Psychiatry has it's chemical imbalance theory, other Sciences rely on Darwinism. Many of them throw out inconvenient and forbidden evidence. It is not just MindFreedom territory in which change is occurring.

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1st World Symposium on the Origins of Civilisation and the Anacronisms of Archaeology

Held at the Teatro Turismo, San Marino, 25-26 March 2000

A Review by Andrew Collins

FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY - paleontological evidence that modern man has been on the planet for over 300 million years.

FORBIDDEN FOOTPRINTS - the debacle over the human footprints 3.7 million years old found in Kenya by Mary Leakey.

AMERICA'S OLDEST INHABITANTS? - a cover up of evidence for ancient man being in the Americas 250,000 years ago.

THE OLDER THEY GET - evidence of spheres of artificial construction 3 billion years old found in South Africa.

ANTARCTICAN ANTIQUITY - THE EVIDENCE AT LAST - Italian mathematician and writer Flavio Barbiero presents a working hypothesis on a lost Antarctican civilisation 30,000-40,000 years old. Also the continuing debate over the true location of Atlantis.

EVIDENCE OF HUMAN OCCUPATION ON ANTARCTICA- exciting new evidence of human occupation on Antarctica.

SKID-MARKS OF THE GODS - A review of Erich von Daniken's lecture at the San Marino conference.

A SLIGHT CASE OF DÉJÀ VU - a top Italian archaeologist confirms Andrew Collins' theories regarding the origins of the Watchers in Near Eastern tradition.

MAPS OF THE ANCIENT SEA-KINGS REVISITED - new evidence to show that ancient portolan maps show a knowledge of Antarctica.

EGYPTIAN GLIDERS - Egyptian architect Dawoud Khalil Messiha on ancient gliders in Egypt and some words on a secret chamber beneath the Queen's Chamber inside the Great Pyramid.

SECRETS OF THE PACIFIC - the origins of Pacific island culture traced to South America.

HOMER IN THE BALTIC - a new theory on the origins of Homer's world in the Baltic.

FINAL WORD - last thoughts on the San Marino conference.

As Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh tell us in their book THE ELIXIR AND THE STONE, the spread of the European renaissance in Hermetica began in Italy, more specifically in fountains of wisdom such Venice, Naples and Florence. Today it seems as if it is the Italian academia who are acknowledging and embracing the alternative views of world history and human evolution promoted by many authors, writers and researchers in this field.

Over the weekend of Saturday, 25th and Sunday 26th March the tiny republic of San Marino, located between Florence and Rimini, played host to an international conference which brought together a plethora of scientists, writers and scholars who delivered their own quite profound views on the antiquity of the human race and the origins of civilisation. Some of Italy's leading archaeologists, geologists and historians rubbed shoulders with paid up members of the Ancient Astronauts Society, including grand-daddy of the `Was God an astronaut?' theory Erich von Daniken.

Among the subjects covered over the two days was the nature of world catastrophes, the true location of Atlantis, the source of ancient portolan maps, the origins of Pacific culture, the Flood of Noah, ancient technologies of Egypt and China and, of course, evidence of extra-terrestrial visitations in the past. Organisers Robert Pinotti, a well-known Italian writer, and Professor Emilio Spedicato of Bergamo University invited me to deliver a paper on Atlantis in the Caribbean, which was simultaneously translated from English into German and Italian.

Since so much of what was said in these lectures was of relevance to both my own work and the subjects of forbidden archaeology, ancient mysteries and lost civilisations in general, I want to outline the contents of as many of these as possible. Please stay with me as I review the two days for there is something in here for everyone.

FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY

One of the first lectures was that given by Michael A. Cremo, the co-author of FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY (from which we derive the much-used, and now trade-marked, term), who argues persuasively that considerable evidence exists to show that evolved human beings have existed on this planet for at least 300 million years (yes, million years). However, this irrefutable and rather compelling evidence obtained from various different geological strata on every continent has been ignored and vehemently suppressed by the academic community.

One perfect example concerns the finds made during the nineteenth century by gold miners in California. According to a book published in 1880 entitled THE AURIFEROUS GRAVELS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA, penned by California's state geologist Dr J. D. Whitney, miners often came across flint tools, and even a pestle and mortar, deep inside tunnels bored into Tuolumne Table Mountain, a gold-rich location favoured during the early period of exploration. The problem here is that the geological strata in which these artefacts were found dates to the epoch known as the Eocene, spanning the period between 65 and 55 million years ago. The flint tools, which resemble implements made by Paleolithic hunter-gathers, were sent to the Museum of Natural History at the University of California at Berkeley, where they remain to this day in dark, dusty basement boxes.

In 1996 the largest American broadcasting network NBC commissioned the making of a documentary which heavily featured Michael Cremo's forbidden archaeology material. They asked the Museum of Natural History at the University of California whether they might be allowed to film the stone tools of Tuolumne Table Mountain. Not only were they refused permission to even see the items, but Darwinian scientists attempted to persuade NBC to drop the whole project. They didn't, thank God. Indeed, the television channel henceforth promoted the documentary, which was entitled THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGINS OF MAN and presented by actor Charlton Heston, as the programme the scientists don't want you to see. By the way, the BBC flatly refused to broadcast the programme in Britain.

FORBIDDEN FOOTPRINTS

Michael spoke next about the case of the 3.7 million year old footprints found by renowned paleontologist Mary Leakey, the mother of Richard Leakey. They were uncovered during excavations at a site near Laetoli, Tanzania, in 1979. The prints, said Mary Leakey, were indistinguishable from those of modern man, homo sapiens sapiens. This was somewhat mysterious, because we have only been around, according to orthodox accounts, for the last 100,000 years. Mary Leakey could only explain them by suggesting there must have existed 3.7 million years ago some kind of apeman that had feet exactly like ours. But the bones of no such apeman had been discovered.
The situation was made all more complex when it was announced in the mid 1990s that paleontologists in South Africa, led by Ron Clarke, had uncovered at Sterkfontein the skeleton of what they called the oldest ancestor of the human race. a member of the species known as Australopithecus, this hominid stood upright and had toes one and half times larger than those of modern man. Furthermore, his very long big toe stuck outwards at an angle, like a human thumb. in 1999, Michael Cremo told the audience, he lectured at a conference on archaeology where Dr Ron Clarke, the finder of the 3.7 million year old remains, also presented a paper. Mchael asked him why the foot of his Sterkfontein ape man was so different from Mary Leakey's footprints, which resembled those of modern man and were the same age. Clarke replied that these obviously showed Australopithecus walking with his big toe in and the rest of his long toes turned under. at this suggestion, Michael laughed to himself - not because of the throwaway answer but because the entire audience was nodding in agreement! They were not prepared to accept that in Mary Leakey's footprints there was clear evidence here that a form of human being comparable to us today existed in Africa 3.7 million years ago, at the same time as Clarke's ape man.

AMERICA'S OLDEST INHABITANTS?

Another appalling case of forbidden archaeology cited by Michael Cremo was that of American geologist Virginia Steen-McIntyre. She was brought in by an archaeological team working in Mexico to date sophisticated stone tools found at two sites - Hueyatlaco and El Horno. Her careful analysis of the evidence showed that the strata in which the implements - which included carefully worked spearheads - were found dated to a period corresponding to 250,000 years ago. Yet her findings were immediately dismissed as impossible since it is considered that the earliest occupation of the American continent went back just 30,000 years.

Not only did the archaeologist leading the excavation ignore Dr Steen-McIntyre's findings in his report, but he concluded also that the stone tools were just 23,000 years old based on a Carbon-14 date obtained from a site five kilometres away! Sadly, Steen-McIntyre was not only hounded for attempting to defend her findings, but she also lost her position as a university geologist. So bad did this debacle affect her that she became a recluse.

Thankfully the whole affair was highlighted by Cremo in FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY and in the aforementioned NBC documentary, with the result that the site is now being restudied by more open-minded archaeologists.

Cremo went on to highlight evidence of stone tools which have been discovered in Belgium within rock strata dated to 30 million years' old. He was able to inspect and photograph the boxes full of these implements on a visit to the museum a few years ago. Although crude in design, they seriously contradict the view currently held by paleontologists, which proposes that sophisticated human beings only appeared around 300,000 years ago.

So what is the answer to this perplexing enigma?

Scientists attempt to explain such enigmas by suggesting that human remains and stone tools found at deep levels are the result of intrusive burials. All this means is that holes are dug in which bodies and artefacts are placed. When found they can therefore be misinterpreted as stemming from a much earlier age than they are in reality.

Perhaps this is a solution in some cases. However, Michael Cremo then detailed a case in which a human skeleton, anatomically similar to modern man, was found beneath a solid layer of slate. The rock strata in question was 300 million years' old!

THE OLDER THEY GET

Then there is the story of the gold chain found by Mrs. S. W. Culp of Morrisonville, Illinois, in 1891. She was placing coal on a fire when one bloke broke to reveal the artefact still attached to both pieces of rock. The discovery was included as a news curio in an edition of the MORRISONVILLE TIMES. From this article Michael Cremo was able establish that the coal had come from a mine in the same state as the aforementioned 300-million-year-old human skeleton. Moreover, the coal itself was dated to around 260-320 million years' old. Can this all be coincidence alone?

Finally, Michael Cremo showed the audience a slide of one of a number of metal spheres, each between one and seven centimeters in diameter, found in mines in South Africa. All of them are perfectly formed and at least one has a series of three parallel grooves running around its equator. Metallurgists say the spheres are not formed naturally, implying that they are of artificial manufacture. The problem here is that the rock strata in which they were found is three billion years' old. There were not even any apes on the planet until 50 million years ago.

Geologists will, inevitably, argue that the metal spheres are of natural formation. Yet the possibility remains that intelligent life existed on this planet two billion years ago, and it doesn't even have to have been human in nature.

Michael Cremo's presentation quite simply was stunning. If he is correct in his findings it means that the emergence of humanity has taken place on various occasions during the earth's long history (the earliest evidence of life dates to three and a half billion years ago). It is therefore a cyclic process, whereby the current human race is destroyed and reborn time and time again. How advanced it becomes is dependent on how long it is allowed to evolve before its inevitable destruction, most probably through catastrophes caused by cosmic bodies such as comets and asteroids.

More disturbing, however, about the evidence presented by Michael Cremo is that the older the human artefacts appear to be the more advanced they seem to become. What this means I am not sure, but certainly it is scary to think about (I blame American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft for unnerving me in this respect!).

Over the weekend I was able to spend a considerable amount of time with Michael, discussing his theories and sharing viewpoints. More importantly, I was able to convince him to present his remarkable lecture at this year's Questing Conference to be held at London's Institute of Education on Saturday, 14 October. This therefore becomes an unmissable event, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully to what he has to say and read FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY. It will alter your whole perspective on human evolution, forever!

Next up on stage was myself, to be followed after lunch by Emilio Spedicato. He presented an abbreviated version of the lecture he gave at the MYSTERIES OF THE PAST conference in London on 4 March this year (click here for a review), although he did not have time to present his findings with respect to Atlantis being Hispaniola. From the reception he received over the weekend, it is clear that Professor Spedicato is a greatly respected and very influential figure in his field of study

ANTARCTICAN ANTIQUITY - THE EVIDENCE AT LAST

Later, Italian engineer and writer Flavio Barbiero, who specialises in ice age history, presented another key lecture of the weekend. He proposed that an Apollo object, plausibly an asteroid, collided with the earth around 9500 BC causing a shift in the polar axis which led to a nuclear winter, global volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and mass destruction of the Pleistocene megafauna. This period of chaos was followed by a warming of the climate and the rapid rise in sea level caused through the ice meltwater entering the ocean. He rejected Charles Hapgood's hypothesis that these same conditions might have been caused by a crustal displacement of the earth's surface brought on by the instability of the ice fields at the poles. He pointed out that Hapgood himself admitted that there were problems with this solution, especially as it could not have taken place instantaneously but would instead have taken place over a period of 5000 years with long periods of inactivity followed by sudden violent shifts in the crust at irregular intervals.

The manner in which a cosmic impact might shift the poles is too complex to explain here. Suffice to say that it involves a shift in the bulging of the earth's surface, something which Flavio Barbiero has confirmed through mathematical probability.

Antarctica stood in the middle of a huge ocean surrounded by the other great landmasses, making it an ideal location for a high culture displaced when the polar shift took place. Indeed, Barbiero has believed for the past 20 years that Atlantis was Antarctica. Moreover, he suggests that the Antarcticans belonged to an Austronesian race that occupied either Australia or Island Southeast Asia around 40,000 and 50,000 years ago. Having taken advantage of the prevailing currents that would carry a vessel westwards towards the tip of Africa, and the waters between Antarctica and the base of South America, they settled on the landmass which was free of ice in its north-western sector. He cited a recent report in the SUNDAY TIMES newspaper announcing that scientists had identified a human skull, found in Brazil, as that of an Austronesian who lived around 15,000 BC. We also know that there is now mounting evidence of a high culture in Brazil that Carbon-14 dating has suggested is up to 50,000 years old.

Yet the Antarcticans' end came when the earth was struck by an Apollo object in 9500 BC, Barbiero proposes. The sudden great freeze that would have accompanied the movement of the south pole from a position in the waters between Antarctica and Australia to central Antarctica (its present location) would have meant the rapid displacement of the Antarctican peoples to other parts of the globe. Moreover, since they probably inhabited coastal regions of the mainland as well as various offshore islands then much evidence of their presence will have been lost, not beneath the ice fields but below the freezing waters. These would have risen as the previous ice caps melted in North America and Northern Europe.

Barbiero's map of 9500 BC shows suggested migrational routes from the ice-bound continent to South America, India, Indonesia and Africa. He even has arrows ending in Ethiopia, Egypt and Northern Europe. This then represents his displacement of the proposed Atlantean race.

Flavio Barbiero then made reference to my own lecture citing Atlantis as being located in the Caribbean. Acknowledging my findings, he suggested that the culture, which inhabited the former Bahaman landmass, Cuba and the Caribbean in general, belonged to a post-Atlantis period.

As you might imagine, I sat intently through Barbiero's lecture making copious notes and attempting to find good reason to counter his argument that Atlantis was Antarctica. In the end, however, I could only but agree with him on everything other than two main points:-

1. In my opinion the cataclysmic event to which he refers occurred post 9500 BC and involved the formation of the Carolina Bays in the eastern United States. The evidence presented in GATEWAY TO ATLANTIS and taken originally from primary scientific papers of the past 40 years, strongly suggests that the date of this event was 8500 BC (+/- 500 years), with the sea-level rise beginning sometime around 300-500 years later. The higher date of 9500 BC is generally derived from Greenland ice-core samples, the dates of which are determined by identifying so-called acid peaks within the yearly layers made by snow-fall accumulation. These peaks are produced when sulfuric acid settles after volcanic eruptions or other similar events. Exactly which eruption might have been involved is based on our current knowledge of such events determined through Carbon-14 dates recalibrated using a mixture of mathematics and dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis). This can increase raw Carbon-14 dates by up to 1000 to 1200 years, meaning that a date of 8500 BC alters to become 9700-9500 BC. There are reasons to doubt the accuracy of dates reached through dendrochronology and I have therefore chosen not to use recalibrated Carbon-14 dates, a stance also adopted by my colleague David Rohl. What I am getting at here is that the date of 9500 BC attached to the Greenland ice core samples does not simply come from counting yearly snow-fall layers. It is derived from a number of different sources that may or may not turn out to be correct.
2. Where as I have no problem accepting that Antarctica was once inhabited (indeed, it is more or less certain - see below), I am convinced that whatever was going on here relates to a much earlier age. I find no good reason to link this human activity with Plato's story of Atlantis, which was clearly located in the Far West, the watery domain of Atlas, from which it derived the title `daughter of Atlas'. It is my belief that the peoples of Antarctica were initially displaced from the continent at a much earlier date, plausibly one in the region of 15,000 BC. They migrated to South America (as originally proposed by Arthur Posnansky, the noted archaeologist who determined that the orientation of Tiahuanaco's Kalasasaya court was decided by the rising and setting of the solstitial sun sometime between 15,000 and 10,000 BC). I consider that these peoples continued to move northwards, both by sea and land, and ended up founding the Caribbean Atlantean culture focused on Cuba and the former Bahaman landmass. This was to be the original proposal of GATEWAY TO ATLANTIS before I finally came to realise that Plato was alluding to an island in the vicinity of the Caribbean and not to a major landmass in the south.

So how were we to resolve these issues? After his lecture, Flavio Barbiero came up and introduced himself. We entered into an hour long debate of immense importance. I cited my differences of opinion and after much discussion the two of us agreed that we are dealing with two separate periods of activity - one surrounding the dispersal from Antarctica of its culture and the second concerning the cessation of the Caribbean culture. He suggested dates in the region of 9500 and 8000 BC respectively. I doubted this possibility, proposing that the two dates were simply a confusion of one single event around 8500 BC (+/- 500 years). Instead, I suggested that the dates were in the region of 15,000 and 8500 BC. The earlier date can be taken as the earliest time-frame for the beginning of the end of the last Ice Age, an event which was dramatically curtailed with the rapid melting of the ice caps post 8000 BC. Only time will tell whether either one of us is correct in our assumptions.

EVIDENCE OF HUMAN OCCUPATION ON ANTARCTICA

This was indeed an exciting discussion for me, made all the more so by what Flavio revealed concerning the possibilities of human occupation on Antarctica in prehistoric times. Apparently, the earliest possible evidence dates back to 1903. It was in this year that the Swedish explorer Carl Larsen landed on Seymour Island, which lies in the Weddell Sea beyond the continent's north-west coast.

In an area of exposed land he is said to have come across various fossils, showing a prior warmer climate, as well as numerous small cylinders and balls of clay, which appeared to be of artificial construction. Flavio and his colleagues have been trying to follow up this story, with one of them even travelling to Sweden to interview Larsen's descendents. Although the artefacts were destroyed when the family home was lost in a fire, copies of Larsen's report, which includes an account of the discovery of the strange objects, has been found. I have requested a copy of this report and will follow up this story in due course.

In addition to the strange cylinders and clay balls found on Seymour Island, it seems that core-samples taken from beneath the ice off South Shetland Island, north of Antarctica, by a Chilean research vessel produced more evidence of a human presence in prehistoric times. Evidently, two separate sediment cores revealed flint tools of unquestionable human manufacture. How old they might be or how they came to be in the sediment is open to speculation. However, the fact that they were found in cores taken from different locations suggests that there must be further evidence of human life so close to Antarctica. Once again, I will bring you further news of this story as and when it becomes available.

Over the years I have come across various stories relating to curious discoveries being made on Antarctica. However, not one of these has ever produced any kind of hard evidence. Do you have any stories of discovery relating to Antarctica, or can you add to the existing cases cited above?

SKID-MARKS OF THE GODS

The lectures of the Saturday culminated with the emergence out of nowhere of Erich von Daniken who delivered his audio-visual presentation before equally disappearing in a puff of smoke. He began by showing a video containing computer-generated reconstructions of great space stations and mother ships based on interpretations of the Puranas, the Indian books of sacred history.

Later, there was the inevitable flight above the Nazca plain where the outlines of a monkey, humming bird and spider were etched out of the desert sands by ancient hands. These, so Erich informed us, only made sense if observed from the air. The audience was then shown the long linear tracks that accompany the images at which he pointed out that he has never claimed that these were air-strips or skid-marks of the Gods! Instead, he suggests that they were made in order to revere the ancient astronauts whose vehicles had left similar marks when landing and taking off from the desert. In other words, they are the result of what might be described as an ancient astronaut cargo cult of the type that developed in the Pacific islands when the Americans first reached them during the Second World War.

The indigenous peoples made sacrifices of pigs to the amphibious planes that came out of the sky. They also fashioned crude models of the aircraft in order that they might venerate them as symbols of their gods. Cargo cults are themselves a very fascinating subject, highlighted in greater detail during a lecture on the second day by German speaker Peter Krassa.

We were treated next to a series of images taken from rock art worldwide. All were then compared either to astronauts in suits or man-made space vehicles. What got me about this comparison is that the human hardware shown as examples of alien technology is now virtually out of date and relates more to the space race at the time when CHARIOTS OF THE GODS was first published in the late 1960s. Would extraterrestrial visitors really be caught wearing out of date spacesuits and travelling in antiquated rocket ships?

The tomb lid of the Maya king Pacal, who lived c. AD 600, was also given the same treatment as were various images from Olmec sites such as La Venta in the Gulf state of Tabasco.

In my estimates, the most convincing evidence of aerial visitors in ancient times is the tradition preserved by the Kayapo Indians who live in the upper reaches of the Amazon in Brazil. They say that one day countless generations ago a strange being appeared out of nowhere on a local mountain, following an earthquake accompanied by fire and smoke. Warriors surrounded the visitor and attempted to kill him, but their spears, poison arrows and clubs simply bounced off his suit. Yet he did not attempt to retaliate and instead provided the tribe with profound wisdom and knowledge before climbing back up the mountain and disappearing in the same way that he had appeared.

In remembrance of this first encounter with Bep Kororoti, as he was named, each year members of the tribe dance in a circle around a representation of this individual who is dressed in a fat reed suit resembling that of an astronaut.

I have no explanation for this curious tradition. However, are we immediately to presume that the visitor was from another planet or another star system? Did he say he came from another planet? According to von Daniken his name, Bep Kororoti, means `I come from space'. If this is true, then there is a genuine mystery here. However, I would first like to read this fact in a anthropological report on the creation myths of the Kayapo Indians of the Upper Amazon.

Don't get me wrong. I believe there is life on other planets and do not rule out the possibility that human evolution might well have an extra-terrestrial dimension. Yet in my opinion this contact does not necessitate the involvement of nuts and bolts spacecraft and men in astronaut suits.

Despite my reservations about von Daniken's evidence of extraterrestrial visitations, I must admit that I smiled repeatedly during his audio-visual presentation. Here was a legend delivering a lecture he had probably been giving to audiences worldwide for the past 35 years. I bought CHARIOTS OF THE GODS in 1975. I was 18 at the time. It was the first book I read on the subject of ancient civilisations and, like so many people, it helped confirm to me that the world views the past in the wrong way. There are mysteries and enigmas to be solved and von Daniken was the first person to bring this idea to the notice of millions of people. Some of those readers went on to become writers, historians, archaeologists and researchers who are now in a position to alter the way we perceive the nature of prehistory. For this alone von Daniken should be applauded.

A SLIGHT CASE OF DÉJÀ VU.

The Sunday programme started with further evidence for the ancient astronaut hypothesis in the form of a lecture on cargo cults by Peter Krassa. Then came a lecture from Vittorio di Cesare, one of Italy's top archaeologists. He started with an account of the Dead Sea Community at Qumrân and the discovery in 1947 of the Dead Sea Scrolls, hidden by members of the community in caves in an attempt to preserve their history and teachings for future generations.

Cesare then turned his attention to one scroll in particular. Known to Hebrew scholars as the Testament of Amram, it was written around 200 BC. He said it concerned two strange beings that appeared to Amram, the father of Moses. One was unnamed (although in my translation of the fragmentary text he is identified as Michael or Melchizedek), while the other was Belial, the teacher of the Children of Darkness. Amram is asked to choose between the two, who represent, respectively, the truth and the lie. This was a concept that came originally from the Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism. It entered the Jewish religion at the time of the Babylonian captivity following the conquest of Babylon in the mid sixth-century BC by the Persians under Cyrus the Great. Yet it was the appearance of Belial that Cesare focused on here. The being is said to have been dark with a viper-like face and compelling eyes. Serpents, he said, are universally associated with the principles of knowledge and wisdom.

Cesare showed next a slide of one of the snake-headed clay figurines found with frequency by Sir Leonard Wolley alongside burials excavated during the 1920s at sites in Lower Iraq. Many, for instance, were found in cemeteries at Ur, the former great city identified by scholars as the biblical `Ur of the Chaldees'. Since the level at which these figurines was found corresponded to the time period in which Iraq was inhabited by the so-called Ubaid peoples, who came originally from the Zagros mountains of Kurdistan, it meant that they dated to c. 3500 BC (although Cesare spoke of them as dating to 6500 BC). Cesare said that mystery surrounded the purpose of the statues, which showed males, females and females holding a baby. He suggested that they were buried in order to protect the souls of the dead and to prevent the deceased from becoming victims of vampires, a common belief among the peoples of ancient Iraq.

Cesare saw the Ubaid statues as representations of the same serpent-like figure featured in the Testament of Amram. He went on to propose that these beings were an actual race that lived in the Near East in prehistoric times and were responsible for providing the knowledge of civilisation.

Anyone who has read my books FROM THE ASHES OF ANGELS and GODS OF EDEN will understand why I started feeling a sense of déjà vu as Vittorio di Cesare's lecture unfolded (the same sort of feeling I had when I read Bob Lomas and Chris Knight's book URIEL'S MACHINE). I found myself leaning across to colleagues such as Professor Spedicato and Adriano Forgione, the editor of HERA, Italy's premier news-stand magazine on ancient mysteries, and saying: `Everything he is saying is in FROM THE ASHES OF ANGELS. He is talking about the Watchers'. Indeed, this was so, even down to the placement of the Ubaid serpentine figures in the graves in order to prevent vampires stealing the souls of the dead, which is exclusively featured in ASHES.

I listened carefully as Cesare turned his attentions to the significance played by the abstract eye goddess statues found at Tell Brak in Northern Syria. They, he said, were yet another link to the serpent cult. Yet he failed to note that the veneration of the eye in the Near East derived from its associations with the vulture, the ultimate representation of the Neolithic cult of the dead, which went hand-in-hand with the serpentine symbolism associated with the Watchers. Cesare then showed slides of other `guardian' statues from Palestine, Syria and even Italy that bore a resemblance to the Ubaid figurines, suggesting that these were likewise connected with the same tradition. This is a matter I also deal with in FROM THE ASHES OF ANGELS, published in Italy in 1997 under the title GLI ULTIMI DEI (The Last Gods) by Sperling and Kupfer. In here I point out that the beak-like faces of these statues, some of which have cobra hoods (and are thus representations of Astarte, the Canaanite form of Eve, the serpent mother of the Nephilim), derive from the earlier association with abstract vulture symbolism.

Was it possible that one of Italy's top archaeologists had independently hit on many of these same ideas?

Cesare went on to show a group of Mesopotamian figurines that he said were Anunnaki, the Sumerian pantheon of lesser gods. Like me, he too identified these beings with the strange figures featured in the Testament of Amram and the Ubaid serpent-faced figurines.

This was all getting a bit too much. The only topic he subsequently covered which is not in FROM THE ASHES OF ANGELS was the possible link between the serpent-like `guardians of knowledge', as he referred to them, and the phallic standing stones found at many Canaanite and Phoenician sites in Syria and Lebanon. He said that such stones were thought to be the houses of the god or goddess, most usually the goddess Asherah. He concluded his lecture by suggesting that we have here evidence of a widespread cult which revered an ancient race, connected with the symbol of the serpent and the eye.

As soon as Vittorio di Cesare came off stage I asked him whether he had come across my work before. From his reaction, it seemed clear that he had not read my books and so I offered to send him Italian translations of both works as quickly as possible. It also transpires that he has published material on this serpent cult, which I look forward to reading.

I am left with the prospect that one of Italy's most eminent archaeologists has independently confirmed the existence of a previously unrecognised race connected with serpentine symbolism and the spread of ancient knowledge. As you will know, this shamanic ruling elite are to be associated with the Watchers of Enochian/Dead Sea literature (and through them the angels of Judeo-Christian tradition), the Ubaid statues of Lower Iraq, the eye goddesses of ancient Syria and the Anunnaki of Mesopotamian myth and legend. We must not forget, however, that some of these ideas, especially the connection between the Watchers of Eden and the Anunnaki, were explored originally by Christian O'Brien in his landmark work GENIUS OF THE FEW, first published in the UK during 1985. However, I believe I was the first writer to identify the Watchers as a shamanic ruling elite that controlled the spread of the Neolithic revolution and paved the way for the foundations of ancient world civilisation.

MAPS OF THE ANCIENT SEA-KINGS REVISITED

I was impressed by the research into the appearance of an Antarctican continent on ancient portolan maps offered in a lecture by Italian researcher and writer Michele Loda. This, of course, was a matter originally tackled during the 1970s by Charles Hapgood of Keene University, New Hampshire, and later by Rose and Rand Flem-ath, co-authors of the 1995 book WHEN THE SKY FELL.

Michele pointed out something that I didn't realise about such maps. As long ago as classical times it was believed by the Greeks that there had to exist a southern hemisphere and southern continent that counter-balanced the ancient world which is placed, of course, in the northern hemisphere of our world. They called this huge super-continent Terra Australis Incognita. It is for this reason alone that so many ancient portolans contain a continent in the position occupied by Antarctica, and not because the navigational world had clear knowledge of the ice-bound continent. Moreover, a careful study of the features of Terra Australis Incognita found on several maps, such as the Buache maps of 1737 and 1757, show that they bear geographical features belonging to the southern coastline of Argentina and Chile. On its discovery in the mid sixteenth century the peninsular of Tierra del Fuego was mistakenly thought to form part of the unknown southern continent.

This said, Michele has concluded that certain maps, in particular the Piri Reis map of 1513, really do show features of Antarctica that could not possibly have been known before the mid nineteenth century, verifying the earlier findings of Charles Hapgood. Once more we must conclude that ancient mariners mapped the continent's coastline during some past epoch of mankind. If the work of Flavio Barbiero is correct, then this could have been as long ago as 9500 BC.

EGYPTIAN GLIDERS

It was a privilege to meet Dawoud Khalil Messiha, an Egyptian architect who is the son of the great Egyptologist Khalil Messiha, who died sadly one year ago. From his lecture, it is clear that Dawoud has continued the good work begun by his father, who is most remembered for identifying a model glider among the collection of the Cairo Museum. Made of wood, it has has a wingspan of 18 centimeters, a length of 14 centimeters, and is aeronautically perfect. Indeed, a scale model of the glider has been made and flown successfully.

The glider was one of six originally found in 1888 at Saqqara in the tomb of a man named Pa-di-imen, who lived around 300 BC. Unfortunately, the other five examples went missing long ago. Mercifully, the one remaining glider found its way to the Cairo Museum, where it can be seen today in the Late Dynastic room among a collection of wooden birds! Khalil Messiha was convinced, as his son is today, that the ancient Egyptians had an understanding of aeronautics and may well have made other gliders, plausibly of a much greater size.

The next day I was fortunate to be able to take a courtesy car from San Marino back to Bologna airport with Dawoud, enabling us to share views on the existence of hitherto undiscovered secret chambers beneath the Giza plateau. It was his father's belief that the entrance to this complex existed beneath the floor of the Queen's Chamber inside the Great Pyramid. In March 1967 Khalil Messiha was granted permission by the Department of Egyptian Antiquities to excavate the Queen's Chamber under the supervision of various officials. Beneath a thick layer of mud Messiha uncovered a floor of huge limestone blocks not previously thought to exist. His team of workers also found, close to the western wall, two large stone slabs that Messiha believed marked the entrance to the secret chamber. Although the team was unable to remove these slabs, holes were drilled through them into which a long wire was inserted. This went down for some distance supporting the idea that a chamber lay below. From it they were able to obtain a powdered mortar, reddish in colour, which was sent to a laboratory for analysis.

It was Khalil Messiha's belief that in this secret chamber the sarcophagus of King Khufu awaited discovery. Beneath this secret room was, he considered, the entrance to a corridor that would lead to the true 'Hall of Records'. Unfortunately, Messiha's excavations were halted by the Department of Egyptian Antiquities after just 10 days. It was not until 1986 that a Japanese team from Waseda University conducted further tests in the Queen's Chamber. Using ground penetrating devices they found that a cavity did indeed exist in the vicinity of its western wall. Until his death on 29 December 1998, Khalil Messiha remained convinced that the entrance to the Hall of Records was located here, although he prophesied that it would not be uncovered until the year 2000. Deadlines of this type come and go without any real discoveries being made. However, we can only hope that he was right and that sooner or later we will indeed enter the chamber which Khalil Messiha concluded would be `the most precious gift to Egypt and the world in the 21st century from an Egyptian scientist who lived in the 20th century'.

SECRETS OF THE PACIFIC

The last lecture I intend to review was that of German writer Peter Fiebag. He has conducted considerable research into the origins of Pacific island cultures including those of Easter Island, the Marquis Islands and Panope in the Caroline Islands. Through the study of prehistoric monuments at all of these places, he has discovered firm evidence that the megalithic builders came originally from South America. Not only is there a remarkable similarity in the styles of architecture, as well as stories that the first gods emerged out of the east, but he has also uncovered a raised relief on a previously unknown altar stone. It shows what is clearly a lama, an animal quite obviously native to the Andes. Fiebag's presentation was compelling and I hope to see his findings published in English at some point in the not too distant future.

HOMER IN THE BALTIC

A lecture I will not be able to do justice to was that of Felice Vinci, who has written a book exploring the theory that the places featured in Homer's Odyssey were in the Baltic. Although I have not read the book, entitled Omero nel Baltico, published by Fratelli Palombi Editori, Rome, in 1998, what he said was certainly convincing. More important, however, was his view that the Myceneans originated in the Baltic region before entering the Mediterranean and creating place-names relating to the original homeland. A similar idea is presented in the legendary Oera Linda Book.

It was in 1876 that the British publisher Trubner and Co released a book entitled The Oera Linda Book, alleged to be the translation of a thirteenth-century ancient Frisian text. This recorded the apparent destruction of a landmass named by ancient mariners as Atland, and to the Frisians of the Netherlands and Denmark as the Aldland, the `Old Land'. It was located in the North Sea between Denmark and the Shetland Isles, and was submerged by a deluge at a date given as 2193 BC. The book went on to detail how its displaced peoples, who worshipped the goddess Freya, eventually settled in Frisia, where they developed a major maritime culture which traded regularly with the Phoenicians of the eastern Mediterranean. Indeed, the Oera Linda Book suggests that a Frisian sea-king named Teunis founded the Phoenician port of Tyre on the Lebanese coast, c. 2000 BC. We do know that the Phoenicians entered the Baltic regularly seeking amber.

The Oera Linda book was forgotten until 1977 when ancient mysteries writer Robert Scrutton took it upon himself to write a lengthy commentary and introduction for an abridged edition of the Oera Linda Book. Entitled The Other Atlantis, it was an instant bestseller. Once more the authenticity of the Frisian text was debated by scholars and historians alike. Furthermore, the close similarity between the name Atland and Atlantis made the former North Sea landmass a major candidate for the site of Plato's ancient kingdom. Despite this new leash of life, the Oera Linda Book was quickly forgotten and the only references to it which appear in books today right it off as a nineteenth-century hoax.

The work of Felice Vinci might now create a new lease of life for the idea that the pre-Hellenic peoples came originally from Northern Europe, and that the Homeric geography does relate to the Baltic. Furthermore, it might open new discussion on the level of contact between the Phoenicians and the indigenous peoples of the Baltic who went on to become the sea-faring peoples known as the Vikings, who reached Newfoundland around the year AD 1000.

FINAL WORD

All in all the lectures presented at the San Marino symposium were breathtaking in their implications. I organise the premier conference on ancient mysteries, historical enigmas and forbidden archaeology in Britain today. I would have been proud of such an international line-up. What's more, many of the speakers have provided me with further key pieces of the jigsaw regarding the origins of humanity and the rise of civilisation. Credit must go to organiser Roberto Pinotti and San Marino's Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Sport who organised this free event, also to Adriano Forgione and Patrizia Bertolotti of HERA magazine, and Michele Loda, for their warm friendship and co-operation. Moreover, mention must be made of the three interpreters, who translated, quite flawlessly, the lectures over the two-day period; I look forward to the day when I can set up something like this at the Questing Conference in London.

http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/events/sanmar.htm#arch

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So the problems that drive the abuse and torture of people in Psychiatry are actually almost identical to the same anti-Scientific practices that hold back other Scientific disciplines.