In Episode One of his Ancient Apocalypse series, Graham
Hancock states about the Nan Madol archaeological
site, which lies on the eastern shore of the island of
Pohnpe in the Federated States of Micronesia in the
western Pacific Ocean;

"During my explorations on previous visits, I found
several of its megalithic pillars extending out below
the waterline, suggesting that earlier versions may
have been constructed when sea levels were lower,
during the last Ice Age."

As discussed by Pothole45, in a recent Youtube video
(Hadfield 2023), Graham Hancock and professional
arcaheologist have seen these underwater and so-called
"megalithic" pillars. They have been docmented and
studied by Ayres (1993), Saxe et al. (1980), Ishimura
et al. (2014), and Sugimoto et al. (2014).

Furthermore, the nature of these pillars have been
examined by on site probing and the collection and
dissection of samples of selected pillars.

"They used a steel bar to drill into the first and second
columns in hopes of going through any coral encrustation
covering stone. A penetration, approximately 20 cm deep,
was made in both without striking stone. Finally, it was
decided to raise the small column to the surface for detail
inspection. The object was entirely of coral and therefore
was not a purposefully positioned stone column."

Thus, Graham Hancock is wrong about these pillars being
manmade megalithic columns. Instead, they are natural coral
formations However as suggested by Ishimura et al. (2014),
these natural features may have inspired legends of sunken
ruins inhabited by local spirits. As a result, he lacks any
evidence of older, Ice Age, underwater stone structures
using basalt columns and connected to the Gunung Padang
site in Indonesia.

References Cited

Hancock, G., 2022. Once There was a Flood. Ancient
Apocalypse Episode one, Netflicks
[www.netflix.com]

Ishimura, T., Asada, A., Maeda, F., Sugimoto, K.I., Ogawa, T.,
Hikoyama, A., Matsumoto, Y., Sugimoto, Y., Brennan, C.,
Haramoto, T. and Kohler, A., 2014. Underwater Survey at
the Ruins of Nan Madol, Pohnpei State, Federated States
of Micronesia. In Proceedings of the 2nd Asia-Pacific
Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage,
Honolulu (pp. 227-240).
[www.themua.org]

Hadfield, P., (Potholer54) 2023, Graham Hancock and
the evidence for his 'Ancient Apocalypse' (Episode one) Youtube
[www.youtube.com]

Saxe, A. A., Allenson, R. A., and Loughridge, S. R., 1980.
The Nan Mada/ Area of Ponape: Researches into
Bounding and Stabilizing an Ancient Administrative Center.
The Trust Territory Historic Preservation Office, Saipan: 1-145.

Sugimoto, K.I., Ogawa, T., Hikoyama, A., Matsumoto, Y.
and Sugimoto, Y., 2014. Underwater Survey at the
Ruins of Nan Madol, Pohnpei State. In Proceedings of
the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater
Cultural Heritage, Honolulu (pp. 1-14).
[www.themua.org]

A related Youtube video by Ptohole54:

More debunking of Graham Hancock's "Ancient
Apocalypse" (Ep 5: Gobekli Tepe)
[www.youtube.com]

Notes, this is a draft section of a larger article, which I
plan to soon start working on.

Yours,

Paul H.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
William Faulkner, Act 1, Scene III, Requiem for a Nun (1951)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2023 01:42PM by Paul H..