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[1]Crest A Bequest Unearthed Phoenicia

Phoenicians in Australia?

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[5]Daily Star and [6]Phoenoceania Articles

Australian touts way-out theories about Phoenicians
_Warren Singh-Bartlett explores a claim that the ancient seafarers navigated
their way Down Under and across the Atlantic
_[7]The Daily Star On-line, Your Lebanese Newspaper in English

A lot of crazy claims have been made about the Phoenicians. Not
content with them having created possibly the world's first
alphabet, established an unprecedented trading empire and given the
world the color purple, some amateur historians claim that the
ancient seafarers also beat Columbus to the New World by a good
3,000 years.

Now, Val Osborne, an amateur archeologist from Australia, says the
Phoenicians discovered Down Under and established a trading center
near Brisbane on the Queensland coast. A conspiracy theorist, he
claims the Australian government has known about this for 40 years
but has kept the discoveries quiet for fears of further upsetting
Aboriginal sentiments. Osborne claims that the site contains a
cemetery, a temple, the remains of port walls and stone sculptures
-- several of which, he says, have already ended up in private
collections. Gripping stuff. But so far, no one has seen any proof.

Here in Lebanon, the Phoenician motherland, Osborne's claims are
met with a skepticism that borders on derision. "So far there is no
evidence of the Phoenicians crossing the Atlantic, let alone going
all the way to Australia," said Helen Sader, an expert in
Phoenician history at the American University of Beirut. "The
claims are unsubstantiated. Until we have some scientific evidence,
from what we know, it's impossible."

But lack of hard evidence hasn't discouraged the faithful. The
announcement, published by The Associated Press in July, led to a
rash of postings on alternative history Web sites, where believers
have been making similar claims for years.

A search on the World Weird Web -- a Web site dedicated to the more
unusual theories out there -- reveals that the Phoenicians, like
the Egyptians, were descended from the survivors of Atlantis. It is
a mythical continent believed to have been located in the middle of
the Atlantic, which according to legend sank beneath the waves.

Another theory has it that they were the offspring of aliens and
that Baalbek is actually a spaceport. Apart from Australia,
Phoenicians are claimed to have discovered Brazil, India and North
America, to have brought cocaine and tobacco from South America to
Egypt and, most curiously, to have inter-married with native New
World inhabitants, producing blond, blue-eyed Amazon Indians.

If Osborne's claims turn out to be true, it wouldn't be the first
time accepted historical wisdom has been turned on its head. The
discovery in 1962 of a Viking camp at L'Anse aux-Meadows in
Newfoundland confirmed old Norse stories that the Vikings had made
it across the Atlantic. Subsequent excavations revealed that the
camp was permanent; a cemetery and traces of agricultural activity
were later discovered. Built in 1000 AD, the camp predates Columbus
by almost 500 years.

But Viking navigational technology was slightly more sophisticated
than Phoenician. Where the Phoenicians navigated by the stars, the
Vikings also used a crude magnetic compass. Viking boats were also
better adapted to open-sea journeys.

Established Phoenician activity was largely confined to the
Mediterranean, where land, and thus fresh-water supplies, was never
far away. The furthest Phoenicians regularly sailed to, was
Cornwall, to trade for tin, and to a trading colony at Mogador on
the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Even then, ships sailed close to the
coast, stopping at Phoenician ports along the way for guidance and
supplies.

In comparison, a voyage across the Atlantic or to Australia would
require carrying sufficient provisions to last the voyage. "Even if
the crews ate fish, what would they do for water?" asked Hassan
Sarkiss, Professor of Archaeology at the Lebanese University. "With
ultra-sophisticated equipment and knowing exactly where they're
going, ships still have problems today." The belief that ships
built by early civilizations were incapable of lengthy open-sea
voyages was a fundament of historical theories. Then in 1947,
Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl proved that open-sea voyages were
not beyond the capacity of ancient peoples when he sailed on a
traditional pre-historic reed boat from Peru to Polynesia,
completing the 6,900-kilometer journey in 101 days.

In 1970, Heyerdahl built an Egyptian papyrus boat and sailed 6,100
kilometers across the widest part of the Atlantic from Safi in
Morocco, not far from the ancient trading colony at Mogador, to
Barbados. This, his second attempt at the crossing, was completed
in 57 days. It proved that in theory, transatlantic travel was
within the reach of the Phoenicians.

Interestingly, Heyerdahl believes that Phoenicians are contenders
to the crown for the discovery of North America. "They had
sea-going ability and they were sailing with women and plants for
settlement as early as 1200 BC," he said in a 1999 interview in the
Japan Times.

But for Sarkiss, there is one further complication in the
Australian story. While the Vikings knew from exploration of the
seas around their colonies in Iceland and Greenland that unexplored
land lay on the other side of the Atlantic, there is no proof the
Phoenicians had similar knowledge. "At the time, people believed
the world was flat. They didn't know there was land across the
Atlantic or that Asia existed," he said.

Professor Mark McMenamin, a geologist from Mount Holyoke College in
Massachusetts, disagrees. He believes that a series of gold coins
minted in Carthage between 350 and 320 BC provide proof that the
Phoenicians knew exactly what lay on the other side of the Atlantic
and that they knew of India as well.

Working with computer-enhanced images of the coins, McMenamin was
struck by the similarity between seemingly random patterns at the
bottom of the coins and Greek geographer Ptolemy's maps of the
known world. The difference was that these maps showed a distinct
landmass where the Americas should be and a large triangular shape
to the southeast of the Mediterranean.

McMenamin's discovery, coming as it does from a highly credited
scientist who recently discovered the world's oldest known fossil
in Mexico, has resulted in a great deal of discussion. Some
scientists are now prepared to concede that Diodorus of Sicily
might not have been exaggerating when he wrote in 100 BC that "in
the deep off Africa is an island of considerable size that the
Phoenicians discovered by accident after having planted many
colonies throughout Africa."

That the Phoenicians were familiar with Africa now seems to be
accepted fact. According to Greek historian Herodotus, in 600 BC,
Pharaoh Necho hired a Phoenician fleet to circumnavigate Africa,
from the Red Sea around the Cape of Good Hope and up the West
African coast to the Mediterranean. The mission took three years.
The travelers stopped each autumn to plant crops, which would be
harvested before the fleet again set sail. "The new trend is to
believe that the African story is true, although there is no direct
evidence except in Herodotus," said Sader. "But after discussing
the points, all of the information makes sense." This includes a
geographically accurate reference to the voyagers watching the
southern sunrise on their right as they sailed west around the tip
of Africa, a sight Northern Hemisphere sailors never saw.

Given the proximity of the West African and South American coasts
and the prevailing ocean currents, which flow in a westerly
direction, Diodorus' claim is not impossible.

But archeologists believe that regular, planned journeys across
such huge distances simply wouldn't have been worth the effort. The
Phoenicians were traders, not explorers and colonizers. There would
have to be a compelling reason to undertake such a hazardous
voyage.

"If the journey around Africa took three years, how long would one
to Australia take?" asked Sader. "I don't know if it was worth it
and remember, the idea of sailing out to unknown lands is a
relatively recent one." So did they or didn't they?

Sarkiss isn't convinced. "If the Phoenicians made it to Australia,
why haven't we found evidence of them in India or Indonesia?" If
Osborne is to be believed, the answer to that question might just
lie outside Brisbane. But at the moment there is little physical
evidence to suggest that the Phoenicians ever made it much further
than Morocco or Cornwall.

Sader prefers to err on the side of caution. "There are no
documented material finds (in Brazil or Australia) and the
Phoenician inscriptions that were 'found' in Brazil were 'lost'
before they could be studied," she said. "As for Australia, well,
let's say right now that's very, very far-fetched, isn't it?"

_Phoenoceania_

_Note:_ This article is published as is, quoted from sources that
want to remain anonymous. It is not the author's work nor does he
take responsibility for its authenticity or credibility.

This article is a mere compilation of names of researchers who have
found Phoenician remains in Oceania. These researchers confirm that
there is enough material evidence to warrant a comprehensible study
into Phoenician expeditions into Australia and a possible
reappraisal of its history. This page aims to establish the
steppingstone for a very plausible hypotheses beyond the reach of
academic bias. I thank these researchers on behalf of modern
Phoenicians. I will include further updates on the subject as they
come to hand.

Jealously guarding all sea-routes, captains would often sink their
ships and abort their expedition if a rival ship was to discover
the keys of those routes. The government would compensate them for
the loss of these sunken ships. The Phoenicians had sophisticated
navigation techniques and ships to carry heavy cargo across
continents, but their secrecy had obscured their distant
destinations and colonies. In this light, it would not be
inconceivable to assume that the ships of Tarshish on their
three-year voyages to Ofir ended up in Java, Sumatra and the Torres
Strait.

_Val Osborne_ is the latest researcher to claim that in Sarina,
Mackay in Queensland, a Phoenician harbour "cothon", a temple and
some votive symbols were found. Another researcher _Jonathan Gray
_in the "_Ark of the Covenant_" claims that a wreck of a Phoenician
ship lies around the entrance of King Sound in the Buccaneer
Archipelago near Derby in Western Australia. This wreck happened to
be in the area of the silver, lead and zinc Galena Mine._ Ross
Wiseman _wrote a book called "_Pre-Tasman Explorers_" which states
that the Phoenicians left clues to their presence in stone around
Lake Taupo in the North Island of New Zealand. _Brett J.Green_ has
devoted his book_" The Gympie Pyramid Story_" to the ruins and
artefacts found in the Gympie and Cooloola regions of southeast
Queensland that point to visitations and settlements of
Phoenicians. However, the foremost researcher in this topic is
called _Rex Gilroy _whose museum in Tamworth, NSW is rich in stones
inscribed in Phoenician.

The following is extracted from an article by _Glenville Pyke_
taken from a book by _Gilbert Deem_ titled "_Ancient and Mysterious
Discoveries in Australia_":

'near Toowoomba, a group of seventeen granite stones were found
with Phoenician inscriptions. One has been translated to read
"_Guard the shrine of Yahweh's message_"and "_God of Gods_".
Another inscription reads "_Assemble here to worship the sun_". Mr.
Gilroy has an ironstone slab found by a man from Cooktown in Far
North Queensland years ago, which bears a Phoenician inscription,
"_The Eye of Ra the sun rules Sinim_". Sinim was the ancient Hebrew
name for a mysterious southern continent, mentioned in the Old
Testament. The Phoenician name for it was Ofir, a "_great south
land of gold_", where gold was obtained to build Solomon's temple.
The Egyptians called it "_the land of Punt_". A large ironstone
slab in Mr. Gilroy's museum at Tamworth, was unearthed by a
Rockhampton area farmer some years ago, and bears another
Phoenician inscription that reads:"_Ships sail from this land under
the protection of Yahweh to Dan._" Mr. Gilroy says that it "_may
very well be that minerals and precious stones from Australia
passed through Dan at that time". _He points out that "_black opals
found in archaeological digs in Egypt, could only have come from
Australia".'_

The Gympie region in Queensland sustains a pyramid with Phoenician
scripts on it and a Toth-figurine clutching on the _Tau _[the cross
of life].. The region revealed other mystery megalithic structures
and remains of pre-European gold, copper and tin mining operations.
An ancient harbour, long dried up, extended inland from Tin Can Bay
to the Gympie district, and ancient Aboriginal traditions spoke of
fair-skinned '_culture-heroes_' having sailed into Gympie in big
canoes shaped like birds [Phoenician triremes with sails and
bird-headed prows?]. They built a "sacred mountain" [the Gympie
stepped-pyramid] from which they worshipped the Sun and stars. They
"_dug holes in the hills, then sailed away with the rocks they had
dug up, promising to return_".

Recently, Mr. Gilroy has released a book titled "_Pyramids in the
Pacific_" containing a history of ancient mining operations
throughout Australasia. Described in full are a number of what he
believes are the remains of Middle-Eastern mining colonies,
established across Australia, where copper and tin [needed to
manufacture bronze] was mined, as well other precious metals and
gemstones. Some of these colonies were established deep inland on
the shores of coastal rivers, such as one Queensland site on the
Bremer river [which flows into the Brisbane River] east of
Toowoomba. Here he unearthed along with his wife more than 50 stone
slabs bearing Bronze Age Phoenician, Egyptian, Libyan and Celtic
inscriptions. A similar number, recovered at a site outside Moree,
in northern NSW were found near the remains of a megalithic ruin.
Here upon an altar stone he found the Phoenician inscription
"_Temple of Tanit_". Tanit was the Phoenician earth-mother Goddess.

Rex Gilroy argues that ancient Middle-Eastern explorer-colonists,
having found the mouth of the Murray River in southeastern South
Australia, explored deep into the NSW interior via the adjoining
Darling River as far as Dubbo and Basthurst, explaining Phoenician
rock scripts found in these areas; and sailed into the Namoi-Peel
River system as far as the Tamworth-Nundle district, leaving the
mass of inscribed stones and pre-European open-cut mining sites
found hereabouts. These mining colonies were large enough to
warrant the establishment of local ruling classes, as shown by the
many Phoenician and other rock inscriptions referring to various
local monarchs. This theory would explain why central, far western
and northern NSW is literally '_riddled_' with rock scripts in a
host of ancient Middle, Near-Eastern and other tongues.

Near the mouth of the Hawkesbury River over a dozen of human
figures reminiscent of ancient Middle-Eastern seafarers were found
carved into rock shelves. Near Wisemans Ferry is a carving of a
ship with tall mast, sail and bird-headed row. Further downriver at
Richmond a farmer had uncovered two large sandstone lumps of human
heads resembling Mithras and Demeter [_Baal Hammon_ and _Tanit!_].
Near Gosford, Mr.Gilroy unearthed two stones inscribed in Iberian
Phoenician inscriptions. These state:

"_In this harbour* ships lie at anchor, gathered for Baal_".

[*Brisbane Waters, at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River]

"_The priest Ra-wa performs rituals at the shrine of the western
_[setting]_ sun._"

It appears the inhabitants explored deep inland up the
Hawkesbury-Nepean Rivers, venturing across the Blue Mountains as
far as Katoomba, where several Phoenician inscriptions were found
near the Megalong Valley.

Phoenicians must have penetrated the Georges River, south of
Sydney, to leave the three inscribed stones recovered recently at a
Lansvale riverbank site; and at Campbelltown further south, in 1970
Mr. Gilroy recovered a sandstone slab bearing the image of a
seated, animal-headed figure [which appears to depict Baal, the
Phoenician Sun-God] on one side, and on the other the
Iberio-Phoenician inscriptions:

"_The Sun, the divine King._
_Baal the Sun rules.
He the waters of this land rules._"

Further south, outside Bowral, near a megalithic ruin, the possible
remains of an ancient temple, a large stone bearing the following
inscription was discovered:

"_To Phoenician Baal this shrine is dedicated by Hu_._
We are sailors from Ham who worship the sun._"

Nearby the Gilroys found another inscription; written in
Phoenician, but by Celtic hands:

"_Bel, God of the Sun, on the prepared
land assemble
at his shrine before his stone.
On Beltain*, on Ludd's altar stone
sacrifice to him.
The pleasing son of Mabo sails the Sunship_".

[*feast of Beltain - May Day]

As Phoenicians and Celts worked together here [a tin-bearing
region], this dates the inscription to around 1500 BC, when Iberian
Celts and Phoenicians sailed with their allies on joint
mineral-seeking expeditions to Australia and the Pacific Islands
beyond.

Various axes, swords, jars, scarabs, rock art along with Aboriginal
dreamtime from the Kimberley support the hypotheses that the
Phoenicians had reached Australia. Further more they had
established long-term colonies and mining operations and
intermarried with the Aborigines producing "spirit-children" as the
Wandjina tales sustains. If all these accounts can be confirmed
then history will be rewritten, if not, then we would have
exercised our imagination with a beautiful story.

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The material on this home page was researched,
compiled, and designed by Salim George Khalaf
Comments are welcome at [9]slim at phoenicia.org

Revised: June 15, 2002

References

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