Free Evidence of the Gods by Erich von Däniken Page A

he had at the first attempt. The men carefully swam through a 40-meter-long corridor and finally reached the surface in an underground lake. Their searchlights illuminated an incredible scene. They recognized two horses on the western wall of a chamber. Bernhard’s searchlight flitted to the ceiling and alighted on a goat drawn in black charcoal. It was covered by a transparent calcite layer. Now the men clambered out of the water, took off their flippers, and checked the air in the subterranean chambers. It was spicy and a little resinous, but could be breathed without difficulty. In the next chamber, even larger than the first one, the light beams skimmed over a whole picture gallery: bison, penguins, cats, antelopes, a seal, and various geometric symbols.
    Henri Cosquer showed his photos to some archeologists. They were not very enthusiastic, remained skeptical, or even thought that the pictures were forgeries. It was not until six years later, on September 19, 1991, that the
Archéonaut
, a French naval research vessel, anchored off Cape Morgiou. Eleven frogmen followed HenriCosquer into the cave system. Eight specialists were waiting aboard the
Archéonaut
, including two archeologists. Specialist equipment was lowered into the depths, the subterranean picture gallery was thoroughly mapped, and small samples of the paintings were brought to the surface. The C-14 dating produced a minimum age of 18,400 years.
Climate Change
    The sea level of the Mediterranean 18,400 ago was 35 meters lower than today. At that time, the entrance to the cave was on land. The water has risen—be it in the Mediterranean or in the Atlantic at Er Lannic. That can also be proved at the port of Lixus in Morocco, where the oldest parts lie under water; at Cadiz in Spain, where a 100-meter-long piece of road can still be seen underwater at low tide; in Malta, where so-called “cart ruts” sink below the surface of the Mediterranean; and off the island of Bimini in the Caribbean, where clear remains of walls and a road lie under the surface of the sea. The sea has risen—worldwide. It’s as simple as that. (There are many other examples of water having risen. Even Plato wrote about it some 2,500 years ago, in the third book of his
Laws
.)
    Today, as I’m sitting typing these words on my keyboard, mankind is being gripped by an unfathomable debate: climate change. The glaciers are said to be melting and the oceans rising. But they have been doing that every few thousand years, quite obviously also in the Stone Age, when there were no industrially produced CO 2 waste gases to warm the climate. What is wrong with this society? Looking the other way, spreading ignorance and half-truths, not taking account of the facts—the same also applies to many scientists, particularly the type who constantly and angrily demand to be taken seriously. That is the society we live in. Looking away and refusing to register what is also applies to the incredible messages from the Stone Age.

    The small island of Gavrinis lies directly next to the two stone circles of Er Lannic, which are partly disintegrating under the water. Before the sea level rose, Gavrinis and Er Lannic were part of the landmass. Gavrinis is a mere 750 meters long and 400 meters wide. The island is fringed by trees. Mossy grass and rampantly proliferating gorse cushions one’s steps, as if a thick carpet had been laid down leading into the sacred place. And what a sacred place it is! For the “passage grave” on the hillock has been fitted with a mathematical message which can turn us smart-alecks speechless.
    The indigenous Bretons always knew that the hillock in truth contained a structure from the Stone Age. The entrance was discovered in 1832—the apparent grave inside was empty—and between 1979 and 1984, an archeological team led by Dr. Charles-Tanguy Le Roux restored the cyclopean complex. The inside of the passage grave turned out to be a phantom from a time long past and, at the