[LucyT]

From graphic at the Link:

"3D virtual reality image was made from the Johannes Loubser site plan. There may be many other hidden structures in the ancient site."

.

[aposiopetic]

ping

[smokingfrog]

http://www.stratumunlimited.com/uploads/4/8/1/5/4815662/track_rock_paper.pdf

[Southack]

Unlikely

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[FlingWingFlyer]

We’ll never be able to shut those La Raza lowlifes up now. Guess we all better get ready to be shipped back to Europe.

[MCF]

Why would they pick a mountain to terrace and irrigate when there is plenty of valley land with good soil and water?

[Fred Nerks]

... One of the favorite stories about Track Rock Gap was recorded by ethnographer James Mooney who gathered Cherokee stories. The Cherokee called this site Datsu'nalasgun'ylu (where there are tracks) and Degayelun'ha (the printed or branded place). Cherokee stories include an explanation that hunters paused in the gap and amused themselves by carving the glyphs: the marks were made in a great hunt when the animals were driven through the gap, and that the tracks were made when the animals were leaving the great canoe after a flood almost destroyed the world and while the earth and rocks were soft. In 1867, conservationist John Muir traveled nearby and met a mountaineer who said, "It is called Track Gap ... from the great number of tracks in the rocks — bird tracks, bar tracks, hoss tracks, men tracks, all in the solid rock as if it had been mud. "

TRACK ROCK LINK

[dog breath]

Thanks for the post, I will have to read more on this.

[sawmill trash]

Maybe they will find page 2 of that Mayan calendar everyone is talking about, the one that ends in 2012 ...

[crazyhorse691]

Junk science..everybody knows that the Mayans were just a genetic experiment done by aliens.

[radu]

How cool! I’ve been fascinated by Mayan culture for years and always wanted to visit some of their ruins.

These may not be as spectacular as those in Central America but they’re a HECK of a lot closer. I may have to tell Hubby it’s time for a road trip!

[bunkerhill7]

a clue?

The Golden City of Iroquois Oral Tradition

“Perhaps about two thousand two hundred years before the Columbus discovered the America [708 B.C.?], and the northern nations [north of the St. Lawrence River?] appointed a prince, and immediately repaired to the south [of the St. Lawrence River?] and visited the great Emperor who resided at the Golden City, a capital of the vast empire. After a time the Emperor built many forts throughout his dominions and almost penetrated the lake Erie; this produced an excitement, the people of the north felt that they would soon be deprived of the country on the south side of the Great Lakes they determined to defend their country against any infringement of foreign people; long bloody wars ensued which lasted about one hundred years; the people of the north were too skillful in the use of bows and arrows and could endure hardships which proved fatal to a foreign people; at last the northern nations gained the conquest and all the towns and forts were totally destroyed and left them in a heap of ruins.”

Bonaparte, Darren, `Creation and Confederation`

[Fresh Wind]

Great. Now the reconquista crowd is going to want Georgia back too.

[doodad]

I have backpacked and trapised all around this area since I was a teen and have never seen any evidence of something like this anywhere. Not saying it isn’t true, but I have a geology degree and can spot man made features fairly well.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Fascinating! Thanks.

[JoeProBono]

"3D virtual reality image was made from the Johannes Loubser site plan. There may be many other hidden structures in the ancient site."

[pabianice]

A personal note from the author:

I am astounded by the interest in this article. Normally, I am followed by a modest cadre of progressive archaeologists and Native Americans. For unknown reasons, I was not able to comment on my article, but I would like to respond to some of the comments, since it is obvious that several readers are reading the comments rather than the article. The situation is getting out of hand, with numerous web sites on the internet debating comments to this article as if they were the article. Being a writer for the Examiner, I must stay in the realm of journalism and not get into pre-adolescent cat fights and personal attacks that have become commonplace in the world of blogs and social networking.

Let it suffice to say that since the simultaneous passing of several absolute giants of Southeastern archaeology in 1979, the profession has increasing stagnated, become cult-like and lost its desire to gain new knowledge. I personally heard one of the archaeologists state at a Society of Georgia Archaeology meeting, "We have learned all there is to know about the Southeastern Indians. It is time to move on to other things." Yes, it IS time for them move out of the way.

=======================================================

In a nutshell, this is what has happened to anthropology. It has devolved into a petty, snarling mob of idealogues who spend most of their time stabbing each other in the back so better to win their particular arguments. The appearance of the loathsome "feminist anthropology" in the 70s was the beginning, in which men are excluded from the science by feminist harpies. What a shame.

[Flag_This]

"Around the year 800 AD the flourishing Maya civilization of Central America suddenly began a rapid collapse. A series of catastrophic volcanic eruptions were followed by two long periods of extreme drought conditions and unending wars between city states."

The very first paragraph is complete crap.

There was no sudden collapse of the Mayan civilization. Their civilization seemed to have arisen in the southern highlands of Guatemala and then spread northwards. Over time, different city states rose and then fell (for many different reasons). El Mirador was abandoned around 150 A.D. Ceren, in El Salvador, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption around 600 A.D. Tikal and Copan fell around the mid 800's. Chichen Itza was a major regional power in 1000 A.D. Mayapan was thriving until the 1400's.

Nothing against Georgia, but I don't see the Maya hiking there for a fresh start.

[americanophile]

very interesting

[La Lydia]

This is an interesting supposition but there is absolutely no peer review of his thesis anywhere to be found, and the article was badly written. When the original survey was done, why did they get someone from South Africa, for crying out loud, instead of a Mexican Mayanist? I would like to see something more competently done regarding this possible interpretation. And the commenters on the original site are waaaay out there anti-American nut jobs for the most part.