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REVIEWS © Using branching diagrams called "clado- grams", there is more than one way of work- ing out how two organisms are linked. By considering choices, e.g., fish that developed legs to crawl ashore and fish that grew legs but stayed underwater, surprising new evo- lutionary possibilities are uncovered, and they don't necessarily follow the linear path of development. Gee says that cladistics can't provide rock-solid answers, but he shows how it is overturning our understand- ing about the life that's existed on this planet over the aeons and the place and progress of Homo sapiens in the vast picture. Using branching diagrams called "clado- found in 2.8 billion-year-old strata in Africa. B oO oO K S grams", there is more than one way of work- Such artefacts suggest that the civilisations ing out how two organisms are linked. By from which they sprang were far more DEEP TIME: Cladistics, The Revolution considering choices, e.g., fish that developed inventive than generally acknowledged— in Evolution legs to crawl ashore and fish that grew legs though they don't necessarily prove that "the by Henry Gee but stayed underwater, surprising new evo- gods" were responsible. The "cyclopean" Publisher: Fourth Estate, UK, 2000 lutionary possibilities are uncovered, and architecture, with a precision placement of 4 San. they don't necessarily follow the linear path —_ weighty stones that is duplicated in places as ISBN: 1-85702-986-0 (262pp hc) . of development. Gee says that cladistics far distant as northern Greece and Peru, still Price. AUD$55.00; NZD$70.00; £20.00; can't provide rock-solid answers, but he defies explanation. As for tapping energy, NLG 78,90 . shows how it is overturning our understand- _ it's possible that the Ark of the Covenant Sources: Aust—Allen & Unwin, tel (02) ing about the life that's existed on this planet was a free energy device and that the Great 8425 0100; NZ—Archetype, tel (09) 377 over the aeons and the place and progress of | Pyramid a gigantic power plant. Even avia- 3800; UK—Fourth Estate, tel 020 7727 Homo sapiens in the vast picture. tion and is not a modern invention, for 8993, website www.4thestate.co.uk; Eur— India's Rama Empire had flying machines in NEXUS Office, tel +31 321 380558 TECHNOLOGY OF THE GODS: The antiquity and possibly engaged in atomic lhe term "deep time" was coined to dis- Incredible Sciences of the Ancients war with the Atlantean Empire, as the sacred tinguish geological time from the every- by David Hatcher Childress texts and geological evidence suggest (see day scale of time and is meant to refer to Pyblisher: Adventures Unlimited, 2000 ticle extract this issue). immense intervals. Author Henry Gee, ISBN: 0-932813-73-9 (343pp tpb) Is history merely repeating itself, as PhD, a senior editor at Nature, argues that to Price: AUD$33.00; NZD$34.90: £15.00; Childress proposes, and did past civilisations discuss time gaps of millions of years as if NLG 44,90; USD$1 6.95 + p&h , * shine, only to extinguish themselves in their they were mere weeks or days in the geolog- gguyrces: Australia/NZ/UK/Europe— own self-made catastrophes? ical time scale is absurd and unscientific. NEXUS offices: USA—Adventures This attitude has coloured how we think Unlimited, tel (81 5) 253 6390 about evolution. Our need for a neat histori- " “ here is abundant evidence that ancient cal narrative or drama which makes deep civilisations possessed varying degrees time comprehensible has led us to make of advanced science and high technology. alse assumptions about time lines, cause- In Technology of the Gods, David Hatcher effect relationships, ancestry and descent. Childress examines the artefacts of long- Dr Gee is a proponent of cladistics, a sys- gone civilisations and considers their origins tem that looks at the pattern of the history of in the light of published commentaries, pep- ife, free from such assumptions and able to _pering them with his own speculation plus be tested. Cladistics has been gaining much plentiful photographs and illustrations. ‘avour among palaeontologists over the last Some of the inventions described are rela- 30 years, Gee writes in Deep Time, and the tively recent, e.g., the Antikythera device, a trend is at odds with the popular line pushed — Greek astronomical calculator dated to the in the mass media. Rather than consider first century BC; some are several thousand evolution in a linear way, cladistics looks to _years old, e.g., the Baghdad battery and ind the most likely way in which a set of crystal lenses; and others are much more organisms is related to one another. ancient, such as the baffling metal spheres 74 © NEXUS found in 2.8 billion-year-old strata in Africa. Such artefacts suggest that the civilisations from which they sprang were far more inventive than generally acknowledged— though they don't necessarily prove that "the gods" were responsible. The "cyclopean" architecture, with a precision placement of weighty stones that is duplicated in places as far distant as northern Greece and Peru, still defies explanation. As for tapping energy, it's possible that the Ark of the Covenant was a free energy device and that the Great Pyramid a gigantic power plant. Even avia- tion and is not a modern invention, for India's Rama Empire had flying machines in antiquity and possibly engaged in atomic war with the Atlantean Empire, as the sacred texts and geological evidence suggest (see article extract this issue). Is history merely repeating itself, as Childress proposes, and did past civilisations shine, only to extinguish themselves in their own self-made catastrophes? AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2000