The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization

by Rand Flem-Ath and Colin Wilson

Book Overview

CAN ARCHAEOLOGY'S GREATEST MYSTERIES BE TRACED BACK TO THE LOST CIVILIZATION OF ATLANTIS? The Great Pyramid. Stonehenge. Machu Picchu. For centuries, these and other sacred sites have attracted... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385334796
• ISBN13: 9780385334792
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 415 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.3" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Solid theory, needs figures

First my criticism: It got very frustrating reading this book mentioning longitudes and latitudes over and over and their significance without any frame of reference. A dozen or so basic diagrams showing these positions would have be a great help. Basically we read about the blueprint---but we don't see it. Still this book is brings forth a very interesting theory without jumping into silly sensational ideas like aliens and such. On the other hand they weren't afraid to reference nut jobs like Stichen when Stichen had a valid point. After all, the nice thing about the deluded is they don't have any qualms about delving into things others wouldn't and in the process actually stumble on valuable nuggets of truth.You'll see some reviewers effectively labelling the authors of this book "nutjobs" but I, for one, think that's simply not the case. The findings are pretty clear and they present a theory based on it. Time and new discoveries (if allowed to be known by the all-too-frequently blinded powers that be in the archeaological world) will tell. In the meantime this book provides a very interesting and compelling theory. It would have been nice if they would have shared a figure with regard to the final theory put forth on the possible position Atlantis. Nevertheless, the book is well written and well-documented.

Fascinating hypothesis, compelling reading!

Put briefly, the premise of this book is that an advanced civilization existed in distant prehistory, sometime around 10,000 - 12,000 B.C. Its cultural center was located on what is now the continent of Antarctica and was wiped out due to a global cataclysm: a shift in the earth's pole, from a former North Pole in the Hudson Bay in Canada to the current North Pole location in the Arctic. This pole shift brought tremendous upheaval and resulted in sheets of ice covering Antarctica. These ice sheets prevent today's researchers and explorers from uncovering the strongest evidence of its existence.The inhabitants of this civilization were technically advanced, particularly in the area of geology and possibly in other areas as well, including acoustics. In terms of geology they were able to figure out that even earlier pole shifts had occurred and, the authors surmise, were able to predict that there was another one coming that was going to wipe out most of what they had come to build. They had two goals: to create as permanent a memorial as possible to their existence and to pass along their knowledge to subsequent cultures. This memorial would encode a message to a future, advanced civilization that it, too, should be aware of the existence of pole shifts.Wilson and Flem-Ath postulate that this ancient civilization accomplished its first goal -- memorializing their civilization -- by creating a huge network of "markers" at meaningful locations around the globe. Giza was chosen as the prime meridian, partly due to its being the geological "center of mass" of the continental array of the time. The global survey resulted in markers being placed all of the globe, at regular intervals of degrees of latitude and with orientations that pointed to the pre-shift pole location and/or to the post-shift location. Through this means they knew that a future advanced civilization -- one that also had knowledge of the earth's dimensions and poles -- would be able to interpret their message. The Great Pyramid of Giza, as the monument located at the center of world mass and on the then-prime meridian, provided the most carefully coded clues based on its dimensions and design.As the people of this culture came into contact with the other, less advanced cultures of the time, they made a powerful impression. They were often considered to be gods or angels. As a result, their influence is expressed in a miriad of ways: as Mayan gods, angels in the Book of Enoch, Egyptian gods, etc. In addition, the sites they marked in their survey came to be considered sacred sites. This resulted in sacred temples, shrines, and buildings being erected."The Atlantis Blueprint" presents a remarkable overview of how sacred sites all over the world -- from Stonehenge to Easter Island -- fit into the scheme created by the lost civilization. It even shows how it has become possible to actually predict where an ancient site *should* be located, based on the blueprint, and how certain sites cam

Fascinating.

I found "The Atlantis Blueprint" at times to be textbook-like, but full of interesting facts, with some familiar topics and some intriguing information I'd never heard before. Where a lot of books on these subjects jump to too many conclusions, I didn't feel this one drew up enough conclusions. I wanted more! The authors mix Thor Heyerdahl with Zechariah Sitchin, Charles Hapgood with the Knights Templar, and mix some of my favorite subjects -- the pyramids, geography, Atlantis, ancient history, mythology, geometry, religion. I've read many of the books referred to here, but plan to look up more of them. The notes and bibliography are truly valuable for the interested reader.The authors present an interesting theory regarding the creation of "markers" to indicate pole movements. But I'm just not sure people on the ground would have consciously thought to do that. They wouldn't have known ahead of time that a pole shift would occur. It seems that would surely imply a view from "outside." Nevertheless, this is truly a work worthy of respect and admiration.Personally, I have always believed that pyramids were meant to be mountains -- man-made mountains for people who didn't have a natural one of their own -- sacred mountains for sacred rites and, yes, for markers, saying "here, God, here we are," and for finding "home" from whatever distance away. For me this means, of course, that there was a first civilization that DID have a sacred mountain that was so meaningful to its people that its descendants felt they simply had to have a sacred mountain in order to relate to their god. So, accepting that the pyramids and other sacred sites are markers, we could theoretically follow their path and pattern to find this original mountain, no?

A Challenge to Conventional Thought

I think there are at least three points that readers need to keep in mind as they approach a reading of "The Atlantis Blueprint." The first point is the distinction between ordinary or "mere" speculation, a leisurely activity we all engage in during our daily lives and which is seldom critically examined, and serious or "scientific" speculation, a formal activity involving critical examination related to an important topic and based on objective evidence. The second point is the distinction to be made between a singular "piece" of evidence, which can always be seriously challenged, and a related "web" of evidence, which is more difficult to challenge and will always raise the level of probability or certitude. The third point to keep in mind is that many hypotheses and theories proposed in the past have been rejected and considered untrue or impossible, only to be accepted later as conventional doctrine. In other words, science marches on, as do historical research, philosophical analysis, and other serious disciplines.In "The Atlantis Blueprint," Colin Wilson and Rand Flem-Ath confront and attempt to solve one of the most fascinating mysteries of world history: was there an ancient civilization, an advanced technological culture, a precursor to the early societies about which we have written knowledge, and which was subsequently destroyed by some catastrophic earthly event? Furthermore, if such a civilization did exist, where was it located then and where are its vestiges now? For many, this ancient civilization was Atlantis, first described over two millennia ago by the philosopher Plato in two of his dialogues. Considered merely a legend by most contemporary scientists and historians, the existence of Atlantis or some similar advanced precursor civilization has rarely been the subject of serious scholarship. Wilson and Flem-Ath may have changed that by offering a critical work which presents a serious challenge to conventional thinking and raises numerous issues which deserve a response from the scientific and historical communities.This book is certainly not a matter of "mere" speculation; it is a critical examination of the objective facts currently available and is, therefore, serious scientific speculation. Also, the book presents a "web" of related evidence, not merely singular and disjoined "pieces" of evidence which can easily be cast aside and ignored. What is presented is a mosaic of evidence, both emperic and rational, blended and unified to support their main thesis that an advanced technological culture may have existed in ancient times and that it may have been located on the continent of Antarctica. A wild theory based on an old legend presented by an ancient Greek philosopher? Consider, for a moment, the city of Troy. Conventional wisdom had maintained for centuries that Troy, discussed in Homer's great work the "Iliad," was a figment of Greek legend and few scholars took its possible existence as a serious matter. And, then, al

From: Kirkus (1 January 2001)

"An exhaustively detailed argument that the legendary lost city was located just north of what is today Antarctica and that its highly evolved citizens traveled the world building and mapping sacred sites from Egypt to Mexico. Drawing extensively on history, science, and old maps, as well as offering their own speculative theories about the disappearance of Atlantis, the authors offer not only a new location for the city but also assert that civilization is much older than currently thought. Plato mentioned Atlantis in his writings, they argue, and the notion of a civilization that suffered catastrophic destruction is found in many early writings, from the Bible to Sumerian tablets. Atlantis, thought to exist either in the western Mediterranean or in the Atlantic, was assumed to be a victim of either a comet or the events surrounding the Biblical flood. Flem-Ath theorizes here that the North Pole was once situated in the Hudson Bay, that the Antarctic climate was temperate, and that Atlantis flourished there until catastrophic movements occurred in the Earth's crust around 9600 B.C. Observing the movements of the stars and planets, the Atlanteans had predicted and prepared for the upheaval and were able to flee, carrying their advanced knowledge to places as far flung as Egypt, Central America, and the Indus valley. To preserve their lore, they built monuments that became the sites of such sacred places as Machu Picchu, the pyramids, and Stonehenge. Mathematical calculations, detours into the founding of the Freemasons and the Knight Templar, who hid their secrets in a small French village where Jesus may have fled with Mary Magdalene after surviving the crucifixion, all make for a dizzying but stimulating theoretical extravaganza. The authors are most persuasive when demonstrating that intelligent society dates back further than is usually accepted."