While going through some old newspapers on microfilm, I happened upon an unusual photograph taken sometime in the mid-1920’s in the depths of a coal mine. The writer of the caption figured there were two bodies, one male and one female, long ago petrified. He cautioned that it was possible they could be “logs.”
     However, despite the graininess of the photo, it was readily apparent that the “logs” had hands and five fingers were visible. It was proof to me, if indeed proof was needed, that we know very little about our own past and history is full of mysterious events.
     The author of this new book is a trained archaeologist with degrees in both Archaeology and Greek Archaeology. So it is his job to round up the usual suspects (Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Atlantis, etc.) and cast some light into the dark corners of the past.
     For example, he says that the most recent discovery relating to Atlantis was put forward by Dr. Rainer Kuehne of Wuppertal University in Germany in 2004. Using satellite photographs he identified an area of southwestern Spain that has features that match Plato’s description of Atlantis. The fact that these features are on the mainland, rather than underwater, does not deter Kuehne. He feel that there was a translation error that confused “coastline” with “island.”
     The ancient ruined city of Petra, carved out of solid rock, is perhaps best known for its appearance in the 1989 movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” Damaged by earthquakes and sandstorms, the city was not rediscovered until 1812. The mystery was why anyone would build such a city in a secluded arid location. Water may have been supplied by highly sophisticated dams, created by the highly skilled Nabateans.
     In the case of the lost city of Troy, it was once believed to be a total myth. The English historian Michael Wood has suggested that the famed Trojan horse may have been a large siege engine or battering ram that resembled a horse, and the truth has become garbled with time.
     The Sphinx has puzzled tourists and historians for a very long time, and there have been theories that its head is not original – that it was once a complete leonine figure until a pharaoh decided to replace it with his own likeness. Offsetting this is the possibility that the face of the Sphinx was once painted dark red, and traces of that paint are still visible. If such is the case, then maybe there was no lion head, and it was designed with the face of the pharaoh. Another problem is that there are no inscriptions to link Pharaoh Chephren with the Sphinx, so perhaps he did not tamper with the head.
     When James Cook landed at Easter Island in 1774, he was confronted by many giant stone heads. No one knew how these heads could have been dragged to their location and erected upright by a bunch of primitive natives.
     In 1999, Jo Anne Van Tilburg, of the University of California at Los Angeles used computer simulations to demonstrate how a wooden sledge method may have been employed to haul the statues to their locations.
     Another ancient mystery is the famed “Baghdad Battery” which is at least 2,000 years old, and might have been used to electroplate various objects or as a form of electro acupuncture. A recent TV program on the Discovery Channel indicated that the battery would work, but at a very low voltage. It could not have been used as a weapon or for generating huge amounts of power.
     Anyone familiar with the writings of American journalist Charles Fort will find familiar cases to ponder, such as the Coso Artifact (what looks like a spark plug found inside a 500,000 year old nodule), the Abydos carvings (modern aircraft in ancient Egypt?) and the mystery of the green children in Norfolk, during the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154).
     The Ice man Otzi, found in the Italian Alps rates a chapter. It staggers the imagination that the Pyramids were built, empires came and went, followed by the Renaissance, the Victorians and finally our high tech era, all while the body remained frozen in an icy mountain grave.
     In more “modern” times, there is the famed treasure of the Knights Templar, the origin of Robin Hood, and the hunt for the grave site of King Arthur.
     There is a fairly large appendix listing all of the places and people that could not be covered due to a lack of space. These include Avebury, the Ohio Serpent Mound, Rennes-le-Chateau, Merlin, the Spear of Destiny and the Bosnian Pyramid, just to name a few.
     As it is, the author has done well to cover dozens of mysteries, and do it in a manner that sums up the key points of what is actually known, as well as what has yet to be uncovered. The Crystal Skull of Doom and the miracles of Apollonius of Tyana have a psychic connection that we do not fully understand as yet.
     In other hands, this book could have been very dry and dull, but instead it is lively, interesting and a very good read. The Past as Enigma – what will we find in the future?