Easter With Graham Hancock, "The Fight for the Past": Sedona April 19-20, 2025 (Part one)

There will be no family Easter celebrations for the pseudoarchaeologists this year, Graham Hancock is holding an event precisely in the Great Week holiday.

  Easter Saturday, April 19-20, 2025 Graham Hancock, “Fight for the Past”: Sedona Performing Arts Centre AZ 86336

The commercial event's blurb says:

Humanity’s past is the birthright of us all. So why are archaeologists determined to control the narrative, to convince us that their interpretation of prehistory is the only legitimate one, and to mock and smear the work of those who suggest alternative perspectives? Is it just pride and arrogance on the part of the self-styled experts? Or is something more sinister going on? Over the two days of 19th-20th April 2025, Graham Hancock will give a series of presentations drilling down into this issue and will present the latest evidence for a lost civilization of the Ice Age destroyed in the apocalypse that brought the Ice Age to an end.[...] 

This is just so much self-absorbed bullshit and special pleading. Like so much from this milieu, "critique" is based on unreflexive repetition of a set series of second-hand mantras, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of the discipline. The claim that archaeologists are "determined to control the narrative" and suppress alternative perspectives is simply a misrepresentation of the field’s principles and practices, and indeed what is constantly ongoing within it.  As a discipline, archaeology is grounded in the scientific method, relying on empirical evidence, rigorous analysis, and peer review to construct interpretations of the past. The discipline is not a monolithic entity but a collaborative, self-correcting process where competing hypotheses are tested against data from excavations, material culture, and other sources like paleoenvironmental records or ancient texts.

The accusation of pride or arrogance overlooks the iterative nature of archaeological inquiry. Interpretations are rarely deemed "the only legitimate ones" but are the best-supported explanations based on available evidence. For example, the development of agriculture or monumental architecture is traced through well-documented sites like Çatalhöyük or Göbekli Tepe, dated via radiocarbon methods to specific periods (e.g., ~9600–7000 BCE for Göbekli Tepe). These timelines are not dogmatic but built on reproducible data. When new evidence emerges—such as older structures at Göbekli Tepe challenging prior assumptions about hunter-gatherer capabilities—it is integrated, often reshaping the field, as seen in debates about the rise of neolithic lifeways.

Regarding alternative perspectives, like Graham Hancock’s hypothesis of a lost Ice Age civilization, academic archaeologists critique them when they lack substantiation. Hancock’s ideas, while engaging, often rely on speculative connections between disparate myths, astronomical alignments, or geological events like the Younger Dryas (~12,900–11,700 years ago). These are scrutinized, quite simply, because no archaeological record—tools, settlements, or infrastructure—consistently supports an advanced, global civilization from that era. The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, which the Hancockians tie to a cataclysm, remains debated, with no conclusive evidence of a civilization-destroying event. Sites Hancock cites, like the Pyramids or Nan Madol, are securely dated to later periods (e.g., Old Kingdom Egypt, ~2700–2500 BCE; Nan Madol, ~1200–1800 CE), undermining speculative claims of Ice Age origins.

The charge of "mocking and smearing" alternative voices reflects a misunderstanding of scholarly critique. Archaeologists challenge Hancock’s work not out of malice but because it often (deliberately or through intellectual carelessness) bypasses falsifiable evidence, cherry-picks data, or dismisses cultural achievements of known societies (e.g., attributing monuments to a hypothetical civilization rather than Indigenous builders). This can inadvertently diminish the legacies of ancient peoples, a concern raised by archaeologists working with descendant communities. These models are deeply rooted in colonial and eurocentric models often with racist overtones, and because of this, care is needed in handling hypotheses such as diffusionism, migration and influence.

As for "something more sinister" (sic), there really is no evidence of a conspiracy to hide truths. Archaeology is a public endeavour, with findings shared in journals, museums, and open-access databases. The discipline evolves through debate, not suppression—consider how Clovis-First models for the Americas were overturned by open debate on pre-Clovis sites like Monte Verde (~14,500 years ago) once the evidence from them was shown to be reliable.   

In short, archaeology doesn’t claim ownership of humanity’s past—it seeks to uncover it methodically, inviting scrutiny and revision. Alternative ideas are valuable when they withstand testing; otherwise, they risk becoming compelling fictions rather than history.

The programme is no revelation, one wonders just how much "new evidence" participants will be getting for their money...

Programme:

April 19th Saturday 1-9pm Day & Evening.

1-2:15pm  - Graham Hancock A subversive tour of the Great Pyramid, the Great Sphinx and the Hidden Realms of Ancient Egypt. (Part 1)

30 min Break

2:30-4pm - Graham Hancock A subversive tour of the Great Pyramid, the Great Sphinx and the Hidden Realms of Ancient Egypt. (Part 2)

4-6pm 2 hours for dinner food trucks on site and concession stand

6-7:30pm Ancient Apocalypse: What happened to the world between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago and why we should care. An on-stage discussion with Dr Allen West, a leading member of the Comet Research Group, the team of scientists behind the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, will follow Graham Hancock's presentation. Dr West will speak to the challenges, underhand tactics, and harassment that he and his colleagues have faced because they have dared to think outside the box about the cataclysmic ending of the last Ice Age.

30 min Break

8-9:30pm Debunking the Debunking Industry Presentation by Graham Hancock followed by on-stage discussion with Dan Richards: (“Dedunking the Past”: youtube.com/@DeDunking).

9:30 -11:00pm Book signing in the Auditorium.

9:30 -11:30pm Social hour DJ Gabriel BE  in the Lobby

Rather disappointingly, lots of breaks. The "evidence' for "something going on before the catastrophe" is restricted to one bit of the ancient world, Egypt, and it looks like just one bit of it, the monuments on the Giza plateau of the Fourth Dynasty. Why that place, why that dynasty? Who knows. Hancock will do his usual party trick of proposing that the Pyramids (here) and the Great Sphinx were built by or influenced by a lost, advanced civilization predating the Old Kingdom.  The term “subversive” suggests he will critique established chronologies and purposes for these structures, possibly arguing they are far older than accepted (e.g., tying the Sphinx to a pre-12,000 BCE era based on controversial geological claims like water erosion) or connected to esoteric knowledge. The “Hidden Realms” component may delve into mystical or unverified aspects—astronomical alignments, lost technologies, or mythological links to a global Ice Age culture, themes Hancock explores in his older works. Expect a visually engaging presentation, heavy on speculation, light on falsifiable evidence, appealing to those skeptical of mainstream narratives. But we've heard this all before. 

Then the Younger Dryas bit. They promise "What happened to the world between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago and why we should care". The dates given align with the Younger Dryas (ca. 12,900–11,700 years ago) a climatic event marking a sudden return to cold, glacial conditions  in the northern hemisphere  during the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. Archaeologically we see the Natufian culture (ca. 14,500–11,500 years ago), sites like Tell Abu Hureyra (Syria) , in Europe: Magdalenian hunter-gatherers (ca. 17,000–12,000 years ago) persisted, hunting reindeer and bison in colder conditions. Sites like Gönnersdorf (Germany) reveal art and temporary camps. In the Americas: Clovis culture (ca. 13,300–12,800 years ago). In the southern hemisphere, this period was actually a warm one not cold, so in Africa microlithic cultures emerge and the material culture evolves accordingly. So it is unclear why this whole exciting and varied period would be represented just by "an on-stage discussion with Dr Allen West, a leading member of the Comet Research Group", moreover that he apparently intends to speak mainly of "the challenges, underhand tactics, and harassment that he and his colleagues have faced because they have dared to think outside the box about the cataclysmic ending of the last Ice Age". Boring. We've heard them playing the victim so many times. The reason this is here is to boost Hancock's vision of a "forbidden/ repressed knowledge". The Younger Dryas lasted ć.1200 years, yet all Sedona has to offer is some bloke moaning because the academic community is not 100% welcoming to his ideas about how it began. Note there is nobody invited from the other side so participants can hear what the problems are with the proxy evidence cited. 

The next section is predicated on the premise that there is some kind of organized "Debunking Industry" (sic) dedicated to tackling ("debunking") "alternative views". Of course there is no such thing. Many archaeologists ignore "crackpot amateurish theories", others attempt to engage to inform public opinion. It is the latter Hancock and Richards have issues with. Richards is likely to critique what they perceive as dismissive or overly rigid responses from academic archaeologists to speculative theories. He sometimes highlights valid points, like oversights in specific academic arguments, but his defenses of Hancock often rely on rhetorical flourish over primary data. For instance, challenging an archaeologist’s claim about domesticated plants reverting to wild forms (a real phenomenon in some cases, like rice) doesn’t prove an Ice Age civilization.

The next day has no surprises either:

Easter Sunday, April 20th 10am-6pm 

10 am-11:30am Gobekli Tepe. Why it matters. Presentation by Graham Hancock 

this will be followed by on-stage discussion with Jimmy Corsetti (“Bright Insight: youtube.com/@BrightInsight ) and Mike Collins (Wandering Wolf: https://www.youtube.com/@WanderingWolf ) who’ve recently returned from Turkey with disturbing new evidence of how archaeologists are betraying the past at Gobekli Tepe.

11:30 am-1:30pm Lunch food trucks on site and concession stand

1:30 - 3:30pm: A catastrophic history of the world: the elephant in the room that archaeology ignores. Graham and renegade scholar Randall Carlson engage in a 90-minute conversation followed by a 30-minute audience Q&A.

30 minute break

4-6pm Why the past isn’t safe in the hands of archaeologists. Humanity’s past is our shared inheritance. Archaeologists have no right to claim a monopoly over it, to seek to control what is said about it, to demand that their interpretation of prehistory be accepted as the only legitimate one, or to mock and smear the work of those who suggest alternative perspectives.

In his closing presentation Graham will argue that we can never truly know the past if we insist – as most archaeologists do – that our route to the unknown can only be through what’s known already, if we limit our attention, as most archaeologists do, to “tools and trash”, and if our primary career goal isn’t to challenge the status quo – a risky move for any archaeologist – but to seek out evidence that reinforces it. Expert guest Manu Seyfzadeh will join Graham on-stage at a relevant point during the presentation to say a few words on the connections, hotly resisted by archaeologists, that are now being confirmed between the mysterious Edfu Building Texts and Plato’s story of Atlantis.

6pm-8pm Book signing in the Auditorium. Dinner food trucks on-site and a concession stand. Farewell Social hour DJ Gabriel BE  in the Lobby

Yawn... This fixation with Gobekli Tepe is difficult to understand. It is just one of a series of sites in the region, on present knowledge it is not the oldest of them, neither is it unique among them. Focussing on this one site obscures the others and what they tell (as a group) abut the socio-cultural processes going on in this region on the fringe of the Fertile Crescent. But of course (no matter what they say), this is not what interests the pseudoarchaeologists, they are interested almost exclusively in the PICTURES AND CARVINGS ON THE STELAE. Nothing else. They are incensed that not all of them have been excavated from the stratified layers that surround them. 

YouTube creators Jimmy Corsetti ("Bright Insight") and Mike Collins ("Wandering Wolf") are claiming that excavations at Göbekli Tepe are insufficient or deliberately stalled, citing issues like tree planting or construction near the site as evidence of neglect or a cover-up.  Their "disturbing new evidence"   alleges Turkish  mismanagement, destruction, or suppression of findings at Göbekli Tepe. Corsetti has criticized the pace of excavations, suggesting archaeologists are complicit in obscuring the past (he means the pillars).

The two hour session on 1:30 - 3:30pm: :"A catastrophic history of the world: the elephant in the room that archaeology ignores" is puzzling. It's not clear what catastrophes they mean (mudflood?) It should in any case be retitled "A catastrophic history of the world: the general model that archaeology abandoned for lack of evidence" - Catastrophism was popular in the nineteenth century. Yet it is not often noted how frequently there is a catastrophist context to pseudoarchaeology in general, and the Hancockian brand of it in particular. This is the messaghge that the whole sequence of presentations wants to present:

Golden Age (progress, harmony, advanced technologically, minimum footprint on environment) 

-> CATASTROPHE that we were powerless to stop (so why should we fight to improve things now as the future is out of our hands?) 

-> "Sinister forces" are conspiring to keep people unaware of the "Truth" (but only WE, an elite and chosen group of seekers of the hidden and forbidden Truth, know the real answer).