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Overstretched assumption?

Ancient Apocalypse (2022)
Netflix, Documentary series

Graham Hancock is an old hand at this. A veteran journalist prolific at this topic, he has earned himself the dubious reputation of being a pseudo-historian and pseudo-archaeologist. Many of his previous books have dabbled with the same issue. His premise is this: Even before mainstream history dated humans to be hunter-gatherers around the end of the Ice Age 11,600 years ago, Hancock's research posits that a far more advanced civilisation existed during this wave of hunter-gatherers. 


The ruins he so skilfully shows in this series of documentaries depict the advanced skill of architectural marvel and skill that those people exhibited. 


If Erich von Däniken had earlier suggested an ancient alien race to have assisted human civilisation, here Hancock does not invoke ancient intelligence. He instead suggests that we had already developed all these advanced levels of knowledge in building and astronomy but lost most of it to the rise in sea levels due to the melting of glaciers at the end of the Ice Age. Many land bridges disappeared. Sunda, which engulfed all of Indonesia from Borneo to the Malayan peninsula, was separated by rising seas. He explores ruins in Gunung Padang to reveal a possible civilisation lost to a cataclysm. 


Like that, many ancient mammoth structures around Malta went underwater. So did building around Central America. Then there is Öbekil Tepe, ruins in Turkey dated to be 12,000 years old, before the end of the Ice Age.


Graham Hancock
Exploring the folk tales that have emanated around the foregoing areas reveals one thing that is common: People in that area were visited by somebody in a serpentine-looking boat to teach the locals about farming, building, science, and technology. 

Hancock explains the purpose of building many of these mammoth structures. Astrological references are of paramount importance in the layout of these buildings. There may even be animal drawings which could refer to constellations. Could our ancients be so advanced as the developers of the fabled Atlantis?

Many of the proposals here are considered too preposterous by mainstream historians. His association with Joe Rogan and other conspiracy theorists only lends little credence to his scholarship. 


Generally, archaeologists and historians admit loopholes in their understanding and explanations of the complex ancient buildings. But to attribute all these to an advanced intelligence before the end of the Ice Age is an overstretch. 


The archaeological fraternity does not see any scientific correlation to support Hancock's theory. 


Whatever is said and done, this documentary is made with brilliant cinematography using drones and a production team spanning continents. Many local historians and archaeologists were interviewed to drive home his point of view. The good thing about this show is that it makes its viewers take a step back and ponder whether we know everything about our history and world. 


Now, the exciting thing is that Hancock is saying that the whole world was civilised to a single advanced civilisation. It seems humans did not have the intelligence to discover things for themselves. The human race seems amnesiac about its past. There needs to be more depth in our knowledge about our world. What happened during Younger Dryas, the later part of the Ice Age, before Earth became warmer?


Knowing that bringing up India's past is like opening a Pandora's Box, he conveniently avoided mentioning India in his discussion. He may be suggesting that the Mesopotamians and the fire-worshipping Zoroastrians were the first civilisation in the world. 


Some in the media call for this series to be axed and view it as dangerous for public viewing. They insist that the show is a freak show that reinforces the rhetorics of conspiracy theorists. They call for research not to be funded by public funding.


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