Was an ancient civilization of the past able to fly ?
Scattered around the world, immense drawings are visible only from above. Ancient literary works describe journeys among the stars. Maybe a long time ago man was able to fly?
Nazca Southern Peru - Flying over the area you can see strange figures traced on the ground (see Nazca linees). Some represent animals, others geometric shapes that recall the idea of landing strips.
Paracas, 260 Km from Lima (capital of Peru) - Coming from the sea or flying over the area you notice El Candelabro, an immense geoglyph 183 meters high, which digs into the rock for approximately 50-60 cm. According to some, it would indicate to those flying over the area the direction to follow to find the Nazca landing strips (this area would be indicated especially by the central tip of the candelabra).
Tarapaca Desert, Chile - Immense humanoid and animal figures can be admired from above, evoking ancient legends.
California - Navajo Labyrinth. Perhaps it is a representation of a mandala, but it too is visible from above.
Wisconsin - Elephant and Snake Embankments. The depictions of these two animals are clearly distinguishable when flying over the area concerned.
These are just some of the numerous examples that seem to demonstrate that an ancient civilization of the past was able to fly. Even today, official science tends to minimize any evidence that can be adduced to affirm the thesis which admits that in the past a great civilization flourished which was able to lift machines heavier than air from the ground, in practice it was able to fly.
Pre-Columbian F-102
In a collection of ancient treasures dating back to the pre-Columbian era is preserved a gold jewel dating back more or less 1900 years. This object was always thought of as a stylized representation of a butterfly, until a scholar, Ivan Sanderson, studied it carefully. He was firmly convinced that it was not a stylized representation of a butterfly, and highlighted the disconcerting similarities of this object with an airplane. He managed to identify the delta wings, the pilot's cabin, the engine compartment, the windshield. All positioned with perfect detail, as if it were a scale reproduction of a modern aircraft.
In a subsequent study, he managed to highlight the presence of the Flaps (device that allows the plane to turn and therefore move).
To the voices of those who did not admit such similarities, the object was examined by aeronautical engineering experts as well as experienced pilots. The origin nor the antiquity of the object was not revealed to them. Their response was almost unanimous: it was - in their opinion - the reproduction of a modern F-102, with the variant that the wings folded downwards, like the rest of the body of the aircraft, gave it the appearance of a Jet.
According to an expert pilot such as JH Ullrich:
"The shape of the wings was especially suitable to vertical climb flights and up to approximately 16,000 meters. The wings would also seem suitable for supersonic flight and, to hazard a guess, it would be perfectly capable of "flying" under water."
It seems - in light of what has been said - a stretch to want to consider this object as a whim of archaeology.
Moreover, other examples of aircraft have been found in other pre-Columbian tombs. Some specimens also had a double wing.
The area of ancient pre-Columbian civilizations is a real mine of information in this sense. Not only jewels, therefore, but also rock paintings, paintings on vases, engravings on stones, depictions on the bandages for the Mummies, present the unmistakable figure of planes, rockets, even spaceships.
A particular example is given, according to some scholars, by the depiction visible on the so-called Palenque's plate. In it a Russian scholar, Alexander Kazantsev, glimpses an astronaut in the cockpit of his aircraft, similar to a modern rocket.
He also manages to distinguish the various instruments necessary for interstellar navigation. It must be said that, however, the Palenque Plate has recently been the object of study by Maurice Cotterel, who has re-evaluated its artistic and mythological value, finding in it a detailed account of Mayan mythology, which serves as a warning for the future.
In Egypt
Even in Egypt it is possible to find objects that show how the principles of aerodynamics were known in ancient times.
Wooden models have been found in this region. For a long time they were considered to be representations of birds, only in the last few decades have they begun to be referred to as model gliders. A very interesting model, discovered by Professor Khalil Messiha, is now kept at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.
This model is, in the words of the scholar,
«[...] the representation of a modern monoplane»
The tail of the model is perpendicular to the body and overall it presents disconcerting aerodynamics.
«[...] the surface of the wings was designed on the section of an ellipse to give greater stability in the flight phase, it also has aerodynamic shapes that reduce friction with the air favoring the advancement of the vehicle [...]»
Even after millennia after its construction, the model is perfectly capable of flying: if thrown forward it demonstrates admirable aerodynamic qualities, this shows that whoever built it must have known the laws and techniques only recently discovered (or rediscovered) in modern aeronautics.
The discovery that Messiha made gave input to the recognition as glider models, of many other finds classified as representations of birds. Of these other finds, however, approximately 14 are those actually attributable to modern airplanes. However, these are models, which do not reveal anything about their real users or builders.
However, there is an important factor to consider: in Egyptian tombs, the objects found are mostly representations of similar objects of larger dimensions. It is therefore possible that a real glider emerges from the desert sands just as, next to the Great Pyramid, a ship was found capable - once reassembled - of sailing again.
The Vimanas of the Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is a poem of Indian origin. It is considered written and therefore crystallized, in its current form, for at least 3500 years (approximately 1500 BC). It contains myths and legends which - if the result of oral tradition - date back to periods that are lost in the mists of time. It narrates the deeds of the gods and ancient peoples of India, it is also rich in details of scientific origin so precise that, when it was translated in the 19th century, the translators failed to grasp the meaning of many descriptions that referred to airplanes, rockets and propulsion vehicles capable of flying. Only 150 years after the first translation, when humanity was already beginning to travel through the air.
The Samarangana Sutradhara
It is a very ancient Indian text, of uncertain dating but certainly at least as old as the Mahabharata. This text explains in a simple and linear way, with language properties, the advantages and disadvantages of different airplane models, indicating their take-off capabilities, as well as their consumption and average speeds. Regarding consumption, this text reveals an important topic: these planes were powered by mercury, therefore they used a type of engine that we do not know today or which is in any case in an experimental phase.
In the poem the engine is described as follows:
"Inside the vehicle you need to put the mercury engine, under this it is best to place the instrument that is used to heat the mercury, it is an iron instrument. The mercury heats and generates a swirl of air that acts as a propellant. [...] when the mercury containers heat up, they give the vimana a power similar to thunder (that they passed the sound barrier?) [...] if a type of aircraft is powered by this engine it will develop a roar similar to the lion's roar and in a short time, it will become a bright pearl in the sky"
The text also indicates a series of materials, including particular woods, with which it is advisable to build these machines. There is also a detailed discussion of air warfare techniques, as well as methods for anticipating the enemy's moves in order to achieve victory in the battle.
The Ramayana
The Ramayana is a very ancient Indian text and, in all likelihood, contemporary with the previous ones. It describes airplane trips in great detail. In fact, there are some details of the Ceylon region that can only be seen as a whole thanks to a view from above. The course of the coasts, the line of the beach, the furrows of the rocks are described with the eyes of those who have been able to admire them from above, it doesn't really seem like the account of a journey made only with the imagination.
The Mahavira Charita
It is an epitome of the Ramayana, contemporary with this. This poem narrates the deeds of Rama, a hero, who after saving his wife, receives a vimana as a gift, which is described in great detail.
«It has no obstacle to its movement, it can maintain the desired speed, comfortable and easy to handle, it also offers the possibility of staying in comfortable lounges illuminated by large windows [...]»
They seem like modern words and descriptions, but in reality they are just lines from a classical Indian work. It is also worth mentioning a passage in the poem, which shows, beyond any doubt, the knowledge of the universe of the people who composed (or handed down) the story narrated in the poem.
Rama : «The direction of the vehicle changed»
Vishishara : «Yes, he is moving away from the world, higher and higher»
Sita : «...it's daytime... and yet... why are these stars visible? Isn't it day? and when did you ever see the stars during the day?»
Rama : «Oh my Queen. They are truly the same stars that you see at night, even though it is day now. During the day we cannot see them because of the distance and because our eyes are clouded by the blinding light of the sun. But now, the aircraft has risen so high that we can see the stars even during the day.»
It does not seem possible to say that these allusions to a real journey beyond the earth's atmosphere are the result of imagination alone. it seems more reasonable to think - or more correct perhaps - that they are the legacies of an ancient memory, perhaps of a disappeared civilization that was technically advanced.
Of course, the models, the paintings of airplanes, the poems cited are only clues, not certain proof. But if a piece of evidence fails to prove a certain thesis, it is always effective in producing a so-called reasonable doubt. The doubt therefore remains, present, strong and invasive like a light worm, that perhaps an advanced civilization flew before us, with means now unknown, but which remain almost shadowed in the disconcerting allusions, in the paintings, in the models that try to tell us about their origin. But are we, after all, ready to listen? Are we a jury willing to objectively evaluate the evidence we have? We are not asking for a verdict without appeal, but only for a possibility, the simplest one, to try to understand what we may have lost. What we have been and what we could become. From this last point of view it seems important to recover the memory of our past, to learn from experience which mistakes should not be repeated. Atlantis, or another civilization, is there behind us, just waiting for a nod, an opening and perhaps we will see the skies once again crossed by their ancient pilots, ready to guide us towards the conquest of an undoubtedly better world.
