Fingerprints of the Gods Read online

  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)

  1

  Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

  Fingerprints

  of the Gods

  Graham Hancock

  Photographs by Santha Faiia

  Three Rivers Press

  New York

  2

  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

  3

  Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

  For Santha ... for being there.

  With all my love.

  4

  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<
br />
  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

  5

  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

  Chapter 21 ............................................................................................................158

  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

  6

  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