Right Pundits

Last night, The History Channel H2 aired another new episode of America Unearthed, this one on the Stonehenge in America. Forensic geologist Scott Wolter travels to Salem, New Hampshire to visit Mystery Hill, site of a megalithic structure which may be some 3,800 years old, according to archeoastronomy. A marker stone is set to hail the sunrise of the Summer Solstice. What′s more is that by extending the line East, it intersects with Stonehenge in England, right through the center of the Third Inner Trilathon. Extending it even further East takes us to the area near Beirut. Lebanon, once the center of the Phoenician Empire. A rock found at the Salem site, known as the Baal Stone, may be evidence that the Phoenicians had visited North America,

Scott Wolter first meets with the son of the property owner, Kelsey Stone. In 1955, his grandfather, Bob Stone, bought the site in order to preserve it. Kelsey shows Scott how the archeoastronomy of the site works in relation to the sunrise of the Summer Solstice. He also shows Scott how the sunrise line also intersects with Stonehenge in the UK when extended further East, as well to Lebanon. This, along with a rock found in 1964 known as the Baal Stone, due to an inscription carved upon it, may point to a connection with the ancient Phoenicians. The inscription praises Baal and mentions the land of Canaan. An ancient city which was prominent in Phoenicia was Baalbek, possibly founded by an advanced, proto-Phoenician culture.

Kelsey also shows Wolter a sacrificial table, which is large enough for human sacrifices, and is tilted with a groove to channel flowing blood. There is also a ′cave′ which appears constructed which Kelsey calls the Oracle Chamber. A priest could speak into a tunnel and have his voice carried and modified to sound god-like to those about the sacrifice table. An example of archeoacoustics?

Scott heads to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts to meet with an expert on the Phoenicians, Prof. Mark McMenamin. A geologist by training, Mark has researched the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. He doubts if the Phoenicians were behind either megalithic site since both were built well before the era of the Phoenicians, who began empire building around 1200 B.C.. However, he does point out that with their knowledge of celestial navigation, such as using Polaris as a guide, that they may have made it to North America. A Phoenician coin found in Carthage from around 350 B.C. has a tiny map which shows most of the Mediterranean land masses along with a large island west of Spain. Greek writings also indicate that the Phoenicians knew of a huge island west of Spain that had navigable rivers.

Wolter then heads to England to eyeball the UK Stonehenge up close. Dr. Henry Chapman gives Scott a tour of the site. Around 3100 B.C., Stonehenge was just a field, but over the course of at least 1,000 years, an unknown people began construction. An estimated 30 million man hours went into acquiring and arranging the 150 stones which make up the famous megalithic site. When Scott shows him photos and print-outs of America′s Stonehenge, Chapman is impressed, but he, too, is skeptical about the Phoenicians being involved. They may have known about both sites and even visited and used them. But they certainly did not construct either.

Scott Wolter returns to Salem, New Hampshire and joins Kelsey Stone at the Stonehenge in America site. He arrives in time to witness the sunrise alignment of the Summer Solstice. The event takes place and Scott is thrilled at this working example of archeoastronomy. He tells Kelsey that while he does believe that there is a connection between the American and UK Stonehenges, they both pre-date the Phoenicians. However, that does not mean that it rules out the megalithic construction by an unknown proto-Phoenician culture.