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Lost Civilizations of the Andes
- sinkasapa 12y agoI think I'd take this with a couple of bags of salt without some sign of peer review. Edit: look at his sources.
- droithomme 12y agoWhat specifically are you talking about?
- cschmidt 12y agoWhile it was an interesting article, the main website page looks like the author is a complete crackpot.
- quotient 12y agoYou're being overly dismissive. There's quite clearly a substantial amount of research here, and in a cursory reading I detected no explicitly bombastic claims, which are usually indicative of crankwork. Sure, it's not peer-reviewed, and his other articles might look quite loony, but he does highlight some anthropological discrepancies in this piece. Not everyone can have their articles peer-reviewed.
- sinkasapa 12y agoI think that it is a sign of crankwork to imply that the Inca sites were produced by ancient Greeks using stone softening.
- thevardanian 12y agoWhere does he claim that?
- sinkasapa 12y agoLook at his sources. This is where he is drawing evidence for his claims. This is why it is important for people with credentials to vouch for each other. It is a web of trust. One can sound reasonable while spouting lunacy if the broader population doesn't have the specific knowledge to assess their claims.
- protonfish 12y agoThe author doesn't claim ancient greeks did it (though one of his sources does.) Stone softening is an interesting idea and a heck of a lot less crazy than "aliens did it."
- sebkomianos 12y agoI am from Greece. Unfortunately, I can't find anything in english but I have read quite a few "theories" about ancient Greeks traveling to America.
- arethuza 12y agoAnd I am from Scotland and I've heard all manner of "theories" about the Scots being a lost tribe of Israel and that the Lia Fàil (the Stone of Destiny) is the stone used by the biblical Jacob as a pillow. Just because something is a nice story doesn't mean it is true!
- hippowithgas 12y agoIsn't there a famous church in Scotland that has carved stone reliefs of Corn/Maize, except they were carved many years before the New World, and corn, were officially known about in the Old World. I think ancient people did travel, after all, we have learnt they had number systems, watched the constellations, had crude but reasonable ancient maps, and genetics are discovering things all the time about the hereditary lines.
- arethuza 12y agoThat would be Rosslyn Chapel - which has such a stunningly high level of detail in the stone carvings (NB well worth seeing) that it's not surprising that parts of it look a bit like something else. It wouldn't surprise me if parts of Rosslyn Chapel look a bit like Lady Gaga or an Xbox controller.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosslyn_Chapel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosslyn_Chapel Rosslyn Chapel is also famous for apparently housing the Ark of the Covenant and/or the Holy Grail... :-)
- cschmidt 12y agoYou can rent and stay in Rosslyn Castle, very close to the chapel. I stayed there once, and it was one of the neatest places I've been. The only shower is on the way to the dungeon. http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/rosslyn-castle-13940/ http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/r...
- kjs3 12y agoIf the substantive bulk of someones work is loonery, I don't have to accord them any serious consideration because they got some minor detail right. That's exactly the approach all woo-peddlers use...find some triviality to establish credibility for a pack of bunk.
- notahacker 12y agoAbsolutely. It's fair to describe his writings as interesting, and for all his cynicism about conventional theories he never actually comes out and says obviously it was the Giant Atlanteans that built it shortly after they'd finished with Ancient Egypt. But there's also some rather sympathetic treatment given to theories that the world was built by giants during 365 days of darkness, and short shrift given to pretty conventional views that it's pretty normal for a single engineering project to use big rocks for foundations and fortification walls, smaller blocks for fiddly little details like eaves for roofs, and rubble for unimportant or needs-to-be-finished in a hurry structures. If you actually visit some of the sites in question and consider them as a whole there's a pretty smooth quality gradient between the tightly packed massive stone blocks, the impressively-precisely cut small ashlar blocks and the relatively loose blockwork. Which reminds me that I need to go back to Peru some time...
- RogerL 12y agoPlants that make rocks soft? Rocks "carved as if they were clay". Lacking extraordinary evidence, those are absurd claims.
- calroc 12y agoIf I had another life I would go search for this plant. It seems plausible to me and would definitely be awesome to find it if it exists.
- arethuza 12y agoWhen I was 7 or 8 I read one of Erich von Däniken's books and got terribly excited - a couple of years later I realised that it was, of course, complete nonsense. I remember being quite indignant that someone could write a book like that. Quite a useful learning experience actually... This reads remarkably like something from von Däniken but with any mention of ancient aliens removed... Sacsayhuaman, Cuzco, incredible stonework, tunnel networks, lost civilizations....
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- jckt 12y agoPeer review isn't the problem. In fact, many of his article do appear to be peer reviewed. For example, this[1] article was published in the peer-reviewed "Journal of Scientific Exploration"[2]. This JSE also publishes a quarterly magazine called EdgeScience[3]. Topics include ESP, telekinesis and UFOs affecting aviation. This doesn't mean nothing he says is valid, but I believe it's a good indication that one ought to read the OP with caution. [1] http://davidpratt.info/tecto.htm http://davidpratt.info/tecto.htm [2] http://www.scientificexploration.org/ http://www.scientificexploration.org/ [3] http://www.scientificexploration.org/edgescience/ http://www.scientificexploration.org/edgescience/
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- snikeris 12y agoI found his "Who am I?" page interesting: http://davidpratt.info/cv.htm http://davidpratt.info/cv.htm
- torralbaduran 12y agoLets all accept one undisputable fact: NOBODY CAN EXPLAIN HOW THE INCAS MADE THEIR SITES. If you accept this, you are on the right path.
- lukasb 12y agoCan we also accept that the "those ignorant savages could never have accomplished this" subtext is ludicrous?
- torralbaduran 12y agoI don't know what you mean. Please rephrase.
- kjs3 12y agoExcept it's not an undisputed fact.
- torralbaduran 12y agoso, how were those sites made? The article gives alot of examples, but none of those examples is a proven fact.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- 404error 12y agoI doubt we could reproduce most of what ancient cultures did. Why did they build things the hardest way possible and where are the tools? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods%3F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods%3F
- qwerta 12y agoThere is very good documentary how Machu Picchu was made on youtube. It goes into extensive details about water drainage, securing terraces against land slides and so on. And there are similar stone walls all over Greece.
- tokenadult 12y agoWhen I see that other links on this lone author's site are Sunken continents versus continental drift and Human origins: the ape-ancestry myth I know he is being willfully ignorant of a lot of better quality current scientific literature, as is also made clear by the old and unsystematic references on the page submitted here. Hacker News can do better for finding pages to discuss about Inca architecture. I'll suggest two sites here after checking some other sites. http://www.discover-peru.org/inca-architecture/ http://www.discover-peru.org/inca-architecture/ http://www.ancient.eu/Inca_Architecture/ http://www.ancient.eu/Inca_Architecture/
- ceejayoz 12y agoHe's also an AIDS denialist and anti-vaccination, from the looks of things.
- 1123581321 12y agoWhat's wrong with his references? It seems like the links you referenced don't have as many references or as much detail about the subject. Are they more factually correct? (I also take issue with the use of 'willfully' ignorant as though the author was presented with two roads and took the latter. More likely, he doesn't know what he doesn't know.)
- themodelplumber 12y agoI agree, the GP's alternative links leave much to be desired; surely there are even better sources available that are, additionally, credentialed.
- arethuza 12y agoSome of the references do look rather somewhat dubious. For example, in the "Tunnels" section there is a reference to "Subterranean tunnels and the hollow earth" - which appears to be available at: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_underground14.htm http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol... "What if I told you that I had been inside a fantastic tunnel system that runs beneath the continent of South America? Would you think me a liar? Or worse yet, insane? Though I admit it is a story that seems difficult to believe, I am telling the truth. Read on, dear reader, and decide if I am mad or lying." Edit: Reading further down that page I see a positive reference to Erich von Daniken (NB as I have mentioned in another comment, I learned the importance of skepticism from the works of von Daniken at a very young age).
- Gravityloss 12y agoThere are so many other massive ancient achievements too that boggle the mind, the Incas are often singled out for some reason. http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/top50stones.htm http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/top50stones.htm