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A PERSPECTIVE ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL ENIGMAS PERSPECTIVE Numerous megalithic sites around the world bear witness to the existence of an advanced civilisation that flourished before a great cataclysm ended the Pleistocene era around 12,000 years ago. stand haunting, mysterious, unexplained. Archaeologists write or speak of them matter-of-factly, unemotionally, as if they presented no problem. Dates and data are bandied about as if everything about the ruins were cut and dried. However, the particular ruins discussed in this article do present problems which to this day have not been solved. A book could easily be written about any one of the ruins selected. Indeed, Posnansky wrote four large volumes on the archaeological, architectural and archaeoastronomical aspects of Tiahuanacu alone. These ruins deserve much more attention than can be allowed here. | will barely touch on some of the enigmas involved with these sites. Csi ancient ruins and monuments scattered throughout the world The Baalbek Acropolis Located just across the Leontes mountains from Beirut, Lebanon, the Baalbek acropolis stands as eloquent testimony of the skills and abilities of ancient man. The complex consists of several temples, now in ruins but built originally by the Romans in the classical Corinthian style. The four emples are commonly known as the Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Bacchus, the Temple of the Muses and the Temple of Venus. Several other impressive buildings are in evidence. Sir Mortimer Wheeler described Baalbek as "one of the very great monuments of European architecture” (Ragette, 1980). Baalbek is truly both stupendous in its size and magnificent in its classical beauty. Any words in the human vocabulary fall short of describing the wonder of these buildings. No doubt the megalithic platform—already in place when the Romans arrived on the scene—inspired the latter to stretch their abilities o the absolute limits (and they were extremely capable), for they did their inest and most magnificent work here at Baalbek. It is the so-called Trilithon, the three mammoth stones incorporated into he base of the platform, which commands our attention. Sir Mortimer Wheeler called them "the largest hewn stones in the world" (Ragette, 1980). Each of these measures about 64 feet in length, 12 feet in width and over 4 feet in height, and weighs roughly 800-1,000 tons. A fourth stone, the argest quarried stone in the entire world at almost 70 feet long and weighing 1,000-1,200 tons, still lies in the quarry over half a mile away Mitchell, 1969). These massive stones were somehow cut from the bedrock, moved half a mile to the hilltop "acropolis" and placed into position some four courses above ground level atop other stones in the platform under construction. The course of stones lying immediately below the Trilithon contains at east 24 stones, each 30-33 feet in length and weighing up to 450 tons. How were these gigantic stones moved from the distant quarry and positioned so perfectly in place? The hill on which the acropolis was built © 2001-2009 From the web page: http://www.atlantisquest.com/ Archeology.html NEXUS ¢ 39 by R. Cedric Leonard APRIL - MAY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com