Description

Graham Hancock, in which he contends that some previously enigmatic ancient but highly-advanced civilization had existed in prehistory, one which served as the common progenitor civilization to all subsequent known ancient historical ones. Supposedly, sometime after the end of the last Ice Age this civilization passed on to its inheritors profound knowledge of such things as astronomy, architecture and mathematics.

The book pivots on "fingerprints" of these civilizations, evidence of which Hancock finds in the descriptions of Godmen like Osiris, Thoth, Quetzalcoatl, and Virachocha. These creation myths predate history, and Hancock suggests that in 10,450 B.C., a major poleshift took place, before which Antarctica was further from the South Pole than it is today, and after which it was moved to its present location. This civilization was supposedly centered around Antarctica, and later survivors initiated the Olmec, Aztec, Maya, and Egyptian cultures.

The pole shift theory hinges on Charles Hapgood's theory of Earth Crustal Displacement which has very few supporters in the geological community compared to the more accepted model of plate tectonics.