Pyramids in Europe

I ran across an interesting lecture that Philip Coppens gave at the Nexus Conference 2007 in Brisbane about pyramids in Europe. The article he's posted has pictures of each site he discusses which go a long way toward showing the similarities and differences between the sites.

He does a really nice job of discussing some of the known pyramids in Europe, while leaving open the idea that there's more to discover. As odd as that seems, that a pyramid could go "undiscovered" it does seem to be the case quite often.

For instance, he gives a lot of time to the remarkable discoveries of apparent pyramids in Bosnia. As large as they are, and as apparent as they seem in photos, no one seems to have thought about them being anything more than freaks of nature until a few years ago. The base of the largest is 365 meters on each side forming a perfect square, and it stands 220 meters high. This, according to the research team, would make it the largest pyramid on Earth.

The reason seems to simply be that no one believed that pyramids that large could exist in Europe, and, therefore, they must be very strange natural occurrences. However, upon further research, evidence seems to be growing by the day that these are, in fact, man made pyramids.



The evidence to support that hypothesis is mostly structural, in the fact that large blocks have been found in place, reminiscent of the size of the blocks used in the Giza Plateau, a floor seems to be in place made of rectangular stones much like modern paving stones, and it's a well known fact in the local community that a "cement" exists on and around the pyramid, approximately 1 meter underground, which locals have been unable to dig through for wells or basements. Beyond that, the corners of the pyramid line up the the cardinal points, and tunnels also seem to travel in many locations underneath and around the sites of the pyramids.

In fact, just about 6 weeks ago a research team of Egyptian archaeologists and pyramid experts released a statement based on their first hand look at the Bosnian pyramids, which read, in part:

...the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun is the largest pyramid ever witnessed; it is an amazing structure of a great importance for the entire world.

It seems as though they're sold on the idea that at least the largest of the Bosnian pyramids is man-made.

Obviously, with these pyramids in Bosnia being fairly new discoveries, research is currently ongoing, and more is bound to come out about them along the way. Much of the archaeological excavation is slow work and time consuming, and many of the tunnels have been sealed by the locals over the years, probably for safety's sake. Stalagtites found in one of the tunnels, though, has already yielded a minimum growing time that pushes the creation date into the BC era, and as with any study of ancient history, it's almost certainly likely to be pushed back further as the research develops.

Beyond the fascinating story of the Bosnian Pyramids, Phillip explores pyramids in France, Spain, Italy and Greece. None are as impressive or large as the Bosnian or Egyptian pyramids, but each has a fascinating story to go with them. One of the things that stood out to me reading about each one was the lack of research that's gone into them. Each is largely unexplored, or has much exploration left to go, so the stories that each holds are bound to come out over the years.

For instance, at a pyramid site in France it took almost one hundred years from discovery until exploration, and even then tunnels were located which were not explored extensively at the time. When the lead researcher came back three years later he found the tunnels sealed, and it seems they likely still are to this day.

Perhaps the stigma of saying that there's pyramids outside of Egypt and other well known locations is wearing off, and serious research will continue, and in some cases begin, giving us more answers about our shared history. I think the story that will eventually come out of this will continue to tie various ancient cultures from around the world together in ways we never realized before.

Two of my favorite authors, and favorite Philips, have new articles out.

Philip Gardiner has a new article out at Book of THoTH which traces the evolution of societies and marketplaces from the time of nomads until we reached the, unhealthy, stage of economic based society. In it he makes some interesting connections between our pre-societal roots to our current situation, and explains step-by-step how we got here.

Philip Coppens has a great article, with tremendous pictures, on a subject that I was almost totally unaware of. His article on Tassili n'Ajjer, the "largest storehouse of rock paintings in the world”, takes a close look at the area and attempts to connect it to Egypt as the birthplace of ancient Egypt. Having been lucky enough to travel to the area himself, Philip has some really great pictures of some amazing rock art, and weaves an interesting tale that seems to possibly tie the pre-Pharaonic Egyptians to the area. He also denounces Erich Von Däniken's idea that many of the figures shown are evidence of ancient astronauts, and makes a convincing case for the use of hallucinogens in the art work.

This is a subject that I'll probably give more time to here in the future. Much like many of the people who think about such topics, I believe that neither the ancient astronaut theory nor the hallucinogenic vision theory explains the entire phenomenon, although I believe that each of them have their place in the discussion. I do believe that there are some instances where both seem to very adequately explain a local phenomenon, and I also believe that there are cases where each fail miserably. Much like what Mac Tonnies said in a recent post, reconciling the visionary and the physical has gnawed at me for a long time. Is it two, distinct, phenomena? Or two sides of the same coin?

Philip Coppens has added his weekly article to his site, and it's another interesting read. This week he discusses the movie Conspiracy Theory, talks about Mel Gibson's real beliefs and how he slipped them into the movie, and weaves in real life tales of conspiracies along the way.

Philip Coppens has another new article, this time on the beginnings of sport as a religious exercise. Philip talks about the first Olypiad in 776 BC, but then takes it back to the 4th millennium BC and the Egyptians in an effort to look at the precursors to the Olympics which we still participate in today. Another great article by Philip.

Philip Coppens has posted a new article at his site. This one's on The Lament, an ancient prophecy describing the end of Egyptian civilization, and it's titled "Corpus Hermeticum".