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Get a Free 13-page Sampler - Atlantis Rising Magazine Library
CONTENTS 113 September / October 2015 ® 42 ANCIENT MYSTERIES FUTURE SCIENCE UNEXPLAINED ANOMALIES 24 45 PUBLISHER & EDITOR 35 J. Douglas Kenyon CONTRIBUTORS Michael Cremo Jerry Decker Larry Flaxman Marie D. Jones Julie Loar Cynthia Logan Susan Martinez, Ph.D. Patrick Marsolek Marsha Oaks Karen Ralls Martin Ruggles Robert Schoch, Ph.D. Freddy Silva Steven Sora William B. Stoecker Carly Svamvour COVER DESIGN Ryan Hammer GRAPHICS Randy Haragan Denis Ouellette Ryan Hammer ATLANTIS RISING® (ISSN #1541-5031) published bi-monthly (6 times a year) by Atlantis Rising, LLC 521 S. 8th St., Ste. A P.O. Box 441 Livingston, MT 59047 Copyright 2015 ATLANTIS RISING No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Periodicals Postage Paid at Livingston, MT and at additional post offices. USPS Number: 024-631 U.S. Subscription price is $29.95 (6 issues) 29 7 Letters 10 Alternative News 17 Jerry Decker Nuclear Dangers 19 Michael Cremo Oldest Human, or Not 23 Fighting to Forget Is Terrorism a Symptom of Planetary Amnesia? 24 Surveillance State How Much of Your Freedom Is At Stake? 32 29 The Otherworld in Ancient Peru Were Ancient Initiations the Same Around the World? 32 Gothic Wonders Why Does the Ancient Magic Still Amaze Us? 41 442 How Did the Ice Ages End? A Conversation with Randall Carlson 445 Ice-Age-End Scenarios Geologist Robert Schoch Weighs in on the Evidence 35 Fairie Factors One Man’s ‘Fantasy’ Another’s ‘Fact’ but What’s the Truth? 39 The Foundation of Reality 41 Hominids and Humbug Trouble in the House of Darwin? 446 Columbus & the Brothers Pinzon America’s Other Discoverers 448 Astrology 550 DVD 557 Puzzle POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to Atlantis Rising PO Box 441 Livingston, MT 59047 Order BOOKS, DVDs & MORE: See Our Catalog on Page 74 ALTERNATIVE NEWS Ruins at Chauvain de Huantar in the Peruvian Andes. Ancient Greeks in Peru? W hen h en Hesiod, Hesiiod d, the the Greek Greekk poet of the eighth century BC, spoke of Theogony and its labyrinths at the end of the world, was he actually describing the ruins of Chauvain de Huantar in the Andes of Peru? A retired professor of physics at Federal University in Rio de Janeiro, Argentina believes he was. In his 2011 book Journey to the Mythological Inferno, Dr. Enrico Mattievich claimed that there are surprising similarities between Hesiod’s descriptions and key locales in ancient Peru. The dwelling place of the demonic gorgons, for example, Mattievich Mattievich said said closely closely resembles resembles the dank region around the mouth of the Amazon River. Some have argued that the Greek philosopher Plato’s description of Atlantis could be applied to the altiplano of Bolivia (see “Searching the Andes for Atlantis,” AR #28). In a another example, archaeologist George Erikson has written that America is the true location of Atlantis, and he points to, among other things, the potential ancient navigational usefulness of Costa Rica’s mysterious stone balls (“Atlantis: the American Connection,” AR #17). The late Peruvian sscholar c holar Ar t hur Poznansky Arthur Poznansky claimed that lake Titicaca and iits surroundings were artifacts of a civilization going back 30,000 years. Some believe that the connections between America and the old world most deserving of our attention are the product of universal spiritual practices. Elsewhere in this issue (page 24), researcher and author Freddy Silva points out that many of the iconic sacred sites of South America are part of a global tradition of secret initiatory rituals. Indeed, unusual round towers, found all over the world, Silva reports, served such purposes, and Winged goddess with a Gorgon's head wearing a split skirt and holding a bird in each hand, type of the Potnia Theron. Probably made on Rhodes. From Kameiros, Rhodes. the Chullpas found near Lake Titicaca are prime examples. The emergence of similar motifs in many, otherwise unconnected, areas of the world, is also, some believe, strong evidence for the existence of universal archetypes, which psychiatrist Carl Jung believed to be at thee root o of all human consciousness.. NEW LIGHT ON THE MAPS OF COLUMBUS T he maps which Columbus used in his fa ffa-mous voyage of discovery in 1492 have been a constant source of debate. As Rand and Rose Flem-Ath reported in Atlantis Rising #78, “The Lost Map of Christopher Columbus,” there is evidence that the explorer had access to a world map predating all widely available sources of the time, yet showing details as yet unknown. It is believed by some scholars that the famous Piri Riis map was a portion of that lost map. President Dwight Eisenhower was persuaded by Charles Hapgood of its existence, and he took some unsuccessful steps to find it. Now researchers at Yale University are using multispectral imaging to examine an- 10 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 113 other map to which it is believed Columbus had access. The world map drawn by Henricus Martellus in 1491 is now yielding a great deal of new insight into the general cartographic knowledge of the time. Previously too faded for proper reading, the Martellus map is now becoming legible and providing some interesting tidbits, such as naming Asians the people of “Balor”, and stating that the “Panotly” people had ears so large they could be used as sleeping bags—nothing, however, like the Piri Riis map which shows details of Antarctica beneath the ice, unknown before modern investigation. For more on the trials of Columbus, olumbu see Steven Sora’s article on Page. 46.. Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More! MODERN INDIA REAWAKENS TO ITS ANCIENT ACHIEVEMENTS W ith Nobel Prize-winning breakthroughs in cancer research, rockets to Mars, and even startling discoveries in zero point energy (see A.R. #112, p. 10), modern India advances to the heights of economic power and cutting-edge scientific achievement, and interest in the forgotten advancements of its ancient past has also risen to new heights. A growing consensus recognizes that previously unappreciated technical knowledge in medicine, metallurgy, and mathematics can be extracted from ancient texts, and, indeed, there are some who Ancient Indian bas relief depicts devotees welcoming go even further. Even the most Krishna in a flying machine radical research, it seems, can find a hearing, if not tacit approval, from India’s Padang, etc.), science in America and the west will hear no talk of high ancient advancegrowing scientific establishment. In January, the prestigious Indian Sci- ment. Instead, clinging stubbornly to an outence Congress listened to a paper by Captain worn paradigm, it maintains a virtually Anand Bodas, a veteran of India’s pilot train- religious dogma that, prior to the end of the ing academy, and Mumbai college professor last ice age, humans on Earth were no more Ameya Jadhav on “Ancient Indian Aviation that primitive hunter gatherers. For greater inTechnology.” Citing sources in the Sanskrit sight into the world that existed before the Vedic scriptures, Bodas argued that seven- to great catastrophes which preceded our world’s nine-thousand years ago, flying machines accepted history, see, elsewhere in this issue, called Vimanas were developed and used ex- Cynthia Logan’s interview with researcher tensively. “Aviation technology in ancient Randall Carlson on his case for an ice-ageIndia is not a tale of mythology;” the abstract ending cometary impact, and read geologist reads, “it is a total historical document giving Dr. Robert Schoch’s article on the great detechnical details and specifications.” While struction that may have been brought about disparaged by some as “pseudo-science,” the by a forgotten Solar Outburst. All of this, paper was, nevertheless, heard by an essen- many of us believe, signals the coming to an end of the great amnesia that, for millennia, tially tolerant audience. In the meantime, despite many ir- has blocked all efforts to learn the truth of refutable archaeological discoveries (i.e., who we are and why we are here on this Turkey’s Gobekli Tepe, Indonesia’s Gunang planet.. a actual individual identified in the Bible id aas a son of Saul—predecessor and rival to d David, the legendary D warrior king of anw ccient Israel. Even tthough the large pottteryy jar can be dated tto o tthe tenth century BC, which matches BC B tthe he time of Saul, this particular Eshbaal, par p archaeologists ssay Yosef Yo Y s Garfinkel and SSaar Ganor, was only a landholder—but still, one wealthy enough, at least, to have his name inscribed on his property. Researchers are, nevertheless, excited because such markings are very rare. In fact, this is but the fourth such inscription ever found from the period. d. Name of King Saul’s Son Found on Ancient Hebrew Pottery I n Israel’s valley of Elah, archaeologists have uncovered a 3,000-year-old pottery jar with an inscription matching the name of a known character from the Old Testament. Scholars, however, say they don’t think the “Eshbaal Ben Beda” named in the inscription was the See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74 Number 113 • ATLANTIS RISING 11 LOST HISTORY ism r o rr tom e p T Is Sym etar y a lan sia? P ne f o Am • BY Y MARTIN RUGGLES I n May the terrorist army calling itself the ‘Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’, aka ‘ISIS’ captured the historic Syrian desert city of Palmyra and soon began to trash its ancient ruins. The mostly Roman-era ruins at Palmyra are classified as a United Nations World Heritage Site which must be protected by the civilized world. ‘Civilized,’ alas, is not a term that can be applied to Palmyra’s new bosses. For the invaders, the sites and statues are nothing more than heathen temples and idols, deserving destruction. For the rest of the world, however, such ruins serve as a window into the past—they are our very memory; lose them and we may never learn who we really are. The demolishing of ancient ruins has become a hallmark of the truly terrifying ISIS campaign to establish a new caliphate, like that of centuries past, in the Middle East. In videos distributed on the Internet, a horrified world has now witnessed—in addition to the savage murder of many innocents whose only crime was to be in the path of the marauders—the systematic destruction of numerous major archaeological sites. Men with bulldozers, sledgehammers, and drills have attacked sites. such as Aleppo, Khorsabad, Jonah’s Tomb, Hatra, Nimrud, and Mosul, in the region widely considered the ‘Cradle of CiviSee Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74 lization.’ Some of the more valuable pieces, however, may yet survive, as ISIS—seeking to generate cash flow for its operations—works to sell them on the international antiquities black market. Some believe, in fact, the entire campaign may be nothing more than a cover for sophisticated looting on a grand scale. The Thieves In the videos that appeared in April, before the entire site was destroyed with explosives, militants could be seen attacking Assyria’s famous winged bulls and sawing apart floral reliefs in the palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Nimrud. According to Qais Hussein Rashid, head of Iraq’s State Board for Antiquities and Heritage, that was all just the final step in a deeper game. “The Islamic State started days before,” Rashid told the Associated Press, “destroying this site by digging in this area, mainly the palace.” He had watched from his office next to Iraq’s National Museum—itself a target of looting after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. “We think that they first started digging around these areas to get the artifacts, then they started demolishing them as a cover up.” While there is no firm evidence of the amount of money being made by the Islamic State group from looting antiquities, satellite photos and anecdotal evidence confirm widespread plundering of archaeological sites in areas under ISIS control, the AP reported in May. Nimrud was also the site of one of the greatest discoveries in Iraqi history, stunning golden jewelry from a royal tomb found in 1989, and Rashid is worried that more such tombs lie beneath the site and have been plundered. Income from looting throughout the area, some believe, could be in the millions of dollars. Experts speculate that the large pieces are destroyed with sledgehammers and drills for the benefit of the cameras, while the more portable items like figurines, masks, and ancient clay cuneiform tablets are smuggled to dealers in Turkey. (http://www.usnews.com/ news/world/articles/2015/05/12/iraq-says-isdemolishes-ruins-to-cover-up-looting-operations) Rowan Moore, Architecture critic for the UK’s Observer magazine, says the ancient Roman site in Palmyra is “exceeded by very few others: those in Rome itself, Pompeii, possibly Petra in Jordan. Its temples, colonnades and tombs, its theatre and streets are extensive, exquisite, distinctive, rich. The loss Continued on Page 59 Number 113 • ATLANTIS RISING 23 SECRET GOVERNMENT How H ow Much Much of of Y Your our F Freedom reedom IIss at at Stake? Stake? • BY MARIE D. JONES & LARRY FLAXMAN T he concept of personal privacy has changed drastically in an era of explosive technological advancement that includes drones and satellites that see through walls, cameras on every city street corner, cyber spies lurking behind your computer screens, and cell phones that track your every move. Nothing you do is done in private, not even in your own homes. In many ways, even your thoughts, behaviors and actions are being exposed to a variety of powerful sources that want nothing more than to control some aspect of your life...if not every aspect. Domestic surveillance after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 increased to a point where anything was acceptable under the guise of protecting the nation from future terrorism. The Patriot Act initiated far-reaching measures that, at the time, made people feel safer, even as their own civil liberties were being stripped away. But the problem was, the vast majority of the citizens being spied on had nothing to do with any terrorist organization. Fourteen years later, the train is still speeding away from the station. Just recently in May of 2015, Boeing was awarded a patent for an autonomous drone that can be recharged while in the air. While civil libertarians were screaming about the loss of privacy rights, Boeing was assuring us that they can now “keep us safe/spy on us” 24/7, because up to this point, drones were limited to the amount of airborne time by their need to drop down and refuel. 24 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 113 Without that need, we can now look forward to drones powered by batteries that can be recharged via a number of methods that don’t require them to land. While these drones might also provide some benefits, such as providing Wi-Fi services or product delivery that makes all of our lives easier, no doubt there will be more invasive purposes for such technology. A June 8, 2015 article for Disclose.tv.com referred to this new unmanned aerial drone as something straight out of the Matrix movies (remember the Sentinels?), especially if these drones are armed. “Do we, as a society, really trust a swarm of autonomous drones, potentially armed, which in theory could almost never need leave the sky?” the article asks. As early as 1998, we were reading news stories of spy satellites orbiting the earth peering into our homes and down into our streets to the point of being able to see the license plates on our vehicles. Today, we can only imagine what is possible. Spy satellites and drones alike have been put to use by the Department of Homeland Security right on our home soil, although some “in the know” admit that we still aren’t quite near the capabilities often portrayed in spy movies and television series. But we are close. Normally satellites are not geosynchronous over any particular place for more than a few minutes, and they don’t take color photos, or full motion imagery...or so we are told. Back in 2007, in an article for NPR titled “What Can Satellites Do for Domestic Spy- ing,” then Director of GlobalSecurity.org talked about the limitations of satellites. The focus at that time was on repeated images that would spark further DHS interest, allegedly to allow DHS to pinpoint where to send rescue people in a mass casualty event, like a terrorist act, and where to evacuate them. In 2008, “Slate” reporter William Saletan wrote in “Nowhere to Hide: Killer Drones That Can See Through Walls” of the use of unmanned drones in both Iraq and Afghanistan, able to track human targets via “STTW,” or “Sense Through The Wall,” technology that utilizes radar to detect people within rooms, even through walls over a foot of concrete thick. According to Saletan, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) was using this technology, or at the very least testing it, as far back as 2006. He refers to a 2006 “Operational Needs Statement” by the Joint Urban Operations Office calling for the use of STTW on both manned and unmanned vehicles. The Navy followed suit with a call of their own. Using potential sensors distributed on and around buildings, these drones could then provide intelligence on what is inside a building, who is inside, and what they are doing. This same technology was being developed in the early 2000s by Boeing, and by Defence R&D Canada, as per a 2002 report stating the desire for a “through-the-roof” sur- Continued on Page 27 Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More! THE INVISIBLE WORLD Fact or Fantasy: What’s the Truth? Fairie Factors John Hyatt’s Photograph • BY PATRICK MARSOLEK I n the spring of 2014 John Hyatt, a lecturer with Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, published a series of photos of small winged creatures that look like very small flying people or fairies. Hyatt said he was taking photos through the trees at sunset, trying to capture fast moving insects. The photos weren’t doctored in any way other than enlarging the size and the resolution of the images. These “Rossendale Fairies,” similar to the famous Cottingley fairy photos taken in Yorkshire in 1917, have excited many believers and have been widely ridiculed as well by skeptics. In an interview in International Business Times, Hyatt said, “I am an artist. These are honest photographs with no trickery. Fairies certainly exist in art and within culture and, for those that believe and those that disbelieve, they act on many people’s decisions and ways of life. Are they materially real? I have merely placed some interesting evidence before the public. Let the people decide. I never claimed to prove anything but simply to offer gifts of great beauty and interest to the people of the world.” Many have already decided one way or the other. Hyatt said that since posting his photos people from around the world have thanked him on behalf of their children and themselves. They’ve also sent photos and their own stories of encounters with fairies. If See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74 vs. you search “fairy” earch fo fforr “fa f iry” or “elemental” online, you can find f nd many sites showing images in fi which h the faces f ces and bodies of “spirits” are visfa ible in n plants, water, trees, and other natural forms. s. Of course, skeptics have had a fi ffield eld day, too, oo, quickly pointing out that the photos could d simply be of midges or another small flyingg insect. Plus, there’s the fa ffact ct that no one has ever fo ffound und any material evidence of fairies. s. Yet, Y t, belief in fairies Ye f iries and other nature fa spiritss is very high all across the world and has been een fo fforr a very long time. The folklore f lklore of the Persians, Mongolians, fo Chinese, ese, Japanese, Indians, and Egyptians all contain accounts of such nature spirits. The Celtic druids had tree spirits that inhabited sacred groves and special trees. The Teutonic tribes had their gnomes and dwarves. There are also many indigenous cultures with animistic beliefs about the world who experience spirits inhabiting all forms of nature. With the rise of Christianity worldwide, these kinds of beliefs were labeled “primitive” or “superstitious.” Anyone who publicly held such beliefs might have risked persecution for their association with such “demonic” forces. For 1500 years the belief in these kinds of creatures in the West continued, though was kept more private. Natural healers, who were labeled as witches, gypsies and alchemists, continued to interact with them in their hidden practices. In the sixteenth century, Paracelsus revived interest with his fairy book Liber de Nymphis, sylphis, pygmaieis et salamandris et materialism de caeteris spiritibus where he describes “creatures that are outside the cognizance of the light of nature.” In his book he catalogued beings belonging to the fo ffour ur elements: Gnomes, of the earth; Undines, of the water; Sylphs, of the air; and Salamanders, of the fire. f re. These “divine objects,” though generally fi invisible, were believed to be beings between creatures and spirits, corporal and etherial. Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as the power of the church declined and the study of science increased, there was a resurgence of belief in fa ffairies, iries, spirits, and other mystical forces. f rces. At the turn of the twenfo tieth century, the spiritualist movement and the Theosophists were applying scientific methodologies to the realms of spirit, subtle energies, and consciousness. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, was a spiritualist and was drawn into the mystery of the Cottingley fairies. In his 1922 book, The Coming of the Fairies, he said, “We see objects within the limits which make up our color spectrum, with infinite vibrations, unused by us, on either side of them. If we could conceive a race of beings which were constructed in material which threw out shorter or longer vibrations, they would be invisible unless we could tune ourselves up or tone them down... there is nothing scientifically impossible, so far as I can see, in some people seeing that which is invisible to others.” Continued on Page 37 Number 113 • ATLANTIS RISING 35 ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE Hominids &Humbug Trouble in the House of Darwin? • BY SUSAN B. MARTINEZ, PH.D. I t may be a truism that when we are committed to something, we tend to work everything else around it. This would hold for personal as well as public strategy. We all do it—to some extent. And that is fine. Unless … unless there’s something amiss with the premise itself. So let’s cut to the chase. Let’s look at the premise, taken for granted by those who subscribe to the theory of Evolution, the premise that man “evolved” and that he did so in one particular place. Called monogenism, this is the earmark of Darwinism past and present; it holds: That that place was Africa. —That mankind is found on other continents only because groups of humans moved out of Africa to populate the world. —That the most recent of those migrations (apart from the one to Oceania) was to the Americas—otherwise virgin land until some 15 or 20 thousand years ago. —That these future American Indians crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia. These are the premises of Darwinian monogenism. Everything must conform to it, follow suit. None of the world’s people, accordingly, are actually aboriginal to their home. Only Africans. Even the Australian aborigines, theory insists, came originally from Africa, perhaps 60,000 years ago. We’re all made-over Africans—supposedly. Which brings us to the first little problem: Since our ultimate forefathers were Africans, we must—if the theory is to be upheld—have acquired other racial traits— whether Mongoloid, Caucasoid, Australoid, etc.—by mutating into those types; i.e., by changing through the alleged process of natural selection. But we have a problem right here because, given the evolutionary timetable, there just wasn’t enough time after leaving Africa to do all that evolving. Stripped of certain ad hoc manipulations (like “punk eek”, see below), Darwinian evolution requires very large blocks of time, many millions of years. The 50,000- or 80,000- or even 40 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 113 Fossil Hominid Skull Display, Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, OK 100,000-year window for changing, say from black to white, doesn’t even come close. If early man evolved only in Africa, what are the actual facts that support this premise? The out-of-Africa doctrine, though floated for decades if not centuries, did not become an idée fixe until less than thirty years ago. In fact, before then, there was a vague consensus among scholars that the first humans came out of Asia, that Adam and Eve were brought forth somewhere in the dim East. And yes, there are hominid remains in China (Hubei and Guangxi provinces) and other parts of the Orient. Homo erectus, even australopithecine traits, have been recognized in fossil specimens as far afield as Micronesia (Palau Man) and Australia (Kow Swamp Man). But those facts along with that entire line of inquiry went down the memory hole once “African Eve” (“mitochondrial Eve”) became de rigueur in the late 1980s. Everything is made to fit the favored theory, presented quite sseriously eriously as unassailable fact f ct by fa ttheorists heorists who are not above calling their opponents “fruitcakes” or outright frauds. Of course, that’s where the research money is—the favored theory. That’s where the promotion is—in both senses of the term. That’s where the books and journals and jobs and lecture tours and awards and TV shows and even fame and fortune are. But as a result, it has become hard to find information on early hominids in non-African locations. It is buried. But it is there. Take America, for example. In his book, Forgotten Worlds (Inner Traditions, 2012, p. 162), my colleague Patrick Chouinard notes “examples of people who shouldn’t be in pre-Columbian America but seem to creep from the undergrowth to stun the world … Belief in Asian migration across the Bering Strait has reached almost biblical proportions. It is a story that most archeologists … are trained to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. But why?” The answer to that question is—because the premise demands it; monogenism cannot survive unless it can be proven that everyone (except Africans, of course) migrated into their present lands. But there is an alternative, called polygenism (in the last several decades it has also been known as the “multiregional” approach). There is no ax to grind here, no premise to prove; the data simply suggests that man Continued on Page 67 Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More! Gathering the de ce Evidence ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE J ohn Anthony West has complained that Ph.D. candidates in Egyptology spend way too much time on subjects like Tutankhamun’s underwear, and far too little on subjects of real significance, like the true meaning of Egypt’s monuments. We end up knowing more and more about less and less, he has argued. The pattern is repeated throughout the entire scientific establishment, as researchers, in order to advance their careers, feel the need to specialize in ever narrower areas of interest. The smart doctoral candidates politely defer to experts in other fields, and stick to their specialty. Nobody seems willing, or able, to address the big picture. The consequence: certain entrenched mythologies are never challenged. One of the most persistent, is the notion that there is NO real evidence that the ice ages ended with great planetary catastrophes, as recently as 12,000 years ago. At least one scholar, however, begs to differ. Randall Carlson, an independent researcher in the tradition of John Anthony West, Graham Hancock, or even nineteenth century scholar Ignatius Donnelly (Atlantis: The Antediluvian World), has taken up the challenge of finding out—big-picturewise—what we actually Randall Carlson know and what we do not. Working diligently—albeit outside the academic system— for over a third of a century, Carlson has applied his formidable intellect and energies to analyzing the vast array of peer reviewed scientific literature in many related fields. In the process, he has uncovered a mountain of startling research, which, though fully vetted, has been virtually ignored by an establishment, seemingly more devoted to preserving paradigms and privilege, than the truth. To collect even more compelling evidence, Carlson has deployed a small army of volunteers to pursue some large-scale field research, mostly in America’s Pacific Northwest. Not surprisingly, he has become something of an authority on the case for a severe planetary cataclysm at the end of the last ice age, as well as such hot-button items as global warming. A familiar presence on the Internet, Carlson is consulted by many, including popular YouTube host Joe Rogan. Graham Hancock swears by Carlson’s research and devotes a major part of his forthcoming book The Magicians of the Gods to it. Recently, Atlantis Rising Magazine asked longtime contributing writer Cynthia Logan to catch up with Randall Carlson and get his story for our readers. —ED 42 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 113 How Did the With W ith a B Bang, ang, N Not ot a W Whimper, himper, B Believes elieves Maverick M averick Researcher Researcher Randall Randall Carlson Carlson • BY CYNTHIA LOGAN H ow’s this for an inconvenient truth? Carbon dioxide accounts for just .04 percent of atmospheric greenhouse gas. And while methane has been introduced as a major contributor (often with a good deal of smirking), the dominant greenhouse gas is, according to climate scholar Randall Carlson, water vapor. So why are we all counting our carbons? The lay geologist believes we have a climate bureaucracy whose ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming Theory’ employs tunnel vision when it comes to the bigger picture.. “Since the advent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)… it has become typical to denigrate anyone who questions the consensus that carbon dioxide is the sole or even the dominant driver of climate change,” he writes. He believes global warming is driven by political interests to control energy distribution and consumption. He scoffs at the claim that the climate debate is over; in his mind, it’s barely begun. “The so-called consensus is completely manufactured. It doesn’t exist. Solar physicists say the IPCC leaves out the Sun, so how realistic are those models? Questionnaires sent out to obtain consensus were slanted.” Seems radical, but before dissing or dismissing his viewpoint, a few facts are in order. First, he does believe humans are affecting the climate, but would like our con- ttribution ribution to to be be factored factored into into a larger largeer perper spective. Second, he thinks it’s critically important to examine assumptions and claims made “by those who clearly stand to gain by the implementation of carbon remediation measures.” He also believes we should consider dissenting voices trying to remind us the climate has always changed, and that sometimes those changes have been extreme and catastrophic. Third, for nearly forty years Carlson has interviewed scientists from many disciplines, and has traveled to see and explore evidence for himself. He doesn’t watch much TV (unless it’s something relevant to his research, usually on PBS) and reads constantly. In fact, he’s read two or three scientific articles almost every single day since the 1970s. Asked about his credentials, he responds; “I have a command of the facts and thousands of references at my fingertips. I’m willing to sit down with anybody and discuss any of this.” When he says ‘any of this,’ he means more than climatology. Randall Carlson is a curious person and has from an early age sought to assemble a vast cosmic puzzle whose pieces include astronomy, history, geology and mathematics (all of which he has studied formally), as well as architecture, archaeology, ancient civilizations, sacred geometry, numerology, literature, mythology—and catastrophism. And he’s not just an eclectic; the guy connects the dots. “There’s an overspecialization in science today,” says Carlson. “An oceanograSubscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More! The Story of Earth’s Temperature Flucuations over the Millennia is clearly told by Greenland’s Ice Cores Ice Ages End? A 3000-ton erratic basalt boulder in eastern Washington State, born to this spot by a massive iceberg carried in raging floodwaters from melting glacial ice further north. pher doesn’t have the correspondences of astronomy, geology, and other disciplines; you’re an astronomer, but have you ever looked at geology? Don’t bring in ad hominin arguments—I’ve invested huge amounts of time—this is what I do for recreation. I’m obsessively curious about these things.” Carlson traces his interest in catastrophism to the plastic View-Master he received for his fifth birthday. Essentially a stereoscope utilizing circular reels with paired images on color film, it shows scenes in 3D. “My favorite set of View-Master reels was a series of 21 dinosaur scenes—after deSee Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74 picting an encounter and impending battle between a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the narrative introduces the imagery of global Catastrophe, way ahead of its time in the early 1950s.” After high school, Carlson spent three months hitchhiking through Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. “I came back with the impression that there is a story in this landscape; it felt compelling,” he recalls. “Ancient history, mythology, and symbolism interested me as well.” Carlson was also curious about the ‘lost continent’ of Atlantis and read numerous books on the subject, including Ger- The edge of the Greenland icesheet, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland (Photo by L. Chang.) man m an p physicist hysicist O Otto tto M Muck’s uck’s Se Seccret ret ooff Atlantis Atlantis. “Muck’s was Earth “Muck’s theory t heor y w as tthat hat E ar th had had been been hit by an asteroid that came in from the Northwest, sinking the island of Atlantis in the process,” he explains. “The meteor broke up, and pieces were splayed across the southeastern United States, creating the Carolina Bays—tens of thousands of shallow elliptical depressions along parallel axes from northwest to southeast.” Since ‘the Bays are basically his backyard, Carlson began to research them during the 1980s at Fernbank Science Center, a resource established for the public. Carlson had learned that in 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, a bolide (the term encompasses ‘all species of cosmic creatures’: asteroids, meteorites, comets, etc.) had exploded in the atmosphere with the force of a large hydrogen bomb, leveling 830 square miles of old-growth forest. He thinks the event “ranks up there in importance with the moon landing, the World Wars, and the invention of the atomic bomb.” The area was so remote it wasn’t until 1927 that the first Russian scientists got to the site. Once they did, they found numerous, shallow elliptical depressions similar to the Carolina Bays: Carlson surmises they were produced by shockwaves hitting the ground. He notes that after the Apollo mission, there was a major shift in the prevailing paradigm; “moon craters had been thought to be volcanic. After Apollo we knew they’d been created by meteor strikes. Since Earth is much bigger than the moon, it would be more vulnerable than the moon, so there was nothing fantastical about thinking Continued on Page 69 Number 113 • ATLANTIS RISING 43 ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE • BY ROBERT M. SCHOCH, Ph.D. T he end of the last Ice Age, nearly 12,000 years ago, was a pivotal period not only in the history of our planet but also for early cultures and civilizations living during those tumultuous times. There were rapid climatic and environmental changes as well as catastrophic geologic changes. Massive ice sheets (on the order of kilometers thick) quickly melted at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere; pressure was released from the crust setting off increased earthquake and volcanic activity. Tremendous amounts of moisture in the atmosphere fell to the surface of Earth as torrential rains, causing widespread deluges and flooding. Huge quantities of fresh water flowed into the oceans, upsetting and changing ocean circulation patterns, which in turn had further effects on the climate as well as raising sea levels around the globe on the order of a 120 meters or more, inundating low-lying coastal areas. The exact dating of the end of the last Ice Age has been subject to increasing refinements over the last few decades. In recent years, based on ice core data from Greenland and other detailed evidence, the end of the last Ice Age has been dated to “11700 calendar yr b2k (before AD 2000) . . . with a maximum counting error of 99 yr” (M. Walker et al. 2009, Jour. Quaternary Science ). Studying a Greenland ice core utilizing ultra-high-resolution laser sampling techniques involving hundreds of samples per centimeter and year of ice time (measuring such markers as calcium, sodium, and iron concentrations), P. Mayewski, et al. (2014, Jour. Quaternary Science) have pinpointed the abrupt end of the last Ice Age to within a year. Inspecting their published data, it is evident that they have refined information documenting the end of the last Ice Age at the level of months, weeks, and possibly even days. The Ice Age ended quite suddenly indeed! The last Ice Age did not just “warm” and end. Rather, in the Northern Hemisphere there was a warming period toward the end of the last Ice Age followed by a cold spell (cold even relative to those glacial times), known as the Younger Dryas, before the final warming. The onset of this cooling event was also quite abrupt, although perhaps not quite as abrupt as the dramatic warming that ended the Younger Dryas (thus ending the last Ice Age). Based on Greenland ice core data, this cooling event is dated to approximately 10,900 BC (J. Steffensen, et al. 2008, Science). The Younger Dryas cold spell lasted for 1,200 years before Earth was suddenly snapped out of the last Ice Age circa 9700 BC. What are the explanations for the beginning and end of the Younger Dryas? These are topics that have baffled geologists for decades. Perhaps one of the best known and most controversial theories to explain the onset of the Younger Dryas is that a comet, meteor, See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74 Dr. Schoch Ice-Age-End Scenarios A Much Much-Cited c -Ci C te t d Geolog Geologist ogist Weighs In on the Evidence asteroid, or other extraterrestrial (ET) object (a bolide) either hit Earth or exploded in the atmosphere 12,900 years ago, thus inducing the abrupt cooling event that marks the onset of the Younger Dryas. Although there were earlier theories along these lines, this idea gained widespread attention with the 2007 publication of an article by R. Firestone, et al. that reputedly reported evidence for such an impact event. These authors (Proc. National Academy of Sciences) proposed, “that one or more large, low-density ET objects exploded over northern North America, partially destabilizing the Laurentide Ice Sheet and triggering YD [Younger Dryas] cooling. The shock wave, thermal pulse, and event-related environmental effects (e.g., extensive biomass burning and food limitations) contributed to end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions and adaptive shifts among PaleoAmericans in North America.” The impact hypothesis has aroused heated controversy, with arguments and counterarguments flying back and forth in the scientific literature as well as in the popular press. Initially I found the arguments for such an impact at the beginning of the Younger Dryas quite intriguing. However, as more researchers have studied the issue, much of the data supporting the impact hypothesis has Solar Outburst been questioned. For instance, D. Kennett, et al. (2009, Proc. National Academy of Sciences) published an article apparently documenting the presence of “shock-synthesized hexagonal nanodiamonds (lonsdaleite)” from the base of the Younger Dryas on Santa Rosa Island, California. This, if true, would strongly support that an impact event occurred, as lonsdaleite is known on Earth only from meteorites and impact craters. However, as pointed out by M. Boslough, et al. (2012, Geophysical Monograph Series), it has since been determined that the supposed lonsdaleite is not lonsdaleite but a misidentification of other material, and the same holds true of other supposed reported occurrences of lonsdaleite in sediments dating to approximately 12,900 years ago. With the invalidation of the supposed lonsdaleite finds, one of the strongest lines of evidence supporting the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis has evaporated. Furthermore, various studies have demonstrated that nanodiamonds per se (as opposed to lonsdaleite) “do not provide unique evidence for a Younger Dryas impact” event (H. Tian, et al. 2012, Proc. National Academy of Sciences). Other evidence put forth to support the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis has not Continued on Page 71 Number 113 • ATLANTIS RISING 45
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