John Anthony West

John Anthony West
Born (1932-07-09) July 9, 1932
New York City, United States
Nationality American
Known for Sphinx water erosion hypothesis, studies of the Dogon people

John Anthony West (born July 9, 1932 in New York City) is an American author, lecturer, guide and a proponent of Sphinx water erosion hypothesis in geology.[1][2]

John Anthony West is today the leading authority and proponent of the 'Symbolist' school of Egyptology, an alternative interpretation of ancient Egyptian culture advanced by the French scholar and philosopher, R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz. In the Symbolist view, Egyptian architecture and art disclose a richer and more universal wisdom than conventional Egyptology has assumed.

In 1993 his work with Robert M. Schoch, a geologist and associate professor of natural science at the College of General Studies at Boston University was presented by Charlton Heston in a NBC special called “The Mystery of the Sphinx” that won West a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Best Research and a nomination for Best Documentary.[3][4][5] The documentary contends that the main type of weathering evident on the Great Sphinx and surrounding enclosure walls could only have been caused by prolonged and extensive rainfall during the time period from 10,000 to 5000 BCE and was carved out of limestone bedrock by an ancient advanced culture (such as the Heavy Neolithic Qaraoun culture).[6] This challenged the conventional dating of the carving of the statue circa 2500 BCE. West suggested that the Sphinx may be over twice as old as originally determined, whereas Schoch made a more conservative determination of between 5000 and 7000 BCE.[7][8]

Criticism

Professor Peter Green of the University of Texas at Austin has been critical of West. In a 1979 exchange of letters in the New York Review of Books, Green drew attention to numerous problems with West's work, including unconscious prejudices, 'wildly speculative' ideas and lack of scientific evidence, as well as a tendency towards conspiracy theories in respect of orthodox Egyptology.[9]

Publications

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Atlantic, p. 42. Atlantic Monthly Co. 1962. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  2. ↑ Graham Hancock (4 January 2011). Fingerprints Of The Gods. Random House. pp. 483–. ISBN 978-1-4464-1085-1. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  3. ↑ Sally MacDonald; Michael Rice (2003). Consuming Ancient Egypt. UCL. pp. 183–. ISBN 978-1-84472-003-3. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  4. ↑ Quigley Publishing (1 January 2006). International television & video almanac, p. 64. Quigley Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-900610-78-3. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Society for Scientific Exploration (1996). Journal of scientific exploration: a publication of the Society for Scientific Exploration, p. 582. Pergamon. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  6. ↑ U.S. news & world report. s.n. 2000. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  7. ↑ John Anthony West (1 January 1996). The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ancient Egypt. Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0724-7. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  8. ↑ John Anthony West (1 May 1993). Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0691-2. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  9. ↑ Secrets of the Pyramids, New York Review of Books, 20th December 1979: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1979/12/20/the-secrets-of-the-pyramids/ Retrieved 27 March 2016


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