Hidden History

    There is a vocal minority of researchers, armchair and otherwise, that believe we, as a learned people, have been led to believe nothing less than an outright lie when it comes to human history. Whether or not that may include the actual existence of an Atlantis-like civilization that populated the Earth or that aliens seeded the planet as an experiment, that's where the breadth of the discussion... dissention, even... lays.
    Some of the topics that come up when investigating the possibility that there is a "secret history of mankind" can make the intelligent person wonder if they might be reading fantasy, science fiction or at worst, viewing an episode of Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine. With bestselling authors of fiction (keep that in mind) such as Dan Brown giving the general public some semblance of knowledge into things historically mysterious, more and more people have been inspired to question what we know or have been taught to believe. Now, not attacking Mr. Brown regarding his knowledge of the subject his fiction (again, keep that in mind!) or whether his books are, well, good, I have to give him a little credit in spurring some free thinking amongst the masses, even if it isn't all that well thought out. Is it possible that the Knights Templar were protecting a treasure far beyond that of gold and silver? Sure, why not. Is it possible that the Freemasons were organized to rule countries and governments from behind the curtain? There is some interesting evidence to suggest they might have had a hand or two in some sort of business like that. Does the Vatican have a vast treasure trove of heretical tomes and scrolls that could rival the famed Library at Alexandria? Let's just say Vatican researchers aren't even aware of what they have in their midst. So, Dan Brown, good job opening the doors to let the hounds of media frenzy open. If only those that read your books understood they're fiction!
   
    It's no secret I love history. What I've discovered as I read and research and especially as more and more artifacts are unearthed, is that we might have misrepresented certain parts of our own history. It's no secret that some well read, published and known researchers out there have delved into the mysteries of the past, from the Great Sphinx at Giza, to the Great Pyramids of the same plateau, to the disappearance of the Maya to the purpose of the monoliths that cover the British Isles and Eastern Europe. While reading about all of the above, I've come to believe that what we know, or at least what we think we know, doesn't even scratch the proverbial surface strata.
   We know that Leif Eriksson landed in North America long before Columbus stumbled into the Caribbean. We don't know if the Vikings went very deep into the continent or if they went much further south than Nova Scotia. There is evidence they may have. That's enough to question the historians... what took so long for you to officially recognize it? What is there to hide, just in that one little bit of knowledge, that could ruin history as we know it?
    Some people are unaware that the natives of North America, the "Indians" to the European settlers, may not have been the first peoples in North America. Known as "Mound People" to researchers, builders of large, earthen structures that dwarf their surroundings in some places, they are mysteries to everyone. Early explorers found the natives living amongst the mounds and they themselves informed the explorers that the mounds predated them. If this might be true, who were these people and why don't we know more about them? Historians wrote them out of the books. I've found more questions than answers about the mounds, their purpose and where they are, or were, in most cases. Many were destroyed for farmland, the objects inside either plowed under or obliterated or maybe taken somewhere. I have a name, a member of our own government, who instructed the mounds to be destroyed, lest the people coming to America believe the land impure! Impure because someone else once lived there!
    Learn more about this deranged individual soon. Until then, watch this rather... interesting character.

http://wn.com/Mound_builder_(people)

You Think History is Boring

I have a fascination with ancient history. How and where it started mystifies me but it's a fairly strong fascination. I do know my father entertained some interest in all things historical and may have passed it onto me, though it's doubtful he envisioned exactly where I'd be ending up in some of my reading, internet and print.

Over the past 10 years or so, there have been majestic discoveries of the archaeological kind, everywhere from undersea locales to mountainous regions to right in someone's back 40. Many of these sites have been known to scientists and archaeologists for some time, though they've never been given proper time or focus to relinquish their secrets or theories as to their use or reason for being. Some theories fall into the extreme, such as the well-documented thought by a few "outsiders" to archaeology that the Sphinx at the Giza Plateau in Egypt is much, much older than the Egyptologists have led people to believe for so many years. Taught in schools that it was built by the Pharoah Khafra, there have been dissenting theories throughout, causing strife amongs the very unbending minds of Egyptology, much less those of archaeology and history as a whole. This sort of "maverick" thinking, those that fly in the face of establishment, is quite appealing to me, moreso in that those that refute any new or "outsider" theories scream and cry out all the louder for the attention the new ideas get! Regardless of whether or not the Sphinx at Giza was built by Khafra (it probably wasn't) or whether it's 10,000 years old (also unlikely) it is something that causes one to think that maybe, just maybe we weren't taught all that well to begin with.

When I was in grade school, we were taught, like everyone else, that Christopher Columbus discovered America by literally sailing into the Caribbean. It had been known for many years prior that Leif Eriksson and the Vikings had invariably been to the northern portion of the continent long before Columbus ever even thought to hornswaggle Spanish monarchs out of three ships for his travels. While I was taught about Leif as well, at least at some later point, it was almost always as nothing more than a footnote, pushing the established view of Columbus as "discoverer of America". Of course, once learning a Viking was on this side of the world long before that crazy Italian, it only spurred my interest in the fact that others might have even been here prior to Leif and his berserkers. Fine, fine, let's not forget the so-called indigenous folk that were here when all these supposed explorers came a-traveling. When did they get here? How long were they here? Is it possible they've always been here? O, the questions that abound... not to mention the fact that there's another coastline of the Americas...

You see the fascination, don't you? I've already gone past ancient history and moved into more modern, recorded history. Okay, Norse Edda is difficult to understand, I'll admit. So is cuneiform. Egyptian cartouches are still being deciphered to get proper translations. Someday we'll probably learn that the Rosetta Stone was nothing more than one vast joke from one insanely intelligent and sadistic mind. That would turn the historians on their ear. Imagine all the ret-con talk they'd have to work on, history books that would have to be reworked... it's mindboggling. There's more of that fascination, right there.

Leaving out the conspiratorial thoughts, the outright unproven theories and the fantastic for this note, at least for the moment, I can say I've found plenty of interesting articles of late that have gone on to reveal things not known before. The recent digs at Stonehenge uncovered more information about the site than has been previously known. Theorized, possibly. The underwater excavations going on in northern Egypt have given us a better picture of the ancient city site of Alexandria. Who knows, maybe we'll learn whatever did become of the legendary library that was present there. A very recent find in South America of an unknown Mayan tomb may give up some information as to what, where and why of the Mayan peoples. Incredible stuff, weekly with more being revealed even more frequently. I can't get enough. If you're interested, here's a great site to hit for daily articles from around the world:

http://www.archaeologica.org/NewsPage.htm

Tomorrow, the crazy, the bizarre, the "Forgotten" History of the world.