The Lost Civilization of Lemuria: The Rise and Fall of the World?s Oldest Culture [Paperback]

Frank Joseph (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2006

A compelling new portrait of the lost realm of Lemuria, the original motherland of humanity

• Contains the most extensive and up-to-date archaeological research on Lemuria

• Reveals a lost, ancient technology in some respects more advanced than modern science

• Provides evidence that the perennial philosophies have their origin in Lemurian culture

Before the Indonesian tsunami or Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans, there was the destruction of Lemuria. Oral tradition in Polynesia recounts the story of a splendid kingdom that was carried to the bottom of the sea by a mighty “warrior wave”--a tsunami. This lost realm has been cited in numerous other indigenous traditions, spanning the globe from Australia to Asia to the coasts of both South and North America. It was known as Lemuria or Mu, a vast realm of islands and archipelagoes that once sprawled across the Pacific Ocean. Relying on 10 years of research and extensive travel, Frank Joseph offers a compelling picture of this mother­land of humanity, which he suggests was the original Garden of Eden.

Using recent deep-sea archaeological finds, enigmatic glyphs and symbols, and ancient records shared by cultures divided by great distances that document the story of this sunken world, Joseph painstakingly re-creates a picture of this civilization in which people lived in rare harmony and possessed a sophisticated technology that allowed them to harness the weather, defy gravity, and conduct genetic investigations far beyond what is possible today. When disaster struck Lemuria, the survivors made their way to other parts of the world, incorporating their scientific and mystical skills into the existing cultures of Asia, Polynesia, and the Americas. Totem poles of the Pacific Northwest, architecture in China, the colossal stone statues on Easter Island, and even the perennial philosophies all reveal their kinship to this now-vanished civilization.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Thoughtfully written, with a sense of irony and keen insight. . . . this is an exciting book from beginning to end."
(Lee Prosser, Ghostvillage.com, June 2006 )

". . . it is difficult to convey the breadth of information contained in this work. There is something to appeal to all metaphysical interests. This not merely a book on the alternative origin of mankind, it is the history that has always been there and rings with authority. . . . It easy to read and hard to put down. I recommend it highly."
(Jennifer Hoskins, New Dawn, Mar-Apr 2007 )

"In this entertaining and intriguing book, Frank Joseph has again pieced together a marvelous history of ancient times."
(David Paulsen, New Age Retailer, April 2007 )

"Frank Joseph's investigation tells fully, for the first time, the uplifting, and ultimately tragic, story of our ancestral home upon the waves." (
Asian Pages, Vol. 19, No. 8 )

"One of the reasons why this may be the decisive book on Lemuria is Joseph's erudite and methodical analysis of the topic. Unlike most books about Lemuria, which dance fancifully with speculative theories and metaphysical non-sense, Joseph focuses on factual findings to build his hypotheses." (
Michael Lohr, Mysteries Magazine, Issue 19, 2007-08 )

From the Back Cover

ANCIENT MYSTERIES / NEW AGE

Long before Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans, there was the destruction of Lemuria. Oral tradition in Polynesia recounts the story of a splendid kingdom carried to the bottom of the sea by a mighty “warrior wave” far greater than the tsunami that struck Indonesia in December 2004. This lost realm has been cited in numerous other indigenous traditions, spanning the globe from Australia and Asia to the coasts of both South and North America. It was known as Lemuria or Mu, a vast realm of islands and archipelagoes that once sprawled across the Pacific Ocean. Relying on ten years of research and extensive travel, Frank Joseph offers a compelling picture of this motherland of humanity, which he suggests was the original Garden of Eden.

Using recent deep-sea archaeological finds, enigmatic glyphs and symbols, and ancient records that document the story of this sunken world, Joseph painstakingly re-creates a picture of this civilization in which people lived in rare harmony and possessed a sophisticated technology that allowed them to harness the weather, defy gravity, and conduct genetic investigations far beyond what is possible today. When disaster struck Lemuria, the survivors made their way to other parts of the world, incorporating their scientific and mystical skills into the existing cultures of Asia, Polynesia, and the Americas. Totem poles of the Pacific Northwest, architecture in Thailand, the colossal stone statues on Easter Island, and even the perennial philosophies all reveal their kinship to this now-vanished civilization.

FRANK JOSEPH is the editor in chief of Ancient American magazine and the author of The Destruction of Atlantis, Survivors of Atlantis, and The Lost Treasure of King Juba. He lives in Colfax, Wisconsin.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Company; 4th Printing edition (May 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591430607
• ISBN-13: 978-1591430605
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #323,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank Joseph has been the editor-in-chief of "Ancient American" magazine since its debut in 1993. He is the author of twenty books about prehistory re-published in as many foreign languages, including "The Atlantis Encyclopedia", "Opening the Ark of the Covenant", and "Unearthing Ancient America". Joseph is a frequent guest speaker at various metaphysical and archaeological societies in the U.S. and abroad.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Look at Lemuria, August 22, 2006

By 

Mark R. Williams (San Mateo, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lost Civilization of Lemuria: The Rise and Fall of the World?s Oldest Culture (Paperback)

I have more than a passing interest in Lemuria, and Frank Joseph's new book is a definitive look at the subject. Or I should say subjects, as the book examines a plethora of fascinating topics in a rational, almost scholarly fashion. That's refreshing, because many Lemuria books are filled with wild theories and metaphysical speculation that leave the reader frustrated. Joseph is especially strong in the areas of Yonaguni and other Japanese sites (I was surprised to read about a Mu Museum in Japan) and the mysterious Nan Modal on Pohnpei. He posits a very interesting theory explaining its magnetized basalt. Lemuria presents so many mysteries, from white races in the Pacific to the rongo rongo script of Easter Island, that one can become easily confused. Joseph is skillful in separating fact from fiction, yet he still leaves room for imaginative theories. For example, he agrees with geologists in ruling out an actual continental landmass, but makes a good case for an archipelago spanning the Pacific. I was especially intrigued by his connecting Lemurian mysticism with the ancient religion of Shinto and even the Bohn or Boenpo sect of Tibet, which was a forerunner of Buddhism. In short, this book will keep Lemuria buffs intrigued for many hours and is thoroughly recommended.

50 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but with a warped view of Lemuria, March 25, 2007

By 

Acoustic Crazy (Beaufort, SC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lost Civilization of Lemuria: The Rise and Fall of the World?s Oldest Culture (Paperback)

This book is one of the few to provide substantial physical evidence that Lemuria existed. You should definitely read this if you are interested in Lemurian lore. However, I agree with Robert Muniz's review. I too found it odd that the author made "continued emphasis on caucasians as the central agents of early civilization in EVERY location" worldwide. My biggest beef was that he did not provide any evidence that the inhabitants of Lemuria were caucasian, and briefly tried to provide evidence that ALL civilizations worldwide (to include Asia, Africa, and the Americas) were the result of caucasian agents. As if that's enough. (**See Note at bottom.) Also, Frank Joseph wrote an entire chapter around Edgar Cayce's readings of Lemuria, but then hid the fact that Cayce stated that the Lemurians were a brown and black race and that the people of Atlantis were of the red (Native American) race.

Aside from that, the issue of race really is a SMALL part of the book. The majority is filled with a tremendous amount of archaeological research and travel. Joseph's investigation includes sunken cities off the coast of Japan to mysterious structures/walls made with perfectly cut boulders in polynesia. It will be difficult to find another author who can duplicate the amount of research and travel this author has done. This should be required reading for Lemurian fans.

But here are my side notes regarding the "race": It is scientifically proven that polynesians migrated to oceania from Madagascar and that polynesian languages have roots in African languages. This makes Edgar Cayce's theory have weight to it, that the Lemurians were a dark/black race. Recently, scientists have found that chicken bones of Polynesian origin in what is today Chile. The chicken bones match those of the species found in Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and SE Asia. Also, the Olmec statues in SE Mexico are distinctly black African in appearance.

If anyone has studied Huna, the ancient art of Hawaiian spiritualism, they would have known that the ancient Hawaiians were psychic. Google "wayfinding Hawaii" and see what awesome astronomers the polynesians were. They were able to navigate across the Pacific and back using just the stars and knowing the feel of the currents and winds.

It should also be known that in the 13th century a Japanese was shipwrecked in Hawaii and the Native Hawaiians called him the "white chief with an iron knife". For more documentation on how shipwrecked Asians were considered "white" by the polynesians, go to [...] and read about the first foreigners to Hawaii after the polynesians settled there.

I am inclined to believe that the evidence links the Native Americans, Asians, Polynesians, and people of African descent to Lemuria. You will not find another book with the amount of archaeological evidence that Frank Joseph has collected here. The race part was the only place where he was biased.

**Note: It's been several years since I read this book, but Patrick Chouinard wrote 2 books ("Giants of Atlantis" and "Forgotten Worlds") on caucasian giants that were once scattered across the globe, which might lend credence to Joseph's brief and unsupported arguments on race.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mysteries Magazine review, October 28, 2007

By 

Kim Guarnaccia "Editor, Mysteries magazine" (Surry, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Civilization of Lemuria: The Rise and Fall of the World?s Oldest Culture (Paperback)

Much has been made over the years about the myths of Atlantis while Lemuria is a far less discussed and potentially more intriguing legend. Now, with the release of The Lost Civilization of Lemuria, Frank Joseph, the editor of Ancient American, has written the definitive tome on Lemuria.

Lemuria was a great archipelagoe-based nation that was flooded when a massive tsunami hit the island chain some time before the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000 BC. The survivors then made their way around the world, sharing their scientific and mystical skills throughout Asia, Polynesia, and the Americas.

This book is a compelling read, well-written, and painstakingly researched. Joseph uses the latest archaeological findings, from the totem poles of the Pacific northwest, the stone monuments of Easter Island, to the enigmatic glyphs and symbols in Japan--as well as recent deep-sea discoveries and DNA analysis--to recreate a portrait of a socially and technologically advanced ancient civilization. Joseph's investigations reveal a culture that lived in harmony with nature while attaining a high level of science and spiritual sophistication, a mother culture that gave birth to the various Oceanic-Asian cultures.

One of the reasons why this may be the decisive book on Lemuria is Joseph's erudite and methodical analysis of the topic. Unlike most books about Lemuria, which dance fancifully with speculative theories and metaphysical nonsense, Joseph focuses on factual findings to build his hypotheses. He covers many mysteries that seemingly have Lemurian connections, such as the Yonaguni site off the coast of southern Japan, the magnetized basalt of Pohnpei, the rongo rongo script of Easter Island, and even Caucasian tribesman in ancient China and the Pacific Rim.

In the same manner that Graham Hancock and John Anthony West write with passion and intellect about ancient civilizations, so does Frank Joseph on this fascinating topic.
--www.mysteriesmagazine.com