"The question is no longer 'Who discovered America?' Thanks to Frank Joseph, the question is now, 'Who didn't discover America?'" --David Goudsward, author, Ancient Stone Sites of New England and the Debate Over Early European Exploration "Here is the history of ancient America you were never taught at school. Frank Joseph, drawing on decades of meticulous research and exploration, has uncovered the evidence that rewrites the history books. A vital addition to the library of anyone seeking knowledge of America's forgotten past." --David Jones, editor, New Dawn Magazine The Original Visitors to the New World Revealed Was America truly unknown to the outside world until Christopher Columbus "discovered" it in 1492? Could a people gifted enough to raise the Great Pyramid more than 4,000 years ago have lacked the skills necessary to build a ship capable of crossing the Atlantic? Did the Phoenicians, who circumnavigated the African continent in 600 bc, never consider sailing farther? Were the Vikings, the most fearless warriors and seafarers of all time, terrified at the prospect of a transoceanic voyage? If so, how are we to account for an Egyptian temple accidentally unearthed by Tennessee Valley Authority workers in 1935? What is a beautifully crafted metal plate with the image of a Phoenician woman doing in the Utah desert? And who can explain the discovery of Viking houses and wharves excavated outside of Boston? These enigmas are but a tiny fraction of the abundant physical proof for Old World visitors to our continent hundreds and thousands of years ago. In addition, Sumerians, Minoans, Romans, Celts, ancient Hebrews, Indonesians, Africans, Chinese, Japanese, Welsh, Irish, and the Knights Templar all made their indelible, if neglected, mark on our land.

A collection of articles from Ancient American magazine.

Well before the Jamestown settlers first sighted the Chesapeake Bay or the Mayflower reached the coast of Massachusetts, the first English colony in America was established on Roanoke Island. David Stick tells the story of that fascinating period in North Carolina's past, from the first expedition sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to the mysterious disappearance of what has become known as the lost colony. Included in the colorful cast of characters are the renowned Elizabethans Sir Francis Drake and Sir Richard Grenville; the Indian Manteo, who received the first Protestant baptism in the New World; and Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America. Roanoke Island narrates the daily affairs as well as the perils that the colonists experienced, including their relationships with the Roanoacs, Croatoans, and the other Indian tribes. Stick shows that the Indians living in northeastern North Carolina -- so often described by the colonists as savages -- had actually developed very well organized social patterns. The fate of the colonists left on Roanoke Island by John White in 1587 is a mystery that continues to haunt historians. A relief ship sent in 1590 found that the settlers had vanished. Stick makes available all of the evidence on which historians over the centuries have based their conjectures. Methodically reconstructing the facts -- and exposing the hoaxes -- he invites readers to draw their own conclusions concerning what happened. Exploring the significance of that first English settlement in the New World, Stick concludes that speculation over the fate of the lost colony has overshadowed the more important fact that the Roanoke Island colonization effort helped prepare for the successful settlement of Jamestown two decades later. "Had it been otherwise," he contends, " those of us living here today might well be speaking Spanish instead of English." The four hundredth anniversary of the exploration and settlement of what came to be called North Carolina occurred in 1984. For that occasion, America's Four Hundredth Anniversary Committee commissioned this factual and readable history.

The examination of four great civilizations that existed before Columbus’s arrival in North America offers evidence of sustained contact between the Old and New Worlds • Describes the cultural splendor, political might, and incredibly advanced technology of these precursors to our modern age • Shows that North America’s first civilization, the Adena, was sparked by ancient Kelts from Western Europe and explores links between Hopewell Mound Builders and prehistoric Japanese seafarers Before Rome ruled the Classical World, gleaming stone pyramids stood amid smoking iron foundries from North America’s Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi River. On its east bank, across from today’s St. Louis, Missouri, flourished a walled city more populous than London was one thousand years ago, with a pyramid larger--at its base--than Egypt’s Great Pyramid. During the 12th century, hydraulic engineers laid out a massive irrigation network spanning the American Southwest that, if laid end to end, would stretch from Phoenix, Arizona, to the Canadian border. On a scale to match, they built a five-mile-wide dam from ten million cubic yards of rock. While Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages, a metropolis of weirdly shaped, multistory superstructures, precisely aligned to the sun and moon, sprawled across the New Mexico Desert. Who was responsible for such colossal achievements? Where did their mysterious builders come from, and what became of them? These are some of the questions investigated by Frank Joseph in his examination of ancient influences at work on our continent. He reveals that modern civilization is not the first to arise in North America but was preceded instead by four high cultures that rose and fell over the past three thousand years: the Adena, Hopewell, Mississippian, and Anasazi-Hohokam. How they achieved greatness and why they vanished so completely are the intriguing enigmas explored by this unconventional prehistory of our country, Advanced Civilizations of Prehistoric America.

Was America truly unknown to the outside world until Christopher Columbus "discovered" it in 1492? Could a people gifted enough to raise the Great Pyramid more than 4,000 years ago have lacked the skills necessary to build a ship capable of crossing the Atlantic? Did the Phoenicians, who circumnavigated the African continent in 600 bc, never consider sailing farther? Were the Vikings, the most fearless warriors and seafarers of all time, terrified at the prospect of a transoceanic voyage? If so, how are we to account for an Egyptian temple accidentally unearthed by Tennessee Valley Authority workers in 1935? What is a beautifully crafted metal plate with the image of a Phoenician woman doing in the Utah desert? And who can explain the discovery of Viking houses and wharves excavated outside of Boston? These enigmas are but a tiny fraction of the abundant physical proof for Old World visitors to our continent hundreds and thousands of years ago. In addition, Sumerians, Minoans, Romans, Celts, ancient Hebrews, Indonesians, Africans, Chinese, Japanese, Welsh, Irish, and the Knights Templar all made their indelible, if neglected, mark on our land.

The Lost History of Ancient America presents new evidence of transoceanic visitors to America, hundreds, even thousands, of years before Christopher Columbus was born. Its 20 eminent contributors are experts in a variety of fields, from botany, biology, and prehistoric engineering to underwater archaeology, archaeo-astronomy, and Bronze Age warfare. In ancient times, the sea was not an impassable barrier separating our ancestors from the outside world, but a highway taking them to every corner of it. Never before and nowhere else has so much evidence proving the impact made on America by overseas visitors been assembled. You will learn about: A chain of stonewalls across southern Illinois that has stood for the last two millennia. A profusion of plants flourishing throughout the United States and Canada that originated more than 20 centuries ago. Underwater ruins recently found off the coast of Oregon. Bronze Age oil wells in Pennsylvania. And much, much more. The Lost History of Ancient America ends the debate between cultural diffusionists--who have always known that our ancient ancestors did not consider the sea an impassable barrier--and cultural isolationists, who have been equally certain that humans lacked the know-how and courage for global navigation until a little more than 500 years ago.

While digging out a new basement near Los Angeles, homeowners accidentally unearth a 3,000-year-old Phoenician altar. A treasure-hunter in Ohio finds more than he expected, when his metal detector locates an Eastern Mediterranean pendant from 1000 bc. Two caches of coins minted in Imperial Rome surface along the Ohio River. A Smithsonian Institution archaeologist excavating a Native American burial mound in Tennessee removes a stone emblazoned with a second century Hebrew inscription. These are just a few of the dramatic finds described in The Lost Worlds of Ancient America. They confirm that our continent was visited and influenced by visitors from Europe and the Near East hundreds, even thousands of years before its "official" discovery in 1492. As such, this startling, fresh proof of their powerful impact on the pre-Columbian New World offers us a different view of American origins that threatens to re-write mainstream textbooks. More than two dozen noted academics, researchers, and writers have contributed to this myth-shattering volume, including: Scott Wolter, a university-trained geologist, construction analysis company president, and author of The Hooked X, showcased on The History Channel; Dr. John J. White, editor emeritus of the Midwestern Epigraphic Society's quarterly Journal; J.M. Allen, a former air-photo interpreter for Britain's Royal Air Force; Bruce Scofield, PhD, a world-class authority on Aztec astrology; Dr. Arlan Andrews, Sr., a registered professional engineer with a 40-year career at White Sands Missile Range, AT&T Bell Labs, and the White House Science Office; Wayne May, founder and publisher of Ancient American magazine.

Druids in Vermont? Phoenicians in Iowa? These are just a few of the interesting bits of information contained in this volume of American pre-history. This groundbreaking work shatters many of the myths of America centuries ago.

In 1587, John White and 117 men, women, and children landed off the coast of North Carolina on Roanoke Island, hoping to carve a colony from fearsome wilderness. A mere month later, facing quickly diminishing supplies and a fierce native population, White sailed back to England in desperation. He persuaded the wealthy Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition's sponsor, to rescue the imperiled colonists, but by the time White returned with aid the colonists of Roanoke were nowhere to be found. He never saw his friends or family again. In this gripping account based on new archival material, colonial historian James Horn tells for the first time the complete story of what happened to the Roanoke colonists and their descendants. A compellingly original examination of one of the great unsolved mysteries of American history, A Kingdom Strange will be essential reading for anyone interested in our national origins.

New archeological discoveries may finally solve the greatest mystery of Colonial America in this history of Roanoke and Hatteras Islands. Established on what is now North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, the Roanoke Colony was intended to be England’s first permanent settlement in North America. But in 1590, the entire population disappeared without a trace. The only clue to their fate was the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree. For centuries, the legend of the Lost Colony has captivated imaginations. Now, archaeologists from the University of Bristol, working with the Croatoan Archaeological Society, have uncovered tantalizing clues to the fate of the colony. In The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island, Hatteras native and amateur archaeologist Scott Dawson compiles what scholars know about the Lost Colony along with what scholars have found beneath the soil of Hatteras.