Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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

Before Hurricane Katrina there was the destruction of Lemuria, a kingdom carried to the bottom of the sea. Joseph, editor of several other books on Atlantis, uses recent deep-sea archaeological studies, symbols and records to re-create the ancient civilization and its rare technological achievements. So what happened to the Lemurians? Other accounts presume all was lost: Joseph charts the course of survivors who journeyed to other parts of the world to disseminate their scientific skills to existing cultures.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Very well researched with a vast bibliography. The theories offered regarding the function of the odd megalithic structures encountered in the Pacific are very, very interesting and they make more sense to me than the absurd and often sloppy explanations by conservative archeologists.
It is very hard to deny that such a primeval culture did not exist.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. Part of it was bemusement at the mixture of what seemed to be solid Archaeological facts and what was clearly contrived to substantiate the author's preconceived notions. What author wishing to be taken seriously would cite Shirley McLane's psychic visions and devote a whole chapter to Edgar Casey's?
I had never heard of Lemuria, although I have read a great deal of Archaeology. Apparently it has a cult following. It is supposed to have been the earliest civilization, developed on a large Pacific land mass during the ice age. Human beings were supposed to have evolved in this tropical paradise and of course they were white. They spread their peaceful, advanced culture to the whole string of islands that formed the stepping stones that allowed the settlement of Australia, as well as to the coasts of North and South America. The landmass was stricken and eventually destroyed by a comet strike, seismic activity, a tsunami and the global rise in water level at the end of the ice age.
Frank Joseph offers little to substantiate his rejection of the African origin of the human race other than his obvious preference for a Caucasian one. The civilization he describes sounds very much like the early Indus-Sarasvasti, which we are learning, does go back further than any known mainland civilization. It had a mixed population even very early, and a connection to the actual Caucasus. It also had a far flung maritime trade as attested to in the first written records. The valleys of its origin are tropical in climate and early cultivation of rice has been documented. Its ports could have easily been the origin of the diffusion of culture attributed to Lemuria.
That such a culture did indeed spread and influence a wide area is what many of the actual facts Joseph has collected seem to prove. Sadly, his credibility has been sacrificed to his efforts to connect the dots to Lemuria. We will have to wait for more undersea Archaeology and the efforts of more scientific minds.

The author is a a well known authority on Atlantis and Lemuria, and has written an excellent book on the subject.

For those who are students on Lemuria or lost civilizations, you will learn a lot from this book.

Another book on Atlantis that agrees with this author is Revealed: The Secret History Of Atlantis: The Final, Explosive, Fully Documented Story!

Both books are well worth reading!

The book presents summarizes a lot of the latest findings in what has been called "forbidden history," which are those topics and findings that contradict established historical theories and timelines. It is easy reading, and very well written.

The one thing that disturbed me when I was reading the book was the continued emphasis by the author on caucasians as the central agents of early civilization in every location he discussed. The fact that caucasian-looking mummies and skeletons have been found in North & South America and in Sinkiang really does not tell us if Caucasians originated any cultural developments -- they were perhaps just visitors to these locations. Some of the mythology of the pre-columbian American nations and the tribes of the south Pacific mention "white" people, but any reasonable person would agree that myth alone is not evidence of anything.

In contrast, there are statues in southern Mexico (I recall them being Olmec) that show faces that appear distinctively to be black African, and the same locality shows other races as well. And genetic findings of the Basque genes in South America are interesting, but a more complete survey of genetic maps (the work of Luigi Cavalli-Sforza comes to mind) show surprising genetic diversity all around the world - for example, there are some estimates that Europenas obtained 65% of their genes from Asian poipulations and 35% from Africans. A totally different worldview of civilization could be inferred from this - and who is to say it would not be correct?

The author's point that established historical and archealogical theories are promoted by careerists in academia and that contradictory evidence is frequently downplayed or supressed is extrememly plausible. However, this does not mean that we should not keep an open and discriminating mind when reviewing any alternatives, including the outlines of this book.

Just some notes on some reviews. Two reviewers mentioned statues of what they thought looked like black Africans in the Americas. There are also statues that look like white Europeans. What's the point? I had a link to a site discussing how the black Olmec theory is based on bad science & continues to pull the theory apart. Unfortunately, the link is now broken, but I'm sure everyone here knows what Google is.

One of the two reviewers that mentioned the Olmecs also mentioned how Cayce stated the Atlanteans were partly of a "red" race. If Atlantis existed anywhere, it would be near the Canary islands & the Azores. The Azores were not populated when they were re-discovered & the Canaries were occupied by the Guanches, a proto-Berber people which were described by the Spaniards as being tall & fair with many blondes in their numbers. Hey, maybe Cayce "saw" some sun tans, but I think that's about it.

Explorers also had mentions of "White skinned" indians who themselves said they were descended from another civilization. Everything I've read on Lemuria mentions the inhabitants as being tremendously tall & fair skinned, so I don't see where this "possible discrimination" comes from.

This is excellent book ancient Lemuria (Mu). This book contains a wealth of interesting information on the subject and was well-researched. It should be noted that there were many different races living on the vast continent of Lemuria peacefully for thousands of years and to argue which particular race was "better" back then as is is today is ridiculous.