OPENING REMARKS
        by
   John M. Cogswell



    This event, which I hope will become an annual one, brings
together people who have become familiar with the writings of
Zecharia Sitchin and who have begun to wonder: What if he is
right?  And if he is right, and the past is a clue to our future, how
do we make more people aware of the significance of his find-
ings?



    This Studies Day will enable us to hear not only Zecharia
Sitchin, but several other speakers, each one an expert in a par-
ticular field of work and study, whose own endeavors have been
influenced, inspired or enhanced by the writings of Zecharia; and
it will be my pleasure to introduce them to you in the course of
this Day.



     If you are anything like I am, you stumbled into this subject
 by accident, then read every book you could find and, in the pro-
 cess, became haunted for a month or so as the paradigm common
 to the larger part of our culture became thoroughly shattered.  Some-
 where in the process, you learned about Zecharia Sitchin and then
 read one or more of his books.  You have reached that stage where
 you are waiting for his next book to find out some more about the
 truth of our past.



     Following my completion of The ]2th Planet sometime in
 1992, my curiosity compelled me to track down Zecharia and speak
 with him.  I found his phone number in the New York City Direc-
 tory, called him, and congratulated him on having written so well
 in 1976.  That phone call was the genesis of a personal friendship
 between Zecharia and me and six international expeditions.



     In 1993 Zecharia was persuaded to accompany an Egyptian
 tour, and then five more tours to the Sinai, Jordan, Peru, Mexico,
 Greece and Crete, all of which focused on the studies of Zecharia.
 I have been fortunate enough to have attended all six trips and, as
 a result, have been privileged:
      * to hear his many lectures during our travel expeditions;
      * to discuss numerous subjects of interest with Zecharia;
      * to find meaning in terms which previously blew over me
        like so much wind-terms like Sumerians, Akkadians,
        Babylonians, Hittites, Dorians, Olmecs, Incas, Toltecs, Az-
        tecs, Mayans and many others.
      * to be assured of Zecharia's absolute sincerity and integrity;
        and
      * to be continually amazed at the breadth of Zecharia's knowl-
        edge and insight which even surpasses my wonderment that
        he is able to read at least I I different languages, including
        most of the languages of our early civilizations.



     I have witnessed Zecharia's excitement upon making new dis-
 coveries during our trips and have pressed him enough to pry as
 much as one can from this uniquely private man whose love of
 books, writings and the truth has enabled him to contribute so
 much, so thoroughly and so objectively to our knowledge of our
 past, and allowed those of us whose curiosity is unfathomable to
 seemingly have some answers to the big questions most people
 know nothing about.
     Prying anything personal from Zecharia is a major task for,
 frequently, his response is "no more questions today." Nonethe-
 less, I have been persistent and want to share a few tidbits of in-
 formation that I have discovered about Zecharia.



     Zecharia's story started when he was nine years old in He-
 brew class in Palestine.  He and his classmates were studying Noah,
 who he was and how he was told to build the ark.  The opening
 biblical verse on the subject is a favorite of many Sunday school
 teachers because it says that those were the days when there were
 giants upon the earth, that their intermarriage with the daughters
 of man was mankind's downfall and that's why mankind was pun-
 ished by the flood.  When they got to that part of the story, Zecharia
 raised his hand and addressed the teacher saying, "Excuse me, my
 teacher, why do you say 'giants' when the word in the Bible is
 Nephilim which comes from the root 'Naphal' which means 'to
 come down,' and it says that those were the days when the
 Nephilim, those who come down from heaven to earth, not giants,
 were upon the earth?" Zecharia was expecting to be complimented
 for his knowledge of Hebrew but instead was told to "Sit down
 and do not question the Bible!"



     What the Hebrew teacher did not know was that this criti-
 cism, instead of the expected compliment, would motivate Zecharia
 to dedicate the large part of his adult life to learn the truth about
 our origins.  He studied and studied, traveled and traveled and talked
 and talked until one day his wife, Rina, said, "Isn't it time, Zecharia,
 that you stop talking about this subject and start writing?" Zecharia,
 being ajoumalist by trade, was used to writing articles, not books.
 Yet he took Rina's suggestion to heart and the result was The ]2th
 Planet in 1976.  When he began, he thought it would be his only
 book, but he has now written a total of seven and, even today, has
 plans for more.
     If you ask Zecharia what he calls himself, he will say that he
 is not an author-he is not a Biblical scholar - he is not an ar-
 chaeologist - he is not a linguist.  He is a little bit of all of these,
 but mostly, he is a reporter because of his ability to report to us
 today what people thousands of years ago knew and witnessed and
 believed in.



     Anyone who knows Zecharia and is interested in this subject
could talk much longer in extolling the academic virtues and in-
tegrity of this unusual and especially intelligent man - Zecharia
Sitchin - who many of us believe will one day receive a Nobel
Prize.



     It gives me great pleasure to introduce Zecharia in this first
 assembly called Sitchin Studies Day.  And I know, as you listen to
 Zecharia and read and study his books and those of others who
 have pursued related subjects, that your interest in life and fasci-
 nation with who you are and where you came from and possibly
 where you are going will grow and grow.