Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock
Hancock in 2010
Born
Graham Bruce Hancock

(1950-08-02) 2 August 1950 (age 73)
Edinburgh, Scotland
EducationDurham University
OccupationAuthor
Notable work
TelevisionAncient Apocalypse (2022)
SpouseSantha Faiia
Websitegrahamhancock.com

Graham Bruce Hancock (born 2 August 1950)[1] is a British writer who promotes pseudoscientific[2][3] theories involving ancient civilizations and hypothetical lost lands.[4] Hancock speculates that an advanced ice age civilization was destroyed in a cataclysm, but that its survivors passed on their knowledge to hunter-gatherers, giving rise to the earliest known civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica.[5][6]

Born in Edinburgh, Hancock studied sociology at Durham University before working as a journalist, writing for a number of British newspapers and magazines. His first three books dealt with international development, including Lords of Poverty (1989), a well-received critique of corruption in the aid system. Beginning with The Sign and the Seal in 1992, he shifted focus to speculative accounts of human prehistory and ancient civilisations, on which he has written a dozen books, most notably Fingerprints of the Gods and Magicians of the Gods. His ideas have been the subject of several films, as well as the Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse (2022), and Hancock makes regular appearances on the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience to discuss them. He has also written two fantasy novels and in 2013 delivered a controversial TEDx talk promoting the use of the psychoactive drink ayahuasca.

Reviews of Hancock's interpretations of archaeological evidence and historic documents have identified them as a form of pseudoarchaeology[7][8] or pseudohistory[9][10] containing confirmation bias supporting preconceived conclusions by ignoring context, cherry picking, or misinterpreting evidence, and withholding critical countervailing data.[11][12] His writings have neither undergone scholarly peer review nor been published in academic journals.[13]

  1. ^ "Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse: All you need to know about presenter Graham Hancock". The Economic Times (English ed.). India Times. 13 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  2. ^ Fagan 2006, pp. xvi, 27–28.
  3. ^ Defant 2017.
  4. ^ "Atlantis Reborn Again {programme synopsis}". Science & Nature: Horizon. BBC. 2000. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  5. ^ "...the belief of Hancock and other writers in a lost civilisation that passed its wisdom on to ancient Egypt or the Maya repeats the theme of Atlantis: the antediluvian world popularised by Ignatius Donnelly from 1882." Kevin Greene, Tom Moore, Archaeology: An Introduction, page 252 (Routledge, 2010 edition). ISBN 978-0-203-83597-5
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Conversation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Fagan 2006, pp. xvi.
  8. ^ Costopoulos, André (8 December 2022). "Consider This: Taking a closer look at pseudoarchaeology". University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  9. ^ Fritze 2009, pp. 214–218.
  10. ^ Hodge, Hugo (6 December 2022). "Netflix's Ancient Apocalypse series uses 'racist ideologies' to rewrite Indo-Pacific history, experts say". ABC News. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  11. ^ Fagan 2006, pp. 27–28.
  12. ^ Fritze 2009, pp. 218.
  13. ^ Regal 2009.

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