Manuscript 512

Manuscript No. 512 is a file of papers housed in the collection of the Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (BNRJ) which details the account of a 1753 expedition by Portuguese treasure-hunters in Brazil. The papers allegedly were used by Percy Harrison Fawcett in his search for the Lost City of Z.^[1]

The document consists of an expeditionary report although the name of its author is unknown. The manuscript has become the basis a number of archaeological fables, and is one of the most famous documents from the National Library. Access to the original report had been limited but a digital copy became available after the digital upgrade of the BNRJ.

The appearance of the city narrated in manuscript 512 describes characteristics similar to those of ancient civilizations as well as other elements difficult to identify or without association. The chronicler notes that all the houses were like the local one, sometimes linked together in a symmetrical construction and unison.^{[citation needed]}

There are descriptions of various environments observed by explorers, amazed and confused by his find.^{[citation needed]} All reported associations with the narrator, such as the square on which stood a black column and on a statue that he pointed to the north portico of the street was surmounted by a figure stripped to the waist and wore a crown of laurels. The immense buildings that lined the square and bring in relief figures of some species of crows and crosses.^{[citation needed]}

Text translation free of archaic Portuguese of the eighteenth century^{[citation needed]}: (...) Column of black stone of extraordinary size, and on it a statue of the common man, with one hand on the left flank, and the extended right arm with his index finger showing the North Pole, in every corner of that square is a needle, the imitation of those used by the Romans, but some already battered and broken and wounded some rays. (...)^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Wilson, Colin (May 2002). The Atlantis Blueprint. Delta. p. 69. ISBN 0440508983. 

Further reading

• Wilkins, Harold T. (March 1996). Mysteries of Ancient South America. Adventures Unlimited (reprinted). ISBN 0932813267. 

External links

• Movie: The Secret of El Dorado
• Manuscript 512, English translation.
• Secrets of the Dead - Lost in the Amazon. PBS Video special on Fawcett's quest for the City of Z.