Some Opinions on Hancock's Writings and Their Relationship to Various Shades of Supremacism

There is a battle going on on social media, Graham Hancock, author of texts such as The Sign and the Seal, the Search for the Lost Ark of the Covenant 'The Mars Mystery: The Secret Connection Between Earth and the Red Planet', 'Fingerprints of the Gods', 'Magicians of the Gods' and 'America Before', etc. objects to people saying that his theories on a lost Predecessor Civilisation that influenced all the known ancient civilisations have links to the arguments of white supremacists. In particular he has focussed a really nasty hate-campaign on archaeologist Dr Flint Dibble who allegedly referred to this issue. I was interested to see whether it was a point made by "just" one archaeologist, or whether Hancock is shutting his eyes to the fact that this view is quite widespread. Check these out for yourselves (there may be more). Have a read of what other people wrote and the reasons they give, and decide for yourselves:

List of Works

[Book Review]: David V. Barrett, 'Psst... wanna buy a secondhand conspiracy? Talisman: sacred cities, secret faith, by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval' Independent Thursday 19 August 2004 ["It's a mish-mash of badly-connected, half-argued theories. Only in the last chapter, and the misleadingly-titled Appendix, does the authors' purpose become clear. They suddenly start promulgating a version of the old Jewish-Masonic plot so beloved by ultra-right-wing conspiracy theorists. This is a deeply troubling end to a mess of a book. With luck, most readers won't get that far".]

Alexander Zaitchik, 'Close encounters of the Racist Kind' SPLCwatch January 02, 2018

Rick Hellman, 'Professor can comment on Netflix's ‘Ancient Apocalypse,’ pseudo-archaeology', University of Kansas News 25 Oct 2022

Jennifer SANDLIN, 'Archaeologists reveal the white supremacist nonsense behind Netflix's "Ancient Apocalypse" Boing Boing, Sun Nov 27, 2022. 

Robin McKie Science Editor, 'Lost city of Atlantis rises again to fuel a dangerous myth' Guardian Sun 27 Nov 2022.

Tucker Loves "Ancient History"

21st century catastrophism. The political right seems obsessed by apocalyptic visions of both past and future. Here Tartaria,

Tartaria @TartariaLives
Another DEEP DIVE into our "Forgotten History" With Tucker and Roseanne Barr
~Lost Civilization of Tartaria
~"I Know That What I Learned As A Kid, Is Wrong.."
We are slowly reaching the last stage of Acceptance.
When it becomes 'Self Evident'

6:05 PM · Dec 1, 2023 505.2K Views

"Hiding the Truth"

Jimmy Corsetti @BrightInsight6

Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson discuss the systematic coverup of the true history of ancient civilizations. AND, the recent revelations that the WEF is preventing archaeological excavations around the world.
FREE GOBEKLI TEPE👇

🏻
11:53 PM · Jun 14, 2024 ·

"Enemy of Archaeology"

 

Jimmy Corsetti (" @BrightInsight6"), seriously??

"No true Archaeologist, or enthusiast of ancient history would be content on living the rest of their lives without knowing what’s waiting to be discovered at Gobekli Tepe. ~90-95% has NOT been excavated. Anyone not championing for full-excavation is an enemy of archaeology.">

I'm not "championing" anything until they've written up what they've already done, fully. And what Jimmy Corsetti thinks of that is up to him. I doubt he really understands what is involved, as do most of his slack-jawed mouth-breathing supporters drinking in every word. 

Losing Contact with Reality

Dr. Holly Walters (@Manigarm) highlights this on social media, commenting: "

It's not harmless. It's not "just an innocent thing" to be fooled by AI. You NEED to be able to discern and differentiate reality. You NEED to know how the world works on a basic level. Because fooling you with baby animals and flowers is just the start of something much worse".

The same goes for the pseudo-archaeologists campfollowers 

Cosplayer Content Creator Poses Jungle Ruins Exploration on Tourist Site

Writing from Texas, Mr Luke Caverns [@lukecaverns] accuses me of "toxic achaeology" for being concerned with context in what I write, as an archaeologist, in the public domain. This guy, after doing some "cultural anthropogy" course, has apparently made a career for himself making archaeology-related "content" - including publishing similarly judgemental material about others too. So it is interesting to look at his own activities in their context. My attention was caught by a recent self-published You Tube film where he is cosplaying as an intrepid jungle explorer ("I've got my snake boots on"):  Exploring an Abandoned Ancient Temple in the Jungle ( 915 Likes, 8,885 Views18h ago)

In this video, Eli and I come across an abandoned ancient palace/temple in the jungles outside of the Maya site "Kohunlich". This is one of my favorite videos we shot on this expedition.

The "Antithesis of Archaeology" According to Archaeo-Conspiracy Theorist

      Look at the stratigraphy

Jimmy Corsetti ( @BrightInsight6) is a clickbait-creating digital media personality specialising in making videos with crap takes on the ancient past [see: Archaeofabulation: "Roman Map shows Atlantis in the Green Sahara"]. He has now pronounced "Archaeology today is in a state of total disarray" and it's because he does not understand what is happening about Gobeli Tepe. He does not understand about excavation research design, sponsorship, site preservation, site presentation. so he's produced this:

You will NOT BELIEVE this Gobekli Tepe update. It’s genuinely shocking and disturbing.
This is probably my most important video yet. The details are explosive 💥

He's upset that not more of the Gobeli Tepe site was excavated, and some of it has even been backfilled. Then there is a walkway and access to the site is a source of concern. Who's going to tell him?  What I note here is the total lack of mention in his rant about proper publication. This is a site with some complex stratigraphy, and most of the photos we see are with the fill taken out. I'd like to find out how the various phases of the infilling (several layers visible in the photos of upstandiung baulks)  relate to several phases of drystone wall construction with inserted megalithic T-stones. I'd like to see how that was documented and how it is interpreted before somebody takes spade to another part of this site. 

Jimmy Corsetti sees only the pictures on the stones of "handbags". and where hands rest on tummies. Then, putting on his best "me, me, entitled" look he fulminates: 

"I honestly cannot believe the current state of modern archaeology today, it appears to have been corrupted or at best totally mismanaged at such a level that is now preventing us from actually learning information about our ancient past. I mean to have an archaeological dig and not dig it up is the antithesis of actual Archaeology, is it not? So at this time I am calling on all archaeolologists, anthropologists, historians, skeptics and enthusiasts of ancient history alike to speak out about this incredible injustice what we now have in front of us is a unique opportunity to come together in one common goal which is to champion for further excavation at Gobekli Tepe. FREE GOBEKLI TEPE!