The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-11-08
@ONOLITH PROBLEMS
MYSTERY OF THESE STRANGE STONE
MONUMENTS or THE PAST.

NHlEJA 4ENEa NHf..a E Zat'
A Theory That All OF Them, Those ON
Those I'm the East, Were Built by
b ancient Phoenicians.
Among the greatest mysteries in the
mystery Of the past human history on
earth the monoliths that stand in yari-
u parts of the globe have always
been chief.
These strange stone monuments. gen
orally rude, with hardly any sculpture,
but wonderfully large in size, are scat
tered everywhere. The most famous
Of them are the cromlechs, such as
those in Stonehenge, in England. 9th
ers are found in the western part of
France, in the northern part of Ger
many as far as the Oder river, in Den
mark and in Sweden.
Northern Africa, Madagascar and
Asia, from Mount Sinai and the eau
casus to India, all have some here and
there.
Lately they have been discovered
even in Siberia. There are several
places in Japan where such stones
stand.
Others have been found in North and
South America. Among the most Won
derful and mysterious Of them all are
b vast, almost terrifying, stones,
rudely sculptured, that have been
found on Easter island, in the Pacific
ocean.
The mystery as to what these stones
meant vas not the only puzzle. The
greatest puzzle was how primitive peo-
pie, without knowledge of engineering
and without known appliances, could
have moved and erected such giant
blocks, some of which weigh as much
as $50 tons. In many districts where
the great memorials stand there are
no stones of such size to be found in
the earth. Consequently they must
have been transported from places long
distances away.
Fol many generatiOns-ever since
men have spent any time in thinking
over these matters-scientists have
puzzled their heads over the monoliths
in vain. Whether they classed them as
all being the same or whether they
divided them into different classes,
they remained the same riddle.
In more recent years, however, there
has been a systematic study of all the
monolith memorials of the world, and
as a result a novel theory has been
advanced.
1t is that one race-that Of the
PhnQni0ia nc-Qrnoto1 oil thnca ,,nr,,-
ments.
OF ourse if this is correct it means
that history will have to be revised,
for it would show that the Phoenicians
once knew all about the whole globe
and that they had visited America and
Asia long before modern days.
The first thing that led to the as
sumption that the Phoenicians had
raised the monuments was the obser-
walton of NJ. Levistre, a French ar
c~haeologist, that almost all the mono
liths were to be found near the mouths
of great rivers or along their courses.
This pointed to a people that used
ships.
Now, he Celts We're never strong on
the water. Their boats were primitive,
being mostly of wickerwork covered
with hides, and they were unable to
move any distance from land in these
clumsy and unseaworthy contrivances.
Consequently, when the question
arose as to what race was advanced in
navigation in that early time when
these monuments We're put up, the
answer naturally came that the only
race known to be a race of sailors and
merchants then was the race of the
Phoenicians.
And if they were the Phoenicians
how did they come to reach America?
They had colonies on the islands of
the western Mediterranean and even
in the islands of the Atlantic ocean,
as history proves. 1t is not hard to
imagine that they may have found
their way to America. Some archae-
oaogists are even willing to believe
that they reached America by way Of
the lost Atlantis, that legendary con-
dnent that is now sunken somewhere
In the Atlantic ocean, if it ever ex-
1sted.
At any rate, the theory that the
PhOenicians were the erectors of the
monoliths Of the world to commem0-
rate discoveries or for religious pur-
poses still later on gained strength
through the discovery of a great up
right stone nea the river Loire, which
has PhOenician words engraved deeply
on it. Translated, these words say.
ION this spot was slain our brave COM
rade."
In San Luis, in Bolivia, is one of
these stones, which has on it the en-
craving Of a foot printed and a snake
with its head raised. The footprint is
q well known Phoenician symbol of
death and is found on many stones
that ancient Phoenician burial
sites. And the snake with head raised