S03E21 - Brien Foerster // The Paracas Skulls

Introduction

0:00At Palmetto State Armory, we offer the largest selection of guns and ammunition at unbeatable prices. Our knowledgeable and friendly staff are here to provide personalized assistance, ensuring you find exactly what you need. If you enjoy outdoor activities like hunting, camping, or hiking, our clothing and outdoor gear collection has got you covered. We also feature an exceptional indoor range facility where you can experience the thrill of shooting in a safe and controlled environment. Visit us today at palmettostatearmory.com or your local retail store. Palmetto State Armory. American made for life. Forget whatever plans you have this weekend

0:36because you're staying at home and playing on SpinQuest. And there's never been a better time to sign up than right now. New users get $30 coin packs for just $10. All the table games you love with hundreds of slot games and real cash prizes. That's at spinquest.com. S-P-I-N-Q-U-E-S-T dot com. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. For more details. To see if you stay with me as far as possible, go online.

1:10Start now. Tier 2 Boom, it's Monday.

1:40Well, it's good night, people.

New Episode

1:42And that means that it is a new episode day here at Lost Origins, so here we go. Here we go, people. Hopefully, you are in a part of the world unaffected by various political unrest and viral spreads, and you are there ready to rock. New awesome week. And I hope you got a Mai Tai in your hand right now, too. Mai Tai, pinacolala, something with an umbrella, and you guys are ready to rock. And one could argue you could put an umbrella in any alcoholic beverage or non-alcoholic beverage.

2:13It'd be a little weird in a lot of them, but I feel like the placement of that umbrella immediately makes everybody around you go, oh, okay, this person's chilling.

Morning Routine

2:22I like your style. It's 7.15 a.m. Way to be. Yeah. You do you. Good week, people. Man, that almost got dark fast. Yeah. I wish we could just put an umbrella in all of the things, like in the great glass of life that we're drinking right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully, Lost Origins can be that umbrella for you this week. Let me try to throw an umbrella into your glass real quick, CK. I know you like to read, and I know you're a studious human. Man, I don't know the last time that you went to intertraditions.com to check out some

2:54rad stuff to read, but if you're one of the folks out there who have not, that is really the website that you need to hop over to right now. Scoop up a book by our friend Robert Buval or Andrew Collins or Sonia Grace. I mean, that list goes on and on. Support of the show from day one, and we have nothing but just love for our homies over at Intertraditions. Intertraditions, guys. I know some of you might not have it as your homepage like Andrew and I do, but if you can, sometime this week, if you haven't been in a while, they update it constantly, new

3:26stuff all the time. Go check it out, intertraditions.com. What I found really helpful, too, is I started following them on social media a long time ago, and that is a great resource for me to just get updates on what's coming, the books I'm not even aware of, that I'm on our radar yet or whatnot, new authors that they signed, and it's really, really rad to just see what they've got going on on the inside. I kind of like to peek behind the curtain a little bit. Get in there, guys. Kind of a creep. Get in there.

Neighborhood Cat

3:51We've got this cat named Rachel in our neighborhood. She's an outdoor cat, but she basically lives here, and she comes up on our deck probably about 13 times a day and just stares into our back door, our windows, and she has one crossed eye. She's like, are you on Intertraditions buying me a book? That's not the voice I made for her, but it's kind of like, are you there on the website? But that's just Rachel. But click the buy button. The point I was making is that it's cool to look behind the curtain, and they do a really

4:22good job of showing you the humans behind that organization that just do what they do to get their stuff in your hands. Like a cat outside your window watching you. But for real, people, holler at them. They love us. They love you. They love this entire genre. Holler at them.

Great Courses Plus

4:37Intertraditions.com. Straight up. And speaking of love, we've got to throw one more love nugget over the fence. First I think I've ever said love nugget on the show. Great courses plus, you guys. I know we've been talking about this for, God, almost a month and a half, two months now, but come on. Guys, this seriously is one of the coolest things that we've ever gotten to talk about. But for real, we don't, I mean, I think people who've listened to the show quite a bit know that we don't shill for things that we don't love. We look at each one of them and we say, hey, is this something that I would want in my life?

5:08And this one is one of those things. Great courses plus, you will never have enough time to learn all the cool things that's on here. This is probably one of the most, I don't know, gift that keeps on giving kind of things that you can give to yourself or somebody else. And specifically this week, I know we're switching it up and we're looking at another course. We've looked at a couple in the past. This week's is Big History, The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity. We like those topics. Not a small topical area and something that I could imagine be really interesting to

5:41everybody who's listening to this right now. I mean, if you were a fan of the way we kicked off season three, and I know several of you were because of the DMs that we got, the emails that we got and whatnot, Dr. Brian Keating, that guy, oh man. What a beast. Such a beast. That is right up his alley. And if you enjoyed that conversation, I know that you'll enjoy this. Also, if you're a fan of Andrew Collins' work, I mean, you talk about the beginning of humanity, the origins of humanity and civilization. This speaks to that as well. So could not recommend it more. If you jump over to thegreatcoursesplus.com slash lostorigins, all one word.

6:14Don't even need a coupon code. It's 2020, it's all about, you know, just dynamic permalinks and whatnot. Whoa. Yeah. Just jump in there and you guys. Three months, unlimited access, 30 bucks, 10 bucks a month. Just do it. It's like the cheapest, most valuable thing you'll do this week. It's like giving yourself, it's like giving your brain a spa. Yeah. Do it. Do it. And if you don't like it, just hit us up and CK will refund your money. I will tell you, you know what? If you don't like it, there's probably some issue. And before I refund your money, I'll sit and speak with you about what you didn't like

6:45and we'll pass it along, the Great Courses Plus. And then, and only then, will I ask you to take the Baker's Choice, Dealer's Choice, and I'll assign you another course. And if you don't like that one, I will refund your money. Deal. I said it right here. I'm telling people. I'm so impressed right now. Yeah. That was fire, dude. Wow. Let's do it.

Brian Forrester Introduction

7:05So what do we have going on, not just in our awesome world, but on the show this week? So let me tell you, since season one, there's been a list of names that lives on my computer of people that I would 1,000% love to pick the brain of. That list was built before you came into this, you know, into the scene. And, um, before CK era, the BCK era. Ooh, that's fun. Uh, Brian Forrester though, is a name that's been on that list from day one.

7:36This guy, such a just cool, like charismatic guy. Just, he's always been really interesting to me. His passion for, uh, like just South America in general. And that's always been, I had a weird magnet effect on me, like Peru, Bolivia, all of the just cultures and ancient structures down there have always just rocked my brain. He has a big old brain and not because he is trying to do his greatest impression of some of the elongated skull headed people of South America that he studies, the Baraka skulls, but because he spent so much time studying megalithic works of South America.

8:11Yep. This guy has written books about the subject, more than 30 at this point. No big deal. More than 30 books about the subject, uh, recently completed his research endeavor at Gobekli Tepe, something, you know, that we know is a big interest to a lot of people out there. We've talked about it a lot on the show, really multifaceted expert. Yeah. Straight up. And the Baraka skulls is always, has always been a topic that I've really wanted us to rip through on the show. Such a weird, but enigmatic and amazing, uh, and just intriguing rabbit hole and just mystery

8:42in itself. And today we get to spend time picking the brain of the world's foremost expert on the skulls. I mean, this guy lives in Peru just at Palmetto State Armory. We offer the largest selection of guns and ammunition at unbeatable prices. Our knowledgeable and friendly staff are here to provide personalized assistance, ensuring you find exactly what you need. If you enjoy outdoor activities like hunting, camping, or hiking, our clothing and outdoor gear collection has got you covered. We also feature an exceptional indoor range facility where you can experience the thrill of shooting

9:15in a safe and controlled environment. Visit us today at PalmettoStateArmory.com or your local retail store. Palmetto State Armory. American made for life.

9:26Forget whatever plans you have this weekend because you're staying at home and playing on SpinQuest. And there's never been a better time to sign up than right now. New users get $30 coin packs for just $10. All the table games you love with hundreds of slot games and real cash prizes. That's at SpinQuest.com, S-P-I-N-Q-U-E-S-T.com. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Void where prohibited. Visit SpinQuest.com for more details.

9:55So he can be there and spend this much time studying the things. And it's pretty cool. Yeah, so we're going to rip through that. Definitely want to make sure we pick his brain on his recent trip over to Gobekli Tepe. But then just lost ancient technologies in general. This guy well-versed in that topic as well. Love it. So psyched. Let me get out the Skype call thing. Let's get him on the horn. We'll go. Here we go.

10:21All right. Brian Forrester, good afternoon and welcome to Lost Origins.

Brian Forrester Interview

10:30Holy hell. CK and I have been looking forward to this conversation for a very long time. You are one of the researchers and authors that we've really been just itching to get on the show. And pick your brain. So thank you, Brian, for carving time for us today. Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you. So this is the first time you've ever been on the show, which is super exciting. And, you know, anytime we have a guest come on the show for the first time, we always like to set the stage with that history lesson. Right. For the few individuals in our audience who maybe have not encountered your work in the wild.

11:01Maybe they're not up to speed with your work on the Paracas skulls and, you know, all the things around the globe that you're exploring on the daily. Let's do a little history lesson. Right. Who is Brian Forrester? What's your background? What's the main focus of your work? No, that's a loaded question. And like what's just kind of like got you to this moment today?

Background and Focus

11:19If you could walk us through that, that would be awesome. Okay, well, I was born in the U.S. but grew up in Canada. And I've lived in both countries on and off. My fascination with ancient enigmas began when I was a child. Probably the Sphinx was the first ancient object that drew, and the Great Pyramids drew my fascination. And over the course of time, I've traveled to about 100 countries. And my major... 100 countries.

11:49My major focuses are basically the elongated skull phenomenon and also evidence of advanced ancient technology at different locations around the world. And the Paracas skulls, we are going to come back to that here in just a minute. I mean, that's an enigma that I've been following for a long time, your work specifically. I'm really excited just to kind of get the current state of things. I know our audience is itching for it as well. When I was preparing for today's conversation, when CK and I were sitting down trying to figure out, okay, we've got an hour with Brian.

12:26What the hell are we going to talk to him about? Because, I mean, your work is so expansive. And every time I felt like I had finally tallied up all of the books that you have put out into the wild, I realized that there was this, like, whole other section of the internet that I wasn't aware of. And it just continued to take me down another rabbit hole. So, like, just to clarify, Brian, how many books have you authored and published about ancient enigmas, you know, all of the work that you're focused on?

12:5737. 37. 37. Whew. That's intense. That's amazing. Well, we really appreciate just, like, the commitment to exploring all of these questions and what you're doing for, you know, just the betterment of understanding what happened in our history. That's huge. So we appreciate that. Oh, my pleasure. All right. So let's kind of set some expectations for today, right? So we are going to attempt to cover a ton of ground, right? Like I said, I know we only have a limited amount of time with you.

13:28We're going to try to squeeze as much in as we possibly can. So let's start with your time in South America, right? I know that you have spent years poring over these elongated skulls. I'd love for you to hit us with an overview of the Paraca skulls, maybe for our audience members who, you know, are not super familiar with that ancient mystery, that enigma. Maybe they haven't followed it super closely. So maybe just, like, the overview of that. And then once we get through that, maybe explain the recent DNA testing that was completed on the skulls and the Eurasia connection between those findings.

14:05Okay, sure. Well, growing up, I would occasionally see on TV they would have depictions of these elongated skulls, usually once found in South America. And so about probably 10 or 12 years ago, I stumbled across this little museum in a little town called Paracas on the coast of Peru. Yeah. And there, inside there was a mummified human head that was larger than normal, very cone-shaped. And so I very rapidly developed a relationship with the curator of the museum, Senior Navarro.

14:42And over the course of time, I became his assistant director. So we began the process, you know, I asked him all the questions I could about them. He gave me a standard history. But since I come from a medical scientific background, I wanted to start to get more evidence from a scientific basis on what I was looking at. And so, yeah, that's been 10 or 12 years so far. And we're, you know, still studying them up to this day.

15:13And so recently, there were some DNA tests that were completed on the skulls themselves. And you actually released a book about it as well. If you could just kind of walk us through, what was this DNA testing, what was the focus of it, what was it that you were trying to, you know, confirm or disprove, and what was the outcome of it? What data did we acquire to get us any closer to understanding this ancient phenomena? Okay. Well, up to now, we've have, we've tested 19 of the Paracas skulls.

15:49And the first test that was done didn't show much data whatsoever. But then we had a major study of 17 of them. And so because these skulls are 2,000 to 3,000 years old, it's very difficult to get DNA from them. Because DNA degrades as soon as you die, more or less. So over the course of 2,000 to 3,000 years, it's very difficult to get data. But we were able to get the mitochondrial DNA, which is the mother's side of the family, from, let's see, 16, no, 15 of them.

16:30Only two of those 15 showed Native American heritage. Two of them, the DNA was too degraded. But with the other ones, they all turned out to have one commonality, and that was the area around the Black Sea of Eurasia. And so when you guys see data like that, like, where does your mind go? Where does your gut go, Brian? Because there's so many different theories out there, right? I mean, like, if you turn on History Channel and you see an episode of Ancient Aliens,

17:04they're going to have a very specific theory that they're going to throw at you. If you talk to, you know, an anthropologist, you know, or somebody that's going to be more on the academic side of it, they're going to have, you know, a theory or a logical way of walking you through what you're looking at there. Based on the amount of time that you have invested in understanding what these skulls are and what it means for humanity, like, what conclusions are you, like, starting to come to if you haven't arrived at one already?

Paracas Skulls

17:36What path are you going down right now with this? Well, basically, I just look at what the scientific evidence is telling us, and then you have to go from there. At Palmetto State Armory, we offer the largest selection of guns and ammunition at unbeatable prices. Our knowledgeable and friendly staff are here to provide personalized assistance, ensuring you find exactly what you need. If you enjoy outdoor activities like hunting, camping, or hiking, our clothing and outdoor gear collection has got you covered. We also feature an exceptional indoor range facility where you can experience the thrill of shooting in a safe and controlled environment.

18:09Visit us today at palmettostatearmory.com or your local retail store. Palmetto State Armory, American made for life. Forget everything you had planned for this weekend because you are sitting on your couch and winning from the comfort of your own home. I'm here with SpinQuest, where you can play hundreds of slot games, all of the table games you love, and you can even win real cash prizes. New users, $30 coin packs are on sale for $10 at spinquest.com.

18:41SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Voidware prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

18:48So since only two of the skulls showed Native American maternal ancestry, automatically that tells you that these people came from somewhere else. And because it's human DNA, you have to admit that these are not aliens. They have to be humans of some kind. So then when you look at the list of the different haplogroups that we encountered, which were six or seven, the commonality is a location around the Crimea area of the Black Sea.

19:21And then when you look up photographs of ancient skulls from that area, you find out that the largest skulls, elongated skulls in the world, are either located in Paracas, somewhere close to Peru, or in the Crimea area of Eurasia. So that gives you a quite probable genetic connection. So from that, you have to say, well, they must have migrated from the Black Sea to come to the coast of Peru. And so, like, what's the mainstream level of acceptance, you know,

19:53any time a new groundbreaking theory or piece of data is presented that kind of goes against, you know, the norm, I suppose, or the accepted chronology of a certain epoch of history, especially one that's going to take the theory of isolationism and throw it into a, you know, melting pot of diffusionism. Like, what kind of acceptance have you been able to experience as you've been presenting your findings in the wild? Well, from the academic community, there's been basically no response whatsoever.

20:28I did make YouTube videos about the major testing that we did, and they've been viewed two million times. Sure. So, unfortunately, also, what we did for that main study, what we had to do is we had to have a Peruvian archaeologist as the leader of the team, which we were able to find. But it took us three years before we were able to be given permission to do the DNA testing. And then when presented the results,

20:59he simply stated that there must have been contamination, and that is not the case. So, that's basically where we are. But what's also important is the morphological or physical differences between the first of the Paracas skulls, which are the largest and most elongated, and compare those with other humans who lived in the area. What do you mean by that? Can you walk me through that? Well, since I've been studying this for such a long time,

21:33there's only one cemetery, which is located about half an hour from where I am, because I am in Paracas. And that is that one cemetery that there's a section of only 20 acres where the largest elongated skulls in the world have been found. So, those are what we call the natural shape, or the original people. And three characteristics that distinguish physically their difference from a normal human skull is there's no sagittal suture,

22:03which is the suture line that goes down basically from your forehead backwards to the back of the skull. It simply doesn't exist. And we've had 30 to 40 foreign medical professionals look at these, and none of them can explain the lack of the suture. The other thing is there are two holes in the back of the skull which are for blood and nerve flow, and the logic behind that would be that because of the elongation or elongated head,

22:34that that would be where blood and nerve flow would happen because of the larger size. And then the other thing is the forum and magnum, which is where your vertebral column enters the bottom of your skull is one inch farther back than normal. And that has to be a genetic characteristic. So, this is, like you just said, genetic characteristics. So, this is not, in your opinion, I just want to make sure I'm tracking you correctly, the elongated skull phenomena,

23:05it's not something that was being done to people in their infancy to emulate a certain, you know, deity or to, you know, achieve a certain level of status or whatever. Like, this is like an actual genetic anomaly. Is that a correct understanding of this? Yeah, that's right. And the basic time process is that the original people were born with elongated heads and then as they bred with the local population

23:37so as to not wind up with genetic diseases caused by inbreeding, then the normal traits of a human skull would gradually over the course of generations start to take over. That would make the skulls start to look more and more normal looking and that's when the process of the headbinding of these noble people began, a way to distinguish their physical look from those of the common population. Okay, that makes a lot of sense then.

24:07Okay. Have you, Doug, I'm sure you have. I know that you've written several books, like on Egypt, for example, and even one on Akhenaten himself. So, like, you know, the elongated skull phenomena is not one that's captive to South America either. I mean, if you, again, if we point back to Akhenaten, I mean, we see depictions of him in ancient high-relief carvings that are displaying him with this characteristic of his skull being elongated. So, like, what's your take on this being a global phenomenon

24:38and, you know, based on where you go with that, like, what do you think the bigger implication is there? Is it just an ancient global genetic component of humanity that has been, you know, bred out, essentially? Or are we looking at ancient civilizations that were capable of diffusionism? Is it a combination of those? I just, I really want to get your take on it because of how much time you've spent with these. Sure. Well, the only ones, as far as I know, that have been genetically tested are the Paracas ones.

25:08And the only testing that has been done has been done by me through two laboratories in the U.S. and Canada. So, Akhenaten is portrayed with an elongated head and his daughters. But since his mummy's never been found, so we can't automatically say, well, that is what he looked like. But what we can say is he's trying to depict something and the same thing in the case of the Maya and cultures in Melanesia

25:40and actually Stonehenge and Europe and Bulgaria and other locations like that is that the head binding was done in order to distinguish the noble classes from the general population. So, it's not necessarily a case that it all comes from one source. But as I said before, the largest elongated skulls in the world are either found in the area of Crimea or Paracas in Peru. That's interesting.

26:11And just out of curiosity, too, and I'm going super rogue here as far as our show notes are concerned, I always find it really fascinating to find out where does the passion come from? The amount of content that I've consumed from you or with you as a focal point key player in the narrative working on exploring your work specifically, it always just fascinates me to find out what's the passion that motivates you

26:41to continue to dig into this? Do you have this underlying feeling that if we are able to parse what's actually happening here, maybe this KPI or this epiphany for humanity becomes relevant or accessible? Or maybe it unlocks the door to this ancient civilization that is lost, long, and forgotten. Right? I'm just curious. Where does your passion stem from, Brian? Because it's very, very evident

27:11any time you look at any of your books, videos, all of it. Well, it's basically the realization that we've been lied to about so many different things with the elongated skulls. All of the academics or any paper I've ever read as regards them, it's always 100% the result of head binding, but they've done no scientific or genetic medical testing to back that up, whereas I have.

27:41And then when it comes to the ancient megalithic structures that we find in different places around the world, we see evidence of machine marks. We see that the oldest structures are by far the most complicated. And then over the course of time, the construction methods get worse, and that's not supposed to be the way it is. Right. So it's all this basic ignoring of the facts and cover-up of the evidence or attempted cover-up

28:12that basically pisses me off. Yeah, sure, sure. And so that's why I like to expose it to as many people as I can because it's part of an awakening process that our history is far older and far more fascinating than what we've been taught. Right. I think that's like the most noble of quests too, right? Like we talk about on this show all the time about how, you know, it's all about just asking the questions and asking the questions that maybe some people are either too uncomfortable to ask, they're afraid to ask,

28:43they feel like they can't ask for whatever reason, whether it's professional or, you know, whatever the undertone is there. But the world needs more Brian Forrester's out there asking the questions and not being afraid to go up against what the normal accepted status quo is, right? Yeah, and basically I'm not, you know, I don't feel anymore that I'm going up against anything. I'm simply exposing the facts and the data

29:14and if academics choose to ignore it, then the general public is eating it up like hot dogs. You know, people love the realization that these ancient things can actually be explained. They don't have to be, you know, the most commonly said thing is, well, we'll just never know. So if you make a statement like that, then that means you're not looking. Right, right. Well said. So Brian, you recently completed

Gobekli Tepe

29:40your research venture out at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. Let's dig into this a little bit and understand the effort and sort of start to focus on the undertaking that you did while you were out there. What were you setting out to investigate? Why was it important? And what have you been analyzing or uncovering since then? Well, we basically, basically what we did is we organized a tour of almost all of the major sites in ancient Turkey and Göbekli Tepe was, of course, on the list. Sure. And it's very difficult

30:10to get a handle on something if you don't see it physically in person. So the difference between a photograph and walking around the site is major. Oh, I can imagine. And the fact that they seem to have shown that it's 11,500 years old was built in two stages. The large T-shaped pillars appear to have been done first and then much inferior work was done later. So by physically examining the site,

30:40I wasn't impressed by the actual workmanship because, again, my focus is on looking at ancient machining marks and things like that. And the Göbekli Tepe site, the work is relatively crude, but, again, there are so many anomalies from the standard story that you're given when you're in the location. They say it was a hunter-gatherer culture that did that. And I think there's no way that's possible because you had to have incredible organization to be able to cut the T-shaped blocks,

31:11which some estimates are the big ones are 10 tons, some estimates are that they're 20 tons. The quarry is local, so it's not a question of, you know, they had to have advanced technology to move the stones from some distant site. But it's just that the sheer scale of it is well worth. Anybody, if you're in Turkey or visiting Turkey, definitely go and see Göbekli Tepe. It's also, it's not a one-of-a-kind. I know you were going to ask me about

31:42another one of the locations, and I saw a map when we were at Göbekli Tepe that they've mapped at least 10, if not 20, different ancient locations that have the T-shaped pillars. So it's much more complicated than what we've been taught and also only about 5% of the site has been excavated so far. Which is so crazy too, right? Like if we think about, you know, only 5% of it has been uncovered. Like, you don't know what you don't know, right? I mean, the amount of insight,

32:12data, and theories that has come out of Pillar 43 and Enclosure D alone, right? If we've been able to pull that much information off of that one megalith, like, I can only, I can't help but wonder, like, what else is waiting for us under the dirt, right? Oh, yeah.

32:30So just out of curiosity, when you're at Göbekli Tepe, because again, I can only imagine what standing there is like. I mean, I look at pictures of this site all the time and to see it with your own eyeballs, God, it has to be surreal as hell, I'm sure. So when you're there, though, what experience or structure or moment, like, really, really resonated with you? Like, when you think about your time at Göbekli Tepe, what's that, the first thing that pops into your mind

33:00is like, that was what made the trip for me. Do you have anything like that?

33:05Yeah, well, again, there's a lot of conflicting stories about it. Some say that it was buried on purpose. Some say that it's so ancient that it more or less just filled in over time.

33:18It's the, you know, it's, those sites in Turkey are unique for these T-shaped pillars as far as I can tell. They look like nothing compared to anything else I've seen in the world. So, and the Turks have adopted Göbekli Tepe as a very treasured ancient site. They built a giant roof over top of it. There's a visitor center. Quite a few people are visiting the site now. But I think there has to be

33:48a lot more research done. And why there hasn't been more major excavations, I really don't understand it. You know, if they've only uncovered 5%, then why aren't they proceeding with, you know, relative haste at excavating the rest of it? I mean, you would think that there would be a high sense of urgency like if we've got this thing right here within, you know, our fingertips, our grasp, all the things. Like, I don't know, maybe it's just people like you and I that are just super curious and we just want to go dig all the shit up, right?

34:18Right? But, I mean, and I don't know, has Klaus Schmidt been, like, since his passing away? Is there a new person at the helm there? At Palmetto State Armory, we offer the largest selection of guns and ammunition at unbeatable prices. Our knowledgeable and friendly staff are here to provide personalized assistance, ensuring you find exactly what you need. If you enjoy outdoor activities like hunting, camping, or hiking, our clothing and outdoor gear collection has got you covered. We also feature an exceptional indoor range facility where you can experience the thrill

34:49of shooting in a safe and controlled environment. Visit us today at palmettostatearmory.com or your local retail store. Palmetto State Armory, American made for life.

35:00You know what? It sucks to be bored. But when I get on my phone and play real casino games on spinquest.com, the time flies by. That two-hour wait at the DMV seems like 10 minutes. Play your favorite slots, live blackjack, live preps, with a live dealer. New players, $30 coin packs are on sale for $10. Play spinquest.com and you'll never be bored again. Spinquest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

35:31Like running the show or is it kind of like all slowing down? Is that part of the turmoil in the Middle East right now? Like what did you hear when you were over there in Turkey?

35:43Oh, well, yeah, basically he was the head of the whole thing and his death was very unfortunate. He was obviously passionate about it. He was the main the main man behind the whole thing. So, yeah, they're doing some smaller excavations there but nothing on the scale of the uncovering of the Gobekli Tepe that we know of and the reasoning behind that, I'm not sure. To excavate the other 95% would cost

36:13an absolute fortune. Maybe cost is the problem. Maybe there's some politics behind it as well.

36:23But you do see, you know, 10 miles from the site you see billboard after billboard of the pride of the local people of this lost ancient heritage which they're trying to unravel. Oh, wow. So, yeah, it's one of those places you go to and go, hmm, okay, it's impressive. And there are lots of other places that we also visited in Turkey, some of which I found actually to be more fascinating than Gobekli Tepe. Really? Walk us through a couple of those. What was fascinating to you, Brian?

36:54Well, there's this one site close to the Mediterranean which is called Titus' Tunnel. And it's a tunnel that was cut into the limestone bedrock and it's almost, it's 0.88 miles long. And the ceiling is between 20 and 30 feet high. And, again, the standard story is that it was done under a Roman called Titus and it was a water aqueduct system but there's no way it was done by hand. I mean, this is like walking

37:25through a giant cavern. Yeah, I'm looking at pictures of this right now. This is intense. Oh, it's crazy. Wow. And is that, is that like the common consensus is that this thing was just hand chiseled with animal bone and pieces of string or like what's, what's the like the common mainstream acceptance as to how this thing was built or what? Well, steel chisels would have existed during that time because we are talking to Roman time period. Sure, sure. So, you know, say 200, 300 AD but it would take

37:56thousands upon thousands of people to do this work. It's just, you know, it's simply insane but our guide, our guide was really good. He was a Turkish man, retired history and archaeology teacher but you could see, I could just tell from spending time with him that he was completely programmed into the standard academic story. I didn't bother saying, okay, how did they do it because there's no way he would have an explanation for it but I saw, obviously, that there had been a Roman presence

38:26but it's like many sites, ancient sites we find in the world. Sure, the Romans were there or the Dionastic Egyptians were there or the Inca were there but they found something and then altered the shape of it for the function that they wanted to have it do during that time. So, yeah, Titus' tunnel still does move water through it but it's only a little side channel that's almost a mere trickle compared to the massive cavernous system

38:56which is almost a mile long in the bedrock. Man, yeah, I just can't get over these pictures. It's so intense. Out of curiosity, Brian, I mean, you'd mentioned there were several sites that just like really got the noodle moving, got the gears going. Like, what were a few, like one of the other sites that really stood out to you? Well, another site is called Hattusha and that was a Hittite empire. That was their capital. And say the name of it one more time for me. Hattusha? Hattusha. Okay, cool. It's actually spelled

39:27Hattusha but they pronounce it Hattusha. Okay. And of course, again, you know, this is a Hittite site. We went and went, oh, okay, but once again, we saw two different levels of construction. We saw people stacking stones on top of one another, which like anybody could do, but then we saw very tight-fitting polygonal stone work where the stones originally would have fit together almost perfectly without mortar or clay or cement or anything like that. as well. We saw between 50

39:57and 100 circular drill holes, core drill holes in the stone which could not have been modern because of the amount of weathering. It was always the same size drill bit. And so, it's another site that is of ancient megalithic nature created using advanced technology. Then there was likely a cataclysm