Jan 17, 2024 06:43 PM
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-...antarctica
EXCERPT: . . . Perhaps the oldest and most frequently cited piece of “evidence” for the possibility of an ancient civilization in Antarctica is the Piri Reis map, which was drawn by the eponymous Ottoman sailor and cartographer in 1513. The map illustrates a relatively accurate coastline of South America. It also hints at the presence of a landmass where Antarctica is, albeit one with no ice.
The outline of the supposed Antarctic depiction more closely resembles the physical land of the Antarctic continent than it does the ice pack, which stretches out into the ocean beyond the land. So, if Piri Reis did manage to make it that far south, he should have drawn the outline of Antarctic ice, not the land — unless, of course, he had some special knowledge that others lacked.
In addition to an unfrozen Antarctica, the map features other details that have led some minds to speculate that Piri Reis’ cartographic knowledge must have been derived from even earlier maps or documents (now lost to time) created by some unknown but highly advanced civilization who explored the world long before our recorded history. These earlier people must have visited and possibly inhabited Antarctica before it froze over. Proof that Antarctica was once populated!
Or not. In fact, the “Antarctica” that Piri Reis depicted was likely hypothetical — it was widely believed for centuries that the world ought to include a southern continent to balance out the landmasses on the other side of the world. Piri Reis was hardly the first to incorporate that belief into his work.
Thanks to ice core research, we now know that, while there did indeed turn out to be a southern continent, that continent was last free of ice about 15 million years ago. The very age of Antarctica’s ice sheets goes against every other theory of ancient Antarcticans because scientists think that Homo sapiens have only been around for a few hundred thousand years... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: . . . Perhaps the oldest and most frequently cited piece of “evidence” for the possibility of an ancient civilization in Antarctica is the Piri Reis map, which was drawn by the eponymous Ottoman sailor and cartographer in 1513. The map illustrates a relatively accurate coastline of South America. It also hints at the presence of a landmass where Antarctica is, albeit one with no ice.
The outline of the supposed Antarctic depiction more closely resembles the physical land of the Antarctic continent than it does the ice pack, which stretches out into the ocean beyond the land. So, if Piri Reis did manage to make it that far south, he should have drawn the outline of Antarctic ice, not the land — unless, of course, he had some special knowledge that others lacked.
In addition to an unfrozen Antarctica, the map features other details that have led some minds to speculate that Piri Reis’ cartographic knowledge must have been derived from even earlier maps or documents (now lost to time) created by some unknown but highly advanced civilization who explored the world long before our recorded history. These earlier people must have visited and possibly inhabited Antarctica before it froze over. Proof that Antarctica was once populated!
Or not. In fact, the “Antarctica” that Piri Reis depicted was likely hypothetical — it was widely believed for centuries that the world ought to include a southern continent to balance out the landmasses on the other side of the world. Piri Reis was hardly the first to incorporate that belief into his work.
Thanks to ice core research, we now know that, while there did indeed turn out to be a southern continent, that continent was last free of ice about 15 million years ago. The very age of Antarctica’s ice sheets goes against every other theory of ancient Antarcticans because scientists think that Homo sapiens have only been around for a few hundred thousand years... (MORE - missing details)