Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
Also by Graham Hancock
Journey Through Pakistan
Ethiopia: The Challenge of Hunger
AIDS: The Deadly Epidemic
Lords of Poverty
African Ark: Peoples of the Horn
The Sign and the Seal: A Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant
The Message of the Sphinx (with Robert Bauval)
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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
Fingerprints
of the Gods
Graham Hancock
Photographs by Santha Faiia
Three Rivers Press
New York
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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
Copyright © 1995 by Graham Hancock
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Three Rivers Press, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc.,
201 East 50th Street, New York, New York 10022.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group.
Originally published in Great Britain by William Heinemann, Ltd.,
an imprint of Reed Consumer Books Ltd., in 1995.
First American hardcover edition published by
Crown Publishers, Inc., in 1995.
Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland www.randomhouse.com
THREE RIVERS PRESS and colophon are trademarks of
Crown Publishers, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
Line illustrations by R. J. Cook
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hancock, Graham.
Fingerprints of the gods / by Graham Hancock.—1st American ed.
Includes index.
1. Lost continents. 2. Civilization, Ancient. 3. Antarctica-Discovery
and exploration. 4. World maps—To 1800. I. Title.
GH751.H293 1995 930-dc20 95-6964
ISBN 0-517-88729-0 15
14 13 12 11 10
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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
For Santha ... for being there.
With all my love.
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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
Contents
Contents .......................................................................................................................5
Acknowledgements......................................................................................................10
Part I ...........................................................................................................................12
Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................13
Ancient sources ...................................................................................................14
A man ahead of his time ......................................................................................19
Piri Reis and his sources.......................................................................................21
Legacy of a lost civilization? .................................................................................21
Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................23
Ross Sea ..............................................................................................................24
Mercator and Buache............................................................................................25
The epoch of the map-makers ..............................................................................27
South America......................................................................................................31
Sea levels and ice ages .........................................................................................32
Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................35
The mysteries of longitude...................................................................................35
Precision instruments...........................................................................................38
The lost mathematicians ......................................................................................39
Part II ..........................................................................................................................42
Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................43
The riddle of the lines ..........................................................................................43
Linemakers, map-makers .....................................................................................48
Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................50
‘Foam of the Sea’ .................................................................................................50
Citadel of Viracocha .............................................................................................51
The bearded stranger...........................................................................................52
Chapter 6 ................................................................................................................54
Civilizing mission.................................................................................................56
The work of demons? ...........................................................................................57
Chapter 7 ................................................................................................................60
Casting down the giants.......................................................................................60
Ancient traditions ................................................................................................62
Time capsule........................................................................................................63
Machu Picchu dreaming .......................................................................................64
Jigsaw puzzle.......................................................................................................66
Chapter 8 ................................................................................................................68
Rumours of a cataclysm .......................................................................................69
Chapter 9 ................................................................................................................73
Boats, water and salvation....................................................................................73
Reed boats of Suriqui ...........................................................................................75
Road to Tiahuanaco ... .........................................................................................76
Chapter 10 ..............................................................................................................77
Sunken temple .....................................................................................................78
Pyramid ...............................................................................................................79
Gateway of the Sun ..............................................................................................81
Chapter 11 ..............................................................................................................83
Fish-garbed figures ..............................................................................................85
Images of extinct species .....................................................................................87
Chapter 12 ..............................................................................................................92
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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
Struggle and abandonment ..................................................................................94
An artificial language ...........................................................................................97
Mexico.................................................................................................................97
Part III..........................................................................................................................99
Chapter 13 ............................................................................................................100
Slaughterhouses ................................................................................................101
Children of the Fifth Sun ....................................................................................103
Lightbringer.......................................................................................................105
Chapter 14 ............................................................................................................107
Viracocha’s Mexican twin ...................................................................................107
Cosmic struggle .................................................................................................110
Fire serpents ......................................................................................................111
Serpent Sanctuary ..............................................................................................112
Chapter 15 ............................................................................................................114
Tears for the past...............................................................................................115
Gigantic men of deformed stature ......................................................................117
Remnants...........................................................................................................118
Pyramids upon pyramids ....................................................................................120
Chapter 16 ............................................................................................................122
Santiago Tuxtla..................................................................................................124
Tres Zapotes ......................................................................................................124
Chapter 17 ............................................................................................................127
San Lorenzo .......................................................................................................127
La Venta.............................................................................................................128
Deus ex machina................................................................................................133
Whispers of ancient secrets ................................................................................134
Chapter 18 ............................................................................................................136
Hypothetical third party .....................................................................................138
Villahermosa to Oaxaca......................................................................................141
Chapter 19 ............................................................................................................143
Monte Alban: the downfall of masterful men ......................................................148
Legacy ...............................................................................................................149
Chapter 20 ............................................................................................................151
Pacal’s tomb ......................................................................................................152
Pyramid of the Magician .....................................................................................154
A science of prophecy ........................................................................................157
Knowledge out of place......................................................................................160
Someone else’s science?.....................................................................................161
Chapter 22 ............................................................................................................165
The Citadel, the Temple and the Map of Heaven .................................................166
Egypt and Mexico—more coincidences?..............................................................168
Hints of forgotten wisdom..................................................................................171
Chapter 23 ............................................................................................................174
Erasing messages from the past .........................................................................175
Eternal numbers.................................................................................................176
Mathematical city ...............................................................................................180
Part IV .......................................................................................................................183
Chapter 24 ............................................................................................................184
And the ark went upon the face of the waters.....................................................184
Central America .................................................................................................187
South America....................................................................................................188
North America....................................................................................................190
Water water everywhere .....................................................................................190
Greece, India and Egypt......................................................................................192
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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS
On the trail of a mystery.....................................................................................194
Chapter 25 ............................................................................................................197
Indescribable cold, fire, earthquakes and derangement of the skies ...................199
A monster chased the sun..................................................................................201
Chapter 26 ............................................................................................................203
Cinderella’s slipper ............................................................................................205
Chapter 27 ............................................................................................................207
Alaska and Siberia: the sudden freeze ................................................................208
A thousand Krakatoas, all at once ......................................................................211
Global flooding ..................................................................................................212
A token of good faith .........................................................................................217
Part V ........................................................................................................................219
Chapter 28 ............................................................................................................222
The wild celestial dance .....................................................................................222
Recondite influences ..........................................................................................224
The wobble of a deformed planet .......................................................................226
A great secret of the past ...................................................................................230
Chapter 29 ............................................................................................................232
When did the ancients first work out precession?................................................235
Chapter 30 ............................................................................................................240
At the mill with slaves ........................................................................................242
Openers of the way ............................................................................................246
Chapter 31 ............................................................................................................250
Computing the Great Return ..............................................................................251