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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 |
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The Australian Pyramids
"Standing in the bushland some distance from the town of Gympie in southern Queensland, is a crudelybuilt, 40-metre-tall terraced stone pyramidal structure which, I believe, will one day help to alter the history of Australia -- to prove that, 3,000 years ago, joint Egyptian and Phoenician mineral-seeking expeditions established mining colonies here."
Thus runs the lead paragraph of an article in a popular Australian publication. This purported pyramid boasts 18 recognizable terraces. The bottom 14 terraces are built from rather small stones; but the top four consist of slabs weighing up to 2 tons. Trees as old as 600 years poke up through the stones, attesting to a pre-European origin. Another much larger pyramid inhabits dense scrubland near Sydney.
The claim that these admittedly crude structures are Egyptian is based upon the discovery of artifacts in the area with Egyptian and Phoenician characteristics; i.e., a stone idol resembling a squatting ape, an onxy scarab beetle, and cave paintings with Egyptian symbols. Aborigine legends also tell of "culture heros" arriving at Gympie in large ships shaped like birds.
(Gilroy, Rex; "Pyramids of Australia," Australasian Post, August 30, 1984. Cr. A. Jones.)
Comments. Professional archeologists are very wary of anything R. Gilroy claims. Further, our Australian readers warn that Australian newspapers are not always as skeptical as they should be about radical claims.
 | Underside of a stone scarab dug up in an Australian cane field (From Ancient Man) |