Was There an Advanced Civilization Before Our Own?

For as long as humans have gazed up into the starry night sky, one maddeningly simple question has continued to plague us: are we alone in the universe, or is it possible that, somewhere out there in that inky black void, someone—or something—is looking back at us, wondering the exact same thing.

Surely, given the sheer number of galaxies in our universe and the amount of time that has passed since the big bang, our planet cannot be the only one capable of supporting life. To believe so at this point would be, in my opinion, extremely narrow-minded because it is highly probable that there are at least a handful of planets somewhere out there that are capable of hosting complex life. Many scientists agree with this opinion; however, a question that is much more contentious is whether any of those organisms possess intelligence and technology that could rival that of our own. I’m talking about beings who are capable of thinking critically, sharing ideas, utilizing tools, growing and harvesting food, advancing medicine, harnessing power, constructing communication networks, and so on.

For reasons other than satisfying our own curiosity, we could open a dialog with this civilization, share our collective knowledges with one another to expand our understandings of evolution, society, and the universe as a whole. We could finally know if what happened on earth, the formation of complex life, was just a fluke of nature or if, perhaps, there is a Star Wars-like galaxy out there with all varieties of intelligent creatures roaming about.

This is a topic that scientists and stoners alike have brought up time and time again, but there is another possibility that is equally as fascinating yet talked about far less: could another advanced civilization have existed right here on Earth and we, as a species, have simply forgotten about it? While the idea may seem ludicrous at first thought because we like to believe that human advancement has been largely linear, it’s not as outlandish as you might think.

According to best estimates, modern humans have been around for about 200,000 years, throughout which time our ancestors’ intelligence was similar—if not equal—to that of our own. However, only about 5,000 of those years have been documented or discovered, which means that 97.5% of our history is completely unknown to us. When considering this, is it really so hard to believe that humans may have attempted—and succeeded—to construct another civilization long ago that failed and has since been forgotten?

As anyone who’s ever cooked a pancake can tell you, getting things right on the first attempt is extraordinarily difficult, so who’s to say that launching a society from nothing would go any smoother the first time around?

Furthermore, there is yet another possibility to consider: who says that humans were the first intelligent creatures to evolve on earth in the first place?

If we return to discussing numbers for a moment, our planet is about 4.5 billion years old, which means that modern humans did not even exist for approximately 99.996% of our planet’s history.

During such an incomprehensibly large amount of time, could another intelligent species have evolved and gone extinct before humans were even walking upright? Could another society as advanced—or more advanced—as our own have existed, a civilization whose cities once stood where ours now stand but have long-since turned to untraceable dust?

Today, we’ll be looking at these two very different but very related possibilities as we try to determine if we are truly living at the pentacle of evolutionary advancement or if those that walked the Earth before us could have built societies that make our vast cities look like little more than piles of stone by comparison.

And don’t worry, even though this intro may sound like something pulled straight from the History Channel, we will be referencing scientific studies that have attempted to answer this very question.

Setting the Stage

To start us off, I’d like to begin by discussing the far more likely of the two scenarios posed: could humans have successfully established themselves sometime before the earliest identified civilizations, those in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient India. To answer this, however, we need to first back up and provide some context for how, when, and why those civilizations arose in the first place. We also need to discuss what it means to be a “civilization,” because that is—surprisingly—not as straightforward as you might assume.

According to most modern archeologists, historians, and evolutionary scientists, humans primarily survived throughout their early existence as nomadic hunter-gatherers who followed closely behind packs of large herd animals, hunting them for meats and furs while foraging for nuts, berries, and other edibles as they went. This was essential because, prior to around the year 10,000 BC, few successful forms of agriculture had been developed, which meant that staying in one place for too long would have quickly depleted their available food supply. The reason no one had gotten around to developing agriculture prior to this was likely due to a little-known global event called the Last Glacial Period, which is often referred to colloquially as Earth’s last Ice Age.

Beginning approximately 115,000 years ago, the earth entered its Last’s Glacial Period, and at one point, glaciers covered up to one-third of the earth’s surface. This would have made any type of real advancement difficult as most humans were far too preoccupied with keeping their gonads warm to consider alternative sources of food. They also likely did not develop any tools more advanced than those used by the Neanderthals, such as scrapers and hand-axes.

Plus, being a hunter-gatherer is a surprisingly good way to stay alive, so there was little obvious incentive to disrupt the status quo. However, as temperatures began to rise, the earth began to change, and humans saw an opportunity to change with it.

Now, despite all we know about the earth, the cause and timeline of this temperature shift is still hotly debated in some circles. Most climate scientists believe that the change started sometime around 20,000 years ago, when the earth’s orientation toward the sun shifted, causing the planet’s global temperature to rise around 10 degrees over the course of about 8,000 years. This, in turn, caused the large ice sheets that covered the northern hemisphere to melt, which caused the global sea level to rise by approximately 110 meters.

Most experts believe that this process was very gradual, but some think it was much more sudden. We’ll revisit that in just a moment.

As I alluded to earlier, the catalyst for humanity’s advancement from nomads to urbanites was a series of major improvements to early agriculture, which allowed people to finally stop roaming and establish themselves permanently in one place. This is what led to, sometime between 4000 and 3000 BC, the earliest known human civilizations forming in highly fertile areas that are now referred to as the Cradles of Civilization. After this, it didn’t take long for the earliest economic systems to form, allowing people to trade and purchase services, form effective governments, divide labor into specialized sectors, and land on the moon.

I may have missed a step or two along the way there, but you get the idea. Agriculture truly changed the world.

This is the type of society that I, myself, am talking about when I say civilization: a group of people living together in one place that are capable of governing, creating, discovering, maintaining order, and growing—not a group that stayed in one place for a season or two and then moved on.

Because of how important the advent of a reliable food supply was to jumpstarting this process, most scientists assume that no civilization could have arisen without it and state that evidence of such widescale farming would be obvious to anyone who looked. All they would need to search for is high levels of nitrogen in the soil where those farms are suspected of being, the discovery of which would indicate widespread use of fertilizer. This combined with the fact that no ruins of a prehistoric civilization have been discovered has led most to believe that we truly are the first to progress past hunter-gatherers in any meaningful way. However, there are people who vehemently reject this conclusion as unscientific, and the man leading that charge is named Graham Hancock.

Graham Hancock

Although he is known for many things, Graham Hancock is a writer, journalist, and independent archaeologist from Scotland who, in the early 1990s, published multiple books that questioned the official historic timeline supported by most modern archologists. In his early years, Graham worked for newspapers in the UK, such as The Times, The Independent, and The Guardian, where he published articles while living in Africa, exploring the world, and conducting his own research into earth’s history. More recently, he has devoted much of his time to speaking publicly and going on various podcasts to promote his theory that a pre-historic human civilization existed and ruled over the earth during the Last Glacial Period.

Graham doesn’t claim to be a scientist, but he does believe that his work is solid and states that the only reason his research has not been accepted by mainstream archology is because his theories would change the way we see the world by throwing a wrench into the entire accepted timeline. This is a timeline that Graham says archaeologists are obsessed with defending to the point that they are not open to having their minds changed.

Famously, archeology is a very snobby field, so Graham’s claim that archeologists are unwelcoming to new ideas is based in reality; however, his critics claim that his theories are poorly researched, unsubstantiated, and heavily biased because of his tendency to cherry-pick evidence, misrepresent that evidence, and ignore everything that does not support his claims—basically everything an objective scientist should not do. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves because there are also many scientists who stand behind Graham.

So, what exactly is Graham’s theory?

Graham believes that humans are a “species with amnesia,” who have forgotten a major part of our history, but that there is both logical and physical evidence of that history present all throughout the world and throughout all societies. According to him, what archeologists think of as the “emergence of civilization” was actually a “reemergence” after a major cataclysmic event wiped away almost all the advancements made by humans over the centuries that preceded them. Graham theorizes that this cataclysmic event was also what caused the end of the last ice age and that the climate shift that scientists claim occurred slowly over the course of 8,000 years actually took place in a matter of days, maybe hours.

His theory for what caused this event revolves around a comet that may have impacted the earth’s northern hemisphere near Greenland sometime around 9,200 BC, causing widespread catastrophes, flooding the world, leveling entire civilizations, and killing the majority of life on earth. This would include the mega-fauna, such as the mammoths, mastodons, and saber-toothed tigers that roamed the earth until around 10,000 BC. It was such a devastating event that all functioning societies virtually collapsed overnight, effectively sending humanity back to the stone age.

After this, it was up to the few remaining survivors of this ancient civilization to rebuild society from scratch. To do this, they spent the remainder of their lives traveling the world as nomads and sharing their knowledge with the surviving hunter-gatherer tribes, which Graham speculates would have fared much better throughout the apocalypse than the people who lived within his lost civilization.

To be honest, I find this entire theory fascinating because, if proven, it truly would change the way we view early human history; however, before we examine the evidence Graham puts forth to support his theory, we should ask ourselves if the remarkably different timeline he proposes is even scientifically possible.

Is It Possible?

Considering that Graham’s entire theory revolves around a comet impacting our planet and wiping out a majority of life on earth, questioning whether such an event could have taken place is obviously the best place to start—and the answer to this question is, surprisingly, yes.

As it turns out, the Comet Impact Theory—as the event in question is known—is supported by the Comet Research Group, a collection of 63 scientists from 55 universities in 16 countries, according to their website. Among them are real Doctors of Science from Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford, The University of Buckingham, Charles University in Prague as well as others working for NASA, ORNL, and the Institute for Isotopes and Surface Chemistry. In short, they are a serious and reputable group putting forth a theory that they believe is scientifically plausible.

To summarize this theory, this group believes that a large comet impacted the earth approximately 12,800 years ago, jumpstarting the temperature changes seen around that time and putting an end to the Last Glacial Period. This would have occurred during a time known as the Younger Dryas, and their evidence for this impact event is a distinct “black mat” that has been discovered at multiple potential impact sites. It is comprised of traces of magnetic, iron-rich spherules; glassy, silica-rich spherules; high-temperature meltglass; nanodiamonds; soot; and more—all of which, they say, is indicative of a very large, very hot impact. They used carbon dating to determine when this impact took place.

Truthfully, most of this group’s evidence is very scientific, complicated, and far beyond anything I would ever be able to explain; however, thankfully, my small brain won’t hinder us too severely because I have been assured that their hypothesis, while controversial, is possible… it’s just not likely, which is why it is still considered a fringe theory within the scientific community.

Plus, the comet impact theory is actually largely irrelevant to what we are discussing because the Comet Research group does not make definitive claims about the possibility of a prior civilization; they merely believe in the comet itself and the extinction event that followed. However, with such an event being at least possible, we can continue on knowing that Graham’s theory does at least have some basis in reality.

However, there are still many more questions to be answered, such as: could a world like the one Graham describes—a world where an advanced civilization exists alongside hunter-gatherers—be possible, and if so, would this hunter-gatherer society really be better equipped for survival after an apocalypse than the more advanced people?

The answer to this, in theory, is also yes.

Even today, our own modern society exists alongside modern-day Hunter-Gatherers who live within areas like the Amazon, within Africa, and on the Andaman Islands, and our technology is far beyond anything Graham claims his lost civilization may have possessed. So, the idea that two distinctly different types of human societies could coexist is more than possible; it is confirmed. And the fact that a hunter-gatherer society would be better equipped for survival is not up for debate either.

Most of us today are completely reliant upon the rest of society to provide our food, build our homes, supply our power, and so on. These tribes, on the other hand, require none of this. They have largely maintained their independence and would likely have no trouble surviving without us.

In fact, they might even fare much better in the long run without us around to continue inflicting damage upon the earth’s climate.

And now, with that out of the way, we need to answer a question that I’m sure many of you have been asking since I first explained Graham’s theory in the last section: if this civilization did exist, where are its ruins?

For this, Graham offers a few different possibilities; however, one that he has put forth time and time again is that his civilization may have been built upon what is now referred to as a “lost land.”

For those unfamiliar, a lost land is a section of land that existed during prehistoric times but has since disappeared due to either geological shifts, rising tides, or any other catastrophic geological phenomena, such as the one that Graham proposes occurred as a result of the comet impact.

To make this perfectly clear, lost lands do exist, and scientists have found and studied many of them, such as the Bering land bridge, which once connected Russia to Alaska but is now fully submerged and referred to as the Bering strait. There are also entire continents that have been lost, such as Zealandia, which was a landmass adjacent to Australia that is now 94% submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean. Of this continent, only New Zealand remains above sea level, and very little of the once-inhabitable land has been explored. Here, among many other places, is where Graham expects we may find his lost ruins.

However, as many people have pointed out, it is very convenient for Graham to simply claim that his missing ruins are all submerged beneath the ocean, but this idea does make some amount of logical sense. After all, where do cities generally spring up? Along coasts and waterways. And what areas are now completely underwater and difficult to access because of the rising seas?

Those very areas. This certainly doesn’t prove anything, but Graham maintains that there is much to discover under the ocean and that significant resources should be allocated to underwater archeology for further research.

Finding one of these lost cities has been a major goal of Graham’s for years because doing so would prove that humans were building permanent settlements prior to the rising tides that resulted from the Younger Dryas—which, regardless of what caused that rise, was well before when those first civilizations are believed to have arisen.

Gods Among Men

Now, it’s time to finally talk about some real, hard-hitting evidence:

Although Graham has many problems with the official historic timeline, one that is central to his entire argument is his belief that the earliest confirmed civilizations seem to have arisen out of nowhere and inexplicably developed many advanced technologies and sciences at the exact same time. As an example, he often points toward the Mayan’s rapid development of complex written language, impressive architecture, and use of mathematics and astronomy, saying that it is ludicrous to believe that humans made almost no progress for hundreds of thousands of years and then suddenly pieced all of that together overnight—relatively speaking—without any guidance.

Furthermore, Graham also points toward the absence of any transitional technologies and says there should be some evidence of attempts and failures along the way. Instead, it appears as if the Mayans, and many other early civilizations, knew exactly what they were doing and succeeded on their first attempt, making massive technological leaps as they did so. It would be as if Alexander Graham Bell unveiled his first ever telephone: the iPhone.

Honestly, we’ve heard this entire song and dance before, but what makes Graham’s claim unique is that he doesn’t attribute this advancement to aliens; he believes that, as we’ve discussed, members of his lost civilization were the guiding force. As he theorizes, all the aforementioned advancements were likely developed over the course of tens of thousands of years by his lost civilization, which he believes is a much more reasonable amount of time. After the apocalypse, this civilization then passed on much of their knowledge to later groups, such as the Mayans, the Egyptians, and the Mesopotamians, so they would have a much easier time rebuilding. This is why we don’t see much evidence of the expected slow, methodical development in those locations.

As further evidence that a guiding force was involved, Graham makes several observations about these ancient civilizations that he says can only be explained by assuming his theory is correct. For instance, if what archaeologist claim is true, each of these civilizations developed independently from one another without any type of collaboration or communication, yet they all share certain cultural, social, and architectural commonalities, which Graham says indicates otherwise. For instance, how is it possible that pyramids were constructed in Egypt, Peru, Mexico, Sudan, Iraq and more without any of these groups contacting or interacting with one another during their early years. Was a pyramid just a fun shape to build, or is there more to the story?

Also, in addition to the complex way these structures were built, their location and alignment also evidences the fact that their designer possessed more knowledge than should have been available at that time. The Pyramids of Giza are aligned within one-fifteenth of one percent to true north, a truly impressive achievement.

According to Graham, the survivors of his lost civilization may have ordered the construction of the pyramids as a final test to ensure that each of these societies had a functional understanding of the foundations of science, math, astronomy, and more. This may have also been a way to leave a lasting mark on the world and not be forgotten.

To prove all this, Graham asserts that, within many of these ancient cultures’ legends, myths, and parables, we see many reoccurring stories and themes that he believes should be taken literally and examined far more closely than scientists and historians are willing to do. After all, before there was writing, word of mouth was the only way to convey history, and it’s likely that most of these stories originated from real, witnessed events. The most famous example of this is the story of a global flood that killed a massive number of people, which exists—in some form—within the mythos of almost every single ancient culture and religion discovered. This flood, Graham believes, is the flood that resulted from the comet impact.

However, stories of a flood do not prove that an ancient civilization existed or that any “transfer of knowledge” occurred. To prove this, Graham often turns to other stories, such as the legend of Quetzalcoatl:

In modern-day Mexico, hieroglyphs discovered inside the pyramid of Cholula depict an Aztec deity known as Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, bestowing wisdom upon the Aztec people. This largely aligns with the beliefs of the people of that time, who often depicted Quetzalcoatl as the God of life, light, and wisdom, from whom all knowledge was given. They worshipped this snake-bird hybrid as a deity; however, Graham believes that Quetzalcoatl was a member of his lost civilization, the last of a nearly extinct society trying desperately to share their knowledge with the world before dying off. They saw Quetzalcoatl as a God but only because his knowledge was godlike when compared to theirs.

Graham also points toward the origin story of an indigenous Amazonian group called the Tucano. Unlike many origin stories throughout history that usually involve a type of divine creation, such as the story of Adam and Eve, theirs states that their ancestors were transported to the Amazon by supernatural beings who showed them how to hunt, farm, fish, forage, and survive in their new home. These beings were very wise and intelligent, and they also provided the Tucano people with a psychedelic substance to help them commune with their ancestors and the spirit world. Graham believes that these supernatural beings were the same ones that the Aztecs called Quetzalcoatl and the reason the Tucano people were transported to a new land is because their old land was destroyed.

Explaining the Gap

If I’ve not overwhelmed you with information by this point, you might have noticed there is one large, glaring issue with Graham’s theory that we have yet to address: if we assume that a near-extinction event happened around 10,800 BC and that Graham’s claims of a transfer of knowledge is true, then why do we not see evidence of post-comet civilizations until around 4000 BC. How does Graham explain this nearly 7000-year gap?

Well, he claims that it doesn’t exist; he claims that scientists have misdated the sites of many early civilizations and that many of those sites are built upon even older sites. He often turns to the Egyptian Sphinx as proof:

According to most historians, whoever built the Sphinx must have been part of a large, stable, and reasonably advanced society. The primary evidence for this is logical. Such a massive undertaking would have required a large number of skilled laborers, all of whom would have needed to be fed, housed, and protected while they labored away for years building what is ostensibly a giant vanity project.

For a society to support such an endeavor, it would have needed to have already developed farming, mastered both basic and advanced building techniques, understood the concept of leverage, had access to tools for carving limestone, and much more. Basically, everyone, including Graham, agrees that whichever group built the sphinx were proper big brains that lived within a thriving civilization; however, scientists say that no evidence of such a civilization exists prior to 4000 BC. This means that the sphinx cannot be older than that, but they also say that 2,500 BC is a much more reasonable date because there is evidence of a massive construction project that occurred in the area around that time.

Graham, however, asserts that this project was actually a renovation and points toward signs of water damage on the limestone cutout surrounding the sphinx, which he believes indicates the original work was performed during a time when heavy rains were still occurring in the area. The last time this happened, Graham says, was prior to 5,000 BC, well before 2,500 BC or 4000 BC, but the structure could be as old as 12,000 BC, before the cataclysmic meteor event.

Graham is not the only person to suggest this, as the Sphinx Water Erosion Hypothesis was actually suggested in 1979 by Egyptologist John Anthony West and further researched in 1990 by Robert Schoch, a paleontologist with an interest in history and archeology. Schoch has long asserted that the erosion seen on the limestone surrounding the sphinx cannot be explained away by wind or any other types of erosion. Wind leaves distinct horizontal bands, but the bands on the limestone are vertical, indicating only rain could have caused them.

Furthermore, since I’m sure everyone is tired of talking about ancient Egypt, Graham has also found even more evidence that this gap does not exist in Asia, specifically at a site called Gunung Padang.

So, lets head east to the Indonesian island of Java. Here, above a village approximately four hours south of Jakarta called Karyamukti, there is a long-extinct volcano that is considered sacred by locals because, at its peak, there is site known as Gunung Padang, which translates to either the mountain of light or the mountain of enlightenment. The reason this area is considered sacred is because, after ascending exactly 370 steps to the mountain’s peak, there is an ancient site that contains tens of thousands of hexagonal volcanic slabs spread across a large, open area.

Although once forgotten by the locals, the site was written about in 1890 by Dutch historian Rogier Verbeek, but the site was not seriously inspected until the 1980s, when it was rediscovered by local farmers who began treating it as a spiritual site.

According to Graham, archeologists initially attempted to dismiss Gunung Padang as a natural formation because volcanic rocks can take the distinct hexagonal shape naturally without human interference; however, after more investigation, it became clear that many of the rocks were laid out in long, evenly spaced rows that resembled large rectangular rooms. While they certainly could have been naturally formed, their placement was anything but natural. Furthermore, the site was actually much larger than originally thought, as not only the summit of the mountain had been stacked with blocks; the slopes of the site had been reinforced with those same blocks, making the area cover up to 37 acres. This made it clear that the site was anything but natural as the building techniques used to construct it were now obvious to anyone who looked.

Essentially, when envisioning this site, imagine a wide, five-layer pyramid constructed from dirt and reinforced by large shards of volcanic rock. Could this pyramid-like structure be another site where Graham’s lost civilization attempted to rebuild?

In 1980, scientists from the Bandung Institute of Archaeology and other groups began to study and map out the area. At this point, the site was determined to have been constructed in 500 BC; however, Graham disagrees with this date, and he is not alone.

Sometime around 2011, an Indonesian geologist named Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, began conducting independent research of his own. While most of the work done by other researchers had been performed above ground, Danny began excavating a section of the site that was approximately 4 meters deep. Here, he found artifacts that he states dated back to around 5,200 BC.

After this, he began drilling deep into the ground, taking samples of the earth’s layers. The first few meters were consistent with the artifacts they had already discovered, but the deeper they went, the older the evidence became. By the time they reached the deepest depths of the site, they were finding datable materials that stretched as far back as 22,000 BC, well into the last ice age. He also discovered evidence that the rocks had been cut and indicators that some had been used as joints for stone structures that had collapsed long ago.

What this indicated to Danny, and Graham, was that each of these rocks, all fifty thousand of them, must have been shaped for construction thousands of years before archaeologists believed humans were doing anything but roaming the earth in packs. No human remains were found at the site, which means it likely wasn’t used as a burial site, but it could have been used as a ritual site.

Using ground penetrating radar, Danny was also able to scan 30 meters below the surface, and this is where he discovered something else unexpected: three large rectangular voids that resemble the chambers seen underneath other pyramids across the world. One was at a depth of 10 meters, the next at 20 meters, and the third at 30 meters. There could be many more, but because of the difficult location of the site, the excavation work has been put on hold.

The final site we’ll be discussing is one that I saved for last because, recently, it is the site that Graham points to most often:

Göbekli Tepe is a site situated atop a limestone plateau in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in present day Turkey. At this site, archeologists have unearthed a series of circular, T-shaped stone pillars, many of which depict animals, clothing, and other human-like features carved into them. Statues of boars, sculptures of reptiles, and animal totem poles—all carved out of stone—have also been discovered. The site is believed to have been constructed around 9500 BC and shows signs that it was inhabited until at least 8000BC.

To date, it is considered one of the oldest known manifestations of human-made monumental architecture. But the real kicker is that only an estimated 5% of the site has been fully excavated.

Although it was first rediscovered in 1963, the significance of the site was not known until around 1994, when German archeologist Klaus Schmidt began its excavation. Schmidt believed it was a sanctuary used by roaming hunter-gatherers, one of the earliest known examples of a human-made temple for worship; however, more recent excavations and research have shown something even more interesting. There is evidence of villages and carved channels that were likely used for rainwater harvesting, both of which indicate that the site housed people long term.

For Graham, this all but confirms his theory that there were older civilizations; however, there is much more to the story than he wants to admit.

Smashing Dreams

At this point, we have come to the end of Graham’s evidence—all that we’ll be discussing, at least. So, where exactly does that leave us? Well, unfortunately, it’s time for me to decode some unknowns and tear down all your dreams in the process:

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the biggest issue with Graham’s entire theory is that there is no real, legitimate evidence to support it. Everything Graham uses as evidence exists solely within scientific gaps, meaning that anything science cannot explain is accepted as part of the theory while everything else is deliberately ignored. This is just classic cherry-picking combined with the fact that archeology is a very complicated field with many such gaps. Furthermore, when trying to fill these gaps, Graham speculates heavily and often jumps through many hoops, deliberately ignoring the simple solution in preference of one that fits his narrative.

For example, as we’ve discussed, Graham points toward the water erosion on the limestone cutout surrounding the Sphinx as proof that civilization arose in ancient Egypt sometime when rainfall was still occurring in Giza; however, he ignores the fact that no other evidence of such a society has been unearthed. There are no signs of agriculture, permanent housing, or waste that one would expect to find from that time period if such a civilization had existed. These things would be very hard to miss.

He also ignores the fact that scientists now believe rainfall may have been occurring in Giza as late as 2200 BC. Instead of accepting this much simpler solution as to why water erosion would be present, he prefers to say that archaeologists are lying about the age of the sphinx and have changed their story to fit their own narrative.

As for the “proof within ancient myths” angle, Graham also picks and chooses when deciding what ancient myths to incorporate into his theory. If you recall, he loves to bring up Quetzalcoatl, the god depicted inside the pyramid of Chilula, but he does not address the many other explanations for who this mysterious “God” could be. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) also believe that Quetzalcoatl was a real, physically being that visited the Mesoamerican people as depicted in the hieroglyphs; however, they believe that he was actually Jesus Christ himself in disguise.

Graham, obviously, does not believe this to be the case, but he cannot support why his own theory is superior to theirs. This issue leads us directly into the next:

As for claims that his theory is being completely ignored by mainstream archeology, that is mostly true, but not for the reason Graham claims. Although he likes to elevate his own theory above the rest, Graham’s pre-historic civilization theory is just one of thousands of alternate pre-historic theories put forth throughout the years by different people and groups. And among these theories, his is not even a particularly convincing one.

Most Archeologist don’t have the time or desire to rebut him, not because they believe he’s right and could destroy their credibility but because they consider him to be so out of touch that doing so would be pointless. They don’t believe he or his followers can be convinced, so most don’t even try. However, there are some who do try, and Graham has debated them publicly. They point out many of the issues I have pointed out throughout this section, but Graham simply ignores them and keeps pushing his theory.

Graham also relies on the word of scientists who do not follow the proper scientific method. For instance, when looking back at Gunung Padang, the site in southeast Asia where the volcanic rocks were discovered and dated as far back as 22,000 BC, Graham relies heavily on the research of Danny Hilman Natawidjaja. The problem with this is Danny’s carbon dating methods are considered non-standard, and he has not released his full findings for the scientific community to verify. In fact, one of the reasons that research into this site has been put on hold, allegedly, is that his research was destructive to the site and was not producing anything of scientific value.

Additionally, the date that Danny has provided for the site has changed dramatically over the years. Depending on what publication or person he was speaking to at the time, his interpretation of his own data has fluctuated by thousands of years, which casts serious doubt on his credibility.

As for Göbekli Tepe, despite what Graham claims, there is no evidence that this site was the location of a full civilization. While the exact reason for the site’s construction is unknown, the reason for its location is obvious. Because it was built on the highest point on the edge of a mountain, it overlooks a large plain that was once lush with wildlife, such as sheep, goats, gazelles, and other animals.

This provided the people who resided in and around the site with a source of meat, but these planes were also once packed with wild cereal, such as wheat and barley. Grindstones and mortars and pestles at the site suggest that the hunter-gatherers who used the site may have processed these wild cereals into something edible to help supplement their diet and allow them to stay in one place without developing agriculture.

Although it was assumed that hunter-gatherers never attempted to build anything similar during this time, it appears that the archeologists were incorrect about this one thing. Even without inventing agriculture, they seem to have devoted much time and effort into building this location, which seems to serve very little purpose.

So, where does that leave us?

Overall, Graham is a fantastic storyteller, which is one of the reasons he has gained the following he has, but much of what he says is demonstrably false. He uses “could have” and “may have” far too often when speculating wildly and offers almost no tangible evidence. His new series on Netflix, Ancient Apocalypse, attempted to convince audiences that his theory was somewhat plausible, but when you break it down to its core components, there is very little value there.

The Silurians

Now, we’ve been talking about Graham’s theory for so long that you may have forgotten there is a second part to today’s episode: the idea that a non-human civilization may have existed millions of years in the past, long before humans ever evolved. So, that’s what we’re going to spend the remainder of the episode discussing, but don’t worry, this one will not take nearly as long.

As the title of this chapter suggests, the primary theory for this type of civilization is called The Silurian Hypothesis. For the nerds out there like me, yes, this theory is famously named after the Silurians from the television show Doctor Who, an ancient race of lizard people who existed before humans but have since gone into hibernation.

In this real theory, however, there is no hibernation and the real Silurians—if they were real—are not specifically lizard people. This is just a catch-all term for a possible ancient race.

According to Jan Zalasiewicz, a geologist from the University of Leicester in the UK, it is highly unlikely that, if every human on earth were to suddenly vanish this afternoon, there would be much evidence of our existence in ten million years’ time, which does give credit to this possibility. This is even true for cities and other urban areas that are highly developed as, given enough time, rain and wind and other eroding forces would make quick work of even the largest manmade structures. For this reason, we wouldn’t expect to find any ruins, trash, or artifacts.

There would likely be fossils to discover, but the fossil record is sporadic and incomplete to say the least, so it’s not impossible to think that we may have completely missed a species—or a million species—along the way. So, hearing that, an ancient race does sound possible; however, there are a few indicators that we would expect to see that we do not, the largest of which is carbon. Let me explain:

While there’s no way to know for sure, it is likely safe to assume that any ancient species that evolved on earth while having access to the same earthly elements as humans did would have advanced, technologically speaking, along similar lines. This is not to say that they would have advanced in the exact same way and order as we did—because that would be highly improbable—but it does mean that they most likely would have taken similar leaps. For instance, no civilization would have been able to develop metal working without first harnessing the power of fire and no modern cancer research centers would exist if not for the advent of written language.

Therefore, if we are to assume this, then we could also safely assume that any species that progressed into the industrial age would have certainly had to utilize some sort of energy, and it’s unlikely that they would have made the jump directly from the water wheel to the nuclear reactor. This means that, barring the possibility that there were powerful resources available to them that no longer exist today, we would likely see signs of them harvesting the same types of basic resources for power generation that we use today, such as coal and oil. But we do not.

Additionally, by studying sediment layers, we would see a large spike in carbon. But once again, we do not—at least not on the scale of a full industrial civilization.

Another key indicator for this type of civilization would be a period of rapid temperature increases that could indicate artificially caused climate change similar to the type of change seen today, albeit likely on a much greater scale. This assumption makes sense because our need for power has only grown exponentially since the onset of the industrial revolution less than 300 years ago, and it will likely continue to grow at a similar pace unless massive scientific breakthroughs are discovered. If this happened in the past, the energy usage would have been astronomical after just a few thousand years of industrialization, which would have caused massive and sudden temperature spikes.

Truthfully, we do see many of these types of spikes happening all throughout the earth’s history, but there is simply not enough evidence to say definitively that they were caused by an industrial civilization. It is far more likely that they, like the temperature changes seen during the Younger Dryas, were natural.

However, none of this excludes the possibility that a species may have evolved to our intellectual level without ever advancing into the industrial revolution, so there may be evidence out there somewhere that we have yet to discover. Maybe they are the lizard people we have been seeking for so long. Only time will tell.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main question the article explores?

The article explores whether there was an advanced civilization before our own, either on Earth or elsewhere in the universe.

What is the Comet Impact Theory?

The Comet Impact Theory suggests that a large comet impacted the Earth approximately 12,800 years ago, causing widespread catastrophes and potentially wiping out an advanced civilization.

Who is Graham Hancock and what is his theory?

Graham Hancock is an independent archaeologist who proposes that a pre-historic human civilization existed and ruled over the Earth during the Last Glacial Period, which was wiped out by a comet impact around 9,200 BC.

What evidence does Graham Hancock use to support his theory?

Graham Hancock uses evidence such as the water erosion on the Sphinx, the site of Gunung Padang, and the ancient site of Göbekli Tepe to support his theory of a lost civilization.

What is the Silurian Hypothesis?

The Silurian Hypothesis suggests that an ancient, non-human civilization may have existed millions of years ago, long before humans evolved. It is named after the Silurians from the TV show Doctor Who.

What are some criticisms of Graham Hancock’s theory?

Critics argue that Graham Hancock’s theory is poorly researched, unsubstantiated, and heavily biased. They also point out that he cherry-picks evidence and ignores anything that does not support his claims.

What is the significance of the Younger Dryas period?

The Younger Dryas period is significant because it marks a time of rapid climate change around 12,800 years ago, which some theories suggest was caused by a comet impact that may have wiped out an advanced civilization.

What is the Comet Research Group?

The Comet Research Group is a collection of scientists from various universities and institutions who support the Comet Impact Theory, which suggests that a comet impact caused the Younger Dryas period and potentially wiped out an advanced civilization.

What is the Sphinx Water Erosion Hypothesis?

The Sphinx Water Erosion Hypothesis suggests that the water erosion on the Sphinx indicates that it was built during a time when rainfall was still occurring in Giza, which could be as far back as 12,000 BC.

What is the significance of the site of Gunung Padang?

The site of Gunung Padang is significant because it contains tens of thousands of hexagonal volcanic slabs that have been dated as far back as 22,000 BC, suggesting that humans may have been building permanent settlements long before agriculture was developed.

Sources

• Original Decoding the Unknown video: Was There an Advanced Civilization Before Our Own?
• Hero image source by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) / openverse, by-sa.