Some people say it is an area on the southern coast of Spain; Some people say that it is an island in the Strait of Gibraltar; Others say it is Ireland; If you believe that a Russian expedition announced it at the beginning of 20 10, it is located at the southwest end of England 150 km.
What is this? This is the legendary Atlantis. In fact, every year, people come forward to identify Atlantis somewhere. Of all the "lost civilizations", Atlantis is the one that can capture the public's imagination the most. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato first described Atlantis 2500 years ago. Since then, scientists and the media have been arguing about the possible location of Atlantis.
Plato described a big island in his works, saying that a civilization on the island originated from Poseidon, the god of sea and earthquake. With more and more nobles on the island interacting with ordinary people, Atlantis gradually fell. Atlantis was finally destroyed in the battle with Athens. Plato wrote: "At that time, a series of extremely severe earthquakes and floods occurred. "On a terrible day ... Atlantis was swallowed up by the sea and disappeared from there."
Although fans of Atlantis insist that the Atlantis described by Plato in the story is a real civilization, philosophers are far from so sure. They pointed out that Plato's original intention in telling the story of Atlantis was to compare the relationship between government and power. If we ignore this essence and go to the bottom of the sea to find the remains of the so-called Atlantis civilization, it will be a big mistake and doomed to be futile.
However, even if the Atlantis civilization was really invented by Plato, was there any real event that inspired him to conceive this story? In other words, is there any factual basis behind the fable of Atlantis? Some scientists pointed out that if there were any real events, they should have happened in Plato's hometown-Greece today.
Some scientists think that the story of Atlantis is probably based on a volcanic eruption on the Greek island of santorini in BC 1628. According to historical records, this eruption caused the volcano on the island to collapse almost completely. Volcanic eruptions cause earthquakes and tsunamis.
In the epicentre area, waves as high as 100 meters spread in all directions and looked like a stone was thrown into the pond. Huge waves swept across the eastern Mediterranean, causing great damage. In fact, as one of the greatest civilizations in the Bronze Age, Minoan civilization was ended by this explosion.
Other scientists think that herrick is the best place for Atlantis. Herrick, located about150km west of Athens, was once a prosperous city-state and the seat of the revered sacred garden of Poseidon. It has made many contributions to the peaceful coexistence between herrick and its neighboring city-states. However, one night in 373 BC (Plato was about 35 years old), a terrible earthquake completely destroyed herrick.
In a word, now more and more scientists tend to think that the story of Atlantis is not pure fantasy. In fact, there are often some real elements behind myths and legends.
Amazon prehistoric civilization
1999 at the end of the rainy season, geologists also flew to Rio Blanco, the capital of Acre, Brazil, which is located in the west of the Amazon region. Lanci recalled afterwards: "When I approached Rio Blanco, I observed the scenery below and found a perfect circle on the ground. This is really surprising. I am a geologist and I know that circles are not natural. "
Lanci, who was working at Acre Federal University (located in Rio Blanco), didn't know that he had made an important discovery. In fact, he found evidence of a lost great civilization in the depths of the rainforest, and his discovery will help to change archaeologists' views on Amazon prehistoric civilization.
In the past 10 years, Ranch cooperated with archaeologists from Brazil and Spain to investigate the Amazon region. In 2009, they published a paper saying that more than 200 earthworks with obvious geometric features were discovered in an area with a diameter of more than 250 kilometers. One of the sites was built around AD 1283, while other sites were built around AD 200 or 300. Ranch and others believe that these architectural relics belong to fortresses, houses, roads, bridges, squares and places of worship.
According to Spanish colonists, in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, there is a mysterious and rich "Huang Jinguo", where is arachis duranensis. Ranch insists that he didn't find the legendary "Huang Jinguo", at least he didn't find gold, but the architectural structure they found clearly points to a complex civilized society, and an immortal monument can be built before Columbus.
Columbus arrived in Amazon on 1492. What is certain now is that before his arrival, there did exist a complex civilized society in the Amazon region. In addition to Ranch and others, American anthropologist Heikenberg also discovered dozens of closely connected prehistoric village and town ruins in the southeast of Amazon.
As early as 1993, while living with a local Amazon indigenous tribe named Quekuluo, Heikenberg heard that there were ancient settlements nearby, so he began to investigate these sites in detail. In 2008, he published his findings in the American magazine Science.
In addition to the remains of roads and houses, Heikenberg also found traces of defensive walls, farmland, dams and ponds around the town. Heikenberg was deeply impressed by the ancient people's architectural skills in the tropical rain forest. He believes that these ancient Amazon buildings are as well laid out and orderly as any medieval European town.
All the above findings imply that there were dozens of complex and relatively developed societies in the Amazon basin before the extinction of the evil diseases brought by Europeans. At present, archaeologists are still digging further in the Amazon region, hoping to learn the technology of developing sustainable agriculture in this region from the ancients.
Easter Island
Archaeologists generally believe that around 800 AD, immigrants from Polynesia arrived at a distant island, and the nearest inhabited places were Chile and Pitcairn Island, among which Chile was 3,700 kilometers east of the island and Pitcairn Island was 2,000 kilometers west of the island.
About 400 years later, these people began to cut down trees on the island, and the forest on the island soon disappeared. The trees on the island used to provide fruits for humans and birds (birds are another food source for humans), but now they have become canoes, bark and fishing ropes. Deforestation has aggravated soil erosion and greatly reduced food production.
When the forest was cut down, the islanders could no longer erect more giant stone statues, because there were no more big logs and thick ropes to transport them. According to the oral history, there was a large-scale famine on the island at that time, which led to fights between tribes for food and even cannibalism. When Jacques Rogoff, a Dutch explorer, arrived at the island on Easter 1722, he was confronted with sparsely populated, ruins, waste and poverty.
The story of Easter Island has always been regarded as a typical warning of environmental disasters caused by human activities: the predatory development of resources will eventually destroy a civilized society. However, is this really the case? Now some archaeologists believe that there are many loopholes in the popular Easter Island story mentioned above, and the so-called "ecological destruction theory" lacks strong evidence. They pointed out that it is undeniable that the islanders cut down a lot of trees at that time, but the mice brought to the island by primitive canoes also played a great role in destroying the environment. In addition, the conclusion of soil erosion on the island is drawn from the study of a single island site, and there may be a problem of generalizing.
These archaeologists also pointed out that there is no evidence that there was a great famine on the island with the decrease of forests. In fact, according to recent research results, with the decrease of forest area, the population of the island has increased. Although in Luo Jiwen's eyes, Easter Island was ruined and desolate, a French explorer who arrived on the island 64 years later reported, "I didn't see a hungry person with a thin face and a sparse population ... On the contrary, I saw a large number of people on the island. Their lives were elegant and better than anyone else on the island I have ever seen. In addition, there are not many farmers on the land of Easter Island, but they can provide enough food. "
Archaeological evidence shows that the only clear sign of population decline on Easter Island appeared after Europeans arrived on the island. During the 90 years from 1772 to 1862, about 50 European ships visited Easter Island. By the 19' s 1930' s, it was reported that there were explosive sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) on Easter Island.
After Peruvians and Spanish slave ship landed on Easter Island in 1960s, smallpox broke out again on the island. By 1877, diseases and attacks from outsiders left only about 100 locals on Easter Island. Now it seems that it was the influence of these Europeans-not environmental damage-that led to the collapse of the primitive civilization on Easter Island.
Greater Zimbabwe
"This is an incredible experience." Simon Adams, a historian in southern Africa, said, "You were walking through this park when suddenly you came across an amazing stone wall. There is no plaster, but these stone walls are well connected and stand firmly. If you look to the other side, you will see a mountain with a fortress on the top. At this time, your imagination will be unrestrained. You will think: who used to live here? What the hell happened ... "
Adams described "Greater Zimbabwe", an abandoned stone city shrouded in mystery. /kloc-In the 6th century, there was an amazing saying among Portuguese businessmen who had been to Africa: there was a large settlement site in southern Africa. One of the most popular theories at that time believed that this must be the remains of Ashuma, one of the cities of the Queen of Sheba. It was not until 187 1 that Karl Mocher, a German explorer, told Europeans the exact location of Zimbabwe: today's southern Zimbabwe.
In Great Zimbabwe, Moher discovered a series of sites surrounded by large stone walls, the highest of which exceeded 65,438+00 meters. Mocher also found traces of soapstone and iron. He believes that these skills are far from what Africans have. Other Europeans who have been here hold the same view. Adams said, "It has been said in colonial novels for many years that the superior quality and remote geographical location of Greater Zimbabwe indicate that it could not have been built by Africans. But the current understanding is that Greater Zimbabwe was obviously built by an African civilization, and this civilization appeared earlier than Europeans in Africa. "
There are signs that greater Zimbabwe has been inhabited since the 3rd century. In its heyday, that is, from14th century to15th century, the population of Greater Zimbabwe was between 12000 and 20000. They live in mud houses surrounded by stone walls, which add up to more than 7 square kilometers.
There is a whole set of buildings in the largest paddock, including a honeycomb tower, and the circumference of the stone wall is about 250 meters. This may be a royal residence. In fact, there are about 200 stone remains in East Africa and South Africa.
Adams and others speculate that some of these websites may have allies with Greater Zimbabwe. To be fair, Greater Zimbabwe includes not only one site, but also a lot of sites, including a village network, all of which pay tribute to the core regime. The analysis of the remains of Great Zimbabwe shows that this place was once rich and its economy was full of vitality.
Archaeologists have unearthed a series of objects in great zimbabwe ruins, including China porcelain and European coins, which shows that some residents of Greater Zimbabwe are shrewd businessmen. However, it is not clear who they are, because the great Zimbabweans have not left any written records. Although there are many different oral legends about their origins, it is difficult to discard falsehood from them.
/kloc-Around the 0/5th century, the society of Greater Zimbabwe began to fall apart, and the reasons are still unknown. Some archaeologists speculate that environmental disaster is the main reason-the population explosion, resulting in the surrounding land can no longer provide enough food. In addition, after the Middle Eastern businessmen arrive at the East African coast, the trade routes of the greater Zimbabweans may also be destroyed.
Greater Zimbabwe is undoubtedly of great significance. Although most people know nothing about it so far, it is as important as the ruins of ancient Egypt, ancient Maya and Machu Picchu. The colonial enslavement of Africa was based on the absurd idea that Africans were uneducated barbarians. In fact, we haven't fully understood the history of Africa. What is certain is that Africans, like people from all continents, have their own glory, no matter in the past, present or future. This may be inspired by ancient African sites such as Great Zimbabwe.
The lost civilization of Sahara
At first, the archaeologist Carlo Bergman thought that the two pieces of pottery he found were nothing. However, when he and his only companion camel wandered in the desert of western Egypt for five days, he felt ecstatic. It was a day in February of 1999, and Bergman stumbled upon an ancient road that Egyptian scholars had not noticed for nearly a hundred years. Since then, archaeologists have discovered 27 "sites" on this road.
This road extends for 350 kilometers southwest of the Dakhlai Oasis in the west of the Nile, and then disappears. Accordingly, some archaeologists believe that this is the first road across the Sahara desert, indicating that the expedition of Pharaoh (the king of ancient Egypt) has gone deep into the desert hinterland. Bergman and others have different views. They think that some important ideas and innovations of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh civilization may not come from the Nile valley, but from the desert in the west.
A group of archaeologists found stone tools around 5500 BC in the site of Degara between the western oasis and the Nile Valley, but the same tools didn't appear in the Nile Valley until around 5000 BC. In other words, Degara's stone tools certainly didn't come from the Nile Valley.
Another group of archaeologists excavated in the desert of western Egypt, suggesting that the worship of cattle by ancient Egyptians (especially popular during the Pharaoh's period) actually originated in the desert of western Egypt. Some archaeologists even believe that the ancient Egyptians first used astronomical knowledge here, and later it was adopted in the period before the dynasty (before 332 BC).
Combined with the above findings, archaeologists believe that the origin of Pharaoh civilization must be considered completely. Perhaps Pharaoh's civilization is not a "gift of the Nile" as Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, said, but rooted in people who once lived in the desert of western ancient Egypt.
And these are far from the only evidence of Sahara's lost civilization. Crossing the desert to the west, an archaeological team working in southern Libya discovered the remains of the fashionable ancient town and a huge network of irrigation canals, which are distributed in Qian Qian and have a diameter of several meters.
They are considered as the masterpieces of Raman Steel Company, and their civilization reached its peak in the first few centuries A.D. ... The Raman people traded with Rome, the former adopted the latter's lifestyle, and sometimes attacked the latter's settlements. Even deep in the desert 1000 km, archaeologists have found the remains of Roman bathroom tiles.
At present, the reasons for the collapse of Tiexi civilization in Raman are still unclear. Some people speculate that the collapse of this civilization is related to the excessive use of groundwater. In any case, the Lamantes civilization is the real lost civilization, and the Lamantes formed the earliest Sahara country.