Henriette Mertz

Henriette Mertz (1898-1982) was an American archaeologist, patent attorney, and researcher of ancient history from Chicago. During World War II, she worked as a code-breaker for the U.S. government's cryptography department. She published multiple controversial works during the 1960s and 1970s. She passed away at the age of 73.

Bat Creek Stone

In 1964, Mertz discovered that the Bat Creek inscription was displayed by the Smithsonian Institution upside down. As a result, the stone was shown to have Semitic characters. Her discovery led Cyrus H. Gordon to classify the inscriptions as being derived from a Hebrew alphabet from the 1st century AD. [McNeil, p. 211. "The Bat Creek Stone was displayed by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., until 1964, when Henriette Mertz, a Chicago lawyer and author, discovered that the stone was actually being shown upside down. When placed in its correct position, the stone was discovered to contain Semitic characters. Cyrus Gordon, taking advantage of Mertz's astounding discovery, quickly identified the stone as being written in the Canaanite (or Hebrew) alphabet of the first century CE."]

Greek voyages

In her work entitled "The Wine Dark Sea", Mertz argued that Odysseus sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the North Atlantic. Moreover, Mertz believed that Odysseus faced Scylla and Charybdis when he arrived at the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. [Childress, "Lost Cities of Atlantis, Ancient Europe & the Mediterranean", p. 142. "In "The Wine Dark Sea" Mertz takes a scholarly look at the voyage of Odysseus (Ulysses to the Romans) from Homer's epic and tracks the voyage of the legendary sailor through the North Atlantic. According to Mertz's detailed itinerary, Odysseus sails through the Straits of Gibraltar * [and into the North Atlantic, eventually arriving at the dangerous Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, the area she identifies as the "monsters" of Scylla and Charybdis. Homer has Odysseus attacked by Charybdis; being "sucked down into the salty sea - we could see within the swirling cataclysm of the great vortex and at the bottom the earth appeared black with sand while round about the rock roared terribly..." He is in reality (according to Mertz) caught in the deadly tidal bore of the Bay of Fundy."] Mertz also proposed that the Argonauts travelled across the Atlantic Ocean, down the east coast of South America, past the mouth of the Amazon and Rio de Janeiro to the Rio Plata of Argentina. From Rio Plata, Jason went to the altiplano of Bolivia and to Tihuanaco where the Golden Fleece was located. [Childress, "Lost Cities of Atlantis, Ancient Europe & the Mediterranean", p. 143. "Similarly, Mertz gives a detailed account of how the story of Jason and the Argonauts is acutally a story of a trip across the Atlantic, down the east coast of South America, past the mouth of the Amazon and Rio de Janeiro to the Rio de Plata of Argentina. Jason and the Argonauts then go up this river to the altiplano of Bolivia and to Tihuanaco, the location of the Golden Fleece."]

Chinese voyages

In her work entitled "Pale Ink", Mertz proposed that the Milk River inscriptions were Chinese glyphs made by one of the exploration parties. Mertz ruminated over the possibility that a 5th century book entitled "Fu-Sang" (meaning "fir tree" in Chinese) described the fir trees of British Columbia. [Childress, "Lost Cities of North & Central America", p. 565. "Other ancient inscriptions on the Milk River include the Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park carvings south of Lethbridge. Here can be found all kinds of "writing" though no one may ever decipher these strange glyphs. Henriette Mertz in her book "Pale Ink", about two Chinese voyages to the Americas, mentions the Milk River inscriptions by name, and claims that they are Chinese glyphs made by one of the exploration parties. The book "Fu-Sang," traditionally said to have been written in 499 A.D. is said to mean "Fir Tree" when translated from Chinese. Asks Mertz, Did the ancient Chinese know British Columbia as the land of the fir tree?"]

Atlantis

In her work entitled "Atlantis: Dwelling Place of the Gods", Mertz proposed that the eastern section of the United States (i.e. eastward from the Mississippi river and Ohio river) was where Atlantis was located as described in Greek mythology. Mertz used as proof a 1436 map belonging to Andrea Bianco that showed the Atlantic island of Antilla. However, her theory was ultimately rejected on account of Plato's dates, the fact that Atlantis sank, and the fact that "Antilla" was most likely a cartographic depiction of either Hispaniola or Cuba. [Childress, "Lost Cities of Atlantis, Ancient Europe & the Mediterranean", p. 143. "Mertz actually proposed in her book "Atlantis: Dwelling Place of the Gods" that the eastern section of the United States, from the Mississippi and Ohio rivers east, was the Atlantis of Greek myth. It is a fascinating and well-thought out book, but Mertz relies too heavily on the 1436 A.D. Andrea Bianco map which includes the Atlantic island of Antilla as proof. She demonstrates a similarity between the map of Antilla, "Atlantis" as far as she is concerned, and the eastern portion of North America, using the Mississippi as the western shore of this "island." It is a theory that is fun to consider, but it is easily rejected because of Plato's dates, his statement that Atlantis actually sank beneath the ocean, and the fact that the 1436 Andrea Bianco map depicting Antilla most likely shows Cuba or Hispaniola."]

Published works

* 1986 - "The Mystic Symbol: Mark of the Michigan Mound Builders". Global Books, ISBN 0-9617235-0-5.
* 1976 - "Atlantis: Dwelling Place of the Gods", ISBN 0-9600952-3-3.
*1974 - "Gods from the Far East: How the Chinese Discovered America". Seattle, Washington: Ballantine Books, ISBN 0-345-23964-4.
*1972 - "Pale Ink: Two Ancient Records of Chinese Exploration in America". Swallow Press, ISBN 0-8040-0599-0.
*1964 - "The Wine Dark Sea: Homer's Heroic Epic of the North Atlantic", ASIN: B0006CHG68.
*1957 - "The Nephtali: One Lost Tribe", ASIN: B0007EYTXS.

References

Sources

*McNeil, William F. "Visitors to Ancient America: The Evidence for European and Asian Presence in America Prior to Columbus". McFarland, 2005. ISBN 0-7864-1917-2
*Childress, David Hatcher. "Lost Cities of Atlantis, Ancient Europe & the Mediterranean". Adventures Unlimited Press, 1996. ISBN 0-932813-25-9
*Childress, David Hatcher. "Lost Cities of North & Central America". Adventures Unlimited Press, 1992. ISBN 0-932813-09-7

External links

* [http://www.uhcg.org/Lost-10-Tribes/walt3b-Phonecia.html Phoenicia: Copper Mining in America]
* [http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=167&category=life Michigan's Mysterious Indian Mounds]
* [http://www.teosofia.com/Docs/vol-3-5-supplement.pdf The Aquarian Theosophist: Jason and The Argonauts]
* [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaggio_all%27Inferno_mitologico Viaggio all'Inferno mitologico] "Journey to mythological Inferno" by Enrico Mattievich