Also the order of episodes appears differently in several sources including TVRage and TVGuide so your guess is as good as mine. I'm not sure how many more episodes are left in season 2
Episode 9: Mystery of the Serpents
In Ohio, a massive mound in the shape of a serpent snakes its way across the landscape and no knows why built it or why. Thousands of miles away, a similar serpent mound of unknown origins slinks across the landscape of Loch Nell Scotland.
This was my most favorite of the three episodes. Serpent mounds are considered effigy mounds which are "raised piles of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, human, or other figure".The largest effigy mounds in the US appear in Cahokia (present day Illinois) and are some 10 stories tall. Cahokia was the largest city in the world in the 1200s. Inhabitants then dispersed due to a lack of resources.
There are only three known serpent mounds in the world-- the largest is in Adams County Ohio and is a quarter of a mile long. It is believed to have been built 1000-2000 BC by the Adena, Fort Ancient or Hopewell peoples. A mound in Loc Nell Scotland is also investigated. Ritual sacrifices were known to have been performed there.
Archeoastronomy is the practice of building structures in the line with the sun, stars and planets. There are a number of astrological alignments present in the mounds. The Ohio mound is aligned with the constellation Draco (which would have helped ancient peoples find true north).
Why are these in a serpent shape? The snake is the giver of life in some ancient cultures and has been found depicted on a number of artifacts. There is also a snake tradition in Judeo Christian and Egyptian mythology. No one knows the significance of the "Serpent's Egg" at the mound but it may be related to fertility or may be a sun disk. .
The Plume Serpent Religion stretched across the Eastern US and into Mexico. Ancient traders may have spread this knowledge/ religious practices between Scotland and the America way before Christopher Columbus.
And if all that weren't interesting enough, the Ohio mound is built on what is believed to be a meteorite crash site many millions of years ago. Stay tuned for future articles about this topic since there's too much information to add here. Doesn't it make you sad to think about how many other such structures existed that we destroyed before realizing what they were?
Ancient Hebrew writings and artifacts are investigated, including some that are claimed to pre-date Christopher Columbus arriving in America.
The Bat Creek Stone was found in a Cherokee Indian burial site in Tennessee in 1889. It is thought to be inscribed in an ancient form of Hebrew. Leslie Kalen said that the Central Band of the Cherokees believed they were descendants from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. I have spent a lot of time in/around the Cherokee Indian Reservation. I have visited the Cherokee Museum and I never heard that. To the show's credit they do mention that several fakes have been found and attributed to a Smithsonian employee working on the project (so he could get in good with his boss).
Other stones found in the US with ancient Hebrew include the Ohio Decalogue Stone, Los Lunas NM Decalogue Stone, and Tucson Lead artifacts. Note: Decalogue means the 10 commandments. Jewish people are also known to have come to the US with Columbus.
Scott also investigates a site in NM that is written in Old Negev (which is a pre Hebrew language that is thought to have been developed by the Hebrew Egyptian pyramid builders). He ascertains that the artifacts are NOT from the Lost Tribes because they are too recent.
I'm not buying one of the Lost Tribes of Israel (who disappeared around 722 BC) popped up in Tennessee. And I NEVER heard that from any Cherokee resources.
Episode 11: Swamp Mammoth
In Florida, Scott Wolter is called in to investigate a mystery surrounding a group of early inhabitants of the Sunshine State known as the Windover Bog People. As Scott learns about the perfectly preserved specimens, he discovers they have some unique features that could suggest they are European. And if they were, it would mean European travelers made it to America some 7,000 years ago. It's a shocking revelation–but not as shocking as what Scott learns next–that group of Europeans known as the Solutreans may have been here thousands of years before that, and actually predated Clovis people, who have long been thought to have crossed the Bering Strait land bridge and been America's very first settlers. The key to solving the mystery of just how long ago Europeans were here could be a single artifact–a small stone carving of a mammoth discovered by a man near Vero Beach, Florida that dating suggests is 13,000 years old.
Another interesting episode. Most people dont think about the early inhabitants of the US. Early man (be they Solutreans or some other group) likely coexisted with mammoths, giant sloths and giant rhinos.
Grade: 3 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). The Serpent Mounds was my favorite of this episode. I would give that a 4 1/2. The "Lost Relics' epic was meh. I like the show best when it sticks to investigating geological formations instead of some writings someone dug out of their grandmother's basement.
TV: Heavy On Sci Fi, Horror & Adventure; Light On Reality
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