- According to Graham Hancock, there was an ancient super-civilization in Antarctica that was destroyed by a comet 12,000 years ago.
- However, many scholars consider Hancock's theory of an “ancient apocalypse” to be pseudoscience.
- Hancock searches for evidence of his theory in the Netflix series, which is widely appreciated, but many scientists refute the evidence
Since 1995, Graham Hancock has become the most famous representative of the ancient apocalyptic theory with his book Fingerprints of the Gods. According to historical studies, humans first became hunter-gatherers 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, and the first urban civilizations were established in Mesopotamia about 6,000 years ago. However, Hancock claims that thousands of years before that, an ancient civilization lived in today's Antarctica. During this period, the comet's impact radically changed the climate.
Graham Hancock looks for evidence in the film series to support his controversial theory / Image: Profimedia
12,800 years ago, Earth passed through the debris flow of a very large, disintegrating comet, and was bombarded by hundreds of fragments, some large, some small.
Hancock says in the controversial Netflix series.
But before it disappeared, the ancient civilization conquered the world, erecting monuments and spreading the foundations of civilization.
In the TV series, Hancock seeks to find evidence to support his theory. In conversation with a number of archaeologists and, inexplicably, with actor Keanu Reeves, he travels to the Americas in search of structures that indicate an ancient society. Hancock's theory brought in a lot of viewers for the streaming network, but many scientists are angry that the show's “evidence” has been refuted.
Dr Flint Dibble, an archaeologist at Cardiff University, told MailOnline:
– Most of the evidence in the show is based on simple slippage. It also ignores all the scientific evidence collected from organic remains over the past 40 years that clearly places the development of agriculture in the post-glacial period in different regions of the world, independently of each other.
The scientists were horrified
Experts had such a dismal opinion of the series that after the first season, the American Antiquarian Society called on Netflix to strip it of its documentary tag and classify it as a work of fiction.
Descendants of Native American tribes, who consider it insulting that they could create their own civilization only with outside help, also protest.