Jan Francke: Scanning the Ancient World, with Ground Penetrating Radar

**Cliff Dunning** (0:19)
Hey, how are you doing? This is Cliff, your host of Earth Ancients, and welcome to the program. I hope you're doing well today. On the recent Destiny, we were talking about the interior of El Castillo and what I had discovered in the last, I'd say, six or seven months regarding penetrating radar, ground penetrating radar, unique scanning technology that had come out. And what they're able to do with it now is amazing.
In this program today, we have an expert. Jan Francke is joining us. Dr. Francke is coming to us from Canada. And he is a ground penetrating radar expert. And we have never had an expert on the program on ground penetrating radar. We've had Sarr with Filippo Bioni. And we've had a couple of other people on other technologies. But it's funny because if you follow the History Channel, and a lot of people love that channel, there are a number of programs where Francke is featured.
Skinwalker Ranch is one. The Oak Island Group is another one. And they bring him in with his equipment. He's scanning the ground and finding all kinds of anomalies. So it's very, very appropriate. And one of the things we're going to learn about today is ground penetrating radar has a ton of applications. Now, Francke uses it primarily for mining. And this is where he makes his living. But as we'll hear today, he has actually modified and developed his own equipment because the old types of radar systems were so bulky and required so much care that they continued to break. And so he, and we'll hear about this, he actually makes his own tools, his own devices, which really enhances what we're going to learn about today. Now, I just posted a new article on the website, EarthAncients or cliffdunning.com, but you can also find it on social media. You can find it on Facebook under Cliff Dunning, or you can find it under Earth Ancients group or private page. And the article is called El Castillo, Ancient Maya Pyramid Engineering Revealed by Modern Technology. And this is basically created from a chapter in the book, The Maya Controversy. And I decided I needed to write it because the book is not going to be out for another six to eight months probably. That's just the way the publishers, I'm in editing cycle right now. But the thing is that this is a very timely article because they have found a third interior pyramid in El Castillo. And we thought it was just a mound covering a cenote, but it turns out to be a full, well, it's 24 meters tall, pyramid with a roof comb and stairs, one staircase. And this new technology that we're going to talk about today, and that is being used, is very, very recent. In fact, we're going to hear from Dr. Francke today. He is one of the team members that actually did the scans on El Castillo. So we couldn't get a more timely interview following this article I've written. And so this is great. And this is the way to go because what most people don't understand is when they excavate a pyramid or a temple or any ancient building, they basically damage it. They reconstruct it in some ways. And you're taking down, if it's been covered with sediment and dirt, you're clearing that up, but you're also clearing out structures and fortifications. And in many cases, you are damaging important artifacts. And you'll hear this from many of the archaeologists that we have on the program, that when they're consolidating a temple that they found, they have to move through it and strengthen it if it's weak in areas, but it's modified. And I didn't really know this until a few years ago when I was talking to Ed Barnhart. It can be a problem. And that's why a lot of sites, especially with Acropolis, Acropolis is multiple buildings put together, they'll go after one or two major structures or pyramids, and then leave everything else alone.
And I guess it's important because you don't want to damage these buildings. So anyhow, check out that article, the El Castillo article. Look at the graphic that Watson created, my AI associate.
And it's very, very detailed. It shows this early pyramid. And then the second one, which we've known about since 1930 when they did the major excavation on Castillo, on the El Castillo. And actually, I write about this because you used to be able to climb at the top of the pyramid, El Castillo. They had a chain that was draped on the staircase and you were able to climb up it. What a lot of people don't know is that these are not, and this is kind of the fun thing is why Mexico and the Mayan ruins are kind of an adult playground. When you are climbing these pyramids, they are at a 45-degree angle and the steps are very small. They are like four or five inches. They are not normal. They are made more for design, I think, than actual use. But when you are climbing them, you are going up, you got your chain and you are stable. But if you come down those things fast, you will fall. And they closed El Castillo in 2006