In the Russell Brand video, Graham Hancock makes several complaints about archaeologists "ignoring evidence". The following represent merely a selection of these points , accompanied by a selection of links to arguments and evidence countering his claims. The times in the video are approximate.
(1) The "evidence of an ancient knowledge of precession [of the equinoxes]" (36:00) e.g., at Gobekli Tepe.
Precession [of the equinoxes]:
- [
en.wikipedia.org]
- [
www.britannica.com]
The mechanism of precession is believed to have first been noted and recorded by Hipparchus in 129 BC.
Discussion of evidence of ancient knowledge of precession at Gobekli Tepe:
Quote
Graham Hancock is the popular author of Fingerprints of the Gods. It’s a pseudoscience book that proposes, without evidence, that a mysterious ancient culture thought the ability to track the precession of the stars was so important they embedded a series of crucial numbers into great stories to ensure the knowledge was passed through generations. He calls it a “ghostly fingerprint of an advanced scientific knowledge impressed on the oldest myths and traditions of our planet.”
One of his favorite examples is Gobekli Tepe. In a 2015 interview on the Joe Rogan Experience that’s been viewed more than 11 million times, Hancock called Gobekli Tepe a “profoundly astronomical site.” - [
astronomy.com]
(2) (50:25) Hancock claims that evidence for an ancient knowledge of precession is described in "Hamlet's Mill" (de Santillana and von Dechend) - [
en.wikipedia.org].
This long essay - [
web.archive.org] - explains in detail why the two authors were mistaken in their methodology and conclusions.
(3) (50:58) Hancock alludes to the existence of "ancient maps": 15th-17th century AD maps, claimed to have been based on "older source maps," that show the world (including Antarctica, widely believed to have first been discovered only in 1820) as it was during the last Ice Age.
A selection of three Paul Heinrich papers examining the evidence for these "ancient maps:"
- [
www.hallofmaat.com] - Orontius Finaeus
- [
www.hallofmaat.com] - Buache
- [
www.hallofmaat.com] - Piri Reis
The Piri Reis paper argues that one major problem is that the map's methodology for determining longitude and latitude allowed for unintentional errors; the grids marked on the maps were incorrect. Moreover, the reconstructed "source maps" used to fix the Piri Reis Map were based on the assumption that those original source maps were accurate, which is highly debatable. Without solid proof for the validity of the "source maps" reconstructed by Charles Hapgood, the claims of accuracy for the Piri Reis Map lack any supporting evidence.
Furthermore, both Hapgood's reconstructions, and Lt. Colonel Ohlmeyer's cartographic analysis resulting in a conclusion that there were ancient source-maps supposedly depicting the "ice-free coastline of Antarctica," incorrectly assume that the subglacial topography of Antarctica is the same as the ice-free topography of Antarctica.
But subglacial topography shouldn't be confused, or identified, with ice-free topography ...
(4) (53:36) " ... there definitely was a global cataclysm ... 12,800 years ago ... "
Hancock here alludes to the Younger Dryas - [
en.wikipedia.org]. Some schools of thought have claimed that the Younger Dryas was the result of an impact - [
en.wikipedia.org].
He mentions (53:55) the work of the Comet Research Group; and implies that the Zep Tepi (one of the Ancient Egyptian creation myths) - [
en.wikipedia.org] - is connected with the Younger Dryas.
References to (the sometimes controversial) Comet Research Group in Ma'at archives - [
www.maatforum.com]
Link to a paper on the Zep Tepi creation myth: [
www.maatforum.com]
A search through the forum archive will reveal several discussions of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, for example, this one - [
www.maatforum.com]
It's difficult to understand why, after all this time, and in the face of so much countering evidence, Hancock still continues to depend on claims best characterised as creaky and insubstantial.
Hermione
Director/Moderator - The Hall of Ma'at
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hallofmaatforum@proton.me
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2023 02:42AM by Hermione.
