Prehistory is about to change!

[Ishtar]

I am delighted to announce that a new coalition of archaeologists, scientists, rock art specialists and researchers has now been launched with which Ishtar's Gate is actively involved: The Pleistocene Coalition.

The founder of the Pleistocene Coalition is John Feliks, whose paper Phi in the Acheulian, which showed that man knew the Golden Mean 400,000 years ago, sparked some interest on here a few months ago. The other founder members include Virginia Steen-McIntyre, who has been up against Das Klub for most of her working life over the archaeological discoveries at Valsequillo. Sam VanLandingham, one of the world's leading diatomists is another founder member, along with Chris Hardaker, the author of The First Americans, and James B. Harrod, a leading expert on prehistoric art, religion and symbol in human evolution.

The aim of the coalition is to challenge the mainstream religio/political agenda and loosen its white knuckled grasp on what the public is allowed to hear about man's true story, his-story.

Here's the blurb from the home page:

* Learn the real story of your Palaeolithic ancestors, a story held back by mainstream science for the sake of an agenda

* Explore and regain confidence in your own ability to think for yourself as a broader range of data becomes available to you

* Finally, join a community of researchers not afraid to challenge those who are stopping the flow of information and ideas. Question any paradigm promoted as "scientific" that is so delicate as to require blocking data in order to appear unchallenged.

We are open to new members of like-minded souls who have published works and or an internet presence ... and The Pleistocene Coalition website is here.

[Leona Conner]

To use the language of my granddaughter, 'AWESOME.' Please keep us informed as I know that this is a subject that several of us have shown an interest in.

[Rokcet Scientist]

Another club...

[Minimalist]

I have no problem when two guys with clubs start hitting each other.


It's when only one side has the club that it seems unfair.


This could be interesting.

[Sam Salmon]

The aim of the coalition is to challenge the mainstream religio/political agenda and loosen its white knuckled grasp on what the public is allowed to hear about man's true story, his-story.

Them's fightin' words!

[Ishtar]

[Minimalist]

Precisely, Ish!

[Ishtar]

The Pleistocene Coalition Newsletter for October is now out.

If you would like to read it, you can see it here or I can email it to you in pdf format if you'd like to PM me here with your email address.

Here is the lead article, from John Feliks.

Continuity through Time

Archaeology is usually defined as the study of the human past. It is a scientific field that attempts to learn as much as possible about our ancestors and the great variety of human experience from remains in what is known as the archaeological record. Yet in recent years the focus in the branch of archaeology related to early peoples, sometimes referred to as palaeoanthropology, is almost entirely driven by the single concept of expected change over time.

The focus on change has been so prevalent that many have forgotten the equally important and valid concept of stability or continuity through time.

So one of the goals of the Pleistocene Coalition is to address this almost forgotten realm. We intend to draw attention away from our differences and more toward the similarities that our ancestors and we share.

We commonly hear such things today as, "Nothing stays the same except for change." While this is a popular and clever saying, it is certainly not true in and of itself. There is as much evidence in archaeology that is as well described by the opposite expression, "There is nothing new under the sun."

The Pleistocene Coalition chooses to remain open to what the evidence itself is actually telling us — which speaks both to change and continuity. We adopt this approach in light of the fact that our entire ability to even consider such things is possible only because our species, Homo sapiens, along with its richness and variety of long-lasting world cultures has experienced continuity as well as change through time.

Without this sense of continuity to temper our interpretations of archaeological evidence, we too would be forced to interpret our early ancestors in the lesser terms of popular science even so far as to regard them as half-way-there links in an evolutionary chain.

On the side of continuity; human emotions and aspirations, the ability to think and ponder, to observe and consider the animals, the trees, the mountains, the lakes and rivers, the sun, moon and stars, to experience a sense of awe and mystery, to be inspired or to be creative, to ask questions about purpose and meaning, or to otherwise objectively reflect on the wonders or the challenges of the everyday reality around us; these are all things that transcend the concept of change.

Yet, due to the strong and powerful influence of 19th century naturalist, Charles Darwin, such core human qualities are suggested to have come about "of necessity" by gradual means. And so, by extension into modern archaeological thinking, as we explore further and further back into time these human qualities must, for the sake of the paradigm, become less and less present in the archaeological record.

But the Pleistocene Coalition takes a firm stance well away from this paradigm and provides empirical evidence from many scientific fields, including engineering and mathematics, that the exact opposite is true. We will also not be afraid to look anew at anomalies either, being aware that prior scientific explanations for anomalies, as well including labelling many as frauds, have been presented to the public from the same assumed paradigm of constant change over time.

We hope that you enjoy this first issue of our Newsletter and that you will return again to learn more about a world you never knew existed. It is our world and our early human heritage. It is our prehistory. It is our story.

[Minimalist]

On the side of continuity; human emotions and aspirations, the ability to think and ponder, to observe and consider the animals, the trees, the mountains, the lakes and rivers, the sun, moon and stars, to experience a sense of awe and mystery, to be inspired or to be creative, to ask questions about purpose and meaning, or to otherwise objectively reflect on the wonders or the challenges of the everyday reality around us; these are all things that transcend the concept of change.

As always, Ish, what is the evidence of this, in a scientific sense, with pre-literate humans? Its an interesting thesis but how does one prove it?

[Ishtar]

Hi Min

Yes, there is plenty of evidence and it will be forthcoming in upcoming Newsletters. That was just the first edition, and its purpose was really just to set the scene for what's to come. But even in that first edition, we covered the topic of early cognition as follows:

One of John Feliks' most important papers is the Graphics of Bilsingsleben, which shows that man 400,000 years ago used phi measurements in tool making. This paper has been "held up in the peer review process" for years. But we're just about to present a piece of work from another member, Alan Cannell, International civil engineer and author of "Throwing behaviour and the mass distribution of geological hand samples, hand grenades and Olduvian manuports", on the deep roots of aesthetic design in hand axes dating back to the Acheulian.

Although it has been known for decades that there is often a close approximation between the value of phi and the ratio between the length and width of these axes, Alan shows that the geometry is often more complex, involving sections of the ‘Golden Ellipse’ and the angle of 36 degrees. Alan shows that these same shapes can still be found in modern landmark architecture, suggesting that modern humans share a ‘hardwired’ template with our ancestors as far back as H. Erectus.

There are so-called "anomalies" too, artifacts that seem out of place in the archaeological record. One anachronistic artifact can be called an anomaly....but then when you find another, and another one ....and another one ... we intend to write about so many that in the end, they won't be thought of as anomalies.

The first one is the 350,000 year old engraving of what is believed to be a horse's head, and not only that, but the horse appears to be wearing a bridle. There is a discussion about this engraving on my forum, Ishtar's Gate, here.

In addition, there are a couple of articles showing evidence for man in the Americas between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago. And so that is also part of the cognition argument, because if we really did all come out of Africa, then how did Homo erectus get to the Americas without a boat?

These few examples are just the tip of the iceberg. But as the editor of this newsletter, I can promise you that there's lots more to come. So watch this space!

[Minimalist]

Okay. Just curious.

The first one is the 350,000 year old engraving of what is believed to be a horse's head, and not only that, but the horse appears to be wearing a bridle. There is a discussion about this engraving on my forum, Ishtar's Gate, here.

For the record, even with you suggesting the horse, I could not see it for several minutes. It looked like a rather weathered stone to me. But I am notoriously useless when it comes to art.

[Ishtar]

But I am notoriously useless when it comes to art.

Well ........ we all can't be good at everything, Min!

I don't know if you saw this, but Digit brought it to our attention as part of this discussion on the Gate.

Over 70 years ago, paleontologist Henri Martin found horse teeth estimated to be 30,000 years old that showed clear signs of "crib biting." Crib biting occurs when captive horses, perhaps out of boredom, bite ropes, enclosure structures, and even rocks -- wild horses don't do this. The implication is that man domesticated the horse long before archeologists believed possible. The theory languished until recently, when Paul Bahn brought it out of limbo. He has now found additional teeth showing more evidence of crib biting. Bahn maintains that man may have been riding the horse for 100,000 years!

(Perrin, Timothy; "Prehistoric Horsemen," Omni, 5:37, August 1983.)

From here

[john]

Minimalist -

"As always, Ish, what is the evidence of this, in a scientific sense, with pre-literate humans? Its an interesting thesis but how does one prove it?"

Boats, Hematite, American Handaxes, and Paleolithic Sashimi, to name a few...............

Seek and ye shall find is one whole hell of a lot better than

Being banned from seeking by

A self-appointed Diocese of the elite, i.e. Das Klub, purely scientifically speaking.



john

[Minimalist]

Hello, John..... glad to see you haven't changed a bit!

[Minimalist]

Hi Min

Yes, there is plenty of evidence and it will be forthcoming in upcoming Newsletters. That was just the first edition, and its purpose was really just to set the scene for what's to come. But even in that first edition, we covered the topic of early cognition as follows:

One of John Feliks' most important papers is the Graphics of Bilsingsleben, which shows that man 400,000 years ago used phi measurements in tool making. This paper has been "held up in the peer review process" for years. But we're just about to present a piece of work from another member, Alan Cannell, International civil engineer and author of "Throwing behaviour and the mass distribution of geological hand samples, hand grenades and Olduvian manuports", on the deep roots of aesthetic design in hand axes dating back to the Acheulian.

Although it has been known for decades that there is often a close approximation between the value of phi and the ratio between the length and width of these axes, Alan shows that the geometry is often more complex, involving sections of the ‘Golden Ellipse’ and the angle of 36 degrees. Alan shows that these same shapes can still be found in modern landmark architecture, suggesting that modern humans share a ‘hardwired’ template with our ancestors as far back as H. Erectus.

There are so-called "anomalies" too, artifacts that seem out of place in the archaeological record. One anachronistic artifact can be called an anomaly....but then when you find another, and another one ....and another one ... we intend to write about so many that in the end, they won't be thought of as anomalies.

The first one is the 350,000 year old engraving of what is believed to be a horse's head, and not only that, but the horse appears to be wearing a bridle. There is a discussion about this engraving on my forum, Ishtar's Gate, here.

In addition, there are a couple of articles showing evidence for man in the Americas between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago. And so that is also part of the cognition argument, because if we really did all come out of Africa, then how did Homo erectus get to the Americas without a boat?

These few examples are just the tip of the iceberg. But as the editor of this newsletter, I can promise you that there's lots more to come. So watch this space!

Hey, Ish, sorry to take so long getting back to you but I spent yesterday flying to NY.

I did take the time to check out that bastion of orthodoxy, Wikipedia, about horse domestication and predictably they cite 3-4,000 years ago in central Asia. No mention of your two scholars but that is not much of a surprise, is it? We both know that the Club marginalizes those who disagree with it. I don't know what it will take. Some new find that cannot be ignored? They will resist the re-interpretation of older evidence.