Ancient World Review

Ancient Helike - A Real Atlantis

Video from 2009. Edgerton searched for the site back in the Sixties.

"There is little to see today of Helike, just a few walls and artifacts scraped clean by archaeologists. The great Greek city, famed across the classical world, sunk into the coastal mud of the Gulf of Corinth in 373 BC during a terrible earthquake. Writers still recalled its fate hundreds of years later." Source: Archaeology News Network (2019).

According to Wikipedia, "Helike was founded in the Bronze Age, becoming the principal city of Achaea. The poet Homer states that the city of Helike participated in the Trojan War as a part of Agamemnon's forces. Later, following its fall to the Achaeans, Helike led the Achaean League, an association that joined twelve neighboring cities in an area including today's town of Aigio. Helike, also known as Dodekapolis (from the Greek words dodeka meaning twelve and polis meaning city), became a cultural and religious center with its own coinage."

In 2001, after decades of searching, the ruins of the city were discovered "buried in an ancient lagoon near the village of Rizomylos. To further confirm that the discovered site belongs to Helike, the earthquake destruction layer consisting of cobblestones, clay roof tiles, and pottery was uncovered in 2012. This destruction layer is in good agreement with ancient texts on the location of Helike and earthquake effects to the city." (Wikipedia)

The search for Helike is a story in itself and led to several other interesting discoveries. For instance, "in 1979 in the Corinthian Gulf, the Greek undersea explorer Alexis Papadopoulos discovered a sunken town and recorded his findings in a documentary film which shows walls, fallen roofs, roof tiles, streets, etc. at a depth of between 25 and 45 m" and a 1994 magnetometer survey "carried out in the midplain of the [Helike delta] revealed the outlines of a buried building. This target (now known as the Klonis site) was excavated and a large Roman building with standing walls was found. Also a well-preserved settlement of the early bronze age was uncovered." (Wikipedia) More information can be found here.

Next video (2009) shows the discovery of an ancient Roman artifact from a dig conducted during the hunt for Helike. I'm not sure if this particular site was Helike or turned out to be something else.

Helike is commonly referred to as a "real Atlantis." This thriving city was literally destroyed overnight:

"One night during the winter of 373 B.C., the city of Helike was obliterated. Some signs of the city’s impending doom were recorded, including the appearance of ‘immense columns of flames’ and the mass migration of small animals from the coast to the mountains several days prior to the disaster. A major earthquake, followed by a large tsunami from the Gulf of Corinth, wiped the city of Helike from the face of the earth. The rescue party that came in the following morning found no survivors." (Ancient Origins)

The sunken city could still be seen under the water for hundreds of years:

"Around 174 AD the traveler Pausanias visited a coastal site still called Helike, located seven kilometres southeast of Aigio, and reported that the walls of the ancient city were still visible under water, 'but not so plainly now as they were once, because they are corroded by the salt water'." (Wikipedia)

^"For centuries after, its submerged ruins could still be seen. Roman tourists frequently sailed over the site, admiring the city's statuary. Later the site silted over and the location was lost to memory."

Related: Discoveries at Ancient Helike (2005).

The 3000-Yr-Old Temple Of Chavin de Huantar

National Geographic documentary from 2014?

Notes: "The archaeological site of Chavin gave its name to the culture that developed between 1500 and 300 B.C. in this high valley of the Peruvian Andes. This former place of worship is one of the earliest and best-known pre-Columbian sites. Its appearance is striking, with the complex of terraces and squares, surrounded by structures of dressed stone, and the mainly zoomorphic ornamentation." Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.

Chavin de Huantar was a ritual center and pilgrim's destination as well as a major trade hub. "More so than its stunning architecture, Chavín de Huántar was a place of great mystical significance. A shaman elite wielded immense power through the use of drugs, architectural conceits, and the aegis (or threat) of divine sanction. Indeed, though religious rites are hardly attestable, this is in part due to their malleability at the hands of the shamans." Source: Global Heritage Fund. In other words, the religious practices at Chavin de Huantar are hard to reconstruct because the shamans adapted their rituals to suit the circumstances.

The site was occupied by pre-Chavin peoples as long ago as 3000 BC. The Chavin Culture built the temple sometime during the mid 2nd - mid 1st millenium BC and it became a major ceremonial center with its own oracle, shamans and a small elite with a direct pipeline to the gods. The Chavin civilization began to decline around 500-300 BC, perhaps as a result of a general loss of political unity in the Andean world.

In 2012, Popular Archaeology reported that "... a recent archaeoacoustic study suggests that the ancients of the 3,000-year-old Andean ceremonial center at Chavín de Huántar, in the central highlands of Peru, practiced a fine art and science of manipulating sound with architecture to produce desired sensory effects. With the assistance of architectural form and placement, and sounds emitted from conch-shell trumpets, the oracle of Chavín de Huántar 'spoke' to the ancient center's listeners."

In other words, the "voice of the oracle" was an acoustical trick. In fact, if there was a voice, it had to be a trick (unless you think that oracles are real). The shamans and temple priests were probably running a con on the gullible pilgrims who visited the temple and the pronouncements of the oracle could have been one of the ways they exerted control over their neighbors.

Related: Exploring Chavin de Huantar - Stanford University.

The Temple Of Apollo At Didyma, Turkey

This is the temple of Apollo at the Ionian sanctuary of Didyma in Turkey. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the oracular shrine of Apollo "was administered by a priestly clan, the Brnachidae, and rose to great prominence in the 6th cent. BC." The fate of the sanctuary "seems to have been sealed by an oracle given in AD 303, advising Diocletian to initiate his empire-wide persecution of the Christian church. Constantine I closed the oracle, and executed the priests; it appears not to have functioned thereafter."

In other words, the oracle was shut down in retaliation for its advice to Diocletian.

The Thracian Tomb Of Kazanlak

"Discovered in 1944, this tomb dates from the Hellenistic period, around the end of the 4th century BC. It is located near Seutopolis, the capital city of the Thracian king Seutes III, and is part of a large Thracian necropolis." Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.

Note: The tomb "comprises a narrow corridor and a round burial chamber, both decorated with murals representing a Thracian couple at a ritual funeral feast. The monument dates back to the 4th century BCE and has been on the UNESCO protected World Heritage Site list since 1979. The murals are memorable for the splendid horses and for a gesture of farewell, in which the seated couple grasp each other's wrists in a moment of tenderness and equality (according to Lyudmila Zhivkova—a view that is not shared by all specialists). The paintings are Bulgaria's best-preserved artistic masterpieces from the Hellenistic period." (Wikipedia)

The tomb itself is closed to the public, but a full-scale replica has been constructed nearby [next video].

Raids & Bloody Rituals Among Ancient Steppe Nomads

Video from 2017.

"Traces of violence on 1700 year old skeletons allow researchers to reconstruct warfare and sacrifices of nomads in Siberia. An international and interdisciplinary team of anthropologists, archaeologists and specialists in forensic sciences performed a detailed and revealing analysis of the traumas found on the skeletal remains." Source: Science Daily.

"Ancient historiographers described steppe nomads as violent people dedicated to warfare and plundering. Little archaeological and anthropological data are however available regarding violence in these communities during the early centuries CE. In a new study in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, an international team led by researchers from the University of Bern and the Russian Academy of Sciences presents new discoveries about the types of violence lived [sic] by nomads from Siberia between the 2nd-4th centuries CE."

Analyzing the remains found in a Siberian tomb known as Tunnug1 (located at Arzhan - "a site of early Scythian kurgan burials"), researchers discovered that Scythian culture -- during this period, at least -- was incredibly violent:

"The study demonstrates that 25% of the individuals died as a consequence of interpersonal violence, mostly related to hand-to-hand combat, often represented by traces of decapitation. Even though violence affected mostly men, also women and children were found among the victims. Some of the individuals from Tunnug1 show traces of throat-slitting and scalping. According to Marco Milella, first author of the study 'this suggests that violence was not only related to raids and battles, but probably also due to specific, still mysterious, rituals involving the killing of humans and the collection of war trophies.'"

120,000-Yr-Old Human & Animal Footprints Discovered In Saudi Arabia

"Using high resolution paleoecological information obtained from fossilized footprints, a new study presents ~120 thousand-year-old human and animal footprints from an ancient lake bed in northern Arabia. These findings represent the earliest evidence for humans in this part of the world and show that human and animal movements and landscape use were closely linked." Source: Science Daily.

Elon Musk Vs Zahi Hawass

"Egypt has invited billionaire Elon Musk to visit the country and see for himself that its famous pyramids were not built by aliens. The SpaceX boss had tweeted what appeared to be support for conspiracy theorists who say aliens were involved in the colossal construction effort." Source: BBC (Aug. 2, 2020).

"But Egypt's international co-operation minister does not want them taking any of the credit.

"She says seeing the tombs of the pyramid builders would be the proof."

Comment: More Twitter BS. Musk was obviously screwing around -- this is the guy who smoked weed on the Joe Rogan show a while ago -- but the Egyptians took him seriously. The part of their response that I can't figure out is why they think that visiting the pyramids would prove that they weren't built by aliens. The fact that they're full of Egyptian artifacts and hieroglyphs doesn't necessary mean anything. After all, the ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids could have been aliens themselves or they could have taken over structures which were originally constructed by aliens for other purposes. That makes total sense to me.

Related: Six Crazy Conspiracy Theories Involving The Pyramids Of Giza.

Facial Reconstruction Reveals Egyptian "Mummy Portrait" Was Accurate Except For One Detail

Video from 2018.

"Just after the turn of the first millennium A.D., a young child living in Egypt contracted a deadly illness — most likely pneumonia — and died. His tiny body was prepared for mummification and burial; some of his organs were removed, his remains were wrapped in criss-crossed linen bindings and a portrait of his face was affixed to the front of his mummy." Source: Live Science.

"This so-called 'mummy portrait' was part of a popular tradition among some Egyptians in Greco-Roman times, from about the first through the third centuries A.D. But how accurate were these portraits? To find out, a team of scientists in Austria and Germany CT scanned this little boy's body and created a 3D digital reconstruction of his face.

"The results show that the portrait was fairly accurate, except for one aspect — the artist made the youngster look older than his 3 or 4 years."

Note: I wouldn't take this new reconstruction as the gospel truth. Digital facial reconstruction using data from 3D scans is apparently fairly accurate now, but it still has its limitations:

"Facial reconstruction is destined to remain an art, albeit an increasingly informed one. The shape of the face bears only a restricted resemblance to the underlying bone structure. Facial reconstructions are inherently inaccurate, therefore, and cannot be used as a positive proof of identification – certainly not in a court of law." Source: Archaeology Data Service.

More Attacks On Christian Churches (Sept. 2020)

Video from Aug. 2019. These attacks have been going on for years now.

"Vatican City, Sep 8, 2020 / 06:30 am MT (CNA).- Attacks on churches in France are back to their 'normal' level following a nationwide lockdown, according to an organization led by young Catholics." (Catholic News Agency)

Note: "Since 2017, the Paris-based L’Observatoire de la Christianophobie (Observatory of Christianophobia) has recorded anti-Christian incidents in France month by month on interactive maps. The most recent map available, for August 2020, shows 11 incidents, comprising six acts of vandalism and five thefts. The Observatory recorded nine disturbances on its map for August 2019."

Video from Sept. 10, 2020.

"T. CATHARINES, Ontario, September 9, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A tabernacle stolen from a Canadian Catholic cathedral early Tuesday morning was found Wednesday lying in a canal — but the consecrated Hosts that had been in it were nowhere to be seen.

"Two people were caught on surveillance cameras breaking into St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral about 4:30 A.M. on September 8, Catholic News Agency reported."

Note: Over the years, there have been dozens of cases in Canada and the US of thieves stealing tabernacles for whatever reason. Motives seem to range from simple vandalism to host desecration, general anti-Catholic sentiment and theft for financial gain (some of these tabernacles are valuable or apparently valuable historical relics). In some cases, Satanists may have been after the consecrated wafers for ritual use:

"... a Black Mass takes the Catholic Mass and inverts it, intentionally mocking the Catholic celebration. Participants often use a consecrated Eucharistic host and desecrate it, using it in obscene ways. This is one of the reasons why tabernacles in Catholic churches have locks and why some parishes have an usher stand next to a communion line. Both policies aim at protecting the Eucharist from being used in a Black Mass." (Wikipedia)

Video from Sept. 17, 2020.

"A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was vandalized at Shrine Church of Our Lady of Solace. Praying for the church, as parishioners come together to raise funds to repair the statue important to the whole #ConeyIsland community. @TabletNewspaper https://t.co/aBkhpnClbF." - — Diocese of Brooklyn (@BrooklynDiocese) September 16, 2020. (CBS New York).

Video from Sept. 15, 2020.

"EL PASO, Texas, September 17, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In yet another instance of vandalism directed at churches and religious symbols, a 30-year-old man on Tuesday toppled and destroyed a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus located on the high altar of the cathedral in El Paso, Texas.

"St. Patrick Cathedral, north of downtown, was vandalized on Sept. 16 at around 10 am, the diocese announced on Instagram. 'A suspect came into the sanctuary at St. Patrick Cathedral and destroyed the almost 90-year-old statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was located in the center behind the main altar of the church. The church was open and available for prayer.'" (LifeSite News)

Comment: These are only a few of the incidents which have been reported this month. A simple search will turn up hundreds of cases stretching back for years. Vandalism, arson, attacks on priests and in some cases mass shootings have been taking place in churches all around the world for some time now, and the Catholic church seems to be a prime target. I haven't been able to find any statistical evidence to support this conclusion, but my impression is that these attacks have been increasing dramatically for the last decade. Maybe that just reflects the fact that they're being reported more often -- I don't know -- but some sources believe that "these shocking events are undeniable proof that religious hostility is rising across America." (First Liberty) Whatever the case, these attacks are just another symptom of the ongoing collapse of the West.

Related: Desecration of Catholic Churches Across U.S. Leaves Congregations Shaken (WSJ, July 22, 2020).

Attacks on Catholic Statues Continues Over Weekend (CNA, July 20, 2020).

Churches Burned and Statues of Mary Vandalized in Churches Across U.S. (Rome Reports, July 13, 2020).

Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum Bans Shrunken Heads Because They're "Racist"

Video from Feb. 20, 2020. Views of skulls & shrunken heads begin at 3:37.

"Killjoys at an Oxford museum have decided to remove from view its popular exhibit of shrunken human heads. The woke arbiters of British culture have decided that this exhibit reinforces 'racist and stereotypical thinking.'" Source: RT.

 

"For over 80 years, visitors to Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum, one of the world’s most important ethnological institutes, have been fascinated by its display of shrunken heads, decorated skulls, scalps and Egyptian mummies."

 

No more, it seems. After 80 years these displays will be taken down in the name of "social justice" (or whatever) as the politicization of museums by lefty wingnuts spreads from institution to institution.

 

Note: This fantastic museum was "founded in 1884 by Augustus Pitt Rivers who donated his private collection to the University of Oxford with the condition that a permanent lecturer in anthropology must be appointed. Museum staff are involved in teaching Archaeology and Anthropology at the University even today." (Wikipedia)

The museum, unfortunately, has fallen into the hands of a female SJW named Dr. Laura Van Broekhoven. She's apparently the one behind this move to get rid of the shrunken-head displays:

"The museum’s director, Dr. Laura Van Broekhoven, is not just a killjoy, she is a culture warrior – a member of a caste of influencers who are committed to the cause of representing museum collections through a one-dimensional narrative of racism and colonial plunder." (RT)

"Van Broekhoven told The Art Newspaper: 'Rather than enabling our visitors to reach a deeper understanding of each other’s ways of being, the displays reinforced racist and stereotypical thinking that goes against the museum’s core values.'"

Comment: I'm having a hard time understanding why a display of shrunken heads would be "racist" or "stereotypical." According to RT, the heads were "made by the Shuar and Achuar people, who live in the rainforests of Ecuador and Peru. The heads of dead male enemies were preserved to apparently acquire their powers." If they shrank their enemies' heads -- and no one seems to dispute that they did -- then how is pointing that out "racist?"

This Broekhoven harpy apparently thinks that displaying the heads reinforces a stereotyped Victorian view of these tribes, but a stereotype is defined as "an over-generalized belief about a particular category of people" and there's nothing "over-generalized" about saying that the Shuar and Achuar were headhunters. They were.

Canceling the display makes no sense, but it's useless to expect ideological clowns like Broekhoven to make logical sense. It's a tragedy that a great museum like Pitt Rivers has fallen into the clutches of these virtue-signaling SJW culture-wreckers with all their gibberish about racism and decolonization and "the poetics and politics of redress."

The decline of Britain can be seen by comparing the era of August Pitt-Rivers to the current era of Dr. Laura Van Broekhoven. More and more I'm starting to feel like I was born in the wrong time. Given the choice I'd take Victorian England over the modern UK without hesitation.

Related: Excavating Pitt-Rivers: Studying the Archaeological Collections Made by August Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers.