Editing Society of the Ancients

{{Status|Apocrypha}}
[[File:Society of the Ancients.png|thumb|SOTA home page, featuring the [[wikipedia:Antikythera mechanism|Antikythera mechanism]].]]
[[File:SOTA symbol.jpg|thumb|Forerunner symbol.]]
{{quote|I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.|Isaac Newton}}
The '''Society of the Ancients''' is a [[human]] organization dedicated to compiling information related to the hypothesis regarding alien visitors on planet [[Earth]], referred to as "Ancients", who helped humanity construct technology.<ref>[http://206.16.223.63/mission.html SOTA mission page]</ref> Among the evidence is an image of the [[Forerunner]] symbol etched in rock by [[N'chala]] in 100,000 BC.<ref name="evidence">[http://206.16.223.63/evidence.html SOTA evidence page]</ref>

== Background ==
The organization was created by [[Dave George]] after he spent a memorable evening at a barbecue with his neighbor, [[Aaron Elliot]]. The conversation turned to a book series Elliot was into that dealt with unsolved ancient mysteries. Intrigued by the subject, George began researching it heavily and shortly became obsessed. After SOTA's creation, they attracted 510 members by 2007.<ref>[http://206.16.223.63/members.html SOTA members page]</ref>

== List of featured artifacts ==
=== Out-of-place handprint ===
{{Article quote|Hand shaped print found in limestone. 110 million years old.}}
{{Main|Out-of-place handprint}}
The Society of the Ancients claimed that the artifact is a 110 million-year-old human handprint found in limestone.{{Ref/Reuse|evidence}} It is used as evidence for their hypothesis of ancient alien visitors to Earth.

=== Stonehenge ===
{{Article quote|How did they do it? Why did they do it? Hundreds of years of work to build a calendar seems like a faulty explanation. Point – Notice the shape. The Round nature with counterpoints seems to bee an ancient theme.}}
{{Main|Wikipedia:Stonehenge|l1=Stonehenge}}
The Society of the Ancients suggested [[Forerunner]] involvement in the creation of Stonehenge. In addition to suspicion of an ancient people's interest in investing such effort into its construction, the circular shape was used as evidence to support their claim.{{Ref/Reuse|evidence}} Many of their proposed artifacts that were affected by alien interventions consists of items with the familiar circular pattern used in [[Forerunner symbols|Forerunner glyphs]].{{Ref/Reuse|evidence}}

=== Antikythera mechanism ===
{{Article quote|This device was created 1500 years before the Renaissance inventors even began to play around with devices of similar complexity. Point – Notice the round shape again.}}
{{Main|Wikipedia:Antikythera mechanism|l1=Antikythera mechanism}}
The Society of the Ancients questioned if its creation was influenced by [[Forerunner]] visitors in [[Earth]]'s ancient history.{{Ref/Reuse|evidence}}

=== Crop cicles ===
{{Main|Wikipedia:Crop cicle|l1=Crop cicles}}
Despite evidence crop circles are man-made hoaxes, the Society of the Ancients suggested a crop circle made in Ambertshire, England in 1985 was the result of alien visitation, citing its similarity to patterns seen in ancient artifacts thought to have been influenced by visitors that would later be identified as [[Forerunner]].{{Ref/Reuse|evidence}}

== Trivia ==
The Society of the Ancients is part of ''[[Halo 3]]''<nowiki />'s marketing campaign, [[Iris]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Hand.jpg|A out-of-place handprint, claimed to be a 110 million-year-old human handprint by SOTA.
File:Stonehedge.jpg|The [[Wikipedia:Stonehenge|Stonehenge]] featured on SOTA's site.
File:Stonehedge2.jpg|An artist impression of the [[Wikipedia:Stonehenge|Stonehenge]] in its complete form.
File:346429963 2fc516901e.jpg|The [[Wikipedia:Antikythera mechanism|Antikythera mechanism]] featured on SOTA's site.
File:Cropcircles 060507.jpg|A [[Wikipedia:Crop circle|Crop circle]] in Ambertshire, England in 1985, featured on SOTA's site
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Iris]]'' {{1st}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

==See also==
*[[Halo 3: The Cradle of Life]]
*[[I Love Bees (website)]]
*[[Iris]]
*[http://206.16.223.63/default.htm Society of the Ancients homepage]

[[Category:Websites]]
[[Category:Iris]]