❑ What Reagan Did on April 7th, 1982 ❑

The key to the #1 investment of 2023? [WSW Logo]( [Divider] A note from the Editor: Wall Street Wizardry is dedicated to providing readers like you with unique opportunities. The message below from one of our business associates is one we believe you should take a serious look at. [divider] Remnants of one of the silent film era's most epic productions lay buried along the Central California coast – until a small group of curious adventure-seekers decided to start digging. A As I looked at the rolling, empty sand dunes sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the quiet town of Guadalupe, California, it was hard to imagine that for a few short weeks in 1923 this area was teeming with thousands of actors, crew members and animals participating in one of the silent film era's most epic productions. That said, it was neither the movie's filming, nor even the film itself that brought this town of just 1.3 sq miles in Santa Barbara County its notoriety. That has more to do with what has remained just below the surface here for the last 100 years. It's not unreasonable to think this relatively isolated spot along the Central California coast could resemble ancient Egypt, or at least, generalised Western perceptions of it. Although it is often cold and foggy here, I could almost imagine Guadalupe as Giza on a hot, sunny day with caravans of tassel-covered camels making their way across the expanse, their long shadows stretching across the sands where ochre-coloured pyramids dotted the horizon. It was a comparison not lost on legendary director Cecil B DeMille, who used the area, officially known as the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, as the filming site for his 1923 silent epic, The Ten Commandments. Although he would go on to make another, better-known, talking version of the story more than 30 years later, it is the remnants of this first iteration that have come to captivate the imaginations of archaeologists, film buffs and the just plain curious. The dunes' resemblance to ancient Egypt inspired director Cecil B DeMille to use the location as a filming site (Credit: Nature, food, landscape, travel/Getty Images) The dunes' resemblance to ancient Egypt inspired director Cecil B DeMille to use the location as a filming site (Credit: Nature, food, landscape, travel/Getty Images) Falling into the third category, I drove north from Los Angeles to Guadalupe to the Dunes Center, a tiny but fascinating museum that tells the story of the movie's filming and aftermath. Here, I learned that the celebrated filmmaker, who was known for his over-the-top productions, originally planned to film the biblical tale on location in Egypt. But when studio heads nixed the costly idea, DeMille decided to re-create the country on this small slice of coastline. Owned at the time by the Union Sugar company, the land was rented to DeMille for $10 with the stipulation that he would leave the dunes exactly as he had found them once production was complete. 100 Year Anniversary To celebrate the centennial of the filming of The Ten Commandments, the Dunes Center is planning a celebratory weekend on 6-8 October 2023. Tentative plans include a black-tie dinner, chariot races and a sphinx-naming contest. With the location settled, DeMille started building a set considered extraordinary for its time, enlisting the talents of Frenchman Paul Iribe, an illustrator and designer known as a master of the Art Deco style. Iribe's main set piece was an enormous Egyptian temple that took a few historical liberties by melding Egyptian motifs with a sleek 1920s aesthetic. Roughly 120ft high and 720ft wide, the structure was flanked by 21 plaster sphinxes thought to weigh a few hundred pounds each. At the time, the "City of the Pharaoh", as the set was known, was the largest movie set ever constructed. In addition to the set, DeMille also created "Camp DeMille", a tent city for the cast and crew. "The camp was pretty amazing," remarked Dunes Center museum guide Carole Schroeder. "He set it up with street signs and a 24-hour canteen." As filming took place during prohibition, some of the 3,500 actors and crew members occasionally "borrowed" some of the film's 200 camels to hop a ride into town where they frequented the local speakeasies. The enormous Egyptian temple in the "City of the Pharaoh" was the main set piece for the movie (Credit: Dunes Center) The enormous Egyptian temple in the "City of the Pharaoh" was the main set piece for the movie (Credit: Dunes Center) When production ended, DeMille was faced with the problem of how to make good on his "leave-no-trace" promise to Union Sugar. Although some of the set pieces and props had been pilfered by locals to use as lawn ornaments and the like (two sphinx heads ended up at a nearby golf course and a chariot was thought to have somehow found its way to a now-defunct auto parts store in town), the temple and many of the sphinxes were still left, along with other props. Too big and expensive to bring back to Los Angeles and, DeMille insisted, too valuable to leave for rival filmmakers to steal, legend has it that the director simply ordered all remnants of the event buried in the sand. There, they would languish, untouched, until the 1980s when a pair of amateur sleuths began an odyssey almost as colossal as The Ten Commandments itself. In September 1982, Peter Brosnan was an American freelance writer and filmmaker whose oeuvres in both disciplines had recently been destroyed in a house fire. Escaping the blaze, he moved into the home of friend, fellow filmmaker and DeMille aficionado, Bruce Cardozo. Over drinks one night, Cardozo shared with Brosnan a short, somewhat cheeky passage in DeMille's 1959 autobiography in which the director cryptically confirmed the burial. The book's section reads: "If, 1,000 years from now, archaeologists happen to dig beneath the sands of Guadalupe, I hope they will not rush into print with the amazing news that Egyptian civilisation... extended all the way to the Pacific Coast of North America… The sphinxes they will find were buried there when we had finished with them." Brosnan, a self-described "obsessive lunatic" with no prior archaeological experience, was inspired to start on what would become a decades-long quest to dig up the buried city, an adventure he eventually chronicled in a documentary, The Lost City of Cecil B DeMille. Archaeologists have been slowly unearthing the movie set for decades (Credit: Dunes Center) Archaeologists have been slowly unearthing the movie set for decades (Credit: Dunes Center) It was not long before they found their first artefact: a portion of the horse design from the temple's edifice. "We were out there on a cold, foggy morning and there was this chunk of plaster sticking out of the sand," Brosnan recalled. "We started uncovering it and eventually, wait a minute – that's an eyeball! And we stood back and… it's a horse! One of us had brought a book with a photograph of the whole set and it was that horse." It was magical! It was exciting! Schliemann discovering Troy could not have been more excited than we were Of that first discovery, Brosnan said, "It was magical! It was exciting! Schliemann discovering Troy could not have been more excited than we were." Realising what a great documentary the story would make, Brosnan started interviewing surviving crew and cast members and before long was joined by a team of volunteers who wanted to help excavate the site. In a quest to conduct a more formal excavation, he applied for permits with the city of Santa Barbara. What followed is a 30-year-long story of triumphs and disappointments too long to chronicle in its biblical entirety, but suffice to say, the team eventually got permission to dig. Many remnants of daily life on the set have been found, including cough syrup bottles and excavation tools (Credit: Courtney Lichterman) Many remnants of daily life on the set have been found, including cough syrup bottles and excavation tools (Credit: Courtney Lichterman) In 1990, Brosnan, this time along with a team led by archaeologist Dr John Parker, recovered portions of hieroglyphs and bas reliefs from the temple façade as well as pieces of costumes. L Erika Weber, executive director of the Dunes Center explained there were also some finds that gave clues to the daily life of the camp: "They found cough syrup bottles – a lot of cough syrup because it has like 7-to-12% alcohol and they couldn't get it otherwise." As Brosnan noted, the syrup was "a legitimate way to get around prohibition". Soon after, Brosnan started shopping a rough cut of his documentary but was told by potential distributors that in order to sell it, he would need a true Hollywood happy ending. Unearth an elusive sphinx head, they advised, and you'll have a shot at selling your movie. Towards that goal, Brosnan partnered with archaeology firm Applied EarthWorks and about 10 years ago, the team hit pay dirt, uncovering significant features of one of the sphinx heads. Art restorer Amy Higgins helped restore and piece together the face and today, visitors to the Dunes Center can see the remarkable discovery, now unofficially named "Nora" after the grandmother of the Center's previous executive director, in person. Having finished his film, Brosnan ended his almost 30-year adventure, but in 2017, a team of archaeologists, art restorers and Dunes Center staff set out again to dig up more set pieces. Among their finds was another sphinx head now prominently displayed in the museum. On my visit, staring at her imposing, triangular face framed by a headdress and topped by an asp, I realised that were a movie of this proportion made today, these objects would most likely be replaced by CGI. A sphinx head was found in 2017 and is now prominently displayed in the Dunes Center (Credit: Courtney Lichterman) A sphinx head was found in 2017 and is now prominently displayed in the Dunes Center (Credit: Courtney Lichterman) Before heading back to Los Angeles, the Center staff told me I shouldn't leave town without driving out to the dunes themselves. Although there's little to see beyond some plaster debris, they explained, it gives good sense of where the action happened. So, I headed towards the ocean, driving until I could make out small pieces of plaster dotting the surface of the sand. The air, predictably foggy and frigid this close to the water, made it hard to see much more, but I still experienced chills, as though I was staring at Pompeii, Petra or King Tut's tomb itself. I thought of all the pieces that didn't end up on golf courses or in auto parts stores or even the Dunes Center. How many more Noras and horses and bottles of cough syrup and pieces of building facade still lie here, suffocating under the shifting sands? According to Brosnan, DeMille buried enough artefacts on the spot to "fill several museums" so the answer is probably "many". Of what could be left, Brosnan notes that although sand is a great preservative, nature is not, and thus time is of the essence. "Archaeologists have determined that the big dune that houses most of the artefacts is eroding at a very rapid rate," he told me. That said, it's a job that will now have to wait for the professionals as amateurs are no longer permitted to dig in the area. Until then, what's left of DeMille's "Lost City" remains under the sand, waiting to be set free. Dear Reader, Hidden deep within the Federal Register from April 7th, 1982 (Pictured below)... [Federal Register]( Is a [controversial plan enacted by President Ronald Reagan]( that has unlocked what could be the #1 investment of the decade right here in 2023. In short, Reagan took action to fight a global crisis. And as he did, [a brand new asset class was created.]( Now, Reagan’s plan is being rolled out to fight a new crisis… Leading to the rise of another new asset today. One that the United Nations predicts should rise an unbelievable 33,233% in the coming years. [Click here now for the full story.]( More than 7,000 Bronze Age skyscrapers once dotted this Italian island. Now, new discoveries are shining light on Sardinia's Nuragic civilisation. E Expecting not to find much more than a pile of big stones, I followed the sign off the motorway into a little car park and there it was, rising from a flat, green landscape covered in little white flowers, with a few donkeys dotted around: Nuraghe Losa. From a distance, it looked like a big sandcastle with its top crumbling away, but as I walked towards it, I began to realise the colossal size of the monument in front of me. Nuraghi (the plural of nuraghe) are massive conical stone towers that pepper the landscape of the Italian island of Sardinia. Built between 1600 and 1200BCE, these mysterious Bronze Age bastions were constructed by carefully placing huge, roughly worked stones, weighing several tons each, on top of each other in a truncated formation. Today, more than 7,000 nuraghi are still visible across the Mediterranean's second-largest island. From the flat basin of Sardinia's southern Campidano plain to the rugged hilltops and granite boulder-strewn valleys of its northern Gallura region, these megalithic monuments stand guard over ancient trade routes, river crossings and sacred sites. The instantly recognisable beehive-shaped buildings are not found anywhere else in the world, and so have come to symbolise Sardinia. Nuraghi are beehive-shaped Bronze Age fortresses that pepper that Sardinian landscape (Credit: Gabriele Maltinti/Alamy) Nuraghi are beehive-shaped Bronze Age fortresses that pepper that Sardinian landscape (Credit: Gabriele Maltinti/Alamy) However, it's still not clear how or why Bronze Age Sardinians of this Nuragic civilisation constructed these imposing towers. Theories about their use range from fortifications and dwellings to food stores, places of worship or even astronomical observatories. The likelihood is that they served several of these purposes during the course of their history, as the towers remained central to Nuragic life for centuries. In 1953, Sardinia's most famous archaeologist, Giovanni Lilliu, wrote in Italy's Le vie d'Italia magazine, "The nuraghi, for Sardinia are a bit like the pyramids for Egypt and the Colosseum for Rome: testimonies not only of a flourishing and historically active civilisation but also of a spiritual concept that gave its external manifestations a monumental and lasting character." Lilliu is best known for his excavation of the island's most elaborate Nuragic settlement: the Unesco-inscribed Su Nuraxi, consisting of a fortified central nuraghe surrounded by a honeycomb structure of round, interlocking stone huts spilling down the hillside. In addition to Su Nuraxi, two of Sardinia's most important nuraghi are Nuraghe Arrubiu – a monumental five-lobed bastion whose 30m central tower was one of the tallest structures in Bronze Age Europe – and Losa, which consists of a central keep surrounded by three smaller towers encased by a curtain wall. Today, the structure stands 13m tall, but in its heyday, experts estimate the complex would have been nearly twice that. Sardinia's best-known Nuragic complex, Su Nuraxi, is a veritable megalithic castle (Credit: Robert and Monika/Getty Images) Sardinia's best-known Nuragic complex, Su Nuraxi, is a veritable megalithic castle (Credit: Robert and Monika/Getty Images) Entering Losa through a narrow gap in the lichen-covered stone wall, I found dark passageways, framed by huge, rounded rocks, leading in different directions; and above me, a 3,300-year-old ceiling that resembled an inverted pine cone. To my great surprise and amazement, a spiral staircase hidden in the inner walls led up to the roof of the building. Although worn down to more of a rocky slope in some places, the staircase is still so perfectly functional that I walked up and down several times, imagining all the people who would have trodden those steps before me. The top offers a perfect vantage point from which the Nuragic people could gaze out over the then-untamed, forested landscape to watch for potential threats. They would have also spotted other nuraghi in the distance, leading historians to believe that the structures weren't just symbols of power and wealth, but also an island-wide communication chain – "a bit like the internet", said Manuela Laconi from the organisation Paleotur, which manages the Nuraghe Losa site. Since 2002, Laconi has been involved in the Losa's preservation, and she's still captivated by the site and the secrets it holds. "I feel very proud to be working here," she said. "This [type of] monument was very important for the Nuragic people, and it is still so very important for our island. It is our culture, our tradition." Nuraghe Losa is 3,300 years old and consists of a central keep surrounded by three smaller towers encased by a curtain wall (Credit: Kiki Streitberger) Nuraghe Losa is 3,300 years old and consists of a central keep surrounded by three smaller towers encased by a curtain wall (Credit: Kiki Streitberger) But who were these highly skilled builders and craftspeople that populated Sardinia at a time when the Egyptian empire was at its height? The Nuragic people get their name from the civilisation's most recognisable engineering feat. Since they didn't leave any written records behind, what we know about their way of life is an incomplete jigsaw puzzle pieced together through their many monuments, the tools and utensils found in their dwellings and, most importantly, from their small and intricate little bronze sculptures (bronzetti). The British Museum in London has a few in its collection, but the most complete display can be admired in the National Archaeological Museum in Sardinia's capital, Cagliari. There, you can come face to face with an ancient Sardinian chief wearing a long cloak and a ceremonial dagger strapped to his chest. Female figures dressed in straight tunics and capes with tall, wide-brimmed hats are thought to have been priestesses, while others holding soldiers and babies seem to have taken the role of caretakers. Many figurines carry gifts of food. One has a small goat slung over his shoulders and another seems to offer a plate of Bronze Age doughnuts. "They represent all the different aspects of [Nuragic] society," said Nicola Pinna, from the National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari. The vast majority of bronzetti, however, are warriors, leading scholars to think the Nuragic people were a war-like society organised into military divisions. Sword- and stick-wielding soldiers and archers are depicted wearing plumed or horned helmets and high metal collars. Many carry round shields, and some are protected by elaborate armour and masks to scare their opponents. "It was a military civilisation… where the various different clans would have fought against each other," said Pinna. Much of what we know about the Nuragic civilisation is through their small bronzetti statues (Credit: Massimo Piacentino/Alamy) Much of what we know about the Nuragic civilisation is through their small bronzetti statues (Credit: Massimo Piacentino/Alamy) Bronzetti have been found all over Sardinia – in nuraghi, tombs and temples. But an unusually high number have been retrieved near the 70 or so sacred wells that the Nuragic people also built across the island, leading experts to believe that they were votive offerings given to the gods and goddesses. As Lilliu pointed out in his numerous publications, Nuragic religious practice was linked to the worship of water. The best-preserved well is the Sanctuary of Santa Cristina, located in the village of Paulilatino, in the central-west part of the island. "Its perfection and size are the most important characteristics," said Sandra Passiu, who has been involved in the maintenance of the site for the last 20 years. On a plateau surrounded by olive trees, a triangular staircase built from basalt blocks so perfectly hewn it appears to have been made only yesterday leads down to the sacred well inside a domed, underground cavity. The well temple was designed to align perfectly with the equinoxes, and each year in March and September, the sun illuminates the water at the bottom. The nuraghi builders also constructed sacred wells, like the immaculately carved one at Santa Cristina (Credit: Andrea Raffin/Alamy) The nuraghi builders also constructed sacred wells, like the immaculately carved one at Santa Cristina (Credit: Andrea Raffin/Alamy) "At the time of the equinoxes, when the sun is perfectly aligned with the temple [there is] a very strong energy, a positivity, a form of well-being," Passiu said. Even more extraordinarily, every 18-and-a-half years, when the moon is at the highest point in the sky, its light shines through a little hole at the centre of the dome above the well to reflect on the water below. The next occurrence is scheduled for June 2024. In recent years, an increase in archaeological research is revealing more details about this civilisation. Earlier this year, Italy's leading news agency, ANSA, reported that two sandstone statues were unearthed at Sardinia's most famous necropolis, Mont'e Prama. The 3,000-year-old sculptures (commonly called "giants") stand between 2 and 2.5m tall and are the two newest members of a colossal army of archers, warriors and boxers thought to have guarded the Nuragic burial ground. The exact origin and purpose of these sculptures remains shrouded in mystery, but they have become the faces of Sardinia's Nuragic past since two farmers accidentally discovered the necropolis in 1974. Archaeologists, historians and politicians are excited by these latest finds and there is hope that more money will be made available for archaeological excavations in the coming years, to shine more light on Sardinia's ancient origins. [divider] [WSW footer logo]( You are receiving this e-mail because you have expressed an interest in the Financial Education niche on one of our landing pages or sign-up forms on our website. If you {EMAIL} received this e-mail in error and would like to report spam, simply send an email to abuse@wallstreetwizardry.com. 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