Antarctica.
It is a continent we actually know less about the we know of the surface of Mars.
Makes you wonder right ?
I felt intrigued by this continent for quite some time now, being a possible location of the Atlantis.
The legendary city that was lost underneath the waves... Well, ice is water to so. Who knows...
Antarctica is the fifth largest continent on Earth sized up at 14 million square km ( 5.4 million square miles )
Only about 280.000 sq km ( 100.000 sq mi ) of the continent is ice free.
The continent is covered by the southern ice sea. Do to Antarctica solitary location the ice sea which flows around the continent, effectively
isolating it from the influence of the warmer Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
Link. (
Wiki.)
The Southern ice sea is also home to a previously unexpected large number of various species of life, unique to the Antarctic ice sea.
You can read a little about it in this link :
New Sea Life Species Discovered in
Antarctica
And here.
New Species of Invertebrates Discovered in the Antarctic
Well. You are probably starting to wonder why I started this thread ? All in do time.
A nice picture of Antarctica.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7f0591db887e.jpg[/atsimg]
We are taught the continent was once part of a bigger landmass named Gondwana which was supposed to be a super continent.
Gondwana.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2f12a6a38915.jpg[/atsimg]
Yes interesting none the less if you would ask me.
Well this takes me to my next point .
Origin of civilization.
We learn at school something like this :
The Bronze Age forms part of a three-age
system. In this system, in some areas of the world, the Bronze Age follows the Stone Age.
During this era the most fertile areas of the world saw city states and the first civilizations develop. These were concentrated on four fertile river
valleys: The Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Nile in Egypt, the Indus in South Asia, and the Yangtze and Yellow River in China.
The rise of civilization started about 3000 years BC.
Before this happened :
Modern humans spread rapidly from Africa and the frost-free zones of Europe and Asia. The rapid expansion of humankind to North America and
Oceania took place at the climax of the most recent Ice Age, when temperate regions of today were extremely inhospitable. Yet, humans had colonized
nearly all the ice-free parts of the globe by the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago.
The Agricultural Revolution, beginning about 10,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture. Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time
organized into states. Agriculture also created food surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production. The development of
agriculture permitted the creation of the first cities. These were centers of trade, manufacture and political power with nearly no agricultural
production of their own. Cities established a symbiosis with their surrounding countrysides, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return,
manufactures and varying degrees of military control and protection
So according to modern day understanding mankind is roaming the planet for about 12.000 years . Fact. Supported by archaeological evidence and a lack
of imagination.
Link. (
Wiki.)
Before that we were hunters and gatherers.
This is a bit vague IMO. I mean Native Americans still hunted and gathered when the white man appeared on set. Nomads ? Traveling with the Bison.
Could it be that their teachings to live in balance with nature come from the very first hunters and gatherers ? Could they be wiser and more
developed then we could have ever imagined ?
We on ATS are very familiar with the legendary Atlantis so I will post a few excisting threads on it.
My one and only favorite :
Origins of Atlantis/Lemuria Myths Part-1
By
Slayer69 Who created a true master piece here.
@ Slayer.
Is part two nearing its final stages ?
Antarctica was Atlantis
An old thread from 2005 by Outof theSky.
Unfortunately the chart posted there is no longer available. The article from discovery talks about 250.000 years ago. Well this is to far back in
time for what I like to show a little later on.
Nevertheless, please do read it.
So... I hope you find the previous interesting enough to read the next step.
Ancient ocean maps
Link to Piri reis map. Full screen.
THE CART OF
PHILIPPE BUACHE
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0caa2dde37f3.jpg[/atsimg]
Link to site.
There is a lot of info with this map at the sit and they say this is used by Graham Hancock .
Link to the full screen size of Piri's map
that shows a piece of Antarctica.
This one is also weird and a lot of text explaining why.
Mysterious Mapmakers: Exploring the Impossibly Accurate 16th Century Maps of Antarctica and
Greenland
Must read.
Of course there is already a wonderful thread in existence in regard to these ancient maps.
( Just find out why thes maps looked so familiar
)
A thread called:
On the Origins of Unexplained Maps By
Serbstra
Who does a better job on the maps so definitely a Must read !.
Not surprising as his threads are always Top notch.
So now the moment where you were probably waiting for... Boy I hope you never heard it before. ~Stress~
Proof of an ice free Antarctica some 2.500 to 4000 years ago.
.
I was personally very surprised it was just a few clicks away. I never read it before so I hope I'm offering something new. Well... If not at least I
hope you enjoyed the rest of the thread.
When The Antarctic Was Warm
The analyses of ocean-floor sediments deposited recently by melting Antarctic ice sheets reveal that these ice sheets are only about 2,000 years old.
The evidence is in the rocky debris scraped up from inland Antarctica and then transported out to sea, where it drops to the sea floor as the ice
melts. The grains of rock settle into the ocean sediments which contain biological debris that can be carbon-dated. (Marine life beneath the ice
sheets is surprisingly abundant and varied despite the near-freezing temperatures.)
Supporting foregoing evidence are studies of Antarctic lake sediments and ancient abandoned penguin rookeries. Everything points to a warmer, more
humid Antarctica between 2,500 and 4,000 years ago.
Comment. The warmer Antarctic just portrayed might explain those old maps, such as that of Piri Re'is, that seem to depict a relatively ice-free
Antartica. The more daring of us might postulate sea commerce between South America, southern Africa, and Australasia during those halcyon days!
A somewhat politically incorrect observation appears in this article.
However, the news that the Antarctic Peninsula's ice shelves may have come and gone at least once since the end of the last ice age, about 11,000
years ago, suggests that people may not be fully to blame for the disappearance now underway.
(Perkins, S.; "Antarctic Sediments Muddy Climate Debate," Science News, 160: 150, 2001.)
Link
What do you think of that ? This makes Antarctica a very possible candidate as home of a lost civilization. The beauty is that this civilization falls
within our current understanding of the development of mankind and the time line we assign to it.
It could be a hoax of course but I expect that this comes out rather quick here on ATS.
Please ? Share your thoughts and ideas.
Kind regards
~ Sinter.
Edit : Sorry I see I posted this in the wrong forum. My bad.
[edit on 6/20/2010 by Sinter Klaas]