History's Mysteries

For better or worse, progress has been made

Comments (0) By Mark Hughes Thursday, May 24 2001

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Wayne May speaks before the Eclectic Viewpoint at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Richardson Civic Center, 411 W. Arapaho Road at N. Central Expressway, Richardson. Admission is $20. Call (214) 706-3630.

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The moral and ethical direction of scientific progress can certainly be called into question. Thankfully, it often is. But even its staunchest detractors cannot deny that, for better or worse, progress has been made.

That claim cannot be made by fringe or psuedosciences that have been running in circles on a treadmill stagnating on the same old ground for as long as anyone has been paying attention.

While it may be excusable (if not laudable) for Hollywood to rehash stories that fill the past with lost cities, mystical oases, sacred pyramids, ancient spells and curses in the name of entertainment, it is inexcusable for those claiming to be more than entertainment to peddle the same stories without some new evidence to back up their validity.

Claiming to have just such evidence is Wayne May, publisher of Ancient American magazine, a national publication "to describe the prehistory of the American Continent regardless of presently fashionable beliefs...Its editorial position stands firmly on behalf of evidence for the arrival of overseas visitors to the Americas hundreds and even thousands of years before Columbus." A firm stance to be sure. Ancient seafaring cultures are as common as VWs on a college campus, and only a Eurocentric sap would believe that the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria "discovered the new world." But when that stance is placed on the foundation of such topics as "Christ in North America?" the footing becomes less firm.

Regardless, May will be on hand with slides of evidence of such visitations and may address other topics covered in his publication, including "Ancient Fortress in Oklahoma," "Ancient Chinese Ship Found in California?" and "Secret Chambers of the Rockies" and might even offer conjecture on the origin of the stone structure that earned Rockwall its name.