Certainly modern evolutionary teaching does not want you, or the
school systems, to ever come close to reading what this book
contains, for it blows away any idea that we have progressed from
the caves to our modern space age world, over hundreds of
thousands of years - Keith Hunt.
Published 1977
SECRETS OF LOST RACES
Discoveries of Advanced Technology in Ancient
Civilizations
by
Rene Noorbergen
Researched by Joey R. Jochmans
CHAPTER ONE
.......Regardless of the criticism heaped on the Bible, there is
a serious trend among archaeologists to regard its historical
books as reliable. Until the eighteenth century, few scholars
doubted the trustworthiness of the Bible as a historical book of
antiquity. The Creation, the story of the Flood, the sojourn of
the Israelites in the desert were all deemed facts. But then
things changed. The infamous "Age of Reason" breached the walls
of faith, and with the coming of the new nineteenth-century
theories of evolution and materialism, the historical Bible
account was relegated to mythology, and the "enlightened age"
began to regard the Bible as a well-contrived compilation of
fables. Harry M. Orlinsky comments in Ancient Israel, "The heroic
doings of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as described
in the Book of Genesis, were discounted as mere myth. The very
existence of Moses was doubted. Joshua was believed to have had
little or nothing to do with the Israelite conquest of Canaan.
David and Solomon were considered greatly overrated. . . ." This
negative attitude to the Bible was reflected in more recent
times, for example, in the writings of the well-known philosopher
Bertrand Russell and the historiographer R.G.Collingwood. "For
today, in considerable degree," Orlinsky continues, "the pendulum
has swung the other way. Modern historians do not, to be sure,
accept every part of the Bible equally as literal fact. Yet they
have come to accept much of the Biblical data as constituting
unusually reliable historical documents of antiquity, documents
which take on new meaning and pertinence when they are analyzed
in the light of the newly discovered extra-Biblical sources.
Indeed, even the mythical parts of the Bible are now generally
regarded as reliable reflection of fact, empirically grounded,
and logical in their way. . . . More and more the older view that
the Biblical data were suspect and even likely to be false,
unless corroborated by extra-Biblical facts, is giving way to one
which holds that, by and large, the Biblical accounts are more
likely to be true than false, unless clear-cut evidence from
sources outside the Bible demonstrates the reverse. "
Professor William F. Albright, the world-renowned
archaeologist of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, adds,
"The Bible now forms, humanly considered, part of a great whole,
to the outside parts of which it can be related. Its languages,
the life and customs of its peoples, its history, and its ethical
and religious ideas are all illustrated in innumerable ways by
archaeological discovery."
With these endorsements of the Bible as a historical
document, we dare to venture into the first chapters of Genesis
in order to help us trace the development of the human race and
the technological and cultural achievements with which it
coincided. There is nothing else that can penetrate the history
of the pre-Flood period. Even modem dating methods are of no
help, for they are applicable only to artifacts, not accounts,
and these dating techniques cannot take us back further than
5,000 years. One of the world's foremast experts in modern dating
metho ds, Dr.W.F.Libby, who wan the Nobel prize for his research
on carbon-14 dating, was astonished to find that this was so.
Trusting that his new-found tool would enable science to pull
back the curtain of time, he was shocked to be confronted with
sceience's limitations.
"You read statements in books that such and such society or
archaeological site is 20,000 years old," he commented. "We
learned rather abruptly that these numbers, these ancient ages,
are not known accurately; in fact, it is at about the time of the
First Dynasty of Egypt that the first historical date of any real
certainty has been established."
Genesis tells us that Cain and Seth were born in 4969 B.C.
and 4924 B.C. respectively, and upon maturity became the
progenitors of two distinct races, isolated from one another.
Known as Cainites and Sethites, they developed totally different
life-styles. A close examination of the names and identifications
given to the various tribal leaders or patriarchs that ruled the
two races tends to bring us to a better understanding of their
capabilities-and the conclusions we reach clash violently with
the concept of crude cave men dragging their wives by the hair on
the road to marital bliss.
We know from the record that Cain lived in the land called
Nod, meaning "place of exile." Genesis mentions that the land
where he settled did not "yield her strength." There is no
further information concerning the early years except that in
approximately 4784 B.C. a son, Enoch, was born. Sometime between
this date and Cain's death in 4059 B.C., Cain gathered his
descendants together and built a city called Enoch City, named
after his first son. Several observations can be made regarding
the construction of this first city, which would require the
development of a high order of mathematics; the manipulation of
building materials, seemingly stones and wood; and a knowledge of
architecture. A city also presupposes the beginning of some form
of social and political organization, not only for the
construction phase, but also for its subsequent maintenance and
expansion. Upon assembling his descendants into one dwelling
place, Cain set himself up as the first ruler over men, and by
naming the city after his eldest son, he moved to establish a
dynasty of rulers that would perpetuate his name.
Enoch was the next Cainite, supposedly born in 4784 B.C.
Little is known of the personal histories of the descendants of
Cain other than their names and sequence of descent as recorded
in Genesis, chapter four. However, it was the ancient practice to
give men names that commemorated their status or character or
major events in their lives. From their names we can now perceive
something about each of the Cainites. The name Enoch means
"devoted, the initiated (into secret learning), a teacher," and
the implication is that Enoch was a man of knowledge, parti-
cularly mystic knowledge. The fact that Cain named his city after
Enoch suggests that the city was to be not just a political
center but a religious one as well. Enoch City, with Enoch as its
high priest, may have possessed its own sanctuary and sacrificial
system.
Irad, the son of Enoch, was born in approximately 4599 B.C.
and died about 3689 B.C. His name means "a townsman, a prince of
a city." The city where Irad was ruler was of course Enoch City,
and its throne was his inheritance from his grandfather, who died
during Irad's lifetime. This indicates that the dynasty of Cain
remained intact at least to the third generation.
Mehujael, the son of Irad, entered the scene at 4415 B.C.,
his name meaning "smitten of God." We do not know the manner in
which this Cainite was struck down, whether by disease,
malformation or natural disaster, but the record indicates that
his condition was regarded as a punishment.
Methusael, the next in line, was born in 4367 B.C. and died
about 3398 B.C. and, as his name indicates, was "a great man
before God." Lamech, the son of Methusael, was born in
approximately 4180 B.C. and died about 3403 B.C. While the
history woven around his father seems to indicate that there may
have been a mixing of the two races for a while, perhaps for a
specific but unnamed purpose, it doesn't seem to have affected
the development of the Cainites and Sethites as separate races.
However, immediately after the races had intermingled, the
account indicates that open lawlessness was common in this
developing society. Lamech means "a strong young man, a hero."
The record indicates that he was not only strong, but also a
murderer and the first polygamist mentioned. His declaration of
the murder is lyric in form. It was at this time that the arts
emerged. Lamech's first wife, Adah, was an artist, her name
meaning "ornament, decoration, elegant"; the name of Zillah, his
second wife, meant "a shadow figure, a maker of sound, a player,"
and she may well have been the first actress. Other members of
the family are described as "such as dwell in tents," "such as
have cattle," "wanderer," or "adventurer." No doubt the Cainites
had become quite mobile and were roaming the countryside, seeking
land for their flocks, and exploring various forms of the arts.
Was it perhaps the loneliness in the fields that inspired the
shepherds to try out new ways of accompanying their singing? We
are not certain of this, yet Jubal, Adah's second son, was "the
father of all such as handle the harp and the organ," indicating
the beginnings of the fine art of instrumental music, both string
and wind.
With the arrival of Tubalcain (3860 B.C.), son of Zillah,
technology entered the antediluvian world. Genesis 4:22 calls him
"an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." The
production of metals is, of course, a very significant step in
the development of a civilization, for it facilitates the way to
higher forms of technology and more sophisticated tools and
machinery. Iron presupposes knowledge of the techniques of ore
extraction and purification; brass presumes knowledge of copper
and zinc and their combinations in the production of
metallurgical alloys. An artificer of metals is one who hammers,
cuts and polishes metals; the shaping of metal instruments thus
is implied. The form that these instruments took can be taken
from the name Tubalcain itself. It means "the brass of Cain,
brass weapons, a weaponsmith." Tubalcain therefore was the
manufacturer of the first known metal weapons in history, and the
production of weapons, of course, suggests war, or at least the
threat of war.
In 1968, Dr.Koriun Megurtchian of the Soviet Union unearthed
what is considered to be the oldest large-scale metallurgical
factory in the world, at Medzamor, in Soviet Armenia. Here, 4,500
years ago, an unknown prehistoric people worked with over 200
furnaces, producing an assortment of vases, knives, spearheads,
rings, bracelets, etc. The Medzamor craftsmen wore mouth-filters
and gloves while they labored and fashioned their wares of
copper, lead, zinc, iron, gold, tin, manganese and fourteen kinds
of bronze. The smelters also produced an assortment of metallic
paints, ceramics and glass. But the most out-of-place discovery
was several pairs of tweezers made of steel, taken from layers
dating back before the first millennium B.C. The steel was later
found to be of exceptionally high grade, and the discovery was
verified by scientific organizations in the Soviet Union, the
United States, Britain, France and Germany.
French journalist Jean Vidal, reporting in "Science et vie"
of July 1969, expressed the belief that these finds point to an
unknown period of technological development. "Medzamor," he
wrote, "was founded by the wise men of earlier civilizations.
They possessed knowledge they had acquired during a remote age
unknown to us that deserves to be called scientific and
industrial."
What makes the Medzamor metallurgical site interesting to us
is that it is within fifteen miles of Mount Ararat - the landing
site of the survivors of the destroyed antediluvian
civilizations.
The development of the Sethites was in no way behind that of
the Cainites. Seth, born about 4924 B.C., is not known as either
a city dweller or a city builder, but seemed to have lived
quietly on the fertile soil provided by the four rivers mentioned
in the early records. Yet something happened to undermine the
physical well-being of the Sethites, for his son, born in
approximately 4819 B.C., carried the name Enos, which means
"mortal, weak mankind." This may be indicative of disease taking
its toll. The Hebrew Aggadah comments that during Enos's lifetime
men's faces became more apelike.
But there are more men to be considered in this short list
of antediluvian greats. Cainan (4729 B.C.) was "an industrious
man, a craftsman" as his name indicates, and he may have been the
first to usher in the development of sophisticated tools - years
before Tubalcain embarked on his weapons production. Simple tools
had already been replaced by more complex ones which were perhaps
used in carpentry, pottery, weaving, masonry, etc. By now the
Sethite population was probably large enough so that its working
force had become diversified, and as a craftsman Cainan typified
the growing specialization of labor that has always accompanied
an expanding culture.
There are many others who should be listed here, but their
reported professions were more spiritual, and because we are more
concerned with the technological aspects of pre-Flood life, we
will single out only three more Sethites: Methuselah (4367 B.C.);
Lamech (4180 B.C.), son of Methuselah; and Noah (3998 B.C.), son
of Lamech.
With Methuselah we enter an era of open warfare. Bearing a
name meaning "man of the flying dart, man of the arrow, man of
war," he undoubtedly was a military man - and a successful one,
for he lived longer (969 years) than any of the other patriarchs.
His adversaries may have been indicated already when we discussed
the descendants of Cainan. Methuselah, living in the same period
as Tubalcain, the weaponsmith, was a master of several weapons,
including the arrow and the "flying dart." Could this possibly
have been a missile or a rocket, and is this the first indication
of a major armed conflict between the two civilizations, the
Cainites and the Sethites? We know from historical accounts that
Jubal, Tubalcain's half brother, was the first to spread his
influence by venturing into new lands. Perhaps his men threatened
to invade the territories already inhabited by the Sethites.
Lamech probably followed the profession of his father Methuselah,
but he died at the age of 777, which was young compared to the
average lifespan of 912 years for the pre-Flood patriarchs, not
counting Enoch. He was even outlived by his father. Could his
death have been the result of wounds inflicted in battle?
Biblical Noah, who was born in 3998 B.C. and died in 3048 B.C.,
was the last of the antediluvian giants. Mentioned in mythology
by various names such as Nu-u, Nu-wah and others, he was the man
who, with his wife, his three sons and their wives, plus a
representation of the animal kingdom, braved the turbulent waves
of the Deluge in their vessel, thus ending the reign of the ten
patriarchs. His sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, comprised the
eleventh generation, and since part of their lives were lived
after the Flood, they must be considered post-Flood patriarchs.
We will never know the exact extent of the knowledge that was
lost. Noah and his family were capable of reproducing only that
of which they had personal knowledge, and this of course was
limited because the only ones to reach the previously attained
high standard of development were Noah and his sons. The
technology that survived the Flood was the product of possibly
ten generations of synergistic development, the intermediary
steps of which had been totally destroyed. Noah and his family at
least had the memory of a technological environment to fall back
on, but Noah's son's children did not. All they knew and
understood was the reduced civilization of their parents, a
post-Deluge civilization that did not possess in its structure
the gradual development behind the technological elements their
parents preserved. In time the children began to lose the
knowledge of the fundamental principles; and when the
technological elements broke down and could not be replaced, they
were discarded.
The one chance to unify their descendants into an orderly,
wellorganized society came at Babel, a city mentioned in the Book
of Genesis. The story relates that at the Tower of Babel - the
first skyscraper in history - a serious attempt was made to
structure the rapidly growing population under one centralized
authority, but this plan failed because their language became
confused, and the communication necessary for the re-creation of
the super-civilization that had existed before the Flood was
destroyed.
In chapters 10 and 11 of Genesis we find two other factors
that hampered a complete restoration of antediluvian technology.
The descendants of Noah became divided into nations and races,
with the result that the common background they had shared was
lost, with some people preserving the knowledge and others losing
it. For those who managed to retain some pre-Flood knowledge,
especially the more advanced elements of technology, the national
and racial divisions of mankind caused a downward trend. Hindu
records actually speak of highly destructive war waged with
nuclear weapons, and there is every indication that these clashes
occurred relatively soon after the Flood. Since very little
survives a total nuclear war, it is conceivable that several
advanced civilized centers vanished simultaneously, another
probable factor in the disappearance of antediluvian technology
in the post-Flood era.
Genesis 11 brings in yet another element. The generation
following Noah suddenly shows a decided decrease in the average
lifespan, from more than 900 years to approximately 100 years.
This, of course, severely limited the individual's chance to
acquire knowledge and experience, and with shortened lives, the
generations passed more rapidly. Considering that there were now
more human memories involved in relaying and passing on all
information, the likelihood increased that facts would become
distorted.
Writing, an element we consider extremely vital if not
indispensable to our society, seems to have been completely
unknown to the ancients. Is it possible they did not need it?
Puzzling though it may be, there are indications that this may
have been the case, because writing was actually considered to be
a step backward for civilization, rather than a step forward.
In his Phaedrus the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about the
legend of Toth, the Egyptian god who supposedly discovered the
use of letters. In order to boast of his invention, the god
demonstrated their use to King Thamus and claimed that this
new-found form of communication would be an aid to wisdom. But
the king condemned Toth and told him that just the opposite would
be true. Writing, he judged, would encourage forgetfulness in the
minds of those who learned, because they would not cultivate
their memory. Students would learn the appearance instead of the
reality of wisdom, reading and repeating words without knowing
their meaning. He declared that writing would limit knowledge,
not expand it. And it happened as he prophesied, for as we have
already seen, the early Egyptian funeral texts are examples of
just that development, as the scribes copied the texts without
knowing their significance. Many historians have noted that the
secularization of the written word in the past was not always an
indication of the rise of a civilization; sometimes it was an
omen of its decline.
But regardless of King Thamus's objections, writing did
become a reality and wielded its influence on the growing
societies. It was a help to some, but acquiring the knowledge to
write brought with it serious limitations. Memory was no longer
the factor to rely on; now the storehouses of words became the
prime factors in the dissemination of knowledge. Whereas before
the Flood, technological facts had been transmitted from father
to son, from scientist to scientist, now huge depositories of
written knowledge were substituted for oral tradition, and as a
result a privileged few became the sole custodians of this
accumulating knowledge. When the rampaging armies of expanding
nations invaded the lands, the great libraries of the world
became the innocent victims of wanton destruction. Many of
history's missing pages were torn out in those calamitous years.
"The famous collection of Pisastratus [Pisanderl in Athens (sixth
century B.C.) was ravaged. Fortunately the poems of Homer somehow
survived. The papyri of the library of the Temple of Ptah in
Memphis were totally destroyed. The same fate befell 200,000
volumes in the library of Pergamus in Asia Minor. The city of
Carthage, razed by the Romans in a seventeen-day fire in 146
B.C., is said to have possessed a library of half a million
volumes. But the greatest blow to history was the burning of the
Alexandrian library in the Egyptian campaign of Julius Caesar,
during which 700,000 priceless scrolls were irretrievably lost. .
. . There was a complete catalogue of authors in 120 volumes with
a brief biography of each author."
The library of Alexandria, however, survived this
destruction and once again became a center of learning, the most
important book depository in the Mediterranean world, until Omar,
the second Caliph of Islam, used its millions of book rolls to
heat the city's bathing facilities in 640 A.D. For six months the
fires roared, fueled by the knowledge of the ancients. The Caliph
decreed: "The contents of these books are in conformity with the
Koran or they are not. If they are, the Koran is sufficient
without them; if they are not, they are pernicious. Let them
therefore be destroyed."
Tomas, author of "We Are Not the First," comments that the
fate of libraries in Asia was no better, for the Emperor Ch'in
Shih Huang Ti of China caused all historical books to be burned
in 212 B.C. Leo Isaurus sent 300,000 books to the incinerators in
Constantinople in the eighth century. "The number of manuscripts
annihilated by the Inquisition . . . in the Middle Ages can
hardly be estimated. Because of these tragedies we have to depend
on disconnected fragments, casual passages, and meager accounts.
. . . The history of science would appear totally different were
the book collection of Alexandria intact today."
But all was not lost.
After the Second World War the discovery of the Dead Sea
Scrolls created a sensation among Biblical scholars, for these
documents, dating back to the second century B.C., agreed
remarkably with a Biblical manuscript known as the Masoretic Text
of A.D.10. Somehow the texts had survive practically intact. More
recently, the discovery in 1975 of the Eblite Tablets at Tel
Mardiqh in Syria caused another wave of excite ent. The fact that
the Dead Sea Scrolls could be dated to 200 B.C. in itself
startling; but finding clay tablets that were inscribed in 2300
B.C. blew the lid off! With texts written in Canaanite and other
languages, the 15,000 tablets revealed a wealth of
correspondence, including political treaties, records, laws,
religious texts and historical information. "It covers an
important part of the post-Flood patriarchal period," one scholar
told me recently. "It may well provide us with details that will
shed a completely new light on the civilization that existed in
their day." And it is the post-Flood patriarchal period that
concerns us.
Without question, a vast storehouse of ancient knowledge has
been lost over the years, but not always destroyed. Originating
in the period before the Deluge, it survived the angry waves in
segments of selected knowledge, carefully preserved by the
memories of the family of escapees.
The antediluvians undoubtedly possessed extraordinary mental
abilities, for they passed quickly through several successive
stages of development. By the second generation they practiced
agriculture and animal husbandry; possessed fire and simple
tools; knew mathematics, astronomy and architecture; and were
organizing themselves into the first urban social system. By the
fourth generation, simple tools had developed by synergism into
such crafts as weaving, carpentry and masonry. Finally, by the
eighth generation, we witness a burst of inventiveness with the
beginning of metallurgy, the art of warfare, and the development
of the arts. The Genesis account of these elements of
civilization may not seem impressive, but we must remember that
these discoveries are the first causations from which all
subsequent technological development originated. We must also
keep in mind that the Bible, even though it contains much
historical information, is basically a religious book, and the
Biblical authors wrote down only those historical events that
pertained to the development or decline of their religion. We
should not expect the book of Genesis to delve into the
technological aspects of the maturing civilizations. Caught up as
we are in the age of development, we often fail to realize that
development is a lesser achievement than causation. Development
is the maturation of causation, but a causation is a distinct
departure from one mode of existence to another - a completely
unprecedented transformation. For example, the step forward which
Tubalcain took from nonmetal to metal production must be
considered a far greater accomplishment than any later
developments in metallurgy. The first men to walk the face of the
earth, in the first eight generations of the antediluvian era,
advanced from no culture to culture by their own efforts, with no
precedence whatsoever. They were the originators, the discoverers
and inventors, not only of their own civilization but - through
the survivors of the Flood - of all the civilizations that
followed them in the post-Deluge era.
For the reason previously given, the Genesis account
unfortunately furnishes us few clues to the development of the
antediluvian civilization after the time of Tubalcain. However,
looking at what they possessed by that time, the potential for
continued advancement toward the development of a high
technological civilization most certainly existed. First, they
had the necessary foundation in knowledge. By mastering
mathematics, metallurgy and the fine arts, the antediluvians
demonstrated their analytical, inventive and imaginative
capabilities. The first two fields - mathematics and metals - are
necessary for the introduction of machinery, the next synergistic
step in tool development. Second, they had the needed human
resources. Any technology depends on a work force that is large,
organized and diversified. Genesis 6 tells us that "men began to
multiply upon the face of the earth." The genealogy given in
Chapter 5 of the historical record clearly implies that men had
large families and longer procreative periods before the Flood.
Although in most cases only one son in each family is named
for the purpose of tracing the line of descent, it is also
recorded that each patriarch "begat sons and daughters," implying
that each of them produced at least four children. Furthermore,
the age at which the patriarchs had their mentioned sons varies
from 65 years for Mahalaleel and Enoch to 500 years for Noah: a
range of 435 years. Thus, through the combined effects of lengthy
lives and large families, the antediluvians rapidly "filled the
earth." We know, too, that the greater portion of the pre-Flood
population was organized. As early as the time of Cain, his first
descendants had been gathered together into an urban society and
taught to be subservient to a single political and religious
head. The pre-Flood population was also diversified. From the
time of Cainan, the fourth generation, the race had multiplied to
the extent that they could support craftsmen and a variety of
trades.
What's more, there was sufficient time for an advanced
civilization to develop. From Tubalcain's discovery of
metalworking in approximately 4000 B.C. to the year of the Flood,
3398 B.C., is a period of 600 years within which further
advancements could have been made. This is a vital point, for it
took our civilization about 600 years to develop to what it is
today - from gunpowder and printing to nuclear physics and
computers. If this is where we are today after 600 years, just
imagine how far the antediluvians could have advanced in the same
length of time - the people who were the originators of
civilization.
While our antediluvian predecessors developed a technology
that was in many ways similar to our own, some of the differences
were so great that historians and archaeologists are still unable
to correctly identify the representative remains.
Most nonmechanically minded scholars do not realize that
there are products of technology which do not resemble what we
call machines - without shafts, rods or gears. For example, a
network of lines traced with special metal - containing ink on
specially treated paper can serve as a receiver for
electromagnetic waves; a copper tube can serve as a resonator in
the production of high-frequency waves; and the surface of a
diamond can even be made to contain an image of the pages of
100,000 average-sized books!
The problem, however, is that, as any technology advances,
its methods and forms are often simplified and may not be
recognizable to a civilization of inferior knowledge and
understanding. Many out-of-place artifacts (ooparts) discovered
today exhibit signs of a technology that not only matches our
own, but in some cases surpasses it. Some of these ooparts seem
so fantastic that we simply cannot grasp their significance. We
can only recognize and understand these earlier developments as
we ourselves approach or reach the same stage of advancement. A
disturbing question, however, is how many out-of-place artifacts
have been lost or remain unidentified in the basements of modern
museums, because no one knows what they are?
..................
To be continued
Note:
The dates given in this chapter are probably taken from the dates
of the LXX or Septuigint (from the Hebrew to Greek of the Old
Testament, written about 200 B.C.). The LXX adds about 100 years
to the life span of those mentioned in Genesis 5. Hence about
1,000 years more that what the KJV would add up to. There is a
good argument from many that the Genesis LXX is the truer
translation from the original Hebrew.
This fact being true, which is very likely, we also see the idea
that God is working on a 7,000 year plan is blown away, as 7,000
years have already come and gone. Even if you want to argue from
Usher's chronology of 404 B.C. for the creation of Adam, you
still have over 6,000 years and the 1,000 year age is not yet
here.
The simple truth of the matter is that God IS NOT WORKING ON A 7
THOUSAND YEAR PLAN FOR THIS EARTH AND THE HUMANS UPON IT.
Keith Hunt
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