@AmericanALCHMY Quite a fantastical interview. The Tim Taylor connection mentioned towards the end puts an interesting spin on things. Quite entertaining and thought provoking!
Re: VPN, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Thanks for bringing that up - I just tried listening sans VPN and all recent episodes work. With VPN on, some episodes work and some don’t…strange that I haven’t noticed this for my other regular podcasts. Anyway, I have a workaround for now, thanks! I hope this was an isolated problem. Cheers and best wishes to all of you.
A two strike law would eliminate 2/3rds of violent crime!
Cashless bail is societal suicide. It’s allowing the worst kind of person to live amongst honest people and destroy their communities and lives.
Dating Sacsayhuaman Wall Construction and What We’ve Learned So Far
Part 1: The alignment
I have been fascinated by ancient megalithic construction for many years and I enjoy the debate regarding their ages. I’ve read books on the subject, heard the podcasts, seen the videos, and I’ve visited many of these sites in person over the last 15 years. I’m hooked by the mystery, but I have also been frustrated by the lack of hard chronological data for most sites. I have heard the phrase “You can’t date stone” repeated many times by commenters lamenting the lack of carbon or cultural material to use for dating. Even when carbon, pottery, or tools are found, there is debate about multiple occupations and who really built the large stone structures. But the thing is, you can date stone, and you can date sediment.
While studying geology as an undergrad I learned there are numerous techniques geologists use to date rocks and sediment. Several of these methods are capable of dating human built stone structures. A few years ago while finishing my PhD in Geology at the University of Oklahoma and considering a career in academia I realized I was in a position to apply some of these methods myself. Fate and opportunity have pulled me away from seeking grant funding for such a project over the last couple years, but over the last month the stars aligned and I had the chance to apply one of the dating methods I had been pitching to friends and colleagues for years.
The Chincana Project at Sacsayhuaman, led by archaeologists Jorge Calero and Mildred Fernández, was interested in applying geochronological methods to date the construction of the stone walls. A well timed reply in an X post noticed by @Weird_Old_World began a cascade of events all within a few short weeks: pits excavated next to the megalithic walls for the first time, traveling to Cusco, collecting 6 OSL samples for dating, and meeting Graham Hancock.
Over the next few posts I’ll tell you what a couple of geologists have observed and interpreted after a week on site. It is going to take some time to get results from our samples, but these new observations will help frame the eventual interpretation of the chronology data, whatever the results may be. Keep in mind that these are just my initial observations and thoughts, straight off the top of my head after a week in the field. I’m sure some interpretations will change with further observations and more time thinking about everything. But I wanted to be transparent with the process and give an early glimpse to the public.
Thanks to Archaeologists Jorge Calero and Mildred Fernández for their invitation to date the site and their hospitality while in Cusco. Thanks to @Weird_Old_World for all the hard work and coordination to make this all happen. Many of the photos in this series were taken by him as well. And thanks to my friend and Geologist Dr. Alex Sodeman for ensuring this was a successful field campaign.