 In 1972, a French factory began importing high-quality rare uranium ore from Oklo in Africa's Gabon Republic. Many quickly began to wonder where they had acquired such a difficult thing to make. It turned out that the uranium had come from a place which should have rewritten the history books, yet it seems to have been quietly brushed into the archives of the past. They found the site of origin had functioned as a large-scale nuclear reactor. Amazingly though, this reactor was in operation some 1.8 million years ago, and was functioning for over 500,000 years. These unbelievable claims were not made lightly or indeed by anybody. They were conclusions by some of the greatest minds on Earth. For example, Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, former head of the United States Atomic Energy Commission and Nobel Prize winner for his work in the synthesis of heavy elements, explained to the press why he believed it wasn't a natural phenomenon and must have been a man-made nuclear reactor. He stated that for uranium to burn in a reaction, very precise conditions are needed. The water must be extremely pure, much purer than exists anywhere naturally. The material, U-235, is also necessary for this type of nuclear fission to occur. None of the isotopes not found naturally in uranium. Additionally, several specialists in reactor engineering have also come forward to testify that they believe the uranium in Oklo could not have been rich in U-235 enough for a reaction to take place naturally. It must have, somehow, been a man-made operation. And new research has only deepened the mystery, confirming that water regulated the nuclear reactions in a cyclic pattern similar to that of a geyser. Alex Meschik and his colleagues at Washington University of St. Louis have determined that the Oklo reactor, which comprises several separate sites, ran for 30 minutes and then shut off for two and a half hours before starting over. The time is characteristic of water infiltrating rocks and then being boiled off once reaction started. The water all boiled away, the reaction stopped until new water percolated back down. This geyser-like activity also prevented a runaway reaction. It's amazing it didn't explode, Meschik said. Instead, it efficiently released energy in short pulses for an extremely long period of time. Just who could have possibly been around over 1.8 million years ago? Or more specifically, able to enrich uranium and create nuclear power? Is man's history on Earth really that old? It seems, according to numerous nuclear specialists and the compelling evidence they present, that is exactly the case. The Makati-Kati in the Kalahari Desert of Africa was once an enormous lake. It stretches some 65,000 square kilometers, about the same size as present-day Lake Victoria. The basin is seriously old. Things have remained in their resting places upon the bed of this dry lake for many thousands of years, giving researchers from around the world the opportunity to find things out about our distant past that may have otherwise been impossible. Oxford University's researchers of the School of Geography and Environment, for example, have unearthed new evidence in the Botswana region that suggests the area has endured many drastic climate changes throughout its long history. The upwards of 600 different artifacts have now been recovered and catalogued. The research was apparently prompted by the rediscovery of what are believed to be the world's largest stone tools, thought to have vanished over 25 years ago. The discovery of the four giant axes had not been scientifically reported. It seems the collection was intended to disappear, but was instead thankfully buried within archives until now. Four giant stone hand axes, measuring over 30 centimeters in length and of an unknown age, stone tools suitable for men far larger than we are today. Professor David Thomas, head of the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford, said, quote, Many of the tools were found on the dry lake floor, not around its edge, which challenges the view that big lakes were only attractive to humans when they were full of water. As water levels in the lake went down, or during times when they fluctuated seasonally, wild animals would have congregated around the resulting watering holes. It's likely that early human populations would have seen this area as a prolific hunting ground when food resources in the region were more concentrated than at times when the regional climate was wetter and food was more plentiful and the lake was full of water, end quote. Co-researcher Dr. Sally Burrow has dated the sediment and shorelines of the lake basin, which has shown that the lake was filled with water on multiple occasions in the last 250,000 years. New research began in 2010 and funded by the Leverholm Trust and is investigating possible links between the lake basin and the Zambezi River, while initial discussions are in hand for setting up a major international georchaeological program to further unravel the complexities of the lake bed. Although these stone tools suggest early man co-inhabited the basin with a giant species of humans, the researchers are clearly distancing themselves from such postulation at this moment in time. There are many ancient relics strewn across our planet, which are unimaginably ancient. Hidden from inquisitive minds, often by a variety of factors, millennia of undergrowth, conspiratorial bodies, or even personal perceptions of historical truth. However, there lay a far more interesting, far more inspiring tale resting just beneath the surface of this illusion, just waiting to flourish. Previously, we covered some of the amazing discoveries made by a man known as Professor Pottini, in particular, his extremely peculiar stone found in 1990 within a diamond mind in Sierra Leone within West Africa. It is known as the Sky Stone. Numerous specialists have analyzed the stone and concluded that it is somehow made of pure oxygen, with a color source which is, as yet, unknown. Unbeknownst to many, however, is that Professor Angelo Pottini had many strings to his bow. He was a geologist, a botanist, discoverer of emerald mines, an expert in the precious stone Lapis Lazuli, along with many other talents. And although many perceive his Sky Stone as a defining discovery, we feel his actual defining discovery, his legacy left upon the unexplained mystery history of our planet, can be found elsewhere. He did in fact, during his lifetime of exploration, indeed discover something unique upon our planet, something undoubtedly important, immensely ancient, and quite possibly, a last remaining remnant of an unimaginably old civilization which was once found upon the African continent. Found during his ventures deep within Sierra Leone, West Africa, the Lady of Mali. He examined the land at the foot of her mountainous form, and according to his calculations, the stone monument was indeed man-made, and carved well over 12,000 years ago. Reaching an astonishing 1,500 meters in the air, it is an image of a woman's figure hewn from an entire face of Mount Lore. Predictably due to modern academia and the entrenched, paradigmically cast spell upon many modern fields of study, the only explanation that can be ascertained for this clearly man-made, highly ancient artwork is that it is merely a coincidental natural formation. In an interview with journalist Carmen Mikado, Petoni explained that the statue is located to the north of the city of Conakry, and close to the country's border with Mali. The geologist estimates the Lady of Mali to be some 20,000 years old. This concluded through the observations of displaced motions within a natural rockfall he found within the Lady's form. He also spoke of caves in the area, which contained mummies guarded by the locals who he claimed rumored of their, quote, Atlantean origins. Unfortunately, Professor Petoni died in 2009, so any other invaluable information he may have acquired regarding the area went to the grave with him. However, the Lady of Mali remains and will undoubtedly live on for many years to come. Just who could have built the Lady of Mali? Is she really a 12,000-year-old relic left by a pre-flood, pre-cataclysmic civilization or merely a natural formation? Do you believe an opinion based on a historical assumption, or one based upon explorations investigations resulting in unexplained physical artifacts? We will let you decide. Around 150 kilometers west of Port Maputo, South Africa, the remains of a huge metropolis can be found. An ancient site measuring an astonishing 1,500 square kilometers in size, suspected by some to in fact once have been part of an even larger civilization, estimated by some to have been around 10,000 square kilometers in size, and constructed 160,000 to 200,000 years ago. The region is somewhat remote, and the stone-circle remnants were only ever encountered by local farmers who assumed they were made by some indigenous people within the past. Amazingly, or rather conveniently, modern archaeology has seemingly forgotten to investigate this amazing place. Fortunately, this all changed when researcher and author Michael Tellinger, in association with Johann Heiner, a local fireman and pilot who had actually been looking at these ancient ruins for years, decided to investigate. Heiner had the unique opportunity to see these incredible structures from the air, and knew that their significance was undoubtedly not appreciated. Quote, when Johann first introduced me to the ancient stone ruins of Southern Africa, he had no idea of the incredible discoveries we would make in the following years. The photographs, artifacts and evidence we accumulated all point towards a lost civilization that precede all others, not for a few hundred years or a few thousand, but many thousands of years." According to Tellinger, these discoveries are so incredible that they will require a complete paradigm shift in how we view our human history. Quote, I see myself as someone quite open-minded, but I admit that it took me over a year to figure it out, and I realized that we are actually dealing with the oldest structures ever built by man on earth. We have been taught that no ancient civilization of significance ever existed within South Africa. Powerful civilizations all emerged in Sumeria and Egypt and other places, Michael Tellinger stated. Regardless of what certain individuals claim regarding the age and indeed size of this site, it is certainly of historical significance, going against all currently upheld understandings of the timelines regarding ancient civilizations within South Africa. As Dan Eden from Viewzone put it, quote, I would suggest that the Sumerian story was given as a base metaphor for actual ancient cataclysms that caused the diminished planetary resonance and a spiritual injury to the psychoacoustic field of human consciousness. He continued, The tablets of Sumer describe the Anunnakai as a race of extraterrestrial beings who enslaved humanity for the purpose of exploiting our goal for protective use in the atmosphere of their home planet. I understand the Sumerian mythology as a metaphor for the cataclysmic changes that occurred in the deep human past, which offset the psychoacoustic balance of human consciousness. End quote