/ world today news/ A tourist boom awaits you after the world learns, says Robert Shock
Prof. Ana Raduncheva from the Institute of Archeology at the BAS, the archaeoastronomer Robert Boval, the geologist Dr. Robert Schock and the NASA astrophysicist Thomas Brophy were on an international expedition in our country a month ago. She researches the remains of the civilization that inhabited the Bulgarian lands before the Thracians, in the region of the Eastern Rhodopes. “Standard” asked Robert Shock about the ancient civilizations in our country and the most interesting finds that impressed him.
– What did you expect to see in Bulgaria and what were the results of your expedition to the Rhodopes?
– I have been working on archaeological sites and doing research on the subject since the late 1990s. I am a geologist and I teach at Boston University, USA. I received my PhD in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University. One of the things I’ve been studying for the last 25 years is very ancient sites and places around the world. Perhaps the most famous is my work in Egypt /Shock proves that the pyramids and the Sphinx were shaped by long-term influence of water and this disproves the previous theories about their age. He proves that they were built significantly earlier than what was believed until then – footnote. My theory of the dating of the Sphinx was initially the product of much debate in scientific circles and was rejected. According to official science, civilizations and sophisticated cultures arose only 5000 years ago. Whereas with my Sphinx theory I have provided scientific evidence that this is not the case, and developed civilizations existed far before this period. Only in recent years have we received independent evidence from ancient sites all over the planet that there really were far older, advanced civilizations than mainstream science had assumed. For example, traces of a society with a very developed and sophisticated culture of about 10,000 years ago were found in South-Eastern Turkey. After visiting the Rhodopes, I believe that there are traces of a similar civilization in Bulgaria as well. And although we were only in your country for a few days, seeing the ancient sites and sanctuaries, we saw the same type of geological traces that I see in other places around the world.
– Which places in the Rhodopes did you manage to visit and what traces of this very ancient civilization, unknown to official science, did you manage to find?
– For specialists, it is clear that the sanctuaries we were able to visit were used in 3000 BC, but were built on much more ancient structures. So when I was looking at the stone structures and the geology, the way they were worked, I found that they were similar to those found around the world. The other thing that I think is extremely important is that a lot of these ancient sanctuaries are connected to natural caves nearby. Or natural caves that were subsequently modified by ancient people. This is typical for the period 10,000 – 9,000 BC, when the climatic conditions were different. We are talking about the very end of the Ice Age. So the climatic conditions were very different, very harsh. Official science talks about cavemen, but in fact their society was far more advanced than we think, and so were the tools they used.
– One of the world’s mysteries is precisely how some of the ancient monuments were built, given the fact that they should have been erected by people without technical knowledge and the necessary equipment. What tools do you think these ancient civilizations used?
– In the places we looked at in the Rhodopes, syenite rocks were worked, which are extremely strong in depth, but their surface is much easier to work, allowing it to be carved and shaped. And although we have not had time for more detailed research here, I assume that, as in other ancient places, they were worked with harder pieces of rock and harder minerals. Back then they still didn’t have copper and iron to make their work easier. And that is precisely why it is amazing that with such primitive tools, they were able to create such structures.
– What do you think was the purpose of them putting so much effort into creating these structures? Did they have a practical use or were they simply the result of a sacred cult?
– What has come down to us, of course, are mostly the foundations of these structures, as they were rebuilt and reused. They were of utmost importance to ancient societies – to observe the movement of celestial bodies. This was important to them from a religious point of view, but also from another point of view. Much different things happened there than today. There is evidence that at the end of the Ice Age there were catastrophic climate changes on the planet caused by a change in the Sun. And for them, these observations were extremely important and from a pragmatic point of view, in order to survive.
– Do you think that these ancient civilizations that existed 8-10,000 years ago, even more, were connected to each other?
– Yes. They were connected in two ways. First of all, they lived on a planet affected by climate change and had similar experiences no matter where they were in the world. Secondly, these catastrophic changes have led to migration in an attempt to find a more suitable place to live. And the evidence shows that these were sophisticated cultural societies and civilizations as early as the end of the Ice Age. In Europe we are talking about the dark ages after the fall of the Roman Empire. Due to climatic changes, these civilizations also fell into their dark ages, precisely at the end of the Ice Age. In my opinion, there is evidence that these societies also reached that level of development that allowed them to travel, to contact each other, to exchange cultural knowledge. Why didn’t the civilization that built the pyramids in Egypt and the one that lived in the Rhodopes do this? For example, the hard rocks and minerals with which the ancient monuments were built were only found in a few places in the world. So they were obviously traded.
– Which was the place that intrigued you the most from the ones you visited in Bulgaria?
– Belintash is a very interesting place. Because there we have very ancient worked rocks. And I definitely want to go back again to do a more serious study and I’m already playing scenarios in my head about how to make that happen. Tatul, which is popular, in my opinion, hides not only the story that is being told – for the period 1000-2000 BC. But I think there is evidence that this place was used much earlier than that. In a similar way, my studies in Egypt also began – from an idea that we were looking at a monument that is significantly older than official assumptions. What these ancient monuments and sanctuaries have in common, apart from their age, is of course that they are located in key locations for astronomical observations. Although I was skeptical before I came, I am now convinced that there are traces of these primitive civilizations here too. And I think there’s geological evidence for that, too. This trip was like an appetizer that whets the appetite for further research. Once the world knows about what you have here, it will pique the interest of many tourists as well. Egypt is an example of how such expeditions can do it. Unfortunately, there is tension there at the moment and many people are afraid to go to Egypt, even though they will be able to see the pyramids, the Sphinx and other ancient monuments along the Nile. At the same time, Bulgaria is a very beautiful country, with friendly people, good cuisine and many monuments and shrines to see. Bulgaria is truly fantastic.
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