1952
The Story of the
Silver Belt. By Egerton Sykes
" In 1940 Jean Gattefosse, who was one of the
initiators of the Bibliographie de l'Atlantide, and one of the best known
French writers on the subject of Atlantis, wrote his novel Les Portes de
Bronze, which was published in Paris in 1945. This work of fiction was largely
based upon his won research and investigations, and in particular, upon a
mysterious belt of silver, conjectured to be of Atlantean origin, which formed
the essential link in the book between the present and the remote past."
The story goes that the artifact was acquired "by the
present owner from an antique dealer in Monte Carlo, who had purchased it from
an Egyptian visitor who stated that the ornament had been discovered in a tomb
of one of the early Pharaohs, and that the family tradition of the Egyptian
associated it with a queen of a very early date." Jean Gattefosse
eventually persuaded the owner to test the ornament in a series of experiments
to determine its origin, or what it was. "The
laboratory tests were carried out by various experts. One was Dr. Badouin, the
founder of the International Institute of Scientific Bibliography, and a former
President of the French Prehistoric Society. Dr. Badouin was one of the first
to apply modern technical methods to the study of prehistory and to seek to
discover from bones signs of disease and indications as to the kind of food
eaten by our ancestors. "Later Dr. Badouin came to the conclusion that the
majority of prehistoric cults were of an astronomical nature linked with
symbolism of the constellations, and that by this means it might be possible to
give approximate datings. He even succeeded in working out a formula for the
successive alterations in the orientations of ancient monuments". He
encountered much opposition in his work, "Prehistory from the Stars,"
he had retired at his ancestral home at Croix en Viein where he died in 1942.
It was this Dr. Badouin who noticed the moon was not mentioned in any of these
prehistoric cults, and had connected the theories of Hoerbiger with this point.
"The similarity of outlook between Badouin and Frobenius is very marked.
The huge output of erudite works on many subjects, mainly concerned with the
excavations in the western coastal areas of
Here was Dr. Badouin's report (which E. Sykes summarizes)
shows that analysis of the one link of he belt gave 93.35% silver, 6.29%
copper, 0.24% tin, and 0.12% impurities. He felt the silver was treated in the
ancient fashion. This is not an example of true bronze, but an idea much
earlier. Doctor observed that a true bronze only occurs when there are than 2.5
grammes of tin to 95-99 grammes of copper. This was in reply to a query from M.
A. de Mortillet. M. Henri Marcelot, a chemist of Nice, made the actual analysis
of the belt on Nov. 28th, 1924. "Badouin adduces as proofs of
pre-Hallstatt epoch by giving the analysis for two Greek silver articles, which
often contained copper. A vase from a Mycenean tomb (End of Copper III Period)
give Silver 95.88%, Copper 3.48%, Gold 0.43% and impurities 0.21%. A basin of
the same period from another site gave silver 87.6%, copper 10.40%, gold 0.40%,
impurities 1.60%. From this it would appear that there existed in
In brief they are summarized as this - The belt is a
phallic ornament worn by a man with reddish skin. The tribe to which he
belonged had the habit of drinking a liquid made of a green herb before
indulging in sexual orgies. The trophy was awarded for the winner as an emblem
of his virility. At a latter date the tribes were defeated by a group of
Amazons and the holder of the belt gave it, together with other favors, to the
Queen in exchange for freedom. These women were stated to wear costumes with
feathered headdress's, recalling those of the North
American Indians, while some of the descriptions of the monuments recalled
those in Le Plongeon's book "Queen Moo". One of those pendants maybe
hollow and contain a talisman. The descriptions mention destruction by fire and
by flood, and the changing of the climate from a fertile land to a desert. The
full details of these texts were to be put in a forthcoming book which was
probably to be called, 'Bronze Gates'.
New Light
on the Atlantis Problem, By A.W. Tulip (a summary)