The Naacal Tablets
editBackground on the Naacal Tablets
The Naacal Tablets are supposedly a set of stone tablets created by the ancient Naacal people, although there is currently no proof of their existence. William Niven (1850-1937), a Scottish archeologist who immigrated to the United States in 1879, claimed to have found some of them at a dig site in Mexico City in 1921. Supposedly, he found approximately 100 of them during his excavation. These tablets caused a buzz when they were first discovered in 1921. They became a topic of debate in the scientific and archeological communities after their founding during the 1920s. Most archeologists dismissed the findings. They were convinced that they were fake, and created by either Niven or someone else to generate controversy. Many others believed that they simply had no meaning to them. The pictures & wording on them were indecipherable to those who tried to interpret them. Most archeologists believed they simply belonged to an ancient civilization in the Americas. Niven had tried to convince people that the tablets were real and had a deeper meaning to them, and spent much of his adult life dedicated in trying to do so. This attempt was unsuccessful and the effort became futile when the tablets were eventually lost by Niven himself. The mystique surrounding them eventually flamed out by the early 1930s, since many by then felt that these were just a hoax. Some however were intrigued by it's existence, and believed they were real and had a lot of meaning, specifically pertaining to the idea of a lost civilization or continent in ancient times.
James Churchward's Interpretation of the Tablets
James Churchward (1851-1936) was a British writer and inventor, who argued about the authenticity of these tablets for much of his life. Prior to the tablets being found by Niven, he believed in the existence of a lost continent called Mu. He believed Mu was a massive continent that spanned across the entirety of the Pacific Ocean, going from Hawaii all the way to Asia. Churchward claimed they were advanced for their time, even more advanced the modern day nations were. Ultimately, they were destroyed by a natural disaster of some sorts. Churchward believed that other civilizations of the time were simply remaining parts of it which were far less advanced, citing Ancient India, Egypt and Maya as examples. Chruchward believed Mu to be a civilization controlled by caucasians. According to him, 63 million people called Mu home at one point. He has stated on numerous occasions that he had talked to a priest while in India, who gave him knowledge about this supposed civilization. According to Churchward, the Indian priest taught him a dead language nobody else could speak, and allowed him to view ancient tablets. The people of his civilization were called the Naacal's. When William Niven found the stone tablets in 1921, Churchward believed it had a direct correlation to the idea of his lost continent, actually going so far as to claim they proved Mu's existence. Churchward believed that these tablets were very similar to the Naacal ones he observed while in India. Part of his belief was that he thought that some Naacals had survived the natural disaster that destroyed their civilization, and migrated. One of the migration places ended up being the Americas. His contribution to the debate actually further discredited the importance of the finding of the tablets. Churchward was known for his outlandish ideas about lost ancient civilizations. He wrote a series of books on the topic, beginning in 1926 with Mu, the Motherland of Man. His writings have become ridiculed in the scientific community. Still, he has influenced a few people, some of whom still promote his beliefs to this day.
The Tablets Role in Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is, "a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method." The premise of the Naacal Tablets and the existence of the continent Mu are prominent examples of pseudoscience. There is no scientific evidence to back up Nevin and Churchward's assertions of a lost civilization and continent. In Churchward's writings, he used the controversial and disproven French-American archeologist Augustus Le Plongeon as a source of facts. Churchward was also notorious for using sources that could not be proven or have any scientific backing. His sources were either vague or largely based off experiences he claimed to have. These experiences could not be proven by anybody. He was essentially asking people to trust his word. The supposed Naacal Tablets he observed while in India has no factual basis to them. The true location of the tablets had also varied. At first, Churchward claimed they were in India, where he initially discovered them. Later on in his life, he claimed they were moved to Tibet. Of course, nobody could prove any of this. He was also unable to truly prove how he was able to translate the symbols from the tablets into English. According to him, he was simply born with the ability to do so. Churchward was a well known occultist of the time. He also discredited the theory of evolution in his books. He claimed that the Naacal's did not evolve. Scientifically, the continent of Mu simply could not exist as Churchward describes it in his writings. Scientists say that a continent cannot vanish as quickly as Mu supposedly did. Plate tectonics also show no evidence of there being a lost continent in the Pacific Ocean. Mu supposedly existed at a time when the Earth's continental crust has remained solid, thus not allowing any continental drift. Churchward claimed that gas filled chambers under the continent collapsed, bringing the entire land mass with it. As scientists later proved, there are no such things as gas belts underneath continents. Much of his writings proved to be fabricated. There is still no proof for anything he's alleged in his writings. By definition, he is a pseudoscientist. He promoted beliefs that had no scientific backing. Despite overwhelming evidence against his claims, some people actually believed them.
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Karliebrewer (talk) 22:27, 7 May 2019 (UTC)