ARCHAEOLOGIST

L. Ron Hubbard’s archaeological expedition through the Mediterranean was formally entitled the “Hubbard Geological Survey Expedition” but colloquially known as “Mission Into Time.” For this expedition Ron carried his third Explorers Club flag aboard the yacht Enchanter, a double-ended high-sided ketch that served as his research vessel.

Primarily focused upon sights in Sardinia, Sicily and the coast of Tunisia, expedition teams were dispatched on foot or aboard small crafts with sketches, provided by Ron, of minor archaeological sites. These teams subsequently located long-submerged or buried ruins from the Anglo-Saxon and Roman periods, in addition to later Greek, Carthaginian and Roman-Phoenician remains from approximately 200 B.C. to A.D. 300.

Typical archaeological adventure, except there was one deeply significant detail — each one of the ruins was located at a site Ron had never visited this lifetime. The maps were drawn from his recall of the past — centuries ago — and in every single case, Ron was able to successfully direct his teams to otherwise forgotten ruins.

Just one example — the southeast tip of Sardinia where Ron had sketched a second century B.C. foundation described as the Temple of Tanit and originally dedicated to the Carthage patroness of the same name. Although the structure itself had been known since 1952, what Ron recalled as a lower, concealed entrance was not. In other words – without ever laying eyes upon the structure – Ron’s sketches indicated the presence of an unexcavated entrance below the temple base. Whereupon, as he so perfunctorily explains: “Missions were sent ashore to survey and map the area to see if they couldn’t discover this old secret entrance to the temple,” as the target that would demonstrate long-term memory.

And, without a doubt, the team discovered the secret entrance into the basement of the temple.

Of course, the ramifications are enormous – not just archaeologically, but scientifically, religiously and philosophically.

What else might be concluded from those extraordinary five weeks is a vast subject. Mission Into Time inevitably inspired several similar projects, including famed “psychic” experimentation at the Stanford Research Institute under US Navy subsidy. Yet declaring the ultimate realm of adventure to lie within the human spirit, within a universe of the mind which “minute by minute opens and unfolds,” Ron put such matters aside, and returned to his primary track of exploration, the development of Scientology.

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