© Lloyd, Charles Chandler

 

Book by Jonathan Gray: LOST RACES: The Big Dating Shock

 

http://www.beforeus.com/dating-civilizations.pdf)

 

APPENDIX 2: ANCIENT MAPS

 

I would like to introduce to you more than a dozen amazing maps, all from the Medieval and Renaissance period. The first is the Zeno map, drawn in 1380. It outlines the coasts of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Scotland, as well as the exact latitude and longitude of a certain number of islands. Someone may object, But wasn't the chronometer, necessary to determine longitude, not invented until 1765? That's right, and that is why the readings of Columbus were all inaccurate. Nevertheless, the Zeno map is most accurate, And it will be noticed that on this map the topography of Greenland is shown free of glaciers as it was prior to the Ice Age. Unknown rivers and mountains shown on this Zeno map have since been located in probes of the French Polar Expedition of 1947-1949. And there is the Camerio map of 1502, formed on a spherical grid.

 

Now, someone will remind me, in the Middle Ages they thought the earth was flat. Are we certain these are not modern fakes? No chance of a mistake, I assure you. But have you heard of the Zauche map of 1737? It shows Antarctica free of ice. 216 Impossible, you may think. Antarctica's existence was not verified until 1819! Nevertheless, this map does show that continent—and completely free of ice to boot. Surprisingly, it is shown not as one continent but two islands separated by a strait from the Ross to the Weddell Seas (a fact which was not established until the Geophysical Year, 1968). Also shown are islands of the Mid- Atlantic Ridge, now known to lie on the bottom of the ocean.

 

There exists another map drawn in 1531 by Orontius Fineus, in which the dimensions of the Antarctic land mass correspond very closely to those on the best modern maps. The map indicates that the centre of Antarctica was beginning to fill with ice when its source maps were drawn. It shows rivers and fjords in Antarctica where today mile-thick glaciers flow.

 

Next is the Mercator chart of 1569; it depicts only the Antarctic coast left uncovered by glaciers. These are Renaissance maps. But these particular maps are infinitely superior to the regular maps made at that time. Now I'll share a secret. You see, many of the Medieval and Renaissance mapmakers admitted they were copying from sources whose origins were unknown. These maps are a scientific achievement far surpassing the abilities of the navigators and mapmakers of the Renaissance, Middle Ages, the Arab world, or any ancient geographers. They are the product of an unknown people antedating recognized history.

 

Another very exciting map, copied in 1559, is the The Hadji Ahmed map. It shows Antarctica and the Pacific coast of the United States of America with extreme accuracy. It also depicts the land bridge that once existed between Siberia and Alaska. 217 The Andrea Benincasa map (1508) indicates that Northern Europe was being covered by the Ice Age glaciation's furthest advance. Next, there is the Iehudi Ibn ben Zara map of 1487. It shows remnants of glaciers in Britain. And also the detailed profiles of islands in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Those islands are still there—but now under water.

 

The Hamy King chart (1502) indicates northern Siberian rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean (but which are now all under ice). It also shows glacial actions in the Baltic countries. What are today huge islands in Southeast Asia are shown on this map joined to land (which they once were). And you know what? The map even shows an ancient Suez Canal! Ptolemy's map of the North depicts a glacial sheet advancing across south-central Greenland; and at the same time it shows glaciers retreating from northern Germany and southern Sweden.

 

The Orontius Fineus map. Its greatest error is that Antarctica is drawn too large, possibly a copyist's mistake, although mountains and other details, not rediscovered until 1958, are accurately presented. 218 Antarctica on the Orontius Fineus map of 1531 (left) reduced to the same scale and grid as modern map of Antarctica. Do you see? This all could only have come from the findings `of surveying parties that tracked the areas before, during and after the Ice Age. During the Ice Age, according to the evolutionary theory, humans were grunting savages.

 

The Gloreanus map (1510) shows not only the exact line of the Atlantic coast of America from Canada to Tierra del Fuego, but also the whole length of the Pacific coast. The King Jaime World Chart (1502) shows the Sahara Desert as a fertile land with large lakes, rivers and cities (which, at a remote period, it was). Then there's the Dulcert map of 1339, tracing from Ireland to the Don River of Eastern Europe; I tell you, this map shows precision beyond understanding.

 

But there's one more. Its a beauty. This is the Piri Reis chart of 1513. After its discovery, Captain Arlington H. Mallery, an American authority on cartography, asked the U.S. Hydrographic Office to examine it. The U.S. Navy, through Commander Larsen, subsequently issued this statement: 219 The Hydrographic Office of the Navy has verified an ancient chart — it's called the Piri Reis map, that goes back more than 5,000 years. It's so accurate, only one thing could explain it — a worldwide survey. The Hydrographic Office couldn't believe it, either, at first. But they not only proved the map genuine, it's been used to correct errors in some present-day maps. If ever there were a treasure map, this is it. Just crammed with priceless gems. It tells the story of ancient coastlines, as well as the surprising exploits of our ancestors five thousand years ago. Piri Reis stated that his copy was a composite from twenty ancient maps. It contains the following features:

1. South America and Africa in correct relative longitude and latitude. Not only were the Caribbean, Spanish, African and South American coasts in correct positions relative to each other, but even isolated land areas, like Cape Verde Island, the Azores, the Canary Islands, as well as topographies of the interiors—mountain ranges, peaks, rivers, plateaus. All were accurately positioned by longitude and latitude.
2. The coastline of Queen Maud Land in Antarctica. The islands and bays of the depicted coastline are the same as they appear below the Antarctic ice sheet (as recently revealed by seismic echo soundings). Pictured in great detail are regions scarcely explored today, including a mountain range that remained undiscovered until 1952. Interestingly, the map shows two bays where the modern seismic map showed lands. However, when the experts were asked to check their measurements, they found that the ancient map was correct, after all. One thing was crystal clear. Either somebody had mapped Antarctica before the ice cap covered the continent, or else the icecovered continent was mapped with very sophisticated instruments. 220
3. The Isle of Pines, Andros Island, San Salvador, Jamaica, the mouth of the Amazon and the island of Morajo are all correctly shaped and perfectly located in latitude and longitude.
4. A major error appeared to be Greenland, shown as three islands. But during the International Geophysical Year it was proved that this correctly represented the state of affairs about 3000 BC.
5. Every mountain range in northern Canada and Alaska was recorded on this ancient map—including some ranges which the U.S. Army Map Services did not have on their maps. But the U.S. Army has since found them!
6. The ancient source-maps were drawn using a circular grid based on spherical trigonometry, with the focal point situated in Egypt. The copiest Piri Reis (unfamiliar with circular projection) shifted and spliced the original grid to compensate for the curvature. Any modern spheroid projection on a flat surface would cause the same distortion.

Clearly it came from an advanced ancient technology and its grid system is similar to air navigation maps. Even so, we cannot know how many times it was imperfectly copied. The Piri Reis map projection was based on an overestimate of 4½ degrees in the circumference of the earth. Only one geographer in the ancient world had made that overestimation: the Greek Eratosthenes. When the Piri Reis map is redrawn to correct the Eratosthenes error, all existing longitude errors on the map are thereby reduced to almost zero. 221

 

This can mean only one thing. The Greeks who mapped according to Eratosthenes' circumference had before them source maps which had been drawn without that error. Thus, the geographical knowledge on which the Piri Reis map is based ultimately originated not with the Greeks but with an earlier people who possessed a more advanced science of mapmaking than even the Greeks! While Greece and Rome were developing new civilizations, the vestiges of an older one, seemingly worldwide in scope, was vanishing. It left these maps, which were partly incomprehensible. So later cartographers altered them. There's just one more thing. The evidence indicates that what we have here is only part of an original world map. Here, then, is evidence of science in an early epoch, which is considered to have had none. Here were physical fragments of the amazing knowledge of a super culture long vanished.

 

Here are six facts which are now apparent concerning those early explorers:

1. They possessed a knowledge of cartography comparable to our own.
2. They knew the correct shape and size of the earth.
3. They used spherical trigonometry in their mathematical measurements.
4. They utilized ultramodern methods of projection (exact coordinates).
5. They must have had at their disposal advanced geodetic instruments (and trained specialists to use them) to measure longitude and latitude (totally lost and not developed in the modern world until the end of the 18th century).
6. They must have been organized and directed on a global scale.

222 The Piri Reis map, dated 1513 but compiled from world maps of ancient times. For comparison a global projection based on Cairo, complied from NASA sources. Copy of the Hadji Ahmed globe.