Bengt Hemtun on Ancient Ideas, Petroglyphs, Symbols, Megaliths

Bengt Hemtun on Ancient Ideas, Petroglyphs, Symbols, Megaliths

We have added Bengt Hemtun to our list of valuable websites on the ancient world.

Hemtun also has a Yahoo discussion group at oldworld_ideas

Rock Art, Archaeology, Boulder Theft and the Law

Rock Art, Archaeology, Boulder Theft and the Law

MSNBC carries an article by Scott Sonner of AP entitled Trial stirs up controversy over rock art: Should ancient petroglyphs be marked or not?

Two men are charged with the theft - from "Indian land" - of two boulders marked with rock art. Their defense is that no official signs marked the boulders. Indeed, government land managers have testified that "such signs would only invite trouble".

The trial has brought up the issue of whether rock art should be marked as such by government officials and be appropriately protected.

The broader legal question is who owns the megaliths? and who owns the rock art? and what are the owners rights AND duties with respect to ancient art?

See my Megaliths.net for background information on ancient rock art and megaliths.

Atlantis : Fact or Fiction : History or Myth

Atlantis : Fact or Fiction : History or Myth

Atlantis : An Immensely Popular Topic

Vast numbers of books have been written about Atlantis, estimated at 20000 to 30000 volumes since the year 1850 (Burchard Brentjes, Atlantis: Geschichte einer Utopie, Dumont, Cologne (Köln), 1994, 2d edition).

At Atlantis Rising Forums, it is the most popular topic of discussion, with the history of Egypt and the pyramids in second place.

Atlantis : The Ancient Sources

The original source for the tale of Atlantis is the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (born ca. 430 BC), in his ancient writings Timaeus and Critias. Plato received his information from Solon (born ca. 630 BC - for Plutarch's biography of Solon see About.com). Solon allegedly obtained the story from Egyptian priests, who reported a story which was allegedly found carved in the hieroglyphs on a gold pillar (which we have yet to find). Other ancient scholars followed.

Since nothing has ever been found which fits Plato's descriptions of Atlantis accurately and in entirety, both the actual existence and possible location of Atlantis remain topics of hot and lively interest.

In fact, I think many enthusiasts would be greatly disappointed if we ever did find an actual Atlantis - or if we ever did convincingly match the Atlantis story with known archaeological findings anywhere. Everyone is having too much fun looking for Atlantis.

Atlantis : Possible Locations

See, for example, the top 10 possible locations for Atlantis at Atlantis Rising

See also... Atlantis - the Myth

and you are well on your way into jaws of the mystery.

Atlantis : Likely Locations

Do I personally think that Atlantis existed? Yes, I do.

In my opinion, only two areas in Europe come seriously into question for Atlantis, due to Plato's description that Atlantis "sank" and was not accessible due to a "sea of mud": one is the destruction of Thera through a volcanic eruption and possibly greater destruction in the Mediterranean (ca. 1600 BC), while the other is the formation of the North Sea after the last glaciation (ca. 9000 BC), covering up a large mass of land, some of which is still known today as the "Wattenmeer", or "Sea of Mud".

See the Atlantis Rising Forum for more detailed argumentation along the above line.

I used to think that Atlantis might still lie within the Mediterranean based on my arguments found at
Atlantis Solon and Plato
Pillars of Heracles
and
Thera - Volcano Santorin

However, based on what I know from my megalithic research now, it might be speculated - highly speculated - that Atlantis might indeed be the British Isles - (At-lant = Eng-land).

The root origin of the term Atlantis as rooted in the name Atlas is perhaps found in Indo-European, e.g. Latvian At-talis (Atlas) or At-talinats (Atlantis) meaning "distant from" or At-dalis (Atlas) "separated from".

Indeed, the ca. 9000 year-old event portrayed by Plato would match the time frame for the formation of the North Sea after the Earth's last large glaciation - see here for a German language page and map.

The 9000 year-old event would also fit the date which I give to the cave paintings at Lascaux, based on astronomy, i.e. the dawn of the cave painters and man's first higher civilization. In other words, the civilization described by Plato need not be Bronze Age.

See
Megaliths.net
where I do not yet have the Lascaux materials online, though they are found in my book
Stars Stones and Scholars.

Could it be that the Egyptian priests had records stretching back this far into human antiquity, i.e. written sources based upon ancient myth and legend?

Well, the fact is that no one really knows, but we will examine this issue in the future at the Ancient World Blog.