Psychic Archeology!

[onager]

:rofl:

Just Google that one for hours of fun. I disclaim all responsibility for coffee-ruined monitors.

I got curious because I was recently reading about the adventures of psychic archeologist Stephen Schwartz and his Psychic Psidekicks here in Alexandria, Egypt. They invaded the city in 1979, on a search for...you guessed it...the tomb of Alexander The Great.

They went to a local Alexandria landmark known as the Alabaster Tomb, which in 1979 was attracting a lot of attention as Alexander's possible tomb. Real archeologists, using their boring non-psychic tools of hard work and research, have since proved that this is very unlikely.

Schwartz and his buddies claimed to be Remote Viewers. One of this motley crew, a woman named Hella Hammid, claimed a very special PsYkiK sense that could "penetrate the earth and discern long-buried archeological objects:"

Standing inside the tomb, Hella slipped into a trance like a Victorian spirit medium. As her body began to quiver, she described a great plaza, a tall beacon by the sea, and a grand tomb strewn with debris.

Huh? She could have gleaned all those Amazin' Psychic Visions from any public library. "A tall beacon by the sea!" Even a bonehead like me can figure out that mysterious ancient occult reference--the Pharos, the Alexandria Lighthouse. It was the world's first lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the tallest building in Alexandria for over a thousand years. So well-known that "pharos" became the word for lighthouse in several languages.

It's like having a psychic vision of New York City and describing a tall building being climbed by King Kong.

BTW, in Alexandria you don't need much psychic ability to "discern long-buried archeological objects." The city has been rebuilt so many times that diggers find Ancient Stuff just about everywhere. During excavations for the new Alexandria Library in the 1990's, the construction crew uncovered the beautiful mosaic floors of a Roman villa. The dining room floor featured a really cranky-looking Medusa, and another room had the Sen. Larry Craig Memorial Mosaic Floor, with two naked male wrestlers. Just a couple of years ago during road construction, the workers dug up a large and previously unknown ancient cemetery.

But the real fun part of the Schwartz Expedition came when the Remote Viewers wrote up their "work." They paid homage to the discoverer of the Alabaster Tomb, "the great Italian archeologist Adriani in 1907."

They only got one minor detail wrong--the discoverer's name. The Alabaster Tomb was discovered by Evaristo Breccia, director of Alexandria's Graeco-Roman Museum in 1907. His successor was Achille Adriani, who in 1907 was a child in Italy.

I stole the quote and most of the proceeding info from this book, highly recommended if you are a History Geek or just interested in the subject: Alexander's Tomb: The Two Thousand Year Obsession To Find The Lost Conqueror by Nicholas J. Saunders

http://www.amazon.com/Alexanders-Tomb-Thousand-Obsession-Conquerer/dp/0465072038/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200728059&sr=1-2

[JitterbugPerfume]

1. Now that is

a Hella'va story

I couldn't resist

[semillama]

2. Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with psychic archaeology much

although I had one crew member who tried to demonstrate dowsing on a site where nearly every square inch below the ground had archaeological features.

And I had another one who was not all there, who claimed that the tree root stains we were finding during a project were as important to excavate as the actual archaeological features, because the spirits of the trees talked to her and their spirits were as important as the spirits of the indians...she also claimed to be a UFO abductee and to top all that - at one point she was digging a shallow feature with pottery, then claiming she didn't think it was cultural, then finding a piece of white glacial gravel, thinking it was a human tooth, and freaking out because she thought it was a burial ("I knew it! I knew it was a fucking burial!!" "But you were just saying you didn't think it was cultural.."). Later, after (apparently) calming down and admitting it wasn't a burial, she told another crew member's father that she had been digging a baby burial where the remains had oxidized.

Now, maybe someone can explain how bones oxidize....

[Random_Australian]

3. Bones (& teeth) are hydroxyapatite,

which is Ca5 (PO4)3 (OH) if memory serves. We note that the phosphorous is already in it's maximum oxidation state (+5), but the Calcium is only in the +2 oxidation state, which is usually the maximum, but I bet if I immersed it in peroxydisulfate or whatever the hell it is that has a standard pE of about 32,

then when I made it into a plasma the oxidation state would be higher!

Foolzorz! It is obviously what the ancients did with their babies! The pyramids required plasma technology to put together! It isn't unreasonable! Science doesn't know everything! Science is wrong sometimes! Except only Big S Science! God turns a blind eye to lies that make the bible seem more true!

Ah, whoops, got some evangalist mixed in with my woo-impression. Never mind.

[moggie]

4. Why have I never heard of Hella Hammid and her super-powers?

This woo deep radar should have made her rich and famous (or at least famous, if she's too spiritual to want wealth). There should be dreadful films about her starring Angelina Jolie.

ETA xkcd.com comic "the data so far":

[onager]

5. Egyptian story: Gold Of The Pharoahs Discovered!!!

Pardon me for not remembering names or details. I'm sure this story is hanging around the web somewhere, probably on the EGYPT TODAY site, but I'm too darn lazy to go looking.

Anyway, a while back, the magazine EGYPT TODAY ran an article about an Egyptian mining company that expects to extract $100 million in gold during the next few years.

In a note that should have woos just piling out of the woo-d-work and making goofy claims, they are mining at the sites of ancient Pharaonic gold mines. The ancient Egyptians found lots of gold--e.g., King Tut was buried in a solid gold sarcophagus.

I just can't figure out what happened to the awesome powers of Hella Hammid and her buddies. This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff they should be able to find!

The real story, more interesting than any wooery as far as I'm concerned:

One day a very experienced Egyptian mining engineer had a business appointment. While waiting for his meeting, he was struck by a wall decoration in the reception room--a big map tracing the sites in Egypt where the Pharoahs had found gold deposits.

He started thinking about that sarcophagus of Tut's, among other things. He also pondered the idea that the Pharoahs hauled tons of gold out of the ground without any modern mining technology.

He got himself a copy of the map and started surveying the ancient sites. Sure enough, there seemed to be quite a bit of gold left in those places. But it would have been unreachable to his ancient ancestors. They just grabbed the easiest gold they could get.

So we have ancient treasure being discovered--thanks to one man's experience and technical knowledge, an old map, and new technology.

Much better than some fruitcake faking a trance!