Background > Hancock’s Fingerprints of the Gods introduced me to the ancient Mayan prophecy, which in turn led to the doomsday meme of 2012. So I hold him in very high regard.
Even so, he is admittedly is a journalist and not an archaeologist. And also seemingly not great at math and probabilities. His Heaven’s Mirror finds alignments that would exist from chance alone, but his beliefs override his possible criticisms.
In his new (2022) Netflix series – which I love and have learned so much from – the 3rd episode, about Malta, makes the same mistake. Malta has numerous ancient temples, all aligned in different directions. But they are all meaningful because Sirius has appeared in different parts of the sky over millennia (due to precession) and the temples point in different directions. For his assertation – that they all aligned with Sirius when built, and the timeframe is very long – he needs to show evidence of increasing sophistication of temples fitting the timeframe and alignment with Sirius. Out of a dozen or so temples, he offers just two with such an alignment, which is quite meaningless, given that the time of their construction is unknown.
I do not expect perfection from someone covering the whole planet and various disciplines. But Hancock also seems to have at least some minor hubris, and at least a disinclination to hear objections, or at the very least invite them.
While I am at it… it easy to point out probable evidence of ancient advanced cultures, but not Hancock or anyone else actually provides a global timeline, motive or any insights into why the ancients did such things, beyond what mainstream archaeologists also come up with – worship and sacrifice.
I aim to “connect the dots” and at least come up with a timeline and story of what caused all of these massive monuments to be built over millennia, around the world.