★★★★★ 4
Great speculation from the "Alternative Camp"
Format: Paperback
According to John Anthony West it was not until the second half of the twentieth century that "guerilla scholarship" became a noticeable, if uncoordinated force in modern science. Guerilla scholarship of course, refers to the alternative camp or those that challenge orthodox views in science, archeology, anthropology, etc. If this book doesn't fall into the guerilla scholarship or alternative camp category it comes really close.
Author Dr. Robert Schoch is of course the archeologist who some years ago, along with John Anthony West, shocked the scientific community and infuriated Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Director of Antiquity, by claiming that the Sphinx's construction predated Khufu, its alleged builder, by 3,000 years or more. While the controversy surrounding those claims has resulted in numerous books, both, pro and con, with no real accepted conclusions, in this book Schoch tries to develop the hypothesis that all of the pyramids constructed around the world have a common origin in Sundaland, which was inundated under 250 feet of water after the last ice age. If somebody could come across a pyramid or two (2), that predated the great pyramid, under that 250 feet of water it would certainly help Schoch's case, but be that as it may, Schoch, while not proving his hypothesis, does present a pretty convincing argument in support of his speculation.
Schoch begins with a discussion in review of the theories for the age of Giza and other pyramid type structures around the world. He then provides very convincing evidence for his claim that humans traversed both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans eons before Columbus's 1492 voyage, which is the orthodox view of the first contact with the new world. He discusses how early humans might have accomplished this as well as their possible motives for doing so. Schoch concludes with where they came from, arriving at the common roots in Sundaland 10,000 years ago.
This book probably has some of the longest, impossible to pronounce names, of people and places of any book that I have ever read; and a few maps of various parts of the world, particularly Europe, the Middle and Far East, and South America, would have helped a great deal in developing a mental picture of what was being related. All that aside, the book challenges the mind and causes one to think. I was particularly intrigued by Schoch's explanation as to how Moses was able to convince the pharaoh to allow him and his followers to leave Egypt, as well as Schoch's perfectly plausible explanation of what parted the waters of the Red Sea and subsequently drowned the pharaoh's army when the waters rushed back in.
While maybe not as convincing as Schoch's earlier work, "Voices of the Rocks", Schoch presents convincing arguments and if you are a "guerilla scholar" you're going to love this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2008
