Signs of an Ice Age Sundaland Civilization - Dr. Danny Hillman Natawidjaja, LIPI, #298

 

In today's episode we chart the debate surrounding Gunung Padang, an enigmatic site in Indonesia, and its implications for the possibility of ice age civilization. Our guide, Dr. Danny Hillman Natawidjaja, an Indonesian geologist specializing in earthquake geology and geotectonics at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Research Center for Geotechnology, walks us through the difficulties of dating archaeological structures with tools like seismic imaging and LiDAR, particularly in a region shaped by natural upheavals. We unpack how environmental changes have influenced historical narratives and the survival of early sites. We also critique the institutional barriers and interpretative conflicts that shape modern archaeology, including the suspect retraction of Danny's seminal work on Gunung Padang - an interdiction not based on allegations of data manipulation, but rather on account of the conclusions drawn by its authors. Read Dr. Hillman's paper on Gunan Padang:

 

 

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Archaeologists find a Mysterious Message from 3,800 years ago

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We Found a Desert Maze Guarding an Ancient Treasure

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Spanish Cache Located

A rock shoved six feet down a tunnel near an area with Spanish glyphs and other clues, arouses our curiosity. After a lot of effort and ingenuity the rock is pulled out. Turned out to be a heavy chunk of silver ore! What was behind the rock was even more spectacular!

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Welcome to Tenochtitlan in 1521, according to some ancient maps.

Between July 1519 and September 1526, Hernán Cortés, the soldier and adventurer who in 1519-1521 conquered central and southern Mexico for Spain, sent five lengthy letters to Emperor Charles V in which he described his exploits and placed himself and his actions in a favorable light. This book contains the first Latin edition of Cortés' second letter. In it, Cortés recounts his first meeting with the Aztec emperor Moctezuma on October 30, 1520. The letter was translated from Spanish into Latin and printed in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1524. This printing also contains the first published plan of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City, which Cortés and his army attacked and destroyed in May 1521. Also included is an early map of the Caribbean Basin. Am I the only one, or in 1520 did Tenochtitlan look like a European city, considering it was only conquered in 1521. Who built all these European-looking buildings? Here is an engraving of Montezuma. Second, what did it look like?

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