mch

112 OUR ANCESTORS CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
tween the big northerly and southerly circular currents. These
countercurrents are linear and they flow from west to east making
it easier for navigators to change directions and pass from
one hemisphere to the other. It was these countercurrents that
enabled the Phoenicians, who, once through the Pillars
of Hercules,
or Strait of Gibraltar, sailed south to reach the Antilles or,
PISCO
^
NASCA
^ CUSCO
'LAKE TITICACA
TIAHUANACO
ACCESS ROUTES TO SOUTH AMERICAN METALS
FROM ATLANTIC TO AMAZON
This map of northern South America shows how ancient navigators
from the Mediterranean, after crossing the Atlantic with winds and
currents, could navigate up the Amazon, cross the Andes, and reach
the continent's gold, silver, copper, and tin mines. Moreover, the
whole Amazon basin could have been a huge inland sea many thousand
years ago, making navigation much easier.