Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries by Brian Haughton (beginner reading books for adults txt) 📕

However, unlike the Uffington White Horse, the earliest surviving reference to the Cerne Giant dates only as far back as 1694, when it is mentioned in the village church's accounts. It was subsequently surveyed in 1764, and the results published in the Gentleman's Magazine that year. Writing in 1774, John Hutchins in his History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, states that the figure was supposed to have been cut in the middle of the 17th century as a joke, though he also mentions that some of the older residents of the village had in the past claimed it had been there "beyond the antiquity of man." However, the weight of evidence does tend to support a recent origin for the giant. One theory is that although the giant is indeed a depiction of Hercules, it actually represents a caracature of Oliver Cromwell, who was sometimes referred to as the English Hercules, and was cut on the instructions of local landowner Denzil Holles some time in the 1640s. Another factor that supports this date is that medieval records always refer to the hill on which the giant is carved as Trendle Hill, rather than the modern Giant Hill, making no mention of the huge carving. This would indicate that the giant has only existed for about 400 years. Another interpretation, however, would be that for some reason, perhaps its overt sexuality, writers chose to ignore the Cerne Giant. Perhaps it had even become overgrown and forgotten.

New research into another chalk giant, however, may add support to the more recent date for the Cerne Abbas figure. Carved into the steep slopes of Windover Hill, Sussex, the 226-feethigh Long Man of Wilmington is the tallest hill figure in England, and was, until recently, believed to be of prehistoric origin. But the latest archaeological study at the site (using the same OSL dating technique as on the Uffington White Horse) produced evidence that the earlier theories are wrong and that the figure had been carved as recently as A.D. 1545. Although the new dating of the Wilmington Giant to the medieval period does throw considerable doubt on the prehistoric credentials of the

Cerne Abbas Giant, until OSL dating is carried out on the carving, the giant English Hercules will remain an enigma.

The reasons for the creation of these hill figures are probably as varied as the figures represented. New archaeological and geological evidence is increasingly indicating a medieval date for the giant naked figures, which some historians have argued were products of an age of civil war and extreme political turmoil in England, when satire was sometimes the only weapon. Compared to the huge stone permanence of structures, such as the Avebury Monuments and Stonehenge, hill figures are much more transitory; 10 or 20 years without scouring, and the carving could be lost forever. The fact that the figures could disappear so easily, along with their associated rituals and meaning, indicates that they were never intended to be anything more than temporary gestures, which have only survived either by accident, or, in the case of the Uffington White Horse Abbey, by the continued existence of extraordinarily tenacious local tradition. But this does not lesson their importance. These giant carvings are a fascinating glimpse into the lives and minds of their creators and how they viewed the landscape in which they lived.

The Coso Arlifaci.

The original artifact inside the supposed geode.

For some people, out of place artifacts (objects found in contexts that are out of sync with the accepted chronology of human history) seriously question what we think we know about the world and its history. Some argue that these discoveries offer persuasive evidence that in remote antiquity, mankind was significantly more advanced than we could ever imagine. They insist that at various times in prehistory we have reached a high level of civilization, only for it to be subsequently destroyed, without a trace, by natural or man-made catastrophes. The evidence for such hypothetical ancient

civilizations consists mainly of what appear to be fossilized human footprints, such as those discovered in the 1880s at the summit of Big Hill in the Cumberland Mountains in Jackson County, Kentucky (The American Antiquarian, January 1885), and apparently man-made objects enclosed in pieces of coal or rock. The Coso Artifact is such an example.

On February 13, 1961, Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey, and Mike Mikesell (co-owners of the LM&V Rockhounds Gem and Gift Shop in Olancha, southern California) were out in the Coso Mountains looking for interesting mineral specimens, particularly geodes (hollow, usually spheroid rocks with crystals lining the inside wall, cmmonly around 500,000 years old) for their collection. At lunchtime, after they had been collecting rocks, close to the top of a 4,265 foot peak, overlooking the dry bed of Owens Lake, they put their specimens in the rock sack and headed home.

The next day, while attempting to cut through one of the finds that appeared to be a geode, Mikesell severely damaged a practically new diamond saw. Finally, when the nodule was opened, he found a thick circular section of white porcelain material, in the center of which was a 2 millimeter rod of bright metal. This metal proved to be magnetic. The porcelain cylinder was itself enclosed by a hexagonal sheath of decomposing copper and another unidentifiable substance. The discoverers noticed other strange qualities about the stone. Its outer layer was encrusted with bits of fossil shell, hardened clay, and pebbles, and more surprisingly, two nonmagnetic metal objects which looked similar to a nail and a washer. Puzzled by the find, the group began showing it to friends and associates, though little record remains now of original examinations of the object. One of the discoverers, Virginia Maxey, said that a geologist who examined the object gave its age, based on the fossils encrusted in its shell, as at least 500,000 years old. However, this unnamed geologist has never been traced and the conclusion was never published. But