Credits: Artematica.tvINCA: ORIGIN AND MYSTERIES OF OF THE GOLDEN CIVILIZATION

 A 3000 Year Journey... 

..through the mysteries of the civilizations which followed one another in Peru from the XV Century B.C. to the well-known Inca people. An emotional exhibition with the typical sounds and music characterising those people. More than 250 finds, a total immersion in the magic still shrouding ancient pre-Columbian civilizations.  

INCA - 'Origin and Mysteries of the Golden Civilization' is promoted by Brescia Municipality, Artematica, Lombardy Region, Brescia Musei Foundation and it is supported by the Presidency of the Italian Republic, Department for Cultural Activities, Department for Education and Skills and by the Embassy of Peru, the Civiltà Bresciana Foundation and CAB Foundation. The exhibition will present more than 200 art works coming from the most important Peruvian museums like the Peruvian Gold Museum, the Nacional Sicán Museum, the Nacional Museum de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Peru, and many other museums able to go back over the entire golden cultures history. The exhibition is organized with the partnership of the Peruvian Government that has granted a lot of treasures for the first time exhibited outside the national frontiers.

The exhibition is supported by Peruvian Political Institutions on the Italian territory. The project is cured by Paloma Carcedo Muro de Mufarech, a pre-Colombian art researcher in Pontificia Universidad Católica of Peru in Lima, with the assistance of the scientific committee composed by Walter Alva Alva, the manager of Tumbas Reales de Sipán Museum in Lambayeque, Antonio Aimi, lecturer of Hispanic - American Literatures at Milan University, Andrés Alvarez Calderón Larco, the manager of Larco Museum in Lima, Carmen Arellano Hoffmann, the manager of Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia of Peru Museum, Claudio Cavatrunci, archaeologist and responsible of the “America” Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnografico “L.Pigorini” in Rome, Carlos G. Elera Arévalo, director of the Museo Nacional Sicán di Lambayeque, Heidi King, researcher at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Francesca Morandini, conservation specialist and archaeologist at Civici Musei di Arte e Storia di Brescia, Victoria Mujica Diez-Canseco, director of the Museo Oro del Perú di Lima, Giuseppe Orefici, director of the Centro Studi e Ricerche Archeologiche Precolombiane in Brescia, Fernando Rosas Moscoso, academic at Universidad Ricardo Palma e Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and Carlos Wester La Torre, director of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional Brüning di Lambayeque.

From December 4th, 2009 till June, 27th 2010

Museum Santa Giulia - Via Musei 81/b 25121 - Brescia (BS) ITALY

info@incabrescia.it

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EXHIBITION LEAFLET (ENGLISH)

CREDITS: Inca Brescia - Homepage - Inca Brescia Facebook

Produced by Zeeva Production

Rome 1923. Fascist Italy wants to have an always greater role in the Balkan chessboards with the aim of making again the Mediterranean the “Mare Nostrum”, in virtue of the boasted inheritance of greatness derived from the Roman Empire to which the regimen inspires.

Albania, a country rich in mines and oil fields, and from the geographic point of view, a privileged access to the Balkans, is the centre of political intrigues and of the international espionage in which the greatest European powers will be involved. Luigi Maria Ugolini, a young archaeologist from Bertinoro, officially sent in order to direct the Italian Archaeological Mission in Albania, finds himself unwillingly involved in the great “Balkan game”. Albania is a primary objective to reach at all costs and archaeology must become a mean of penetration in order to lay the ideological foundations for the annexation of Albania and set up the base of attack to Greece.

Between lights and shades, Ugolini, considered by the most a pioneer of modern archaeology, will bring back to light, among thousands difficulties either financial or political, the site of Phoinike and the extraordinary city of Butrint, the “Albanian Pompei”, tied to the myth of Aenea and protected by U.N.E.S.C.O. like a masterpiece of the humanity.

Photograph: L.M. Ugolini

Biography: Luigi Maria Ugolini (1895-1936)

Ugolini was born in the small town of Bertinoro in the Italian Romagna, the son of a poor watchmaker. He shone at school and after service in the First World War in the Alpini studied archaeology at Bologna University. He was soon talent spotted by major figures in the Italian archaeological establishment of the early years of the fascist government. Between 1924 and 1935 Ugolini undertook several research visits to Albania and the Maltese Islands. This work led him to excavate Phoenicia and Butrint in southern Albania where he discovered many important monuments and to record and study the prehistoric sites and the artefacts held at the Valletta Museum and to publish the results of the survey. 

In 2000 the archive of Ugolini’s photographs and notes, believed to have been lost, were “rediscovered” in the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico “Luigi Pigorini” in Rome. A publication recently released commemorates the research of Luigi Ugolini by displaying, for the first time in Malta, part of the archive documenting the survey work undertaken by him and his collaborators.

The manuscripts and the photographs in the archive are not only precious historical documents but are also a useful tool in the management and conservation of Malta’s prehistoric sites and artefacts. The archive also deserves to reach wider audiences since it is testimony to the contribution of past generations in shaping our understanding of Malta’s archaeological heritage.

ZEEVA PRODUCTION

Related articles: How the Goddess lost her head: the myth and reality of the looting of Butrint

Report by Sam Osmanagic

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During his visit to African island of Mauritius Osmanagic has reviewed the phenomenon of pyramidal structures in south-eastern section of the island (Plaine Magnien). 

Past articles by Antoine Gigal:

• Megalithic walls and hydraulic systems linked with Mauritius pyramids
• Seven pyramids identified on the African island of Mauritius

www.gigalresearch.com;www.gizaforhumanity.org;www.histories-mysteries.com

 The access way to Liangshan Mountain

The Russian pyramid investigator Maxim Yakovenko has visited several Chinese pyramid complexes and has finally been able to identify the legendary “White Pyramid” as the Liangshan Mountain, which holds the tomb of Emperor Gaozong. As such, decades of speculation and mystery have finally been answered.

The story of the White Pyramid came about in the 1940s, when eyewitness reports, specifically from pilot James Gaussman, related the presence of an enormous “White Pyramid” near the Chinese city of Xi’an.

If true, it was bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza. The region was off-limits to Western tourists for many decades afterwards and once this restriction was lifted, many pyramids were found, but the gigantic “White Pyramid” was not amongst them. A photograph of what was believed to be the White Pyramid, turned out to be one of a much smaller pyramid near Xi’an.

So what was the White Pyramid? Had someone overestimated the dimensions of a smaller pyramid? The answer is a simple no. The photograph had nothing to do with the original account of the White Pyramid, and this is where the main problem has lain in recent years. The actual White Pyramid is Liangshan Mountain and it is as big as Gaussman and others had claimed it was.

Liangshan Mountain is located in the vicinity of Qiang Xian, a small Chinese town located 80 km to the northwest from Xi’an. In 684 AD, the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty Gaozong was buried at the bottom of the mountain with his wife the Empress Wu. She reigned after Gaozong’s death. When she died in 705 AD, her body was buried near Gaozong’s on Liangshan Mountain. It is the only mausoleum where two Tang monarchs were buried.

The Qianling mausoleum incorporates 17 attendant tombs, including the tombs of Princess Yongtai, Prince Zhanghuai and Prince Yide. Twenty stone sculptures guard the emperor and his wife from evil spirits and enemies. They line the way to the burial place, guarding it with unusual long swords. Behind the guards there is a reconstructed gate, built from clay, but finished with bricks. Next are two large statues of mythical monsters. Building the mausoleum and the inner chambers was an enormous accomplishment, but my research is primarily focused on the mountain where the emperor was buried, as this is the legendary White Pyramid.

Liangshan is listed as a natural mountain that consists of three peaks. The two southern peaks are approximately the same size, but the northern peak is much taller and bigger. The two southern peaks consist of soil (so-called “central Chinese clay soil”, which is 30% clay, 35% clay elements and almost 40% limestone), but it is the northern peak that is the highest and consists of huge, almost straight stone plates which lie on the clay.

A key account about the “White Pyramid” – though it had not yet received its name at the time – in the vicinity of Xi’an was given by Alfred Schroeder in 1912: “The pyramid is about 1,000 feet high (other descriptions estimate 1,000 to 1,200 feet high) and roughly 1,500 feet at the base, which makes it twice as large as any pyramid in Egypt. The four faces of the structure are oriented with the compass points.” This observation conforms to what we have seen on the ground about Liangshan Mountain: it is a colossal pyramid, with four visible sides, holding the tomb of emperor Gaozong. It is difficult to determine the height of the pyramid. If measured from the platform with the twenty guards, the height is 160 meters; if measured from the base of the pyramid, the height is about 300 meters, or ca. 1,000 feet!

Schroeder also wrote: “Each side of the pyramid was of a different color: the northern side was black, the eastern blue, the southern red and the western side had a tint of white. The flat top of the pyramid was covered with yellow soil (clay).” Why did Schroeder describe each side of the pyramid as having a different color? The answer is the condition of the surface of the pyramid. The northern side of the pyramid is the most damaged by human activity. There are many modern man-made terraces and peasant gardens; therefore this side looks like a long slope of a natural hill. Since this side does not face the sun, the terraces have dark-grey color, conform to what Schroeder referred to as black.

The eastern side is planted by coniferous trees having a tint of blue and green colors. The southern side was also damaged by local inhabitants and revealed the yellowish color of the clay, or for Schroeder, red. The western side of the pyramid is white because it is covered by massive stone blocks, in grey and white colors. It is this side, together with the light yellow of the top, which created the story of “the White Pyramid”.

In fact, a long time ago, the entire pyramid was covered by massive white stone plates, even though the core structure of the pyramid is from pressed clay, conform to the other pyramids of Shaanxi province. But these massive plates slipped to the foot of the pyramid, the result of natural forces such as earthquakes and rain. Only on the western side did the plates remain relatively intact.

Again, this is conform to Schroeder’s observations from a century ago: “The pyramid itself was built of pressed clay as were many constructions in China. Huge troughs extended along the walls of the pyramid having the size of mountain canyons. They were filled with stones too. There were trees and bushes on the slopes defacing the shape of the pyramid and making it similar to a natural object. I was fascinated by this amazing sight… Some time ago there were steps from the foot to the top of the pyramid but they are filled up with fragment of stones now. Some steps made of wild stones were seen at the bottom (each stone was three square feet).” In support of Schroeder’s description, many massive stone plates have indeed been found on the western side of the pyramid. Those plates have smooth surfaces and straight edges. They cover the whole of the western slope, but are damaged in certain areas. It appears that the stone plates were used to cover the pyramid from the elements and make the structure much sturdier. And it appears that they are manmade.

The western side of the terrace also reveals big stone blocks that are in a bad condition. Regular blocks can be found laying on the clay. This has to be manmade as it is impossible for a regular shaped stone to form on clay or soil.

I found many other features on the manmade terraces that have equally been constructed from massive stone blocks; one weighed at least 10 tons. The top of the block is damaged, but on the other sides of the block, I saw clean, sharp edges and flat surfaces.

Little to no research has been carried out on the site, but it should not be ruled out that there was a mountain, which was later transformed into a pyramid. If the pyramid was built from the foundation to the top, it needed millions of tons of clay, and thousands of builders, making this an extra-ordinary achievement and definitely worthy of the legendary fame that the “White Pyramid” achieved in the 20th century. Either way, it is one of the biggest pyramids in the entire world.

If we compare the descriptions of the White Pyramid by Schroeder and Gaussman with Liangshan Mountain, it is quite obvious that they are the same structure. There are seven facts that back up this identification:

1. the structures have the same height of 300 meters;
2. the length of each side was given as 500 meters;
3. the description of the color of the sides of the pyramid matches;
4. the name “White Pyramid” has its origin in the color of the stone plates that covered the pyramid;
5. the pyramids are made of pressed clay and covered by stone plates;
6. the sides of the pyramid have depressions which look like natural troughs;
7. there are steps or terraces to the pyramid.

The first time I visited the Qianling mausoleum, it was very snowy, windy and cold with dreadful visibility. I didn’t climb to the top because it was dangerous. But on my last trip in November 2008, the weather was fantastic: clear skies, no wind or rain. I enjoyed the beautiful picturesque landscape and spent all day on Liangshan Mountain.

I noted that the four sides of the northern Liangshan peak are not oriented to the earth’s cardinal points, as is customary for most pyramids. I studied the stone slabs in detail and had to conclude that these were not natural stone. I found a stone close to the top of the pyramid, which showed classical drilling marks of a circular instrument, like a saw. I made numerous photographs and sent these to Dr. Aly Abdulah Barakat, an expert in applied geology and archaeology, based in Cairo. He came to the conclusion that “there is clear evidence of human contribution to the natural stones”. It means that these features are not the result of natural geological processes but the marks of human activity. He added that the stones on the photos “indicate clear human interaction with the whole site”.

It is, of course, impossible to conclude whether Gaussman’s White Pyramid is the Liangshan Mountain, as part of the problem was that Gaussman gave little verifiable details. Still, all the evidence suggests the White Pyramid has been found. But even if it weren’t, let us remember how important this pyramid is – whether it is the White Pyramid or not really should be seen as secondary. Liangshan “Mountain” is a colossal construction, with clear pyramidal features and covered by stone blocks that can only be manmade.

So where do we go from here? More than 90% of all the Chinese pyramid sites are at present unexplored, but the Chinese authorities and archaeologists are developing a research plan for the next five years. This is unlikely to include the Northern Peak of Liangshan Mountain. I think this pyramid will only begin to be researched by scientists after some sensational changes in the current scientific world as a whole and science in China specifically have come about. But who knows, right? The verification of the existence of the White Pyramid is an important step in the right direction. 

Maxim Yakovenko was born in Dalnerechensk, 7 km from the Chinese border, on October 16, 1984. In 2007, he graduated from the Far Eastern State University, the Faculty of International Relations, specializing in Canadian and US Studies. He is currently a post-graduate student in the World History Department. He lives in Vladivostok. His website is www.world-pyramids.com.

Hystories & Mysteries

Pyramid of the Yasen Garden

Expeditions,

Scientific Reports,

Unique Photographs, Sensations

by Maxim Yakovenko

Interest in the mysterious pyramids of China has been increasing over the last decade. Unfortunately there is not much scientific or serious information about these structures. We can find a lot of questionable information on the Internet. Such as: ‘UFO and ancient pyramids in China’, ‘Chinese pyramids are the highest pyramids in the world’ and more doubtful information about the legendary White Pyramid. Most of this information is untrue. Those who write about it have never actually been to central China. It's very difficult to start to talk about the pyramids in China because we begin to compare them with Egyptian pyramids, but the pyramids in China and in Egypt are completely different in shape, material and purpose.

Independent researcher Maxim Yakovenko is a post-graduate student of World History Department, Far Eastern State University. He has seven scientific publications dedicated to the problems of international relations, American and Canadian history. Being a coordinator of Far Eastern Center of American and Canadian Centre he took part in organizing ten international conferences and seminars for young scientists.

He organized some research trips to megalithic sites of Primorsky Kray of Russia since 2004. The megalith of mountain Pidan (70 km from Vladivostok) and mysterious pyramidal hills in Nakhodka were absolutely unknown for world community before 2006, when the web site www.ancient-mayak.narod.ru (English version) had been opened.

In January 2008 he went to travel across all China to pyramids located around Xi’an. He described a mysterious White Pyramid. After this expedition Maxim Yakovenko founded the web site www.world-pyramids.com and wrote a first report about Chinese pyramids. From August 25th till 30th, 2008 he took part at the 1st International Scientific Conference on Bosnian Pyramids which was held in Sarajevo. His presentation was dedicated to Chinese pyramids as a part of global pyramids. In November 2008 Maxim visited many locations of the pyramids in central China, in Xi’an. He had the meetings with renown Chinese scientists who study mausoleums and the pyramids belonging to the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD). Maxim Yakovenko gleans information for writing a book about Chinese pyramids and ancient history of China.

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 1st ICBP Paper: The Mysteries of the Chinese Pyramids

Discover more at World-Pyramids.com

by Federico Palma

Map of Nahuel Huapi NP

The Nahuel Huapi National Park (from the araucano Nahuel, that means tiger and Huapi: island) extends over 750.000 hectares (1.875.000 acres) of which 330.000 (825.000 acres) of them is a National Reserve. Situated in the south-west of Neuquen province and north-west of Rio Negro, it stretches from the Patagonian steppes to the high Andes.

Man appeared in Patagonia between ten and thirty thousand years BC, during the higher Paleolithic Period. Testimony of this are the findings of numerous negative rock paintings of hands, similar to the ones found in Europe. During the latter part of the Stone Age there was a peaceful coexistence, around Nahuel Huapi. Between the Tehuelche tribes from the south, the Puelche from the east and the Pehuenche from the north.

This ended around the 17th century with the arrival of the Araucanos. Due to the relentless Spanish invader, the Mapuche or Araucanos came over from Chile and their culture absorbed the previous tribes. Captain Don Francisco de César, half a century before, had heard rumors of the existence of a fabulous city built of gold and precious stone on the shores of a large lake in the southern territories. The Church and the Army set off in a vain attempt to find the city; they found it impossible to civilize the Indians and generally found a tragic death. Such was the end of fathers Nicolas Mascardi, Guillelmo, Elgea y Laguna. For more than a century there was no more news from this area until new expeditions started around 1860 with the arrival of Cox from Chile and Perito Francisco Moreno from Argentina. The "Desert Campaign" totally subdued the Indian remnants in 1879. White man - the Europeans - completely took over the archeological remains and destroyed the remaining Indian culture of the Lake District.

"Nahuel Huapi, Rock Art at Isla Victoria" (work in progress) is an archaeology documentary project about rock art present at Isla Victoria, Nahuel Huapi National Park. This project is independently produced by Surge, with support from Argentina's National Endeavor for the Arts, National Parks Administration and Nahuel Huapi National Park. This clip is a sample from footage taken along spring-summer 2008.

PN NAHUEL HUAPI

A new study has suggested that some of Egypt’s most magnificent pyramids were deliberately designed to follow a pattern of invisible diagonal lines, which would point towards Heliopolis, the city of the Sun God.

These invisible lines would connect most of the funerary complexes raised by the kings of the Old Kingdom between 2630 and 2323 BC, Giulio Magli, professor of archaeoastronomy at Milan’s Polytechnic University, told Discovery News.

“Following these diagonals, it appears clear that the arrangement of the monuments was carefully chosen in order to satisfy a number of criteria, which include dynastic lineage, religion and astronomical alignments,” he said.

The study examined the chronology and geographical location of all the pyramids of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties, from the Step Pyramid of Djoser (2630-2611 B.C.) to the now-collapsed pyramid of Unas (2356-2323 B.C.), both in Saqqara.

“Our starting point was the so-called ‘Giza diagonal,’ an ideal line which connects the southeast corners of the three main pyramids and points to Heliopolis. This was an important religious center sacred to the sun god,” Magli said.

While the pyramids of Khufu, the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, and his son Khafre were easily aligned along the diagonal, the pyramid of Menkaure, Khufu’s grandson, had to be built very far into the desert to sit on the line of sight toward Heliopolis.

“But, there is more. As a consequence of this intentional alignment, the second smaller pyramid becomes invisible from Heliopolis, its mass being covered by Khufu’s larger pyramid,” Magli said.

As to why Khafre positioned his pyramid so that it becomes invisible from the city sacred to the sun god, Magli said that the illusion might indicate a sign of respect for the sun god, and it might also have also launched a “symbolic invisibility” model which governed the planning of the pyramids up to the end of the Fifth Dynasty.

“Under this model, the funerary monuments of the pharaohs stand one after another, marking the dynastic link with the preceding pharaoh,” Magli said. “They are linked by a diagonal which points to Heliopolis,” he added.

The northwest corners of three chronologically successive pyramids in Abu Sir - those identified with the tombs of Sahure, Neferirkare and Neferefre - align on a diagonal similar to that of Giza.

Magli found that the Abu Rawash, Giza, and Abu Sir diagonals point to three stars - Sirius, Crux-Centaurus, and Canopus, respectively. These stars sat in alignment over the pyramids when viewed from Heliopolis.

Discovery News

The Pyramid Code is a series of programs made for television that explore the pyramid fields and ancient temples in Egypt and ancient megalithic sites around the world looking for clues to sophisticated technology. The series is based on the extensive research done in Egypt and around the world by Dr. Carmen Boulter of the University of Calgary.

The Pyramid Code features interviews with geologists, physicists, archaeologists, engineers, and authors and explores the following questions: Who were the ancients and what did they know? Could the pyramids be much older than traditional Egyptology would have us believe? Could it be that the ancients were more technologically advanced than we are today? Why do we have so little understanding of the ancient Egyptians?

Credits: Director and Executvie Producer - Carmen Boulter, PhD [Info] [The Crew]

Cairo (AP): Travellers to Egypt will soon be able to explore the inner chambers of the 4,500-year-old "bent" pyramid, known for its oddly-shaped profile, Egypt's antiquities chief announced on Monday.

The increased access to the pyramid as well as others in the area is part of an Egyptian effort in cooperation with the United Nations to develop the pyramid complex in a sustainable fashion, while preserving the environment and the antiquities.

Egypt's chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, said the 100-m pyramid outside the village of Dashur, 80 km south of Cairo, will be opened for the first time to tourists within the next "month or two".

"This is going to be an adventure, and this is happening now," said Mr. Hawass, speaking at a news conference on Monday. Dashur's bent pyramid is famous for its irregular profile. The sides rise at a steep angle, then half way up the massive structure they abruptly taper off at a more shallow approach to the pyramid's apex.

Archaeologists believe the pyramid-builders changed their minds while constructing it out of fear the whole structure might collapse because the sides were too steep. The nearby Red pyramid, also built by the fourth dynasty founder Pharoah Sneferu, is already accessible to visitors. Mr. Hawass said several other nearby pyramids, including one with an underground labyrinth from the Middle Kingdom, would also be opened next year.

HINDU.com