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Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

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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)

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

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Fingerprints of the Gods

Graham Hancock Photographs by Santha Faiia

Three Rivers Press New York

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

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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

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

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For Santha ... for being there. With all my love.

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

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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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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

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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 Better than Hipparchus.......................................................................................252 Times of decay...................................................................................................253 Dogs, uncles and revenge ..................................................................................258 Scientists with something to say.........................................................................260

Chapter 32 ............................................................................................................262 A message in the bottle of time..........................................................................263 Mill of pain.........................................................................................................264

Part VI .......................................................................................................................267 Chapter 33 ............................................................................................................268

Inexplicable precision ........................................................................................269 Black hole in history...........................................................................................271 Ships in the desert .............................................................................................272

Chapter 34 ............................................................................................................274 Time and motion................................................................................................274 Rampant stupidity..............................................................................................276 The guardian and the vision...............................................................................278 Under Egyptian skies..........................................................................................279 Thinking like giants ...........................................................................................281

Chapter 35 ............................................................................................................283 Trivializing the mystery......................................................................................284 The cupboard was bare......................................................................................286 Bottlenecks in the well-shaft...............................................................................290 Not like other tombs ..........................................................................................291 A certain smell ... ...............................................................................................292 Overview............................................................................................................295

Chapter 36 ............................................................................................................297 A singular oppression ... ....................................................................................297 The moving finger writes and having writ it moves on........................................300 Pandora’s Box....................................................................................................303

Chapter 37 ............................................................................................................305 The Beacon ........................................................................................................305

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Mind games of the pyramid builders ..................................................................307 Unknown dark distance......................................................................................309 The Queen’s Chamber........................................................................................312 Instrument.........................................................................................................313

Chapter 38 ............................................................................................................316 Antechamber .....................................................................................................317 Stone enigmas ...................................................................................................319 Ceremony of the sarcophagus............................................................................322 The game-master ...............................................................................................324

Chapter 39 ............................................................................................................328 Temple of the giants ..........................................................................................329 Lord of Rostau ...................................................................................................332 Vastly, remotely, fabulously ancient ...................................................................333 Whose Sphinx is it anyway? ................................................................................335

Part VII ......................................................................................................................339 Chapter 40 ............................................................................................................340

Bauval’s Stars and West’s Stones ........................................................................341 The way of the jackal .........................................................................................345

Chapter 41 ............................................................................................................347 Connections and similarities ..............................................................................349 Gift of the Gods? ................................................................................................350

Chapter 42 ............................................................................................................354 Broken images of a lost technology?...................................................................355 Repositories of a lost science?............................................................................356 The train of the Sun and the dweller in Sirius......................................................359 Millions of years and th