fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Graham Bruce Hancock (/ˈhænkɒk/;) is a British author and journalist who promotes pseudoscientific[1][2] theories involving ancient civilizations and lost lands.[3] Hancock speculates that a prehistoric progenitor civilization gave rise to the ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica.[4]

Graham Hancock
Born	Graham Bruce Hancock Edinburgh, Scotland
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Durham University
Occupation	Author
Known for	The Sign and the Seal Fingerprints of the Gods The Message of the Sphinx Magicians of the Gods America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization
Spouse	Santha Faiia
Website	grahamhancock.com

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, The Message of the Sphinx, and Magicians of the Gods. His ideas have been the subject of an episode of BBC Horizon (1999) and the Netflix documentary 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 recreational use of ayahuasca.

Hancock's interpretations of archaeological evidence and historic documents are a form of pseudoarchaeology[5] or pseudohistory[6] that ignore context, cherry pick or misinterpret evidence, and withhold critical countervailing data, to fit a preconceived conclusion.[7] His writings have neither undergone scholarly peer review nor been published in academic journals.[8]

Early life and education

Graham Bruce Hancock was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He moved with his parents to India at the age of three, where his father worked as a surgeon. Having returned to the UK, he graduated from Durham University in 1973, receiving a First Class Honours degree in sociology.[9][10]

Career

As a journalist, Hancock worked for many British papers, such as The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Guardian. He co-edited New Internationalist magazine from 1976 to 1979, and was the East Africa correspondent of The Economist from 1981 to 1983.[9]

Prior to 1990, Hancock's works dealt mainly with problems of economic and social development. Since 1990, his works have focused mainly on speculative connections he makes between various archaeological, historical, and cross-cultural phenomena.^{[citation needed]}

His books include Lords of Poverty, The Sign and the Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, Keeper of Genesis (released in the US as Message of the Sphinx), The Mars Mystery, Heaven's Mirror (with wife Santha Faiia), Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization, and Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith (with co-author Robert Bauval). In 1996, he appeared in The Mysterious Origins of Man.[11] He also wrote and presented the documentaries Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age (2002) and Quest for the Lost Civilisation (1998)[12] shown on Channel 4.

In Hancock's book Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith,[13] co-authored with Robert Bauval, the two put forward what sociologist of religion David V. Barrett called "a version of the old Jewish-Masonic plot so beloved by ultra-right-wing conspiracy theorists."[14] They suggest a connection between the pillars of Solomon's Temple and the Twin Towers, and between the Star of David and The Pentagon.[15] A contemporary review of Talisman by David V. Barrett for The Independent pointed to a lack of originality as well as basic factual errors, concluding that it was "a mish-mash of badly-connected, half-argued theories".[16] In a 2008 piece for The Telegraph referencing Talisman, Damian Thompson described Hancock and Bauval as fantasists.[15]

Hancock's Supernatural: Meetings With the Ancient Teachers of Mankind, was published in the UK in October 2005 and in the US in 2006. In it, Hancock examines paleolithic cave art in the light of David Lewis-Williams' neuropsychological model, exploring its relation to the development of the fully modern human mind.^{[citation needed]}

In 2015, his Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilization was published by St. Martin's Press.^{[citation needed]}

His first novel, Entangled: The Eater of Souls, the first in a fantasy series, was published in the UK in April 2010 and in the US in October 2010. The novel makes use of Hancock's prior research interests and as he has noted, "What was there to lose, I asked myself, when my critics already described my factual books as fiction?"^{[citation needed]}

Pseudoarchaeology

In Archaeological Fantasies Garrett G. Fagan points out that pseudoarchaeologists cherry pick evidence and misrepresent known facts. When apparently factual claims in their works are investigated it turns out that "quotes are presented out of context, critical countervailing data is withheld, the state of understanding is misrepresented, or critical archaeological information about context is ignored".[17] Fagan gives two typical examples from Hancock's book Fingerprints of the Gods (1995):[18]

• Hancock wrote that "the best recent evidence suggests that"[19] large regions of Antarctica may have been ice-free until about 6,000 years ago, referring to the Piri Reis map and Hapgood's work from the 1960s. What is left entirely unmentioned are the extensive studies of the Antarctic ice sheet by George H. Denton, published in 1981, which showed the ice to be hundreds of thousands of years old.[20][21]
• When discussing the ancient Bolivian city of Tiwanaku, Hancock presents it as a "mysterious site about which very little is known"[22] and that "minimal archaeology has been done over the years",[22] suggesting that it may date to 17,000 years ago. Yet in the years prior to these statements dozens of studies had been published, major excavations were conducted and the site was radiocarbon dated by three sets of samples to around 1500 BC.[23]

Orion correlation theory

One of the many recurring themes in several of Hancock's works has been an exposition on the Orion correlation theory (OCT),[24][25] supported by Belgian writer Robert Bauval and then further expounded in collaborative works with Hancock, as well as in their separate publications. OCT posits that there is a correlation between the location of the three largest pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex and Orion's Belt of the constellation Orion, as intended as such by the original builders of the Giza pyramid complex.^{[citation needed]}

BBC Horizon programme

Atlantis Reborn (1999), an episode of BBC Two's Horizon TV series, challenged the ideas presented by Hancock. It detailed one of Hancock's archaeoastronomomical views that the arrangement of an ancient temple complex was designed to mirror astronomical features, and attempted to demonstrate that the same thing could be done using famous landmarks in New York. It also alleged that Hancock had selectively moved or ignored the locations of some of the temples to fit his own theories.[3]

Hancock and Robert Bauval said they were misrepresented by the programme, and made complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Commission against the way Horizon had portrayed them and their work. The Comission found that "the programme makers acted in good faith in their examination of the theories of Mr Hancock and Mr Bauval".[26] One of their complaints was upheld, that the programme unfairly omitted one of their arguments in rebuttal of astronomer Edwin Krupp who criticised the theory of a significant correlation between the Giza pyramids and the belt stars of the constellation Orion (the "correlation theory").[27][28]

In Atlantis Reborn Again, shown on 14 December 2000, Hancock and Bauval provided further rebuttals to Krupp and argued that the ancient Egyptians had made the Pyramids correlate with the three stars of Orion's Belt. However, the documentary as a whole continued to present serious doubts about Hancock's views, demonstrating as an example how, by using his methods, the constellation of Leo may be discovered among landmarks of modern Manhattan, concluding: "As long as you have enough points and you don't need to make every point fit, you can find virtually any pattern you want."[29][3]

Ancient Apocalypse (2022)

Hancock's theories are the basis of the Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse, which was released on 10 November 2022. At Netflix, Hancock's son Sean is "senior manager of unscripted originals".[30] This series incorporates ideas from the Comet Research Group (CRG), including the controversial Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, which attributes climate change at the end of the Pleistocene to a massive impact of extraterrestrial objects.[31]

According to Courrier international, it is dubious that Hancock's assertions are never questioned on screen: in Ancient Apocalypse, he calls the archaeologists "pseudo-experts" and repeats that they treat him patronizingly, but he never quotes their names nor their arguments.[32] Sam Kriss, a journalist from The Daily Telegraph, says that the theories presented by Hancock in the series do not fully convince him, and he recalls that they are judged "implausible" by the academics.[33]

Other media appearances

Hancock gave a TEDx lecture titled "The War on Consciousness", in which he described his use of ayahuasca, an Amazonian brew containing a hallucinogenic compound DMT, and argued that adults should be allowed to responsibly use it for self-improvement and spiritual growth. At the recommendation of TED's Science Board, the lecture was removed from the TEDx YouTube channel and moved to TED's main website where it "can be framed to highlight both [Hancock's] provocative ideas and the factual problems with [his] arguments".[34]

Hancock has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast several times.[35]

In popular culture

In 2009, Roland Emmerich released his blockbuster disaster movie 2012, citing Fingerprints of the Gods in the credits as an inspiration for the film,[36] stating: "I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth's Crust Displacement Theory in Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods."[37]

Works

Books

• Hancock, Graham (1985). Ethiopia: The Challenge of Hunger. London: V. Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-03680-X.
• Hancock, Graham; Enver Carim (1986). AIDS: The Deadly Epidemic. London: V. Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-03837-3.
• Hancock, Graham (1989). Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-253-2.
• Hancock, Graham (1992). The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-57813-1.
• Hancock, Graham (1995). Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-59348-3.
• Hancock, Graham; Robert Bauval (1996). The Message of the Sphinx: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-70503-6. Published in the United Kingdom as Hancock, Graham; Robert Bauval (1996). Keeper of Genesis: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-434-00302-6.
• Hancock, Graham (1998). The Mars Mystery: A Tale of the End of Two Worlds. London: Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-4314-0.
• Hancock, Graham; Santha Faiia (1998). Heaven's Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civilization. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-70811-6.
• Hancock, Graham; Faiia, Santha (2001). Fingerprints of the Gods: The Quest Continues (New Updated ed.). New York: Crown Century. ISBN 0-7126-7906-5.
• Hancock, Graham (2002). Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization. New York: Crown. ISBN 1-4000-4612-2.
• Hancock, Graham; Robert Bauval (2004). Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith. Tisbury: Element Books. ISBN 0-00-719036-0.
• Hancock, Graham (2005). Supernatural: Meeting with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind. London: Century. ISBN 1-84413-681-7.
• Hancock, Graham (2010). Entangled: The Eater of Souls. New York: The Disinformation Company. ISBN 978-1-934708-56-9.
• Hancock, Graham (2013). War God: Nights of the Witch. Coronet. ISBN 978-1-444734-37-9.
• Hancock, Graham (2015). Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilisation. Coronet. ISBN 978-1444779677.
• Hancock, Graham (2019). America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781250243737.

Video

• Michael Palin's Pole to Pole – Crossing the Line (EP 5) (1992)
• Quest for the Lost Civilization – Acorn Media (1998)
• Atlantis Reborn Again – BBC Horizon (2000)
• Earth Pilgrims – Earth Pilgrims Inc. (2010)
• "The War on Consciousness" – TEDx (2013)

References

This article has an unclear citation style. The reason given is: unclear citation style, some {{sfn}}, some not; probably all sources should be listed and then cited with {{sfn}}. (November 2022)

Works cited

• Defant, Marc J. (2017). "Conjuring Up a Lost Civilization: An Analysis of the Claims Made by Graham Hancock in Magicians of the Gods". Skeptic. 22 (3). Retrieved 14 November 2022.
• Fagan, Garrett G. (2006). Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415305921.
• Fritze, Ronald H. (2009). Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-religions. London: Reaktion Books.
• Regal, Brian (2009). Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0313355073.

Further reading

• Brass, M. (n.d.). "An analysis of the quality of Graham Hancock's "science"". The Antiquity of Man. Archived from the original on 4 May 2006.
• Brass, M. (2002). "Tracing Graham Hancock's Shifting Cataclysm". Skeptical Inquirer. 26 (4): 45–49. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010.
• Carroll, R. T. (2009). "Atlantis". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
• Fagan, N. (n.d.). "An Answer to Graham Hancock". In the Hall of Ma'at. Archived from the original on 19 April 2005.
• Fagan, N. (n.d.). "Analysis of Hancock's Position Statement on C-14 Dating". In the Hall of Ma'at. Archived from the original on 27 March 2005.
• Flemming, N. (n.d.). "Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age". In the Hall of Ma'at. Archived from the original on 27 March 2005.

External links

• Official website
• Graham Hancock at IMDb
• Horizon: Atlantis Reborn and the Broadcasting Standards Commission – The BBC's response to the Horizon programme debate

На других языках

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- [en] Graham Hancock

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[ru] Хэнкок, Грэм

Грэм Хэ́нкок (англ. Graham Hancock; род. 2 августа 1950, Эдинбург, Шотландия) — британский писатель и журналист, автор более десятка книг и двух документальных фильмов, снятых им для британского телеканала Channel 4. Методы и выводы Хэнкока практически не нашли поддержки со стороны учёных, которые признают его псевдоархеологом, а его книги — псевдонаучными[3].

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