Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries (5 page)

If one takes a closer look at archaeological evidence from Mystery Hill, it
becomes clear that it does not support
the theory that the site was an ancient
temple complex, occupied by the Celts
and visited by the Phoenicians. The lack
of dateable pre-colonial artifacts found
in context at the site is a major problem for its prehistoric European origins. Excavations conducted by Gary
S. Vescelius in 1955 recovered 8,000
artifacts, all of which suggested late18th century occupation of the site. An
important fact noted by Vescelius was
that many of these 18th century artifacts were found in situ underneath
and inside stone walls in the Y-cavern,
proving that this structure must postdate the objects. In fact, to date, there
has not been a single Phoenician or
Celtic object found in an archaeological context anywhere in North
America. These Celts and Phoenicians

who were supposedly in America carving inscriptions did not leave any other
trace of their presence, not even a
single pottery shard to prove their
existence.

Much of the seemingly unexplained stone work at Mystery Hill and
elsewhere in New England can be attributed to the work of 18th and 19th
century farmers in the form of walled
field boundaries, walled building foundations, and stone storage structures.
Some of the remaining structures may
have an origin with the local Native
American population, as noted by
Edwin C. Ballard in his research into
the U-shaped stone structures of the
area. It is also a distinct possibility that
parts of the Mystery Hill complex were
given over to the production of potash
and pearlash. Potash is made by extracting all the water from a lye solution obtained from the leaching of
wood ashes. The potash is then baked
in a kiln until all the carbon impurities are burned off, resulting in a fine,
white powder, which is the pearlash.
There are various references that show
the importance of potash and pearlash
to the economy of the country in the
18th century. In 1765, the Governor of
Massachusetts is recorded to have
stated that the production of potash
and hemp and the transporting of lumber to England were the best business
enterprises for the colonies.

Potash was made on farms and
homesteads and sold to peddlers, who
would then sell it on to manufacturers, who converted it to pearlash at
their factories, known as ashies. As
well as the kiln for converting the potash to pearlash, these factories would
contain a small stone structure, called an ashery, in which they burned large
quantities of wood. These buildings
included a roof with a hole in it and
two openings, one in the middle of one
side for adding the wood to the fire,
and the other at the bottom for removing the ashes. Taking into consideration the lye-leeching stone and the
various stone structures at the site, it
is highly likely that this sort of activity went on at Mystery Hill. The structures that were once part of these
pearlash factories have never been
identified as such, perhaps because
such a prosaic explanation for the site
does not fit the theories of those promoting more fantastic functions for
Mystery Hill.

However, there are radiocarbon
dates, obtained from charcoal found
alongside a stone pick and a hammer
stone, which do prove human occupation at Mystery Hill going back to the
second millennium B.C. But this is
much more likely to indicate a Native
American presence than that of
Bronze or Iron Age Europeans. Some
researchers have claimed that many
of the stones at Mystery Hill are
aligned to obvious astronomical points,
and that the site can still be used today as an accurate astronomical calendar, utilizing the stones to determine

specific solar and lunar events in the
year. However, the so-called celestial
alignments at the site (if they are not
entirely accidental) can be ascribed to
American Indians, whose interest in
sun and moon alignments can be seen
from other Native American Indian
sites such as the pyramids of Kahokia,
near St. Louis.

So what, then, is the explanation
for Mystery Hill? It is probable that
the origin of the site lies in a Native
American hunting camp, probably established some time during the second
millennium B.C. As for the structures
on the site, the vast majority of them
can be explained in terms of postcolonial farming and industrial activity from the late 18th century onwards,
though one or two remain enigmatic.
The confused state of the Mystery Hill
complex itself leads easily to misunderstanding, and it is clear that even
with a concise series of excavations,
the site's mystery may never be solved.
People are of course free to claim
a prehistoric European origin for
America's Stonehenge, even if the
available evidence points in a completely different direction. In the end,
these beliefs tell us more about the
believers than about the real origins
and functions of Mystery Hill.

Hewn out of the
solid rock, the ancient
ruined city of Petra
(the word petra means
stone or rock in Greek)
lies within a ring of
forbidding sandstone
mountains in the
desert southwest of
modern Amman, 50
miles south of the Dead
Sea in Jordan. Such is
the site's protected position that even today
this spectacular complex of temples, tombs,
and houses can only be
accessed on foot or on
horseback. Entrance
to Petra is via a dark
winding crevice in the
rock, known as the siq (cleft in Arabic),
which is in places as little as a few feet
wide. This great mystery of the desert
contains nearly 1,000 monuments, and
once possessed fountains, gardens, and
a permanent water supply. But why
was it carved out of the sandstone in
such a secluded, arid location? Who
built this majestic city and what happened to its inhabitants?

© Thanassis Vembos.

The Siq, the narrow entrance to
Petra.

The earliest known population of
Petra was a Semitic-speaking tribe
known as the Edomites, mentioned in

the Bible as descendents of Esau. But it
was a culture called
the Nabateans who
were responsible for
most of the incredible
architecture at Petra.
The Nabateans were
of nomadic Arabic
origin, but by the
fourth century B.C.
had begun to settle
down in various parts
of Palestine and
southern Jordan, and
around this time they
made Petra their
capital city. The naturally fortified position of the site on a
trade route between
Arabian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek,
and Roman cultures allowed the
strength of the Nabateans to grow.
Gaining control of the caravan route
between Arabia and Syria, the
Nabateans soon developed a commercial empire that extended as far north
as Syria, and the city of Petra became
the center for the spice trade.

The wealth accumulated by the
Nabateans at Petra (through their
commercial enterprise) allowed them
to build and carve in a style that combined native traditions with Hellenistic (Greek) influence. One of the
Nabateans' most oustanding achievements at Petra sprang from necessity.
Their city lay on the edge of the
parched desert, so a water supply was
of prime concern. Consequently, they
developed highly sophisticated dams,
as well as water conservation and irrigation systems. But the wealth of the
Nabateans brought the envy of their
neighbors and they were forced to repel several attacks against their capital during the late fourth century B.C.,
by the Seleucid king Antigonus. The
Seleucid Empire was founded in 312 B.C.
by Seleucus I, one of Alexander the
Great's generals, and included much
of the eastern part of Alexander's
Empire. In 64-63 B.C., the Nabateans
were conquered by the Roman general
Pompey, and in A.D. 107, under the
Emporer Trajan, the area became part
of the Roman province of Arabia
Petraea. Despite the conquest, Petra
continued to thrive during the Roman
period, and various structures, including a vast theater, a colonnaded street,
and a Triumphal Arch across the siq,
were added to the city. It has been estimated that the population of Petra
may have been as great as 20,000 to
30,000 at its height. However, as the
importance of the city of Palmyra, in
central Syria, grew on a trade route
linking Persia, India, China, and the
Roman Empire, Petra's commercial
activity began to decline.

In the fourth century, Petra became
part of the Christian Byzantine Empire, but in A.D. 363 the free-standing
parts of the city were destroyed in a
devastating earthquake, and it is
around this time that the Nabateans
seem to have left the city. No one is

sure exactly why they abandoned the
site, but it seems unlikely they deserted their capital because of the
earthquake, as very few valuable finds
have been unearthed at the site, indicating that their departure was not a
sudden one. A further catastrophic
earthquake in A.D. 551 practically ruined the city, and by the time of the
Muslim conquest in the 7th century
A.D., Petra was beginning to slip into
obscurity. There was another damaging earthquake in A.D. 747 that further
structurally weakened the city, after
which there was silence until the early
12th century and the arrival of
the Crusaders, who built a small fort
inside the city. After the Crusaders
left in the 13th century, Petra was
left in the hands of sandstorms and
floods, which buried a large part of the
once great city until even its ruins
were forgotten.

It was not until 1812 that an AngloSwiss explorer named Johann Ludwig
Burckhardt rediscovered the lost city
of Petra and brought it to the attention of the western world. Burckhardt
had been travelling in the near east
disguised as a Muslim trader (under
the name of Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn
Abdallah) in order to acquire knowledge and experience oriental life.
While in Elji, a small settlement just
outside Petra, Burckhardt heard talk
of a lost city hidden in the mountains
of Wadi Mousa. Posing as a pilgrim
wishing to make a sacrifice at the ancient site, he persuaded two of the
Bedouin inhabitants of the village to
guide him through the narrow siq.
Burckhardt seems only to have managed a brief tour of the remains of
Petra, before sacrificing a goat at the
foot of the shrine of the prophet Aaron and making his way back to Elji. The
explorer did, however manage to produce a map of the ruins and made an
entry in his journal to the effect that
he had rediscovered Petra.

© Thanassis Vembos.

The Treasury Monument at Petra.

Since the time of Burckhardt, the
purpose of the rock-cut city of Petra,
hidden away in such a secret location,
has puzzled many a traveler, scholar,
and archaeologist. The romantic ancient atmosphere of the site was evocatively captured in the famous line
describing Petra as a "rose-red city
half as old as time," from the poem
"Petra," written in 1845 by John William Burgon. But what exactly was the
function of this strange place-was it
a fortress, a commercial center, or a
sacred city? There are many royal
tombs throughout the site, as well as
public tombs and shaft tombs (the latter places are apparently where
criminals were buried alive). But evidence from archaeological investigations over the past decade or so
suggests Petra may have had many
different functions over the hundreds
of years it was inhabited. The magnificent entrance to the site is the
more than a mile-long siq, or narrow
gorge that winds through the soaring
golden-brown sandstone cliffs. There
are many small Nabatean tombs
carved into the cliff walls of the siq,
as well as evidence for the skill of the
Nabateans as hydraulic engineers, in
the form of channels-once containing clay pipes-which originally carried drinking water into the city. A
further example of the engineering
abilities of the Nabateans can be seen
at the right of the entrance to the siq.
Now, as 2,000 years ago, after heavy
rain, water flows down the Wadi
Mousa (or Valley of Moses) into the siq