but this time as an actual location. A century earlier, the geographer Strabo considered the possibility that part of the story might be genuine, that Atlantis was indeed an island destroyed by a natural disaster. Plato’s story could have been inspired by the actual eruption of Thera (present-day Santorini), a volcanic island, which destroyed the Minoan civilization in 1600 BCE, or by the fate of Helike, a Greek city destroyed by a catastrophic tsunami during Plato’s own lifetime</p>
<div><p> </p>
</div>
<p>Interestingly, ancient sources rarely mentioned Atlantis. However, in the following centuries, the Atlantis myth sparked the imaginations of many scholars and explorers. As a result, this sunken island that played only a minor role in Plato’s work has risen to become an integral element of our cultural landscape. Yet, despite Atlantis’ popularity, the claims of its actual existence remain the domain of pseudoscientists and works of fiction. Therefore, the fascinating story of legendary Atlantis, and its tragic demise, is just that, a story.</p>
<p> </p>
<div><div id="AdThrive_Content_2_desktop" class="adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-2 adthrive-ad-cls"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/18190176,22049841610/AdThrive_Content_2/6086cc27fa0c1f83d970ab09_0__container__"></div>
</div>
<h2><b>2. Thule: Journey to the Ends of the Earth</b></h2>
</div>
<center><span><img alt=""/>" /"><img alt="trireme thule atlantis" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/trireme-thule-atlantis.jpg?width=1400&quality=55" class="figure-img img-fluid"/></span></center>
Pytheas’ trireme, illustration by John F. Campbell from the book The Romance of Early British Life, 1909, via Hakai Magazine<br />
<br />
<p> </p>
<p>In the mid-4th century BCE, rumors spread through<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/athena-poseidon-contest-athens-name-giving/">the city of Athens</a>. A Greek explorer had returned with a fantastic tale of his voyage to the ends of the earth. The explorer reportedly visited a faraway island in the north, a land where the sun never set, and where land and ocean came together in a sort of jelly-like substance. The explorer’s name was<span> </span><a href="https://collections.dartmouth.edu/arctica-beta/html/EA15-57.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pytheas</a>, and the island that would soon enter into legend was Thule.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Pythias recorded his voyage in the book<span> </span><i>On the Ocean</i>. Unfortunately, only fragments preserved by later authors have survived. After departing his native Massalia (present-day Marseille), Pytheas traveled north. Whether he sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar or traveled overland, is unknown. However, we know that the Greek traveler eventually reached the British Isles, becoming one of the first<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/ancient-rome-and-the-search-for-the-source-of-the-nile/">ancient explorers</a><span> </span>who ventured so far north. After passing the edge of the mainland, Pytheas did not turn back. Instead, the Greek explorer claimed to have continued his journey, traveling six days north to the “farthest of all lands” — the mythical Thule. It was a land where nights were only two or three hours long, and in the summertime, there was no darkness at all. Pytheas also reported an encounter with the inhabitants of Thule, whom, in true Greek fashion, he described as barbarians, humble farmers of fair complexion with light blond hair.</p>
<p> </p>
<center><span><img alt=""/>" /"><img alt="ptolemy map thule" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ptolemy-map-thule.jpg?width=1400&quality=55" class="figure-img img-fluid"/></span></center>
One of the earliest surviving copies of Ptolemy’s 2nd-century map of the British Isles, with Thule in the uppermost right corner, 1486, via the National Library of Wales<br />
<br />
<p> </p>
<p>Early commentators, however, doubted the authenticity of Pytheas’ voyage. Both Polybius and Strabo questioned his claims, accusing Pytheas of being a “falsifier” who misled many readers with these fanciful stories. Their skepticism is understandable, as the area was considered too far north for human habitation. Pliny the Elder, on the other hand, was more forthcoming, suggesting that Pythias indeed traveled far north and reached a legendary place. The historian Tacitus describes the voyage of his father-in-law Agricola, who, as governor of Britain, sailed north of Scotland and saw an island, he believed to be Thule.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For the ancients, Thule represented the northernmost point of the ancient world. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the famous<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/ptolemy-world-map/">Map of Ptolemy</a><span> </span>depicted Thule, creating a precedent emulated by generations of cartographers. The description of Thule and its surroundings gave scholars enough information to pinpoint its possible location. Some of the names proposed are Shetland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. The impassable slushy ice, thick fog, lack of darkness during the summer solstice, and the lack of sunlight at the winter solstice suggest that Pytheas traveled even further, perhaps to the vicinity of the Arctic Circle. However, even if Pytheas never reached Thule, it matters little. The legacy of his voyage has not been the discovery of an island. It has been the creation of a legendary place: a mysterious, distant, unfathomable land located on the very edge of the map, inspiration for the explorers and voyagers in centuries up to the present day — the ends of the Earth, the<span> </span><i>terra incognita</i><span> </span>— mythical Thule.</p>
<p> </p>
<div><div id="AdThrive_Content_3_desktop" class="adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-3 adthrive-ad-cls"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/18190176,22049841610/AdThrive_Content_3/6086cc27fa0c1f83d970ab09_0__container__"></div>
</div>
<h2><b>3. Isles of the Blessed: More Real than Atlantis?</b></h2>
</div>
<center><span><img alt=""/>" /"><img alt="cole thomas dream arcadia" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cole-thomas-dream-arcadia.jpg?width=1400&quality=55" class="figure-img img-fluid"/></span></center>
Dream of Arcadia, by Thomas Cole, 1838, via Denver Art Museum<br />
<br />
<p> </p>
<p>Ancient civilizations told tales of mythical, supernatural regions, where the lines between death and life are blurred. The Greeks called it Elysium, the earthly paradise, where those chosen by the gods could live a blessed and happy life. However, Elysium was not a fixed place. Instead, it was an evolving and multifaceted idea. By the time of Plato, in the fourth century BCE, Elysium became an island or archipelago in the western ocean: The Isles of the Blessed, or the Fortunate Islands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Roman authors took this notion even further, placing the mythical archipelago at a specific location on the map. Both Plutarch and Pliny the Elder mentioned the “Fortunate Islands,” located in the Atlantic, a few days’ sail from Spain. But it is Ptolemy who, in his landmark<span> </span><i>Geography</i>, described the location of the Isles, using the archipelago as the reference for the measurement of geographical longitude and the Prime Meridian, which would remain in use through the Middle Ages. The Isles of the Blessed became a real place — the Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the coast of Morocco.</p>
<p> </p>
<center><span><img alt=""/>" /"><img alt="ptolemy map canaries atlantis" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ptolemy-map-canaries-atlantis.jpg?width=1400&quality=55" class="figure-img img-fluid"/></span></center>
Map of North Africa, reconstituted from Ptolemy’s Geography, depicting the Canaries, or the “Fortunate Islands” of the left edge of the map — the Prime Meridian, 15th-century copy, via the British Library<br />
<br />
<p> </p>
<p>Thus, the Canaries became the “Fortunate Islands,” and medieval maps often rendered that archipelago as<span> </span><i>Insula Fortunata</i>. In addition, the arrival of Christianity shifted the paradise’s location entirely to the supernatural realm. Yet, the idea of a promised land on Earth endured. The legendary “Isles of the Blessed” remained somewhere in the west. One such mythical place was the island of Avalon, where King Arthur’s sword<span> </span><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/legendary-swords-excalibur/">Excalibur</a><span> </span>was forged and where the king himself would later dwell. In the centuries that followed, Europeans continued their search for the promised land until they found it in the fifteenth century — the western continent located in the Atlantic Ocean, an “Isle of the Blessed” far beyond the imagination of the ancients — America.</p>
<p></p>
<p>LINK: </p>
List of lost lands
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2023-04-22:6363372:Topic:3633753
2023-04-22T23:39:31.911Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<div class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">This article is about formerly existing lands. For lands found not to have existed, see<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_island" title="Phantom island">Phantom island</a>.…</div>
<table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove">
<tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">This article is about formerly existing lands. For lands found not to have existed, see<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_island" title="Phantom island">Phantom island</a>.</div>
<table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove">
<tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="image"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" width="50" height="39"/></a></div>
</td>
<td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article<span> </span><b>needs additional citations for<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"><span> </span>Please help<span> </span><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit">improve this article</a><span> </span>by<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br/><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22List+of+lost+lands%22">"List of lost lands"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22List+of+lost+lands%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22List+of+lost+lands%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22List+of+lost+lands%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22List+of+lost+lands%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22List+of+lost+lands%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span><span> </span><span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">October 2018</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i><span> </span>(<small><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this template message</a></small>)</i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Book_map1.jpg" class="image"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Book_map1.jpg/220px-Book_map1.jpg" width="220" height="154" class="thumbimage"/></a><div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Book_map1.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
Map of Mu by<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Churchward" title="James Churchward">James Churchward</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<p><b>Lost lands</b><span> </span>are<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands" class="mw-redirect" title="Islands">islands</a><span> </span>or<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents" class="mw-redirect" title="Continents">continents</a><span> </span>believed by some to have existed during<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-history" class="mw-redirect" title="Pre-history">pre-history</a>, but to have since disappeared as a result of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophism" title="Catastrophism">catastrophic</a><span> </span>geological phenomena.</p>
<p>Legends of lost lands often originated as scholarly or scientific theories, only to be picked up by writers and individuals outside the academy.<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occult" title="Occult">Occult</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age" title="New Age">New Age</a><span> </span>writers have made use of Lost Lands, as have<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaltern_(postcolonialism)" title="Subaltern (postcolonialism)">subaltern</a><span> </span>peoples such as the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamils" title="Tamils">Tamils in India</a>.<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_islands" class="mw-redirect" title="Phantom islands">Phantom islands</a>, as opposed to lost lands, are land masses formerly believed by<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartographer" class="mw-redirect" title="Cartographer">cartographers</a><span> </span>to exist in the<span> </span><i>current</i><span> </span>historical age, but to have been discredited as a result of expanding geographic knowledge. The classification of lost lands as continents, islands, or other regions is in some cases subjective; for example,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis" title="Atlantis">Atlantis</a><span> </span>is variously described as either a "lost island" or a "lost continent". Lost land theories may originate in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology" class="mw-redirect" title="Mythology">mythology</a><span> </span>or<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>, or in scholarly or scientific theories, such as<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophism" title="Catastrophism">catastrophic</a><span> </span>theories of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology" title="Geology">geology</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup></p>
<p>With the development of plate tectonic simulation software, new lost land has been discovered and confirmed by the scientific community (like<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Adria" title="Greater Adria">Greater Adria</a><span> </span>in 2019).</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Submerged_lands">Submerged lands</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Submerged lands">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information:<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_fragment" title="Continental fragment">Continental fragment</a></div>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Sunda_and_Sahul.png" class="image"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Map_of_Sunda_and_Sahul.png/220px-Map_of_Sunda_and_Sahul.png" width="220" height="199" class="thumbimage"/></a><div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Sunda_and_Sahul.png" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
The<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahul_Shelf" title="Sahul Shelf">Sahul Shelf</a><span> </span>and the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunda_Shelf" title="Sunda Shelf">Sunda Shelf</a><span> </span>during the ice ages and today. The area in between is called "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallacea" title="Wallacea">Wallacea</a>".</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Although the existence of lost continents in the above sense is mythical (aside from Zealandia<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup><span> </span>and Greater Adria<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup>), there were many places on Earth that were once dry land, but submerged after the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age" title="Ice age">ice age</a><span> </span>around 10,000 BCE due to<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise" title="Sea level rise">rising sea levels</a>, and possibly were the basis for<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic" title="Neolithic">Neolithic</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age" title="Bronze Age">Bronze Age</a><span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myths" class="mw-redirect" title="Flood myths">flood myths</a>. Some were lost due to<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_erosion" title="Coastal erosion">coastal erosion</a><span> </span>or volcanic eruptions. An (incomplete) list follows:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundaland" title="Sundaland">Sundaland</a>, the now submerged<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunda_Shelf" title="Sunda Shelf">Sunda Shelf</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerguelen_Plateau" title="Kerguelen Plateau">Kerguelen Plateau</a>, a submerged micro-continent which is now 1–2 kilometres (0.62–1.2 miles) below sea level.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringia" title="Beringia">Beringia</a>, connecting Asia and North America.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doggerland" title="Doggerland">Doggerland</a>, the bed of the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea" title="North Sea">North Sea</a>, which once connected<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain" title="Great Britain">Great Britain</a><span> </span>to Continental Europe before being inundated by rising sea levels during the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene" title="Holocene">Holocene</a>.</li>
<li>A large island in the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Sea" title="Mediterranean Sea">Mediterranean Sea</a>, of which<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta" title="Malta">Malta</a><span> </span>is the only part not now submerged.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maui_Nui" title="Maui Nui">Maui Nui</a>, once a large island of the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii" title="Hawaii">Hawaii</a><span> </span>archipelago; several major islands represent residual high ground of Maui Nui.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Moore_Island" class="mw-redirect" title="New Moore Island">New Moore Island</a>, an island in the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Bengal" title="Bay of Bengal">Bay of Bengal</a><span> </span>which emerged after a cyclone in 1970 and submerged in 2010.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strand_(island)" title="Strand (island)">Strand</a>, an island off the German coast with the town<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rungholt" title="Rungholt">Rungholt</a>, eroded away by storm surges before being washed away by a final flood in 1634.<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doggerland.svg" class="image"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Doggerland.svg/180px-Doggerland.svg.png" width="180" height="198" class="thumbimage"/></a><div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doggerland.svg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
Map showing hypothetical extent of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doggerland" title="Doggerland">Doggerland</a>, c. 8,000 BC</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordsand" title="Jordsand">Jordsand</a>, once an island off the Danish coast, eroded away by storm surges before being washed away by a final flood between 1998 and 1999.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinandea" class="mw-redirect" title="Ferdinandea">Ferdinandea</a>, submerged volcanic island which has appeared at least four times in the past.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenser_Odd" title="Ravenser Odd">Ravenser Odd</a>, a large 13th-century town on an old sandbank promontory in East Yorkshire, which became an island and then vanished in January 1392.</li>
<li>Dadu Island, which was legally the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_southernmost_point" title="List of countries by southernmost point">southernmost point</a><span> </span>of the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America" class="mw-redirect" title="United States of America">United States of America</a>, located at<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra_Atoll" title="Palmyra Atoll">Palmyra Atoll</a><span> </span>(an<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_incorporated_territories_of_the_United_States#Current_situation" class="mw-redirect" title="Organized incorporated territories of the United States"><i>incorporated</i><span> </span>U.S. territory</a>) and still shown on the map, was a bare sand<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islet" title="Islet">islet</a><span> </span>washed away by a storm in 2014. (It was named after a dog, "Dadu", that had lived at the atoll.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semyonovsky_Island" title="Semyonovsky Island">Semyonovsky Island</a>, an island that was discovered in 1770, it had rapidly decreased in size, 4.6 km<sup>2</sup><span> </span>(1.8 sq mi) to 1823, 0.5 km<sup>2</sup><span> </span>(0.19 sq mi) in 1936, by the 1950s it was just<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baydzharakh" title="Baydzharakh">baydzharakh</a><span> </span>and when visited in the early 1960s it had been submerged due to<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosion" title="Erosion">erosion</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkanatolia" title="Balkanatolia">Balkanatolia</a>, a sunken land in the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Sea" title="Mediterranean Sea">Mediterranean Sea</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Lost_continents">Lost continents</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Lost continents">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3>
<div class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article:<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submerged_continent" title="Submerged continent">Submerged continent</a></div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Adria" title="Greater Adria">Greater Adria</a>, a continent connecting between<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy" title="Italy">Italy</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Africa" title="North Africa">North Africa</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealandia" title="Zealandia">Zealandia</a>, a scientifically accepted continent that is now 94% submerged under the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the areas of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand" title="New Zealand">New Zealand</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Caledonia" title="New Caledonia">New Caledonia</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Mythological_lands">Mythological lands</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Mythological lands">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article:<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mythological_places" title="List of mythological places">List of mythological places</a></div>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Athanasius_Kircher%27s_Atlantis.gif" class="image"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Athanasius_Kircher%27s_Atlantis.gif/150px-Athanasius_Kircher%27s_Atlantis.gif" width="150" height="100" class="thumbimage"/></a><div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Athanasius_Kircher%27s_Atlantis.gif" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a>'s<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis" title="Atlantis">Atlantis</a><span> </span>described in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timaeus_(dialogue)" title="Timaeus (dialogue)">Timaeus</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critias" title="Critias">Critias</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agartha" title="Agartha">Agartha</a>, in the Hollow Earth.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis" title="Atlantis">Atlantis</a>, Plato's utopian paradise.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon" title="Avalon">Avalon</a>, the mythical lost land or island in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthurian" class="mw-redirect" title="Arthurian">Arthurian</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_people" title="Cornish people">Cornish</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_people" title="Welsh people">Welsh</a><span> </span>legend.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyan" title="Buyan">Buyan</a>, an island with the ability to appear and disappear in Slavic mythology.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantre%27r_Gwaelod" title="Cantre'r Gwaelod">Cantre'r Gwaelod</a>, in Welsh legend, the ancient sunken realm said to have occupied a tract of fertile land lying between<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Island" title="Ramsey Island">Ramsey Island</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardsey_Island" title="Bardsey Island">Bardsey Island</a><span> </span>in what is now<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardigan_Bay" title="Cardigan Bay">Cardigan Bay</a><span> </span>to the west of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales" title="Wales">Wales</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillars" title="Iram of the Pillars">Iram of the Pillars</a>, a reference to a lost city, country or area mentioned in the Qur'an.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomsborg" title="Jomsborg">Jomsborg</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vineta" title="Vineta">Vineta</a>, legendary cities on the south coast of the Baltic Sea supposed to have been submerged in the Middle Ages.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitezh" title="Kitezh">Kitezh</a>, a legendary underwater city located in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia" title="Russia">Russia</a>, populated by spiritual people.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari_Kandam" title="Kumari Kandam">Kumari Kandam</a>, a mythical lost continent with an ancient<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_civilization" class="mw-redirect" title="Tamil civilization">Tamil civilization</a><span> </span>in the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean" title="Indian Ocean">Indian Ocean</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_(continent)" class="mw-redirect" title="Lemuria (continent)">Lemuria</a>, a mythical lost continent in the Indian or the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean" title="Pacific Ocean">Pacific Ocean</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llys_Helig" title="Llys Helig">Llys Helig</a><span> </span>Welsh legends regarding the local rock formations conceal the palace of Prince<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helig_ap_Glanawg" title="Helig ap Glanawg">Helig ap Glanawg</a>, said to be part of a larger drowned kingdom near<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penmaenmawr" title="Penmaenmawr">Penmaenmawr</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales" title="Wales">Wales</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyonesse" title="Lyonesse">Lyonesse</a><span> </span>in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthurian_literature" class="mw-redirect" title="Arthurian literature">Arthurian literature</a>: it was the home of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan" title="Tristan">Tristan</a><span> </span>and is usually associated with the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isles_of_Scilly" title="Isles of Scilly">Isles of Scilly</a>,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornwall" title="Cornwall">Cornwall</a><span> </span>(an area inundated by the sea c.2500BC)<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup>. The tale parallels the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_people" title="Welsh people">Welsh</a><span> </span>and particularly<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breton_people" class="mw-redirect" title="Breton people">Breton</a><span> </span>legendary lost lands.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2018)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(lost_continent)" class="mw-redirect" title="Mu (lost continent)">Mu</a>, a mythical lost continent in the Pacific Ocean</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La" title="Shangri-La">Shangri-La</a>, a fictitious valley in Tibet the idea of which may have been inspired by the myth of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambhala" title="Shambhala">Shambhala</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quivira_and_Cibola" class="mw-redirect" title="Quivira and Cibola">Quivira and Cibola</a>, also known as the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Cities_of_Gold" title="Seven Cities of Gold">Seven Cities of Gold</a>. These were suspected somewhere in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas" title="Americas">America</a><span> </span>by the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquistador" title="Conquistador">Conquistadors</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado" title="El Dorado">El Dorado</a>, mythic city of gold.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ys" title="Ys">Ys</a>, a mythical drowned city in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany" title="Brittany">Brittany</a>, similar to other Celtic lost lands in<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_people" title="Welsh people">Welsh</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_people" title="Cornish people">Cornish</a><span> </span>tradition. Most versions of the legend place the city in the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baie_de_Douarnenez" title="Baie de Douarnenez">Baie de Douarnenez</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Phantom_islands">Phantom islands</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Phantom islands">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article:<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_island" title="Phantom island">Phantom island</a></div>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_island" title="Phantom island">Phantom islands</a>, as opposed to lost lands, are land masses formerly believed by<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartography" title="Cartography">cartographers</a><span> </span>to exist in the historical age, but to have been discredited as a result of expanding geographic knowledge.<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Australis" title="Terra Australis">Terra Australis</a><span> </span>is a phantom continent. While a few phantom islands originated from literary works (e.g.,<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogygia" title="Ogygia">Ogygia</a><span> </span>from<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a>'s<span> </span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey" title="Odyssey">Odyssey</a></i>), most phantom islands are the result of navigational errors.</p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="In_literature_and_philosophy">In literature and philosophy</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: In literature and philosophy">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<p>The following individuals are known for having written on the subject of lost lands (either as fiction, hypothesis, or supposed fact):</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.P._Blavatsky" class="mw-redirect" title="H.P. Blavatsky">H.P. Blavatsky</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs" title="Edgar Rice Burroughs">Edgar Rice Burroughs</a><span> </span>(<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_That_Time_Forgot_(novel)" title="The Land That Time Forgot (novel)">The Land That Time Forgot</a></i>,<span> </span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan_and_the_Jewels_of_Opar" title="Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar">Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar</a></i>,<span> </span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Earth%27s_Core_(novel)" title="At the Earth's Core (novel)">At the Earth's Core</a></i>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Churchward" title="James Churchward">James Churchward</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Corbin" title="Henry Corbin">Henry Corbin</a><span> </span>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malakut" title="Malakut">Malakut</a><span> </span>or Hurqalya)<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly" title="Ignatius L. Donnelly">Ignatius L. Donnelly</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burak_Eldem" title="Burak Eldem">Burak Eldem</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Ellis" title="Warren Ellis">Warren Ellis</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer" title="Philip José Farmer">Philip José Farmer</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard" title="H. Rider Haggard">H. Rider Haggard</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Howard" title="Robert E. Howard">Robert E. Howard</a><span> </span>(<i>Hyborian Age</i>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Lalo" title="Édouard Lalo">Édouard Lalo</a><span> </span>(<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_roi_d%27Ys" title="Le roi d'Ys">Le roi d'Ys</a></i>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft" title="H. P. Lovecraft">H. P. Lovecraft</a><span> </span>often invoked the names of lost lands of his own invention, a practice that subsequently gave birth to the<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_mythos" class="mw-redirect" title="Cthulhu mythos">Cthulhu mythos</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_of_Monmouth" title="Geoffrey of Monmouth">Geoffrey of Monmouth</a><span> </span>first mention of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon" title="Avalon">Avalon</a><span> </span>in his<span> </span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_Regum_Britanniae" title="Historia Regum Britanniae">Historia Regum Britanniae</a></i></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Le_Plongeon" title="Augustus Le Plongeon">Augustus Le Plongeon</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zecharia_Sitchin" title="Zecharia Sitchin">Zecharia Sitchin</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien" title="J. R. R. Tolkien">J. R. R. Tolkien</a><span> </span>partially based the story of<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BAmenor" title="Númenor">Númenor</a>, referenced in<span> </span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings" title="The Lord of the Rings">The Lord of the Rings</a></i><span> </span>and<span> </span><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silmarillion" title="The Silmarillion">The Silmarillion</a></i>, on Atlantis.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vance" title="Jack Vance">Jack Vance</a><span> </span>(<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyonesse_Trilogy" title="Lyonesse Trilogy">Lyonesse Trilogy</a></i>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samael_Aun_Weor" title="Samael Aun Weor">Samael Aun Weor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco" title="Umberto Eco">Umberto Eco</a><span> </span>(<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Island_of_the_Day_Before&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Island of the Day Before (page does not exist)">Island of the Day Before</a></i>)</li>
</ul>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myth" title="Flood myth">Flood myth</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_city" title="Lost city">Lost city</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_world" title="Lost world">Lost world</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_sea_level" title="Past sea level">Past sea level</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_island" title="Vanishing island">Vanishing island</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_island" title="Tidal island">Tidal island</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_lost_lands&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
<div class="reflist"><div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references">
<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_ref-1" title="Jump up">^</a></b></span><span> </span><span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Lost_continent">"Lost Lands"</a>.<span> </span><i>The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopaedia</i>.</cite><sup class="noprint Inline-Template">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Self-published_sources" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability"><span title="This reference citation appears to be to a self-published source. (September 2020)">self-published source</span></a></i>]</sup></span></li>
<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_ref-2" title="Jump up">^</a></b></span><span> </span><span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFYeung2020" class="citation news cs1">Yeung, Jessie (23 June 2020).<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/23/australia/zealandia-maps-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html">"Maps reveal new details about New Zealand's lost underwater continent"</a>.<span> </span><i>CNN</i>.</cite></span></li>
<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_ref-3" title="Jump up">^</a></b></span><span> </span><span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFCarter2019" class="citation magazine cs1">Carter, Jamie (15 Sep 2019).<span> </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2019/09/15/goodbye-atlantis-hello-greater-adria-a-lost-continent-has-been-found-by-geologists/">"Goodbye Atlantis, Hello 'Greater Adria'. A Lost Continent Has Been Mapped By Geologists"</a>.<span> </span><i>Forbes</i>.</cite></span></li>
<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_ref-4" title="Jump up">^</a></b></span><span> </span><span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://blog.nature.org/conservancy/2014/12/01/requiem-for-a-shark-dog/">"Requiem for a Shark Dog"</a>. December 2014.</cite></span></li>
<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands#cite_ref-5" title="Jump up">^</a></b></span><span> </span><span class="reference-text"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Corbin" title="Henry Corbin">Corbin, Henry</a><span> </span>(1977).<span> </span><i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=feE9DwAAQBAJ">Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth: From Mazdean Iran to Shi'ite Iran</a></i>. Princeton University Press. p. xix-xxi.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span class="reference-text">LINK: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_lands</a></span></p>
</div>
</div>
'The Volga: A History of Russia's Greatest River'
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2023-04-22:6363372:Topic:3633847
2023-04-22T23:37:13.094Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<div class="article__block article__block--html article__block--column"><p>It is impossible to imagine Russia or her history without the Volga, Russia’s — and Europe’s — longest river along whose shores so many of the country’s more pivotal political, economic, and cultural events have taken place. Known as “Mother Volga,” the river has always played an outsized role in the national consciousness. The complex and colorful history of this storied river is the subject of a new book by Professor…</p>
</div>
<div class="article__block article__block--html article__block--column"><p>It is impossible to imagine Russia or her history without the Volga, Russia’s — and Europe’s — longest river along whose shores so many of the country’s more pivotal political, economic, and cultural events have taken place. Known as “Mother Volga,” the river has always played an outsized role in the national consciousness. The complex and colorful history of this storied river is the subject of a new book by Professor Janet Hartley, Emeritus Professor of International History at the London School of Economics: “The Volga: A History of Russia’s Greatest River.”</p>
<p>“The Volga” is Professor Hartley’s second exploration of Russian history rooted in a physical entity. Her acclaimed “Siberia: A History of the People” used that vast region to consider the people who settled — or were forced to settle — in a place that served as a vast and inhospitable prison.</p>
<p>Hartley’s deft narrative of the Volga begins with the early 7th century Khazar Khanate, populated by Turkic tribes who are the first recorded beneficiaries of the lucrative North-South trade route of the river. Viking traders known as “The Rus,” or “men who row,” used the Volga to bring furs, slaves, beeswax, honey, and ivory south to the great trading hub at Itil. The Rus were “invited” to rule over the Slavic tribes, and their descendants founded the great medieval fortress towns on the shores of the Volga: Uglich, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, and Tver. </p>
<p>At the opposite end of the Volga where the river empties into the Caspian Sea, the Mongol invaders held sway for two centuries (1240 - 1480) in their great capital of Astrakhan. Resistance to the Mongols, led by the Grand Prince of Moscow, helped to unify the splintered Russian principalities into a nation state. The final sack of Kazan and Astrakhan by Ivan the Terrible in the mid-sixteenth century marked a major turning point in Russia’s history, and that of the Volga. </p>
<p>Hartley touches on these and other major milestones of Russian history throughout the book, but keeps the complex social interaction and development taking place along the Volga front and center in her narrative. She traces the Volga as a boundary of a hinterland, one that attracts brigands, outlaws, and pirates, and foments revolt such as those led by Stenka Razin, Yemelyan Pugachyov, and eventually Vladimir Lenin. Hartley also explores the role of the river as a tangible division of the ever-expanding empire from west to east. Even as Russia becomes a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state, the Volga provides a barrier between Muslim and Christian, Russian and non-Russian, and opposing armies. </p>
<p>As trade and technology develop in the seventeenth-and eighteenth centuries, the Volga serves as a principal conduit of goods and know-how, supporting the rise of Nizhny Novgorod as a great trading center of the empire. Cultural and political ideas move along the river as well, and as nineteenth-century intellectuals struggle to define a national identity, the mighty Volga offers inspiration, harnessed by musicians, poets, and painters. </p>
<p>Bolshevik propagandists find in the Volga a rich metaphor for the triumph of Soviet technology, which “tamed” the great river, a concept explored by both Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great during their encounters with the Volga. Later, the Soviets return to the symbolism of the river as “Mother” during World War II, as the Red Army halts the Nazis on the shores of the Volga, during the carnage of the Battle of Stalingrad.</p>
<p>“The Volga” is an eminently readable book — for both the seasoned historian of Russia and those encountering the vast nation and its colorful history for the first time. In shaping her narrative to the ebb and flow of Russia’s great river, Hartley offers valuable insights into the Russian mindset and hints what may lie in their future. “The Volga” combines outstanding academic research with masterful and compelling storytelling. The result is a memorable journey into the heart of Russian social, political, and cultural history.</p>
</div>
<div class="article__block article__block--image article__block--column"><img src="https://static.themoscowtimes.com/image/1360/6a/2021-06-05211805.jpg" alt=" Ilya Repin's 1873 painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga" remains for many their image of the river. Wikicommons "/>
<span class="article__image__caption">Ilya Repin's 1873 painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga" remains for many their image of the river.</span><span class="article__image__credits">Wikicommons</span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="article__block article__block--header article__block--column"><h2>From the Introduction to “The Volga: a History of Russia’s Greatest River”</h2>
</div>
<div class="article__block article__block--html article__block--column"><p>Although the river Volga was never the geographical border between Asia and Europe, in many ways the middle and lower Volga does draw a line between the Christian, Russian, European West and the Islamic and Asiatic East. ‘I am in Asia’, declared Catherine II in a letter to Voltaire from Kazan in 1767. The topography of the land on either side of the middle and lower Volga accentuates this feeling of a divide: the land on the western (right) bank is hillier, more cultivated and richer in vegetation; the land on the eastern (left) bank is low-lying, flat, mostly scrub land, stretching to the borders of Kazakhstan. Certainly, the German settlers who had been encouraged to come to the Volga region by Catherine II in the 1760s felt that those who had been granted land on the western ‘mountain side’ in Saratov province were fortunate – not only because the soil was better than on the eastern ‘meadow’ side, but also because they were not so exposed to dangerous raids by Kalmyk and Nogai horsemen. In their eyes, the river was a dividing line between European civilization and Asian barbarism.</p>
<p>However, the Volga was not simply an east–west, Europe–Asia divide. It was also a meeting place and (to an extent) a melting pot of many different peoples within, first, the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union. Astrakhan became home to Armenian, Persian and Indian traders, all of whom had their own quarters, religious and trading buildings and their own institutions. Kazan is today a Tatar and a Russian city; the countryside to the north, east and west of Kazan is inhabited by Russians, Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples. In the Soviet period, autonomous republics were founded for non-Russian peoples in the 1920s within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and these still exist within the Russian Federation today (with the exception of the short-lived Volga German Autonomous Republic). All the republics, however, contain a significant ethnic Russian population and are important important today for the forging of identities in a new Russia.</p>
<p>The religious composition on the Volga is complex. Finno-Ugric settlers originally followed shamanistic beliefs, although many converted, at least nominally, to Orthodoxy after they became subjects of the Russian Empire. The ruler and the elite in Khazaria probably converted to Judaism sometime in the early ninth century. Kalmyks in the south and south-east of the Volga were Buddhists (the only Buddhists in Europe). The Bolgar state, the Golden Horde and the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan were, or became, Muslim. The Russian and Soviet states were conscious of the potential threat of Islam in the Volga region from the time of the conquest of Kazan in 1552. The history of the Volga is, in part, the history of (often forced) conversion to Orthodoxy by the Russian government and the reaction to this of the local inhabitants. In many cases, the conversion process was incomplete or, in the case of Islam, could be reversed. The remoteness of much of the Volga countryside attracted Old Believers – that is, schismatics from the Russian Orthodox Church who did not accept the changes in liturgy and practice in the middle of the seventeenth century. Eighteenth-century German settlers could be Catholic or Protestant. Settlements on the river Volga were a microcosm of the ethnic and cultural complexity of the Russian Empire and the Soviet state, and this study will examine the relationships between different groups of people on the Volga, and between non-Russians and the government.</p>
<p>The river Volga played a key role in the creation and evolution of early ‘states’, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The importance of trade and strategic access to the Volga and the Caspian Sea led to rivalry and conflict between Khazaria and the Bolgars and Kievan Rus; and then between the Golden Horde (and its successor khanate in Kazan) and Moscow and other Rus principalities in what is now European Russia. After the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan, the tsars of Russia took the title ‘tsar of Kazan and Astrakhan’ (and Siberia), as well as ‘tsar of all Russia’. From this time on, Russia can be considered an ‘empire’, although the western title of ‘emperor’, rather than tsar, was only taken by Peter I in 1721. The middle and lower Volga regions were the first significant non-Russian and non-Christian lands where the Russian Empire had to establish and exercise control. In many ways, they provided a testing ground, and then a model, for imperial (and to an extent Soviet) policies towards non-Russian peoples.</p>
<p>The major Cossack revolts of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were in effect Volga revolts, as the rebel armies of Stenka Razin and Emelian Pugachev sailed up and down the river and sacked important Volga towns. Settlements on both banks of the Volga were ransacked by nomadic nomadic tribesmen from the east and the south. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the region was beset by rural and urban resistance and revolt. The imperial government and the Soviet state responded by suppressing rebellious subjects and strengthening their administrative control, but also by intensifying their cultural and educational presence in the region. Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union were to an extent shaped by the experiences of ruling over lands acquired in the sixteenth century on the Volga.</p>
<p>The Volga became a crucial point of conflict in the twentieth century, and was central to the establishment and survival of the Soviet state. The river, and several key Volga towns, played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the Russian Civil War in 1918–22. Samara became, briefly, the centre of resistance to the new Soviet state, and towns on the middle and lower Volga were of vital strategic significance for both Whites and Reds. The failure of the White armies to join up on the river Volga largely determined the outcome of the Civil War. In the Second World War, the battle of Stalingrad was pivotal in the defeat of the German army and the survival of the Soviet Union. Both at the time and since it has been projected as the greatest of all ‘patriotic’ sacrifices made by the Soviet people. The river Volga at Stalingrad was regarded in 1942–43 as the key boundary, the Rubicon, which the Germans must not cross. Part of the enormous memorial complex of the battle shows German soldiers only crossing the river as defeated and demoralized prisoners of war.</p>
<p>Finally, the Volga became the subject of poetry, literature and art, and helped shape a sense of Russian identity through a shared experience of the river. Late-eighteenth-century odes to Catherine II both glorified the river and also ‘tamed’ it to honour the ruler. In the nineteenth century, writers, artists and tourists fully ‘discovered’ the Volga as something unique and special to Russia and all Russians. The Volga became ‘Mother Volga’ and the protector of the Russian people. The ‘gloomy grandeur’ of the Volga, as Bremner put it in the opening quotation of this chapter, was also, however, a common theme in Russian poetry, literature and art. The famous painting by Ilia Repin, Barge Haulers on the Volga, uses this image to depict the exploitation and suffering of ordinary people in late tsarist Russia. The battle of Stalingrad reinforced the special importance of the river as a barrier that protected the Soviet state and all its people, Russian and non-Russian, from those who wished to destroy them, and this was reflected in contemporary poems and popular songs.</p>
<p>The change from regarding the river as the border with the ‘other’ (Asia) to adopting it as a symbol of Russianness within Russia is in part a reflection of the evolution of a Russian identity, in which the Volga played a significant part. However, it is also the river of many non-Russian peoples, and features in poetry and prose by non-Russians, as well as by Russians. The Volga today plays as important a part in the identification of Tatars in Tatarstan as ‘Volga Tatars’ and as descendants of the Bolgar state, as it does in Russian identity.</p>
<p>The river is of crucial importance to all those who live on its banks, but also to the Russians and non-ethnic Russians who have lived within the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The river, in the words of the popular ‘Song of the Volga’ in the 1938 film Volga, Volga, was:</p>
<p>Mighty with water like the sea,<br/>And just as our motherland – free.</p>
<p><em>Excerpted from “The Volga: a History of Russia’s Greatest River” by Janet M. Hartley, published by Yale University Press. Copyright © 2021 Janet M. Hartley. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Footnotes have been removed to ease reading.</em></p>
<p><em>For more information about Janet M. Hartley and her book, see her publisher’s site<span> </span><a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300245646/volga">here.</a></em></p>
<p><em>LINK: <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/06/the-volga-a-history-of-russias-greatest-river-a74106">https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/06/the-volga-a-history-of-russias-greatest-river-a74106</a></em></p>
</div>
6 female rulers who deserve more recognition
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-05-31:6363372:Topic:3521851
2020-05-31T21:24:45.480Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<h1 class="c-post-hero__title" style="text-align: center;">6 female rulers who deserve more recognition</h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Even today, the highest position of executive power is only </span><a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1058345/countries-with-women-highest-position-executive-power-since-1960/">held by a woman in 16 countries</a><span>. Yet throughout history — dating back to the early civilization of Sumer — women have been making moves to speak up, fight…</span></p>
<h1 class="c-post-hero__title" style="text-align: center;">6 female rulers who deserve more recognition</h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Even today, the highest position of executive power is only </span><a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1058345/countries-with-women-highest-position-executive-power-since-1960/">held by a woman in 16 countries</a><span>. Yet throughout history — dating back to the early civilization of Sumer — women have been making moves to speak up, fight back, and take action, continuing the millenniums-long battle for gender equality in leadership.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>From <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/hatshepsut">Hatshepsut</a> in ancient Egypt and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Queen-of-Sheba">Queen of Sheba</a> in southwestern Arabia to <a href="https://www.biography.com/royalty/catherine-ii">Catherine the Great</a> of Russia and British royals like <a href="https://www.biography.com/royalty/queen-elizabeth-i">Queen Elizabeth I</a>, <a href="https://www.biography.com/royalty/queen-elizabeth-ii">QEII</a>, and <a href="https://www.biography.com/royalty/queen-victoria">Queen Victoria</a>, many female rulers have carved out their place in history — yet so many other greats made major strides but remain overlooked. Here's a glimpse at six of the strongest women who have ruled.</span></p>
<h2 id="elizabeth-of-russia" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth of Russia</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/05/Elizabeth_of_Russia_by_L.Caravaque_-1750-_GRM-.jpg" alt="Portrait of Elizabeth of Russia "/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>The second daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth of Russia (</span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-empress-of-Russia">born Yelizaveta Petrovna in 1709</a><span>) remained relatively quiet on the sidelines during the reigns of her father (who ruled from 1682 to 1725), her mother Catherine (from 1725 to 1727), her half-nephew Peter II (1727 to 1730), and Anna, daughter of Peter the Great's co-ruler and half-brother Ivan V (1730 to 1740). However, when Anna's niece stepped in as Russia’s regent for her infant son Ivan VI, Elizabeth (Ivan VI's first cousin twice-removed; Russian royal lineage can be tricky!) </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anna-regent-of-Russia">staged a palace coup</a><span> in 1741 and became empress.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Elizabeth immediately made bold moves, like ridding of the government cabinet councils and bringing back the Senate system her father had established. While many of her acts were reminiscent of her father’s reign, she also paved new ground, founding Russia’s first university in Moscow and an arts academy in St. Petersburg, as well as building the Winter Palace. But perhaps her greatest act was in May 1744 when she <a href="https://www.rbth.com/society/2014/06/11/the_ultimate_sentence_where_do_russians_stand_on_capital_punishment_37375.html">demanded all the state prisons cease executions</a> without a royal decree, requiring detailed reports of each prisoner on death row. While this didn’t formally abolish the death penalty, not a single person was executed during her 21-year reign from 1741 to 1761.</span></p>
<h2 id="queen-tomyris-of-massagetae" style="text-align: center;">Queen Tomyris of Massagetae</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/05/Tomiris_crop.jpg" alt="Painting from the 1600s of the Head of Cyrus Brought to Queen Tomyris"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Among the many paintings hanging in the <a href="https://www.hrp.org.uk/hillsborough-castle/whats-on/red-room/#gs.5b8kkk">Red Room of Hillsborough Castle</a> in Northern Ireland is an oil canvas from the 1600s titled "<a href="https://www.rct.uk/collection/402606/the-head-of-cyrus-brought-to-queen-tomyris">The Head of Cyrus Brought to Queen Tomyris</a>." In it, Persian king Cyrus the Great’s severed head is being forced to drink human blood, literally at the level of Tomyris’ feet. The queen’s triumphant moment symbolizes the victory of the Central Asia nomadic tribe of Massagetae over Persia across the river — a storied part of ancient history, which has cemented her lasting reputation as the “bad-ass Queen of the Steppes,” as <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/red-sonja-relaunches-at-dynamite-entertainment-february-1162632">described</a> by "Red Sonja" comic book artist Mark Russell.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>While many tales of Cyrus’ death have been told over the years, it’s generally believed he died <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cyrus-the-Great">around 529 B.C.E.</a> under the direction of Tomyris, who was merely trying to protect her dominion. After conquering Babylon, Cyrus turned his focus on Massagetae and how to best outsmart Tomyris. His first attempt: offering to marry her. But she saw right through that. Outraged, he started building ways to get across the river, but Tomyris is <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/tomyris.asp">said to have responded</a>, “Be content to rule in peace your own kingdom, and bear to see us reign over the countries that are ours to govern.”<br/>Cyrus refused to give up and captured her son Spargapises in a bloody surprise attack to which <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/tomyris.asp">she retorted</a>: “Restore my son to me and get you from the land unharmed, triumphant over a third part of the host of the Massagetai. Refuse, and I swear by the sun, the sovereign lord of the Massagetai, bloodthirsty as you are, I will give you your fill of blood.” And with that threat, Tomyris's army defeated Cyrus's and she made that promise come true.<br/></span></p>
<h2 id="queen-salamasina-of-samoa" style="text-align: center;">Queen Salamasina of Samoa</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/05/iStock-1174754721.jpg" alt="A fale tele (big house) on the island of Savai'i, the westernmost and largest in Samoa"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>The male-dominated society of Samoa seemed like an unlikely place for a female ruler in the 15th century, but that was exactly what happened when Salamasina </span><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25168934?seq=1">was given</a><span> the “highest office in the western islands of Samoa.” But the traditions were so well-steeped that several scholars have even referred to her as a “son” of Tuia‘ana Tamaalelagi.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Her reign came to be as a complex maneuvering of titles through bloodlines, some which were even strategized before her birth. Her adopted grandmother was set on making her <em>tupu o’Samoa</em> — the ruler of all Samoa. “One day she said, ‘This is it. This is the girl who can bring Samoa together,’” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4lLlFcDjyE">a historian explained</a> in a Tagata Pasifika documentary "Women of Power in the Pacific." And once Salamasina had attained all four titles of the highest titles (tuiaana, tuiatua, gatoaitele, tamasoali’i), that made her a tafa’ifa — a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=CfXPH_gof_cC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=tafa%E2%80%99ifa+highest+position&source=bl&ots=d1FL4BQ9f8&sig=ACfU3U2FvsmTb13LS8z7o7ex-mmYP77Z3A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt7KKzqp3pAhXOHM0KHQ8EAlUQ6AEwDXoECA0QAQ#v=onepage&q=tafa%E2%80%99ifa%20highest%20position&f=false">rare title</a> that amounted to her being a queen.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>While born into the role, she used it to ignite one of Samoa’s most peaceful periods — 60 years without warfare. “She united [the islands of] Upolu and Savai’i in one person, so to speak,” another <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4lLlFcDjyE">historian said</a>. “She also perhaps united Samoa as a people and Tonga, connected the royal lineages of two societies.”</span></p>
<h2 id="queen-boudica-of-britain" style="text-align: center;">Queen Boudica of Britain</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/05/iStock-184994005.jpg" alt="Historic public Statue of Queen Boudicca at the foot of Big Ben in London"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Married to Prasutagus, the king of Iceni (where modern Norfolk and Suffolk are), the Celtic queen </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boudicca">Boudica</a><span> is thought to have been born around 30 C.E. to a well-to-do family. When Romans took over southern England in 43 C.E., Prasutagus was allowed to continue ruling, as long as he remained an ally. Upon his death in 60 C.E., both his kingdom and his family’s land were taken by the Romans since he didn’t have any male heirs. To make matters worse, Boudica was publicly flogged and her daughters were raped.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>But Boudica was a trained warrior, unwilling to stand aside and watch this injustice and violence. “Nothing is safe from Roman pride and arrogance,” <a href="https://www.history.com/news/who-was-boudica">she said</a>. “They will deface the sacred and will deflower our virgins. Win the battle or perish, that is what I, a woman, will do.” And around 60 C.E., she led a revolution against the powerful Roman Empire.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Against the odds, she defeated the Roman Ninth Legion and destroyed Camulodunum, the center of Roman Britain, as well as Londinium (present-day London) and Verulamium. But in the end, the Roman forces were just too strong. Boudica and her daughters are thought to have taken poison to avoid surrendering, but she has lived on as a British heroine for nearly two millennium.</span></p>
<h2 id="princess-enheduanna-of-akkad" style="text-align: center;">Princess Enheduanna of Akkad</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/05/iStock-184352113.jpg" alt="Euphrates river with ancient ruins on left"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>More than 4,000 years ago, </span><a href="https://www.vpr.org/post/timeline-enheduanna-akkadian-priestess#stream/0">Enheduanna</a><span>, the daughter of the world’s first emperor Sargon the Great, was given an essential task as the high priestess of the ancient city of Ur at the mouth of the Euphrates River: She had to find a way to to unite the various city-states of Sumer, which her father had conquered in the 24th and 23rd centuries B.C.E.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>The priestess title meant that she was also the empire’s supreme religious leader, tasked with joining those who worshiped the Sumerian goddess Inanna, to those of her father’s deity, Ishtar. And the Akkadian princess found the most <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/article/190/enheduanna---poet-priestess-empire-builder/">innovative way</a> to do so — with words.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>As the first known poet, Enheduanna had such a way with her <a href="http://classicalarthistory.weebly.com/library/enheduanna-poems">verses and prayers</a> that she’s seen as one of the most influential figures in religion, literature, and politics, making her “really powerful, and not just in a political domain," as St. John’s University art history professor Amy Gansell <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/03/powerful-women-ancient-history-cleopatra-artemisia-enheduanna-egypt-greece-mesopotamia/#close">told "National Geographic</a>." "Ritual supports politics and vice versa." According to the <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/article/190/enheduanna---poet-priestess-empire-builder/">Ancient History Encyclopedia</a>, Enheduanna "was able to identify the different gods of the differing cultures with one another so strongly that the gentler and more localized Sumerian goddess Inanna came to be identified with the much more violent, volatile and universal Akkadian goddess Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven."</span></p>
<h2 id="-king-tamar-of-georgia" style="text-align: center;">“King” Tamar of Georgia</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/05/Tamar_crop.jpg" alt="A color reproduction of the 1895 lithograph depicting Queen Tamar of Georgia."/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>“I have long been fascinated by King Tamar,” </span><a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2010/07/143972.htm">Hillary Clinton said</a><span> at a Town Hall with Georgian Women Leaders in 2010 when she was Secretary of State. “And some … may not know that King Tamar was a woman who led what is referred to as the Golden Age in Georgia.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Indeed, the only daughter of the nation of Georgia’s King Giorgi was <a href="https://www.history.com/news/spurned-women-who-triumphed-over-their-royal-husbands">Tamara</a> (also called Tamar), whom he made a co-ruler in 1178 (she took over completely after his 1184 death). While she was often referred to as — and continues to be called — “King Tamar,” this female ruler was a prime example of standing up for women’s rights. Forced into an abusive marriage, she divorced her first husband, Prince George Bogolyubski of Kiev and sent him into exile. When he recruited a rebel army to take her down, she triumphed once again."</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>After her 1213 death, she was made a <a href="https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2007/05/01/101261-right-believing-tamara-queen-of-georgia">saint</a> in the Orthodox Church for leading one of the greatest periods in the nation’s history.<br/><br/></span></p>
My Memories of Original Lemuria
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2018-12-20:6363372:Topic:3450302
2018-12-20T22:57:22.412Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<h1 class="entry-title" style="text-align: center;">My Memories of Original Lemuria</h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="30+ Great environments concept art and illustrations" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4f/98/81/4f988151f0fc3ac524ea4fc52321c37e.jpg"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Stu asked me to talk more about my personal memories of Lemuria so thank you Stu. I talked a bit about this in the Introduction of<span> </span><em>A Lightworker’s Mission: The Journey Through Polarity Resolution,<span> </span></em>but will add more here.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The first thing I need you to understand…</p>
<h1 class="entry-title" style="text-align: center;">My Memories of Original Lemuria</h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4f/98/81/4f988151f0fc3ac524ea4fc52321c37e.jpg" alt="30+ Great environments concept art and illustrations"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Stu asked me to talk more about my personal memories of Lemuria so thank you Stu. I talked a bit about this in the Introduction of<span> </span><em>A Lightworker’s Mission: The Journey Through Polarity Resolution,<span> </span></em>but will add more here.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The first thing I need you to understand about my personal memories of Lemuria is that it is a “past life” memory, but one that was on Earth (Lemuria) prior to when it became dense enough to be<span> </span><strong>physical.</strong><span> </span>In other words, my past life memories of Lemuria are from its creation point at a higher non-physical level and not a much later physical dense time that more people remember and can relate to. I remember being one of the involuting souls (intentionally moving away from Source to create and learn within its creations) who created sections of original Earth/Lemuria as it too involuted vibrationally. Things always start at higher non-physical levels first, and then spread out/down/in or wherever the creators intend.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">My Lemurian past life memories started as a young child in this life, having an intense passion about water and being a creature that lived underwater in THE most beautiful place you can imagine. Sounds like a child’s fantasy doesn’t it? Some children’s “fantasies” are just like their “imaginary friends” that no one else can see or remember and are based on actual past life memories and inter-dimensional contacts and communications with non-physical beings/entities/ETs/Starbeings/Angelics/energies etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">As a young child in this life I longed and ached for some ancient magical and much-loved place where I had been a creature that could live under the water. It was terribly frustrating as a child not being able to exist underwater like I remembered in this<span> </span><em>other place, time, and state of being.</em><span> </span>With time I remembered more about this pre-physical past life and these frustrations dissipated. What I realized I remembered was my having been a non-physical being who—with many other non-physical beings just like me—were busily creating what would become Earth and the first non-physical landmass on it—the original Motherland (totally Goddess consciousness and energy and nothing else), the original etheric and very large continent of Lemuria. Over a very long time the Earth and Lemuria became increasingly dense vibrationally, to the point where they did become solid 3D objects within physicality but that was much, much later.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Now that you clearly understand that my memories are from the<span> </span><strong>etheric and NOT yet physical </strong>phase of Earth/Lemuria, I’ll share what little bits and pieces I have remembered about it. I remember being a non-physical being—what much later might be called or thought of as a Merperson—who worked creating and building the waterways on etheric Earth/Lemuria. (This bit of information is for the astrologers who may be reading this. I have Pisces ASC and this I believe has been my soul sign or soul imprint during this long, creative journey away from Source. It is also why I was a natural at being able to create the water locations within original etheric Lemuria. Some of you reading this may have been the others who created and built the mountains, the trees, the rocks, the atmosphere and who have Fire, Earth, Air signs as your ASC.)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">I remember having an intense passion to create the water and waterways for Lemuria. I remember building ethereal rivers, lakes, streams, grottos, and also working on parts of the Earth’s oceans. Most of my memories however where of creating waterways and water systems in the continent itself and not the vast oceans of the planet. Others did only that. I’ve remembered existing in non-physical water as this non-physical being during the creational etheric stage of manifesting Lemuria on what would become Earth, and also later living there myself as this Merperson (half water Elemental and half humanoid). This is hard to discuss, only because we’re talking about interdimensional beings who themselves had not as yet entered lower dense states of physicality. So my “body” during this so-called past life was a non-physical body existing within a not yet physical world and reality. It is just as “real”, just as legitimate, and even more important than some other past lives within dense 3D physicality I’ve had and remembered, and yet, many people would consider what I’m saying or claiming as sheer bullshit or delusional fantasy crap.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Just like on a large and complex physical construction site, there are plenty of professional construction workers who specialize in only what they do; laying foundations, plumbing, electrical lines, heating/cooling, framing, walls, flooring, lighting and so on. At higher dimensional non-physical levels the etheric creating and construction of Earth and its first to be inhabited continent Lemuria, was created in much the same way. We each built what we were ourselves, what we were highly specialized in, which allowed the<span> </span><em>construction site<span> </span></em>to be created by individuals who were the best for each layer, each section, each Element of the entire planetary project.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Eventually the whole etheric construction site was finished and ready for the first etheric inhabitants to move in, and so we did. I remember this phase of my past life on etheric Lemuria and seeing the incredibly diverse lifeforms who were living there at that time. I remembered beings that were not humanoid at all but more like Elemental beings, different strange combination’s of Elemental and animal and humanoid, ET/Starbeings who hadn’t fully descended vibrationally enough at that point to take on a new energy matching form/body/environmental suit and so, they looked much like they did prior—they looked like etheric Starbeings and Lightbeings. It was a<span> </span><em>very</em><span> </span>long time at this etheric, not yet physical stage for Earth/Lemuria and it was beautiful beyond belief. It was the first<span> </span><em>H</em><em>eaven on Earth<span> </span></em>and it was total Goddess-ness; all Goddess consciousness which means it was all Nature, all at-one-with Nature, each other and the planet. It was bliss, and yet, it was meant to eventually devolve energetically into a fully dense\ 3D physical planet and physical continent. I have vague memories of hundreds of thousands of years later, incarnating in a more dense and stable Earth/Lemurian body or environmental suit into a more dense and physical Lemuria , but not much can match my original memories and deep love for my life within the etheric layer of creating Lemuria’s waterways.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The whole planet and its now fractured continents is nothing similar to what the original Motherland of Lemuria looked like as it was huge. But, when I see images or maps on TV or online now of the “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean, that whole area and much more inland around it was the original Lemuria. Much, much, much later within the physical phase of Lemuria, groups of Lemurians began desiring more than what Goddess consciousness gave them. In other words, the involution and evolutionary progression was continuing and the first beginning manifestations of polarity or polarization within physicality began with this Lemurian group separating themselves away from the original Lemuria Motherland and Goddess (and Nature) consciousness. Atlantians and Atlantis was born out of original Lemuria and they eventually began expressing the polar opposite consciousness and energies. They became the great scientists and intellectuals and were much more male-like energetically than the female-like Goddess consciousness and heart energies. I’m not saying better or worse or “good/bad” here, only involution further into density, creativity, polarization and learning within physicality on Earth. We’ve all most likely been both Lemurians and Atlantians so we would be well-rounded from a soul level.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">To me the important thing to realize about Mother Lemuria and Father Atlantis, is that it was the first manifested form of polarity on Earth and within the humans that lived on her! Right brain, left brain, heart vs. intellect, Nature vs. man trying to control it. It was a process that we all very much wanted to learn and create within, and now here we all are at the tail-end of this incredibly long journey down into dense, polarized, 3D physicality,<span> </span><em>ascending<span> </span></em>or shifting back up and out of dense polarized bodies/consciousness/planet/reality! Damned impressive don’t you think? <span> </span> Yeah,<span> </span><em>“…what a long, strange trip it’s been…”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Now let’s finish this original Lemurian, and later Atlantian Project up by pondering some of the end results of this massive planetary journey into and back out of. I usually perceive great, massive concepts and knowings as wildly simple symbols and this one is no different. Here’s what I see, what I know about all of this from a higher simplified level.</p>
<p><strong>1</strong></p>
<p><strong>2</strong></p>
<p><strong>3</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">That’s it! We were 1 (unified) but desired to experience being 2 (seemingly separate from Source and eventually also polarized and dense) and so we did. Now we’re working and struggling via the Ascension Process to turn this whole thing/planet/humanity/reality around and get ourselves put back together again and hang out for a good long while in a new higher NON-polarized place with some lofty High Heart views. We desire to unify the 1 and 2 and create anew as new beings 3,<span> </span><em>because of what we’ve experienced, learned and created while within the 1 and the 2!</em><span> </span>Honestly, for a moment I ask you to sit and ponder what you and I can now create simply because of this Journey we’ve been on. What do you sense we can now create and experience within the 3 being 3’s now ourselves? That is the really magnificent question, the really magnificent potential before us now because we’ve <em>ascended or evolved</em><span> </span>into the 3 state of unity after our Grand Journey out of it and back again…but now with important and hard earned new tools.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Denise</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">April 12, 2010</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://deniselefay.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/2012-deeper-level-energetic-scouring-of-humanity-earth-the-collective/h-8/" rel="attachment wp-att-18681"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-18681" alt="" src="https://deniselefay.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/teal-purple-copyright.jpg?w=60&h=60"/></a>Copyright © Denise Le Fay and TRANSITIONS, 2010-2013. All Rights Reserved. You may copy and redistribute this material so long as you do not alter it in any way, the content remains complete, credit is given to the author and you include this copyright notice and link. <span> </span><a href="https://deniselefay.wordpress.com/">https://deniselefay.wordpress.com/</a></em></p>
<p></p>
In 1990 A Boy Found 176,500 Yr Old Relics In A Cave That Completely Changed How We See Neanderthals
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2018-12-07:6363372:Topic:3447775
2018-12-07T19:41:01.299Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/structures-inside-bruniquel-cave.jpg"></img></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong>In 1990 A Boy Found 176,500 Year Old Relics In A Cave That Completely Changed How We See Neanderthals</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em> …</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/structures-inside-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong>In 1990 A Boy Found 176,500 Year Old Relics In A Cave That Completely Changed How We See Neanderthals</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em> </em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SRV9Vod0Ejo?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>A group of enthusiastic explorers squeeze their way down a dark, damp and extremely narrow tunnel before stumbling into a cave full of glistening stalactites and mighty stalagmites. Still, they pause for a moment, sensing that something is not quite right. And it’s true: these amazing structures have an astonishing secret to reveal.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><img alt="Image: Jules78120" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bruniquel-in-the-aveyron-valley.jpg"/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>When Bruno Kowalczewski’s father noticed a delicate breeze emerging from rocks in the Aveyron Valley in the south of France, the teenage boy was more than a little intrigued. And for the next three years, he became obsessed with digging through the loose rocks and stone chippings, hoping to reveal the source of the mysterious wind.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><img alt="Image: IHA" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/another-view-of-the-aveyron-valley.jpeg"/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>By February 1990, moreover, the 15-year-old Kowalczewski had succeeded in digging a narrow passage almost 100 feet long. Members of the SSAC, an archaeological caving club based in Caussade, France, were the first to make their way through the tiny opening and explore what lay beyond.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Amazingly, they found themselves emerging in a large cave. There were signs that bears had once been there, too, and animal bones were scattered across the floor. Truly, this was an incredible find.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><img alt="Image: Phillip Capper" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/aveyron-valley.jpg"/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Amazingly, they found themselves emerging in a large cave. There were signs that bears had once been there, too, and animal bones were scattered across the floor. Truly, this was an incredible find.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/inside-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>About 1,100 feet in, though, the cave opened up into a massive chamber. Looking up, the party saw hundreds of impressive stalactites hanging from the ceiling. But it was the stalagmites around their feet that really stopped the explorers in their tracks.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/animal-bones-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Portions of the natural mineral deposits had been broken off and purposely arranged in two circular patterns. To the astonished cavers, they looked like giant rings. The remains of fires were also evident in the cave, and a pile of burned bones was found nearby. It was unquestionably the work of human hands.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/stalactites-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Now the cave had actually lain unexplored since a landslide during the Pleistocene era sealed the entrance and cut it off from the outside world. And when Kowalczewski rediscovered it tens of thousands of years later, it was dubbed Bruniquel Cave after a nearby walled village.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/exploring-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>The first people to explore the cave soon realized that they were on to something big, so they contacted archaeologist Francois Rouzaud from DRAC Midi-Pyrénées. As Rouzaud began to research the cave and its mysterious stalagmite structures, then, the first indications of just how special this discovery was soon began to emerge.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cavers-inside-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>In total, 400 pieces or so of broken stalagmites were arranged around the cave, making up two loose circles. There was a large arrangement, around 22 feet in diameter, and another, smaller circle measuring around six and a half feet across.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/stalagmite-structure-inside-bruinquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Each ring was made up of anything between one and four layers of broken pieces, with more resting lengthwise against the layers as a means of support. Additionally, there were four separate piles of stalagmites, half of them in the interior of the ring, half of them exterior to it.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/stalactites-and-stalagmites-inside-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Throughout the structures were traces of fire, too, with many of the pieces blackened and burned. This, combined with the uniform way in which the pieces had been selected and stacked, convinced experts beyond doubt that the structures were deliberately built by humans. Yet it was just the first of many startling revelations to emerge from Bruniquel Cave.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bones-inside-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Rouzaud decided to send a burned bear bone discovered at the site for testing – and when the results arrived, he was flabbergasted. Carbon dating suggested that the bone was 47,600 years old, making the stacked stalagmite pieces far older than any cave art ever discovered.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/researchers-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Incredibly, though, that wasn’t the most impressive thing about the discovery. If the age of the bone did indeed match the date of the site’s construction, it would mean that the stalagmites were broken and stacked not by Homo sapiens, but by their predecessors, the Neanderthals.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/close-up-of-stalagmites-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Sadly, Rouzaud did not live to see his research completed. He died of a heart attack in 1999, and as a result, work at Bruniquel Cave was brought to a halt. Things didn’t then pick up again until more than a decade later, when paleoclimatologist Dr. Sophie Verheyden from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences found herself on vacation in the region.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/broken-stalagmites-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Having seen a display about the stalagmite structures in a local castle, Verheyden knew that she had to take a closer look. As a result, she enlisted the help of another stalagmite expert, Dominique Genty, and archaeologist Jacques Jaubert, among others. Together, they began their own research at the site in 2013.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/measuring-animal-bones-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Verheyden knew that scientific techniques had moved on since Rouzaud made his startling discovery. Whereas he had used carbon dating to roughly work out the age of a piece of bone, moreover, Verheyden’s team thought they might get more accurate results by studying the stalagmites. To do this, then, they extracted samples from the stalagmite stumps and pieces, measuring the uranium content present in the rock before and after the break. This allowed the team to gain an accurate idea of when the structures were built.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ancient-claw-marks-in-clay-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Ultimately, the researchers concluded that the site was an amazing 176,500 years old – and without a doubt the work of Neanderthals. “When I announced the age to Jacques,” Verheyden told The Atlantic in May 2016, “he asked me to repeat it because it was so incredible.”</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bones-and-stalagmites-in-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Previously, Neanderthals were thought to have been a savage and unsophisticated species that died out to make way for the superior Homo sapiens. However, the discovery of these structures – thought to have served a ritualistic purpose – has forced researchers to accept that they may have been far more advanced than anyone suspected.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bear-bones-from-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>Their presence away from the entrance of the cave indicates that humans from this period had already mastered the underground environment, which can be considered a major step in human modernity,” Jaubert told The Telegraph in May 2016. “We believe that we are providing evidence of the capacity of Neanderthals to enter a hostile, underground environment, using fire to light the way, to do things that go beyond mere survival.”</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span><img alt="Image: SSAC" src="http://s15858.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/detail-from-bruniquel-cave.jpg"/></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>The discovery is part of an ongoing scientific movement hoping to change people’s perception of Neanderthals as a brutish, inferior species. Modern researchers are revealing instead that – perhaps surprisingly – they were creative, intuitive and capable of far more than</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
ALIEN GODS | The Demiurge, Anununaki with Graham Hancock - Humanoids
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2018-11-30:6363372:Topic:3446839
2018-11-30T18:35:23.796Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong>Are the gods we know actually ALIEN GODS? The Demiurge, Anununaki with Graham Hancock - Humanoids</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LKJXtq2bWAA?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong>Are the gods we know actually ALIEN GODS? The Demiurge, Anununaki with Graham Hancock - Humanoids</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LKJXtq2bWAA?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</strong></span></p>
Why Pygmies Evolved to Be So Short
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2018-11-07:6363372:Topic:3442079
2018-11-07T22:31:29.859Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L9ZsQv53S_A?wmode=opaque" width="560"></iframe>
<img alt="a view of a large mountain in the background: File photo. The Amazon rainforest" src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBPqsOi.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"></img></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Why Pygmies Evolved to Be So Short</span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Human populations living in the rainforests of Bolivia and Malaysia appear to have evolved to be short in order to navigate the dense vegetation, scientists have…</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L9ZsQv53S_A?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<img alt="a view of a large mountain in the background: File photo. The Amazon rainforest" src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBPqsOi.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"/></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Why Pygmies Evolved to Be So Short</span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Human populations living in the rainforests of Bolivia and Malaysia appear to have evolved to be short in order to navigate the dense vegetation, scientists have discovered.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>People with the human pygmy phenotype are found across the globe, normally in tropical regions. Adult males are normally less than 5 feet 2 inches in height. Recent research has shown their short stature is the result of convergent evolution—where different populations evolve the same trait because of the similar environment in which they live. However, it is not entirely clear what the adaptive benefit of being so short is.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>In one of the first studies to look the human pygmy phenotype for its benefits, researchers examined two short-statured populations who forage in the rainforests. These were the Batek of Peninsular Malaysia and the Tsimane of the Bolivian Amazon. Their findings are published in the <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2018.1492" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</a>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Vivek Venkataraman, from Harvard’s Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, and colleagues tested out the hypothesis that specific locomotor constraints—walking ability dependent on step length—would have an impact on evolutionary success in a rainforest terrain. They used theoretical models and field experiments to work out what would be better when foraging in a rainforest.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“The rainforest is one of the most challenging environments on Earth for humans,” Venkataraman told Newsweek. “Rainforests are hot, humid, and structurally dense environments with little food (for humans at least), and lots of pathogens that cause disease. Something about these factors evidently makes it advantageous to evolve short stature.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>She said that it is difficult to study the adaptive benefits because the rainforest is so difficult to work in and because humans live for so long—gathering the data needed to show evolutionary changes would probably involve a long wait.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Instead, the team focused in on the intuitive hypothesis that being short must help people navigate the terrain. “It is highly intuitive—anyone who has trekked off-trail in a rainforest knows how difficult it is,” Venkataraman said. “Especially if you are tall, you feel extremely clumsy. But for people who live in these environments, it seems easy for them to move around. This advantage seems pretty clearly related to how short they are.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Research showed being shorter—therfore having a shorter stride—helped people forage in the rainforest in both Malaysia and Bolivia, indicating the human pygmy phenotype has an adaptive purpose.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Venkataraman says this is just the first step in understanding the benefits of being shorter in a rainforest environment: “The idea for this study came from many hours of walking in the rainforest with these populations and feeling rather incompetent. There are many more avenues to investigate regarding human physiology in rainforests. For example, does small stature enable one to dissipate heat more effectively in a hot, humid, and windless rainforest? It should, on a theoretical basis, but the idea hasn’t been explored yet.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Christina Bergey, from the Department of Anthropology at Penn State University, who was not involved in the research, said the findings turn what was a speculative idea into a testable hypothesis. “They zero in on step length as being key,” she told Newsweek. “It's well known that taller humans have a higher preferred walking speed, which they achieve by taking longer steps. In dense rainforests with tons of obstacles to avoid, the longer stride may be impossible, giving people with shorter legs an advantage.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>She said the paper provides a mechanism linking body size and fitness, while also combining two hypothesis about the evolution of a small body size in rainforests—limited food and locomotion efficiency.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>“I'll be excited to see the work they do in the future on other aspects of gait. I think the evolution of small body size in humans living in rainforests is one of the most striking adaptations in all of human evolution, and it will be interesting to see if this pattern holds true in other species or other human populations that live in habitats with rugged terrain.”</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
3D Ribcage Indicates Neanderthals Looked Nothing Like We Thought
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2018-11-07:6363372:Topic:3442077
2018-11-07T22:24:52.127Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Neanderthal man with spear in hand. " src="https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/field/image/Neanderthal-ribcage.jpg"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<h1 class="title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">3D Ribcage Indicates Neanderthals Looked Nothing Like We Thought</span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>An international team of scientists has completed the first 3D virtual reconstruction of the ribcage of the most complete Neanderthal skeleton unearthed to date, potentially shedding new light on how this ancient human moved and…</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Neanderthal man with spear in hand. " src="https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/field/image/Neanderthal-ribcage.jpg"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<h1 class="title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">3D Ribcage Indicates Neanderthals Looked Nothing Like We Thought</span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>An international team of scientists has completed the first 3D virtual reconstruction of the ribcage of the most complete Neanderthal skeleton unearthed to date, potentially shedding new light on how this ancient human moved and breathed.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The team, which included researchers from universities in Spain, Israel, and the United States, including the University of Washington, focused on the thorax - the area of the body containing the rib cage and upper spine, which forms a cavity to house the heart and lungs. Using CT scans of fossils from an approximately 60,000-year-old male skeleton known as Kebara 2, researchers were able to create a 3D model of the chest - one that is different from the longstanding image of the barrel-chested, hunched-over "caveman." The conclusions point to what may have been an upright individual with greater lung capacity and a straighter spine than today's modern human.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The study is published Oct. 30 in</em><span> </span>Nature Communications .</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>"The shape of the thorax is key to understanding how Neanderthals moved in their environment because it informs us about their breathing and balance," said Asier Gomez-Olivencia, an Ikerbasque Fellow at the University of the Basque Country and the study's lead author.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>And how Neanderthals moved would have had a direct impact on their ability to survive on the resources available to them, said Patricia Kramer, professor in the UW Department of Anthropology and corresponding author on the paper.</em></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"Neanderthals are closely related to us with complex cultural adaptations much like those of modern humans, but their physical form is different from us in important ways," she said. "Understanding their adaptations allows us to understand our own evolutionary path better."</p>
<p></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Our Upright Ancestor?</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Neanderthals are a type of human that emerged about 400,000 years ago, living mostly from what is today Western Europe to Central Asia. They were hunter-gatherers who, in some areas, lived in caves and who weathered several glacial periods before going extinct about 40,000 years ago. Studies in recent years have suggested that <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/new-study-leaves-little-room-doubt-neanderthals-humans-interbred-088978">Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens interbred </a>, because evidence of <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/new-study-suggests-neanderthals-never-went-extinct-001603">Neanderthal DNA has turned up in many populations </a>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Over the past 150 years, <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/new-dna-study-suggests-african-humans-interbred-european-neanderthals-021480">Neanderthal remains have been found at many sites </a>in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. This team worked with a skeleton labeled Kebara 2, also known as "Moshe," which was found in <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-science/more-brutish-grunting-can-one-bone-prove-neanderthal-speech-existed-009939">Kebara Cave </a>in Northern Israel's Carmel mountain range in 1983. Though the cranium is missing, the remains of the young adult male are considered one of the most complete Neanderthal skeletons ever found. Two different forms of dating of the surrounding soil, thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance, put the age at somewhere between 59,000 and 64,000 years.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><img alt="The Neanderthal remains found in the Kebara Cave, Israel. (The Subversive Archaeologist/ CC BY ND 3.0 )" src="https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/The-Neanderthal-remains-.jpg"/></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Discoveries and studies of other Neanderthal remains in the 19th and early 20th centuries gave rise to theories and images of a stereotypical, hunched-over caveman. Over time, further research clarified scientific understanding of many Neanderthal traits, but some debate has lingered over the structure of the thorax, the capacity of the lungs and what conditions Neanderthals might have been able to adapt to, or not.</em></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">New View of Neanderthals From 3D</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Over the past decade, virtual reconstruction has become more commonplace in biological anthropology, Kramer explained. The approach is useful with fossils such as the thorax, where fragile bones make physical reconstruction difficult and risky.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Nearly two years ago, the same research team created a virtual reconstruction of the Kebara 2 spine, the first step in updating theories of Neanderthal biomechanics. The team's paper, published in the book "Human Paleontology and Prehistory," reaffirmed the likelihood of upright posture but pointed to a straighter spine than that of modern humans</em>.</p>
<p></p>
<p><img class="align-center" alt="This image from the virtual reconstruction shows how the ribs attach to the spine in an inward direction, forcing an even more upright posture than in modern humans. Source: Gomez-Olivencia, et al." src="https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/This-image-from-the-virtual-reconstruction-.jpg?itok=MA7XqVcP"/></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">This image from the virtual reconstruction shows how the ribs attach to the spine in an inward direction, forcing an even more upright posture than in modern humans. Source: Gomez-Olivencia, et al.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>For this model of the thorax, researchers used both direct observations of the Kebara 2 skeleton, currently housed at Tel Aviv University, and medical CT scans of vertebrae, ribs and pelvic bones, along with 3D software designed for scientific use. "This was meticulous work," said Alon Barash, a lecturer at Bar Ilan University in Israel. "We had to CT scan each vertebra and all of the ribs fragments individually and then reassemble them in 3D."</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>They then used a technique called morphometric analysis to compare the images of Neanderthal bones with medical scans of bones from present-day adult men.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"In the reconstruction process, it was necessary to virtually 'cut' and realign some of the parts that showed deformation, and mirror-image some of those that were not so well-preserved in order to get a complete thorax," said Gomez-Olivencia</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The reconstruction of the thorax, coupled with the team's earlier finding, shows ribs that connect to the spine in an inward direction, forcing the chest cavity outward and allowing the spine to tilt slightly back, with little of the lumbar curve that is part of the modern human skeletal structure. "The differences between a Neanderthal and modern human thorax are striking," said Markus Bastir, senior research scientist at the Laboratory of Virtual Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History in Spain.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>"The Neanderthal spine is located more inside the thorax, which provides more stability," said Gomez-Olivencia. "Also, the thorax is wider in its lower part." This shape of the rib cage suggests a larger diaphragm and thus, greater lung capacity.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">"The wide lower thorax of Neanderthals and the horizontal orientation of the ribs suggest that Neanderthals relied more on their diaphragm for breathing," said senior author Ella Been of Ono Academic College. "Modern humans, on the other hand, rely both on the diaphragm and on the expansion of the rib cage for breathing. Here we see how new technologies in the study of fossil remains is providing new information to understand extinct species."</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FbAptAnrwN8?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>What that means for how Kebara 2 lived is ripe for further research, Kramer said. How did Neanderthals breathe, and for what physical demands might they have needed powerful lungs? What does that tell us about how they moved, and the environment in which they lived? Did any of these physical traits make them more or less adaptive to climate change?</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Reconstructing the thorax was an exercise in starting from scratch, deliberately trying to avoid being influenced by past theories of how Neanderthals looked or lived, Kramer said.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>"Thinking through all the permutations of the different fragments, it was like a jigsaw without all the pieces. What do the pieces tell us?" she said. "People have told you it should be a certain way, but you want to make sure you're not over-reconstructing, or reconstructing it the way you think it should be. You're trying to maintain a neutral approach."</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Other authors of the study were Daniel Garcia-Martinez of the National Museum of Natural History and Mikel Arlegi, of the University of the Basque Country.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Top image: Neanderthal man with spear in hand. Source :<span> </span></em><em><a title="See the complete portfolio of ginettigino" href="https://www.fotolia.com/p/204954676" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">ginettigino</a><span> </span>/ via Fotolia</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The article, originally titled ‘<span> </span></em><em>Neanderthal ribcage reconstructed, offering new clues to ancient human anatomy<span> </span></em><em>’ was first published on<span> </span></em><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181030121921.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><em>Science Daily<span> </span></em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>Source:</em></strong><em><span> </span>University of Washington. "Neanderthal ribcage reconstructed, offering new clues to ancient human anatomy." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 October 2018.<span> </span><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181030121921.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181030121921.htm</a></em></p>
What Do You Think These Mysterious Objects Were Made For?
tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2018-06-18:6363372:Topic:3406838
2018-06-18T00:03:50.793Z
RobertO DurantE
https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/RobertODurantE
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;"><span style="color: #171717; text-align: right;">Human history and pre-history cover such a broad expanse of time that it would be unrealistic to think we could ever know everything about the past, however much we might want to. Yet, for many people, this thought only increases their curiosity about the things our ancestors got up to. And of all the historical mysteries that there have been, the following 6 are probably the…</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;"><span style="color: #171717; text-align: right;">Human history and pre-history cover such a broad expanse of time that it would be unrealistic to think we could ever know everything about the past, however much we might want to. Yet, for many people, this thought only increases their curiosity about the things our ancestors got up to. And of all the historical mysteries that there have been, the following 6 are probably the most fascinating of all. If you have any theories about what these incredible objects were used for, please let us know, because we haven't got a clue!</span></span></p>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 2.666667rem;">1. Giant Stone Spheres of Costa Rica</span></strong></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="tm-emailbody-likes-wrapper" style="width: 97.3333%;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/0b000b55-803b-41bc-abaf-c40f99d47a96.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto;" border="0"/></span></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">In 1930 in the Costa Rican jungle, workers were busy clearing the area for a banana plantation when they saw these perfectly spherical stones. Originally people suspected that they contained gold inside, so someone put this to test by blowing them up with dynamite. Unfortunately, they were empty.</span></p>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="tm-emailbody-likes-wrapper" style="width: 97.3333%;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/ff678ff2-bd61-4e5b-8080-a0daf7459e68.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto;" border="0"/></span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">No one has any idea who made these balls, or for what purpose. One theory posits that they symbolize celestial bodies, another suggests they might have served as boundaries. What do you make of these clearly ancient objects?</span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px; text-align: center;"><div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong><span style="font-size: 2.666667rem;">2. The Baghdad Battery</span></strong></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/356b807e-8119-49e0-9de9-fda15ca6a562.jpg" border="0"/></div>
</div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">Again in the 1930s, though this time in Baghdad, Iraq, archeologists uncovered this foot long jar which contained an iron rod, a copper cylinder, and another iron rod within that. Experts determined that this artifact was a Mesopotamian battery that produced an electrical current of 1 volt. Some suggest this battery was used for electroplating gold, yet this is merely a guess. Another mystery is why this technology fell into disuse until modern times.</span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px; text-align: center;"><div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong><span style="font-size: 2.666667rem;">3. The Voynich Manuscript</span></strong></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/a2591019-e7ac-4a79-a6eb-99e7a6e50a4c.jpg" border="0"/></div>
</div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">The Voynich manuscript is the single most impenetrable book in the world. For starters, we don't know who wrote it, where, why, and in what language. No one knows what it is about, nor what the various symbols and pictures are meant for. </span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px; text-align: center;"><div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/74632d06-78d6-4bd3-9253-ed7a752a9fc4.jpg" border="0"/></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">In literary history, there have been several such examples of writers using codes that only a select few people could understand, some of which have been deciphered by modern cryptographers (such as Samuel Pepys' diaries). Yet this book looks set to remain silent forever, unless you or someone else can crack the code.</span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong><span style="font-size: 2.666667rem;">4. Golden Incan Figurines</span></strong></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="tm-emailbody-likes-wrapper" style="width: 97.3333%;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/7af3c728-6571-4a33-9294-5493b2ec69c7.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto;" border="0"/></span></div>
</div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">These golden figurines were created by Incans, but we don't actually know what they were for. The curious thing about the mysterious animals is that they appear to be aeronautically constructed. A theory which was tested in 1996 by German model aircraft builders, Peter Belting and Algund Eeboom.</span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="tm-emailbody-likes-wrapper" style="width: 97.3333%;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/a093a05b-bf05-4666-869c-0cb479f71367.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto;" border="0"/></span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">What they did was build to scale replicas that they could fit with engines and a radio-control piloting system. Then they flew them to see how they would perform. They were delighted to see that they flew perfectly and that they could remain airborne and perform maneuvers even with the engines turned off. So, it seems that by accident or design, the Incans crafted artifacts that were able to 'fly'.</span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong><span style="font-size: 2.666667rem;">5. Genetic Disk</span></strong></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="tm-emailbody-likes-wrapper" style="width: 97.3333%;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/d51cbc80-a19a-4946-8fe5-4420dde885e4.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto;" border="0"/></span></div>
</div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">This 6,000-year-old ancient disk was discovered in Colombia by Professor Jamie Gutierrez. It is made out of a hard basaltic rock, called lydite. Its mysterious symbols depict, in order, the sequence of human birth. With sexual images, to begin with, the wheel then shows sperm, egg cells, a fertilized egg, and the various stages of fetal development. How this could even be possible so many years prior to the invention of the microscope is impossible to say. Understandably, many have been quick to label it a patent fraud, yet without any evidence, much less proof.</span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><strong><span style="font-size: 2.666667rem;">6. The Antikythera Mechanism</span></strong></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="tm-emailbody-likes-wrapper" style="width: 97.3333%;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/85a19bb1-09ac-473d-8114-448eb3c128d6.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto;" border="0"/></span></div>
</div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">This object is said to be the oldest analog computer in human history, predating the invention of the clock by thousands of years. It was perhaps built between 150 and 100 BC, though some place it earlier in 205 BC. Its existence was first proved when it was discovered from a shipwreck off the Greek island Antikythera in 1901. </span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;"><img alt="mystery objects, " class="img-responsive no-like" src="http://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2017/1/19/da793326-3b4a-4ae8-88e3-51d1e5aacefa.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto;" border="0"/></span></div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 2.222222rem;">Experts now believe the machine was used to predict astronomical positions and key events like eclipses and the Olympiads. Though the mechanism is a work of genius, apparently Greek theory was not adequate enough to help produce an accurate machine. According to Freeth and Jones, "It didn't work very well." Still, it's shocking to think that the Greeks were well on their way to constructing machines before this knowledge was totally lost and future scientists had to start again from scratch.</span></div>
</div>
</div>