http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SK5BF4QV
John Anthony West explores architectural anomalies and other evidence of an advanced civilization predating the ancient Egyptians. Across Egypt, the many architectural engineering artistic and scientific wonders still defy explanation. They mysterious Oserion appears to already have been an ancient ruin when it was "uncovered" by Seti I during the construction of the Temple of Abydos in the first Dynasty. New developments in the "age of the sphinx? Debate. In the Cairo museum is a Stella, which describes reparations to the great sphinx performed by the Father of the traditionally credited builder. Does the great sphinx conceal its own date of construction in the age of Leo? Today's Egyptologists are some of the most stubborn intellectuals you can find, as proved by their casual dismissal of John Anthony West's series concerning the true age of Egyptian wonders. Having introduced his ideas of an Egypt more mysterious and ancient than modern academics believe, West gets right into the good stuff in this second episode of his symbolic tour through Egypt. Egypt's Old Kingdom dates back to 2700-2200 BC; this was the time of dynastic rule in a unified Egypt and the time in which most scholars say the ancient wonders such as the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza were built. This history raises many important questions, however, ones for which there are no ready answers. For one thing, the Old Kingdom seemed to arise spontaneously and almost fully developed in terms of math, science, religion, hieroglyphics, and other disciplines around 3000 BC; we are supposed to believe that the Neolithic people of this region, who had only the most primitive of tools, managed to build the step pyramid at Saqqara 300 years later and the Pyramids and Sphinx a mere 500 years later. Since we still don't really understand how most of these structures were built, this timeline stretches logic to the breaking point.
West has a plausible theory - namely, that the source of ancient Egyptians' knowledge was a much older Egyptian civilization dating back many thousands of years. Egyptologists and archaeologists largely refuse to even consider such a possibility, but West has some pretty powerful arguments on his side - and that's what this second episode of Magical Egypt, The Old Kingdom and the Still Older Kingdom, is all about.
West first takes viewers to the Cairo Museum to view some exquisite pottery and statues dating back to pre-dynastic times, incredible pieces built out of the hardest of stones in ways we could not even duplicate today. He also points out other artifacts that support his theory. One of the most significant pieces is the Narmer Palette, which dates back to ca. 3200 BC; according to West, its inscription points to highly developed knowledge across several disciplines. The beauty of West's theory is the fact that it basically takes the ancient Egyptians at their word, as recorded on, as one example, the Inventory Stela which plainly states that the Sphinx was already built before Khufu, its supposed builder, was even born. Other Egyptian records record a long line of pre-dynastic kings (actual gods followed by companions of Horus) which yield an Egyptian timeline going back some 36,000 years. Egyptologists, having convinced themselves that Khufu had the Sphinx constructed, refuse to countenance the possibility that they could be wrong, making the rather ironic conclusion that they understand ancient Egyptian history better than the ancient Egyptians did.
The heart of West's arguments really is the Sphinx; his conclusion that this most majestic and mysterious of monuments dates back millennia before Egypt's dynastic era set off shockwaves in the Egyptological community. Often derided by academics, West seemingly has good hard science on his side. Having noticed significant weathering on the body and courtyard of the Sphinx, he consulted geologist Robert Schoch, who concluded that the heavy weathering at the site could only have been caused by water, not sand or wind. Since there has been little water to speak of there in the Sahara Desert since the end of the last Ice Age, Schoch conservatively estimates the Sphinx was built no later than 5000 BC to 7000 BC. West believes the Sphinx to a marker of the constellation Leo, however, which gives him a choice between 10,000 BC (the date advanced by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, based on astronomic correlations) and 36,000 BC, the latter of which corresponds with what the ancient Egyptians themselves believed. The earlier of the two dates seems most plausible to West, which is why his views are so controversial. An ancient civilization possessing great knowledge of the procession of the equinoxes and the means to build such a monument as the Sphinx as far back as 36,000 BC is hard for most academics to swallow.
West points to other evidence of this unknown older kingdom in Egypt, however. He shows us weathered stones inside the Red Pyramid at Dahshur, which would seem to tell us that the pyramid was built around the already aged "plundered tomb-chamber." From there, he's off to the Valley Temple of Khafra, adjacent to the Sphinx, the weathered core masonry of which seems to date back much earlier than the granite applied to the temple during the time of Khafra. Then there's the Osireion, which West suggests was originally built on a flood plain, then lost beneath the desert sands before being discovered by Seti I during construction of the temple of Abydos.
If nothing else, West presents cogent arguments that provide a plausible explanation for mysteries Egyptologists and archaeologists try to pretend don't exist. The Magical Egypt series certainly presents his ideas in a most plausible light. It's both a personal and a professional presentation in which West takes us right to the sites themselves to show us what he is talking about. While this can be problematic at times (at the Museum of Cairo, passersby sometimes make it hard to make out some of West's words), it makes for a most compelling presentation.
So I think Ill have to go cop that DVD one of theses days.
