Michael Tellinger's Temples of the African Gods
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andy lloyd
Jan 22, 2012, 9:45:28 AM1/22/12
to Dark Star Planet X
Warren kindly sent a copy of Michael tellinger 2009 book to review.
It has a lot of information in it potentially pertaining to Sitchin's
theories, so I think it's relevant to place here on the discussion
board for your consideration. In this review I put forward my own
idea about what these mysterious monuments might be:
Through this beautifully presented book, Tellinger and Heine bring to
the world's attention a highly neglected slice of archaeology. Once
one has pored over the myriad photographs, aerial images and satellite
photos of these mysterious stone walls, and realised the extent of
their coverage across broad swathes of southern Africa, one is left
flabbergasted at mainstream archaeology's apparent neglect of these
ancient ruins. Taken individually, each circular monument might be
dismissed as a sheep pen (the Khoi people were shepherds 2000 years
ago), and each terrace as man's early attempt to manipulate the
landscape for horticultural gain. But these are not isolated
structures. Instead, they are diffused right across the landscape of
southern Africa, half-buried and mostly forgotten.
Not only that, but the design of the dry stone walling of the circular
enclosures provides us with further questions. The majority have no
entrances, even when a 'road' encased within parallel stone walls runs
right up to them.
"There is simply no explanation why a large stone structure with a
diameter of 25 to 150 metres, which contains a number of smaller
circular stone structures, would be constructed without any
entrances. But it gets even more weird - many of the internal stone
circles also have no entrances an simply look like a cluster of grapes
inside an outer wall."
That seems to negate the possibility that they are structures
initially designed to be lived in (the walling providing a base upon
which to construct, say, a wooden framework to make a covered hut).
And then there's the problem of population, which the authors argue
very well. According to our standard understanding of history in the
region, the landscape in question was sparsely populated by nomadic
peoples during the time these walled structures, numbering in the
millions, were built. Where was the workforce to make all these walls
- each constructed well enough to have survived the ravages of time?
Among the ruins, the authors - who have clearly researched their
subject with extensive privately-funded fieldwork - have discovered
many anomalous stones and artifacts which, in their opinion, set the
dates of the monuments far back into antiquity. There must have been,
they argue quite reasonably, a well-resourced civilisation behind the
construction of these ancient walls. The patterns the walling forge
across the landscape of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and southern
Mozambique are remarkable, especially seen from the air. The authors
ascribe the denser collections of stone-works to extensive ancient
cities, but given the lack of entrances to many of the more circular
structures this is far from self-evident.
They ponder many possibilities - some of them highly speculative -
about the uses of the ruins and the channels that run between many of
them. We are asked to consider such exotic ideas as free energy,
acoustic/sound energy, an industrial-scale gold extraction technique,
and even the ability to levitate. It is clear that gold was mined in
South Africa tens of thousands of years ago, and that this might have
been, even then, an important source of trade. It could be reasonably
argued that such an industry could have funded the building of such
extensive monuments across hundreds of thousands of square kilometres
of land.
But such an acceptance of this overturns much of ancient history, and
our normal working assumptions about early civilisations. Perhaps,
one might argue, that explains the woeful neglect of these ancient
African ruins? Perhaps the neglect stems from old-style European-
centred arrogance that has never quite gone away; that ancient
civilisation must have started with the Greeks and Romans, pushed back
eventually to the Egyptians and, with some weariness by euro-centric
academia, to Sumer. Is it time for that same academia to consider
that the cradle of civilisation went back still further in time and
distance, to southern Africa? After all, that's where our human race
emerged from in the first place, and modern humans have been roaming
about for about 100,000 years - creating a great deal of opportunity
for a civilisation extending back well into the last Ice Age. I think
this seems likely, and I think the authors have done South Africa and
its surrounding lands a great service in bringing this possibility to
the world's attention.
However, I have a different explanation to offer for these structures,
not considered in the book. The reader's attention is drawn to the
similarity between the patterns the walls create, as seen from above,
and ancient rock petroglyphs also found in southern Africa. The aerial
photos remind me of the Nazca lines in Peru, although the patterns and
their mode of construction are very different. They also remind me of
the modern phenomenon of crop circles here in Britain, created by
artists intent on creating controversy when the circles are viewed
from the air.
I think the extensive stone-walled patterns were designed to be seen
from above. They served no other practical purpose when they were
constructed, although they may have been made use of by later nomadic
peoples. Initially, though, I think they were simply religious in
nature, creating a tapestry of artwork to be seen by the gods in the
sky *.
Many of the patterns look like flowers, and the walls leading up to
them, that so mysteriously stop in dead ends, look like flower stems.
Is it possible that the ancient peoples who made these extensive
structures were creating a countrywide depiction of a garden, to be
appreciated only from above? To enter the territory of speculation
enjoyed by the authors, might this garden not be that of Eden? That
would tie in with the concept of civilisation emerging in South Africa/
Zimbabwe first, centred upon the extraction of gold and, hence,
wealth, power and the wielding of extensive human resources.
It beggars belief that there has not been more academic interest in
these amazing monuments. They hold the potential for a great leap
forward in our understanding of our past. I think that this
remarkable book is an important milestone along that difficult
journey.
Book review by Andy Lloyd, 22nd January 2012, with thanks to Warren
http://www.darkstar1.co.uk/templesoftheafricangods.htm
* As Richard Dawkins would argue, religion has a way of sapping huge
resources completely unnecessarily. Powerful religious figures in all
societies draw resources to create their temples, often in alarming
juxstaposition to the living conditions of the people they actually
serve. And religious people themselves are often happy to provide
much of their time and resources to serve their religion, with no
seeming benefit to them in return, beyond a tenuous promise of heaven
in the afterlife.
It has a lot of information in it potentially pertaining to Sitchin's
theories, so I think it's relevant to place here on the discussion
board for your consideration. In this review I put forward my own
idea about what these mysterious monuments might be:
Through this beautifully presented book, Tellinger and Heine bring to
the world's attention a highly neglected slice of archaeology. Once
one has pored over the myriad photographs, aerial images and satellite
photos of these mysterious stone walls, and realised the extent of
their coverage across broad swathes of southern Africa, one is left
flabbergasted at mainstream archaeology's apparent neglect of these
ancient ruins. Taken individually, each circular monument might be
dismissed as a sheep pen (the Khoi people were shepherds 2000 years
ago), and each terrace as man's early attempt to manipulate the
landscape for horticultural gain. But these are not isolated
structures. Instead, they are diffused right across the landscape of
southern Africa, half-buried and mostly forgotten.
Not only that, but the design of the dry stone walling of the circular
enclosures provides us with further questions. The majority have no
entrances, even when a 'road' encased within parallel stone walls runs
right up to them.
"There is simply no explanation why a large stone structure with a
diameter of 25 to 150 metres, which contains a number of smaller
circular stone structures, would be constructed without any
entrances. But it gets even more weird - many of the internal stone
circles also have no entrances an simply look like a cluster of grapes
inside an outer wall."
That seems to negate the possibility that they are structures
initially designed to be lived in (the walling providing a base upon
which to construct, say, a wooden framework to make a covered hut).
And then there's the problem of population, which the authors argue
very well. According to our standard understanding of history in the
region, the landscape in question was sparsely populated by nomadic
peoples during the time these walled structures, numbering in the
millions, were built. Where was the workforce to make all these walls
- each constructed well enough to have survived the ravages of time?
Among the ruins, the authors - who have clearly researched their
subject with extensive privately-funded fieldwork - have discovered
many anomalous stones and artifacts which, in their opinion, set the
dates of the monuments far back into antiquity. There must have been,
they argue quite reasonably, a well-resourced civilisation behind the
construction of these ancient walls. The patterns the walling forge
across the landscape of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and southern
Mozambique are remarkable, especially seen from the air. The authors
ascribe the denser collections of stone-works to extensive ancient
cities, but given the lack of entrances to many of the more circular
structures this is far from self-evident.
They ponder many possibilities - some of them highly speculative -
about the uses of the ruins and the channels that run between many of
them. We are asked to consider such exotic ideas as free energy,
acoustic/sound energy, an industrial-scale gold extraction technique,
and even the ability to levitate. It is clear that gold was mined in
South Africa tens of thousands of years ago, and that this might have
been, even then, an important source of trade. It could be reasonably
argued that such an industry could have funded the building of such
extensive monuments across hundreds of thousands of square kilometres
of land.
But such an acceptance of this overturns much of ancient history, and
our normal working assumptions about early civilisations. Perhaps,
one might argue, that explains the woeful neglect of these ancient
African ruins? Perhaps the neglect stems from old-style European-
centred arrogance that has never quite gone away; that ancient
civilisation must have started with the Greeks and Romans, pushed back
eventually to the Egyptians and, with some weariness by euro-centric
academia, to Sumer. Is it time for that same academia to consider
that the cradle of civilisation went back still further in time and
distance, to southern Africa? After all, that's where our human race
emerged from in the first place, and modern humans have been roaming
about for about 100,000 years - creating a great deal of opportunity
for a civilisation extending back well into the last Ice Age. I think
this seems likely, and I think the authors have done South Africa and
its surrounding lands a great service in bringing this possibility to
the world's attention.
However, I have a different explanation to offer for these structures,
not considered in the book. The reader's attention is drawn to the
similarity between the patterns the walls create, as seen from above,
and ancient rock petroglyphs also found in southern Africa. The aerial
photos remind me of the Nazca lines in Peru, although the patterns and
their mode of construction are very different. They also remind me of
the modern phenomenon of crop circles here in Britain, created by
artists intent on creating controversy when the circles are viewed
from the air.
I think the extensive stone-walled patterns were designed to be seen
from above. They served no other practical purpose when they were
constructed, although they may have been made use of by later nomadic
peoples. Initially, though, I think they were simply religious in
nature, creating a tapestry of artwork to be seen by the gods in the
sky *.
Many of the patterns look like flowers, and the walls leading up to
them, that so mysteriously stop in dead ends, look like flower stems.
Is it possible that the ancient peoples who made these extensive
structures were creating a countrywide depiction of a garden, to be
appreciated only from above? To enter the territory of speculation
enjoyed by the authors, might this garden not be that of Eden? That
would tie in with the concept of civilisation emerging in South Africa/
Zimbabwe first, centred upon the extraction of gold and, hence,
wealth, power and the wielding of extensive human resources.
It beggars belief that there has not been more academic interest in
these amazing monuments. They hold the potential for a great leap
forward in our understanding of our past. I think that this
remarkable book is an important milestone along that difficult
journey.
Book review by Andy Lloyd, 22nd January 2012, with thanks to Warren
http://www.darkstar1.co.uk/templesoftheafricangods.htm
* As Richard Dawkins would argue, religion has a way of sapping huge
resources completely unnecessarily. Powerful religious figures in all
societies draw resources to create their temples, often in alarming
juxstaposition to the living conditions of the people they actually
serve. And religious people themselves are often happy to provide
much of their time and resources to serve their religion, with no
seeming benefit to them in return, beyond a tenuous promise of heaven
in the afterlife.
Lee
Jan 22, 2012, 10:06:35 AM1/22/12
to andy...@hotmail.com, Dark Star Planet X
Awsome pictures, too!! Tellinger has found the gold mining operation in the Abzu, in my opinion. A big missing piece of the puzzle. It seems to have been quite a large operation. Definately NOT animal corrals...
--Lee
--Lee
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