The ancient city was built by a civilized race thousands of years ago when it was located at about 30° latitude, the prime latitude for entry from space. That may be coincidence. On July 27, 1999, the space shuttle Columbia streaked across North Texas shortly after 10:00 pm local time, re-entering Earth's atmosphere for landing at Cape Canaveral, Florida, also near the 30 degree parallel. Re-entry created hundreds of miles of brightly fluorescing ionized gas in a beautiful glowing tail, as Columbia descended to change from a clumsy orbiting space vessel to a graceful aircraft. This event may be prophetic of the ultimate discoveries about the ancients who built the city close to the re-entry path. On October 22 , John Lindsey will present to The Eclectic Viewpoint audience startling evidence that the wall beneath Rockwall, Texas, the reason for the city's name, was constructed by humans. This is a fascinating story and one of the most significant archeological discoveries of the century! It begins long before "Lindsey's seven year research started, even long before the first discovery of the wall over a hundred years ago. The story of the search for this city actually begins in 1539, when His Excellency Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led a large Spanish expedition to find the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. Born in Salamanca, Spain, in the Year of Our Lord 1510, Coronado was appointed Governor of Nuevo Galicia in 1538, and was commanded to lead this expedition in 1539. At that early age of 29, he had already earned distinction among the Spanish hierarchy for his brutal methods of pacifying the Indians. Spanish Viceroy to New Spain (Mexico) Antonio de Mendoza had sent Fray Marcos de Niza north to explore, who returned with tantalizing reports of great wealth to be found. Mendoza, seduced by the prospect of shipping large quantities of gold and silver back to Spain, with the attendant personal wealth and fame being experienced by his contemporaries in South America, organized a great search to be led by Coronado. It was a magnificent expedition! Some 300 Spaniards, hundreds of Indians and native slaves, horses and herds of sheep, pigs and cattle, plus two ships under the command of Hernando de Alárcon were sent north under Coronado's leadership. Alárcon sailed up the Gulf of California to discover the mouth of the Colorado River on August 26, 1540. In a side expedition, Garcia Lopez de Cárdenas was the first white man to view the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River (in Arizona). The main force, led by Coronado, documented and charted their discoveries in modern New Mexico, but found only stories and legends of the fabled cities. Because of stories of a great city, Quivira, which lay to the east, Coronado turned the expedition in that direction. The Cicuique Pueblo Indians furnished their slave, "the Turk," to act as guide. The Turk told Coronado stories of a great king who held court beneath trees hung with golden bells, beside a river two miles wide. John Lindsey has named his archeological study "The Quivira Project," because he believes the city beneath Rockwall may be the real Quivira. After several months of fruitless search, including the discovery of Palo Duro Canyon, and because of conflicting stories by other Indian guides, Coronado became suspicious of the Turk's stories. Under torture, the Turk confessed he had been instructed to lead the Spaniards in circles in order to weaken them with the struggles of living in the harsh land. Finally, he was executed by garrote. Coronado couldn't find Quivira because he was too far north. The name 'Quivira' became known as Kansas because he relied on the guides' stories to go northeast. But, even if they had followed the crest of an ancient mountain range from Palo Duro Canyon east (the modern watershed of rivers that flow north to the Red River and those that flow south to the Gulf of Mexico) he would have seen little but undulating hills and valleys, with little or no indication of a great city. It had been buried long before. This watershed or divide ends in Rockwall County. 12,000 years ago, at the time of the last Ice Age flood, the area was at the coastline of the modern Gulf of Mexico. Parts of Rockwall County would have been a string of islands. And, the city, which must have been built and habituated thousands of years earlier, was entirely under water. During a period of several thousand years, blue shale was deposited gradually in sedimentary layers. John Lindsey has found blue shale layers about six feet beneath the top of the wall. This means it was constructed much earlier. The wall was already ancient when the ice began melting and the ocean level rose to bring the coastline that far north of its present position. In 1851, T. U. Wade and his family dug a well on their property and discovered a rock wall below the surface. That incident began the controversy that has thrived since. Noted authorities have announced the wall is a natural stone formation, others have stated it is constructed by man. Lindsey has almost completed his book, a detailed, scientific documentation of prior investigations, including photographs and drawings. The documentation is a thorough presentation of both sides of the controversy. Additionally, he has mapped and surveyed the perimeter, as well as intersecting walls. Part Two will give more details about the following: 1. Several geological authorities have determined the walls are "clastic sand dikes," formed near fault lines. Such reports were given when it was assumed the Balcones Fault extended through Rockwall County. Later studies show there are no fault lines in Rockwall County. 2. Natural stone formations like clastic sand dikes sometimes crack into apparent blocks due to earth movement. If so, the cracks are uniform as is the grain of the stone. Stones found in the wall are both at different grain directions, and they are laid overlapping just as a mason lays bricks. 3. The stones have beveled edges, space and a mortar like material between them. 4. The top of the wall at all outcropping found to date has a uniform elevation of 550 ft. above mean sea level. The ground elevation in the area is far from uniform. It is hills and valleys. 5. The wall is an almost perfect rectangle about 4 miles by 7 miles. The exact dimensions of short to long have a mathematical relation known as "The Golden Section," about 1:1.6. This relationship has been found in other ancient cities. A small rectangle in the southwest corner is formed by intersecting walls. These dimensions also have that same ratio. 6. As depth increases, the stones are larger. 7. The stone itself is found nowhere else but in the wall, has not yet been identified by geologists, and is considerably denser than granite. The stone weighs 200 lbs./cu.ft --- granite weighs 175 lbs./cu.ft. 8. Ancient writing has been found engraved on a large slab. The above are only the highlights. More details will be explained in Part Two, in the October issue of The Forum. Of course, the most interesting details and photographs will be given by John Lindsey in his presentation Friday, October 22. The next morning, Saturday,
October 23, Lindsey will lead a field workshop to show more. Participants will be taken by
comfortable bus to Rockwall, and we will drive most of the perimeter of the wall. Then, we
will go to the actual archeological dig, where Lindsey and his helpers have exposed the
wall. We leave at 9:00 am and will return about 1:00 pm. Ice water and toilet facilities
will be available at the site. Be sure to bring your camera for this exciting first public
exposure of the dig. Tickets are $20 for the Friday lecture, $50 for the field workshop,
and $65 for both, either by advance purchase or Friday evening. Workshop tickets will not
be available Saturday morning. This is an exciting time, as discovery leads to more questions. Who were these people? When, why and how did they build this city? Where did the stone come from? Did the location have any relation to and were they capable of space travel? "What does this mean?" I asked Lindsey. "I can't answer that until we find out who these people were. But, at least it means this: current archeological knowledge places the first construction by man about 6,000 years ago; and this wall and the probable city it contains were constructed many thousands of years earlier than that." The re-entry of shuttle Columbia and its glorious fireworks in the sky may have been prophetic --- it was on that day I received the material to begin these articles. Cheyenne Turner, had she written this, would have also asked, "Is it significant that Columbia is the first to be piloted by a woman?" To be continued... Jim Turner
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