The Mysterious Chambers of Putnam New York

[stlukesguild]

The Mysterious Stone Chambers of Putnam New York

 

[musket]

The grand daddy of them all ain't in New York.

Mystery Hill, North Salem, NH

 

[PSA3475]

I really like that last pic.

 

[E.J.H.]

Who built the stone chambers? Many scholars believe that these structures were built by ancient European explorers centuries before Columbus discovered America. They point to the construction techniques, alignment with the sun, and mysterious carvings found at some of the sites. Some consider them sacred sites with mystical power, while others dismiss the stone chambers as simply being root cellars or places to store meat, and dairy products built by 18th-century farmers.

Nobody considered the possibility that the people that lived there millennia before the European invaders arrived were capable of placing one rock on top of another...?

 

[PSA3475]

Apparently, Aliens from outer space helped the Mayan, Inca, etc.

 

[E.J.H.]

I had a very amusing discussion some time ago with someone with those kind of (imo very silly) ideas about the construction of pyramids.
My argument was that when you want to build something REALLY big, , there is nothing simpler to build than a pyramid.
Needless to say I had that all wrong, though she didn´t want to go into any detail about why it is impossible to construct what is basically an artificial hill without alien help....

 

[stlukesguild]

I'm not sure how "simple" it would have been to build a great pyramid... especially on the scale of the great pyramids of Giza. Most architects and engineers readily admit that the Pyramids of Giza were a staggering achievement. The huge limestone blocks needed to be cut precisely according to where they were to be placed and then transported to the construction site. They then needed to be hoisted into place in an era well before modern trucks and cranes. The most commonly accepted theory is that ramps were built with each layer of blocks so that during the construction process the pyramids would have essentially have been buried. The completed pyramids would not have appeared as a rough stack of blocks like steps but were encased in polished white limestone that would have made them absolutely glow in the Egyptian sun. Remains of this can be seen near the top of the Pyramid of Khafre. A staggering achievement... but certainly not one that needs ancient aliens as an explanation.

As for the stone chambers of Putnam County... I suspect there are various reasons that their creation is not attributed to ancient Native Americans. There are no tools of other remains that suggest Native American structures such as you might find in Native American sites such as the Serpent Mounds in Ohio. The small scale and architecture is quite removed from the large known structures of North American Native Americans and closer to the structures one might find all through Northern Europe... and especially Ireland. These would suggest some sort of religious structure built by small groups of settlers from an era well before Columbus. It is admitted that there are any number of possibilities as to who built these structures and why. Vikings, Celts, Phoenicians, Iberians, etc... have all been suggested, as well as Native Americans, African American Slaves, and witches. The argument in favor of the Celts or other early Europeans is supported by the use of corbelling... an architecture method used by the Celts... and one not seen in the known structures of Native Americans. There is also the existence of carvings which were actually "a type of writing used by the Celts in Europe over 2000 years ago." The writing "was translated as a prayer or dedication to the Celtic God Bel." The problem with definitively identifying the architects of these structures lies in the fact that "there no artifacts: pottery, bones, tools, clothing fragments, burial regalia or other hard evidence that an ancient civilization would have left."

 

[PSA3475]

Very interesting discussion. I favor the Witches theory

 

[E.J.H.]

You must see that "building a pyramid is simple" argument in the context of that discussion.
And I do stand by it. The engineering of such megastructures is very impressive, no doubt, the moving and lifting of the building blocks a huge accomplishment.
But the basic structure is simple, inherently stable, and there are no big mysteries concerning how the building materials were worked.
My point was simply "it's humanly possible".

 

[Artyczar]

Yes, it IS amazing what one can build with enough slaves.

 

[musket]

Apparently those slaves weren't us. There's not a shred of credible archeological evidence for Exodus.

 

[stlukesguild]

Recent theory argues that the pyramids were not built by slave labor at all but rather that Egyptian citizens came from all across Egypt and that it was considered an honor to work upon the pyramids and other great architectural structures.

 

[E.J.H.]

Yeah, I looked some stuff upp because of this topic, and that seems to have been the case.
Sounds quite logic, it is difficult to imagine the logistics of having to keep up a huge slave workforce for such single projects.

 

[E.J.H.]

Alien Visitors

xkcd.com

 

[Artyczar]

Well, I wasn't suggesting Jewish slaves actually. I was just imagining slave labor like any other, but I do know that people would probably work generations on such things. I know some of the churches in Europe took up people's lives to build. And you're right, each town would want to make their church as incredible as possible because there was nothing more important in their lives. I'd imagine these structures were of godly concern for everyone involved. But they certainly were not aided by aliens. People can do amazing things in large numbers. That's all I'm really getting at.

 

[musket]

It was the BTV era--Before TV.

 

[stlukesguild]

Speaking of ancient aliens...

 

[Artyczar]

This is a bit offensive to those who are religious, but I guess I'll leave it for now.

 

[E.J.H.]

I respectfully disagree Arty.
However you look at it, Jezus on the cross is a human being slowly tortured to death by fellow humans. That is a terrifying image, and aliens acknowledging that are imo in no way insulting or offensive to the religion that use this image as a symbol.

 

[musket]

As Calvin said to Hobbes, “Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”