ANCIENT CITIES & LOST CIVILIZATIONS

Since childhood, I have long been interested in Archeology after I read a lot about it when I was around ten and shared a similar interest with an older classmate, when we went to a one-room school....we both wanted at the time, to become 'archologists' long before the 'Indiana Jones' craze emerged(my name is Jones, by the way, and though I enjoyed seeing some of the movies, I took a particular dislike to one scene, the one where Indiana takes out his pistol and kills a double-sword wielding attacker, a typical Hollywood, and older radio program, ploy to render martial arts seemingly ineffective and so forth....which audiences all eat up,of course....well, I did not want to start out with this topic exactly and have and will address this isssue of swords and knives vs firearms,etc. another time and in other places as well..... My friend gave up on being an archeologist and at the time, claimed he wanted to become a historian, and, of course, he did not become a historian and went into other things, ending up, I am told, as a 'hairdresser' with a chain of salons in California...though I had heard that he had worked for Life Magazine supposedly and lived a while in Washington state but I never learned if such were true or not.. He did have an acting talent and was in several plays, recruiting me for one to play a role of a ten-year-old genius when I was in High School at the time or in Jr. High... He put on magic shows and used marionettes,which we called 'puppets' but which are not, since they require strings and some dexterity to manipulate. The classes, from grade five to eight always tried to explain or find out how the tricks were done...of course, I had long been interested in magic tricks, like most boys around those ages, and had seen magicians of various talents from time to time, plus reading a lot of books that 'revealed' the secrets to some extent or described how to perform them and I did at various times 'put on small shows' and do small tricks which I cannot do now and never attempt anymore.... I did not become an archeologist for several reasons.....my grandmother,my father, and other relatives, as well as well-meaning adults, all tried to dissuade me from becoming one, saying that 'digging up old bones' did not amount to anything and that I should take up a more sensible and lucrative career,like medicine, law, or engineering or even agriculture, irrespective of any talent, ability, funds, or interest in such, just to meet the expectations of that society and culture which was around the '50's( I graduated from High School in 1954 and college in 1958).....but I did keep my interest in archeology and some related areas over the years and now am 'catering' to 'a lost cause' and simply reading and watching some videos,etc. now and then on such topics..... I suppose it was the glamourous movies and serials, as well as radio programs, and some documentaries as well reading all kinds of books on adventures, travels, etc. fictional and non-fictional that kept my interest alive, plus a number of recondite subjects that often accompany these things...like lost cities, lost civilizations, deep jungles, high mountains, unusual cultures, etc. and a few of the subjects I took on various things... At any rate, I will expand on some themes that I have found somewhat interesting, at times controversial, and a few personal exploits and observations that may be somewhat relevant....