Ancient Apocalypse swept through the first season with its unique take on archaeology, spearheaded by author and journalist Graham Hancock, for his alternative theories on lost civilizations and ancient technologies. Hancock challenges the traditional viewpoint of academia towards human prehistory.
He moves on to visit many archeological sites across the globe in season 1. However, his story did not go unpainted by controversy, especially on the professional sides of archaeology regarding critiques that his theories are far too unscientific.
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Now, discover North and South America on Netflix with Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas. But before you dive into season 2, here are some key moments from season 1 in conjunction with the major criticisms and praises surrounding the show.
Ancient Apocalypse: Graham Hancock's theory of a lost civilization
By its very definition, Ancient Apocalypse explains the theory that Hancock deduces about a highly advanced civilization thousands of years before any known society that was wiped out by a global catastrophe in the Ice Age.
Such a civilization, Hancock argues, left clues across the world in ancient architectural marvels and lost knowledge. Season 1 had him visit sites such as Gunung Padang in Indonesia, a site known since 1891 but with much-renewed interest because of the unique basaltic columns.
According to Hancock, such ancient ruins could be one of the proofs of this famous lost civilization. Experts from the same field are on the other hand quick to come up with counterarguments against Hancock's assertions. Reviewing Ancient Apocalypse in December 2022, Carl Feagans termed Hancock as the one who selectively applies data to make conclusions.
According to Feagans, Hancock rarely interviews relevant experts, choosing professionals from unrelated fields or even individuals without proper credentials.
"He accused archaeologists of things they don’t do or say over and over," Feagans noted in his review.
This approach, although entertaining to viewers, has received criticism, condemned as pseudoarcheology, doing away with all hope for factual analysis.
Key sites and controversies from Ancient Apocalypse Season 1
One of the unique locations featured in season 1 was Gunung Padang. There, Hancock suggests that mainstream archaeology has entirely overlooked the significance of the location. His conclusion that the structure could be over 20,000 years old contravenes mainstream results saying it was built around 500 BCE.
According to Feagans, much of Hancock's argument is based on unsubstantiated claims, as Hancock said Gunung Padang "utterly confounds mainstream archaeologists." Feagans argues that it utterly doesn't. Many archaeologists embrace its importance without subscribing to Hancock's extreme timeline.
In Mexico, he examines Cholula, a city that boasts the largest pyramid in terms of volume in the world, arguing it has secrets that support his ancient civilization theory. In Malta, he looks at megalithic temples and produces a scenario that would connect those architectural marvels to his broad hypothesis.
Ancient Apocalypse critics argue that Hancock oversimplifies these complex archaeological sites for his purposes. Another archaeologist, Flint Dibble, stated that Hancock's description of archaeologists as negators of alternative theories is a wrong statement.
He said:
"Not a single archaeologist I know wouldn’t jump at the chance to discover a lost civilization".
Despite all this criticism, the series became popular for reasons that can be attributed to Hancock's narration skills and the beauty that surrounds the ancient historical sites that he visits. Viewers often applaud Hancock for not hiding behind status quo narratives, though his points are speculative.
What to expect in Ancient Apocalypse Season 2?
In season 2 of Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas, Hancock moves his search into the Western Hemisphere. The season starts with an examination of fossilized human footprints unearthed in White Sands, New Mexico.
They have created a lot of buzz in the scientific world because they could be evidence of human life in America dating to the Ice Age and could be taken back even further to around 23,000 years ago. Using this as his starting point, Hancock progresses to formulate the hypothesis that this old society may have crossed to the other side of the world, even across continents.
In Ancient Apocalypse Season 2, Hancock keeps traveling around, this time to South America, where a new geoglyph formation provides promising leads for the ancient societies. Much of his research concerns whether these vast earthworks have anything to do with the civilization he believes traveled the globe during the Ice Age.
To put it simply, this season gets just as much attention, and controversy, as the first one did with Hancock taking the science of archaeology to its limits and further.
Where to watch Ancient Apocalypse Season 2?
For all those who want to continue following Hancock's exploration of mysteries in human prehistory, season 2 of Ancient Apocalypse is now up on Netflix.
Fans of the show can catch up on all episodes of both seasons and go into the controversies of ancient mysteries and debates in archaeology on the platform.
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