Chapter 4 Chapter 3 The Disappeared Technological Civilization

As mentioned above, the 1569 McCarter map of the world is quite accurate in depicting the coast of Antarctica that was not covered by ice in ancient times.Interestingly, another region—the west coast of South America—is depicted on this map with far less precision than another map McCarter had drawn earlier (dated in 1538). The reason may be that the 16th-century geographer drew the former map from ancient blueprints; for the latter, he relied on the observations and measurements of the first Spanish explorers to go to western South America.Since these explorers brought back "latest" information to Europe, McCarter had to make the most of it when drawing his maps.As a result, his work was far less accurate—after all, in 1569, Europe had no precise instruments for determining longitude, and cartographers of ancient times apparently used such instruments.The maps they drew were used by McCarter as the basis for his 1538 map of the world.

found longitude Let us first discuss the issue of "longitude".By longitude, we mean the distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian.The currently internationally recognized Prime Meridian is an imaginary curve drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole, passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Village, London.Therefore, Greenwich is zero degrees longitude, New York City in the United States is at about 74 degrees west longitude, and Canberra, the capital of Australia, is at about 150 degrees east longitude. Here, we need not discuss in detail how to accurately determine the longitude of any point on the surface of the earth.What we care about is not the technical details, but the "historical facts" of how humans can improve their understanding of longitude and how to gradually unravel the mystery of longitude.One of the most important facts is that before the technological breakthroughs of the 18th century, cartographers and navigators lacked the sophisticated instruments to make accurate determinations of longitude.They can only guess, often "missing by a hair — by a thousand miles."After all, the measurement technology at that time was not yet mature.

Latitudes, measured south and north from the equator, did not pose much difficulty to cartographers and navigators—only by using simple instruments and measuring the positions of the sun and stars in angles, one could determine the The latitude of the location.To determine the longitude, you must have a more advanced instrument that can combine azimuth measurement and time measurement.In known human history, scientists have not been able to invent such an instrument.By the beginning of the 18th century, with the increasing prosperity of shipping, the need for such instruments became increasingly urgent.A scholar who studied the history of this period pointed out: "At that time, people's pursuit of longitude far surpassed the importance of ship safety and sailor's life. Accurate measurement seems to be an elusive dream-in the writing of media reporters, discovering longitude is nothing less than a dream. Seek fish along the tree." ①

What the nautical world needed most at the time was an extremely precise instrument that could accurately record the time (time at the port of departure) during a long voyage—despite the constant shaking of the ship and the changing weather. In 1714, Newton told the "Longitude Committee" set up by the British government: "Such a timer has not yet come out."② Newton was right. The chronometers of the 17th and early 18th centuries were very crude, with an error of 15 minutes per day, and an effective marine chronomete could only be erroneous by 15 minutes at most for several years.

In the 1720s, the highly skilled British watchmaker John Harrison (John Harrison) began to design a series of marine chronometers. After years of research, he finally created the first precise chronometer.At that time, the Longitude Committee offered a reward of 20,000 pounds for "an instrument capable of determining the longitude of a ship at the end of a six-week voyage with an error of not more than 30 nautical miles"③.Harrison's goal is to win the prize.In order to meet the requirements of the Longitude Committee, the error of the timer must not exceed 3 seconds per day.Harrison spent nearly 40 years testing several prototypes before meeting the standards set by the Longitude Commission. In 1761, the "Meridian No. 4" designed by him was placed on the Royal Navy warship "Dept.ford" (Dept.ford), leaving England and sailing to Jamaica.Harrison's son William was on hand to operate the theodolite.After sailing for 9 days, William reported to the captain based on the longitude calculated by the chronograph: They will definitely see the Madeira Islands (Madeira Islands) the next morning.The captain bet William 5 to 1 that they would not see the archipelago.In the end William won.Two months later, the "Deptford" arrived in Jamaica; the timer designed by Harrison was only 5 seconds off.

The accuracy of the Harrison Meridians exceeds the standards set by the Longitude Commission.Then, due to the obstruction of the British bureaucracy, it was not until 1773, three years before his death, that Harrison received a bonus of 20,000 pounds.Of course, he did not disclose the design know-how of the chronograph to the world until he got the prize money.Because of this delay, British navigator Captain James Cook did not use a chronometer when he embarked on his first expedition in 1768.On his third voyage (1778 to 1779), he was able to survey the Pacific Ocean with extremely high precision, not only determining the latitude of each island and each coastline, but also marking their longitude.Since then, "under the guidance of Cork's map and Harrison's longitude meter, in the vast Pacific Ocean, every navigator can find any island, and will not bump into the coastline that suddenly appears in front of him." ④

Cork's map of the Pacific Ocean is without a doubt the earliest example of modern cartography in terms of accuracy of longitude measurement.Moreover, these maps remind us that there are at least three elements that make a good map: a great expedition, great mathematical and cartographic skills, and a good chronograph. The third of the above prerequisites was not really fulfilled until the Harrison meridians became widely available in the 1770s.This breakthrough invention allowed cartographers to draw lines of longitude with such precision that, according to the average historian, the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and other known civilizations before the 18th century, None of them had the technology.Therefore, it is inevitable to be surprised and disturbed when we come into contact with some very old maps with modern precision of longitude and latitude.

Amazingly accurate ancient instrument These surprisingly precise longitude and latitude lines also appear in the same type of files.The advanced geographical knowledge listed by the author above is preserved in these maps. For example, the Piri Reis map of 1513, places South America and Africa at relatively correct longitudes.In terms of the level of technology at the time, this was almost impossible in theory.Peary Restan admits that his maps are based on older atlases.Could his highly accurate meridians be taken from ancient books? Equally incredible is the Dulcert Portloano, painted in AD 1339 with a focus on Europe and North Africa.On this very vast map.There is no error in the latitude; the longitude from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea is only half a degree off.

According to Professor Hapgood, the blueprint map used in the "Dulset Nautical Chart" "shows extremely high scientific accuracy in determining the proportions of latitude and longitude. Its drawers obviously have precise information, The relative longitudes of many points scattered over a wide area, from Galway in Ireland to the East Bend of the Don in Russia, were well known". ⑤ The "Zeno Map" of 1380 AD is another mystery.It covers a vast area of ​​the north, including Greenland, yet it is able to indicate the location of many points scattered over a large area with "extraordinarily precise" latitude and longitude.Professor Hapgood noted: "It is incredible that in the 14th century anyone could have determined the correct latitude - let alone the correct longitude - of these places."⑥

Fenaeus' world map is also worth noting.It precisely places the coast of Antarctica at the correct latitude and relative longitude, and the location of the entire Antarctic continent is also quite accurate in longitude and latitude.The geographical knowledge represented by this map was not possessed by Westerners before the 20th century. Ban Hora's nautical charts are also remarkably accurate in terms of relative latitude and longitude.From Gibraltar in the west to the Sea of ​​Azov in the east, the total longitude is only half a degree off, and the average longitude of the entire map is off by less than one degree.

These examples are just a small part of the vast amount of evidence collected by Professor Hapgood.He spent his whole life searching for and analyzing these data in order to prove that we are deluding ourselves if we think that the precise instrument for measuring longitude was not invented until the eighteenth century.The maps drawn by Perry Reis and other cartographers all confirm that this instrument existed in ancient times, and that Westerners in the 18th century only "rediscovered" it.These maps also show that in ancient times, a civilized people (now disappeared from history) used this instrument to detect the entire earth.In addition, we can see from these maps that this ancient nation was not only able to design and manufacture technically very advanced precision instruments, but also mastered a high degree of mathematical knowledge.They can be said to be a group of precocious mathematicians. lost mathematician Before discussing this issue, we must first remind ourselves: the earth is round.Therefore, when drawing maps, only the spherical shape can represent the true appearance of the earth in correct scale.Transferring geographic data from a sphere to flat paper will inevitably cause distortions; when we draw maps on paper, we must use an artificial, complex mechanical and mathematical device called "Map Projection" (Map Projection) ). There are many types of map projections.The Mercator projection, which is still widely used, is perhaps the most familiar.Other projections have weird names, such as "Azimuthal", "Stereographic", "Gnomonic", "Azirnuthal Equidistant" and "Central". Shape projection" (Cordiform) and so on.We don't need to discuss these things in detail here.We suffice to point out that effective projection requires the use of delicate mathematical techniques which, in the opinion of ordinary scholars, were impossible in the ancient world (especially in the ancient world before 4000 BC, it is said, There was no human civilization on Earth at that time, let alone one capable of developing and using advanced mathematics and geometry). Hapgood sent his collection of ancient maps to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and asked Professor Stretchen for identification.He wondered what level of mathematical knowledge was required to create these primitive maps. On April 18, 1965, Professor Strixon gave an answer: To draw these maps, one must have a very high level of mathematical knowledge.For example, some of the maps appear to use a "Mercator projection," even before McCarter was born.This projection method involves the expansion of latitude, which is quite complicated, and the triangular coordinate conversion method must be used to solve related problems. There are other reasons why these ancient cartographers had great mathematical skills: ● To determine the location of any point on a continent, at least geometric triangulation must be used.When measuring vast areas (over 1,000 miles), corrections must be made at any time according to the curvature of the earth, which requires the use of spherical, trigonometvy methods. ●To determine the relative positions of several continents, it is necessary to understand the spherical structure of the earth and use the method of spherical trigonometry to solve related problems. ●Civilizations with this knowledge, if they possess sophisticated instruments capable of measuring geographical locations, must use their mathematical skills to draw maps and nautical charts⑦. Professor Stratson believes that although these maps have been copied repeatedly by generations of cartographers, there are indications that they are the relics left over from an ancient, mysterious and technologically advanced civilization.Reconnaissance experts from the U.S. Air Force also reviewed the evidence presented by Hampgood.They also agree with Professor Stratchen.Lorenzo Burroughs, chief of the cartographic team of the U.S. Air Force's 8th Reconnaissance Squadron, Weissover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, put the Fenaeus map to the test.He concluded that some of the original maps on which the map was based were drawn using techniques similar to the modern "cardioid projection".Burrows pointed out: This shows that Fenaeus maps use advanced mathematical skills.In addition, its description of the shape of the Antarctic continent also shows that these original maps may use a "spherical plane projection method" or "heliograph projection method" involving spherical trigonometry. We trust that you and your colleagues are correct in your conclusions about ancient maps.We also believe that these conclusions raise some extremely important questions affecting the study of geology and ancient history...⑧ Professor Hapgood later made another major discovery: a map of China carved on a stone tablet and drawn in 1137 A.D.⑨.This map presents exactly the same longitudes as the Western map mentioned above.It also has a similar coordinate grid, drawn using the method of spherical trigonometry.Upon closer inspection, we find so many similarities between this map of China and maps of Europe and the Middle East that we have to admit that they all arose from a common root. Once again, we see the remnants of a civilization that was quite technologically advanced and now lost.In at least some respects, this civilization was as advanced as our own; its cartographers were "capable of surveying and surveying nearly the entire globe, using fully developed and well-established systems of technology, method, mathematical knowledge, and sophisticated instruments."⑩ This map of China also shows that the cultural heritage left to us by this ancient civilization is "global" - a heritage of inestimable value that includes more than advanced geographical knowledge. Legend has it that a group of bearded mysterious travelers crossed the vast sea in the "Dark Age" and brought civilization back to the earth that experienced a great turmoil.Could it be that the gift brought to prehistoric Peru by this group of mysterious visitors called "Viracochas" is the legacy we just mentioned? I decided to take a trip to Peru to see what clues I could uncover. Notes: ① Besson and Robinson, "The Shape of the World: Mapping and Discovery of the Earth", p. 117. Simon Bethon and Andrew Robinson, The Shape of the World: The Mapping and Discoury of the Earth, Guild Publishing, London, 1991, p. 117 ② Same as above, page 121. ③ "Encyclopedia Britannica", 1991 edition, Volume 3, page 289. ④ "Shape of the World", p. 131. ⑤, 116 pages. ⑦ Same as above, page 152. ⑦ Same as above, page 228. ⑧ Same as above, pages 244-245. ⑨ Ibid., page 135. ⑩Ibid., pages 139 and 145.