Was There an Advanced Civilization Before Our Own?

Somewhere on the edge of our solar system is a sign post that says 'proceed with caution, humans ahead'.

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

I'm only halfway through but there's definitely something to this, I'm from Romania and because of the USSR, archeologists only now have started looking into the black sea. At the bottom of the black sea, where the saltiness levels are so high, they found villages, clay jars, and other stuff used for farming and trade. So when it comes to the creation of the black sea, there was most definitely a big flood that took place, that most likely surprised the population living near the lake that is now the black sea.

This whole production crew, from behind the scenes to the host, is simply incredible. I wish I could be a part of such a quality production

I'd like Simon to read something about just how sporadic the fossil record actually is. I mean every single time a dead animal is turned into a fossil is about the most miraculous thing that can and has happened. The amount of things that need to be just right for it to happen is crazy.

Miniminuteman had a great 4-part series tearing Ancient Apocalypse to shreds.

The other big glaring issue with :ancient people taught the egyptians and the mayans: The Egyptians were building pyramids in 3000BCE and the Mayan were building pyramids in ~~300~~ 1300 AD

In our house, the first pancake is designated the sacrifice to Oolatek. A nod to the movie Heavy Metal. If you do not eat the sacrifice to Oolatek, all the other pancakes are doomed to a malformed existence. The real reason is because the pan is not at the appropriate temperature and you’re using the first pancake to figure out if it’s too hot or too cold.

I love Simons attitude about pre agricultural societies, that living in the woods was somehow carefree. Like it wasn't a ton of work to stay alive before farming. Farming took a lot of the risk out of finding and procuring food.

Regardless of what Graham's theories and thoughts are, it's gotten people wanting to look into archaeology, ancient history etc. And that helps the field of work, plus having someone like this challenge the norm of archaeology is healthy for the industry.

remember, washing your hands before surgery was seen as ridiculous by surgeons not too long ago.

Here is the real trouble with Graham's idea: You don't start with "What if..." and then look for evidence to support it. A decent scientific hypothesis starts with observation of something that our current model does not support, then investigating why it might be that way. This started as "So, this could have happened..." which is a quick trip to observation bias town.

I've read about the Silurian Hypothesis. It's a thought experiment, not a theory. Meaning that its creators don't believe there were any earlier civilizations, they just ask the question "How would we look for one?" It ends up being more of an examination of our own civilization.

6:08 The History Channel: Where the truth is history.

1) The oldest wooden structure, using shaped wood was recently found in Zambia it's 476,000 years old (That is not a typo). 2) Gobekli Tepes (~11-12000+ years old, purposefully filled in ~10,000 years ago). 3) Karahan Tepes (12,000+ years old) 4) Boncuklu Tarla (12,000+ years old) 5) Over 10,000 structures...so far, have been found using LiDAR in the Amazon, nobody knows who they were, but we do know they invented Terra Preta and Ayahuasca, exhibiting some extremely complex understandings of chemistry...or just some really good luck (once is believable, but twice starts to stretch credulity). I'm not drawing any conclusions, however, melt water pulse 1a and 1b and whatever caused them, would've wiped out and submerged most civilizations. We know it was a particularly awful period because of the mass extinction of mega fauna that occurred across North America, as well as the black mat (Younger Dryas boundary) in the soil record that can be found most prominently in North America, however it also stretches to Europe and Asia (there are impact signatures in this mat, that would suggest comet impact, as we only know 1 way for those substances to be created...comet impact). During this timeframe, the water levels rose 400 feet, and if past civilizations are anything like us currently, they would've been mainly concentrated around coastal areas. Again, no conclusions, individuals like Hancock spin a pretty intriguing yarn, but it's a tad too premature to be making definitive's about a lost civilization. That having been said, there's some very intriguing facts about some of the structures out there that are pretty undeniable, that most certainly call into question our currently accepted origin of civilization. I find it difficult to believe, for example, that Hunter Gatherer's...who know that survival depends on hunting and gathering, would drop all that to construct Gobekli Tepes...just cause. Especially so when the location is so rugged and resource limited, compounded by the sheer size of the effort. And lastly, just something to consider. The gap between when Gobekli Tepes was filled in and when the Pyramids were built, is a greater expanse of time than the gap between the Pyramids and us.

Frankly, it would be weird if ancient civilisations that flourished next to large rivers / coastlines DIDN'T have a flood myth - tsunamis due to earthquakes and rivers flooding due to particularly rainy years have been a thing since forever...

The thing about massive floods existing in many different cultures, is there's no way to say it's the SAME flood. I think thats unlikely. When these people say "everything was flooded", they really mean "(almost) everything we know about was affected by the flood."

Until 1997 the oldest megalithic structures were dated around 4000 BC. Then Gobekli Tepi changed everything. It is not unfathomable to think that there is more out there that we just don't know about yet. It is not proof, but it is certainly room for doubt.

I don't think it's possible a post industrial civilization could have been here before us and not leave traces, but an advanced civ capable of building the sphynx, sure. Makes sense to me

I watch these because I really enjoy Simons commentary on the various topics.