The bones indicated
that they had discovered a crested therapod that the team named
Cryolophosaurus ellioti, ('frozen crested reptile', above). To date it is
the only therapod to be found in Antarctica, although clearly there will be
others of its kind buried under the ice cap.
In addition to the dinosaur fossils,
the team also found fossils from other creatures at the same site. These included
a pterosaur (flying reptile), a tritylodont, and most significantly, a
plateosaurid prosauropod. (Significant as the animal's foot structure and size
is nearly identical to two plateosaurid prosauropods found in Germany and
China.) (6)
The evidence of a
much warmer Antarctica in past times is supplemented by the British explorer,
Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922 - below) who found coal beds within
200 miles of the South Pole (8), that could only have formed in the presence of
extensive vegetation and, during the Byrd expedition of 1935, geologists
discovered fossils on the sides of Mount Weaver, in latitude 86 degrees, 58 minutes south, about the same distance from the pole
and two miles above sea level. These included leaf and stem impressions and fossilised
poo (9). British geologists also discovered evidence of great fossil
forests in Antarctica of the same type that grew on the pacific coast of the
United States 20m years ago (10) and it would have been this ancient vegetation,
later covered by warm seas and thick marine sediment, that produced the
extensive coal seams that run through the Transantarctic Mountains (11). Admiral Byrd, one
of Antarctica's most accomplished explorers, commented in 1949 that this coal
seam was 'enough for the needs of the entire world' (12). Actually he was wrong,
for the coal was of a poor quality, however the thought itself was generous.
Other evidence of
ancient landscapes and seaways near the South Pole has recently been found on
these high peaks. Tree stems, roots, pollen, and tiny fossils of open water
marine life, have been identified by Ohio State geologists Peter-Noel Webb,
David M Harwood and John H. Mercer as being 2-4 million years old from the
Pliocene era. (13) In 1952, Dr Lyman H Dougherty of
the Carnegie Institution of Washington, completing a study of these fossils,
identified two species of a tree fern called 'glossopteris', once common in the
southern continents of Africa, South America and Australia. He also found a
giant tree fern of another species and identified a fossil footprint as that of
a mammal-like reptile. Henry suggests that this may mean
that Antarctica, during its period of intensive vegetation, played host to many
different life forms. (14) Soviet Scientists have reported finding evidence of a
tropical flora in Graham Land, another part of Antarctica, dating from the early
Tertiary period. (15)
Shrub wood grew on the banks and shores of alpine streams and
lakes during several interglacial periods the researchers suggest. In relatively
warm times, great open seaways may have reached deep into the Antarctic
interior, and the great central ice caps may have retreated to much smaller ice
caps and high alpine glaciers. (16) Admiral Byrd (below), later
of Operation Highjump fame, discovered the Edsel Ford Mountains in 1929. These
mountains are of non-volcanic, folded, sedimentary rock, with the layers adding
up to 15,000 feet in thickness. Thomas Henry, in his 1950 book The White
Continent suggests that they indicate long periods of temperate climate in
Antarctica. "The greater part of the erosion probably took place when Antarctica was
essentially free of ice, since the structure of the rocks indicates strongly
that the original sediment from which they were formed was carried by water.
Such accumulation calls for an immensely long period of tepid peace in the life
of the rampaging planet." (17)
The evidence is plentiful, therefore, that the popular vision
of a permanently frozen Antarctica is flawed and indeed, at some point in its
past, the continent was sufficiently ice-free for it, or at least parts of it,
to have been mapped. The question however is, was it ice-free at a time when
mankind could have mapped it? If the Piri Reis map is accurate, then the answer
must surely be yes.
Explore forgotton clues scattered throughout history that are suggestive
of an alternative history.
Join the world-wide search for evidence
of a lost civilisation that predates
known history.
Has Earth already been contacted by other civilisations either in the distant past or in recent centuries?
A discussion of the emergence of advanced technologies and the bizarre invasion of Antarctica after WWII.
A discussion of sightings of UFOs in the sky above Earth and within the solar system, including Moon anomalies.
Evidence the Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials and how the public had been subject to disinformation.
A list of credits and sources for the themes and issues explored
in Violations.
Violations is now available to purchase in
paperback or Kindle versions complete
with exclusive additional content!