ALCHEMY

Alchemy is generally defined as an art which aims to change impure metals into silver or gold. The goal of the Great Work of alchemy, called also the Art, is the "Philosopher's Stone".

The Stone was viewed as a magical touchstone that could immediately perfect any substance or situation. The Philosopher's Stone has been associated with the Salt of the World, the Astral Body, the Elixir, and even Jesus Christ.

The Elixir of the alchemists has essentially the same ability to perfect any substance. When applied to the human body, the Elixir cures diseases and restores youth. The alchemists' dream is to attain knowledge of the mysterious Philosopher's Stone, or "that Elixir by which such wonders are performed".

The basis of all the alchemical transformations required to obtain the Stone (called the Great Work) is seven-stepped formula described by the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes The Tablet probably first appeared in the West in editions of the psuedo-Aristotlean Secretum Secretorum which was actually a translation of the Kitab Sirr al-Asar, a book of advice to kings which was translated into latin by Johannes Hispalensis c. 1140 and by Philip of Tripoli c.1243. Other translations of the Tablet may have been made during the same period by Plato of Tivoli and Hugh of Santalla, perhaps from different sources.

• The Emerald Tablet of Hermes - Translation

1. This true without lying, certain & most true. That which is below is like that which is above & that wch is above is like yet which is below to do ye miracles of one only thing.

2. And as all things have been & arose from one by ye mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.

3. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nourse.
4. The father of all perfection in ye whole world is here.

5. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth. Seperate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.

6. It ascends from ye earth to ye heaven & again it desends to ye earth and receives ye force of things superior & inferior.

7. By this means you shall have ye glory of ye whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.

8. Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing. So was ye world created.

9. From this are & do come admirable adaptaions whereof ye means (Or process) is here in this.
10. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of ye philosophy of ye whole world.
11. That which I have said of ye operation of ye Sun is accomplished & ended.

• Translation of Issac Newton c. 1680

Seven Steps of the Philosopher's Stone Formula Although the alchemists went to great pains to conceal the true order of the steps of the formula for making the Stone, the correct order according to the Emerald Tablet is: Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, Coagulation. The first four steps take place Below, in the realm of matter. The last three steps take place Above, in the realm of mind and creative imagination.

BLACK WORK
Saturn / black crow perching on top of a skull / Visita = Putrefaction Jupiter / black crow watching itself dissolving / Interiora = Dissolution

WHITE WORK
Mars / two white soul birds retrieving the remains / Terra = Separation Sun / ascending soul & spirit birds leave Earth and lift the five-spiked crown / Rectificanto = Conjunction
RED WORK
Venus / soul & spirit birds nest in a tree and brood over their egg / Inveniens = Fermentation Mercury / unicorn lying in front of a rose bush / Occultum = Distillation Moon / androgynous youth emerging from an open grave / Lapidem = Coagulation.

The Stone of the Philosophers

There are two primary ways of knowing reality:
1. The rational, deductive, argumentative, intellectual thinking that is accepted by the science and our patriarchal Western culture. The alchemists called this Solar Consciousness and assigned it many code words, such as the Sun, Sulfur, the King, the Father, Spirit, and ultimately, the One Mind of the universe. This involves left-brain activity like linear thought, schematics, formulae, arguments and logic.
2. The intuitive way of thinking, also called intelligence of the heart, a non-linear, image-driven way of thinking that is an accepted tool of the arts and religion. The alchemists called the other way of knowing Lunar Consciousness. Among its many symbols are the Moon, Mercury, the Queen, the Holy Ghost, Soul, and ultimately, the One Thing of the universe. This involves right-brain activity dealing with drawings, paintings, mandalas, symbols, music, and meditation.The alchemists believed that perfection could only be achieved by working with both Solar and Lunar ways of knowing and ultimately uniting them in a third state of Stellar Consciousness. Stellar Consciousness is a state of incorruptible wisdom symbolized by the heroic Child that resulted from the marriage of the King and Queen, as well as by Salt, Gold, the Philosopher's Stone, the Astral Body, and of course, the Stars themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS [UFOs]

For the last sixty years stories of UFOs, Flying Saucers, Aliens and Cover-ups have intrigued the World.
UFO, is any flying object that cannot be identified by the observer and have been spotted in many different places around the world.

Reports of unusual aerial phenomena date back to ancient times, but modern reports and first official investigations began during World War II with sightings of so-called foo fighters by Allied airplane crews and in 1946 with widespread sightings of European "ghost rockets." UFO reports became even more common after the first widely publicized United States UFO sighting, by private pilot Kenneth Arnold in the summer of 1947. Many tens of thousands of UFO reports have since been made worldwide.

The notion that unidentified objects or lights in the sky might be craft from other worlds appears to have been first suggested following the earliest wave of such sightings.

In the post 1947 era however, explanations for the saucers, or "flying disks" as they were also known at the time, included natural phenomena, such as Venus or unusual clouds, illusions, hoaxes, balloons, prototype aircraft and secret weapons (friendly or hostile), and the extraterrestrial hypothesis. The last possibility was not initially given much credence but rapidly gained favor as a result of intense media speculation.

From the outset, the systematic investigation of UFOs was made problematic by the fact that the alleged phenomenon was both transient and unpredictable. Although data were plentiful, these largely took the form of individual and uncorroborated eyewitness reports – a notoriously unreliable source of information. Yet enough sightings were made by what appeared to be reliable, experienced observers, including military personnel and police officers, for the phenomenon to be taken seriously (see Roswell Incident; Mantell, Captain Thomas F.). The United States military, concerned about a possible threat to national security and following the recommendations of General Twining, launched the first of its investigations, Project Sign. This was followed by Project Grudge and, finally, beginning in 1952, Project Blue Book.

Besides visual sightings, cases sometimes have an indirect physical evidence like :
#Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites.
#Photographic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video, including some in the infrared spectrum .
# Recorded visual spectrograms # Recorded gravimetric and magnetic disturbances
#Biological effects on plants such as increased or decreased growth, germination effects on seeds, and blown-out stem nodes (usually associated with physical trace cases or crop circles) #Electromagnetic interference (EM) effects, including stalled cars, power black-outs, radio/TV interference, magnetic compass deflections, and aircraft navigation, communication, and engine disruption,etc.

There are different opinions about the UFO phenomenon. Among proponents, some of the more common explanations for UFOs are:

* The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) : that UFOs are best explained as being creatures from other planets occupying physical spacecraft visiting Earth.
* The interdimensional hypothesis : advanced by astrophysicist Jacques Vallee, holds that these phenomena are visitations from other universes (or dimensions) that coexist separately alongside our own. It further proposes that they are a modern manifestation of entities or phenomena which have appeared throughout and possibly before recorded history, and which were previously explained as mythological or supernatural creatures.

It is an alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, which proposes that UFOs are from distant worlds in our own universe, as well as to the hypothesis that UFOs are merely terrestrial phenomena. This hypothesis is generally considered to be a fringe view, even among UFO researchers.

According to this theory, the phenomenon manifests itself as a control mechanism, whose function appears to be to challenge the observer's accepted notions of reality, by appearing to be things that common sense would disregard as being impossible, and in our modern age, as technological objects which always seem to appear to be one step ahead of our own technological horizon.
*The Paranormal/Occult Hypothesis
* The hypothesis that they are time machines or vehicles built in a future time.

Skeptics usually propose one of the following explanations:

* The man-made craft hypothesis
* The unknown natural phenomena hypothesis, e.g. ball lightning, sprites * The Psychological-Social Hypothesis * The Earthquake lights/Tectonic Strain hypothesis.

What appears interesting is that UFO sightings depend on the technological environment of their times. In the late 1800s, UFOs were described as airships larger, sturdier and more maneuverable than those commonly used. As planes were developed UFO descriptions involved those of planes with speed and maneuverability greater than in any known design. Nowadays UFOs are described as having many shapes, but are still described as performing maneuvers that no known contemporary aircraft is capable of doing; these include complete or near-complete silence when spotted, hovering, flight at very great speeds with very small turn radii, as well as the ability to make unusually rapid changes in altitude.

It should also be noted that UFOs are usually observed by untrained sky watchers and almost never by professional or amateur astronomers, people who spend inordinate amounts of time observing the heavens above. These untrained observers have been aided by the availability of inexpensive video cameras, yet despite the enormous increase in volume of such cameras, there has been a drop in the number of UFO observations. Anyway, one would think that astronomers would have spotted some of these alien craft by now. [Perhaps the crafty aliens know that good scientists are skeptical and inquisitive !]

GREATEST HOAX : BOOK OF MORMON

The Book of Mormon is one of the sacred texts of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is regarded by most, if not all, Latter Day Saint groups as divinely revealed and is named after the prophet–historian Mormon who, according to the text, compiled most of the book. It was published by the founder of the LDS movement, Joseph Smith, Jr., in March 1830 in Palmyra, New York, USA.

It is considered to be a divinely inspired book of equal value to the Bible. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, claimed that he was directed by an Angel to a hill near his home in which he found golden tablets containing the full text of the book. With the books he found two objects called the Urim and Thummim which he described as a pair of crystals joined in the form of a large pair of spectacles. Unfortunately, after Smith finished his translation, he had to return the tablets to the Angel, so there is no physical evidence that they ever existed.

WHY THE BOOK OF MORMON IS A FRAUD

First of all, despite claims to the contrary, the Book of Mormon is the work of man and is not inspired by God. Since its original publication there have been over 4,000 alterations made to this supposedly inspired writing. These changes include deletions of entire sections, the changing of characters named in the book, changes of the names of locations, and much more. Yet despite all these alterations, this book still contains numerous errors and contradictions.

The book refers to a group of Jews that moved to and settled in America where Jesus visited them. Some segments of the Book of Mormon contain sections copied directly from the King James version of the Bible - the Bible that was most popular at the time and used by Joseph Smith. One example is Mark 16:15-18 which is quoted nearly word-for-word in Mormon 9:22-24. In addition, the book mimics the literary and linguistic style of the King James Bible. Linguistic experts have stated that the entire book is written by one man, and is not written by a combination of authors (the prophets as claimed by Smith).

The Book of Mormon discusses metals being used in weapons, coins, and buildings. It mentions things such as chariots, swords, scimitars, and breastplates. It talks about crops of wheat and barley. It mentions the donkey, cattle, oxen, horse, pig, and elephants. It also talks about the use of linen and silk. There is absolutely NO archaeological evidence to support any of this.

The Book of Mormon claims that those who lived here used a calendar consisting of a seven-day week. Yet none of the archaeological evidence has ever produced any such calendar. The calendars that have been found mostly used a 20-day period, repeating over and over.

The most compelling proof that Joseph Smith was perpetuating a fraud is the Book of Abraham. In 1835 Smith was able to use his Urim and Thummim to translate some Egyptian scrolls that he was given access to (at that time no one could read hieroglyphics). Upon inspection, Smith declared that they contained the Book of Abraham. He promptly translated the lot and it was accepted as scripture by the church. The scrolls vanished and everyone thought the story would end there. But it didn’t - in 1966 the original scrolls were found in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The scrolls turned out to be a standard Egyptian text that was often buried with the dead. To this day the Book of Abraham is a source of discomfort for the Mormon religion.

OAK ISLAND TREASURE

If I told you that there was a buried treasure on an island just off the coast of Nova Scotia, you might believe me. After all this area of North America was a favourite stomping ground for pirates in the 18th century.

If I told you that the treasure was buried in a deep pit, you might respond, "Of course, that was it to make sure no one but the pirates found it".

But what if I told you that the treasure pit was, to date, almost 200 feet deep, protected by an elaborate set of booby traps (underground channels to an ocean beach over 500 feet away), has been the subject of countless excavations since 1795, costing millions of dollars, and the death place of six treasure hunters, and they still haven’t found the treasure… If you answer: "That’s the treasure pit at Oak Island", you are correct!

The story of Oak Island, Nova Scotia,is said to be one the most frustrating and intriguing mysteries of all time.

The story of the Oak Island treasure pit is fascinating and complex. It is a story of mystery, greed, controversy and very little humour. The Oak Island treasure has been sought by many individuals and corporations for over 200 years. It has attracted all strata of explorer from: the three teenagers who first discovered the site; to Franklin D. Roosevelt, a former US President, whose company Old Gold Salvage group searched in 1909; to the swash-buckling actor Errol Flynn who wanted to search Oak Island in 1940, but was discouraged when he found the search rights belonged to a company owned by fellow actor John Wayne.

The story of the Oak Island Treasure Pit has been written about in numerous books. To date the treasure has not been uncovered, but tantalizing glimpses of what are purported to be part of the treasure have been reported. The following are a sample of some of the theories on who buried the treasure on Oak Island:

• the most popular theory is that of the early 18th century pirate Captain Kidd, who frequently visited the region of Oak Island for rest and relaxation and to repair his ships. He seemed to have a habit of burying part of the treasure he plundered far and wide.
• the most bizarre theory is that the treasure is the original works of William Shakespeare/ Sir Francis Bacon buried on the site in the late 16th century. This theory is based on the evidence of a piece of parchment paper brought up from the pit by one of the treasure hunters.
• equally strange is the theory of the crown jewels of France which went missing in 1791 and were said to have been smuggled to Louisburg (north of Oak Island in Cape Breton). Since Louisburg was frequently attacked by the British when the French owned it, the jewels were considered unsafe and were transported to Oak Island.

The theories go on but no one knows for sure the origin of the Treasure Pit.

Excavation of the Pit has never been successful because of the booby traps which were set to protect it. In the mid-1860s, while excavating at the 90 feet level, the treasure hunters encountered soggy ground. This was not too surprising because the Pit was only 500 feet from the coast line and high tide of the ocean was about at the 32 foot level. At 93 feet the wetness was more pronounced. At 98 feet they struck an extra hard surface. They took the rest of day off and the next morning found that the shaft of the Pit was filled with sea water to the 32 foot level. We now know that the miners had inadvertently opened a series of channels to the beach which had been installed as a booby trap to protect the treasure.

Many attempts have been made over the years to discover how the booby trap works. Coffer dams have been built on the nearby beach, thought to be the source of the water flow… but to no avail.

In the over 200 years that adventurers have searched for the Treasure Pit of Oak Island, they have encountered oak log platforms every ten feet or so to the thirty foot level. From there, a drill probe used in 1849, encountered multiple layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre. At the 98 feet level, a spruce platform guarding two oak chests containing loose metal pieces (pieces of eight?) was discovered.

But the discoveries do not stop there. Continued drilling, in 1897, found that there were, below the 98 foot oak chests, layers of wood and iron, a 30 foot layer of blue clay (a hand-worked watertight mixture of clay, sand and water) , a seven foot deep cement vault at 153 feet and an iron barrier at 171 feet.

Early on in the hunt for the Treasure, an inscribed stone (which has been lost over time) was found face-down in the Pit. There have been various interpretations made of the inscription. Below is a drawing of the inscription:

The most commonly accepted translation is as follows:

Today, Oak Island is owned by two individuals who still search of the treasure.

Who knows, maybe some day we will know the true story of the mystery of the Treasure Pit of Oak Island.

Nazca Lines

The Nazca Lines are located in the Pampa region of Peru.They were made known by Toribio Mejia Xespe in 1939.

Composition of the Lines

The pebbles which cover the surface of the desert contain ferrous oxide. The exposure of centuries has given them a dark patina. When the gravel is removed, they contrast with the color underneath. In this way the lines were drawn as furrows of a lighter color, even though in some cases they became prints. In other cases, the stones defining the lines and drawings form small lateral humps of different sizes. Some drawings, especially the early ones, were made by removing the stones and gravel from their contours and in this way the figures stood out in high relief.

Designs

The concentration and juxtaposition of the lines and drawings leave no doubt that they required intensive long-term labor as is demonstrated by the stylistic continuity of the designs, which clearly correspond to the different stages of cultural changes. There appear to be two kinds of designs: the first are figures of various beings and things and the others form geometric lines. The former consists of figures of animals, plants, objects, such as anthropomorphic figures of colossal proportions made with well-defined lines. Of these figures which have been restored by Maria Reiche and other collaborators about 70 are known. Probably the most extraordinary thing about the lines is that one can only see the picture they form from the air, the people who created them could not have seen how they look in the pictures on this page from ground level.

The most famous

- The Spider, approximately 46m long,
- The Monkey, 55m long,
- The Guanay (guano bird), 280m long,
- The Lizzard 180m,
- The Hummingbird, 50m long,
- The Killer Whale, 65m long or
- The Pelican - the largest of them all - at 285m long.

There are also drawings of flowers and plants, as well as representations of deformed animals and other strange figures. An example of this is thedrawing of a weird being with two enormous hands, one normal and the other with only four fingers. Also represented are drawings of man-made objects such as yarn, looms and "tupus" (ornamental clasps). All these figures have well-defined entrances which could be used as paths or to allow people to line together along the conformations of the drawings.

The anthropomorphic figures are relatively few and are situated on the slopes. The most well-known being The Astronaut at 32m length and E.T., discovered by Eduardo Herran in 1982. Others are The Man with a Hat and The Executioner and they also appear to be the most primitive. These figures are very similar to the small petroglyphs found in the rocky areas of the region.

In terms of the lines, many kilometers long, they crisscross sectors of the pampas in all directions. Many of the lines form geometric figures: angles, triangles, bunches, spirals, rectangles, wavy lines, etc. Other lines form concentric circles converging with or emanating from a promontory. Other prints have formed "roads" like geometric planes and appear to have been occupied by large groups of the population.

Theories

There are several theories regarding the Nasca lines.The archaeological explanation as to who made them and how is widely accepted; namely that the Nazca people made the lines using simple tools and surveying equipment. Some believe they were used for rituals, propably related to astronomy. However, there is less existing evidence concerning why the figures were built, so the Nazca people's motivation remains the lines' most persistent mystery. Many scholars believe that their motivation was religious, making images that only gods in the sky could see clearly.

Others believe they were used to confirm the "ayllus" or clans who made up the population and to determine through ritual their economic functions held up by reciprocity and redistribution.

Some say they were created for ET creator Gods.

Perhaps the most controversial theory was put forward by Erich von Däniken in his book Chariots of the Gods, who proposed that the lines were in fact landing strips for alien spacecraft. His argument is similar to Woodman's, claiming that the designs are so large and complex that they could only have been constructed using flying machines.

The Baghdad Battery

In 1936, while excavating ruins of a 2000-year-old village near Baghdad, workers discovered mysterious small vase. A 6-inch-high pot of bright yellow clay dating back two millennia contained a cylinder of sheet-copper 5 inches by 1.5 inches. The edge of the copper cylinder was soldered with a 60-40 lead-tin alloy comparable to today's solder. The bottom of the cylinder was capped with a crimped-in copper disk and sealed with bitumen or asphalt. Another insulating layer of asphalt sealed the top and also held in place an iron rod suspended into the center of the copper cylinder. The rod showed evidence of having been corroded with an acidic agent.

German archaeologist , Wilhelm Konig, examined the object and came to a surprising conclusion that the clay pot was nothing less than an ancient electric battery.

The ancient battery in the Baghdad Museum, as well as those others which were unearthed in Iraq, are all dated from the Parthian occupation between 248 BCE and 226 CE. However, Dr. Konig also found copper vases plated with silver in the Baghdad Museum, excavated from Sumerian sites in southern Iraq, dating back to at least 2500 BCE. When the vases were lightly tapped, a blue patina or film separated from the surface, which is characteristic of silver electroplated onto copper base. It would appear then that the Parthians inherited their batteries from one of the earliest known civilizations.


In 1940, Willard F.M. Gray, an engineer at the General Electric High Volatage Laboratory in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, read of Konig's theory. Using drawings and details supplied by German rocket scientist Willy Ley, Gray made a replica of the battery. Using copper sulfate solution, it generated about half a volt of electricity.
In 1970s, German Egyptologist, Arne Eggebrecht built a replica of the Baghdad battery and filled it with freshly pressed grape juice, as he speculated the ancients might have done. The replica generated 0.87V. He used current from the battery to electroplate a silver statuette with gold.
This experiment proved that electric batteries were used some 1,800 years before their modern invention by Alessandro Volta in 1799. It also seems that the use of similar batteries can be safely placed into ancient Egypt, where several objects with traces of electroplated precious metals have been found at different locations. There are several anomalous finds from other regions, which suggests use of electricity on a grander scale.


The Riddle of "Baghdad's batteries"

Arran Frood investigates what could have been the very first batteries and how these important archaeological and technological artefacts are now at risk from the impending war in Iraq.




Biblical clues

It was in 1938, while working in Khujut Rabu, just outside Baghdad in modern day Iraq, that German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig unearthed a five-inch-long (13 cm) clay jar containing a copper cylinder that encased an iron rod.

The vessel showed signs of corrosion, and early tests revealed that an acidic agent, such as vinegar or wine had been present.In the early 1900s, many European archaeologists were excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, looking for evidence of Biblical tales like the Tree of Knowledge and Noah's flood.
Konig did not waste his time finding alternative explanations for his discovery. To him, it had to have been a battery.
Though this was hard to explain, and did not sit comfortably with the religious ideology of the time, he published his conclusions. But soon the world was at war, and his discovery was forgotten.


Possible uses

Some have suggested the batteries may have been used medicinally.
The ancient Greeks wrote of the pain killing effect of electric fish when applied to the soles of the feet.

The Chinese had developed acupuncture by this time, and still use acupuncture combined with an electric current. This may explain the presence of needle-like objects found with some of the batteries.
But this tiny voltage would surely have been ineffective against real pain, considering the well-recorded use of other painkillers in the ancient world like cannabis, opium and wine.
Other scientists believe the batteries were used for electroplating - transferring a thin layer of metal on to another metal surface - a technique still used today and a common classroom experiment.
This idea is appealing because at its core lies the mother of many inventions: money.
In the making of jewellery, for example, a layer of gold or silver is often applied to enhance its beauty in a process called gilding.

IRON PILLAR , DELHI

Standing at the center of the Quwwatul Mosque the Iron Pillar is one of Delhi's most curious structures.Dating back to 4th century A.D, it highlights ancient India's achievements in metallurgy. The pillar is made of 98 per cent wrought iron and has stood 1,600 years without rusting or decomposing.

It stand 7.3 m tall, with one meter below the ground; the diameter is 48 centimeters at the foot, tapering to 29 cm at the top, just below the base of the wonderfully crafted capital; it weighs approximately 6.5 tones, and was manufactured by forged welding.It bears an inscription which states that it was erected as a flagstaff in honor of the Hindu god, Vishnu, and in the memory of the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375-413). How the pillar moved to its present location remains a mystery.

Mystery of Delhi's Iron Pillar

The pillar is now located in Delhi, although one knows almost for certain that it was moved to that place from somewhere in Madhya Pradesh about a thousand years ago. Who had the pillar moved to its present location, and why, is unknown. The most densely argued chapter however is on the corrosion-resistant nature of this iron pillar, the P-content and the S-content of the low carbon mild steel of which it is made, the process of rust protection, the color of whatever rust there is, spectroscopic analysis, are all themes, something that has led to its being widely regarded as a 'miracle' of technology, given the times in which the pillar was forged and erected.

Mystery unraveled

On July 18, Experts at the Indian Institute of Technology have resolved the mystery behind the 1,600-year-old iron pillar in Delhi, which has never corroded despite the capital's harsh weather.

Metallurgists at Kanpur IIT have discovered that a thin layer of "misawite", a compound of iron, oxygen and hydrogen, has protected the cast iron pillar from rust.

The protective film took form within three years after erection of the pillar and has been growing ever so slowly since then. After 1,600 years, the film has grown just one-twentieth of a millimeter thick.

The high phosphorous content is a result of the unique iron-making process practiced by ancient Indians, who reduced iron ore into steel in one step by mixing it with charcoal.

Modern blast furnaces, on the other hand, use limestone in place of charcoal yielding molten slag and pig iron that is later converted into steel. In the modern process most phosphorous is carried away by the slag.

It has also come to light that the pillar was erected by Kumara Gupta of Gupta dynasty that ruled northern India in AD 320-540.

THE GLOZEL CONTROVERSY

Over half a century ago, a hoard of ancient objects were unearthed at Glozel in the French region of Allier set off a furious argument among archeologists.Were the objects found, a total of some 3,000 artefacts, variously dated to Neolithic, Iron Age and Medieval times, remnants of an advenced civilisation or some not-so-clever fakes?


FRAUD OR FIND OF THE 20th CENTURY ???

Émile Fradin, a shrewd peasant lad of 17 years, dug up a number of curiously inscribed brick and clay tablets in a field at Glozel, France on March 1, 1924. Immediately the "Glozel Finds" attracted world wide attention. French archeologists announced that they were important relics of the Stone Age, wrote monographs.

Fradin,along with his grand-father, was working in a field known as “Duranthon”.Émile was holding the handles of a plough when one of the cows pulling it stuck her foot in a cavity. Freeing the cow, the Fradins uncovered an underground structure with walls of clay bricks and 16 clay floor tiles, containing human bones and ceramic fragments.The clay pots found were broken by him quickly in the hope of treasure. But not a single coin was found.He then carried on searching and dug out several other vessels, and clay tablets with mysterious charcters inscribed on them.He reproted this to a teacher with an interest in archeology.

Soon the news spread and it caught the attention of Antonin Morlet, a Vichy physician and amateur archaeologist. Morlet visited Clément and was intrigued by the findings.He believed that some findings might even date from the Magdalenian period (12,000-9500 BC), as they involved bone harpoons and depictions of reindeer, though to be extinct since 10,000 BC. Yet when the writings were studied on other objects , the earliest known form of writing was then established at 3300 BC, and that was in the Middle East.

Antonin Morlet identified Glozel as a transition site between both eras, even though it was known that the two eras were separated by several millennia.

No wonder therefore that French archaeological academia were dismissive of Morlet's report; after all, it was published by an amateur – a doctor – and a peasant boy – who could perhaps not even write properly? The amateurism dripped off their conclusion, for it challenged their carefully established and vociferously defended dogma on several levels.

Despite such allegations, Morlet unearthed thousands of objects over a period of two years, all of varied forms and shape, including a hundred tablets carrying signs and approximately fifteen tablets carrying the imprints of human hands. Other discoveries were sexual idols, polished stones, dressed stones, ceramics, glass, bones, etc. How Fradin could possibly have made thousands of objects, the likes of Vayson de Pradenne never explained…

Furthermore, two other tombs were uncovered in June 1927. One contained 67, the other 121 objects and human remains. It seemed that Glozel was soon to be accepted as a major archaeological discovery. At the meeting of the International Institute of Anthropology in Amsterdam, held in September 1927, Glozel was therefore the subject of heated debate.

A commission was appointed to do further investigations and arrived in Glozel on November 5, 1927. During their three day excavation, the archaeologists uncovered various artefacts, but in their report of December 1927, the commission declared everything, with the exception of a few pieces of flint axes and stone ware, as fake.

But neither side of the controversy were willing to compromise. As a result, the matter remained unresolved until the 1970's, when a new research methods could provide much more precise dating .However even they could not resolve the the mystery surrounding the Glozel finds.

Studies show that the clay tablets are barely 2000 years old and date from Gallo -Roman times, while some bones are as old as 15,000 years.And the some inscribed stones and bones are from Stone Age!!

Hence some believe that Glozel could not be a genuine pre-historic site.They suggest that someone collected objects of various origins.While others who believe in the authenticity claim that the finds have been proven to be ancient.
During the 1980s, France's Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs commissioned new excavation work at the site.

But until new records are found, the quarrel is unlikely to be resolved.