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Researchers have pinpointed the date of what could be the oldest solar eclipse yet recorded. The event, which occurred on 30 October 1207 BC, is mentioned in the Bible, and could have consequences for the chronology of the ancient world.
Using a combination of the biblical text and an ancient Egyptian text, the researchers were then able to refine the dates of the Egyptian pharaohs, in particular the dates of the reign of Ramesses the Great. The results are published in the Royal Astronomical Society journal Astronomy & Geophysics.
The biblical text in question comes from the Old Testament book of Joshua and has puzzled biblical scholars for centuries. It records that after Joshua led the people of Israel into Canaan -- a region of the ancient Near East that covered modern-day Israel and Palestine -- he prayed: "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon. And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies."
"If these words are describing a real observation, then a major astronomical event was taking place -- the question for us to figure out is what the text actually means," said paper co-author Professor Sir Colin Humphreys from the University of Cambridge's Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, who is also interested in relating scientific knowledge to the Bible.
Colin Humphreys and Graeme Waddington. 'Solar eclipse of 1207 BC helps to date pharaohs.' Astronomy & Geophysics (2017). DOI: 10.1093/astrogeo/atx178.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @08:31PM (17 children)
The ancient Egyptians themselves say that the heritage of the Pharaohs stretches back tens of thousands of years [grahamhancock.com]:
Strangely, historians poo poo this primary knowledge as fantasy.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Monday October 30 2017, @08:39PM (16 children)
Strangely, historians poo poo this primary knowledge as fantasy.
Perhaps because there's no archaeological evidence to support it?
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday October 30 2017, @08:51PM
That could be why.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @08:52PM (14 children)
Take a deep dive into the marvelous world of megalithic architecture, and you'll see for yourself.
The fossil record indicates that "modern" humans have existed for at least 300 thousand years (this is not really disputed); there's a huge swath of history that has been totally lost, or at least improperly dated—as an example, look into the dating of the Spinx, and of Göbekli Tepe, and of ancient maps, and of the inexplicable similarities of ancient civilizations across the planet.
Nothing makes sense unless you allow for a lost civilization the pre-dated what is considered the "beginning" of history.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday October 30 2017, @09:23PM (12 children)
What's inexplicable about the similarities? They're all human civilizations after all and not particularly similar.
The huge flaw with this theory is the absence of genetic crossover between these ancient civilizations. But we also have a complete absence of dated megalithic architecture to associate with a global civilization. For example, you list just two structures neither which are of a level of sophistication to be part of a global civilization.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @09:38PM (11 children)
The similarities are symbolic, which are not a matter of innate human thinking.
The main idea is that the global similarities are not due to a global civilization, but rather due to the legacy of a lost civilization that was trying to re-boot its achievements after a global catastrophe.
Even today, there are hunter–gather societies that exist alongside the "high", "modern", "western" civilization. Well, the idea is that the same was the case in the remote past: A global catastrophe sent emissaries of a lost civilization out to the survivalist cultures of hunter–gather communities, thereby introducing to them agriculture, megalithic knowledge, and the roots of civilization.
In other words, that which "mainstream" historians consider the development of civilization was actually a legacy of civilization; this helps to explain why the oldest work of Göbekli Tepe is orders of magnitude more sophisticated than the later work.
Consider the Trilithon of Baalbek. The Romans a temple atop a foundation of megalithic stones, and thus the megalithic stonework is attributed to the Romans, but why should it be? Perhaps that is the work of a much older civilization, which the Romans simply appropriated for their own much later work. The same goes for a great deal of the megalithic architecture of South America (read about the Inca's stonework); the same also goes for the astronomical layout of Cambodian temples, etc.
It's endless. There's so much evidence that it hurts.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 30 2017, @10:03PM (9 children)
Well, that's a better story. But any civilization with the ability to travel globally leave nothing behind either physically or genetically? The problem with your evidence is that we would have people speculating about distant past civilizations whether or not those civilizations ever existed. Similarities in symbology would be seen anyway. Thus, it's not evidence. There needs to be actual physical remnants that couldn't be explained in other ways - such as people in widely disparate regions with the same genes, for example. Or evidence of some successor civilization that showed familiarity with the technologies that this ancient civilization would have used to travel around the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @10:14PM (8 children)
Go read the excellent literature that has been written on the topic of a lost civilization.
You're not bringing any new questions to the topic.
(Score: 3, Touché) by khallow on Monday October 30 2017, @11:22PM (4 children)
And I can't help but notice that you aren't bringing any answers, old or new.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @11:24PM (3 children)
There are lots of books at your disposal. Now, fuck off, you ignorant fool
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @11:27PM
Me likey the holey bibble
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday October 31 2017, @12:05AM (1 child)
Here, it's vague talk of some ancient globe-spanning culture with absolutely no evidence to back it up - not a location, not a people, not a necessary technology, and not a time. Then there's vague talk of global flooding because there are these myths. While there are supposed to be some modest excitement along these lines (like the emptying of huge glacial lakes that might cause at most a 10 foot rise in sea level over a number of days), it's simply more likely that everyone has over the top flood stories because everyone experiences floods and likes to tell over the top stories.
Reading "books" isn't going to help when the evidence just isn't there to start with.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @01:05AM
Just sayin'.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 31 2017, @04:35AM (2 children)
Alright - but which literature do you suggest? Let's take "The Chariots of the Gods" for example. Do you consider that book to be credible? I guess it's over forty years since I've read that - long before the internet was a thing. I read it with an open mind, but some of the author's stuff gets pretty far out there. For me, that particular book did little more than offer food for thought.
One of my favorite gimmicks in those kind of books, is to show an heiroglyph that kinda resembles an astronaut, then declare that the ancients either had space travel, or that they were guided by aliens. Except - the heiroglyphs also resembled a man in armor.
A lot of the stuff they offer has to be taken with a grain of salt, or even on faith. If you've got that much faith, then maybe you can become a Scientologist.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 31 2017, @05:46AM (1 child)
Future archaeologists will look at our civilization and determine we worshiped poop: 💩✞. [wikipedia.org]
The ancient alien theories are interesting because aside from the prospect of finding a Stargate, past (or any, really) alien visitation would mean that aliens probably have faster-than-light travel and could be waiting for us to join the galactic club with open arms (since they haven't wiped us out).
If ancient aliens are bunk and all UFO sightings can be explained by terrestrial phenomena, then it makes it even more unlikely that we will break the speed of light barrier. Which means that interstellar travel and moving up the Kardashev scale is always going to be a slow and arduous process. Although at least we have a number of fine rocks within 1,000 AU/0.0158125 ly.
Conversely, if we manage to make something like the Alcubierre drive work, then we can wonder why we haven't been visited by at least unmanned alien probes. Or if we are and we just didn't notice.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 31 2017, @10:35AM
I had my patented answer, and went to my Kindle online to check Cixin Liu's name for spelling. Hmmmm - I don't see his 'Three Body Problem' in my reading list. Something fishy that I need to check out . . .
Anyway, Liu says that the dark forest theory applies. Everyone grew up alone, everyone had to kill of be killed while they evolved, so no one knows any better than to attack when they face the unknown. There are the quick, and the dead out there. If there have been aliens here, in our far distant past, they were probably shipwrecked and dying. Like a bunch of idiots, we thought they were gods, and wanted to worship them. But - they died, so that was that.
That's ONE possible explanation, anyway.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Spamalope on Tuesday October 31 2017, @01:45AM
why the oldest work of Göbekli Tepe is orders of magnitude more sophisticated than the later work.
The answer is that they lost a war, the conquerors didn't have the same skills and the artisans killed or otherwise unable to pass on their skills. Trade skills were secrets, and are lost if you interrupt just one generation. Simple, common throughout history... Hell, just changes in fashion/prestige make changes that large today. 1960s space race as an international prestige contest - gone as soon as that contest moved on.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday October 30 2017, @11:22PM
George [wikipedia.org], is that you?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr