About book Lost Empire Of Atlantis Export Edition (2000)
The topic of Atlantis offering some detailed archaeology is always appealing to me, and this book promised to have much of the recent discoveries. it is generally accepted now that the Minoan Civilisation is the origin of the Atlantis Legend and for forty years we have linked its sudden decline to a massive eruption on the island of Santorini.We also accept that there was a lot of international trade in the bronze age. The origins of grave goods in the tombs of the Pharaohs tells us they traded with the Baltic for amber, East Africa for ebony and Afghanistan for lapis Lazuli, but do we have to accept that the Minoans not only led these voyages but that they had a virtual monoply on long distance trade? The evidence is there but not all the dots have been filled in.I filled in many gaps in my knowledge, the many places where copper was mined in Europe and the Middle East, the fact that tin can be found inn places other than Cornwall but that Cornish tin is superior. I also learnt a little bit more about how the ancients discovered the secret of making alloys and that arsenic and copper make a kind of bronze.Menzies is primarily an expert in navigation and seamanship. I could not challenge his conclusions here and accept his proposal of how the Minoans could have sailed to America and thence to the Great Lakes is at least plausible. The mystery of who mined copper in the Lake Superior region in the Bronze Age is intriguing but the link to the Minoans is not yet proven. I'm not sure how all that copper was transported from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. It certainly deserves more research and investigation as it has the potential to re write our knowledge of prehistory.I liked how he told his story as a narrative and how he presented academic research in an easily comprehensible manner. Menzies is a bolder thinker than most academics. He is not, however a crackpot. Forget Mills & Boon, this is one of the most thrillingly romantic books I've read in some time! I'm not a Bronze Age scholar, but as far as I can tell, it is well researched and simply presents for the lay reader a body of information that is accepted among experts in the field. It will completely shatter everything you thought you knew about a range of ancient cultures from the Minoans to the Egyptians to the earliest 'discoverers' of the New World. The audio production is superb and the images and maps may be viewed on the bonus CD. If you enjoyed this book also check out Andrew Robinson's memorable biography of Michael Ventris, "The Man Who Deciphered Linear B."
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Interesting idea, but I question the author's credentials and grasp of science.
—AnnaMaria
