Atlantis Beneath the Ice (29 page)

There are several advantages to Freedman’s theory. Einstein had doubted that the weight of the earth’s ice sheets would be sufficient to dislodge the crust. He also doubted that an abrupt shift of the entire axis was the explanation because any force that could accomplish that would probably shatter the planet into thousands of pieces. What he sought was a steady force applied for a sustained period to the earth’s crust.

Freedman’s theory addresses all these problems and also provides a mechanism for stopping the displacements. Once the earth leaves the path of the electromagnetic storm, it cools, turning the liquid-like asthenosphere once again into a tarry substance, which prevents the crust from shifting any farther.
^c

2012

In his article, Freedman also mentioned the cataclysms predicted for the year 2012.

A blast of energy was emitted that was strong enough to collapse the Earth’s magnetic field on April 11th and 12th of 2001. Luckily, these missed us. As you know, the sun goes though 11-year cycles, and these cycles correspond to the Mayan calendar. Every 11 years, as the sun flips its magnetic field, it winds up the big magnetic field within the Sun. Some say that every 11 years, the repercussions of the Sun field flip are stronger, with this year being the biggest display of solar activity ever in recorded history. From what I understand, the Mayan calendar says this age will end in the year 2012, which is a Sun magnetic field flip solar cycle year.
¹⁰

There have been more than one thousand such “flips” since the last earth crust displacement, making the odds that 2012 will see an earth crust displacement at least one thousand to one against.

While Freedman’s concept of a solar typhoon provides a compelling mechanism for earth crust displacements, we are not supporters of the idea that the Mayan calendar predicts such a catastrophe. We note that Hapgood believed that earth crust displacements take five or six thousand years to happen. He
never
connected his idea with the Mayan
calendar. This, however, has not stopped opportunists from claiming so in the latest orgy of scare mongering and exploitation aimed at selling books, DVDs, or television programs.

Because we believe that displacements correlate to times when the earth’s tilt is at its maximum of 24.4° (as in 9600 BCE), we do not expect another earth crust displacement for at least another 29,500 years. Neither Hapgood nor Einstein ever suggested that there would be an earth crust displacement in 2012.

CRUST OR AXIS SHIFT?

As noted in
chapter 9
, Professor Emeritus W. Woelfli of the Institute for Particle Physics in Zürich and Professor W. Baltensperger of the Brazilian Center for Physics Research in Rio de Janeiro suggested in a series of articles from 2006 to 2008 that the earth experienced a radical change in its axis 11,500 years ago.

This was based on compelling evidence demonstrating temperate conditions in Siberia during the last ice age. They concluded that Siberia’s latitude must have been “lower before the end of the Pleistocene”
¹¹
in order to explain the existence of mammoths and humans who lived at 71° N during an ice age.

The physicists propose that an unknown planet was destroyed 11,500 years ago when it plunged into the sun after passing by Earth. As this gigantic planet passed by Earth, it caused our world to twist and turn in response to gravitational forces, dramatically altering the location of Earth’s axis. They propose that before this catastrophic axis change the North Pole was located at central Greenland. The new position of the axis (in today’s Arctic Ocean) resulted in North America being moved farther from the pole and Siberia being dragged into the Arctic Circle.
¹²

These two scientists—though not geologists—are attempting to use an axis shift theory to explain a real problem. They are to be applauded, but their theory falls short. A central Greenland pole cannot explain
the vast Cordilleran Ice Sheet that was located on the west coast of North America.
^d
The pole would be too far away (see
figure 13.1
).

Some physicists might reply that the overall world temperature was lower. But that explanation faces the daunting problem of how to get enough evaporation in the tropics to create the amount of moisture needed in the atmosphere in order to create snow.

The theory of earth crust displacement, however, can explain all these anomalies. Looking at the map of North America in
Figure 10.2
, we see that before 91,600 BCE the Arctic Circle was centered in the Yukon. All of Alaska, British Columbia, and parts of Washington and Idaho were under ice. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet was the remnant of that polar zone.
Figure 10.3
shows Greenland and Europe within the polar zone from 91,600 to 50,600 BCE. And in
Figure 10.4
, we see Greenland and most of North America within the polar zone from 50,600 to 9600 BCE. The configuration of ice age North America’s vast ice sheets (see
figure 10.1
) was the natural consequence of the previous positions of the polar zone.
^e

Future research may take the theory of earth crust displacement in unexpected directions, just as happened to Agassiz’s theory of catastrophic ice ages or Wegener’s theory of continental drift. The theory is young and waits a new generation unencumbered by the current fixations of geology.

What we are dealing with is not just another lost civilization, it is a lost
advanced
culture, one possessing scientific knowledge that we have yet to comprehend. Who knows what problems might be solved by the discovery of the lost sciences of Atlantis? And one can only wonder about the lost art, sculpture, and architecture lying beneath the ice. Whoever takes up the search should remember that the remains of Atlantis might cradle an unimaginable heritage.

But already the promise of treasure of another sort—minerals,
fishing grounds, unique laboratory conditions—have led to polite grumbling around the negotiating table as claim and counterclaim to slices of the last continent are argued.

We surely must proceed with caution if we decide to disturb this pristine place. Behind the deceptively rigid white mask lies a continent that is home to many forms of life bound in a delicate chain vulnerable to the brutal mechanics of technology.

It is ironic that beneath Antarctica—center of one of our most dramatic environmental alarms, the depletion of the ozone layer—may lie the smothered evidence of the most overwhelming environmental disaster.

Beneath the splendor of the Southern Lights, human garbage already scums the gleaming snow and the giant skeleton remains of machinery rusts against the horizon. Plastic containers float in the black sea and dynamite blasts rip through the eternal silence. This place offers great promise and a great opportunity—maybe a last chance for human beings to touch with some dignity, some sensitivity, the creatures that still live there. Perhaps this unique exploration, unlike so many of the others we have seen in these pages, can be tempered with mercy. We might start by declaring Antarctica an international park, the responsibility of us all. We could use only the most sophisticated, least intrusive, instruments to peer beneath the ice. If evidence of civilization is found, a surgical probe could be made. We would hold our breath as we waited to glimpse the ancient city locked in ice.

• The quest would be reborn.
  
• Our past and future would meet.
  
• Science and myth might merge.
  

POSTSCRIPT TO THE NEW EDITION

We’re very proud that the first edition of
When the Sky Fell
is one of the few books to be found in the libraries of all seven continents—including an Australian base in Antarctica! Even more rewarding has been the opportunity to introduce the idea of Atlantis in Antarctica to the popular imagination, triggering the talents of artists, musicians, and other writers.

The mail regularly brings paintings, sketches, and poems from talented amateurs and tempered professionals, all keen readers whose muse was awoken by
When the Sky Fell.

Clive Cussler gave us
Atlantis Found
(and a kind e-mail), in which James-Bond-like superhero Dirk Pitt travels to Antarctica and fights neo-Nazi villains over the remains of Atlantis. Later, Cussler teamed with Paul Kemprecos to write
Pole Shift,
a novel that envisioned terrorists who are hell-bent on artificially displacing the earth’s crust. Stel Pavlou created the exciting
Decipher,
in which Richard Scott travels the world cracking ancient hieroglyphics, including those found in the city of Atlantis two miles beneath the ice of Antarctica.

Thomas Greanias wrote
Raising Atlantis,
in which an astroarchaeologist teams with a Vatican linguist on a quest to find Atlantis in Antarctica. In 2007, a book by Jeremy Robinson,
Antarktos Rising,
imagined a present-day Earth crust displacement that frees Antarctica
from the polar zone, revealing the formerly iced continent and awakening the hibernating civilization that lies beneath.

On television, the long-running science fiction series
Stargate SG-1
(1997–2007) and its spinoff,
Stargate Atlantis
(2004–2009), both assumed a close connection between Atlantis and Antarctica. This connection yielded an unexpected invitation to Hollywood, complete with a personal tour of the old MGM studio, which was a fun surprise not often imagined while one is hunched over a manuscript for long hours checking for typos!

On the big screen,
AVP: Alien vs Predator
(2004) and
AVPR: Alien vs Predator—Requiem
(2007) were both predicated on the idea that Antarctica was once the site of an advanced civilization. And Rand’s expertise on Charles Hapgood was tapped for the recent film
2012.

As for music, the Canadian rockers Atlantis Blueprint are enjoying success. And in Australia, the group When the Sky Fell continues to gather fans.

Tom Miller’s evocative painting of scientists retrieving artifacts from beneath Antarctica’s ice was inspired by
When the Sky Fell
and was featured on the cover of the bestselling issue of
Atlantis Rising
magazine
.

Over the years many people have written to share their thoughts and ask questions. Thank you. At times this has been a raucous debate. Fortunately, most people “get it” that in the end it is how we treat each other that counts. Scoring intellectual points never needs to exclude common courtesy and goodwill.

We continue to welcome your input and look forward to our evolving adventure together at
www.flem-ath.com
.

AFTERWORD

By John Anthony West

An afterword presupposes that readers have already read the book under discussion—apart from that minority of browsers who like to nibble fore and aft before biting into the bait.

If you have indeed read this book through, you may have come to the same conclusion I have: the evidence assembled by the Flem-Aths is compelling.

Anyone reading or researching deeply into the distant past soon comes up against glaring anomalies in the currently accepted scenario of pre-history. Deluge myths are universal around the world, and the mythologies of widely separated peoples tell, over and over again, variations of the same story of global cataclysm. Plato’s infamous Atlantis legend, in all its precise detail, sits there, thumbing its nose at all those modern attempts to write it off as still another instance of the inflamed and disordered ancient imagination.