Their accuracy sometimes exceeds
what modern astronomers can do, even with the best of computer programs.
They had an almost superior ability to predict astronomical dates and ephemerides
both in the distant past and in the distant future. These dates they inequivocally indicated
by means of accurate alignments embedded in the Great Pyramid and in other artifacts that many traditions attribute to the Atlanteans.
Likewise, the Great Pyramid also embodies
such geodetical measurements as the lengths of the Polar Meridian and the
Equatorial Circle to a precision that favorably compares to those obtained
recently by geodetical satellites. We discuss these matters in detail in
our book on Atlantis, to which we refer the interested reader.
18) Terraced Mountain
Cultivation.
As we said above (see item 17),
the greatest of human inventions was that of Agriculture. Agriculture allowed
the fixation of Man to the soil and, hence, the rise of civilization and
the development of all arts and sciences. But, exclusive of an slash-and-burn
agriculture that does not allow this fixation, some means to renew the
fertility of the soil in a permanent fashion had yet to be found.
In the modern world, this is achieved by
the chemical synthesis of fertilizers or, in rare instances, by composting
the residues of animals and plants. In the ancient world, the renovation
of the soil was insured by two basic processes. The first one consisted
in taking advantage of the yearly floods of rivers such as the Nile, the
Tigris, the Euphrates, the Indus, the Ganges and the Irrawady. The floodwaters
brought the silt that was deposited in the fields, renewing the soil and
irrigating the plantation.
This process is still widely used in the
Far East, where it probably originated in Atlantean times. The other process
utilizes volcanoes to insure the renovation of the soil. Volcanic cinders
are immensely fertile. Volcanic fly ash descends with the rains, covering the
soil and fertilizing it. Such was the reason the ancient civilizations
often arose vicinally to volcanoes: in Italy, in Peru, in Mexico, in Crete
and, particularly, in Indonesia. Indeed, it seems that volcanic-based agriculture
developed earlier than flood-based agriculture.
As all things indicate, the first site
of all to utilize this advanced technique was Indonesia, the true site
of the Garden of Eden and of the origin of civilization. Indonesia is the
most volcanically active region in the world. Even today Indonesia derives
its peerless fertility from the many volcanoes that make both its glory
and its periodic doom.
However, for the volcanic cinders to be
really useful, another clever invention had to be implemented: that of
terraced agriculture. Volcanic regions such as Indonesia are mountainous.
In mountains, the rains tend to wash down the soil, preventing their
agricultural use. The use of terraces, however, prevents this down-washing,
conserving both the water and the fertilizers of the agricultural soil.
The rain water is stored in dams at the
top of the mountains, and is made to wind its way along the terraces, where
the plantation is done. The result is an enormous production which often
yields two and even three crops a year. This feature was pointed out by
Plato in his description of Atlantis. If the great philosopher was
not lying shamelessly, we are led to conclude that irrigated, terraced
agriculture was indeed an Atlantean invention.
Terraced agriculture is to be found, even
today, in most areas of Atlantean influence where volcanoes exist: the
Indonesian islands, Japan, China, Southern Italy (Etna, Vesuvius), Crete
(Thera), the Peruvian Andes, Mexico, etc.. The tradition of terraced agriculture
goes hand in hand with the one of stepped pyramids.
