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ANCIENTMYSTERIES
FUTURE SCIENCE
UNEXPLAINEDANOMALIES
PUBLISHER & EDITORJ. Douglas Kenyon
CONTRIBUTORSMichael Cremo
Jerry DeckerRalph Ellis
Chance GardnerFrank Joseph
Julie LoarPatrick Marsolek
Brendan D. MurphyMarsha Oaks
Steve RichardsRobert Schoch, Ph.D.
Steven SoraWilliam B. Stoecker
Carly SvamvourJohn White
COVER DESIGNRyan Hammer
GRAPHICSRandy HaraganDenis OuelletteRyan Hammer
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6 Letters
10 AlternativeNews
16 Jerry DeckerImmortality
18 Michael CremoUnexplainedSkeleton in Italy
22 Secrets of theCarolina BaysPiecing Togetherthe Untold Story ofthe Younger Dryas
25 The Russiansand AtlantisIs It Time to Takea New Look atForgotten Reports?
42HiddenChambersin Egypt? The CuriousRevelations of NewHi-Tech Surveys
44Discoveriesfrom MagicalEgypt 2
46The Lost Artsof LevitationCan OvercomingGravity Be Simplerthan We Thought?
48 Astrology
51 DVD
57 Puzzle
o
ofs
s?
42HCiTRH
44DfE
46ToCGt
48 A
51 D
57 P
28 ‘Junk’ DNAor Not?The Genetic Materialthe Experts Rejected
32 Mystery of theTurin ShroudWhat Does All the New Evidence Mean?
34 History of the Turin Shroud Power PoliticsThen and Now
38 The Intolerant Religion ofScientism
41 The Powersof MeditationJust How Far CanYour Mind Take You?
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116116CONTENTSMarch / April 2016
etters 28 ‘Junor N
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The mystery of what lies be-neath the ice of Antarctica
has, for years, been one of themost frequent themes of AtlantisRising Magazine. As recently as2013, our November/Decembercover story “Lake Vostok’s SecretLife” (AR #102) focused onnewly discovered evidence formicrobial life taken from icecores above the massive sub-glacial lake. Some have arguedthat Vostok might still exist as afreshwater body, perhaps be-neath a virtual atmosphericdome of some kind, preservedby geological heat from below.Now a new study in The Journalof Geophysical Research from geol-ogists at Washington Universityin Saint Louis is providing seis-mological evidence for previously unknowngeothermal heat sources beneath the icesheet.
During 2010 and 2011, scientistsrecorded reverberations from widely separatedearthquakes and mapped the seismic veloci-ties beneath the West Antarctic rift valley. Asexpected, the maps show a giant blob of su-perheated rock at one end of the valley, about60 miles beneath Mount Sidley, the last of achain of volcanic mountains in Marie ByrdLand. But, surprisingly, the map also showedvery hot rock beneath the Bentley SubglacialTrench, a deep basin at the other end of therift. The researchers describe the effect as“like a blowtorch.”
As AR has reported there are some in
Northwestern tipof Antarctica(courtesy ofGoogleEarth)
Close-Up of14-mile-long
anomaly
he mystery of what lies be-neath the ice of Antarctica
has, foff r years, been one of themost frff equent themes of Atltt all ntisiiRisi ingn MaM ga ag za ine As recently as
Researchers Turn UpNew Antarctic Puzzles
the alternative science community who be-lieve the Antarctic continent could once havebeen home to Atlantis itself, before a shift ofEarth’s outer skin moved it from temperatezones to its present polar position. In his1958 book, Earth’s Shifting Crust, the late sci-entist Charles Hapgood argued for the possi-bility of such an event. Among thosesupporting his ideas was Albert Einstein.
In the meantime, the recent discovery byindependent researchers using Google Earthof a 14-mile rectangular anomaly resemblinga technological artifact of some kind, isadding new fuel to the fire. You can find theYouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5jGLJmtTzA.
The plot thickens.
Maintenance at a seismic station on Thwaites Glacier.(Credit: Mike Roberts)
ALTERNATIVE NEWS
10 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 116
A..
Number 116 • ATLANTIS RISING 11
Images found on GoogleEarthappear to show two, immense,
and previously unknown, artifi-cial Egyptian pyramids. Accord-ing to the web siteAncient-Code.com, the newlydiscovered location contains a620-ft-wide triangular plateau andtwo nearby pyramids. Larger thanany known structures in Egypt,including the great Pyramid, thepotential pyramids are starting tomake news. If the discoveryholds up, a substantial piece ofEgyptian history may need to berewritten.
First dismissed as natural,the pyramid hypothesis proposedby American researcher AngelaMicol in 2012 is said to be cor-roborated by a number of an-tique maps of the region. Indeed,34 old maps (including three
made by the engineers ofNapoleon) and 12 old docu-ments, mostly from scientists andsenior irrigation officials, in thepossession of an Egyptian couple(one of whom is a former Egypt-ian ambassador to Oman) clearlylabel the formations as pyramids.
For years, investigator An-gela Micol on her website Satel-liteDiscoveries.com has beenusing publicly available satelliteimagery to locate lost ancientsites around the world. Ten yearsago she found a Landsat image ofa remarkable grid in the Bahamaswhich attracted the attention ofresearchers, such as archaeologistWilliam Donato as well as Gregand Lora Little (see “Satellite PicsReveal Strange Grid in Bahamas,”AR #56).
Off icials in Turkey’s Cappadocia regionnow believe the exploration of vast and
complex underground cities found in their re-gion is going to lead to the rewriting ofhuman history. Since their 2012 discovery,the astonishing sites have drawn attentionfrom archaeologists everywhere. So far, overtwo hundred underground cities are reportedbut not yet fully explored. Many more likelyawait discovery. Recent digging has beenunder the guidance of archaeologist Semih Is-tanbulluoglu of Ankara University. In Decem-ber, he told Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News,scientists believe the underground cities willdate to before the Hittites in the second mil-lennium BC, but said this remained to beconfirmed.
To this day nobody really knows the trueextent of the underground cities of the area,but they are substantial. In “The Ancient Sub-terranean Shelters of Cappadocia” (AR #95,
September/October, 2012), Boston Universitygeologist Robert Schoch described two of thecities, “Kaymakli consists of at least eightf loors or underground stories (only four ofwhich are currently accessible), each extend-ing in a labyrinthine manner over a vast area.The city may have supported a population of3,000 to 4,000 people plus farm animals andsupplies, all housed underground. Derinkuyu.with an estimated twenty f loors and extend-ing an estimated 85 meters (280 feet) belowthe surface, may have supported anywherefrom a few thousand to 10,000 people plustheir livestock and goods.” There are reportsof seven-mile tunnels connecting the cities.Cappadocia’s astonishing underground com-plex, Schoch believes, were originally builtaround the end of the last ice age abouttwelve to thirteen thousand years ago, thoughoccupied, in all probability, many times since.
ccoggiohhutthffrff o
Rewriting Historyat Cappadocia
Some of Cappadocia’s settlements are visibleabove ground (Photo,Courtesy of Dr. Robert M.Schoch)
f d G l E th d b th i f
Pyramidal formationsas they appear
on GoogleEarth
Satellites RevealImmense LostEgyptianPyramids
Giant Spirals Found at Angkor Wat
Many recent archaeologicaldiscoveries seem to suggest
that the ancient past we thoughtwe knew, may be but the dyingecho of a much deeper, broader,and, perhaps, grander history,about which we know virtuallynothing. A case in point wouldbe the recent mapping onBritain’s Salisbury plain, on thesite we call Stonehenge, of a vasttemple complex dwarfing thatmonument and which is mucholder (see Frank Joseph’s “TheStartling Debut of Superhenge,”AR #115). The latest case comesfrom Angkor Wat in Cambodia,where, using a new laser scanningtechnology called LiDAR, a mas-sive and mysterious spiral groundplan has been unveiled.
Almost a mile long, thestructure is made up of enor-mous regular and rectangular spi-rals. According to RolandFletcher, a professor from Aus-tralia’s University of Sydney, thespirals are made from banks of
sand. Also uncovered are eight,previously unknown, buriedstone towers.
As for dating the site, ex-perts admit to being a bit uncer-tain, but they believe they werebuilt in the twelfth century atabout the time they think therest of Angkor Wat was built. Aproblem with that idea, is thatthe spirals are intersected by alater canal which is also dated tothe twelfth century. ResearcherGraham Hancock believesAngkor Wat is aligned astronom-ically with stars which indicatethe site, at least in its layout, ismuch older.
The new survey technologyis leading to many astonishingdiscoveries. For a report on star-tling developments from the useof such methods in Egypt, seethe article by Dr. Robert M.Schoch on “Hidden Chamberslm Egypt?” elsewhere in thisissue.
Egypt?e.
Gi S i l F d A k W
Enormous Spiral design in sand photographed with LiDARtechnology beneath vegetation and modern development
trange).
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Continued on Page 59
• BY RALPH ELLIS
False color image of the Carolina Bays using LIDAR height measuring technology. Uniform in shape, the bays line up in the same direction.(Image courtesy: North Carolina Department of Transport, LIDAR Flood Mapping Project.)
ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE
AR height measuring technology. Uniform in shape, the bays line up in the same direction.Carolina Department of TrTT ansport, LIDAR Flood Mapping Project.)
Secrets of the
Carolina BaysThe UntoldStory of theYounger Dryas
There is an enduring mystery fromprehistoric North America, involv-ing geology, astronomy, climatologyand zoology. Unraveling it could tell
us a great deal about our world, its history,its climate, its vulnerability, and possibly evenour future.
This mystery centers on the so-calledCarolina Bays, scattered over, not just theCarolinas, but also Maryland, Virginia, Geor-gia, Kansas, and Nebraska. In fact, the latestsurvey suggests there are more than 500,000Bays across these states. Readers might be ex-cused for asking “Carolina whats?” Despitetheir pivotal role in the formation of NorthAmerica, the Bays are anything but wellknown. The reason they have flown under thepopular education and media radar, is that,to this day, no researchers seem to know justwhat they are. (In the 1970s, German authorOtto Muck, famously argued in his book The Se-cret of Atlantis [English title] that the CarolinaBays were caused by the breakup of an asteroid be-fore crashing into what is now the Caribbean anddestroying what he said was then Atlantis—ED)
The Carolina Bays are elliptical depres-sions in sandy sedimentary lands that rangefrom about 50 yards to 10 miles across. Andthe strangest thing about them is that theyall have the same outline and face in the samedirection. But what could make surface fea-
tures collectively point in the same direction?It was proposed by Professor R.T. Kac-zorowski (“The Carolina Bays: a Comparisonwith Modern Oriented Lakes Technical Re-port no. 13-CRD,” Coastal Research Division,Department of Geology, University of SouthCarolina, Columbia, South Carolina) thatthey were wind formed over hundreds ofyears. But equivalent wind-formed lakes inAlaska are misshapen and lie on low boggyground. The Carolina Bays, by contrast, arevirtually uniform in appearance and arespread across both low and higher ground.
Just why anyone would suggest thatthese enigmatic ‘bays’ were wind formed isperplexing, since they all point towards thesame point of origin. As we have indicated,there are collections of similar patterns in sev-eral states, but they point in many directions.On the other hand, if we track the variousorientations of the Carolina Bays, we find thevast majority point to, and triangulate with,the center of the Great Lakes region.
Initially the bays were deemed to pointtoward the west of the Great Lakes region.But, apparently, none of the experts botheredto adjust the focal point of Bay origins forCoriolis effects—the apparent force thatbends the flight of projectiles in the northernhemisphere to the right. ‘Coriolis’ is causedby the earth’s spin and it effects everything,from the f light of military shells, to the spi-raling of hurricanes, which, in the northernhemisphere, is always counterclockwise.
(The Coriolis force was first stated formally asa mathematical formula in an 1835 paper byFrench scientist Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, in con-nection with his theory of water wheels. The termCoriolis force was first employed in connection withmeteorology early in the twentieth century—ED)
This gaping error in the study of theCarolina Bays was not addressed until about2010, when independent researcher MichaelDavias (http://cintos.org/SaginawManifold/index.html) recalculated the bay orientations,taking into account not only the Coriolisangle change but, also, making a further al-lowance for the impact-drift angle. The result,it would appear, is that all of the many Car-olina Bay populations point to the center ofthe Great Lakes. (Michael Davias: http://cin-tos.org/SaginawManifold/introduction/index.html)
The Younger Dryas Impact The conclusion is that the Carolina Bays
are, in all likelihood, impact-crater depres-sions. Not, however, depressions created di-rectly by an incoming comet or meteorshower, as many of the earlier researchersclaimed, but depressions formed by muchslower secondary projectiles displaced from aprimary impact source in the Great Lakes.The symmetric f lanking arrangement of sec-ondary debris and projectiles on either sideof a primary impact, is a known crater-forma-
Number 116 • ATLANTIS RISING 25See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74
ALTERNATIVE ARCHAEOLOGY
Continued on Page 27
• BY FRANK JOSEPH
Thirty-eight years ago,steel leviathans silently,invisibly stalked eachother in the dark, light-
less depths of the North Atlanticwith nuclear-warhead torpedoes.More than once, their near-missencounters almost made of theCold War a hot one, and unoffi-cial accusations of submarines onboth sides deliberately sunk withall hands, are still around, nearlyfour decades later. Into this fear-some arena and time, stealthilycruised the Moskovsky Universitet,
ostensibly a research ship, as herscholarly name was meant to sug-gest. But it was a small part of herdeception. Only one hundredseventy-eight-feet long and capa-ble of just 11.2 knots, the seven-year-old, former fishing vesselwallowed awkwardly in the oceanswells of autumn 1977. Nearestlandfall was two hundred sixty-f ive miles away at Portugal’sCape St. Vincent, the EuropeanContinent’s westernmost tip.Africa lay three hundred forty-two miles to the southeast, andthe Rock of Gibraltar stood an-other thirty-one miles due east.To the forty-one men aboard, theseas they entered seemed exces-sively remote.
Their purpose, according toRussian officials, “was to studythe sandbanks in the shallow wa-ters of the Mediterranean Sea andof the Atlantic Ocean not farfrom northwest Africa. On boardthe ship as part of the team weregeologists and [marine] biolo-gists. The origin, structure and[animal] population of the sand-banks, the peaks of underwatermountains and of the shallowscomprised the main scientific in-terest of the specialists.” But their“scientific interest” disguisedcovert operations. Among the
It Could Be Time for aFresh Look at Forgotten Reports
Tss
Rttoftgg
bmct“cUnderwater photographer
Vladimir Ivanovitch Marakuyev ,in 1977.
One of the Moskovsky Universitet’s cylindrical anchors, above a rounded,rectangular feature which appears to be part of a small building founda-tion. This is one of Marakuyev’s earliest photographs of the MountAmpere summit, about 200 feet beneath the mid-Atlantic surface.
One of the rectangular “room foundations”(bottom left) observed atdepths of 300 feet on the slopes of Mount Ampere was photographedby Marakuyev during the Moskovsky Universitet expedition.
Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More!32 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 116
THE OTHER SIDE
• BY PATRICK MARSOLEK
The Shroud of Turin is acontroversial and enig-matic Christian artifactthat may be the only
physical object remaining fromJesus’ life. The Shroud was ondisplay in the cathedral inTurin, Italy in 2015 for the firsttime in five years. At its lastshowing in 2010, more than twomillion people personallyviewed it, and images werebroadcast worldwide. Accordingto Christians, this fourteen-foot-long, linen shroud is direct evi-dence of a central tenant ofChristianity, the resurrection.Photos of the image on theShroud—a bearded man lying inrepose complete with woundsand bloodstains—was firstshown to the masses in 1898.
Skeptics claim the relicwas fabricated in medieval Eu-rope. In 1988 some of thethreads were carbon dated tothe thirteenth or fourteen cen-
turies, but these findings arehighly contested among bothbelievers and nonbelievers. Infact, there is also no commonlyagreed upon explanation forhow, using medieval technology,the image could have been cre-ated on the cloth. According toformer Nature editor Philip Ball:“It’s fair to say that, despite theseemingly definitive tests in1988, the status of the Shroudof Turin is murkier than ever.”For many, though, there’s awealth of other evidence point-ing to the notion that theShroud is much older and, in-deed, has a history that is, ifanything, extraordinary.
The Shroud of Turin madeits first undisputed appearancearound 1350 in the possessionof the French Knight, Geoffroide Charny. In 1453, Margaret deCharny deeded the Shroud tothe House of Savoy. In 1578 theShroud was transferred to Turinwhere it was stored and dis-played in the Chapel of theShroud. In 1983, the Shroud
was given to the Holy See andhas since been housed in theTurin Cathedral. As a religiousicon in medieval France, likemany other prized relics, theShroud had a busy life; indeed,it was hung from the walls ofcities, displayed to huge crowds,and even given a gun salute. Itwas also shown to visiting dig-nitaries, the religious elite, andfrequently deployed to bless es-pecially privileged marriages.
The Shroud has not hadan easy life. In 1532, it wasdamaged in a fire in the chapelof Chambéry, when melted sil-ver from the reliquary in whichit was stored burned a symmet-rical mark through the foldedlayers of the cloth. Nuns re-paired the damage with linenpatches. Further repairs weremade in 1694 and in 1868.Most recently, a fire threatenedthe Shroud in 1997. Conse-quently, in 2002 the Holy Seehad the Shroud carefully re-stored, removing the clothbacking and patches from ear-
lier repairs. At this point in timethe cloth was photographed ex-tensively, and, surprisingly, an-other faint body image wasdiscovered on the half of thefabric that was once folded inthe back and had been coveredby the cloth backing. Today thecomplete set of Shroud imagescan be easily found on the In-ternet.
For many historians, thecarbon-dating tests of 1988closed the door on any possibil-ity of the Shroud being of suffi-cient age to have been the iconmentioned in Edessa. But thereare doubts about the reliabilityof its carbon dating. Further in-vestigation of the Shroud deter-mined that some of the earlierburn repairs were very fine; thedated material could have comefrom the newer repaired fibers.All the samples were taken fromthe same spot on the Shroud,and not from several areas as wemight have expected. Moreover,it is argued, contact with manypeople over time could easily
• BY PAPP TAA RICK MARSOLEK
he Shroud of TuTT rin is acontroversial and enig-matic Christian artifaff ctthat mayaa be the only
physical object remaining frff omJ ’ lif Th Sh d
turies, but these fiff ndings arehighly contested among bothbelievers and nonbelievers. Infaff ct, there is also no commonlyagreed upon explanation foff rhow,w using medieval technology,yythe image could havaa e been cre-ated on the cloth. According to
ShroudofTurinThe Mysteries Grow Deeper
32 ATLALL NTIS RISING • Number 116
Textile specialist Mechthild Flury-Lemberg found a a stitching patternsimilar to cloth from the Jewish fortress of Masada, (40 BC. 73 AD.)
Number 116 • ATLANTIS RISING 41See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74
SPIRITUALITY
Continued on Page 68
• BY JOHN WHITE
Life on Planet Earth is threatenedfrom many directions; many respon-sible sources warn of this. There isthe possibility of nuclear, chemical,
and biological warfare by the superpowers.There is worldwide pollution of the air, land,and sea by all nations. Nonrenewable re-sources—topsoil, water, various minerals,tropical rain forest, and the ozonelayer, for example—are being wastedor destroyed. Overpopulation isstraining the biosphere, bringingdrought and pestilence.
All these threats to life are man-made; all of them originate in theminds of people. Our behavior isa manifestation of our thinkingand emotions, and, in turn, ourthoughts and feelings are depend-ent upon our state of conscious-ness. Our present world situation,then, is one in which we exhibitmuch irrational behavior. That,in turn, is due to what we mightcall “a crisis of consciousness”.If so, the solution to the prob-lem presented by these threatscan be stated very simply: changeconsciousness.
Survival demands a change of con-sciousness. Not just survival, either, but alsoevolution. As I read the history of nature, Isee evolution as a record of ever more com-plex forms of life coming into being in orderto express more fully the consciousness be-hind life, indeed, behind all creation. The his-tory of evolution is a story of creatingevermore complex forms of life displayingevermore complex consciousness, from uni-cellular organisms through plants and animalsto the human species.
Evolution is always at work. That meansnow, today. And what I see today, in additionto the threats to life, are signs that the lifeforce itself is mobilizing its resources to resistextinction. How will it resist? The answer issimple: by evolving forms of life which aresuited to the new conditions on Earth—formsof life which know how to live in harmonywith the planet and its creatures. They willknow how to live this way because their con-sciousness will have changed.
“They” in-the-making is us. If we haveseen the “enemy”—human irrationality—wealso have seen the possibility of participatingin the evolutionary process and changing our-selves in a conscious, self-directed fashion.Meditation is one of the means to help our-selves make the necessary change of con-sciousness which a New Age demands.Meditation is a means of personal andtranspersonal growth. Meditators claim thatthe best way for people to change is by “work-ing on yourself” from within via meditation.It is a time-honored technique—perhaps hu-
manity’s oldest spiritual discipline—for help-ing people to release their potential for ex-panded consciousness and fuller living.
As a technique for assisting in the en-lightenment process of knowing God or ulti-mate reality, meditation appears in some formin every major religious tradition. The en-tranced yogi in a lotus posture, the Zen Bud-dhist sitting in za zen, the Christiancontemplative kneeling in adoration of Jesus,the Sufi dervish whirling in an ecstasy-induc-ing trance: all can be properly described aspracticing meditation. Although the culturalor religious trappings may vary, meditation’score experience is an altered state of con-sciousness in which the ordinary sense of“I”—the ego—is diminished, while a largersense of self-existence-merged-with-the-cosmoscomes into awareness.
Meditation ResearchMeditation works on all levels of our
being, however: physical, psychological, andsocial, as well as spiritual. Research shows thatit improves general health and stamina; it de-creases tension, anxiety, and aggressiveness; itincreases self-control and self-knowledge.Drug use and abuse are usually curbed, andsometimes even stopped. Psychotherapy pro-gresses faster than usual. Personal and familyrelations seem to improve. And except forborderline psychotics, meditation is safe,harmless, extremely easy to learn, beautifullyportable, available in endless supply, and
completely legal.Meditation research has been reviewed
by Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan intheir very valuable book, The Physical and Psy-chological Effects of Meditation. It covers scien-tific research, from the first meditation studyin 1931 through 1988, and summarizes whathas been found to happen, physiologicallyand psychologically, during and after medita-tion sessions. Murphy and Donovan showthat most claims for meditation are valid, sofar as the first stages of meditative activity go.Although more and finer research is needed,they say, to look at the “greater heights anddepths of transformative experience,” researchto date corresponds with traditional accountsby meditators sufficiently well enough to sug-gest that “the ancient paths toward enlighten-ment produced the kinds of integration andillumination they claimed.”
Definitions and Techniques The promised experience of peace and
unity in meditation is difficult to attain, how-ever, because the mind is always wandering.Meditation might be described as a techniquefor developing attention control so thatworry, fear, anger, and all other anxieties grad-ually dissipate. The dictionary definition ofmeditation, based on Western psychology, isinadequate to describe this experience. “Tocontemplate” or “to ponder” is not synony-
s threatenedmany respon-his. There isar, chemical,uperpowers.the air,r land,enewable re-us minerals,zoneastedn isging
man-ther isngurd-s-n,it
-
ge
nge of con-h b l
Just How FarCan Your MindTake You?
Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More!42 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 116
ANCIENT MYSTERIES
• BY ROBERT M. SCHOCH, Ph.D.
42 ATLALL NTIS RISING • Number 1
During the last fewmonths of 2015Egypt made interna-tional headlines, but
not always in a positive way. In-deed, the stories ranged fromthe tragic to the archaeologicallytitillating—and it is the latterthat I will focus on here. First,however, let me mention thetragic.
In October a Russian pas-senger plane which had takenoff from the Egyptian resorttown of Sharm el-Sheikh on theRed Sea, headed for St. Peters-burg, went down over the SinaiPeninsula, killing all 224 personson board. Investigators sooncame to the conclusion that thiswas an act of terrorism; some-one with access to the plane’sbaggage compartment hadplanted a bomb just before theAirbus took off. For the pastseveral years, tourism has beenheavily depressed in Egypt—a se-rious issue for a country wheretourism comprises a major as-pect of the economy—and theSinai incident only served to fur-ther erode the reputation ofEgypt as a hospitable place tovisit.
To help revamp its imageand hopefully attract moretourists, Egypt needed somegood old-fashioned archaeolog-ical excitement—and it got itthrough two new projects apply-ing modern noninvasive tech-niques to two of the mostfamous monuments of antiq-uity: The Great Pyramid and thetomb of Tutankhamun.
Scan PyramidsThe Scan Pyramids project
was officially launched on Oc-tober 25, 2015, under the au-thority of the Egyptian Ministryof Antiquities, coordinated byCairo University’s Faculty of En-gineering and the French HIP(Heritage, Innovation, Preserva-tion) Institute, assisted by theUniversité Laval of Quebec andNagoya University of Japan. Theproposed work of the mission,which is expected to last at leastthrough the year 2016, is tostudy the Great Pyramid (pyra-mid of the pharaoh Khufu,Cheops) and Second Pyramid
(Khafre, Chephren) at Giza(conventionally dated to themiddle and late twenty-sixthcentury BC respectively—datescited depend on the chronol-ogy used, and even experts dis-agree among themselves) andthe North (Red) Pyramid andSouth (Bent) Pyramid atDahshur (both conventionallyattributed to the pharaoh Sne-fru, early twenty-sixth centuryBC) using noninvasive tech-niques: infrared and modu-lated thermography, muonsdetection (muons radiogra-phy), and photogrammetrycombined with laser scanning.
Thermography is, in thesimplest sense, looking at tem-perature differences, variationsin infrared waves (energy, heat),emitted by different materialsor from different surfaces.Modulated thermography is avariation that takes into ac-count the long-term heatingup and cooling down of astructure, for instance over thedaylight versus nighttime cycle,or the annual seasonal cycle.Such techniques can be ap-plied to a modern building todetermine where there are heatlosses due to poor insulation,cracks, or openings. In thecase of the pyramids, tempera-ture anomalies could indicatethe location of cavities orchambers behind the rocks.
Muons detection utilizessubatomic particles, muons,which are similar to electrons,although heavier and muchshorter lived (with a half-life ofabout 2.2 millionths of a sec-ond). Muons are formed inthe upper layers of our atmos-phere when cosmic rays hit thenuclei of atoms. The muonsrain down, traveling at close tothe speed of light, at a rate ofabout 10,000 per square metersper minute. The muons canpenetrate through many me-ters of rock before they are at-tenuated or stopped. Muondetectors set up aroundand/or in a pyramid can col-lect information regarding therelative accumulation andgeometry of the arrivingmuons. Like an X-ray image,more or less dense regions in
Subscrib
the structure can be determined.If these techniques are carriedout successfully over the comingyear, the known chambers andpassages of the pyramids so an-alyzed should be evident, andthere is a high probability thatany comparable low-density re-gions will represent previouslyunknown chambers and pas-sages.
Interestingly, muon detec-tion techniques are not new. Es-sentially the same method wasapplied to the Second Pyramidin the late 1960s by a team ledby Luis W. Alvarez (recipient ofthe Nobel Prize in Physics,1968, for his work in elementaryparticle physics). That group in-vestigated 19 percent of the vol-ume of the Second Pyramidwithout finding any unknownchambers. Now, half a centurylater and using much more so-phisticated and sensitive equip-
thhe structure can bbe ddetermiinedd.If th t h i i d
Thermal anomaly at the base of the Great Pyramid. (Courtesy ofPhilippe Bourseiller, HIP Institute, Faculty of Engineering of Cairo
University, and Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.)
r Order Books DVDs and Much More!e or
ment, the Scan Pyramids proj-ect is set to analyze the entireSecond Pyramid as well as thethree other pyramids men-tioned above. Personally, I ea-gerly await their results.
The planned photogram-metry will utilize drones to f lyover Giza and Dahshur, takingnumerous images from differ-ent angles, which can then beused to create detailed three-di-mensional reconstructions ofthe areas showing not only thepyramids but all of the othermonuments, features, and topo-graphic details. The expectedresolution for the reconstruc-tion is five centimeters (twoinches) overall and an amazingone centimeter (0.4 inch) reso-lution in selected regions (suchas on the surfaces of the pyra-mids or other human-madestructures). At this level featuresmay become evident that have
TThhermall anomally att tthhe bbase off tthhe GGreatt PPyramiidd. ((CCourttesy off
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Number 116 • ATLANTIS RISING 43See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74 b A S R S G 43
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impractical, such as inside someof the monuments.
Even though the Scan Pyr-amids project only began in lateOctober, using special infraredimaging cameras designed forthermal scanning, by Novemberninth a press conference washeld at the base of the GreatPyramid announcing that a ther-mal anomaly had been foundwhich was possibly suggestive ofan unknown “secret chamber.”Egyptian Antiquities MinisterMamdouh el-Damaty (Mamduhal-Damati) pointed out ananomaly on the eastern side ofthe Great Pyramid at approxi-
mately ground level where sev-eral adjacent stones showed tem-perature differences relative tothe stones around them. Fur-thermore, according to El-Damaty, “there is somethinglike a small passage in theground that you can see, leadingup to the pyramids ground,reaching an area with a differenttemperature. What will be be-hind it?” This is all very tantaliz-ing and was fodder for positiveheadlines regarding Egypt in thewake of the tragedy on the Sinailess than a week-and-a-half ear-lier, but how significant is it?
In my assessment, given mybackground in geology, geo-physics, and various noninvasivetechniques, the data is certainlyinteresting, but it is not defini-tive. There are many different,possible explanations for theanomaly. Yes, it could be a hid-den and previously unknownchamber, but it could also besimply a difference in the ther-mal properties of the threeblocks (perhaps quarried from adifferent area than the surround-ing blocks), or it could be in-dicative of cracks and fracturesbehind the blocks (either theblocks showing the anomaly, orthe blocks on either side) thatresult in differential heating andcooling of one area versus an-other. It is also conceivable thatperhaps it is a cavity, but notone original to the Great Pyra-mid. The pyramids have servedfor thousands of years as asource of stone to build laterstructures; and there have alsobeen numerous attempts toprobe their secrets, and perhapsfind a treasure trove, throughpenetration via tunnels. I won-der if the “small passage in theground” that El-Damaty linkedto the thermal anomaly is justsuch a later tunneling effort. Nomatter what it represents, theanomaly is worthy of further in-vestigation.
Tomb of Tutankhamun—or Is It Nefertiti?
Although only a relativelyminor pharaoh in the turbulentaftermath of the reign of the“monotheistic” heretic Akhen-aten (Amenhotep IV—who priorto changing his name, ruledcirca 1353/1351 – 1336/1334BC—attempted to install a newreligion based on the Aten orSun in the form of the solar CCConttiiinuedddd on PPPage 777000
disk whose rays may have repre-sented the spirit of Aten, a uni-versal god or deity),Tutankhamun gained worldwideattention when his nearly intacttomb was discovered by HowardCarter in the Valley of theKings, on the West Bank acrossfrom Luxor, in 1922. He was ap-parently a son of Akhenaten, al-though the identity of hismother is subject to debate, Tu-tankhamun (popularly known as“King Tut”) held the thronecirca 1332 – 1323 BC. Today theiconic golden mask, sarcopha-gus, and other exquisite itemsinterred with Tutankhamunform one of the most popularexhibits in the Egyptian Mu-seum in Cairo.
Over the years interest inTutankhamun, his tomb, andhis times has not abated. Onerecent development has beenthe recording of all of the de-tails of Tutankhamun’s tombusing high-definition 3D (three-dimensional) scanners by theMadrid based organization Fac-tum Arte. From this data, a fac-simile reproduction ofTutankhamun’s tomb was in-stalled and opened to the publicin 2014 near Howard Carter’shouse on the West Bank. Theidea behind this is to have thefacsimile, which is indistinguish-able from the original to the av-erage eye, take the brunt oftourist visits while preservingthe original tomb for posterity.
Based on his analyses ofthe data collected by FactumArte, on July 23, 2015, Egyptol-ogist Nicholas Reeves (Amarna
Royal Tombs Project) publisheda paper offering a radical newinterpretation of the tomb ofTutankhamun. Utilizing the
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not been noticed previously,such as traces of ramps, buildingfoundations, and pathways thatare “invisible” to the eye atground level and too small to bedetected on currently availableaerial and satellite photographs.Furthermore, the completedphotogrammetric reconstruc-tions will record the currentstates of Giza and Dahshur, pro-viding reference points for thefuture as changes inevitablyoccur. Complementing thebasic photogrammetry, detailedlaser scanning is planned for se-lected areas where photogram-metry is not possible or is
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matelly groundderal adjacent stperature diffff eff rthe stones arothermore, acDamaty,yy “thelike a smallground that youp to the pyreaching an aretemperature. Whind it?” This iing and was foffheadlines regarwwake of the traless than a welier, but how s
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TheCuriousRevelationsof New Hi-TechSurveys
The bustof Nefertiti(BerlinMuseum)
Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More!46 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 116
LOST POWERS
• BY STEVE RICHARDS
The fact that science cannot explaingravitation means that science can-not condemn levitation. So there isnothing unscientific about the oc-
cultist’s claim that man can rise into the airthrough ‘mere intention.’ And that changesthe character of our original question. It isno longer can man f ly? but does man f ly?And the evidence is that he probably does.Occasionally.
Of course, thatdoes not mean justanybody can f ly. Yournext door neighborprobably cannot f ly.And your boss proba-bly cannot f ly, either,although I don’t rec-ommend asking. Butthat does not meanf lying is impossible.As William Jamessaid, it takes only onewhite crow to provethat not all crows areblack. And it takesonly one levitator toprove that not allmen are earthbound.‘Levitation may beproduced consciouslyor unconsciously,’writes Madame [He-lene P.] Blavatsky inIsis Unveiled [1877].
‘The juggler de-termines beforehandthat he will be levitated, for how long a time,and to what height; he regulates the occultforces accordingly. The fakir produces thesame effect by the power of his will, and, ex-cept when in the ecstatic state, keeps controlover his movements. So does the priest ofSiam, when, in the sacred pagoda, he mountsfifty feet up into the air with taper in hand,and f lits from idol to idol, lighting up theniches, self supported, and stepping as confi-dently as though he were upon solid ground.The officers of the Russian squadron whichrecently circumnavigated the globe, and wasfor a time sta tioned in Japanese waters, sawjugglers walk in mid air from tree top to tree -top, without support. They also saw the poleand tape -climbing feats, described by ColonelOlcott in People from the Other World. Quota-tions from Colonel Yule and others place be-yond doubt that these effects are produced’(H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, vol. 1).
Among primitive peoples, whose mindsare unencumbered by the often unfortunateeffects of modern rationalism, levitation isgenerally accepted. Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre wastold by a French missionary that the Indiansin Oregon often practiced levitation. More
than once the missionary had seen with hisown eyes the native shamans rise two to threefeet from the ground and walk atop theblades of pampas grasses without bending thedelicate panicles (Montague Summers, A Pop-ular History of Witchcraft, New York: CausewayBooks, 1973).
In ancient Britain, it was universally be-lieved that the Druids could f ly, and there issome evidence that the secrets may not havebeen lost. In the thirteenth century, FriarBacon is said to have walked in the air be-tween two of the spires at Oxford. In his Let-
ters on Natural Magic Sir David Brewster writesthis off as an ‘optical effect,’ but it is difficultto see how the effect could have been pro-duced. And much the same can be said of the‘mechanical’ explanation...
In the case of the Tibetan sage Milarepathere is no question of any mechanical de-vice. We read in the Jetsun Kahbüm that Mi-larepa acquired the f lying siddhi [Siddhis arespiritual, paranormal, supernatural, or otherwisemagical powers, abilities, and attainments that arethe products of spiritual advancement. Wikipedia]after long hours of meditation on the ‘thirdeye,’ the Ajna Chakra, which is located be-tween the eyebrows. When he learned that hecould f ly, Milarepa f lew over the fields of achildhood neighbor, an old farmer, who wasin the field ploughing with his son. The sonsaw Milarepa first, suspended in the air abovethem. But when he nudged his father, the oldman was unimpressed.
‘What is there to marvel at?’ the old manasked. ‘One Nyang-Tsa-Kargycn had a wickedson named Mila. It is that good for nothingstarveling’ (W. Y. Evans-Wentz, Tibet’s GreatYogi Milarepa, London: Oxford UniversityPress, 1969).
In her book, WithMystics and Magicians inTibet, Mme. Alexandra David-Neel relates a similar story, witha note that such experiences are notuncommon among Tibetan mystics(Alexandra David-Neel, Magic and Mysteryin Tibet. New Hyde Park, New York: Univer-sity Books, 1965).
They are not uncommon among mysticsof other nationalities, either, but mystics fromoutside Tibet do not tend to think well of thesiddhis. In The Lives of the Philosophers Eu-
napius says of theGreek Neo-Platonistp h i l o s o p h e rIamblichus that hewas often seen by hisservants to ‘soar aloftfrom the earth morethan ten cubits to allappearance.’ Whenthey told his disci-ples, the disciplesasked the Master fora demonstration,whereupon he burstinto laughter. Saidhe: ‘He who thus de-luded was a witty fel-low, but the facts areotherwise’ (Eunapius,Lives of the Philoso-phers, translated by W.C. Wright. London:W. Heinemann,1922). He did believein levitation, though,because in his bookon Egyptian sorcery,On the Mysteries, he
warns against certain psychic manifestations,especially ‘to appear elongated, or thicker, orbe borne aloft in the air’ (Iamblichus, On theMysteries, quoted by H. P. Blavatsky in Isis Un-veiled).
This attitude toward siddhis can befound throughout mystical literature. The sid-dhis exist—no one doubts that—but they mustnot be cultivated. In The Yoga Sutras Patanjalisays that the siddhis are ‘impediments to trueperception’ (Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 3.37). Cer-tain Theosophists speak out against what theyconsider to be ‘psychism’—the cultivation ofpsychic powers for their own sake. Ansari ofHerat says in one of his writings:
‘Can you walk on water? You have doneno better than a straw. Can you fly in the air?You have done no better than a blue bottle(Ansari of Herat, The Invocations of Shekh Ab-dullah Ansari of Herat, translated by Sardar SirJogendra Singh, London, 1939. Quoted by Al-dous Huxley in The Perennial Philosophy, Lon-don: Harper & Bros. 1945).
In The Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Hux-ley relates a story that appears in one of thePali Scriptures (he does not say which one),and which has to do with the Buddha and
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The Lost Arts of LevitationCan Overcoming Gravity Be Simpler than We Thought?
BookExcerpt
Levitation, painting, Kunstmuseum, Waldviertel, Austria
