The Sphinx and the Holy Grail

October 25, 2022 by Fredrik

In Digging up Ancient Aliens, our host Fredrik uses his background in archaeology to discover what is genuine, fake, and somewhere in between on the TV show Ancient Aliens. 

This time we will solve the riddles of the Sphinx, could there be an ancient library beneath this famous monument? Some believe that the "Hall of Records" is real and is evidence of a much older sphinx. But how have Egyptologists dated this monument, and how would we know if it's correct? By using the latest research and technologies, we hope to decode this ancient mystery.

We'll also hunt for the Holy Grail and Visigoth treasure in Rennes-le-Château and Rosslyn Chapel. Did a french priest stumble upon portals and riches from another dimension? Did the templars find the Holy Grail and hide it with the help of William Sinclair in Scotland? 

This episode is based on the claims in Ancient Aliens episode four of season three called "Aliens and Temples of Gold" (S03E04).

Our intro music is by Sandra Marteleur, and our outro is by the band Trallskruv.

Chapters

The Sphinx

Hall of Records

The actual age of the Sphinx

Rennes-le-Château

Rosslyn Chapel

Sources, resources and further reading suggestions

In a dim corner of my room

    For longer than my fancy thinks,

    A beautiful and silent Sphinx

Has watched me through the shifting gloom.

Inviolate and immobile

    She does not rise she does not stir

    For silver moons are nought to her

And nought to her the suns that reel.

-The Sphinx By Oscar Wilde

Hi, hello, and välkommen to Digging Up Ancient Aliens. This is the podcast where we examine the TV show, Ancient Aliens. Do their claims hold water to an archeologist, or are there better explanations out there? 

I am your host, Fredrik, and this is episode 24. We will continue looking into claims from episode four of season three called "Aliens and Temples of Gold" (S03E04). You do not need to have heard the first part, but I recommend listening if you haven't. But this time, we will investigate the Sphinx, one of the world's most famous monuments. Some assert that it holds a secret more ancient than the pyramids themself. We will also hunt for the holy grail and treasure in France and Scotland, visiting Rennes-le-Château and Rosslyn Chapel outside Edinburgh.

Remember that you can find sources, resources, and reading suggestions on our website, diggingupancientaliens.com. There you also find contact info if you notice any mistakes or have any suggestions. And if you like the podcast, I would appreciate it if you left one of those fancy five-star reviews I've heard so much about. 

Now when we have finished our preparations, let’s dig into the episode.

The Sphinx

Even if we're leaving the pyramid we don't go so far. Let's hop on over to Khafre's pyramid complex just to the side of his father Khufu. Let's hear the show out again this time around and then go over the claims we hear.

The show takes us back to 1936 and tells us that engineers finally revealed the sand-covered statue for the first time in centuries. They claim that this process took 11 years to do and we learn that those elitist egyptologists believe the Sphinx to have been made on Kafre's order around 2500 BCE. But could that be the whole truth? Robert Bauval thinks there's more to this story than we have been told.

"The orthodox date about 2500 BC tagged on these monuments, has been challenged by a group of researchers including myself, who have argued that the erosion in the Sphinx suggests much, much older Sphinx."

We learn that Egyptologists to this day argue about when and how it was built. So if science is not able to agree, could there really be something to Bauval's claims? Could this be evidence of extraterrestrial visitation?

According to Jason Martell, it's most likely and he brings up examples of animal-headed creatures in Babylonian and Sumerian literature. On the screen, we do see examples of this but the animal-headed creatures, that Martell seems to think are Sumerian, are winged genies from the Akkadian empire. Sure, it is in the same area but not the same culture. 

But with these animal-headed creatures, we're back with Zacharia Sitchin's writings and they discuss animal hybrids. That the alien gold mining race experimented with human-animal hybrids trying to get a race that would be able to work the mines more efficiently. 

The show then hypothesizes that maybe the Spinx was not intended as just a statue, maybe it was also meant to be some sort of vault to store all the gold. There are supposedly a lot of tunnels and caves beneath the plateau and the show brings up Ground Penetrating Radar has been done on the plateau and revealing caves and tunnels beneath. Robert Bauval tells us this:

"A shaft was discovered, called the Osirian Shaft, which led under the Giza Plateau behind the Sphinx. Now, in that shaft, there are various passageways, that lead seemingly nowhere."

“From a scientific point of view, a lot here about speculation and theories, and legends and so forth, there was a very first time that there’s some strong indication that there might be these hidden tunnels and chambers under the Sphinx. And according to this, they found very strong evidence of what looks like artificial chambers.”

Hall of Records

According to the show, unspecified ancient texts claim it to be an elaborate depository beneath the Sphinx paw, known only as the hall of records. This is traced back to the destruction of Atlantis, where a few survivors emigrated to Egypt and set up their secret library to avoid losing all their records of technology. This event is thought to have taken place some 12 000 years ago. Erich Von Däniken and Robert Bauval explain 

"The Hall of Record was made by us but with the tools, the knowledge of extraterrestrials."

"It is speculated that a group of survivors of Atlantis, came to Egypt at about 10,500 BC brought along with their records, their knowledge and built this storeroom somewhere at Giza."

After more speculation on what might be down in the Hall of Records, we'll say farewell to Egypt this time. 

The actual age of the Sphinx

Except for us dear listeners, let's sort all of this out. It was quite a short section that could have been much longer or maybe more detailed. They are missing one "expert" and that I find surprising, but we will get to that in a moment. 

Let's rewind to the excavation of the Sphinx, now it is true that the impressive monument has been covered by sand, as the show says several times. But it was not uncovered in 1939 but a couple of years earlier, but what they did complete was the restoration of the Sphinx. Today it's thought of as quite destructive for the monument, but the limestone is of relatively poor quality and was falling apart. But they restored it with concrete, adding a collar around the neck to stabilize it more and fixing the headdress. The erosion has, over the centuries, not been kind to the poor Sphinx. Not only has it lost its nose, no, Napoleon did not shoot it off with a canon, but it has also lost its beard. 

The age of the Sphinx, is not much of an argument among scholars today. But it was a different story back in the 1800s. But, I don't think we should use the oldest theories when newer and better research is available. They do not spend much time on the age of the Sphinx for some reason; they just proclaim it to be 12 000 years old without going into details. Bauval is one of the authors who believe that they have evidence for this age, but even then there is little evidence to support this. This is with the help of Robert Schoch, a geologist who usually appears on the show but in this episode is strangely missing.

Their idea why the Sphinx is much older than what we have dated it to is due to erosion that's on the back wall. The erosion is confirmed and it is even worse on the back wall, but as I mentioned, this whole section is in bad shape. Geologists blame this on a combination of wind and sand. It’s also been noted that overnight condensation happens on the Sphinx, leading to capillary action. When the water evaporates in the morning, crystals are formed and flake the stone when expanding. 

But Robert Schoch believe that this erosion could only happen if this section was heavily rained on and therefore needed to have been made in the Neolithic Subpluvial. This rainy era began about 14 000 BCE and ended about 5500 BCE. Now, we should note that the Giza plateau is uphill, and even if the Sphinx isn't placed on the top, it's pretty far up; it would not be an area where water was flowing, even if it were wetter. To make things worse for Schoch's theory, it was still quite humid during the rain of Khafre; we see this in archeological records and in depictions of the time.

Schoch did claim that it's possible that maybe Kafre reshaped the head during his time and he has tried to defend his thesis with little success. He has tried to change his theory as criticism has been raised. Much of this comes from "KMT: a modern journal of Ancient Egypt" where Scotch published his article in the summer issue in 1992. But his arguments and rebuttals have been thoroughly met by other scholars since. 

But how do we know the age of the Sphinx? Professor Salim Hassan did a lot of work outlining when the Sphinx could have been made. For example, we know that it can't be later than the 4th dynasty since the tombs on the south walls are of that date and could only have been made after the enclosure was created. If we turn our eyes toward the southwest corner we note a causeway and a trench must have been there before the enclosure was created. This leaves us with a narrow window on when the Sphinx could have been carved. Add to this archeological evidence beneath the stones of the enclosure suggest the reign of Khafre. So you would need to ignore much of the body of knowledge we have for Scotch theory to work. 

While science has moved forward regarding both the quality of the limestone, its fissures, and other things, Schoch, Bauval, and Hancock are all standing there, crossing their arms and trying to ignore the work that's been done. There's also been luminescence dating of the 

Sphinx that confirms the dating proposed by Egyptologists.

I think it might be good to note that Robert Schoch is building his theories on Edgar Cayce and in part may be a bit on Madam Blatski. The latter is the founder of Theosophy and the former was known as the "Sleeping Prophet." Cayce was not described as a man of words, and he was next to illiterate. However, he still garnered a large crowd around him due to the belief that he had powers of healing and of prediction. Cayce was also believed to be able to see past lives in his dreams, in one of them he described the destruction of Atlantis and the Atlantean's construction of both the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid. He prophesizes that the Hall of Records will open in 1998, leading to a new age of wonder. But if Cayce didn't mean the release of Britney Spears's "Oops I did it again", "Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets" or the “Truman show” I think the vaults never opened. Most likely since they were an imaginary invention by a proclaimed prophet who mostly slept. Or maybe these were examples of things in the vault?

As for the underground chambers beneath the plateau, there are fissures and holes around them. Some are from graves. Take for example, Hetepheres I, mother of Khufu. Khufu moved her grave after a probable grave robbery into a grave dug into the bedrock. There are more of these, so the show is correct even if their conclusion these cavities are the Hall of Records is wrong. As for the tunnels in the Sphinx, Zahi Hawass, who opened two of them in 1970, described them as follows:

“The first tunnel is located behind the head of the Sphinx, cut into the mother rock about six meters. The second tunnel is located in the tail of the Sphinx. We learned of itfrom Sheikh Mohamed Abd al-Maugud, who in turn knew of it from his grandfather. It too is cut into the mother rock, about twelve meters. We found no significant artifacts inside the tunnel, but the evidence suggests that the tunnels were cut during the pharaonic period, I believe during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. A third tunnel, on the north side of the Sphinx, has not been opened since 1926, when Emile Baraize opened it. We have photographs showing two workmen inside it. “

With that, I think we have a good understanding of how we know the age of the Sphinx and why there's no Hall of Records. So let's head to our following location.

Rennes-le-Château

From Egypt, we go to France. The village of Rennes-le-Château, France. January 29, 1953. Marie Dénarnaud, a frail 85-year-old woman, lies on her deathbed. Apparently, she was supposed to give the secret location of a treasure but a stroke left her incapable of speaking or writing.

“Before Marie’s death, she had promised to tell someone the secret. I will tell you the secret, and you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams. And what she said was the people of this village walk on enough gold to make you wealthy for 100 years and they have no idea. And the secret, she was never able to speak it after she had her stroke. So, what was Marie talking about?” - Kathleen McGowan Coppens.

We learn that his treasure comes from the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths. They were returning from their plunder with wealth beyond anyone's imagination. So they stored it here, but it was left behind when they left the region 200 years later.

"The Visigoths were known to have buried treasure with their dead. So, when Rennes-Le-Château became significant because of that idea that there might be gold buried there." - Kathleen McGowan Coppens.

We're getting some confusion here when we meet Bérenger Saunière, a local priest of Rennes-le-Château. The confusion lies in the fact that the show does not tell you Marie is the housekeeper of Sauniere. The story is that when renovating the church he came upon the riches hidden by the Visigoth. We then talk about treasure hunting in the region due to the rumors. Phillip Coppens indicates that some have found parts of it but say no more. 

The show claims that Father Saunière talked about encountering this treasure and that it was by chance. They describe the priest as erratic and claim that his mental state affected the decoration of the church. Could this be an indication that what the priest found was something more? Could the treasure be more than just gold? 

"Bérenger Saunière placed an inscription over the door that people have been talking about for 100 years. The inscription says "Terribilis est locus iste." It's mistakenly translated most often as "This place is terrible" but, in fact, the inscription comes from the Old Testament, from the Book of Genesis. Jacob has a dream about a ladder that connects Heaven to Earth, where humans could connect to the divine. So, when you look at the Old Testament translation, what it really says is 'This place is awesome.'" - Kathleen McGowan Coppens

Due to this reference, it must be some sort of stargate, according to William Henry. Philipp Coppens says that the area is known for UFO activity; people forget the time and have met the devil. So something must be going on. But again, we don't go much deeper than this.

Want to be rich? Become a priest

So all of this sounds like a pretty fanciful story but did a priest just stumble upon a Visigoth treasure forgotten in Rennes-le-Château? Well, the Visigoths did sack Rome in 410 on their third attempt and, according to Roman sources, made away with wealth. But the idea that the Visigoth would go and pool all their stolen gold in a cave is a bit weird. It would have been more realistic if they kept their part of what they took, not storing it in some vault to forget when it's time to flee. Now, there are cases where hoards have been found, but they can usually be tied to a family and house. We have several of these treasure hordes on Gotland here in Sweden. There's some discussion on why people did not return and get them, but again, it's on a family level.

As for Visigoth graves, they did not have many grave goods in them. Some have jewelry but far from everyone has it; it’s more so that these finds are pretty scarce compared to other cultures. If we humor the idea of the wealthy Visigoth, would they not have finer things for their eternal rest? But as with other things, we don't need a gothic treasure to explain how Saunière got all the money for the renovation.

It boils down to good old-fashioned fraud and swindlery. Bérenger Saunière's sudden wealth did catch the eye of both the church and journalists at the time. He not only started a considerable renovation in a small village beyond its means, but he also bought several plots of land and built a renaissance-style villa. This house was complete with an Orangerie and a cage for monkeys. To avoid some suspicion, Saunière put the house in Marie Dénarnaud’s name.

The catholic church did call Saunière to three separate ecclesiastical trials due to his work in Rennes-le-Château. It turned out that he did not find a Visigoth treasure but a more real treasure in people’s gullibility and fear of death. So what Berenger did was to sell mass; this meant he would hold a mass in someone’s name and save them time in hell or purgatory. At this time, the Catholic Church somewhat allowed this practice but with restrictions, but Saunière didn’t care about these restrictions and sold more than three masses a day. His accounting books show some months where he would earn up to 7000 francs on these sales. This is a significant amount even today. I hardly believe that this was the whole sum taken into account, as he worked with his brother on some of these illicit mass sales. It might be good to mention that he had other ventures at the time, which was the money he had chosen to put into his accounting.

As I mentioned, his building projects did catch the eye of several people and organizations. The church would be the organization that investigated Bérenger Saunière the most. Think about that, the catholic church in early 1900 felt compelled to investigate this accusation. The church might have let many things slide, but this was too much. So much in fact that Saunière was in front of the ecclesiastical court not once but thrice. His charges were:

Trafficking in Masses,

Disobedience to the Bishop,

Exaggerated and unjustified expenditure to which fees from Masses that have not been said seem to have been devoted.

In his first trial in 1910, Bérenger Saunière did not even show, and he was sentenced in absentia, and this would be more or less the same for the subsequent three trials. For the second trial, he provided what he claimed to be the total invoices for the church renovation and building of his villa. It would have cost him about 36 250, but the court noted that he had gathered 193 150 francs in donations. Later in the summer, it seems as if Saunière changed his tune and claimed that the building of his Villa Bethania cost him 90 000 francs and the church cost 40 000.

The ecclesiastical court ordered him to pay back all the ill-gotten funds. He was sentenced to suspension, removed from the priesthood, and during the time of suspension, could not administer sacraments. 

For the last few years of Bérenger Saunière's life, he continued to sell masses and tried to appeal to Rome with what money he raised. This seems not to have been working, and on 22 January 1917, he died. Abbé Jean Rivière performed his last rites and lifted the suspension at the moment of death. His trusty housekeeper Marie Dénarnaud ended up paying for a modest chest and funeral. 

The first to start spreading rumors about Saunière's supposed treasure was restaurant owner Noël Corbu in the late 1950s. Corbu claimed that the priest had found a map of Blanche of Castile's hidden treasure inside a pillar. It seems as if he did this to attract more attention to the town and his business. It's from Noël Corbu that we get the story about Marie Dénarnaud, who died in 1953; strangely, he didn't spread this until after she had passed.

Blanche was a french queen in the first half of the 13th century in France. These stories influenced Pierre Plantard, who used them in his esoteric hoax Priory of Sion that, in turn, was picked up by Gérard de Sède in his book L'Or De Rennes. This book would inspire the book "Holy blood, holy grail" and ancient alien theorists. But even if they make their best attempt to shoehorn in some portals and UFOs towards the end. They never really succeed in getting a proper alien connection here. 

The whole story was straightforward, and nobody thought there was a treasure until Noël Corbu started to make this up. Other authors incorporated it into different tales until Dan Brown in the DaVinci code forever imprinted it.

In all of the retellings centering on the conspiracy, they've strangely left out the selling of masses. The money Saunière did collect and we know about more than cover the renovations, nothing more mysterious here than personal greed.

Rosslyn Chapel

Close to Edinburgh, Scotland, sits a church on top of a hill. It's called Rosslyn Chapel, formerly known as Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew. The construction of the church started in 1456 on behalf of William Sinclair. According to the church's original plan, it was supposed to be a cruciform, basically shaped like a cross. 

According to the show, the church is supposed to have secret chambers where templars hid their gold and riches from excavating the temple mounds. William Henry fills us in:

"Rosslyn Chapel is one of the most fascinating possible recreations of Solomon's Temple. It literally is a Holy Grail temple, that was constructed by William Sinclair, and it is designed to be a repository of Holy Grail secrets. When it was created it had the most wonderful and fantastic symbolism perhaps anywhere in the world." - William Henry

We covered the idea that the Templars excavated the temple mound in episode 8 when we had Erik Palmgren join us. So, according to this theory, the templars settled in on the temple mound and started excavating. But there are some issues with this theory. The Templar or the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon did have their base on the Temple Mound, they even got the last part by being housed in one of the wings. Baldwin I used the temple as a palace, and so would the Templars, but the upkeep had been terrible. Baldwin preferred lavish food to renovations and left the temple in poor condition. So when the templars took over, they had much to do, prioritizing fixing the roof and walls. Eyewitnesses from the time described the renovations but did not mention any excavations or retiling of the floor. They would not keep the mound for too long since, 70 years after the order was housed there, Saladin would take the city.

The show goes on and wonders if there are mysterious messages and symbols hidden in the church. That is something that always strikes me as odd how every secret society supposedly leaves clues out everywhere and somehow maintains secrecy. Today's treasures are found because there are no leads to them; take the hoards on Gotland again, for example. If the owners had carved runestones with riddles, someone would sooner or later find it. I know it's fun to think that you might be able to stumble into a conspiracy and maybe save the earth. It's natural to want to be the hero in your own story, but we should look at this as a fallacy. Because when we think about it, a secret involving many people only works if most of them are dead. 

The show talks about William Sinclair and how brilliant he was, and this can be seen in how the church was designed. It contains elements from across the globe which is maybe fitting, since in episode 8 William Sinclair went to Nova Scotia and built a giant vault in the treasure pit. But here he did instead stay and build this church to preserve the Templar's treasure, the order that by now had been gone for 200 years.

But we then start to look up towards the ceiling, the show points out that there are 110 of these and they do have a purpose. Kathleen McGowan Coppens explains:

"The Green Men appears in over 110 different locations. As you watch the progression of the Green Men from east to west, that progression represents the passing of time."

These green men are, as the show explains, pagan gods. But that sounds a bit anachronistic since the pagan gods had long been gone from England. The name "Green men" originates in recent times; this term was coined in 1939 by Lady Raglan. She wrote this in an article in the paper "Folklore," which seems to be more of a whim than any scholarly reason. So the show's idea that this is a common word for fairy is a relatively late invention. These heads are more often known as foliate heads, originating from Roman tombs. So it's a known roman decorative feature that spread across France, Spain, and lastly, Britain. These elements became popular again during the Romanesque period and were typical church decorations.

As for the idea that the faces turn older the further you go in the church, this seems to be a question of taste. I can't really see it in the photos available to me. There are not only men among these faces, there are examples of women too. The writers think that these faces somehow have to do with the grail, but the connection is relatively weak.

The show seems to think they thoroughly established that this is the location of the holy grail, but where would it be in the church? So the place presented is a unique pillar called "The Apprentice Pillar." The show claims this pillar is notable because a man went into the church to try to cut it down. We're also told that it closely resembles a DNA strand, but how would the people of this time know what DNA looked like?

So the pillar in question is real and goes under a few names but most commonly the "Apprentice Pillar." The name comes from a story where the master mason went to Rome with Sinclair's patron ship to study architecture. In the meantime, the apprentice had a dream and went and carved the pillar, so when the master mason came back and saw the amazing craftmanship he got so envious that he killed the apprentice. For the crime the master was hanged, this is according to somewhat two of the "Green men" represent. This is a fanciful story but it's likely not true, the reason the pillar is different is due to it was part of Sinclair's original cruciform plan. If they would have continued in that way it would have been at the head of Christ. 

As for the helix, DNA has two strands. The pillar has three. Looking at the pillar we see some art that seems to fit into a more religious narrative. On the south side of the pillar, we have the sacrifice of Isaac. By the foot we see dragons entangled with what seems to be dead leaves. Maybe the pillar has to do with sacrifice and the sacrifice of Christ? For sure, it's not the final resting place of the fictional grail. 

It might be good to mention that what we see today is reconstructions from 1862. The church was abandoned in 1592 after the altar was destroyed, so it was in poor condition when the queen of 1840 visited and wanted it restored. Would a secret cabal let a site they swore to protect just decay? If it were my secret order, I would not but who am I? 

The show ends with this quote from Tsoukalos. 

"The whole story is very fascinating to the Ancient Astronaut Theory. Wolfram von Eschenbach, for example, suggests that the Holy Grail arrived from the stars. And the question is, what did he mean by that? It is often described as this vessel that had blinking red lights. Were the Templar in possession of some technological device?"

So in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the author portrays the grail as a gemstone or stone with different colors. It's an idea that floats around that it's from the sky, but that could be the dove that comes down on Good Friday to give power to the stone. I could not find the exact passage where the stone would have fallen out of the sky. But it's clear from the descriptions it does not blink or behave like a machine. Again Georgio claims something that he hopes you won't be looking up later. 

Outro

There we have it, the alien temples of gold. I felt this episode was relatively weak and they did their best to find some little tie towards aliens. Ultimately, it became unclear when we went on the grail hunt. The most fun for me was the El Dorado part, to be honest, and Paititi places I was somewhat aware of but never really looked into. As for evidence of alien interference, I give this episode a 1. It was exciting but it would have been better if they'd let the aliens go and just done the research. 

But this is where we will leave for this time!

Remember to leave a positive review anywhere you can, such as iTunes, Spotify, or to your friend at the trench. I would also recommend visiting diggingupancientaliens.com to find more info about me and the podcast. You can also find me on most social media sites, and if you have comments, corrections, suggestions, or just want to write an email in all caps, you can find my contact info on the website.

You will find all the sources and resources used to create this podcast on our website. You will often also find further reading suggestions if you want to learn more about the subjects we bring up.

Sandra Marteleur created the intro music, and our outro is by the band called Trallskruv, who sings their song "tin foil hat." Links to both these artists will be found in the show notes.

Until next time, keep shoveling that science!

Sources, resources, and further reading suggestions

Boas, Adrian J. & Boas, Adrian J. (2016). The crusader world. New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

Boas, Adrian J. (2001). Jerusalem in the Time of the Crusades: Society, Landscape and Art in the Holy City under Frankish Rule. London: Taylor & Francis Group / Books

Descadeillas, R. (1988). MYTHOLOGIE DU TRÉSOR DE RENNES Histoire véritable de l’abbé Saunière curé de Rennes-le-Château. Savary.

Dunning, B. (2019). The Age of the Sphinx. [online] Available at: https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4693

Famous Sphinx’s Face Lifted to Save Mighty Figure. (1931). Popular Science Monthly, [online] Jun., p.56. Available at: https://books.google.se/books?id=XygDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA2&hl=sv&source=gbs_toc&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

Feder, K.L. (2010). Encyclopedia of dubious archaeology from Atlantis to the Walam Olum. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood.

Hawass, Z. (1998). The Secrets of the Sphinx: Restoration Past and Present. Egypt: The American University in Cairo Press.

Jordan, P. (1999). Riddles of the Sphinx. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton.

Kreidler, M. (2004). The Secrets of Rennes-le-Chateau | Skeptical Inquirer. [online] Available at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2004/11/the-secrets-of-rennes-le-chateau/

Liritzis, I. and Vafiadou, A. (2015). Surface luminescence dating of some Egyptian monuments. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 16(2), pp.134–150. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2014.05.007.

Oxbrow, M. and Robertson, I. (2006). Rosslyn and the Grail. Edinburgh: Mainstream.

Putnam, B. and Wood, J.E. (2007). The treasure of Rennes-le-Château : a mystery solved. Stroud: Sutton.

Ripoll, G. (2011). The Archaeological Characterisation of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo: The Question of the Visigothic Cemeteries. In Völker, Reiche und Namen im frühen Mittelalter, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill | Fink. https://doi.org/10.30965/9783846748916_012

Thompson, J. and Cooper, R.L.D. (2003). The illustrated guide to Rosslyn Chapel and Castle, Hawthornden. Helensburgh: Masonic Pub.

Uribe Villegas, M.A., Martinón-Torres, M. and Quintero Guzmán, J.P. (2021). The Muisca Raft: Context, Materiality, and Technology. In: C. McEwan and J.W. Hoopes, eds., Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador: Toward an Integrated Approach. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks, pp.275–303. Available at: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780884024705

von Eschenbach, W. (1980). Parzifal. Translated by A.T. Hatto. Linotype Granjon: Penguin Books.

Welc, F. and Marks, L. (2014). Climate change at the end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt around 4200 BP: New geoarchaeological evidence. Quaternary International, 324, pp.124–133. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.035.

Music

“Folie hatt” by Trallskruv

Lily of the woods by Sandra Marteleur