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

the year. Whether de Molay made this prophecy or not, it is true that both men died within a year of the Grand Master's execution. With the death of de Molay, the turbulent 200 year existence of the Knights Templar ended. This, at any rate, is the conventional story.

Templars being burned at the stake. Illustration from an anonymous chronicle, From the Creation of the World until 1384.

Other European monarchs remained unconvinced of the Templars' guilt, even after Pope Clement V, under the influence of Philip, officially disbanded the Order in 1312. In England, though many Knights were arrested and tried, the majority were found not guilty. Some escaped to Scotland, at the time under the control of the excommunicated Robert the Bruce, and were therefore unaffected by the Papal Bull outlawing the Order. Many theories have been put forward to explain why Philip IV instigated this vicious attack on the Templars. Most researchers agree that the king sought to deprive the Templar's of their wealth and power, and appropriate it for himself by whatever means necessary. However, it is not clear just how much of the Templars' wealth Philip was able to lay his hands on.

The sudden end of the Knights Templar and the (apparently) complete disappearance of the Order and its assets has fueled a large amount of legend and extreme theories. While it is true that the Templars were partly absorped into other Orders (such as the Knights Hospitaller) it is not clear what became of the estimated 15,000 Templar Houses, their fleet of ships, their vast archive detailing their business holdings and financial transactions, and the Templars themselves. There were tens of thousands of Templars across Europe, only a small proportion of whom were tortured and executed. What happened to the rest? In England, the county of Hertfordshire allegedly became a sanctuary for fugitive Knights from all over Europe. The town of Baldock in Hertfordshire was founded by the Templars, and from 1199 to 1254 it had been the Order's English headquarters. It is certainly plausible that after the official censure of the Order, the Templars continued as normal, but met in secret in hidden rooms, cellars and caves. Royston Cave in Hertfordshire, located at the crossing of two Roman roads (the Icknield Way and Ermine Street) may have been one such Templar meeting place. The cave has a number of medieval carvings on the walls, many of them Pagan, but also figures thought to be St. Catherine, St. Lawrence, and St. Christopher. Support for the theory that Royston Cave was used by the Templars comes in the form of the similar carvings at the Tour de Coudray in Chinon, France, where (in 1307) many Templars were imprisoned before their execution.

Another theory is that the Templars who escaped to Scotland after their persecution established Scotch Rite Freemasonry. Apparently John Graham of Claverhouse, the first Viscount Dundee (killed at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689) was found to be wearing a Templar cross beneath his armor. Some researchers believe that the Freemasons of the late 17th century were the Knights Templar under a new name.

Other legends hypothesize on the nature of the alleged treasures of the Templars. As the Order occupied the

Temple Mount in Jerusalem for a long period, it has been suggested that the Knights undertook their own excavations at the site, and perhaps uncovered the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, or even fragments of the True Cross. One legend says that the Order found the Holy Grail beneath the Temple Mount and brought it with them to Scotland in the early 1300s. Apparently the Grail remains there today, buried somewhere beneath Rosslyn Chapel, a 15th Century church in the village of Roslin, Midlothian.

Some esoteric groups extant today, such as the Order of the Solar Temple, claim descent from the original Templar Order, and there are many other organizations that have attempted to revive the spirit of the original Templars. In the modern world, with its love of conspiracy theories, secret knowledge, shadowy occult groups, and long lost relics, the Knights Templar represent the archetypal secret society. However, most historians are of the belief that the real legacies of the Templars are more mundane, and revolve mainly around banking and the code of chivalry. But the Templars have such a powerful hold on the popular imagination that there will always be those who wonder if this is really all that remains of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon.

the Prehistoric Puzzle of the Floresians

Drawing by Rainer Zenz (GNU Free Documentation License).

The skull of homo floresiensis, drawn by Rainer Zenz.

A strange, prehistoric world of tiny humans hunting dwarf elephants, giant rats, huge Komodo dragons, even bigger lizards. This scenario may sound similar to something out of science fiction novels, such as Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World, than scientific fact, but recent discoveries on a remote Indonesian island may change all that. The Indonesian island of Flores, located between Sumatra and East Timor, has become the center of a great controversy over the last few years.

In September 2003, a joint international research team, led by R.P. Soejono from the Indonesia Center for Archaeology, and Michael Morwood from the University of New England Armidale, were digging in a large limestone cave called Liang Bua. At a depth of 20 feet they discovered the nearcomplete skeleton of a woman of around 30 years of age. The skeleton, which looked to them like a species of hominid, was found to be only 3 feet tall. Other scattered bones of the same species were found nearby and, to date, bones representing nine individuals have been discovered. Using radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating, the oldest remains have been dated to about 94,000 years ago, and the most recent to 12,000 years ago.

Also found in the cave (in association with the hominid) were the remains of fish, frogs, snakes, tortoises, giant rats, birds, and bats, plus larger animals such as a dwarf species of Stegedons (an