Through archeology, I’ve been led down a rabbit hole that has blown the lid off of everything I thought I knew. And I realize how many lies I’ve been led to believe throughout my life. And I am questioning everything and exploring and expanding my understanding. Sounds familiar, right?
Through archaeology I have a catalyst to explore deeper than I ever had a reason to explore before.
Through archaeology I no longer buy into the belief system that has been designed to keep humanity unattached, separate, disempowered and complacent.
Through archaeology I believe there is a greater (and different) story to be told. And now, changing those beliefs drive me daily. And through archaeology my world has opened up in a way I could have never imagined. I am constantly learning and am increasingly hungry to learn more. And that’s just the tip of the (unschooling) iceberg!
As I support and encourage my son to pursue his passions, interests and desires, I must stand as an example and do the same. And together, we are learning, as I’ve come to realize, unschooling is not just Miro’s experience, it’s mine too.
Through our travels, we’ve come across many ancient cultures, ruins and traditions, all belonging to, and telling the story of humanity from different perspectives. And for the first time, I felt as if we were part of that story too. (And if you are a reader of our site, you’ll know that there is much focus on archeological explorations and the history we’ve uncovered and explored together along the way.
And now you know why.
As we explore more and more, I realize there’s much missing in my understanding of human history.. What I have learned through my own childhood education is simply not complete. History through the eyes of the rigid academic authorities seem to tell only part the story. Through our travels, I have been inspired to re-examine what was once taught as being the unquestioned ‘truth’. Even though Pluto is no longer considered a planet, within the scientific and academic communities changes are made very slow.
So I have been inspired to (re)educate myself.
For example, I was taught to believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution. The missing link was never found and many scholars are opening refuting his version of human history. Still the museum of Natural History in London still proudly displays a displays of Darwin’s evolution. The theory of evolution was sacred doctrine to me as I was growing up of a child of the 60s & 70s. And as I grew up, I settled into the belief that my future based on ‘biological doctrine’. Life was predetermined based on my biological lineage, and we were just evolving, and adapting and doing our thing.
Would I be the fittest? Would I survive?
I believe these concepts and ideas profoundly effect humanity and our state of collective consciousness. But nevertheless, these are the things I was taught in the American public school system, and who was I to challenge that?
And what about the class of humans knows as the Neanderthal? We were once taught that modern humans were descended from them. Now, science tells us that modern humans do not have Neanderthal ancestors in their family tree, a new DNA study concludes. And we are led to believe that mankind was primitive, savage and nuckle dragging? We, modern people, who only started inventing anything of real significance 2000 years ago or less.
There are the exceptions of course like the early civilizations in Mesopotamia followed by the early Egyptian civilizations along the Nile. And there are the cultures of China and India boasting mystical traditions. But all of these were taught to be anomalies at best. The rest of the world? Primitive heathen savage, unsophisticated ‘tribes’ of course. And this is what I believed. And as an adult, I can see the bias that is built into the timeline itself. Mesopotamia and Egypt was ‘before Christ’. But the collective story is, time really started to rock and roll after ‘Christ’.
But something doesn’t add up.
According to conventional history, archeology tells us that organized ‘civilizations’ began, in some isolated cases, roughly 5,000 years ago, or approximately 3,000 years before Christ. Before that time and in most other places, humans were savages, heathens, tribes of primitives. To firm up this timeline, according to many who believe in the bible as a book of history believe the events in Genesis take place in a large period of time, ending just about 2000 before Christ when Jacob and his family moved to Egypt. Again, roughly 5,000ish years ago my friends, is where the ‘real’ human history started according to how I perceived history.
Um, for me, something is wrong with that.
In science (and academia slowly correct itself) changes are made to the textbooks, but many are conditioned not to care. Still engrained, is the idea, that the only relevant history is after the age of Christ, and looking earlier just doesn’t have significance.
And I vehemently disagree.
But what of all the pieces of archeological evidence that challenge the history written in the book? What about the hidden & forbidden archeology? But what of these ancient technologies, much more advanced than I was led to believe were possible based on my perception of the people from my early school days.
Beyond my travels, I have explored through my own education about the great pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx, Stonehenge of southern England, the megalithic structures of Peru and Bolivia and the giant Maoi stone carvings of Rapi Nui (Easter Island)? And, across our globe there’s more and more that does not fit into a conventional human history timeline. There are structures build on energy grids across the globe connecting most of them in a way that is more than just symbolic. I wonder how the ancients could have known if they were just ‘heathen primitives‘?
And there are other structures built that perfectly mimic the stars above from a timetable approximately 15,000 years before.
What of these giant megaliths found here in Peru and Bolivia? These ancients had the ability to cut, polish and accurately fit, 100 + ton stones to form perfectly fitted walls that still stand today? How were these structures actually moved? How were these stones cut perfectly to form walls so accurate not even a human hair can fit between the blocks? What kind of technology was used? I’ve seen documentaries building experts today cannot duplicate the structures using modern technology.
(My mind boggles.)
Could they be from beyond the stars?
And then there’s the enigma of the elongated skulls we learned about in Paracas, Peru. Having the opportunity to personally touch, hold and photograph 18 of these skulls, I saw subtle differences between many. Some had 3 cranial sutures, many others only had two. The thickness of some of the bone of the skulls were different. Some had square eye sockets, others round. Some had visual evidence of cranial deformation as a result of intentional skull binding, others did not. I am certainly not a scientist, but I can consider the possibility if some of those skulls weren’t of human origin, and were here on the planet living with humans over 5,000 years ago, wouldn’t that effect the human timeline? And all of the references in ancient cultures of those who came before from the stars.
From the Sumerians, the early Vedic, Maya and Inca, to name a few, there are countless cultures who point to visitors from the stars. I’ve learned from the places we’ve explored. The stories told in the stones, artifacts and buildings all have meaning.
Many deep meanings, and I think the problem is, we may be too closed off to absorb the stories.
Clues left behind offer a connection to this distant past. I’ve learned from the cultures who came before and I am learning about my humanity as a reflection. Early in our travels, I was exposed to the ruins of the Mayans, Toltecs, Aztecs and Olmecs in Mexico and Guatemala.
Who were the people who were able to accurately measure time through ‘ages’, created by the Olmecs but known to the Western world as the Mayan calendar? But it was deeper. Then meeting Mayan descendants and learning more through lore, I started to understand that the academic stories were not as accurate as I had once thought. If the ancestors tell a different story than the scholars do, then what is right?
One such story, is told by the academics, explains why the Mayan’s crossed their eyes. “Mayans believed that being cross-eyed was attractive. So they tied a bead on the front of a child’s head so it dangled between their eyes. The child would get cross-eyes by looking at the bead.” But I was told by a descendant that their people knew that crossing one’s eyes for extended periods of time helps people move beyond the earthbound senses of sight and perception and allowed their people to see peripherally, much like the abilities of their ancestors.
Their ancestors…. Their ancestors who they believed came from the stars.
But stories like these told by the people about their own traditions and beliefs has more weight and value to me, than an outsider’s observations, as well-intentioned as it may be. But more important, I feel energy in these places. The energy of past cultures, connecting me to something larger.. I feel driven to understand more. I find purpose in my life through understanding the beliefs and purposes of those who’ve come before.
It’s a deep desire to know, driven by passion.
And I’ve come to question the stories told in the textbooks, that paint the early cultures of the Americas as heathens and savages. I’ve come to question the timeline of humanity, even question Darwinism itself. Once that paradigm floats away, the world opens up.
It’s humanity. It’s our origin. It’s where we’ve come from. It’s ancient technologies. It’s the stars, it’s so much more.
And my life is insignificant in relation to the story of humanity. And I like that. It challenges my ego, but humbles my perception. It places me in a timeline which belongs to something bigger than just ‘me’. Because my daily worries are insignificant and stresses are unimportant in relation to all that has come before me and all that is still to come. Because the history of humanity is my lineage. Because I want to overcome the linear timeline we are destined to. Because there is so much more than what I see in front of me.
Because I want to know where we came from in order to know where we can go.
Because I am human.
Sitting on the balcony of our tiny Cusco apartment, I look across the sea of terra-cotta roofs I ask myself, why has this passion been uncovered in my life?
I admit, before we left on our travels, I had no interest in archeology. I had no draw calling me to explore ancient ruins, learn about past cultures or understand the messages left behind centuries, even millenniums ago. Nor had I any inclination those things would even relate to me, in my life.
Why archeology? Because it’s blown my world wide open and I like that.
Even though the archeology is my passion, there is no chance Miro is escaping learning from these things too. We have even found some commonalities in our interests, as some of the legends could fall under mythology and cryptozology, which he loves reading about. I know that we are learning together, and acknowledge my responsibility as an unschooling parent by leading through example and following my passions as well. That’s my ‘teaching’.
There may be some inaccuracies in this post, but they are not intentional. I am a life learner, a self taught student of archeology, humanity and anthropology. The more I seek answers, the more questions I have. But I am enjoying the process of expansion and my world has grown exponentially.
I hope to never stop learning & hope you take this inspired ride with me.
Lainie Liberti is a recovering branding expert, who’s career once focused on creating campaigns for green – eco business, non-profits and conscious business. Dazzling clients with her high-energy designs for over 18 years, Lainie lent her artistic talents to businesses that matter. But that was then.
In 2008, after the economy took a turn, Lainie decided to be the change (instead of a victim) and began the process of “lifestyle redesign,” a joint decision between both her and her 11-year-old son, Miro. They sold or gave away all of of their possessions in 2009 and began a life of travel, service, and exploration. Lainie and her son Miro began their open-ended adventure backpacking through Central and South America. They are slow traveling around the globe allowing inspiration to be their compass. The pair is most interested in exploring different cultures, contributing by serving, and connecting with humanity as ‘global citizens.’
Today Lainie considers herself a digital nomad who is living a location independent life. She and her son write and podcast their experiences from the road at Raising Miro on the Road of Life.
