The Descent of Man Part II Synopsis: Ancient Artifacts: A review of Indian and Chinese ancient artifacts as well as Egyptian artifacts and other archaeological artifacts that defy known history from the Nanjiig Belt to references to ancient flying machines in early texts. Violations History also records how mankind possessed a medical knowledge not previously suspected. An excavation of mummies from the Valley of the Kings in Egypt (right) found that many of the jaws of the mummies had bridges and artificial teeth (14). Similarly Mayan skulls dug up on the coast of Jaina in Campeche, Mexico also show crowns and fillings in place (15). Recent ancient artifacts discoveries have also shown that Pre-Inca surgeons performed operations on the brain 2,500 years ago. Trepanation is a fairly recent development in modern medicine, yet thousands of skulls in Peru show marks of such successful surgery. When the same operations were attempted at the Hotel Dieu in Paris in 1786, the operations were invariably fatal. Medical knowledge was widespread in our ancient times. Sushruta (5th Century BCE) listed the diagnosis of 1120 diseases. He described 121 surgical instruments and was the first to experiment with plastic surgery (16). The Sactya Grantham, a Brahmin book compiled about 1500 BCE contains the following passage describing the giving of a smallpox vaccination. "Take on the tip of a knife the contents of the inflammation, inject it into the arm of a man, mixing it with his blood. A fever will follow but the malady will pass very easily and will create no complications. (17)" Modern history, however, claims that Edward Jenner (1749-1823) discovered the practise of vaccination. There are also hints of more intriguing medical advancements. The Chinese Emperor Tsin-Shi (259-210 BCE) reportedly owned a ‘magic mirror’ which could illuminate the bones of the body. When a patient stood before this rectangular mirror which measured 1.76 by 1.22 metres in size, the image appeared reversed but all the organs and bones were visible – an apparent reference to an x-ray machine. The ‘magic mirror’ itself was reportedly used to diagnose disease (18).

In fact the Chinese appear particularly knowledgeable when it comes to medicine. A Chinese surgeon, Hua T’o carried out operations under anaesthetic over 1800 years ago. The chronicle of Hou Hou Shu of the later Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) reports as follows; "He first made the patient swallow hemp-bubble-powder mixed with wine, and as soon as intoxication and unconsciousness supervened, he made an incision in the belly or the back and cut out any morbid growth.

If the stomach or intestine was the part affected, he thoroughly cleansed these organs after the use of the knife, and removed the contaminating matter that had caused the infection. He would then stitch up the wound, and apply a marvellous ointment which caused it to heal in four or five days, and within a month the patient was completely restored to health (19)."

Of one of the most puzzling Chinese artifacts suggesting lost knowledge came to light in China on 1st December 1993 when a workman's spade broke through the roof of a long buried and forgotten tomb. Work was being undertaken to build a sports field for the Jingyi Middle school of Yix-ing City in the Jiang-su Province of China at the time. The police were called in and recognising the find as a tomb, called in the Huadong Historical Relics Working Team who conducted a full-scale investigation. The tomb was later identified as the burial site of a famous general of the Chin dynasty, Chou Chou who lived from 265-316 AD.

In the tomb were found pieces of pottery, porcelain, scraps of gold and a metal belt fastener. The fastener was examined by the Institute of Applied Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and by the Dunbai Polytechnic. Their analysis showed that the metal of the fastener was an alloy of 5% manganese, 10% copper - and 85% aluminium. The mystery here being that aluminium was not supposed to have been discovered until 1803 and had certainly not been produced successfully in pure form until 1854. Even today, the process of extracting aluminium from bauxite is complicated and involves the use of a Reverbier oven, a refraction chamber and regenerator as well as electrolysis and temperatures exceeding 950° Celsius.

 The mystery Chinese artifact became known as the Nanjiig Belt and sparked off a wave of controversy, which came to an initial end with the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. However by that time, western scientists had obtained data on the belt, notably Dr. J. Needham of Cambridge University, author of ‘Science and Civilisation in China.’ Other researchers followed his lead and in December 1986 a report entitled ‘Aluminium Objects from a Jin Dynasty Tomb - Can They Be Authentic?’ was published by scientists at the Chemistry Department of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

By this time stories were beginning to circulate that the belt had been dropped more recently by robbers. The scientists at St. Andrews, however, dismissed this; "It is difficult to see why they should have left the silver objects in place and carefully inserted pieces of aluminium for the confusion of future excavators. A tomb robber is scarcely likely to have scraps of kitchen utensils about his person and to have discarded them accidentally. It would also need a miraculous breeze to the replace the dust." (20)

However, despite dismissing the grave robber theory, they introduced their own hypothesis, as they could not account for aluminium being in existence nearly 1500 years ago. "We are led to suggest," they concluded, "that the aluminium was introduced at an academic prank by a participant who was probably greatly embarrassed when he realised the consequences of his actions. (21)"

Despite this guess, for it is no more than that, no academic has come forward to support this theory and the mystery remains. As Arthur C. Clarke comments, "the mystery of the ancient Chinese aluminium belt has worried me for years. Technologically, such an artifact would be almost as anomalous as a medieval transistor radio". (22)

Yet there are other indications of ancient knowledge of metalworking. In the courtyard of Kurb Minar in Delhi India stands the Ashoka Pillar, a column of cast iron weighing approximately six tons and standing 23 feet eight inches high, with a diameter of 16 inches. The column had stood in the Temple of Muttra, capped with a Garuda - an image of the bird incarnation of the god Vishnu. Muslim invaders later destroyed the Garuda and ripped the column from its original setting, re-erecting it in Delhi in the eleventh century. The exact age of the column is not known however it bears the inscription of an epitaph to King Chandra Gupta II who died in 413AD signifying that it is at least 1500 years old.

The mystery of the pillar, however, is not its age, nor even its immense size (suggesting a sizeable casting job) but the fact that a piece of iron manufactured around fifteen hundred years ago and subjected to the Indian monsoon rains, winds and temperatures should have corroded and disappeared long ago. The column, however, shows only traces of rust and suggests a technology was available to its makers that is now unknown (23).

Another iron column exists at Kottenforest, a few miles west of Bonn, Germany. Known locally as the Iron Man, it is 4 ft 10 inches above ground and an estimated 9 feet beneath the surface. This column was first mentioned in a fourteenth century document where it was described as marking a village boundary, but there is evidence that it is much older. For associated with the Iron Man is an ancient stone walkway, and the remains of an aqueduct that runs straight towards the column. Again, like the pillar in India, the Iron Man shows only scant traces of rust (24).

On the other side of the world there is also evidence of ancient metal working knowledge. Pre-Inca Peruvian ornaments and other objects made out of platinum have been discovered, yet in order to melt platinum, a temperature of c.1755° Celsius is required, and there is no satisfactory answer as to how the ancient Peruvians were able to produce such an intense heat (25).

The ancient Palestinians also appeared to have knowledge of metal hardening techniques. Professor Clifford Wilson, while working for the Australian Institute of Archaeology, noted that one leg of a Palestinian bronze statue of Baal was missing, and when metal workers were commissioned to add a modern one, they were surprised that they could not duplicate the original bronze as it was harder than any they could make (26).

Ancient advanced technologies are evident elsewhere. In 1898 a small model plane was discovered in a tomb near Saqqara, Egypt and was dated to approximately two hundred BCE. At the time of its discovery, the birth of modern aviation was still several years away. The model was sent to the Cairo Museum of Antiquities and was catalogued as Special register No. 6347 Room 22, and then promptly forgotten about.

Just over 70 years later, when man had travelled to the Moon, Dr Kalil Messiha, an Egyptologist and archaeologist, came across the model in a box marked ‘bird objects’ when he was clearing out the museum's basement. The other items in the box were clearly bird figurines, but the model stood out as being different, having characteristics that appeared to resemble parts of a modern aircraft.

Eratosthenes (3^rd Century BCE - left), the custodian of the Alexandria Library, worked out the circumference of the planet. He noted that due south at Syene the sun was directly overhead on midsummer’s day and seven degrees from vertical at Alexandria on the same day. From this and knowledge of geography he was able to work out the figures he required. There was a discrepancy of only 80km between his figure for the polar diameter and the modern figure.

"The Earth spins on its axis once in 24 hours." Heraclides of Pontus noted in the 4^th Century BC. Seleucus of Erythrea (2^nd Century BCE) also recognised the rotation of the Earth and its orbit around the sun.

Up until Victorian times, scholars and clerics in the west believed that the Earth was only a few thousand years old, yet ancient Brahmin texts estimated that the universe was 4,320 million years old; today we believe it to be around 4,600 million years.

The ancient Indian astronomical text Surya Siddhanta recorded that the Earth ‘is a globe in space’. In the book Huang Ti-Ping King Su Wen, Chi-Po advised the Yellow Emperor (2697-2597 BCE) that ‘the Earth floats in space’. Over four thousand years later, Galileo was condemned for proposing such heresy. Plutarch (left) cites Aristarchus (3^rd Century BCE) "The earth revolves in an oblique circle while it rotates at the same time about its own axis." (Plutarch also made a suggestion about our Moon: "If you regard her as a star or a certain divine and heavenly body, I am afraid she will prove deformed and foul.")

The ancient book of India, Rig-Veda makes reference to the ‘three earths’ one within the other. Indeed there are three sections to the Earth; the core, mantle and crust. Diogenes of Apollonia (5^th Century BCEt) stated that meteors "move in space and frequently fall to the earth". Yet the respected 18^th Century scientist, Lavoisier, stated what appeared to be the obvious, "it is impossible for stones to fall from the sky because there are no stones in the sky."

The extent of our ancient knowledge is hinted at when texts such as the so called ‘Emerald Tables of Hermes’ are considered. The exact dating of this document is unclear, however whilst some date it from the Middle Ages, others such as 18^th Century scholar, Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom consider that the Emerald Tables date back to 2500 BCE.

The Tables begin "What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like what is above to effect wonders of one and the same work." Researchers have interpreted this as meaning there is a mirror-like similarity between the world of the atom, with electrons spinning round protons as planets spin around suns, and stars and galaxies.

"Separate the earth from the fire, the subtile from the gross, carefully and skilfully. This substance ascends from the earth to the sky, and descends again on the earth – and thus the superior and inferior are increased in power." This section of the tables has been interpreted as the process of splitting the atom and the associated dangers.

A further paragraph of the tables indicates an ancient belief in the vibratory character of matter and the waves and rays that penetrate all substances, "This is the potent power of all forces for it will overcome all that is fine and penetrate all that is course because in this manner was the world created. (29)" Of course, all texts are open to interpretation and misinterpretation, yet if the above interpretations were accurate, they certainly would not stand out in isolation from other contemporary knowledge. Democritus stated nearly two and a half thousand years ago "in reality there is nothing but atoms and space." Lucretius a 1^st Century BCE Roman scholar wrote about atoms "rushing everlastingly throughout all space". They undergo "miriad changes under the disturbing impact of collisions". He also noted that it is impossible to see atoms as they are too small.

In his ‘On the Nature of the Universe’ Lucretius gives his opinion that "there can be no centre in infinity" and "the way up and the way down, are one and the same (30)." Zeno of Elea (5^th Century BCE) demonstrated an awareness of relativity with this puzzle, "If the flying arrow is at every instant of its flight at rest in a space equal to its length, when does it move?" (31)

The atomic structure of matter is also mentioned in the Brahmin treatises Vaisesika and Nyaya. The Yoga Vasishta states "There are vast worlds within the hollows of each atom, multifarious as the specks in a sunbeam." Philolaus (5^th Century BCE) referred to an ‘antichthon’ or anti-earth, an invisible body in our solar system, however it is only recently that the concepts of anti-matter and parallel worlds have been introduced to modern science. Plato wrote in the Statesman about an oscillating universe periodically reversing its time arrow and sometimes moving from the future into the past (32).

The Brahmin texts also shed light onto man’s ancient knowledge by their divisions of time. Last century in parts of northern England and elsewhere, clocks often did not have a minute hand, the hour hand sufficing. After all, until the busy and hectic twentieth century, the counting of minutes was somewhat superfluous. Yet the Siddhanta-Ciromani subdivides the hour until it arrives at the truti equivalent to 0.33750 of a second. Not only are we unaware of why such a small measure of time was required in antiquity, but we are also unable to explain what could have measured such timescales with that degree of accuracy (33).

The legendary Daedalus, father of Icarus, is reported to have constructed human-like figures, which moved of their own accord. Plato, who gave us the story of Atlantis, says that these robots were so active that they had to be prevented from running away (35).

Albertus Magnus (1206-1280 - left), the Bishop of Regensburg explained the Milky Way was a conglomeration of distant stars. He was later canonised by the Catholic Church, and wrote extensively on chemistry, mathematics and astronomy. He reported that over a period of twenty years he constructed an android composed of "metals and unknown substances chosen according to the stars (36)."

The mechanical man apparently walked, spoke and performed domestic chores… and spoke. In fact it was reported to never shut up to the point when Albertus’ pupil, Thomas Aquinas, one day grabbed a hammer and smashed the machine to pieces.

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