Netflix’sAncient Apocalypse: The Americashighlights several major archaeological discoveries. Chief among these is the uncovering of geoglyphs etched into the Amazonian landscape.Geoglyphs are human-made features, usually earthworks, created on the surface of the earth. They may involve digging trenches or clearing or adding stones or earth that create a contrast between the creation and its surroundings. They’re identifiable from the ground but most visually striking from the air.
Celebrated, but somewhat controversial, archaeologist Graham Hancock isAncient Apocalypse: The Americasauthor and guide, and he has his own views about the geoglyphs and their place in human history. He makes the point that the Amazon’s 6.7 million square kilometers have only been fractionally explored, but in those areas where forest clearing has been prevalent,new geoglyphs are being found that suggest human civilization not only existed in South Americalong before previously thought, but also those civilizations were far more sophisticated than historians suggest.
Opinions Differ About The Origins Of The Amazon Geoglyphs
Complex Earthworks Suggest OtherWorldly Influence
Hancock has his views about the geoglyph’s origins and meaning. InAncient Apocalypse: The Americashe’s able to take to the skies, perdecider.com, and view them from the air, and is startled by the precise geometrical shapes -circles, squares, ellipses - he finds; thegeoglyphs appear to be meticulously planned, often connected by lines and often overlapping. Hancock makes the point that such complex earthworks suggest highly organized labor and a scientific mindset beyond its time. Indigenous Amazonians, meanwhile, consider them to be no more than communal sites and shamanic trading posts.
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Hancock’s view inAncient Apocalypse: The Americasis that the geoglyph’s alignment to true north suggests astronomers ahead of their time existed in 1000 BCE to 1000 CE, when the shapes are believed to have been created.Some Brazilian researchers believe them to be ritual sites used for communicating with otherworldly entities, which hints at Hancock’s views about advanced intelligence. There are hundreds littered across the Amazon, and some experts believe they may have been designed for a specific purpose, perhaps spiritual or educational.
Graham Hancock’s Views About The Amazon Geoglyphs' Meaning Is Disputed
Geoglyphs Might Have A Simple Explanation
From that air and using advanced scanning technology, Hancock is able topeek under the surface of the Amazon tree canopy and finds an abundance of these shapes hidden there also,suggesting thousands of, as yet, undiscovered geoglyphs. His critics are less impressed, according tojasoncovalito.com, saying his discoveries are not new, and that geoglyphs and agricultural sites in the Amazon have been known about and studied for decades - “this has been the case for at least 25 years,” writes reviewer Jason Covalito, “and is completely standard information.”
Other archaeologists such as Flint Dibble think that Hancock’s conclusions are fanciful and that geoglyphs are more simply explained: “Despite repeated claims made by Hancock,” he says, “no archaeologists today see Stone Age farmers as simple or primitive. We see them as complex people.“Practical uses, such as using the ditches as water channels to transport canoes or other water vessels, or moats, or even defensive earthworks to keep either wild animals out or domesticated animals in, are suggested. Some believe the size and complexity of the geoglyphs might be tied to some form of social status or hierarchy within an ancient community.
What The Amazon Geoglyphs Tell Us About Ancient Civilization
Meanwhile, inAncient Apocalypse: The Americas, Hancock insists on more exotic explanations.He notes that ancient people famously used hallucinogenic substances and that the complex geometry of the geoglyphs, coupled with mysterious other-worldly intelligence, might have been psychedelically inspired. He suggests that similarly shaped earthworks in North America must be connected to those in the Amazon, despite the separation of culture, distance, and time.
“Geoglyphs represent a civilization that is ahead of its time, and their creation suggests complex intelligence at work.
For Hancock, the Amazon geoglyphs represent a civilization that is ahead of its time, and their creation suggests a complex intelligence at workthat may or may not have been supernatural, or at the very least is, as yet, undiscovered.Ancient Apocalypse: The Americasdoes not offer an answer to the origins of the geoglyphs, and Hancock certainly has critics who question the more far-fetched conclusions he arrives at, but the documentary does pose several interesting questions that encourage further inquiry.
Ancient Apocalypse
Cast
Journalist Graham Hancock travels the globe hunting for evidence of mysterious, lost civilizations dating back to the last Ice Age.
