korrents

Graham Hancock

@graham-hancock · 25 positions · 0 changes of mind

British journalist and author, who has argued since Fingerprints of the Gods (1995) that an advanced seafaring civilisation existed during the last Ice Age and was destroyed in a cataclysm around 12,800 years ago; presenter of the Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse.

Graham Hancock did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    That an advanced civilisation existed in the Ice Age is a hypothesis offered to answer the puzzles of prehistory, not something anyone has proved — and it is worth inquiring into anyway.

    Their wordsIt’s often said that I’m claiming to have proved that there was an advanced lost civilization in the Ice Age. And I am not claiming to have proved that. That is a hypothesis that I’m putting forward to answer some of the questions that I have about prehistory.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:07:28 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 1st of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    Göbekli Tepe was not the beginning of monumental building but the summation of a whole regional culture that was already under way before it.

    Their wordsIt’s clear that Göbekli Tepe now was not the beginning of this process. It was actually in a way, the end of this process.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:11:32 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 2nd of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    The same afterlife journey along the Milky Way turns up in cultures too distant in space and time to have shared it, so it is an inheritance from one remote common source rather than a coincidence.

    Their wordsAnd I don’t feel that that can be a coincidence. I feel that what we are looking at is an inheritance of an idea, a legacy that’s been passed down from a remote common source to cultures all around the world, and that has taken on a life of its own within those cultures.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:24:54 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 3rd of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    The worldwide flood traditions record the Younger Dryas, not local floods that storytellers mistook for global ones.

    Their wordsI’m not persuaded by that, particularly since we know there was a nasty epoch, the Younger Dryas, when flooding did occur, and when the Earth was subjected to events cataclysmic enough to extinguish entirely the megafauna of the ice age.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:38:52 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 4th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our reading

    The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis is serious multidisciplinary science, not the lunatic fringe its opponents call it.

    Their wordsThe Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, YDIH for short, is not a lunatic fringe theory as its opponents often attempt to write it off. It’s the work of more than 60 major scientists working across many different disciplines, including archeology and including oceanography as well.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:39:32 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 5th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    A cosmic impact can be established from its proxies alone without a crater — that is exactly how the dinosaur extinction was first argued.

    Their wordsLuis and Walter Alvarez, who made that incredible discovery, initially their discovery was based entirely on impact proxies, just as the Younger Dryas is. There was no crater. And for a long time they were disbelieved because they couldn’t produce a crater.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:40:59 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 6th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  13. Our reading

    Science explains the Younger Dryas freeze by the Gulf Stream shutting down but never explains what shut it down, and a comet impact is the elegant answer.

    Their wordsBut what’s not really been addressed before is why that happened, why the Gulf Stream was cut, why a sudden pulse of meltwater went into the world ocean, and it was so much of it and it was so cold that it actually stopped the Gulf Stream in its tracks. And that’s where the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis offers a very elegant and very satisfactory solution to the problem.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:43:53 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 7th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  15. Our reading

    The Younger Dryas was triggered not by one impact but by hundreds of airbursts from a fragmenting comet whose debris stream the Earth still crosses twice a year.

    Their wordsSo the suggestion is that it wasn’t one impact, it wasn’t two impacts, it wasn’t three impacts, it was hundreds of air bursts all around the planet.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:47:05 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 8th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    His case does not rest on the impact hypothesis: what is load-bearing is that the Younger Dryas happened at all, whatever triggered it.

    Their wordsIn a sense, it’s not the impact hypothesis that is central to what I’m saying, it’s the Younger Dryas that’s central to what I’m saying. And the Younger Dryas required a trigger, something caused it.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:50:21 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 9th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  19. Our reading

    Somebody was mapping the world during the last Ice Age, which is why medieval Portolan charts carry accurate longitudes and an Antarctica nobody had seen.

    Their wordsI don’t think that makes sense. I think somebody was mapping the world during the last ice age, but that doesn’t mean that they had our kind of tech.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:53:21 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 10th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  21. Our reading

    Calling the lost civilisation advanced means only that it could calculate longitude, not that it built machines.

    Their wordsAnd when I say that, as I have said on a number of occasions, that it had technology equivalent to ours in the 18th century, I’m referring specifically to the ability to calculate longitude. I’m not saying that they were building steam engines. I don’t see any evidence for that.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:54:38 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 11th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  23. Our reading

    The Sphinx was originally lion-headed as well as lion-bodied, and the pharaoh's head it wears is a later re-carving of a ruined lion's.

    Their wordsAnd actually the constellation of Leo has a very Sphinx-like look. And I and my colleagues are pretty sure that the Sphinx was originally a lion entirely.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:59:20 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 12th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  25. Our reading

    The Great Sphinx and the megalithic temples beside it date to about 12,500 years ago, thousands of years before dynastic Egypt.

    Their wordsWe are pretty sure that the Sphinx, at least, does date back to 12 and a half thousand years ago and with it, the megalithic temples, the so-called Valley Temple, which stands just to the east and just to the south of the Sphinx and the Sphinx temple, which stands directly in front of the Sphinx.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:02:52 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 13th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  27. Our reading

    The three Great Pyramids are a Fourth Dynasty renovation and enhancement of much older structures already standing on the Giza plateau.

    Their wordsBut what I do suggest is that there were very low platforms on the Giza Plateau that are much older and that when we look at the three Great Pyramids, we are looking at a renovation and a restoration and a enhancement of much older structures that had existed on the Giza Plateau for a much longer period before that.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:03:56 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 14th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  29. Our reading

    If a lost Ice Age civilisation existed, its traces lie in the Sahara, the Amazon and the drowned continental shelves — the habitable places archaeology has barely looked at.

    Their wordsThe places to look are places that were hospitable and welcoming to human beings during the ice age. That, of course, includes the coastlines that are now underwater. Of course, it includes the Sahara Desert. Of course, it includes the Amazon rainforest as well.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:18:23 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 15th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  31. Our reading

    Megalithic architecture plus astronomy is a deliberate message system: Giza encodes a date in a language any astronomically literate future culture can read.

    Their wordsIt uses massive megalithic architecture, which is very difficult to destroy, and a profound knowledge of astronomy to encode a date in a language that any culture which is sufficiently literate in astronomy will be able to decode.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:24:09 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 16th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  33. Our reading

    Archaeology's hostility to him is territorial defence of a profession, and it grew with the size of his audience rather than with anything in his evidence.

    Their wordsI think it’s partly territorial. I cannot speak of all archeologists, but some archeologists feel very territorial about their profession. They do not feel happy about outsiders entering their realm, especially if those outsiders have a large platform.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:26:29 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 17th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  35. Our reading

    The absence of Ice Age shipwrecks is no evidence against Ice Age seafaring: no boat survives from the settlement of Australia either, and nobody doubts that happened.

    Their wordsAnd no ships have survived that speak to the settlement of Australia, and no ships have survived that speak to the settlement of Cyprus either. But that doesn’t mean that that thing didn’t happen.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:36:09 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 18th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  37. Our reading

    Publicly condemning a heterodox idea makes the public more likely to believe it, because trust in experts has collapsed.

    Their wordsActually by condemning those alternative point of view, archaeologists make it much more likely that the general public will accept those alternative point of view, because there is a great distrust of experts in our society today.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:47:24 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 19th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  39. Our reading

    Shamanism is the origin of everything of value in humanity and was the earliest form of science.

    Their wordsI think that shamanism is the origin of everything of value in humanity. I think it was the earliest form of science.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:57:14 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 20th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  41. Our reading

    Anybody running for head of state should have to undergo the ayahuasca ordeal first, and most of those who did would no longer want the job.

    Their wordsIf I had the power to do so, I would make it a law, an absolute law, that anybody running for a powerful political position, particularly if that position is president or head of state in any kind of way, that that person has to undergo the ayahuasca ordeal first.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:12:06 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 21st of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  43. Our reading

    A society that lets its government dictate what experiences a person may have inside their own consciousness cannot call itself free.

    Their wordsWe cannot say that we are free if we allow our government to dictate to us what experiences we may or may not have in our inner consciousness, while doing no harm to others.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:14:19 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 22nd of 25 in this recording

    government

    Interesting

  45. Our reading

    The Great Pyramid was never a tomb — it is a curiosity device built to make later cultures investigate it.

    Their wordsBut the Great Pyramid, to go to that length to create a tomb, to make it a scale model of the earth, to orient it perfectly to true north, to make it 6 million tons. This is not a tomb. This is something else. This is a curiosity device.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:23:13 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 23rd of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  47. Our reading

    Nobody knows how the Great Pyramid was built: neither ramps nor wet sand can lift seventy-ton granite blocks three hundred feet into the air.

    Their wordsBut that is not going to help you get dozens of 70 ton granite blocks 300 feet in the air to form the roof of the King’s Chamber and the floor of the chamber above it, and the roof of that chamber, and the floor of the chamber above that, and so on and so forth. Wet sand never got those objects up there.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:24:27 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 24th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting

  49. Our reading

    That there is no soul is an assumption of science rather than a finding: no experiment has ever shown that the light simply blinks out.

    Their wordsThe general view of science, I think, is that we’re accidents of evolution. When we die, the light blinks out. There’s no more of us. There’s no such thing as the soul. But that’s not a proven point. There’s no experiment that proves that’s the case.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:29:06 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Graham Hancock: Lost Civilization of the Ice Age & Ancient Human History | Lex Fridman Podcast #449youtube.com 25th of 25 in this recording

    Interesting