Society for American Archaeology

Ancient footprints challenge the Clovis first doctrine The traditional timeline of human history in the Americas has long been anchored by the Clovis first model, which suggests that humans only arrived on the continent roughly 13,000 years ago. However, Graham Hancock points to the Cerutti Mastodon site south of San Diego as a site that could dismantle this paradigm entirely. Researchers led by Tom Deméré found mastodon bones systematically crushed to extract marrow, with dating suggesting these events occurred 130,000 years ago. This discovery suggests that either anatomically modern humans or archaic relatives like Neanderthals or Denisovans were active in California at a time when they were supposed to be confined to the Old World. The resistance to these findings from the archaeological establishment has been fierce. Hancock argues that the "Clovis first" mindset became a form of dogma that effectively suppressed evidence of earlier habitation. He cites the case of Jacques Cinq-Mars, who excavated Bluefish Caves in the 1970s and found evidence of human presence 24,000 years ago. Instead of being celebrated, Cinq-Mars was professionally marginalized for decades, only to be vindicated in 2017 when modern dating techniques confirmed his original findings. This history of professional "machine gun fire" against dissenters has created a climate where researchers are afraid to look for the origins of civilization in the Americas, operating under the assumption that the land was settled too late for significant development to occur. The genetic anomaly of the Amazon One of the most compelling pieces of evidence against a simple land-bridge migration through North America is found in the DNA of indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Recent studies show a direct genetic link between three tribes in the western Amazon and the peoples of Melanesia, New Guinea, and Australian Aborigines. Remarkably, this genetic signal is completely absent in North American indigenous populations. Hancock explains that the most parsimonious explanation is a direct crossing of the Pacific Ocean by sea. This theory challenges the long-held prejudice that ancient ancestors lacked the maritime technology to traverse thousands of miles of open water, despite the fact that Australia itself could only have been settled via seafaring at least 50,000 years ago. LiDAR reveals the man-made nature of the Amazon rainforest The perception of the Amazon rainforest as a pristine, untouched wilderness is being overturned by LiDAR technology. By stripping away the dense forest canopy through laser scanning, archaeologists like Martti Pärssinen and Alceu Ranzi have discovered thousands of massive, perfectly geometrical earthworks. These structures—squares within circles, rectangles, and scalloped enclosures—are often aligned with true cardinal directions, requiring sophisticated astronomical knowledge. Hancock suggests that these are traces of a lost civilization that once numbered in the tens of millions before the Spanish conquest. Evidence for this advanced society is found in the soil itself. Terra Preta, an astonishingly fertile, man-made soil found in patches throughout the Amazon, demonstrates a level of environmental engineering that modern settlers cannot replicate. This "miracle soil" contains biochar and bacteria that allow it to rejuvenate its own fertility, with some patches remaining productive for over 8,000 years. Furthermore, the hyper-dominance of food-producing trees like the Brazil nut suggests the entire rainforest is essentially a curated garden. During the last Ice Age, the Amazon was more like a savannah, allowing for the construction of these massive earthworks before the forest grew in, potentially aided by human intentionality. The visionary brew and the evolution of consciousness Hancock’s investigation into ancient civilizations often intersects with the study of human consciousness and the use of psychedelics. He has participated in over 80 sessions with Ayahuasca, a powerful visionary brew from the Amazon. He credits the late Terence McKenna and David Lewis-Williams for identifying the role of visionary states in the development of human art and culture. The paintings created by shamans today to depict their Ayahuasca visions bear a striking resemblance to cave art found in Lascaux and rock art in Colombia dating back over 12,000 years, suggesting a universal "visionary realm" accessed by ancient peoples. The chemical sophistication of Ayahuasca The preparation of Ayahuasca itself is a technological marvel that baffles modern skeptics. The brew requires two specific plants among over 100,000 species in the Amazon: the Ayahuasca vine and the Chacruna leaf. The Chacruna leaf contains DMT, one of the world's most powerful psychedelics, which is normally neutralized by enzymes in the human gut. The Ayahuasca vine, however, contains a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) that shuts down those enzymes, allowing the DMT to reach the brain. Hancock questions how indigenous people could have discovered this precise chemical combination through simple trial and error, suggesting it represents a sophisticated form of "shamanic science." Mathematical ghosts in the Mayan and Egyptian records The Maya civilization of the Yucatan Peninsula displayed a mathematical and astronomical sophistication that Hancock views as an "out-of-place artifact." Mayan mathematics utilized enormous numbers and recorded dates stretching back 30 million years. They could calculate lunar phases for dates millions of years in the past or future, a capability that seems far beyond the practical needs of an agricultural society. Hancock argues that the Maya were inheritors of a legacy from a previous, more advanced civilization that understood the deep mechanics of time. This same mathematical signature appears in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Hancock notes that the pyramid is essentially a scale model of the Earth based on the number 43,200—a key precessional number. If you multiply the pyramid's height by 43,200, you get the polar radius of the Earth; multiply the base perimeter by the same number, and you get the equatorial circumference. This level of precision, combined with the pyramid's alignment to true north, suggests a global scientific system that existed long before the dawn of recorded history. These monuments were designed as "As Above, So Below" anchors, intended to keep humanity in harmony with the cosmos by memorializing the Precession of the Equinoxes, a cycle that takes 25,920 years to complete. The Younger Dryas and the global cataclysm Hancock posits that the missing chapter of human history was erased by a global cataclysm known as the Younger Dryas, which occurred between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago. This period saw a sudden, violent plunge in global temperatures and massive sea-level rises. According to the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, the Earth passed through the debris stream of a disintegrating comet, resulting in multiple airbursts and impacts on the North American ice cap. The sudden melting of a mile-deep ice sheet would have unleashed catastrophic floods, stopping the Gulf Stream and plunging the world into a temporary Ice Age. This event would explain why over 200 cultures worldwide share myths of a global flood. It also provides a context for the mysterious site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, which appeared suddenly at the end of the Younger Dryas with fully formed megalithic technology and astronomical knowledge. Hancock believes these sites were "lifeboats" created by survivors of a lost civilization who sought to preserve their knowledge and restart agriculture in the wake of total destruction. Conclusion: The fight for the past The ongoing conflict between alternative historians and the archaeological establishment represents a fundamental disagreement over how we interpret our origin story. Hancock views the refusal of groups like the Society for American Archaeology to engage with his theories as a form of intellectual gatekeeping that underestimates the intelligence of the public. He argues that the history of archaeology is a series of broken paradigms, from the collapse of "Clovis first" to the recent discovery of the Scottish origins of the Stonehenge altar stone. As new technologies like LiDAR and ancient DNA analysis continue to reveal a more complex past, the "skull behind the smile" of mainstream archaeology must eventually give way to a more inclusive, open-minded investigation into the depths of human history. For Hancock, the quest is not just about rocks and dates, but about reconnecting with a lost spiritual and scientific legacy that could help humanity navigate its own uncertain future.