“Smith said that he eventually found two golden plates with strange inscriptions on them. On these plates, were supposedly the lost scriptures about Christ’s ministry to the Americas.”
“So what happened to these golden plates?” She asked.
“No one knows,” Joe replied. “In fact, Smith claimed that only he was allowed to see them. Many people were suspicious of such a claim. Smith had been a known charlatan. But some did believe him and supported his new ideas. This was essentially how the Church of Latter Day Saints came about.”
The picture was becoming a little clearer. Still, neither Sean nor Allyson was certain.
Joe could tell they weren’t sure, so he nailed home his main point. “You see, whether the Mormon beliefs are correct or not doesn’t matter to us. What matters is that they basically revered the Native Americans, almost as if they were gods among men. Some Mormons even believed that the Indians were actually angels.”
Sean put it all together to make sure he understood. “Ah. So if the people of the church helped the Indians or angels, as was believed, they would be rewarded by God.”
“Correct.” Joe smiled as he saw the realization on both of their faces.
“Now, the final piece of the puzzle is also the first piece,” he went on. “You see, it all comes back to the four golden chambers. Thousands have fought and died, searched and sacrificed, all to find the lost rooms of Akhanan. I would say that you two are probably closer than anyone has been in two thousand years. But before you can take the final step, you have to learn why it is that the chambers exist.”
“I thought you said they were ceremonial, used by the ancient Indians of the land,” Sean stated.
“Nope,” the grin never left the scruffy face. “I only said that was what everyone else believes. The real reason they are here goes much deeper.”
He turned all the way around, facing his computer. “How do you think the Native Americans got to this continent?”
The guests waited, unsure if the question was rhetorical or not. Sean decided to answer. “The mainstream historical theory as to how the Native Americans arrived is that they came across an ice bridge up in the Bering Sea.” He felt no reason to ask any more questions since there was a creeping feeling answers were coming soon anyway.
“Correct,” Joe said, a mischievous look on his face.
Sean continued, “But Tommy never believed that. In fact, when he discussed it with me several years ago, I had to agree that story did not make a whole lot of sense.”
“And why is that?”
Allyson leaned in closer to listen.
“Well, it would take extremely low temperatures, even for an ice age, to cause that amount of sea water to freeze over to the point where the those two particular land masses could be connected.”
“Good point.” Joe took a sip from his fresh cup of coffee. “And it hardly seems that anyone would have been living up in Siberia at that point, much less been able to survive the temperatures in that area during an ice age. And then of course, the crossing of an ice bridge, in itself, would have posed many dangers. It is much more probable the natives that settled in this part of the world would have arrived by a different means than some fanciful frozen ice overpass.”
At this point, Allyson had to speak up, “What exactly are you saying? If the Indians didn’t arrive that way then how did they do it?”
“Sean, you want to take this one or should I?” The man’s voice had somehow become, even more lively with the current discussion.
“By all means, you’re the expert.” Wyatt motioned with this hand telling his friend to go ahead.
“First of all, we need to ask ourselves, why would a group of people from such a far off land come here to begin with?” He waited for a second before continuing. “Throughout history, there have been many reasons people left their home countries. However, persecution is one of the primary reasons. Heck, the United States is here because colonists from Europe wanted religious freedom. So, they loaded up their boats and sailed west.”
“Are you saying the Indians came here to escape religious tyranny?” Allyson interrupted.
“Not at all,” Joe stated quickly before moving on to his next point. “The other main reason that people have left their native lands throughout history was to establish larger kingdoms. Empire expansion was a necessity. Manifest destiny has essentially been the motto for every major nation since the dawn of time.”
“So, were the Native Americans settlers from an empire across the sea?” she continued the questioning.
“You got it. And it’s going to blow your mind which empire they came from.” Joe looked at Sean and then back at Allyson. “The crazy thing is, our biggest clue has been sitting right here in our back yard for nearly four thousand years.”
Turning back to the computer he pulled up a website that apparently had information about the history of the ancient Native Americans. After entering a few words, a new page came up under the heading of Fort Mountain. “Now, this place is fascinating. Sean, I know you have heard of it.”
Wyatt nodded in agreement.
Joe pointed to a picture on the screen of a rock fortification, “This stone wall stretches for about 795 feet on the top of a mountain near the town of Chatsworth, Georgia. It isn’t a wall in the sense you might think because there was no mortar used; the rocks were just piled on top of each other.”
“Why is it there?” Allyson inquired.
“That’s the funny thing about it. It’s like our very own Stonehenge. For decades, no one has been able to understand its purpose. It isn’t a defensive wall because it’s linear.” Pointing at the computer screen, he showed the two of them an overhead diagram of the wall stretching like a crooked snake across the top of the mountain’s topography. “No one would build a wall like that if they wanted to defend themselves. With no cliffs or precipices on the sides, the enemy could just walk around behind it.”
“So, it had to be used in some kind of ceremony, then,” Sean inferred.
“Well, that is one of theories. Some historians think that the wall was used as some kind of sun worship temple. Since it stretches from east to west, they supposed that it was built to track the movement of the sun.
“Others hypothesized that it was a sacred matrimonial place for Cherokee newlyweds. That story suggests that the couples would go there to spend their first night of marriage together.”
Stopping to zoom in the overhead picture, he went on, “Another oddity of this site is the two dozen pits that dot the landscape within the wall. Most of the experts agree that these exist as a result of looting or people excavating the area throughout the centuries.”
“Let me guess,” Sean said, “you don’t buy that. Do you?”
Joe smiled up at him from the desk. “Of course not, buddy. Alright, getting back to the wall, you see the outline of it on this overhead, right here.” His rough-skinned finger traced the outline of the wall on the screen. “Now, when I first saw this, the pattern completely slipped by me. I never realized what it was until I was researching something on another website.” He opened up a separate window on the internet and typed in the web address for the British Museum of Ancient Egypt.
Sean started to ask why the man was showing them something about Egypt when it suddenly hit him like a lead ball. On the museum’s intro page an outline of the Nile River appeared. His eyes grew wide at what his friend was implying. “No,” he stammered. “That’s not possible…” his words trailed off in disbelief.