The Lost "ciudad Blanca" ( White City) May Have Been Found

Discussion in 'History & Geography' started by Yvonne Smith, Mar 3, 2015.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    One of the things that I love to read about is the ancient history of the different civilizations of the world, and this story is absolutely fascinating if you are interested in this subject.
    This civilization in Honduras existed thousands of years ago, and then disappeared; but the legends live on. Information about the lost city was sent back to Spain by the early explorer, Hernando Cortez. He descriibed temples made of ivory, and riches of more value than was being found in Mexico.
    This was really having me wondering, where did they get ivory in Central America thousands of years ago ? Did we used to have elephants here in America ? Wooly Mammoths, maybe ?

    The way that they are finding it is with aerial imaging that shows the actual ground beneath the trees and jungle overgrowth that hides whether there could be remains of an old city underneath the dense greenery.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ney-God-DOES-exist-centuries-speculation.html
     
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    Last edited: Jul 8, 2021
  2. Ruth Belena

    Ruth Belena Veteran Member
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    The white rubble found in Honduras was carved white stone, which could be limestone, chalk or another local building material.

    It is possible that ivory was also used in carvings. Elephant ivory is known to have been traded for thousands of years. It could have been transported by ship from Africa, but it's more likely that indigenous people would have carved the tusks and bones of native animals and sea creatures.
     
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  3. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    @Ruth Belena , I see what you are suggesting; but I have not heard of people building sea-worthy ships and trading between Africa and Central America over 10,000 years ago. That is very interesting, and i would like to read more about that, if you will please post a link about it.
    I have been looking to see where Central Americans might have gotten ivory , and there are very few animals that actually produce ivory. The only ones that I have found that would be here in America would be the early mammoths and similar elephants which existed here, and were wiped out by the Ice Age.

    http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/cuvieronius.htm
     
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  4. Ruth Belena

    Ruth Belena Veteran Member
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    @Yvonne Smith The Egyptians were the first recorded people to use sails on their ships, they invented the sail in 3500 BC.
    http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/navigation.htm

    They were known to have a large fleet of ships in 1500 BC
    http://discovermagazine.com/2011/jun/02-egypts-lost-fleet-its-been-found

    The discovery of ruins which might be the remains of the lost Cuidad Blanca (White City) could date back to 500 AD. There is evidence of people living in that region for 3,000 years, but the most extensive building period was 800-1250 AD.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...-lost-city-of-gold-ciudad-blanca-8616240.html

    Artifacts dating from many thousands of years ago could be made from mammoth tusks, but I don't know when ancient Central Americans started using ivory. Can you post any links about that?
     
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  5. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I re- read that article again, and I think that even though they described it as "ivory temples", they probably only meant that they were ivory in color, and not made with real ivory, as the articlle seemed to suggest. I think that what you are saying about the temple and city being made out of a white (or ivory-colored) stone makes a lot more sense.
    I was reading that elephant skeletons and teeth were actually found in South Carolina; so apparently there were some kinds of elephants living on this continent at some point in time.
    Whether they were an actual elephant , or maybe a mammoth, I don't know; but it was interesting to read about them finding the teeth , in any case.

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/06/990607154315.htm
     
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  6. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    I've always found the ancient civilizations topic fascinating. Thanks for posting, Yvonne, and thank you Ruth for bringing us back down to Earth.
     
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