8,000-Year-Old Neolithic Temple Discovered at Saudi Port Town
The Saudi Heritage Commission has unveiled the archaeological discoveries made by a Saudi-international scientific team at the site of Al-Faw, located on the edge of Al-Rub’ Al-Khali (the Empty Quarter), south-west of Riyadh.
Visitors walk outside the tombs at the Madain Saleh antiquities site, al-Ula, Saudi Arabia February 10, 2019. Stephen Kalin, Reuters
A Saudi-led multinational team of archaeologists conducted a comprehensive survey of the site using state-of-the-art technology.
The study leveraged high-quality aerial photography; guided drone footage utilizing ground control points; a topographic survey; remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar; laser scanning; and geophysical survey, as well as extensive walkover surveys and sondages throughout the site, reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Experts used photography, drone topographic surveying and geophysical surveying to discover the findings.
The survey has yielded several discoveries, the most significant of which are the remains of a stone temple and parts of an altar, where the locals of Al-Faw would have practised their rituals and ceremonies.
The rock-cut temple sits on the edge of Mount Tuwaiq, known as Khashem Qaryah, east of Al-Faw.
Rock drawings found etched on Tuwaiq Mountain depict daily activities, including hunting, travelling, and fighting.
Moreover, the remains of 8,000-year-old Neolithic human settlements have been discovered along with 2,807 graves of different periods dotted throughout the site, which have been documented and classified into six groups.
Several devotional inscriptions were found throughout the grounds, enriching our understanding of the religious belief system of the community that inhabited the site. Among these is the inscription in the Jabal Lahaq sanctuary addressed to the god Kahal, the deity of Al-Faw.
The significance of the inscription lies in its attribution to a family from the city of Al-Jarha and referring to the ancient name of the place where the sanctuary was built (Mount Tuwaiq).
The inscription indicates a relationship between the cities of Al-Faw and Al-Jarha – most likely commercial considering Al-Faw’s location on the ancient trade route. It may also imply either religious tolerance between residents of the two cities, or the worship of Al-Faw’s deity, Kahal, by some of the residents of Al-Jarha.
Though Al-Jarha was known for its wealth and economic power, its location has not yet been definitively identified, and several scholars associate it with the site of Thaj.
The discovery offers valuable data regarding the geographical distribution of Al-Faw’s sanctuaries, as well as revealing the foundations of four monumental buildings, some with corner towers. Their architecture, internal plans, and open-air courtyards suggest their use as resting places for trade caravans.
The archaeological study further uncovered a complex irrigation system, including canals, water cisterns, and hundreds of pits, dug by the residents of Al-Faw to bring rainwater to the agricultural areas. This may explain how the inhabitants of these lands overcame and adapted to the arid climate and minimal rainfall of one of the world’s harshest desert environments.
Extensive surveys and remote-sensing images have revealed several agricultural fields used to grow various crops to sustain residents.
Discoveries include a series of rock art and inscriptions carved on the face of Mount Tuwaiq, narrating the story of a man named Madhekar bin Muneim, and illustrating daily scenes of hunting, travel, and battle.
Fieldwork at Al-Faw had first been initiated by King Saud University in the 1970s in a study supervised by Prof. Abdulrahman Al-Ansari, lasting for over 40 years. The study uncovered many cultural aspects of the site, notably the residential and market areas, temples, and tombs. The results of these archaeological activities were later published in seven book volumes.
The new findings are a result of the Heritage Commission’s ongoing efforts to study, protect and preserve the nation’s cultural heritage sites. Research at the site will continue to build a greater understanding of the cultural landscape of Al-Faw archaeological area.
Oldest DNA from domesticated American horse lends credence to shipwreck folklore
An abandoned Caribbean colony unearthed centuries after it had been forgotten and a case of mistaken identity in the archaeological record has conspired to rewrite the history of a barrier island off the Virginia and Maryland coasts.
This tooth is all that remains from one of the first horses introduced to the Americas, and its DNA is helping rewrite the history of one of the best-known horse breeds in the United States: The Chincoteague pony.
These seemingly unrelated threads were woven together when Nicolas Delsol, a postdoctoral researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History, set out to analyze ancient DNA recovered from cow bones found in archaeological sites. Delsol wanted to understand how cattle were domesticated in the Americas, and the genetic information preserved in centuries-old teeth held the answer. But they also held a surprise.
“It was a serendipitous finding,” he said. “I was sequencing mitochondrial DNA from fossil cow teeth for my Ph.D. and realized something was very different with one of the specimens when I analyzed the sequences.”
That’s because the specimen in question, a fragment of an adult molar, wasn’t a cow tooth at all but instead once belonged to a horse. According to a study published this Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, the DNA obtained from the tooth is also the oldest ever sequenced for a domesticated horse from the Americas.
An unexpected opportunity
Nicolas Delsol was originally sequencing ancient DNA from cow teeth preserved in archaeological sites when he realized one of his specimens actually belonged to a horse.
The tooth was excavated from one of Spain’s first colonized settlements. Located on the island of Hispaniola, the town of Puerto Real was established in 1507 and served for decades as the last port of call for ships sailing from the Caribbean. But rampant piracy and the rise of illegal trade in the 16th century forced the Spanish to consolidate their power elsewhere on the island, and in 1578, residents were ordered to evacuate Puerto Real. The abandoned town was destroyed the following year by Spanish officials.
The remnants of the once-bustling port were inadvertently rediscovered by a medical missionary named William Hodges in 1975. Archaeological excavations of the site led by Florida Museum distinguished research curator Kathleen Deagan were carried out between 1979 and 1990.
Horse fossils and associated artefacts are incredibly rare at Puerto Real and similar sites from the time period, but cow remains are a common find. According to Delsol, this skewed ratio is primarily due to the way Spanish colonialists valued their livestock.
“Horses were reserved for individuals of high status, and owning one was a sign of prestige,” he said. “There are full-page descriptions of horses in the documents that chronicle the arrival of [Hernán] Cortés in Mexico, demonstrating how important they were to the Spanish.”
In contrast, cows were used as a source of meat and leather, and their bones were regularly discarded in communal waste piles called middens. But one community’s trash is an archaeologist’s treasure, as the refuse from middens often confers the clearest glimpse into what people ate and how they lived.
The specimen’s biggest surprise wasn’t revealed until Delsol compared its DNA with that of modern horses from around the world. Given that the Spanish brought their horses from the Iberian Peninsula in southern Europe, he expected horses still living in that region would be the closest living relatives of the 500-year-old Puerto Real specimen.
Instead, Delsol found its next of kin over 1,000 miles north of Hispaniola, on the island of Assateague off the coast of Maryland and Virginia. Feral horses have roamed freely across the long stretch of a barrier island for hundreds of years, but exactly how they got there has remained a mystery.
Folklore meets science
According to the National Park Service, which manages the northern half of Assateague, the likeliest explanation is that the horses were brought over in the 1600s by English colonists from the mainland in an attempt to evade livestock taxes and fencing laws.
Others believe the feral herds descended from horses that survived the shipwreck of a Spanish galleon and swam to shore, a theory popularized in the 1947 children’s novel “Misty of Chincoteague.” The book was later adapted to film, helping spread the shipwreck legend to an even wider audience.
Until now, there has been little evidence to support either theory. Proponents of the shipwreck theory claim it would be unlikely that English colonists would lose track of valuable livestock, while those in favor of an English origin of the herds point to the lack of sunken vessels nearby and the omission of feral horses in historical records of the region.
The results of the DNA analysis, however, unequivocally point to Spanish explorers as being the likeliest source of the horses on Assateague, Delsol explained.
“It’s not widely reported in the historical literature, but the Spanish were exploring this area of the mid-Atlantic pretty early on in the 16th century. The early colonial literature is often patchy and not completely thorough. Just because they don’t mention the horses doesn’t mean they weren’t there.”
The feral herds on Assateague weren’t the only horses to revert back to their wild heritage after arriving in the Americas. Colonists from all over Europe brought with them horses of various breeds and pedigrees, some of which bucked their bonds and escaped into the surrounding countryside.
Today, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management estimates there are roughly 86,000 wild horses across the country, most of which are located in western states, such as Nevada and Utah.
Delsol hopes that future ancient DNA studies will help decode the complex history of equine introductions and migrations that occurred over the last several centuries and offer a clearer understanding of today’s diversity of wild and domesticated horses.
Remains of Mongol Summer Palace Investigated in Turkey
Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered the remains of an ancient palace that may have belonged to Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan. The site in eastern Turkey’s Van province, in the Çaldıran district, is currently being excavated.
Scientists are seen at the archaeological excavation site of what may be Hulagu Khan’s palace in Van, Turkiye. Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, is believed to have built a summer palace in the 1260s.
Hulagu Khan, a Mongol warlord who lived from about 1217 to 1265, achieved military renown for leading several expeditions, including the sack of Baghdad in 1258.
After the Mongol Empire splintered in 1259, Hulagu Khan became the ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanid State in the Middle East, which at its height included territory in what is now Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Dagestan, and Tajikistan.
Historical sources state that during the 1260s, Hulagu Khan built a summer palace in Çaldıran.
An aerial view of the archaeological excavation site of what may be Hulagu Khan’s palace in Van, Turkiye. Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, is believed to have built a summer palace in the 1260s.
The newly discovered ruins have yet to be definitively identified as the lost residence, but the excavation team, led by Ersel Çağlıtütuncigil of the Izmir Katip Çelebi University Turkish-Islamic Archeology Department, is optimistic about the site, where scholars have unearthed shards of glazed ceramics and pottery, porcelain, bricks, and roof tiles.
The researchers, who are working under Turkey’s General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, believe this could be the first known architectural remains of the Ilkhanid State.
“No Ilkhanid work has been encountered until now. In this sense, this study was a first. It excited us and our friends from Mongolia,” Çağlıtütuncigil told Turkish publication the Daily Sabah.
Scientists are seen at the archaeological excavation site of what may be Hulagu Khan’s palace in Van, Turkiye. Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, is believed to have built a summer palace in the 1260s.
Important clues pointing to Hulagu Khan’s ownership are a number of “‘s’-like symbols on the roof-ending tiles” known as the “svastika pattern or tamga,” Munkhtulga Rinchinkhorol, a Mongolian Academy of Sciences archaeologist working on the dig, told Live Science.
“[That is] one of the power symbols of the Mongol Khans.”
The site, which appears to have been heavily looted, also contains the remains of a caravanserai, one of the travellers’ inns that would have dotted the Silk Road trade route.
Through further excavations, researchers hope to uncover the church that historical sources say Hulagu Khan built for his wife.
Human skeletons, and relics found in Pingtung date back 4,000 years: Archaeologists
Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Archaeologists in Taiwan confirmed Wednesday that a large number of human skeletons and shell tools unearthed in Pingtung County are about 4,000 years old, which makes the shell tool site the oldest in the Pacific region.
Human skeletons, and relics found in Pingtung date back 4,000 years: Archaeologists
Chiu Hung-lin (邱鴻霖), an associate professor at National Tsing Hua University’s (NTHU) Institute of Anthropology, said he and his team had learned about the site in Eluanbi Park on the southern tip of Taiwan in 2017, when work began on a project to convert the dilapidated shops in the area into green structures.
The project was halted when the contractor found shell tools, human skeletal remains and slate coffins in a shallow site in the park, Chiu told CNA.
He said the Kenting National Park Headquarters then commissioned the NTHU team, led by him and Professor Li Kuang-ti (李匡悌), to excavate the site.
Between 2019 and 2021, the team unearthed a large number of relics and artefacts, including 51 skeletons, 10 of which were buried in slate coffins with coral funeral objects, Chiu said.
Fishing hooks are found among the shell tools. Source: National Tsing Hua University’s Facebook page @nthu.tw
Among the findings were several finished and unfinished shell tools, as well as relics that indicated it was a site for making those tools, which provided proof that the early inhabitants of Eluanbi used “unique” shell-crafting techniques, Chiu said.
The site also offered insights into the funeral customs of the people in those times, he said, adding that anthropologists could also make new discoveries by studying the human remains found at the site.
The skeletal remains and shell tools date back about 4,000 years, which means it is the oldest shell tool site found on any island in the Pacific region, Chiu said, adding that it was also the largest.
Meanwhile, the discovery of an archaeological site on a commercial project has negatively affected the livelihood of the local residents, Chiu said, calling on authorities to find a balance between development and the preservation of cultural heritage sites.
He also urged the local government to address the issue of proper facilities for the exhibition of the artefacts so that people can learn about the archaeological and historical value of the findings.
Coupled with the renovation of the shops, this would help to boost Pingtung’s tourism and the income of its residents, Chiu said.
Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago In China
Although we still cannot accurately predict earthquakes, we have come a long way in detecting, recording, and measuring seismic shocks. Many don’t realize that this process began nearly 2,000 years ago, with the invention of the first seismoscope in 132 AD by a Chinese inventor called Zhang (‘Chang’) Heng.
The device was remarkably accurate in detecting earthquakes from afar and did not rely on shaking or movement in the location where the device was situated.
The ancient Chinese did not understand that earthquakes were caused by the shifting of tectonic plates in the Earth’s crust; instead, the people explained them as disturbances with cosmic yin and yang, along with the heavens’ displeasure with acts committed (or the common peoples’ grievances ignored) by the currently ruling dynasty.
Considering the ancient Chinese believed seismic events were important signs from heaven, it was important for the Chinese leaders to be alerted to earthquakes occurring anywhere in their kingdom.
Zhang Cheng was an astronomer, mathematician, engineer, geographer and inventor, who lived during the Han Dynasty (25 – 220 AD). He is credited with developing the world’s first earthquake detector. Zhang’s seismoscope was a giant bronze vessel, resembling a samovar almost 6 feet in diameter.
Eight dragons snaked face-down along the outside of the barrel, marking the primary compass directions. In each dragon’s mouth was a small bronze ball. Beneath the dragons sat eight bronze toads, with their broad mouths gaping to receive the balls.
The exact mechanism that caused a ball to drop in the event of an earthquake is still unknown. One theory is that a thin stick was set loosely down the centre of the barrel.
An earthquake would cause the stick to topple over in the direction of the seismic shock, triggering one of the dragons to open its mouth and release the bronze ball.
The sound of the ball striking one of the eight toads would alert observers to the earthquake and would give a rough indication of the earthquake’s direction of origin.
In 138 AD, the sound of the bronze ball dropping caused a stir among all the imperial officials in the palace. No one believed that the invention actually worked.
According to the direction in which the dragon that dropped the ball was oriented, it was determined that the quake had occurred to the west of Luoyang, the capital city. Since no one had sensed anything in Luoyang proper, people were sceptical.
However, a few days later, a messenger from the western Long region (today, southwest Gansu province), which was west of Luoyang, reported that there had been an earthquake there. As it happened exactly the same time that the seismometer was triggered, people were greatly impressed by Zhang Heng’s instrument.
In 2005, scientists in Zhengzhou, China (which was also Zhang’s hometown) managed to replicate Zhang’s seismoscope and used it to detect simulated earthquakes based on waves from four different real-life earthquakes in China and Vietnam.
The seismoscope detected all of them. As a matter of fact, the data gathered from the tests corresponded accurately with that gathered by modern-day seismometers!
Today, from an advanced modern science and technology point of view, the seismometer Zhang Heng invented is still considered amazingly refined and remarkable and way ahead of its time.
Oopart (out of place artefact) is a term applied to dozens of prehistoric objects found in various places around the world that seem to show a level of technological advancement incongruous with the times in which they were made.
Ooparts often frustrate conventional scientists, delight adventurous investigators open to alternative theories, and spark debate. In a mysterious pyramid in China’s Qinghai Province near Mount Baigong are three caves filled with pipes leading to a nearby salt-water lake. There are also pipes under the lake bed and on the shore.
The iron pipes range in size, with some smaller than a toothpick. The strangest part is that they may be about 150,000 years old.
Dating done by the Beijing Institute of Geology determined these iron pipes were smelted about 150,000 years ago, if they were indeed made by humans, according to Brian Dunning of Skeptoid.com.
And if they were made by humans, history, as it is commonly viewed, would have to be re-evaluated.
The dating was done using thermoluminescence, a technique that determines how long ago crystalline mineral was exposed to sunlight or heated. Humans are only thought to have inhabited the region for the past 30,000 years.
Even within the known history of the area, the only humans to inhabit the region were nomads whose lifestyle would not leave any such structures behind.
The state-run news agency Xinhua in China reported on the pyramid, the pipes, and the research began by a team of scientists sent to investigate in 2002.
Though some have since tried to explain the pipes as a natural phenomenon, Yang Ji, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua the pyramid may have been built by intelligent beings.
He did not dismiss the theory that ancient extraterrestrials may be responsible, saying this theory is:
“understandable and worth looking into… but scientific means must be employed to prove whether or not it is true.”
Another theory is that it was built by prehistoric humans with techniques lost to humans of a later period.
The pipes lead into a salty lake, though a twin lake nearby contains freshwater. The surrounding landscape is strewn with what Xinhua described as “strangely shaped stones.” Rocks protrude from the ground like broken pillars.
The head of the publicity department at the local Delingha government told Xinhua the pipes were analyzed at a local smeltery and 8 per cent of the material could not be identified. The rest was made up of ferric oxide, silicon dioxide, and calcium oxide.
The silicon dioxide and calcium oxide are products of long interaction between the iron and surrounding sandstone, showing the ancient age of the pipes. Liu Shaolin, the engineer who did the analysis, told Xinhua:
“This result has made the site even more mysterious. Nature is harsh here,” he said. “There are no residents let alone modern industry in the area, only a few migrant herdsmen to the north of the mountain.”
To further add to the mystery, Zheng Jiandong, a geology research fellow from the China Earthquake Administration told the state-run newspaper People’s Daily in 2007 that some of the pipes were found to be highly radioactive.
Other Theories
Jiandong said iron-rich magma may have risen from deep in the Earth, bringing the iron into fissures where it would solidify into tubes. Though he admitted,
“There is indeed something mysterious about these pipes.”
He cited radioactivity as an example of the strange qualities of the pipes. Others have said iron sediments may have washed into the fissures, carried with water during floods.
Though Xinhua and other publications in China have referred to a pyramid or even a mysterious pyramid in which the pipes were found, some have said it was a pyramid-shaped natural formation. Another theory is that the pipes are fossilized tree roots. Xinmin Weekly reported in 2003 that scientists found plant matter in an analysis of the pipes, and they also found what looked like tree rings.
The article related the finding to a geological theory that in certain temperatures and under certain chemical conditions, tree roots can undergo diagenesis (transformation of soil into rock) and other processes that can produce iron formations.
Reports on the tree-root explanation for the so-called Baigong pipes often lead back to this Xinmin Weekly article or lack citation. It’s unclear exactly how well-supported this theory is in relation to the Baigong pipes.
An article published in the Journal of Sedimentary Research in 1993 describes fossilized tree roots in South Louisiana in the United States.
Hollow Earth: The Forbidden Land Of Agartha And The Thule Secret Society
In 1943, German Navy Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz stated that the German submarine fleet had “built for the Führer an impregnable fortress at the other end of the world,” in the region of Queen Maude’s Land, Antarctica, later renamed Neuschwabenland. According to German naval archives, two months after Germany surrendered to the Allies in April 1945, the German submarine U-530 left the Port of Kiel bound for Antarctica.
Once the submarine arrived at the South Pole, 16 members of its crew were ordered to construct an ice cave in the region of Neuschwabenland. The German U-boat then entered the Argentinean port of Mar-del-Plata and surrendered to authorities.
In August 1945, one month and seven days after the surrender of U-530, U-977 also entered the waters of Mar-del-Plata and surrendered to authorities.
In 1946, Operation Highjump commenced as part of the U.S. Naval Antarctic Developments Project, organized by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. The task force consisted of over 40 ships, including two destroyer class vessels and the aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Philippine Sea, and a number of planes that were outfitted with a trimetricon (a secret spying camera), a magnetometer (to record any magnetic anomalies), and the recently developed jet-assist takeoff bottles (JATO) which helped with takeoffs from the short runway on an aircraft carrier or for takeoffs on hard ice. It has been long thought by researchers that the Navy’s mapping story was nothing more than a cover to shield the real operation. They were looking for the underground Nazi base (Base-211) that warehoused German Vril flying discs known as flugscheiben and Thule mercury-powered spaceship prototypes also known as jenseitsflugmaschines.
In 1947, Admiral Richard Byrd said:
“The project was necessary for the USA to take defensive actions against enemy fighters which come from the polar regions.”
Was he referring to potential Soviet aircraft or Nazi Luftwaffe attacking the States from Antarctica? He never clarified. Shortly after Admiral Byrd’s press conference the Soviet naval journal, Red Fleet, stated that:
“US measures in Antarctica testify that American military circles are seeking to subject the Polar Regions to control and create permanent bases for their armed forces.”
In another odd twist, the governments of New Zealand, Australia and Chile asked for their militaries to join the Operation Highjump expedition but were denied participation. In 1948, a second task force named Operation Windmill was also sent to take photographs of Neuschwabenland, again supposedly for mapping purposes. Although they apparently succeeded in their task, the government has yet to make these photos available to the public and no reason has ever been given for their nondisclosure.
Some believe that the reason the photos have never been released is that this military operation was actually a reconnaissance and recovery mission. In 1949 Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, a close friend of Admiral Byrd, was sent to stay at Bethesda Naval Hospital. He began to discuss Operation Highjump with the hospital staff, talking wildly about UFOs, Atlantis, and an underground Nazi city. He was denied visitors, including his wife, and shortly afterwards “fell” out of his hospital window to his death.
Actual pictures of Vril flying saucers
The official report said that he committed suicide but persistent rumours say that he was murdered by government agents to keep him from talking further about what was really found in the Antarctica wilderness during Operation Highjump. The entire truth of the matter may never come to light, but what is known is that numerous U.S. military personnel surprisingly lost their lives during Operation Highjump; a supposed mapping operation that should have been an entirely safe endeavour. Also, multiple planes were downed during the operation, including the George One which, according to Naval documents, mysteriously “just blew up” over the ice during its initial flight in Antarctica. According to British Intelligence, we know that advanced, stealth foo fighters and Vril flying saucer-shaped craft were developed and tested at the German Institute for Aerial Development.
Another motive associated with Nazi involvement in Antarctica is that it was rumoured to be the entrance to the lost Aryan homeland of Thule. While Antarctica has been linked to the lost continent of Atlantis, the linkage to Thule is less apparent. Thule (also known as Thula, Thyle, Thila, Tila, Tyle, or Tylen, among other cognates) was first written about by the Greek explorer Pytheas after his travels between 330 BC and 320 BC. In 150 AD, Greek writer Antonius Diogenes wrote The Wonders Beyond Thule. While of literary interest, this work did little to reveal any secrets about Thule. In medieval geographies, Thule was referred to an as a distant place located beyond the “borders of the known world.” Occult mystics believe in historical Thule (also referred to as Hyperborea) as the ancient origin of the Aryan race.
Just what was the US military doing in Antarctica in 1946 and 1947? Were they on a routine mapping mission or were they engaging remnant Nazi fighters with advanced alternative technology?
Did the Nazis truly build a military base in the Antarctic or hide vast amounts of gold there in hopes of funding a future effort to resurrect the Fourth Reich? Or did they, as some claim, discover the lost land of Atlantis or Thule?
We may never know for sure, but in 2001 the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Support Office for Aero-geophysical Research confirmed the existence of a magnetic anomaly on the eastside shore of Lake Vostok in Antarctica, consistent with a man-made construct. More recently, in October 2006, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography reported that they discovered several previously unknown lakes of water underneath the vast ice sheet of Antarctica. These lakes lie beneath 2,300 feet of compressed snow and ice. Could this anomaly be part of an underground Nazi base that U.S. agents searched for during Operation Highjump? Something has indeed been discovered in Antarctica. One of the questions that begs to be asked is did the Nazis find, whatever it is, first?
A book published in 1978, called Secret Nazi Polar Expeditions, relates how the Germans had taken a ship with a small airplane on it that they launched from their ship after reaching the ice near Antarctica.
It flew over the ice to Antarctica, presumably on a scouting flight, and then back to the ship. But the book didn’t say anything about what it supposedly found or what the Nazi party elite believed was an entrance to the inner (hollow) earth.
An interesting document has recently surfaced obtained by a Joe Watson of Talkeetna, Alaska.
Mr. Watson claims it is a copy of a letter written on 2 March 1985 in the German language from a German submarine crewman who was on board. In it is given certain coordinates for their mission, which apparently was to travel to the center of the earth. Their submarine was called U-209 under Captain Heinrich Brodda. The image below is a copy of the original hand-written letter from Karl Unger, crew member of the German U-209, as well as an English translation (click to enlarge).
In it, Karl confirmed that the earth was indeed hollow and that they had successfully reached the inner inhabited earth in the German U-209 submarine after World War II had destroyed Germany.
The letter was sent to his friend here on the surface world who gave a copy of it to a Mr. Woodard, who gave a copy to Joe Watson. Karl had sent the letter from the hollow earth through a German colony in Brazil that had found a cavern that reaches to the hollow earth many years previous. This German colony in Brazil is documented in Genesis For a New Age, having supposedly discovered the cavern entrance back in the 1500’s. When one does a search at the German archive website looking for information on the missing U-209 German submarine, it shows that the submarine was indeed reported missing.
On July 5, 1943 was it’s last reported position between Greenland and Iceland at coordinates 52°00’N-38°00’W. The report said the Commander of the submarine was Heinrich Brodda.
In addition, documents obtained by the soviets at the close of WW2 recently surfaced which shows a 1944 map from the Third Reich detailing not only the direct passageway used by German U-boats to access this subterranean domain, but also a complete map of both hemispheres of the inner realm of Agharta, the mythical name of the inhabited subterranean world.
If that seems too unbelievable, compare with those maps, this map done by the famed Tyrolean cartographer and artist Heinrich C. Berann for the National Geographic Society beginning in 1966.
The following map clearly shows the continent of Antarctica without its cover of ice:
The intriguing detail here is that there are underwater passageways that run nearly the entire length of the continent and seem to converge at the exact location identified as the opening into the deep inner or subterranean earth.
Below is a translation of the Top Secret instructions and specific detailed directions left for the Nazi U-boat Captains to follow in order to reach the inner-world kingdom of Agartha.
In his groundbreaking bestseller Map of the Ancient Sea Kings, Charles Hapgood (1904-1982), History Professor at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, first put forth the theory that Atlantis resided in Antarctica and was destroyed by crustal displacement.
In his bestseller, When The Sky Fell: In Search of Atlantis, Rand furthered the idea that under the ice of Antarctica exists the remains of Atlantis. Could they be right?
Beaver fur was a symbol of wealth and an important trade item in 10th Century Denmark, according to a study published July 27, 2022, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Luise Ørsted Brandt of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues.
Written sources indicate that fur was a key commodity during the Viking Age, between 800-1050 CE, but fur doesn’t often survive well in the archaeological record, so little direct evidence is available.
Previous reports have used the microscopic anatomy of ancient fur to identify species of origin, but this method is often inexact. All in all, not much is known about the kinds of furs the Vikings preferred.
Map of studied sites (a) and examples of included fur: b) Hvilehøj C4273-97, fragment 1, c) Hvilehøj C4280c, d) Bjerringhøj C143. Graphics: Luise Ørsted Brandt and Charlotte Rimstad.
In this study, Brandt and colleagues analyzed animal remains from six high-status graves from 10th Century Denmark.
While no ancient DNA was recovered from the samples, perhaps due to treatment processes performed on furs and skins and probably due to preservation conditions, identifiable proteins were recovered by two different analytical techniques.
Grave furnishings and accessories included skins from domestic animals, while clothing exhibited furs from wild animals, specifically a weasel, a squirrel, and beavers.
These findings support the idea that fur was a symbol of wealth during the Viking Age.
The fact that beavers are not native to Denmark suggests this fur was a luxury item acquired through trade.
Some clothing items included fur from multiple species, demonstrating a knowledge of the varying functions of different animal hides, and may have indicated a desire to show off exclusive furs.
The authors note the biggest limiting factor in this sort of study is the incompleteness of comparative protein databases; as these databases expand, more specific identifications of ancient animal skins and furs will be possible.
The authors add: “In the Viking Age, wearing exotic fur was almost certainly an obvious visual statement of affluence and social status, similar to high-end fashion in today’s world.
This study uses ancient proteins preserved in elite Danish Viking burials to provide direct evidence of beaver fur trade and use.”
