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In Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas, now streaming on Netflix, host Graham Hancock continues his long search to connect various archaeological and scientific dots with his own “I’m just asking questions” loops. Traveling to sites of interest in North and South America, Hancock speaks with people whose research he believes could help prove his grand theory of an eons-old civilization that spanned the globe, “one that traveled the Earth in the night of time, leaving traces of its wisdom wherever it went.” Hancock has also appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast, if that sways you. And here in Season 2 of Ancient Apocalypse, he even bounces a few of his concepts off Keanu Reeves.
Opening Shot: “I’ve been exploring the possibility of a lost civilization in prehistory for more than 30 years.” Get used to hearing Ancient Apocalypse host Graham Hancock assert this claim.
The Gist: “Could the key to discovering a lost civilization of the Ice Age lie here, in the Americas?” To unpack some of that massive rhetorical, Hancock first travels to White Sands, NM, where the 2009 discovery of fossilized human footprints has prompted debate in the scientific community about the date of human activity in the region. Hancock speaks with researchers at White Sands, as well as representatives of local Native American communities, and eventually plugs their observations into his personal Big Picture. “We’re looking at incontrovertible evidence that humans were present in New Mexico deep in the Ice Age, as much as 23,000 years ago.”
It is definitely incontrovertible that the footprints are human, and that they often appear alongside evidence of megafauna that once thrived in the region. You know, extinct creatures like giant sloths, mastodons – and Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas includes interesting visualizations of the arid, sandswept New Mexico landscape as the wetland it once was. But Hancock’s overarching theories wait for no man, and soon he’s off to South America to apply his thinking to a network of newly discovered earthwork geoglyphs.
Graham Hancock loves a sweeping turn of phrase like “the fog of amnesia about our ancient past.” But what he loves more is to give voice to what feels like a lasting personal vendetta against entire fields of professional science. In Brazil, the host takes to the air with geographer and paleontologist Dr. Alceu Ranzi, who points out the enormous geometric shapes constructed from earth and ditches. And Hancock also meets with another scientist, who in excavating the structures has uncovered pottery shards thousands of years old. “We don’t know why they made them,” Hancock says of the geoglyph creators and what they left behind. But for him it comes back to what he always seems most sure of. “I believe the dominant view is wrong.”
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Where does the ancient apocalypse end and the Ancient Aliens begin? Netflix’s streaming library will offer you some theories. The streamer also includes Unknown: The Lost Pyramid among its offerings of this type, and don’t get us started on whatever the Secret of Skinwalker Ranch dudes are up to.
Our Take: “Possibility of.” “Claimed to.” “Could be.” These phrases are doing a lot of work in Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas, as host Graham Hancock slags decades of documented archaeological research in favor of his pet theory about some lost civilization of brilliant engineers. The series represents instances of legitimate scientific method in the manner of something like Nova, with workers dutifully dusting off minute pieces of rock and fossilized seeds in a carefully constructed research matrix. But the connectivity part – how these studies link up with Hancock’s personal views – is left to assumptions that only sound scientific.
While the host characterizes all of this as cold hard fact and moves on, he never seems to reach or even present an actual thesis that would challenge established science. It’s just more data to support what he calls “a huge mystery at the heart of the human story,” a mystery that in his hands grows and grows, until it reaches all the way into the unprovable mists of deep geological time. That’s a great place to hang out if you’re not interested in actually proving anything.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: “We surveyed the area using LiDAR,” surveyor Fabio De Novaes Filho says, and shows Graham Hancock the results of what his drone-based laser mapping system discovered. However, the first episode of Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas ends not with answers but a musical sting and tease for next time.
Sleeper Star: “I think you’re on a quest, Graham…” Keanu Reeves does pop up in Ancient Apocalypse for a brief conversation with Hancock. It’s up to you whether there is anything of substance in the segment, beyond a vague acknowledgement of malleability in Earth’s historical timeline. Nevertheless, Hancock has praised Reeves as a supporter of the host’s right to free speech.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Paradigm shifts don’t happen instantly,” Hancock says in a cutaway. “It’s the accumulation of evidence that finally discredits an old paradigm and allows eyes to open to new possibilities. That’s what we’re witnessing in the Americas now. What’s been discovered is part of a much bigger story, a global story that I’ve been investigating for more than 30 years.”
Our Call: SKIP IT. Or at least skim it with a jaundiced eye. You’ll see that Keanu Reeves appears here for some reason. But beyond that, Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas is only interested in using legitimate scientific research as cheap fodder for the grandiose, unproven theories of one guy, who also seems convinced that every single archaeologist ever has been out to get him.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
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