Chapter 18 Chapter 18 The Mysterious Guest from a Foreign Land

In the 1940s, American archaeologist Matthew Sterling excavated the ruins of La Venda and found some extremely precious cultural relics, the most notable of which was a stone tablet carved with a portrait of a "bearded man". As mentioned above, the ancient Olmec cultural site in La Venda was designed and arranged along an axis pointing eight degrees west of true north.At the southern end of this axis stands a 100-foot-high conical pyramid with a fluted body.On the ground next to the tower is a curb-like curb, about a foot high, surrounding a rectangular field about a quarter the size of a typical street.When archaeologists excavated this side rail, they discovered unexpectedly that it was actually the upper half of a row of columns.As soon as the several layers of earth covering it were removed, these columns, ten feet high, were immediately revealed. There were more than 600 of them in all, arranged closely in a row, forming a very strong fence.These columns were all hewn from a single block of basalt and transported to La Venda from a quarry more than 60 miles away.Each pillar weighs about 2 tons.

Why bother?After all the hard work to build this stone fence, what exactly is it going to protect? Even before excavation, the top of a boulder jutted out of the ground in the center of the paddock, about 4 feet above the surrounding "shoulders," sloping steeply forward.There are dense images carved on the stone blocks.The images stretched down, lost in layers and layers of dirt up to nine feet thick that buried the ancient fence. It took an archaeological team led by Sterling two days to unearth the boulder.It turned out to be a massive stele, fourteen feet high, seven feet wide, and almost three feet thick.The statue on the stele shows the meeting of two people.Both men were tall and well dressed in rich robes and exquisite shoes with slightly turned-up toes.One of the figures is disfigured and has broken limbs, either from erosion or vandalism (as often happens with Olmec statues).Another character is intact.The latter was obviously a Caucasian man with a straight nose and a long flowing beard under his chin.Archaeologists were amazed and called him "Uncle Sam" (Uncle Sam).

I paced back and forth around this 20-ton stele, and I sighed in my heart: it has been buried underground for more than 3,000 years.It has been half a century since Sterling excavated it.What will be its future fate?Will it stand majestically here for 3,000 years, for generations of human beings to watch and pay homage to?During this long period of time, will the changes in personnel make it buried underground again and disappear from people's eyes? Maybe neither of those things will happen.I am reminded of the ancient Mesoamerican calendar invented by the Olmecs.According to their calculations—and their successors, the more famous Mayans—there is not much time left for human beings, and it is impossible to have another 3,000 years.

I took a closer look at the big stone tablet again.Two things seem to be certain: first, the scene of the meeting of the two men carved on the stele was, for some reason, very significant to the Olmecs, and that is why they went to such lengths to create an impregnable The stone fence surrounds this solemn and luxurious stele and protects it very tightly.Second, like those black heads, Olmec craftsmen obviously used real people as models when carving the portraits of white people on this stele.The facial features of the characters on the stele are so realistic that they cannot be imagined out of thin air.

Among the statues unearthed from the ruins of Ravenda, there are also two statues with Caucasian features.One of them was engraved in bas-relief on a slightly circular stone slab about three feet in diameter.The figure in the portrait wears shoes and socks similar to leggings. The facial features on the face have obvious Anglo-Saxon (Anglo-Saxon) ethnic characteristics. hat.He is waving a banner or some kind of weapon in his left hand, leaving his right hand free, across his chest.A fancy belt wrapped around his slender waist.Another portrait of a white man is carved on a slender stone pillar, similarly dressed and bearded.

Who are these strange-looking strangers?What are they doing in Central America?When did they come to Central America?What was their relationship to the other strangers who showed up here—the blacks who settled in the hot, humid rubber jungle and served as models for the Olmec sculptors? Orthodox scholars have always maintained that before 1492 AD, the Americas had been in a state of isolation and had no contact with the Western world.Scholars with avant-garde thinking refuse to accept this dogmatic concept.They put forward a new and plausible view: those deep-eyed, high-nosed, bearded figures depicted in Olmec statues may be the Phoenicians who were active in the Mediterranean in ancient times; as early as 2000 BC to BC For 1000 years, they have been driving ships.Through the Strait of Gibraltar, across the Atlantic Ocean, to America.Scholars who put forward this point of view further pointed out that the blacks depicted in the Olmec statues should be "slaves" of the Phoenicians; the Phoenicians captured these blacks on the west coast of Africa and brought them all the way to America②.

The more I examine the bizarre statues unearthed from the ruins of Ravendar, the less I accept these views.Perhaps, many years before Columbus, the Phoenicians and other Western peoples did cross the Atlantic.There is no lack of evidence in this regard, but due to space limitations, this book does not intend to elaborate on it.I just want to point out one problem: the Phoenicians who traveled all over the world left their unique handicrafts in many parts of the ancient world, but they did not leave anything that belonged to them in the Olmec settlements in Central America.The negro heads found here, as well as the reliefs depicting bearded white men, are not at all Phoenician in style or in carver.In fact, in terms of artistic style, these powerful works do not seem to belong to any known culture, tradition and artistic type.There is no precedent for these works of art, either in the Americas or in the Old World.

The works of art unearthed from the ruins of Ravenda seem to have no roots...Of course, this is impossible, because all artistic expressions in the world have their roots hidden somewhere. The "hypothetical third party" theory I think, to find answers to these questions, we may have to take a look at the "hypothetical third party" (hypothetical third party) theory put forward by scholars of ancient Egyptian civilization.They put forward this point of view in order to solve one of the great mysteries of Egyptian history. Archaeological evidence shows that the civilization of ancient Egypt did not develop and evolve slowly and painstakingly like ordinary human society, but emerged suddenly and was fully formed, just like the Olmec culture in Central America.In fact, the transition of Egyptian society from primitive to advanced was very short, which did not conform to the general historical laws.Technology that would have taken hundreds or even thousands of years to develop in other societies appeared overnight in Egypt, without any sign of it before.

For example, Egyptian artifacts from the pre-dynastic era (around 3500 BC) show that Egyptians did not yet know how to use writing.Not long after that period ended, and suddenly, the hieroglyphics that we so often see on Egyptian monuments today magically appeared and matured.Egyptian hieroglyphs at this time are not just "pictures" of objects and actions; they already have a complex syntactic structure, with some symbols that only represent sounds and a detailed set of numbers.Even the earliest pictographs have been stylized and standardized.There is evidence that advanced "cursive script" was already in common use as early as the early days of Egypt's first dynasty.

Surprisingly, the development of Egyptian hieroglyphs does not seem to have experienced a gradual evolution from simple to complex.A similar situation also appeared in the mathematics, medicine, astronomy and construction technology of the ancient Egyptians.The extremely rich and complex religious mythology system of ancient Egypt obviously did not undergo a gradual evolution process—even the main content of such an exquisite work as "Book of the Dead" already existed at the beginning of the dynastic era⑤. However, most scholars who study Egyptian civilization are unwilling to face up to the maturity of Egyptian culture in ancient times.The significance of this precocity is worth exploring for scholars with more open minds.John Anthony West, a scholar who has studied Egypt in the early dynastic era, pointed out in his works:

How did such a complex civilization suddenly appear and be fully developed?We might as well compare the automobile of 1905 with the automobile of today, and it can be seen immediately that there has been a "development" stage between them.In Egypt, however, we cannot make such a comparison.In ancient Egyptian culture, everything existed from the beginning. The answer to this question is of course obvious, but ordinary scholars are unwilling to face it squarely, because it goes against the mode of thinking of modern academia.In fact, Egyptian civilization was not "developed", it was a legacy inherited from others⑥. For many years, West has been a thorn in the side of orthodox academic circles.However, there are also some mainstream scholars who are very confused by the sudden rise of Egyptian civilization.The late Walter Emery, Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University of London, summed up the whole problem: About 3,400 years before the birth of Jesus, a major change occurred in Egypt, and the entire country changed from a messy tribal society in the Neolithic Age to a well-organized kingdom... During this period, writing appeared, and building technology and various crafts developed to their peak; all evidence shows that there was a prosperous and brilliant civilization in Egypt during this period.All of this is done in a relatively short period of time.The great developments in writing and architecture of the Egyptians seem to have no apparent origin. A simple explanation is that another civilization in the ancient world suddenly influenced Egypt, causing its culture to suddenly improve and make decisive major progress.The ancient country of Sumer (Sumer), located in the lower reaches of the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, most likely played this role.Despite their many differences, Egyptian and Sumerian architectural techniques and styles share a number of similarities, suggesting that there must be some connection between the two regions.However, these commonalities alone are not enough for us to infer that this association is a causal relationship-one society directly affects the other society.As Professor Emory points out: According to our observations, this connection is "indirect"; perhaps there is a "third party" that spread culture to the Euphrates and Nile regions...Most modern scholars are reluctant to face up to such a possibility: in ancient times, there was From a hypothetical, hitherto undiscovered region, people migrated to the Euphrates and the Nile.If we admit that there was a "third party" who spread highly developed cultures to Egypt and Mesopotamia respectively, then we can explain why there are so many similarities and fundamental differences between these two civilizations ⑧. This theory at least allows us to understand why the Egyptians and the Sumerians in Mesopotamia worshiped almost the same god of the moon - the Egyptians called it Thoth, the Sumerians called it Thoth. Sin - and these gods are the oldest of the gods of both nations.Sir E.A. Wallis Budge, an authoritative Egyptology expert, pointed out: "These two gods are too similar to be mere coincidence...We should not say who borrowed gods from whom." , but one thing seems to be certain: the intelligentsia of ancient Egypt and Sumer both borrowed theological systems from a common and extremely ancient civilization."⑨ So we are now faced with the question: the "third person" mentioned by both Butch and Emery - the "common, very ancient civilization", "hypothetical and as yet undiscovered" region"—to whom exactly?where?If this "third party" really left a rich cultural heritage in Egypt and Mesopotamia, is it possible that they also left the same thing in Mesoamerica? Some scholars have argued that civilization "started" much later in Mexico than in the Middle East.However, such a view is not enough to solve the problem.We must consider the possibility that, initially, civilizations arose in both regions, but later developed differently and ended differently. From this we can deduce that the "third party" who brought civilization succeeded in civilizing Egypt and Sumer and established a lasting and distinguished culture; in Mexico (and Peru), on the other hand, they suffered major setbacks ——Perhaps, everything went well in the beginning, and they instructed the local people to carve stones and make huge human heads and reliefs, but then somehow, the whole civilization began to decline, and the decline was very fast.Fortunately, the fire of civilization has not been extinguished since then, but it was not until about 1500 BC (the so-called "Olmec era") that Mesoamerican culture gradually recovered.By this time, the colossal stone statues—the great spiritual symbols of ancient Mesoamericans—had been eroded beyond recognition, and their origins forgotten, transformed into a myth and tale of giants and bearded men. legend. If so, then, when we look at the almond-shaped eyes of those giant Negro heads, or the high-nosed, deep-eyed, chiseled features of "Uncle Sam" statues, we may well see some faces that once appeared in this region in ancient times hole.These exceptional works of art preserve the images of a vanished ancient civilization that included several races. In short, this is the "hypothetical third party" theory applied to Mesoamerican civilization: the rise of ancient Mexican civilization was indeed influenced by outsiders, but this influence did not come from the Eastern Hemisphere; In the extremely ancient era, a rich cultural heritage may have been inherited from a "third party" civilization, thus establishing a brilliant civilization. Venture into Oaxaca City Before leaving Via Hermosa, I made a special trip to the "Centre for Investigation of the Cultures of the Olmecs and Maya (CICOM)" (CICOM) to inquire about the scholars there. Are there other important Olmec cultural sites.To my surprise, they advised me to look for it in the wilderness.It is said that archaeologists have unearthed some "Olmec-style" artifacts and several reliefs in the Alban Mountain (Mountain AI ban) in Oaxaca Province (Oaxaca Province), hundreds of kilometers to the southwest.Scholars believe that the figures depicted in these reliefs were Olmecs. My partner Sansa and I decided to start from Via Hermosa and drive directly to the Yucatan Peninsula in the northeast.It's a long detour to Mount Alban by this route, but we think it's worth it, as it allows us to visit other Olmec sites.Moreover, driving all the way over the mountains and into the valley where the city of Oaxaca is located, the scenery is magnificent and can relieve the fatigue of the journey. We headed west first, passed the ruins of La Venda, passed through the city of Kozhicox again, crossed the two small towns of Sayula and Ioma Bonita, and came to the traffic hub. Town of Tuxtepec.Along the way, we gradually left the unrecognizable countryside polluted by the oil industry, climbed over winding hills covered with grass like carpets, and drove among the fields where the grains had matured. Moving forward from the town of Tuxtepec, there are endless mountains standing in front of us one after another.We turned south and traveled on Route 175 towards Oaxaca City.From the map, this distance is only half the distance from here to Via Hermosa.After we got on the road, we discovered that the road had nine bends and eighteen turns, like a narrow and steep ladder leading straight to the sky, which tossed the drivers with backaches and nervous breakdowns.On the way, we passed layer after layer of alpine plant growth areas belonging to different climates, and finally came to the clouds, where we saw huge plants, like the three-pointed leaves described by the British science fiction writer John Wyndham (J0hn Wyndham), appearing Very weird, exuding a mysterious and surreal atmosphere.It took us 12 hours to drive from Via Hermosa to Oaxaca, which is only 700 kilometers.I gripped the steering wheel tightly, but my hands were blistered by the end of the ride from so much winding and winding mountain roads.My vision blurred and I kept thinking about the dizzying canyons we passed along Highway 175, deep in the cloverleaf mountains. Oaxaca is known around the world for three things: fine mushrooms, marijuana and American novelist DHLawrence - who wrote his novel "The Feathered Serpent" here in the 1920s, set in Oaxaca (The Plumed Serpent).Today, the city still maintains its unrestrained atmosphere; in the middle of the night, the bars and cafes in the city, the narrow streets paved with cobblestones, the old buildings and the wide squares are crowded with people, lingering everywhere. We checked into a hotel room with a window overlooking one of the three courtyards at Hotel Las Golondrinas.The beds were very comfortable; overhead was a starry sky.However, despite my exhaustion, I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking of the bearded gods and their followers who brought civilization to America.In Mexico, as in Peru, their civilizing efforts seem to have suffered a major setback.The myths that circulate in this area all mention this.When I arrived at Mount Alban the next morning, I discovered that the evidence was not just myth. Notes: ① "White God and Stone Face", page 144. ② Same as above, pages 141-142. ③ "Baishen and Shimei", the whole book can be seen everywhere.See also Cyrus Gordon, Before Columbus: Contacts Between the Old World and Ancient America. CyTUs H． Gordon, Eefore Columbus: Links Between the oald world and America, Crown Publishers Inc, New York, 1971. ④ Emory's "Ancient Egypt", page 192. W． B． Emery, Archaic Egypt, Penguin Books, London. 1987, p. 192． ⑤ Same as above, page 38.See also the preface to the translation of Wallace Butchzer's Egyptian Book of the Dead. E． A． Wallis Budgetrans, The Egyptian Book of the Deed, British Museum, 1895, Introduction, pp. VII,VII ⑥ John Anthony West, "The Serpent of the Sky", p. 13. John Anthony West, Ser pet in the Sky, Harper and Row, New York. 1979, p. 13. ⑦ "Ancient Egypt", page 38. ⑧ Same as above, pages 31 and 177. ⑨ Wallace Butch, "Ancient Egypt From Gods to Gods", p. 155. E． A Wallis Budge, Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt Oxford University Press, 1934, p. 155．