Mystery Of The Sahara Desert Glass

reply to post by Harte


Thanks Harte, I have the very highest respect for you and I do not think I would win an argument with Hanslune either so long as we are talking established facts.
Thanks for that link, It is a shame though but would it change your opinion if an older version of the text ever came to light, only asking out of curiosity as I think you are one of the most grounded and sensible ATS members, Still we must at least admit the likes of Heron of Alexandria and the Antikatheira Mechanism do point to our more recent ancestors being more modern than we give them credit and the baths in Rome had triple glazes glass Rolled of course as the modern mercury/copper float process was invented around the corner from were I live more or less. I live in hope something will turn up to shake the established belief's though and remain convinced in my self over the validity of the idea that a technically advanced culture (maybe not a consumer society) may have existed at some point, how advanced is the question as technically any civilisation that tamed it's environment to it's advantage may be loosely called advanced.
I am still intrigued by this Turkish artefact.
www.bibliotecapleyades.net...
Let's ignore sitchin in that it is the artefact, though this does not mean they were in any way advanced it may be something else, - An early UFO cult (I have seen one so will not accept they do not exist - what they are however).
Then there is the glider made of light wood that actually flies when thrown found in an Egyptian tomb and labelled a ceremonial bird (which it looks like, also being a very long lasting civilisation why would they not have found some objects fly or glide after all the native Australian have used the aerofoil for boomerangs for millennia.
And I still have my pet the Apollo 17 image AS17-142-21800 that seems to show a oblique crash landing site from right to left with the dead space guy or as every one else says rocks and the banged up capsule with the more complete destruction behind or as every one else says rocks. I believe this to be a minimum of millions of years or even far older.
I don't believe the ancient astronaut theory but something happened on this planet and I may be grasping at straws but I believe we have to find out what it was as it may very well happen again, I don't know this but I feel it very strongly and it is our duty though there will always be those that make money from it, I do not begrudge them so long as they tell us only what they believe but would rather you and Hanslune edited there work as You are constructive critics and not the fools that often simply frustrate and your arguments are hard to refute.
Thank you Harte.
You have to admit though the glass is intriguing as even a lightning storm would have to be incredible beyond anything we have seen to make the amounts of glass mentioned here so if not artificial or a side effect then what natural phenomena could have created it over such a wide area, on a volcano it is possible that a pyroclastic flow may have sufficient temperature but the conditions are not ideal and there as far as I know are no volcanoes there, the Sahara was once savannah and forest could the heat of a super drought coupled with a runaway forest fire be responsible? I don't think the temperature would be high enough but!,. And that leaves only the air burst as a practical possibility or a close miss by a low altitude asteroid or meteor still what if it was possible that someone (maybe not humans) was waging a campaign on earth.

reply to post by guitarplayer

Originally posted by guitarplayer
I was under the impression that the desert at that time was covered in water so how could it of turned the sand at the bottom of it to glass?

Great question!

Unfortunately, the Oligocene Epoch was largely a gap in the primate fossil record in most parts of the world. This is especially true for prosimian fossils. Most of what we know about them came from the Fayum deposits in Western Egypt. While this area is a desert today, 36-31 million years ago it was a tropical rainforest on the edge of a large lake or sea. Other Oligocene deposits containing some fossil primate bones have been found in North and West Africa, the Southern Arabian Peninsula, China, Southeast Asia, as well as North and South America.

source

Also here is an article discussing work in the East African Rift Valley on the Somalian and Nubian plates that are pulling away from the Arabian plate. The work shows the western side is older than thought to have once been.

The eastern branch of the rift passes through Ethiopia and Kenya, and the western branch forms a giant arc from Uganda to Malawi.

The eastern branch formed around 25 to 30 million years ago, whereas the western branch formed only 10 to 15 million years ago — or at least that's what scientists thought. Now, new evidence points to an earlier birth date for the western branch, too.

"We now believe that the western portion of the rift formed about 25 million years ago, and is approximately as old as the eastern part, instead of much younger as other studies have maintained," said Michael Gottfried, a geologist at Michigan State University who co-authored the study.

Rocks deposited more than 25 million years ago, before the western branch began rifting, house fossils of more primitive, extinct primates, Gottfried explained. Younger rocks have primate fossils that are generally more like the primates living in Africa today.

"We kind of think of that period of time as a transitional period," he added.

source

Remember, they call Africa the cradle of life. Immense numbers of variables were occurring in that region 30 million years ago. So, to me an aerial burst meteorite doesn't sound too crazy when you just think of the life in general back then. I would imagine the event would of had a tremendous effect on the surrounding wild life. They didn't talk at all about that in the documentary. Who knows what may have been wiped out of existence if this meteor did happen when and where this team of scientists believes it occurred.

Originally posted by guitarplayer
I was under the impression that the desert at that time was covered in water so how could it of turned the sand at the bottom of it to glass?

That sand was deposited over 150 million years ago, when what is today the Sahara was under the ocean.

The area need not have been a desert the entire time though - and obviously wasn't.

As an example, the vast majority of Florida is nothing but a sand bar caught on fossil reefs.

Hardly a desert, and a meteor there would also create tektites.

Harte

Originally posted by mcx1942
Strange and anomalous, glass found throughout Egypt's western Sahara and also into Libya as well, has baffled scientists for quite some time. These mysterious specimens have been an enigma just waiting to be unraveled. Possibly until now...I am in no way an expert on any of this, I just find it extremely interesting and I love trying to create unique and thought provoking threads. Cheers.

Thank you very much!! I believe you accomplished exactly what you had hoped to achieve. That is, An interesting subject matter, an enigma as you stated that captures the reader via a succinct, intelligent and plausible answers to such a global event that remains debatable, and yet not 100% solved. This perfectly allows the reader, should they wish or the curiosity to investigate further.

Furthermore your humbleness explaining that you are not an expert on this matter, just adds for the reader, who wishes to, who finds this subject interesting, to further investigate and to learn more, all the better!!! Cheers!! A wonderful read and I for one, am stimulated, and intend to investigate this subject matter further for my own edification.

Lastly, although throughout our planets history or for that matter, the history of the Universe, there are things, anomalies that seem to baffle us. For many of the modern mankind, there is a desire to search, explore and try to understand and learn more about these mysteries. Well Done!! S+F

reply to post by ItDepends


Thank you ItDepends, I truly appreciate the kind words.

Also, thank you to all that have contributed to this thread. May the marvels of the Universe continue to astonish us!

Originally posted by Xterrain

Originally posted by mcx1942

Interesting enough; I've held this type of glass in my own hands and can attest to it's density: it's extremely heavy compared to glass you find in windows, vases, etc.

That being said, I do not buy the 'asteroid impact right above the Earth' explanation. The reason being, is that vitrification (the process by which rock and sand glaze over or turn into glass) has happened in remote places all over the world in our distant past and I don't think we can blame them ALL on Tunguska like events. Now, we know Tunguska events happen once or twice every hundred years or so, but there are historical texts from our most ancient of civilizations that give many answers to these 'living' riddles.

It just takes time and understanding to look at history and compare it to religious texts (take your pick), to find key events that line up. I can't tell people enough...the evidence is in writing and in storytelling. The Western 'society' doesn't have it figured out and the more they (the scientific community) attempts to explain the inexplicable, the further they get from the truth.

This glass...is probably volcanic or a bi-product of fusion tens of thousands of years ago. The Egyptians found this glass, like they did the pyramids, and utilized it in their jewelry. They hadn't a clue as to where the glass came from, so that tells you it occurred beyond 10,000 years ago. That being said, it's been found ON TOP of the soil/sand/plateaus, so it can't be THAT old.

Anyone who doesn't believe me, look into vitrification of stone walls in England, Peru, India, Sri Lanka, China, Russia, America, and Mexico. Then explain to me that all these ancient folks stories (religions) are just made up fantasy.

(I'm quite tired as it's 3am, so I hope this all makes sense.)

edit on 22-7-2013 by Xterrain because: (no reason given)

That is a fact friend, the only way that glass of this quality and density exists is by violent impact.
The forces required are on a magnitude that defy any other possibility but a violent , cosmic speed impact of a bolide that is probably iron in nature, because they are one of the few impactors that can make it to the Earth's surface without detonating. That said, some of them do indeed succumb to our atmosphere, but most do big damage.

I am a collector as well, and have glass from every big event. They are dense, heavy and I treasure them when I hold them in my hand, as = "When they were created, it would be one of the worst places you could be, when it happened". Mind boggling stuff when you think about this molten glass flying from all directions, before the impact shock wave that would have pulverized your bones to dust, a few milliseconds later.

But that is still just a theory. Glass can be made with heat, and asteroid/meteor, possibly. But it can also be manufactured and there is alot of technology discovered from ancient times and put in ancient writings so there is little reason to not assume, when they had running water and sewage, flying machines, moon bases according to the veda, various technologies and computers, that they wouldn't have had glass. I'm not going to provide the links they can be looked up, but I did make a thread that had alot of these links, and the veda info was really interesting, for even the word they had in their language for something akin to a motor vehicle sounded like car or auto. Can't remember but it was a shock to me how the elites and corporate heads certainly seemed to be aware of info that no one else was given at the time.

If it hasn't been mentioned yet one other possibility is volcanic glass. Obsidian in south america is the result of magma cooling quickly(?), i think…

Obsidian is glass from basaltic type lava and has a dark shade to it. The color of Sahara volcanic glass might be different.

Since even Egyptians found it so long ago, kind of rules out atomics. Although, I think… didn't the French carry out their nuke tests in the Sahara, somewhere? The caption under the photo says "Sahara", but I don;t know if its the same area.

French nuke tests

originally posted by: Hanslune
This is always an interesting subject

For the nuclear explosion believers a question - if it was an explosion - what was the target? Take a look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So why no ruins, why no associated culture or civilization?

Natural - or the aliens or 'advanced humans' were really bad shots or wearing hunting with nukes, lol

Set off as a warning to stop messing about and get on with trying to be humans?

a reply to: pikestaff

Given the time frame of the hit was 26 million years ago our ancestors were to busy chasing insects in the trees to pay much attention

Omg, this is the EXACT type of glass I found on Mt Sinai in Egypt, though it is never mentioned! They are turquoise, orange, yellow or clear. They are VERY light and look exactly like this! Pretty interesting.

a reply to: 5letters

Modern glass that has been broken and subjected to wind borne sand can take on interesting shapes in the desert. Was what you found sharp edged or smoothed?

a reply to: Hanslune

some were smooth and some were sharp. What was interesting was that there were different colors of these glass just laying around. I dont think its modern glass. Its pretty far away from westernized civilization. There's a petite village next to Mt SInai, but thats it really. But hey, maybe a bunch of ppl decades ago, dropped different colored pieces of glass on mt sinai and I found the remnants, but I ask the locals, and they said it they were sporadic across the mountain only

a reply to: 5letters

The meteor type that is believed to have made these specimens are called Rubble Piles. They basically are just a space clump of gunk (scientific terminology). The loose assemblage makes it essentially a giant bomb, ticking away to explode as it heats up through our atmosphere. It seems the views now are leaning towards rubble piles being extremely common if not dominant within our local debris field and beyond.

I also wanted to repost the video from my initial beginning thread post. It seems it was removed so I found another version. The original was the best quality but this one is not too shabby.

i had a chance to see the glass beetle pendant that King Tut had when the exhibit toured through Dallas a few years ago. It was the primary piece I went to see.

I am fascinated with the impact site. I fully believe it is a meteor impact site. There is just too much glass over too large an area to be lightning. Unless Wallace Thornhill is correct, anyway.

originally posted by: Hanslune
a reply to: pikestaff

Given the time frame of the hit was 26 million years ago our ancestors were to busy chasing insects in the trees to pay much attention

But that is interesting in itself.

26 million years ago, that area was desert. I know desertification is an ebb and flow type of thing....but that is an interesting coincidence. How frequently does the area have a wet period? where was the Sahara located, as it relates to coordinates, 26 mil years ago?

I found this article from 2012 that seems pertinent to the thread
dailymail.co.uk/.../Scientists-discover-evidence-meteorite-storm-hit-Earth-13-000-years-ago-killed-prehistoric-civilisation

The international team found a substance known as melt glass, which forms at temperatures of 1,7000 to 2,200 degrees Celcius and can result from a ‘cosmic body’ hitting the earth.
The material was found in a thin layer of rock in Pennsylvania and South Carolina in the US, along with Syria. Tests confirmed the material was not of cosmic, volcanic or human-made origin.

From the article they found evidence of similar conditions in places very distant from each other. I personally think it's some natural cause, but the bolide mid-air explosion theory feels a bit thrown up to close the case, tune the parameters and voilà, a credibile hypothesis is born.

We actually don't know what objects of a certain size would do to our planet. We have some computer or micro-scale model that gives us an idea, but generally fails every prediction.
However we don't actually have a "proof" of alien nukes, because first there would need to be consensus on the existance of alien species, in the past, in our skies.

[SemiOff-topic] The Kebira crater zone is rich in neolitic artifacts, wonder if they had to say something about those stones.

a reply to: Mastronaut

Very cool, thank you for adding.

While all this is theoretical, the aerial burst meteor/asteroids may be more prominent than we know. Giant clumps of slushy rock debris, zooming around our planet, just waiting their turns to go out in a fiery blaze. The Russian Meteorite was tiny in scale to these other possible impact/aerial burst sites and it did an amazing amount of damage, especially considering it evaporated right above contact with the Earth.

Out of the ways nature could wipe us out, this would probably be once of my choices to go out, if I had to choose. What a sight that must be, before it all goes black.