Graham Hancock | |
|---|---|
 Hancock in 2010 | |
| Born | Graham Bruce Hancock (1950-08-02)2 August 1950 (age 75) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Education | Durham University |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Notable work |
|
| Television | Ancient Apocalypse (2022) |
| Spouse | Santha Faiia |
| Website | grahamhancock |
Graham Bruce Hancock (born 2 August 1950)[1] is a British author known for promotingpseudoscientific[2][3] explanations of ancient civilizations and hypotheticallost lands.[4] Hancock argues that an advanced society with spiritual technology thrived during thelast Ice Age untilcomet impacts triggered theYounger Dryas about 12,900 years ago. He maintains that survivors of the disaster shared their knowledge withhunter-gatherer communities in regions such asancient Egypt,Sumer, andMesoamerica, sparking theearliest known civilizations.
Born inEdinburgh, Hancock studiedsociology atDurham University before joining British newspapers and magazines as a journalist. His first three books examinedinternational development, includingLords of Poverty (1989), a well-received critique of corruption in theaid system. Beginning withThe Sign and the Seal in 1992, he shifted to speculative accounts of humanprehistory and ancient civilizations, publishing a dozen books that includeFingerprints of the Gods andMagicians of the Gods.
Scholars describe Hancock's investigations of archaeological evidence, myths, and historical documents as mimicking investigative journalism while lacking accuracy, consistency, and impartiality.[5] They label his workpseudoarchaeology[6][7] andpseudohistory[8][9] because they see it asbiased toward preconceived conclusions that ignore context, misrepresent sources,cherry pick, and omit counter-evidence.[10][11]Anthropologist Jeb Card characterizes Hancock's writings asparanormal narratives and views his proposed Ice Age civilization as a modernmythic narrative focused on secret and spiritual knowledge, including allegedpsychic abilities and communication with "powerful nonphysical beings" throughpsychedelic use.[12] Hancock portrays himself as a culture hero challenging the "dogmatism" of academics, presenting his work as more valid than professional archaeology[13] and as "a path to truly understanding reality and the spiritual elements denied bymaterialist science",[12] even while citing science to support his ideas.[14] He has not submitted his writings forscholarly peer review, and they have not been published inacademic journals.[15]
Hancock has written twofantasy novels and in 2013 delivered a controversialTEDx talk promoting the psychoactive drinkayahuasca. His ideas have inspired several films and theNetflix seriesAncient Apocalypse (2022). He makes regular appearances on the podcastThe Joe Rogan Experience to promote his claims.
Graham Bruce Hancock was born inEdinburgh, Scotland, in 1950.[16] He moved to India with his parents at the age of three, where his father worked as a surgeon. After returning to the United Kingdom, he graduated fromDurham University with a degree in sociology in 1973.[17][18]
Hancock reported for British newspapers includingThe Times,The Sunday Times,The Independent, andThe Guardian. He co-editedNew Internationalist magazine from 1976 to 1979 and served as the East Africa correspondent forThe Economist from 1981 to 1983.[17][19][20] His first books focused on economic and social development indeveloping countries.Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business (1989) drew on his reporting aboutinternational aid forThe Economist and argued that entrenched corruption made the aid system irredeemable.[21][22][23] Reviewers praised the book's forceful critique of global aid, yet many disputed Hancock's conclusion that aid is inherently harmful.[24][25][26]
Hancock later acknowledged missteps during this period, including what he described as "friendly personal terms" with Somali dictatorSiad Barre and links to Ethiopian dictatorMengistu Haile Mariam.[27] He wrote a favorable profile of Barre forThe Independent, noting that the regime facilitated parts of his trip and conceding that he "definitely made a mistake" by establishing those connections.[27] He has said that by 1987 he was "pretty much permanently stoned" because he believed cannabis improved his writing.[28]
The publication ofThe Sign and the Seal in 1992 marked a career transition from his earlier development reporting to books pursuing speculative through lines among archaeological, historical, and cross-cultural material. Reporting byThe Independent in 1995 described how he pivoted in 1989 from work with the Barre regime to researching theArk of the Covenant, an effort that led toThe Sign and the Seal (1992).[27] His subsequent titles includeFingerprints of the Gods,Magicians of the Gods,Keeper of Genesis,[a]The Mars Mystery,Heaven's Mirror (with Santha Faiia),Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization, andTalisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith (withRobert Bauval).
Hancock's first novel,Entangled: The Eater of Souls, launched a plannedfantasy series in 2010 that follows "two brave young women" who "do battle with a demon who travels through time." The story emerged from his ayahuasca experiences, which he said gave him "a series of intense visions" revealing the characters and plot. He described writing it as "tremendous fun", free from the academic scrutiny of his non-fiction work, joking "What was there to lose when my critics already described my factual books as fiction?".[29]
The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant (1992) chronicles Hancock's investigation of how theArk of the Covenant might have traveled fromancient Israel toEthiopia.[30] He follows a path throughElephantine andTana Qirqos and connects the story tomedieval Ethiopia and theKnights Templar.[30] Jonathan Kirsch of theLos Angeles Times described the book as "part travelogue, part true-adventure, part mystery-thriller" yet concluded that it was "a whacking big dose of amateur scholarship alloyed with a fervid imagination."[31]Kirkus Reviews noted Hancock's claim "that the Lost Ark of the Covenant really exists" and framed the project as an extension of his Ethiopian reportage and speculation.[32]
Hancock'sFingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization (1995) argues that an advanced society perished at the end of the last Ice Age and that its survivors transmitted astronomical and architectural knowledge to later cultures. The narrative reads monuments in the Americas, Africa, and Asia as fragments of that inheritance.[33] Archaeologist Garrett G. Fagan wrote that the book drags "artefacts, monuments, entire cities, or whole cultures" into a predetermined conclusion while ignoring their historical contexts.[34] Kenneth Feder observed that Hancock's thesis reflected diffusionist arguments that had circulated for decades and concluded that it offered nothing original.[35]
The Message of the Sphinx: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind, a.k.a.Keeper of Genesis in the United Kingdom, is apseudoarchaeology[36][37] book written by Hancock and Robert Bauval in 1996 which argues that the creation of theSphinx andPyramids occurred as far back as10,500 BC usingastronomical data. Working from the premise that theGiza pyramid complex encodes a message, the book begins with the fringeSphinx water erosion hypothesis, evidence that the authors believe suggests that deep erosion patterns on the flanks of the Sphinx were caused by thousands of years of heavy rain. The authors use computer simulations of the sky to claim that the pyramids, representing the three stars ofOrion's Belt, together with associated causeways and alignments,constitute a record in stone of the celestial array at the vernal equinox in 10,500 BC. This moment, they contend, representsZep Tepi, the "First Time", often referenced in the hieroglyphic record. They state that the initiation rites of the Egyptian pharaohs replicate on Earth the Sun's journey through the stars in this remote era, and they suggest that the "Hall of Records" of a lost civilization may be located by treating theGiza Plateau as a template of these same ancient skies.[38]
InThe Mars Mystery (1997), Hancock and his coauthorsRobert Bauval and John Grigsby interpreted low-resolutionViking lander images of theCydonia region of Mars as evidence that the so-called "Face on Mars" and a "five sided pyramid" were created by an advanced Martian civilization later destroyed by a catastrophe,[39] linking the "Face on Mars" to Egyptian mythology, and comparing the supposed Martian pyramid with Egyptian and Mesoamerican pyramids. They suggested that the "Face on Mars" represented a deliberate message to the people of Earth, "a warning that a Mars-like doom lies in wait for the Earth unless we take steps to avert it."[40]
Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith, coauthored with Robert Bauval, according to David V. Barret, primarily focuses on "the stream of heterodox religious beliefs, from early Christianity to the 18th century.", including theCorpus Hermeticum theCathars,Rosicrucians, theFreemasons and theKnights Templar. The book makes a number of speculative claims, including that areas of Paris are inspired by Egyptian mythology, that there are links betweenSolomon's Temple and theTwin Towers as well as between theStar of David andThe Pentagon.[41][42][43]David V. Barrett dismissed the book as "a mish-mash of badly-connected, half-argued theories" stating that at the end of the their book they begin "promulgating a version of the oldJewish-Masonic plot", and journalistDamian Thompson later described Hancock and Bauval as fantasists.[42][43]
Hancock'sSupernatural: Meetings With the Ancient Teachers of Mankind appeared in 2005 and appliedDavid Lewis-Williams'neuropsychological model topaleolithiccave art, arguing that visionary experiences shaped the emergence of modern cognition.[44]
St. Martin's Press publishedMagicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilization in 2015.[45] InMagicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilization (2015), Hancock revisits his Ice Age civilization hypothesis and links it to a proposedYounger Dryas impact event that he argues purged the planet of advanced survivors.[46] He interprets ancient monuments as repositories of encoded warnings from that culture.[46]Kirkus Reviews dismissed the sequel as "for the Art Bell addict" and "risible and sure to sell."[47] Michael Taube of theWashington Times called it a "creative fairytale" even as he acknowledged its popularity.[48] Geologist Marc J. Defant argued that Hancock constructs "a narrative on conjecture and selective evidence" and that the Younger Dryas impact claim does not substantiate his global conclusions.[49]
Beginning in the 1990s, Hancock also fronted television documentaries that promoted his pseudoarchaeological claims. He appeared inThe Mysterious Origins of Man (1996), wrote and presentedUnderworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age (2002), and hostedQuest for the Lost Civilization (1998).[50][51][52][53][54][55] In 2022 he presentedAncient Apocalypse, a widely viewedNetflix documentary series that critics and archaeologists condemned as pseudoscience.[56][57][58]
Hancock's theories are the basis ofAncient Apocalypse, a 2022 documentary series produced byNetflix, where Hancock's son Sean is "senior manager of unscripted originals".[59] In the series, Hancock outlines his long-held belief that there was an advanced civilization during thelast ice age, that it was destroyed followingcomet impacts around 12,000 years ago, and that its survivorsintroduced agriculture, monumental architecture, and astronomy tohunter-gatherers around the world.[60] He attempts to show how several ancient monuments and natural features are evidence of this, and he repeatedly claims that archaeologists are ignoring or covering up this alleged evidence.[56][61]
Archaeologists and other experts say that the series presents pseudoscientific claims that lack evidence,cherry picks, and fails to present counter-evidence.[60][62] Other commentators criticized the series for unfounded accusations that "mainstream archaeology" conspires against Hancock's ideas.[56][63] Archaeologists linked Hancock's claims to "white supremacist" ideologies from the 19th century, which they say are insulting to the ancestors of indigenous peoples who built the monuments.[64] A Maltese archaeologist who appeared in an episode said her interview had been manipulated.[65] TheSociety for American Archaeology (SAA) objected to the classification of the series as a documentary and asked Netflix to relabel it asscience fiction. The SAA argued that the show vilifies archaeologists with aggressive rhetoric, draws on theories associated with racist white supremacist ideologies, harms Indigenous peoples, emboldens extremists, and offers no archaeological evidence for an "advanced, global Ice Age civilization".[66][67]
Netflix released a second season titled "Ancient Apocalypse, The Americas" in October 2024.Keanu Reeves joined the cast and adventure.[68][69] The season focused on sites and topics across North and South America, includingWhite Sands fossil footprints inNew Mexico, large scalegeoglyphs in the westernAmazon,Rapa Nui,Andean centers such asSacsayhuaman, and monumental sites inMesoamerica includingPalenque andChichen Itza. The narrative repeated Hancock's claim that a sophisticatedice age culture transmittedastronomy andengineering knowledge to later populations after a cataclysm, and proposed cross cultural linkages among myths and iconography.[70][71]
In July 2024, before release, producers dropped planned filming in theUnited States after objections byIndigenous groups to Hancock's portrayal of Native histories.The Guardian reported documented permit issues atGrand Canyon andChaco Canyon and the subsequent relocation of production to other countries.[72]
Season 2 content drew detailed rebuttals from academic specialists and science writers. Johnny Loftus wrote inDecider, "Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas is only interested in using legitimate scientific research as cheap fodder for the grandiose, unproven theories of one guy, who also seems convinced that every single archaeologist ever has been out to get him." He added that "Graham Hancock loves a sweeping turn of phrase like 'the fog of amnesia about our ancient past.' But what he loves more is to give voice to what feels like a lasting personal vendetta against entire fields of professional science." Critics argued that the White Sands trackways do not support a narrative of technological civilizers, that Amazoniangeoglyphs andterra preta reflect regional developments rather than imported ice age knowledge, and that proposed long range iconographic links are subjective comparisons without testable mechanisms.[73][74][66]
Hancock gave aTEDx lecture titled "The War on Consciousness", in which he described his use ofayahuasca, an Amazonian brew containing a hallucinogenic compoundDMT, and argued that adults should be allowed to responsibly use it for self-improvement and spiritual growth. He stated that for 24 years he was "pretty much permanently stoned" on cannabis, and that in 2011, six years after his first use of ayahuasca, it enabled him to stop using cannabis.[28] At the recommendation of TED's Science Board, the lecture was removed from the TEDx YouTube channel and moved to TED's main website where it "can be framed to highlight both [Hancock's] provocative ideas and the factual problems with [his] arguments".[75]
Hancock has appeared onThe Joe Rogan Experience podcast several times. In April 2024 (episode #2136) Hancock debatedFlint Dibble,[76] a professor of archeology atCardiff University,[76] who strongly rebutted Hancock's unfounded ideas, leading even many of Hancock's backers "to see Dibble - and orthodox science - as the victor."[76] Both Hancock and Dibble agreed that continuing archeological research would be a great benefit to humanity.
Experts describe Hancock'spseudoarchaeological work as a mix ofcherry picked information and a combative stance toward "mainstream archaeology".[5] They argue that it mimics investigative journalism while remaining inaccurate, inconsistent, and partial, blending myths, pseudoscience, outdated science, and selectively cited research to fit his claims.[5] Hancock encourages distrust of archaeological expertise and responds to criticism with accusations of censorship, a pattern many supporters echo when they label critics disinformation agents.[77]
Hammer and Swartz quote Hancock saying that his job is to undermine orthodox history and to make the strongest possible case for a lost civilization.[78]
Pseudoarchaeologists mislead their audiences by misrepresenting the state of knowledge, taking quotes out of context, and withholding countervailing data. Historian of Ancient RomeGarrett G. Fagan highlighted two examples from Hancock'sFingerprints of the Gods (1995):[79]
Hancock's central thesis claims an advanced civilization flourished during thelast Ice Age before a global disaster destroyed it. He argues that a handful of survivors carried their knowledge across the world and seeded theearliest known civilizations. He rejects the idea that these societies could have developed independently or arrived at similar ideas through convergence. Scholars identify the thesis ashyperdiffusionism[12] rooted inIgnatius L. Donnelly'sAtlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), which Hancock cites as an influence.[60] Researchers state that the hypothesis lacks evidence, reflects a bias toward Western civilization, and oversimplifies complex cultural histories.[85]
To explain the disappearance of his ice age civilization, Hancock embraces theYounger Dryas impact hypothesis, which has little support in the scientific community.[12] He argues that the civilization was destroyed around12,000 years ago by sudden climate change during theYounger Dryascool period, which he attributes to animpact winter caused by a massive meteor bombardment.[60]
Hancock claims that the few survivors of the catastrophe reached regions such asEgypt,Mesopotamia, andMesoamerica, where they shared agricultural techniques, monumental architecture, and astronomy withhunter-gatherer communities.[60] He believes the resulting monuments encode astronomical data intended to warn future generations.[12] Critics note that the story assumes the Ice Age civilization lacked a reliable writing system, fails to explain why the warning appears differently across cultures, and relies on codes that professional researchers overlooked for generations.[86]
Hancock believes that these events are preserved in variousmyths, such asPlato's story ofAtlantis, and that the Atlanteans were remembered as "magicians and gods".[12]
Hancock has accepted thefringe theories of other Atlantis proponents regarding several historic sites. For example that of geologistRobert M. Schoch, who contests that theGreat Sphinx of Giza was carved over 11,500 years ago based on claims of theSphinx having been eroded by water[87] or that of geologistDanny Hilman Natawidjaja, who believesGunung Padang to be a 27,000 year old Atlantean structure.[88][89]
ScholarsOlav Hammer and Karen Swartz write that Hancock's works are "based largely on an imaginative reinterpretation of artifacts and myths that divorces them from their immediate cultural and religious contexts."[90]
...in my view the science of the lost civilization was primarily focused upon what we now callpsi capacities that deployed the enhanced and focused power of human consciousness to channel energies and to manipulate matter.
— Graham Hancock, America Before (2019), p. 479
Hammer and Swartz report that Hancock portrays his lost Ice Age civilization as relying on spiritual technology that channels consciousness to manipulate matter.[91] Anthropologist Jeb Card notes thatAmerica Before (2019) describes a "global sea-based society comparable with the late pre-industrial British Empire" whose knowledge "would seem like magic even today". He writes that Hancock credits the Atlanteans withpsychic abilities and claims they delivered geometric, astronomical, and spiritual teachings through rituals involvingpsychotropic plants such asayahuasca andpeyote to commune with "powerful nonphysical beings".[12]
Hancock also argues that meditation and psychoactive plants enabled ancient builders to move large stones, asserting that granite blocks at theGreat Pyramid of Giza were raised by "priests chanting", a scenario he links toacoustic levitation.[91][92] Archaeologist John Hoopes describes these views as effectively religious and rooted inNew Age beliefs.[56]
Card maintains that evaluating Hancock with the tools of professional archaeology is futile because he works within aparanormal milieu and crafts amythic narrative opposed to materialism, labeling him "not a failed version of an archaeologist" but a "successful mythographer of a post-science age".[12] Hammer and Swartz, scholars ofnew religious movements, likewise describe him as a "bricoleur who creates a myth from a motley selection of cultural elements".[93]
Archaeologists and authorJason Colavito criticize Hancock for drawing on racist sources. He cites Donnelly, whose "mound builder myth" argued that theIndigenous peoples of the Americas could not have built monumental structures and credited them to white Atlanteans.[60][94] Hancock distances himself from that conclusion yet does not explain how capable Indigenous societies support his story of a superior lost civilization transferring advanced science and technology to them.[95]
Although Hancock has identified the Atlanteans as Indigenous Americans,[94] he wrote inFingerprints of the Gods that they were "white [and] auburn-haired".[60] He relies on outdatedrace science to argue that pre-Columbian societies included "Caucasoids" and "Negroids", claims he bases on his readings of Indigenous art and mythology.[60]
Hancock described theMaya as "semi-civilized" with "generally unremarkable" achievements to support his thesis that they inherited their calendar from a much older society.[96] He denies being racist and has expressed support for Indigenous rights.[97]
Hancock frequently promotesRobert Bauval's Orion correlation theory (OCT), which claims that the three largestpyramids of theGiza pyramid complex were positioned to mirror the three stars ofOrion's Belt. OCT notes that the pyramids align with the cardinal directions within a fraction of a degree,[98] yet astronomerTony Fairall points out that the stellar alignment misses by more than five degrees.[99]
Hancock and Bauval's OCT was the focus ofAtlantis Reborn, a 1999 episode of theBBC documentary seriesHorizon. The program mocked the theory by showing that the constellationLeo could be mapped onto famous New York landmarks and argued that Hancock cherry-picked temple locations to suit his claims.[4] It concluded, "as long as you have enough points and you don't need to make every point fit, you can find virtually any pattern you want."[100]
After the broadcast, Hancock and Bauval complained to theBroadcasting Standards Commission, which ruled that "the program makers acted in good faith in their examination of the theories".[101] The commission upheld one complaint, agreeing that the program omitted a rebuttal of astronomerEdwin Krupp.[102][103] The BBC aired a revised version titledAtlantis Reborn Again the following year, allowing Hancock and Bauval to present additional responses to Krupp.[4][103]
In 2009,Roland Emmerich released his blockbuster disaster movie2012, citingFingerprints of the Gods in the credits as an inspiration for the film,[104] stating: "I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth's Crust Displacement Theory in Graham Hancock'sFingerprints of the Gods."[105]
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