The Lost Tale - Cartographers to the Incas Quiz

Answer: Piri Reis Maps

Piri Reis was an admiral in the Ottoman Navy, the author of the 'Kitabi Bahriye'. He contributed a lot towards the development of the navy with his extensive research. However he had a rift with the authorities and was beheaded in 1555. The Piri Reis Maps were checked by the U.S. Air force, at the request of the John Hapgood who was researching the mystery of the technical superiority of many ancient maps.

As for Piri Reis, he had never seen many of the lands and so could not have drawn them from direct observation.

He admitted that he had merely copied and compiled his maps from a series of ancient maps. So the question remains 'how were these ancient maps so accurate'?

Answer: Oronteus Finaeus

This map also showed the pre-glacial features of Antarctica. Yet it is not possible for this land to have semi-tropical climate unless the whole land was further to the north. This, most amazingly, has been portrayed in a few other maps i.e. was Antarctica shown more to the north than its present parking place. Certain geologists did oppose this saying it is not possible for the land to move so much in so short time. (Hapgood's theory, however, got strong support from the Man himself - Einstein).

Answer: Philippe Buache

1958 was the International Geophysical year. The study confirmed that this map was possible if Antarctica was free of any ice. This is because Antarctica is not one just gigantic landmass but 'a series of archipelagos of large islands with mile-thick ice packed between them and rising above sea level'. An interesting aspect of the Reis and similar maps is their amazingly accurate longitude measures.

It was declared by Newton himself (in 1714) that a chronometer to accurately measure longitude hadn't been discovered.

It was not until John Harrison perfected the chronometer that longitude could be accurately measured. So how did these men at least two centuries before accurately measure longitude? Another important point is that some of these maps show islands that don't exist now. Could it be that these maps were based on maps drawn before the Ice Age and the melting ice caps submerged many of these islands? The Tsunami of 2004 showed that this needn't be such an illogical thought.

Answer: Orion

The Nazca spider is actually a spider of the genus 'Ricinulei' - yet the question arises, 'How did they know about the species in the Amazon forests?' Even if that is accepted as an insight got by a traveller, how do the whale and the monkey fit in this grand scheme? Why are certain human forms shown 'enclosed in halos of radiance'? Too many questions, too few answers!

Answer: He was a young man

Many of the folk tales depict as a man past his prime. Hancock does bring, quite strangely, a Christian connection. Viracocha literally meant 'the foam of the sea'. (Cf. Greek Mythology and Aphrodite). According to most legends, he came from the Titicaca Lake, after the great deluge. The Great Deluge, mentioned in the literatures across the world, has many things in common. It was used by the Gods to remove the non-believers and it sends the world into a chaos, among other things. It is definitely not a coincidence that the same overtones are present in the Old Testament, Vedas et al.

Answer: Dialect

That these two civilisations built pyramids is quite well known (and we could also add the Far East to the "pyramid constructing" civilizations). Hancock found that the ancient boats used by the Pharaohs on the Nile, as depicted in the hieroglyphic paintings in Egypt, were remarkably similar to the traditional boats made in the Suriqui Island near Lake Titicaca.

A version of the 'Viracocha' tale told here - Viracocha is known as 'Thunupa' in this tale - is quite similar to the Egyptian Osiris story. Of course, I am ignoring the all too obvious heliocentric theology (Ra and Inti). Hancock also presents us the mysterious case of Lake Titicaca and the city of Tiahuanaco [Note that this is the place from Viracocha was supposed to have made his entry]. Though Tiahuanaco was a port, presumably on the coasts of Lake Titicaca, it is now 12 miles south of the Lake. Geologists point it to either of the possibilities - either the water level of Lake Titicaca fell or the Altiplanos rose.

Answer: 15,000 B.C.

15,000 B.C. is a little hard to digest for many as the earliest known civilisations came to being only around 3000 B.C. According to the principle of Obliquity, 'during a cycle of 41,000 years, the obliquity [of the earth] varies from 22.1 to 24.5 degrees'.

The sequence of angles can be determined by equations, plotted on a chart created by the International Conference of Ephemerids [Paris, 1911]. Using this chart, Posnansky stated, in his book 'Tiahuanacu: The Cradle of American Man', that the city was present during 15,000 B.C. (the angle at the point of constructing of the Kalasasaya was 23 degree 8 minutes and 48 seconds).

His statement was independently checked by eminent scholars, who have admitted that there have no been calculation errors and so there is a possibility that Posnansky was correct.

In more damning evidence, Hancock suggests, with illustrations in his book, that some of the animals drawn on the walls include the Toxodon and a Proboscid figure - both becoming extinct by 11,000 B.C. (Incidentally Kalasasaya could be broken into Kala and Saya, which in certain Indian and and other Asian languages means 'Black Shadow').

Answer: Waru-Waaru

Another feature that Hancock suggests, to prove the superiority of the Tiahuanaco residents, was the language. The natives of the area speak Aymara - which was easily transformable into a computer algorithm for the purpose of translation. Was Tiahuanaco residents, escaping the floods caused by the rising Lake Titicaca, the 'Viracocha' people? They might have passed on their superior knowledge to the other races in the South and Central America.

Answer: 23rd December, 2005 A.D.

This prediction was obviously inaccurate. Nonetheless, the ancient civilisations believed that there had been four suns (or "ends of the world") before this. The fifth sun is the most dangerous as it involves the Sun God himself. The details of the various Suns can be found in a collection of Aztec documents called 'The Vaticano-Latin Codex'. For more information on the Mayan Calender, refer to http://www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mmc06eng.html.

Answer: Quetzalcoatl

The Quetzalcoatl figure was also present in other Central American Civilisations, known by various names such as Kukulkan, Gucumatz, Itzamana, Votan etc. Quetzalcoatl was bearded, pale skinned and expected to visit the people from the seas. In the second part of the quiz, I shall focus on more of the Central American mysteries. Hope you are intrigued!