This map, as discussed in Chapter 3 Weird History has
strong credentials, however, there are clearly serious flaws in it suggesting
that it should be treated with caution when cited as evidence of the existence
of an early and lost civilisation. One such flaw is
that of the island shown at 0 degrees latitude and just east of longitude 47 degrees W on the
parchment. Hapgood refers to this island as "one of the major mysteries of the
Piri Reis map" (18). He continues, "the details of the island are convincing.
Some reproductions of the coloured facsimile (but unfortunately not all of them)
suggest by a deeper shade around the coasts that there were coastal highlands or
mountains surrounding a great central plain. The harbours and islands off the
coast are inviting. They are carefully drawn. There seems to have been an effort
to achieve accuracy (19)." Hapgood notes that the island has now disappeared
into the ocean, "submerged to a depth of a mile and a half." (20)
Hapgood was convinced that if he could only prove that this
island had existed, then this would silence any doubters once and for all; for
it was the degree of detail in the Piri Reis map that so convinced him of its
accuracy (once realigned to modern scales). He therefore decided to approach the
US Government for help and permission to search for underwater cities in the
region of the St Peter and St Paul Rocks. By October 1963 Hapgood had presented
a convincing enough argument to secure an interview with President Kennedy to
discuss the matter further. However, as history records, fate intervened. In actual fact, even if the interview had gone ahead, it would
not have changed the fact that the island shown on the map is not presently
submerged beneath the Atlantic nor did it ever exist.
We know this now because the US Navy has recently released
satellite data gathered by the US Navy's Geostat spacecraft between the
31st March and 30th October 1986 that was used to prepare
the first detailed topographic map of the entire ocean floor (21). The Piri Reis 'missing' island should therefore have appeared
on this map of the seabed, however the Geostat map shows no evidence of any such
island nor any submerged mountains. Indeed the only topographic forms that can
be seen in the area where the island 'should be' are numerous transform faults,
ridges and trough topography that characterises normal oceanic crust. If Piri Reis could 'invent' an entire island of considerable
dimensions, then surely he could also make-up the supposed outline of
Antarctica?
Obviously the answer is yes, however it should be remembered
that Piri Reis readily admitted that he had merely complied his world map from
twenty or more smaller maps, and these in turn were probably compiled from even
smaller and older maps. Consequently, some areas of the overall map will be
accurate whilst others inaccurate and without doubt the original source maps
would have been the most accurate of all for these are the maps that would have
actually been used by those who drew them. In essence, just because part
of the map is erroneous, does not make it all so. Indeed, the map itself was a
working tool used by mariners and others. It would hardly have enjoyed this
status had it been so riddled with errors that it would have been safer to
voyage blind.
Yet it is the outline of the Antarctic area we are interested,
rather than that of South America, Africa or Spain. Clearly if there were other
ancient maps of the area then this would lend credence to the idea that it
really had been mapped before becoming entombed in ice. Hapgood himself realised
this and searched for further supporting evidence. His search was to lead him to
the Reference Room of the Library of Congress, Washington DC, America. Hapgood
recalls; "I found ... many fascinating things I had not expected to find,
and a number of charts showing the southern continent. Then one day, I turned a
page and sat transfixed. As my eyes fell upon the Southern Hemisphere of a world
map drawn by Oronteus Fineaus in 1531, I had the instant conviction that I had
found here a truly authentic map of the real Antarctica. The general shape of the continent was startlingly like the outline of the
continent on our modern maps. The position of the South Pole, nearly in the
centre of the continent, seemed about right."
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.
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