Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse

Gunung Padang in Indonesia

    As a child, I remember hearing theories that the time before Noah's flood was advanced, perhaps even to our levels today, but because they were evil, God destroyed them in a flood and all of their technology and grand cities were lost. It was never told as a fact but rather an idea to debate and think about. It was a story meant to keep us in the present humble about our great advances in science and engineering. If we forget God, we too will be wiped out. It was sort of a religious Great Filter. 

In 1994, I went to watch this movie called Stargate in the movie theater. I didn't know anythings about it but it looked like it had something to do with Ancient Egypt. I ended up loving the movie and the idea that man had contact with advanced aliens and that there were ancient advanced civilizations. I later learned that the director of Stargate, Roland Emmerich, got the ideas from a book called Fingerprint of the Gods written by Graham Hancock. This book would later inspire another one of Emmerich's films, 10,000 BC. He argues for these theories in a new documentary on Netflix, Ancient Apocalypse which I think was a lot of fun to watch.

    I read a little about his theories. I would always think that half of what he said was true but then he would lose me with his conclusions. Fingerprints of the Gods argues that civilization centered on Antarctica that left "fingerprints" in the ancient world. Civilizations that he believes were influenced by these Antarcticans were Egypt, Olmec, Aztec, and Maya. He writes about advanced ancient cities in places like Bolivia, places that were built before civilization was supposed to have advanced to that level. Some time in 10, 450 BC, a pole shift took place moving Antarctica to the place it is today. Another book said that is was a flood caused by large comet striking the Earth around 10,800 BC. His new documentary on Netflix goes along with this theory. He argues that there was once an advanced worldwide civilization that was destroyed and shows evidence in advanced ancient architecture in Turkey, Malta, Mexico, Indonesia, and the United States. 

    The examples of ancient architecture are the most interesting to me. They have found mysterious pyramids in Antarctica and who knows what else is buried deep in the ice. I am not sure if he mentions it, but there are also mysterious pyramids side by side just like the ones in Antarctica near the North Pole in what is now Murmansk, Russia. The pyramids of Egypt are well known but not how they were built.  It is strange that there are similar pyramids in Mexico with the Mayans and in Indonesia in a place called Gunung Padang where we begin the first episode of Ancient Apocalypse. 

    Graham firsts visits Gunung Padang, a site in West Java, Indonesia. It is an ancient building on top of a mountain with terraces and steps carved out of stone on top of mounds. Further research finds that the mounds are actually rooms and was probably built 10-20,000 years ago. There still isn't much known about the site as not much research has been done because it is considered a holy site by the local people. 

    Graham then visits other similar ancient structures that all seemed to have been made around the same time. He visits Cholula in Mexico, the world's largest pyramid. It looks like a mountain at first, but with a little digging it is discover that the mountain is a man made pyramid.  It reminded me of what someone who served a mission in Central America said that the locals told him, "If you see a mountain in the middle of nowhere, it is probably a pyramid." Though parts of it are newer he believes that some of it was built around 10,800 BC.  He travels to the famous Bimini Road and believes that the road was cut by men and was used at a time when the Bahamas were connected to Florida. Gobekli Tepe in Turkey is an interesting one. There seems to some kind of writing and pictures of the stars. Hancock believes these structures were built by an ancient civilization that were mostly wiped out. A few survivors traveled through the world meeting with the leftover primitive tribes that were left and taught them the knowledge they had. They spread the stories of the Great Flood, how to read the stars, about farming and building cities. 

    Then Graham starts to try to prove there was a great flood, possibly caused by a comet and the pyramid structures were bunkers were few could hide in safety. This theory was played around with in Emmerich's movie 2012. This is where is lost me to be honest. I believe that there was some cataclysm that destroyed an advanced civilization, but I was more interested in learning about what he found on the ancient sites and not as much with his theories of what happened. It is possible that some of his dates were exaggerated to fit his theory. 

    I was surprised that he didn't mention anything from Russia. They have found pyramids, ancient structures and mounds and mysterious writing and drawings. Many of the drawings are similar to drawings found in the pyramids of current day Mexico! 

    I quickly watched every episode and was only bored during the Bimini Road episode. I think because there have been so many other specials on it and Graham Hancock didn't really add anything new. If you love adventure, mystery, archaeology, and the 1970's In Search Of TV shows, you will love this documentary. Don't believe the hype that it is racist or problematic. Any race that existed in 10,000 BC wouldn't be like a Northwestern European Imperialist from the 19th Century. I finished the show with a more open mind which I think ultimately was the goal of the documentary.