Problems that are difficult for scientists to understand

Chapter 19 Ancient Civilization Tracing (7)
People can't help but ask, is the Maya's practice of abandoning civilization and returning to ignorance voluntary or for other reasons?Historians have various explanations and speculations for this.For example, foreign invasion, sudden climate change, earthquake damage, plague epidemic, etc.However, these assumptions and guesses are not convincing.The withering of the Mayan civilization is as incredible as its prosperity.People will continue to explore this ancient and splendid civilization.

How did humans make their home in the desert?

The desert stretches as far as the eye can see, the sky is full of yellow sand, and quicksand is everywhere.The highest temperature during the day can reach 60 degrees, and it suddenly drops to -40 degrees at night.It is such a place that even animals do not want to set foot in, who would want to place their home here?

Many things are so wonderful. In 1862, French archaeologist May Devogue first discovered hundreds of ancient cities that had been sleeping for more than 1000 years in the northern part of the Great Syrian Desert.From the king towers, wide walls, numerous palaces and white limestone paving that can still be recognized in these ancient cities, it is not difficult to see its prosperity in those days.It's just the empty streets, the arrogant flying sand, and the houses half buried by yellow sand tell people that this is a "dead city".

Some archaeologists speculate that it may be the reason for the economic decline.They believe that in 611 A.D., the Persian king captured Antiosh and cut off the passage leading to the western countries, so that the merchants who must pass through here had to divert. From prosperity to decline.

Some archaeologists disagree with this point of view, and they believe that economic factors will not have such a big impact on the decline and decline of ancient cities.There are no rivers near the ancient city, which means that water is the most precious treasure.Although there are criss-crossing channels and many cisterns in the ancient city, if it does not rain, water will become an important issue for people to survive. Coupled with the increasing prosperity of Rome and Byzantium not far from here, a large number of people have flowed out. It is inevitable.Over time, the ancient city will be abandoned.

What made people choose to settle down in the desert, and how did people solve their survival problems in the face of the harsh environment around this ancient city?For them, living is not easy, how did they create miracles?These questions are really puzzling and can only be further demonstrated.

The wonder of underwater architecture

Valentine is a good deep-sea diver. During his underwater investigation, he accidentally discovered some strange buildings on the seabed near the Bahamas.The buildings were odd geometric figures—regular polygons, circles, triangles, rectangles, and straight lines stretching for miles and miles.

Ten years later, in 10, Dr. Valentin announced a new amazing discovery: a huge T-shaped stone wall with a length of 1968 meters was discovered on the seabed near North Bimini Island, which belongs to the Bahamas. The stone walls are made of huge stone blocks each exceeding one cubic meter.The stone wall also has two branches, at right angles to the main wall.Excited, Dr. Valentin continued to explore, and soon discovered a more complex architectural structure—platforms, roads, several piers, and a trestle.The entire architectural site appears to be an ancient submerged port.

The inventor of the "Pegasus" torpedo, French engineer and diver Haibikov came to the scene. He is a master of underwater photography. He surveyed the sea area with the latest technology at that time and took several photos.

After these photos were published, it caused a great sensation in the world.

In 1974, a Soviet research ship also came here and conducted underwater photography and investigation, which once again proved the existence of these underwater architectural sites.

Soon, the Bahamas was crowded with scientists, divers, journalists and explorers from all over the world.And the debate surrounding these underwater stone walls is growing.Some geologists point out that these stone walls are just more special natural structures, not man-made.But more scholars believe that it is man-made.They also disagree on who built the buildings.

Some people believe that the Bahamas is not far from the Yucatan Peninsula, the hometown of the Mayans, so this may be an ancient Mayan building that sank underwater due to changes in the earth's crust.Some people deduce from the time when the land sank in the Bahamas waters that these underwater buildings were built between 8000 BC and 7000 BC, so they should be built by the builders of the ancient South American city of Tiwanaku, but the construction of Tiwanaku Who the author is is a mystery in itself.

Some people also said that in 1945, the late American prophet Keith made a prophecy before his death, claiming that Atlantis would reappear in the waters of North Bimini Island in 1968 or 1969. The discovery of Valentin just confirmed Keith's prophecy, so here is the famous Atlantis that sank before AD.

Of course, more serious scientists refuse to judge according to the prophecy, but people can't make a more satisfactory explanation.But can only answer in general terms that these underwater structures are "probably man-made" and "very old".As for who made it and when it was made, no one has been able to answer it yet.

Mysterious ancient city of Tiwanaku
The Indians who have lived on the South American continent for generations have worshiped the brilliant sun since ancient times.Legend has it that the sun god once descended on the Andean plateau in person and built a majestic city on the shore of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 4000 meters. This is the ancient South American city of Tiwanaku with a long history.Every year on the vernal equinox, the first ray of sunlight will pass through a huge stone arch in the northwest corner of the city precisely to show its favor.Therefore, this ancient city and the Sun Gate became the holy places of the local Indians.

But no one can tell the real construction of the ancient city.The ancient city is made of carefully polished boulders.

The stone statues and reliefs are even more exquisite, showing a superb level of craftsmanship.The famous Sun Gate is hewn from a whole rock weighing more than 10 tons, and the gate is engraved with intricate and delicate patterns, which is magnificent.How did the ancients transport such boulders up the mountains?Where did the nation that created this miracle come from, and where did it go?

Since there are no written records left in the city of Tiwanaku, only the inexplicable patterns on the stone statues, so we can only hope that one day in the future, archaeologists will be able to decipher these mysterious patterns and find a way to solve the mystery of the ancient city. The key is gone.

The Mystery of the Vanishing Inca Empire
In the 13th century, after experiencing the overall splendor of the Maya and Aztecs in the Americas, another great empire emerged—the Inca Empire.

The Inca Empire has an unprecedentedly vast territory and extremely strong national power. It is especially famous for its superb "golden art". The treasury has accumulated a large number of gold, silver and jewelry. Therefore, the Inca Empire is also known as the "Golden Empire" by the world.

The rich and powerful Inca Empire was weakened by a rebellion in the 16th century, and the Spanish colonists took advantage of it, and the history of independent development of American civilization came to an end.Due to the burning, killing and looting of the colonists, the Inca culture was greatly damaged.But how exactly did the Inca Empire end?Some people believe that the Inca people knew that they could not resist the Spaniards with advanced weapons, so they fled to the mountains unknown to the world.

Some people also believe that the Inca Empire encountered a terrible plague that raided the whole country at that time, which led to the demise of the Inca Empire.Since the Inca people did not invent writing, the demise of the Inca Empire is even more mysterious.

Therefore, the reasons for the demise of the Inca Empire are still inconclusive.

The Mystery of the Missing Lighthouse of Alexandria
The city of Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great, King of Macedon who swept across Europe, Asia and Africa. It was once one of the three major cities in the world and the largest port in the central Mediterranean.After the disintegration of the Macedonian Kingdom, Alexandria became the capital of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt.In order to ensure the safety of ships at night, Ptolemy II commissioned Sostratas to design and build the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

The lighthouse was built on the island of Pharos, which started in 285 BC and lasted 39 years.The completed tower is 135 meters high, and the top of the tower is a raging flame day and night. There is also a bronze concave mirror that reflects the fire, so that ships can be seen from 60 kilometers away.

How was this great building destroyed?Some believe it was destroyed by a major earthquake in 365 AD.However, there are also legends that in order to attack Alexander, an emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire spread rumors that there were treasures of Alexander the Great at the bottom of the lighthouse, so he tricked the local king into demolishing the tower.Others believe that it was the earthquake of 1375 that finally destroyed the lighthouse.The earthquake caused part of the land, including the base of the lighthouse, to sink deep into the sea, and the buildings on top were also shaken and collapsed.A later king also built a fortress on top of the ruins.Since then, the Lighthouse of Alexandria has disappeared.Now, people can only rely on imagination to outline its style.

The Mystery of the Rise and Fall of Great Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe, located at the southern tip of Africa, is an ancient city that originated in the 12th century.Zimbabwe means "stone house" in the local Bantu language.The country has many ruins of stone cities or houses, but the Great Zimbabwe ruins found 300 kilometers south of the capital Harare are the most spectacular.The entire site covers an area of ​​nearly 7 square kilometers, all of which are made of hard granite stones.The lowest point is a double-layer fence. There were originally 7 solid circular stone towers up to 15 meters high on the fence, but now only 4 remain.Regarding their purpose, some say it is a watchtower, some say it is a barn, and some say it is a tower for sacrifices, but there is no definite evidence for these claims.

Who actually built this stone city?The earliest discoverer of Stone City, German Karl, believed that it was built by King Solomon for hiding treasures.It is now proposed that the Phoenicians built the city, but more people believe that its owner should be the early natives of Africa.With the disintegration of the ancient country of Zimbabwe, these mysteries have also become insoluble mysteries that plague the world. Only this ruin is the witness of the vicissitudes of African civilization history.

(End of this chapter)