In Search of a Lost Civilization

Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization by Graham Hancock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Is it possible that before the age of man, we know it, there was an advanced civilization buried beneath the aeons of time? Could we be experiencing a species wide amnesia. Author Graham Hancock believes so. In this book he presents compelling evidence that this society did exist. Legends abound of a mythical Atlantis that was both technologically advanced and spiritually advanced and then it was swallowed up by the sea. There is some truth to this.

Starting with the Piri map uncovered in 1511 in Constantinople. The map was an accurate cartography Antartica before it was covered with ice. Complete with illustration showing rivers, seas, lake and mountain ranges. This was later confirmed with modern technology and infrared ex Ray photography. Darn accurate.It was not officially discovered until the 18 hundreds. Go figure.

Next the author takes a journey to South America. Flying above the area where there is a field there are accurate rock illustrations of animals , and other formations which are only intelligible from the air. The carbon dating places them at a much older age than man has supposedly been around. There is also an illustration of a spider which was known from the fairway Amazon forest. Journeying further into the Inca and OLmec interior one finds advanced pyramids with stones weighing several tons that are perfectly fit together. How did they carved and move these stones . They are much too advanced for primitively man and they appeared suddenly with no show of progression. There is a lake city in the Mountains called Teohuancun by the lake of a similar name. There is a legend that Viracocha a white bearded man came and dispensed wisdom all over South AMerica. THere are similar characters liked him using different names. Supposedly he came and went on a raft made of snakes.
The Aztecs had a similar figure named Qutzacaclle. He was a plunged serpent that dispensed wisdom to the people. He left on a boat as well.

In Egypt the serpent meant wisdom. They'd too have pyramids manifestly build seeming coming up from a void. Later pyramids which should have been better constructed fall far short of the ideal. It is believed that the three pyramids build by Khefru ( actually they appear to be far older) and the Sphinx are much needed older. THe pyramids originally thought to be tombs might really be star clocks . They have similar legends to the Native Americans and a break down of four different ages. They say Osiris came from the sea and taught them civilization.

All the great civilizations of old have legends of flooding, volcanic eruption and ice sheets. This points to the last ice age some ten ton twelve thousand years ago and human society may even be older than that. In Sumerian there is star lore that oops much too advanced for early humans and it came there suddenly, there is no sign of progression. Supposedly they were taught by Oannes, a being that was half fish half human. Viracocha figures also show being dressed as fish. Too many coincidences.

Atlantis has been disproven if anything. Searching all the oceans there is no trace of a sunk continent . Plate tectonics, continental shift, changing of magnetic poles may point too the cause of disaster and so much movement . After all several Native American calendars are predicting that the end is near. Where was this civilization found, go back to the beginning.

The book has a lot strong points, by bringing up the interconnectedness of ancient civilizations. Yet I think other arguments should be entertained. THe Egyptians had boats buried in their pyramids. They had advanced knowledge of astral star positions. This could have come about from someone who was used to traversing the seas. I wonder if the author is aware that the Phoenicians had extensive contact with the Egyptians. They knew how to build ships and use the stars to navigate . The Phoenician also did business with the people of Malta. The Maltese were excellent stone smiths. It is believed by some sources that these Maltese were brought to Egypt by the Phoenicians. I have two more criticism of this book . One is that it is just too long. I tend to get tired of reading really long books. The second is that the explanations of the early science f mapping stars and tracking the earths processions got too dry and technical for my likes. If they could leave that out and shorten the book by 100 pages it would be perfect.

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