It seems that ancient Irish tales of "hollow hills" (underground caverns in mountains, as in Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" where ogres and supernatural beings dwell) are true. There are hillforts throughout the Emerald Isle. And the largest ever found in Northern Europe has just been uncovered, and it's massive.
Ireland discovery: the largest site ever
What, our pre-Christian roots go way back?
A vast prehistoric settlement hidden in the hills of County Wicklow is forcing archaeologists to rethink how people lived in Ireland more than 2,700 years ago.
What began as a closer look at a single hillfort has revealed a sprawling complex of ramparts, houses, and enclosures that specialists now say may be the largest clustered village ever identified in Ireland and Britain.
The scale of the discovery, and the suggestion that it could be the biggest prehistoric site of its kind in Northern Europe, is already reshaping debates about when urban-style living first emerged on the Atlantic edge of the continent.
The story starts with a familiar landmark in the Irish landscape, a hillfort in Baltinglass that locals have long known as a dramatic feature above the County Wicklow countryside.
Archaeologists had catalogued it as one of several prominent fortified sites in the region, but new survey work has shown that the hilltop is only the core of a much larger complex.
What once looked like a single enclosure now appears to sit within a dense cluster of prehistoric houses and additional earthworks that extend across the slopes and surrounding ridges. More
Cassian Holt, Morning Overview via MSN (msn.com/AA1Ts3), Jan. 2, 2026; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(Время Фактов) Oct. 22, 2025: Prehistoric Egyptian Drawing Shocks Archaeologists, Just Take a Look... No description has been added to this video.
How this content was made: Auto dubbed.
Is there a Buddhist parallel to this popular Western story of a Garden, a first human couple, a Wisdom Tree, and a tricky shapeshifting Serpent? There is. One need only look at the Agganna Sutta, "A Buddhist Genesis," a discourse given by the Buddha "On Beginnings."
But first it may be better to question the Sumerian, Jewish, Christian version -- made silly by its oversimplification over the millennia. The Christian version makes next to no sense, the Jewish interpretations a little more sense, and the much older Sumerian roots from texts like the Epic of Gilgamesh the Enūma Eliš. All of these are creation myths rooted in some kind of history.
Sadly, many readers misunderstand the Buddhist version of "Genesis." The Buddha is in no way explaining how life began. It is preexisting. He is merely explaining how it came to Earth and how karma (deeds) impacts the environment. As people become so, too, the world declines. We are not evolving so much as devolving from a Golden Age (Satya Yuga), and it is all cyclical. It happens again and again.
This is an echo of the older Vedic (Hindu) and Shramanic (Jain) versions, and that is because "Buddhism" does not begin with the historical Buddha. He is constantly referring back to previous buddhas (Great Heroes or Ford-makers as Jainism calls them, avatars and sages in the Old Vedic Religion that became Brahmanism and much later Hinduism).
At their pure inner core, all beings know that they are not separate from one another. In that state of mind, it is as if they live in a Garden of Eden, where they have no need for shame, no need to differentiate friend from foe, good from evil, and no need to imagine a creator god to oversee their behavior.
They have no expectations that their lives should be other than they are.
It's all me. I created everything. - Even us?
But something in our nature likes to delude us into forgetting this oneness [or unity] of all things and into believing that life should be fairer than it is.
We give that demon a name, Mara [Death, the Obstacle to Enlightenment], to help us identify it.
Suppose that, a very long time ago, the first two human beings evolved from earlier beings. We’ll call them Adam and Eve. Their inner core, or Buddha-nature [or natural state of only dreaming and soon to awake], was pure, and they had no fear of other beings, no sense of good and evil, no self that was separate from other beings and from whatever force brought them into being.
Adam and Eve did have a sense, though, that one of the trees in their garden bore intoxicating [entheogenic] fruit that they should stay away from.
That was the Tree of Duality. Looking for an opportunity to trick Adam and Eve into believing they were distinct separate beings, Mara [the Deceiver] took the form of a snake to talk with them.
No beings had ever lied to Adam and Eve, and they had no way of knowing that the snake was not really a being, so they listened as the demon Mara told them how much fun it would be to become intoxicated on the fruit of the Tree of Duality.
Zarathustra, Iran (Persia)
So Adam and Eve ate the fruit and became drunk with duality. They began to see the world as a conflict between good and evil [as taught in the novel Near East religion of Zarathustra called Zoroastrianism].
They decided that only a cruel god would create such an unfriendly place, so they invented the god of the Old Testament and then hid from him.
Because Mara had taken the form of a snake, they feared and despised all snakes. They made distinctions everywhere: friend and foe, human and animal, smart and dumb, handsome and ugly, strong and weak, rich and poor. They began to see old age, sickness, and death as unfair, as burdens, as suffering.
Four prophets: Mani, Zoraster, Buddha, Jesus
They thought child-bearing was punishment. So that was how Mara, for thousands of years to come, deluded human beings into forgetting that they could return to the Garden of Eden.
Every parable is supposed to have a moral. I’d say the moral is: Some believe in an original sin that requires salvation. Other believe in a delusion that requires awakening. — Mel Pine (Urgyen Jigme)
New evidence of civilizations THRIVING before the cataclysmic flood
(Gaia) Is there archeological evidence across ancient sites from around the world that suggests civilizations thrived before the flood?
Experts piece together pre-flood history by examining antediluvian (pre-flood) myths alongside astrologically aligned megaliths on different continents.
Connecting data points from before the Great Deluge uncovers new evidence of unfathomable complexes from a mythological time when gods walked the Earth and influenced humanity.
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Gaia.com, July 18, 2025; Pat Macpherson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
This is why scientists are terrified of China's prehistoric mega structures and unexcavated pyramids
(Incredible Stories) In this chilling deep dive, we explore 20 massive ancient archeological sites across China that defy logic, challenge technology, and remain cloaked in silence.
From the impossible engineering of the Longyou Caves (formerly filled with water and only revealed when local villagers sought to drain them) to mysterious burial pyramids locked beneath military zones, these structures are more than relics. They're unsolved threats to our understanding of history.
Why are experts and Chinese authorities afraid to investigate further? What secrets are too dangerous to uncover? Watch now and find out what lies buried in China’s forbidden past.
(Stone & Bone) Ötzi, "the Iceman," was a stranger in a strange land, murdered by others and left to freeze in the snow and become a mummy, not a typical European of the time as previously assumed. The Iceman is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. Ötzi's remains were discovered on September 19, 1991, in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi," German œtsi) at the Austria–Italy border (Tyrol state). He is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, offering an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans -- or, at least, that's what scientists assumed until they tested his DNA and that of others from the area. [It seems "Europeans" are part space beings, hybrids, but Otzi seems to have preceded that infusion of alien DNA.] More
DVD DESCRIPTION: This critically acclaimed documentary explores the 700-year history of [Black] Islamic rule on the Iberian Peninsula [Spain and Portugal]. Although generations of Spanish historians have portrayed the Moors as brutish occupiers, recent research paints a much different picture. The Islamic invaders actually brought stunning advances in science and art to their territories. Oxford-educated historian Bettany Hughes gives modern viewers a rich, nuanced understanding of Islamic history and culture while visiting such sites as the Alhambra Palace and the Great Mosque at Cordoba.
REVIEW: "The drama seems infused, suddenly, with important complexity, with great questions of war, peace, civilian casualties" -- The Wall Street Journal
"highly informative and entertaining" -- Memorable TV
(Answers in Genesis) May 9, 2025: Where are the ancient ruins of North America (USA)? In Europe, they’re everywhere — castles, cathedrals, medieval cities. But in the USA, the historical attractions are all post-European arrivals. (They are all over Mexico, so let's call that part of pre-Hispanic North America "Mesoamerica" to make it seem far away and foreign).
In this video, Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson uncovers some surprising new discoveries about the ancient civilizations here in what is now the USA.
Dr. Jeanson’s book, They Had Names, is available at GetAnswers.org/new-discoveries-ancient-america
Today, Cahokia (earthworks, pyramids, mounds), Illinois, is considered the largest and most complex archeological site north of the great pre-Columbus cities in neighboring Mexico, just across the Gulf of America Mexico in places like the Yucatan Peninsula.
They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People
Long before the Occupiers "Pilgrims" stormed landed at Cape Cod, what was happening in North America? Who was here? What civilizations rose and fell?
For years, the answers to these questions have been shrouded in mystery. At the time of European contact, a diverse world of Native America (indigenous, First Nations, "Indian") peoples thrived across this continent.
Who took the peaks off these pyramids?
What was their backstory? Who were the ancestors of the Sioux? Where did the Navajo come from? What about the Apache, the Comanche, the Cherokee?
They Had Names is the result of a multi-year deep dive into genetics, indigenous histories, archeology, and linguistics — an ambitious quest to uncover answers to these questions. More
ABOUT: Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (religion-defending) ministry dedicated to getting Christians to be defensive about their beliefs, faith, religion, and proclaim the good news of [Nordic] Jesus Christ effectively.
On its YouTube channel, find answers to pressing questions about key issues like creation, evolution, science, the age of the earth, and social issues. AIG desires to train believers to believe and develop a worldview based on the Bible and expose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas and their implications.
Hear from top teachers like Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson, Ken Ham, Bryan Osborne, Dr. Georgia Purdom, Dr. Tim Chaffey, Dr. Gabriela Haynes, Dr. Terry Mortenson, and more.
Help AIG continue to push the gospel to the world: https://AnswersinGenesis.org/give. Transcript
Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson, Answers in Genesis, May 9, 2025; Xochitl, Sheldon S., Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
When you think of pyramids, you think of Mexico, home of the largest known pyramid (Cholula) or maybe Bosnia and Indonesia with their mountain-sized pyramids that science is reluctant to certify as manmade structures. Maye it's Sudan, the country with the greatest number of pyramids. Sudan? (Which country has the most pyramids? It’s not Egypt | IFLScience). Formerly Buddhist Indonesia not only has an ancient and massive pyramid, it also has a Buddhist pyramid in the largest excavated Buddhist temple complex in the world, Java's Borobudur with its mysterious "bell" stupas atop it, each with a time traveling Buddha statue built inside it. It's very mysterious, with a pyramidal volcano in the distant mist. Egypt? Oh, yeah, the Giza Plateau has some famous African structures. There may even be more in the surrounding countries, showing how prolific a great people in the past were in passing on their technology and architectural expertise. They may not have been Earthlings or fully what we call human. But whoever built them, they must serve a purpose, like the black power plant in Alaska, that impossible structure in Antarctica, the one on Mars and maybe the Moon and a few other planets...what's going on? What were these magnificent buildings really for? The USA has some, too, across from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in a place called Cahokia. Lop the tops off and no one takes notice, but keep or restore the points, then suddenly they stand out like sore mysteries demanding explanation, like those superannuated structures in the Grand Canyon that keep the name but are eroding away. Okay, okay, so what if Mexico was mad about making pyramids? And Egypt, and mostly Sudan, so what? But China?
These prehistoric Chinese pyramids in China should NOT exist
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Universe Inside You, Feb. 11, 2025; CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
The world's oldest forest dating hundreds of millions of years old has been found
What garden existed in ancient New York state?
The world's oldest forest, which dates back hundreds of millions of years, has been found.
Scientists have unearthed the world's oldest known forest in upstate New York, USA.
This 386-million-year-old woodland predates the dinosaurs by over 100 million years.
Researchers mapped 3,000 square meters of the ancient forest in Cairo, New York. What other prehistoric wonders might lie hidden beneath our feet?
These early species reproduced using spores rather than seeds. Archaeopteris, reaching heights of 30 meters, was among the first plants to develop leaves. How did these ancient trees shape the world we know today?
Los Guachimontones ("The Guachi Mounds") is a prehistoric UNESCO World Heritage site in Jalisco, Mexico, known for its circular step pyramids called guachimontones 40 kms west of Guadalajara.
The Teuchitlan Culture, who built Los Guachimontones, had no writing system and their language and name remain unknown.
Adventurous visitors can explore ancient archeological sites in the Tequila Valley, including Los Guachimontones, on a guided tour that visits the pre-Hispanic cultures and rituals of the region.
Mexico is full of prehistoric cities and other ancient attractions. One of the most overlooked prehistoric sites in Mexico is Los Guachiontones located in the center west of the country.
This is a destination that combines one of Mexico's most mysterious and overlooked ancient civilizations with its historic Tequila (Mezcal) Valley, where the valleys are blue with the agave plant.
There are many other ancient sites in Mexico worth exploring. Large ancient cities like Teotihuacan with its pyramids just outside of Mexico City and impressive cities like Chichen Itza with its massive pyramid, The Castle or El Castillo, in the Yucatan Peninsula may get all the attention, but there is much more to see.
Visiting Mexico's mysterious circular pyramids | Guachimontones Day Trip
(Clau Chases Colors) May 28, 2022: GUACHIMONTONES Today's video is a day trip from Guadalajara, Mexico. See amazing circular pyramids at Los Guachimontones archeological site and the colorful small town of Teuchitlan.
Los Guachimontones, Teuchitlan culture
What are we not told about ancient sites hidden from site and closed off to the public?
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Los Guachimontones dates from the Late Formative and Classic Period (that spanned from around 300 BC to 450 AD). Los Guachimontones is the largest prehistoric site found in the Mexican state of Jalisco, which is full of German immigrants.
This region of Mexico is famous for its agave and Tequila Valleys.
Period: Approx. 300 BC to 450 AD
Los Guachimontones is the largest of several dozen Teuchitlan Culture sites.
These sites are noted for the number and size of their ceremonial buildings.
The Teuchitlan culture seems to have been composed of multiple cultures with a number of commonalities.
It is difficult to know much about them as they lacked a writing system. It is not known what language they spoke or even what they called themselves; the name "Teuchitlan" is from the nearby town and that name came from later Nahuatl-speaking migrants to the area. More
Tour "Pyramids Guachimontones"
Map of China's Fusang (US)
The local Tour Pyramids Guachimontones (gdltours.com) explores ancient pre-Hispanic cultures from more than 2,000 years ago. Visitors explore what flourished in the region 2,000 years ago. The tour also delves into the cultural, mythological, and archeological history of these sites. Attractions include the round pyramids and entrance to the Interpretive Center with a knowledgeable tour guide.
As we have covered many times before, Buddhism has been in Mexico, Mesoamerica, California, and the US Southwest longer than Christianity has been in the Americas. This shocking fact is revealed in Rick Fields' How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America(Shambhala Publications). But far more important and shocking is the 1885 publication of An Inglorious Columbus by Edward Payson Vining about how Chinese and Afghan Buddhist monks "discovered" America long before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean and making it no farther. And long before the Spanish Catholic Conquistadors forced Catholicism on the Natives by the sword. Buddhism had a tremendous influence on the art and culture of the Americas. But, for example, the shocking fact that Buddhist artifacts were allegedly found by hired explorer Kincaid of the Smithsonian in the Grand Canyon. We are not told very much, instead fed a narrative that controls us. But these texts and others show the sudden influence of an external culture coming and advancing
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