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I was pleasantly surprised on Friday to learn that our good friend Dr. Robert Schoch made an appearance as a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, discussing his theories on the redating of the Sphinx, and other related topics. Surprised, because just a couple of days before I had been talking with Robert about his contribution to the next volume of our Darklore project (he’ll be talking about his friendship and work with the late, great John Anthony West), and he didn’t mention a thing to me about his imminent chat with Joe!
Those who know Robert though would not be surprised about this – he’s a softly-spoken, extremely humble man, who prefers to immerse himself in his research…even if the topics he explores are on the speculative side. And this comes across in his talk with Joe Rogan – but it still ends up being a nearly three hour talk covering a myriad of fascinating subjects, from the age of the Sphinx, to disasters at the end of the last Ice Age.
If you’ve got the time, I highly recommmend setting aside an evening to take it all in, it’s well worth the investment (video embedded below). As Joe himself says: “Absolutely one of my favorite podcasts to date…this one was a real mind blower.”
For those with less time on their hands, I’ve made some quick annotations of the subjects discussed and the (approximate) time they occur in the video, along with some pertinent quotes – you’ll find these below the video.
(Note too: Robert’s offered us a signed copy of one of his books as a prize for our supporter base – back us on Patreon for a chance to win this in coming weeks.)
Annotations:
0 – 12 minutes – Robert discusses meeting John Anthony West, his approach to the analysis of the Sphinx weathering, and the influence of his grandmother’s Theosophy mixed with his own reading and his scientific training, in his open-minded approach to the topic.
Quote from around the 10 minute mark:
So I was going in with open-minded possibilities…but when I went there with JAW in 1990…I thought this would be a simple open and shut case, I would prove him wrong…all of that changed literally within 30 to 120 seconds of seeing the Sphinx…because my first impression was…there was something wrong with the Egyptological dating.
12 minute mark – Discussing the Sphinx and Valley Temple, and erosion evidence in the Sphinx enclosure.
Quote from around 16 minute mark: Discusses how, at the beginning, he was conservative with his estimate of the redating of the Sphinx, but “now I believe we’re talking prior to 9700BC for the original construction of the Sphinx…the end of the Younger Dryas…the end of the last Ice Age.”
16:40 minutes – Moves on to discussion of his theory that there was a ‘huge eruption from the Sun’ and massive climatic disruption at the end of the Younger Dryas period.
Quote from around 18:30:
There had been an earlier cycle of civilization that was essentially snuffed out by the end of the last Ice Age…and a period from about 9700 BC to 4000-3000BC when we see civilization re-emerging…we have essentially a dark age.
Around 23:30 mark – He says solar outburst at the end of the last Ice Age, whereas others have suggested a comet impact. Could it have been both? Robert says possibly – perhaps a comet stream, which hit Earth, but also the Sun…there is some evidence comets can cause solar outbursts.
Quote at around 24:55:
At 9700 BC – this is based on sediment cores, and ice cores, we also have lunar data which supports this – we have incredible climatic change going from deep Ice Age to modern warming.
From 25:00 to 30:00 – We need to realise that this could happen again at any time, we are not guaranteed stability.
Around 33:00 – Talks about how the shapes of strong auroral discharges resemble petroglyph shapes of gods from around the world, and also some of Easter Island’s rongo-rongo script. Personal note: with so many topics covered and just 33 minutes into the podcast, it almost feels like too many speculative theories are being covered, opening himself up for easy hits from skeptics (“he’ll believe anything”)?
39:00 – How people might have survived this solar outburst catastrophe by sheltering in underground dwellings (both natural and man-made). Compares to the growth in people creating bunkers at home during the Cold War.
Quote at around 39:45:
Where people survived I believe in part because they had access to natural caves initially, then they built underground structures for when [the solar outbursts] came again…for instance in the Middle East, you have constriction of the population to the Anatolia region, where you have these underground shelters.
48:30 – Mentions that ancient site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey provides evidence shutting up early (1993) critics who asked “Where are these earlier megalithic cultures?” when responding to his Sphinx redating.
Quote at 52:00:
We do have (spiritual) things to learn from the ancients….it’s not all just one-way progress. And frankly I’m not convinced we’re at the highest point.
55:00 – Discussion of recent ‘secret chamber’ discovery in the Great Pyramid.
58:00 – Schoch believes there is also a secret chamber under left paw of the Sphinx. “I believe is an archive.”
1:00:00 – Sphinx’s head is wrong, not the original. Says there are lines of evidence that suggest this could be evidence (along with hieroglyphic evidence) for a secret chamber beneath the Sphinx.
1:18:25 – Talks about how naive he was in the early 1990s, about where his Sphinx redating would lead him – how orthodox science would attack him, the character assassination etc.
Quote at 1:26:00 – Regarding the Great Pyramid:
When I study it geologically, I think there was an older structure there…for instance, the subterranean chamber, I suspect, goes back much earlier than the 4th Dynasty Khufu. Those three major pyramids were built over restored older structures.
1:40:00 – How the monumental architecture of ancient Egypt seemingly arose so quickly. Was this through transmission of knowledge from an earlier civilization?
1:52:00 – Evidence of ‘machining’ of ancient Egyptian artifacts: Jars and vases carved exquisitely from harder stones, at the start of Dynastic Egypt. Sarcophagus in Great Pyramid.
2:15:00 – On getting information out to open-minded, but also the danger in how much disinformation is out there. On being in the middle between true believers and hardcore skeptics. Disliked by academics, but also by ‘ancient aliens’ fans and other people more extreme.
Quote regarding ‘ancient aliens’ fans:
They always want to tie it to aliens, which I think is a – I hate to use this term, but it’s sort of a cop-out. It’s a business…people want to sell their books, they want to sell their conferences, they want to sell their DVDs, they want to sell their YouTube videos. And in some cases they want to sell for money, and sometimes they want to sell for self-promotion, they want to be famous.
But the point is that there are real mysteries…things that we don’t really understand. And so many people that I know that watch shows like that – when I talk to them…and I’m talking about academics who would never admit that they watch it – they watch it because they find it entertaining, number one, [but also] they don’t quite say it this way, but it fills a void, and it does raise issues that – if they’re perceptive – they might become aware of and realise that these are real issues. No, ancient aliens or other ‘easy answers’ is not the way to go, but they are things that need to be looked at.
2:25:00 – Long discussion about Göbekli Tepe.
For more information about Robert, his various research projects, books, and his occasional tours to ancient sites that you can join, see his website RobertSchoch.com.
