Is there a lost civilization out there?
Ancient Apocalypse is one of those shows that feels like it should be shown on the History channel at 2am, when you wander back home completely drunk from a crazy night out, and throw something on while demolishing a kebab. Not speaking from personal experience of course! If you don’t fancy turning back to dusty cable again, complete with adverts every 7 minutes, then Netflix have you covered with its latest psuedo-science show, Ancient Apocalypse. Although Graham Hancock (our narrator and host we follow through this show) labels himself more of an investigative journalist, pseudoscience is literally translated to consisting of statements, beliefs or practices that claim to be scientific and factual but don’t actually have methods or facts to back up those claims. Across the 8 episodes, Hancock and his team jet across the world to various different heritage locations, pointing out and highlighting potential evidence of ancient civilizations that have been around since before our hunter-gatherer ancestors, showcasing ancient civilizations that were here way before them. While the show is interesting, it’s worth pointing out that it’s highly biased and skewed in one direction. The only mention of scientists or those in the community are in back-handed digs or bad-mouthed retorts, pointing out how scientists don’t know what they’re doing. It’s actually a shame because Hancock presents some pretty interesting findings but the ripples of mean-spirited ribbing against science doesn’t do his cause any favours. The first episode, for example, looks at Gunung Padang, a site that seems to be evidence of an ancient civilization operating in Indonesia thousands of years ago. As I said before though, this is a very addictive series and it’s one of those that’s easy to get lost down the rabbit hole, scrambling from mystery to mystery. One episode that’s particularly good for this looks at the Bimini rock formation, that many have pointed to as evidence of the road to Atlantis. This is actually shown off with sonars and equipment to measure the rocks, reinforcing the ideas and really sucking you into the mystery. In fact, I’d argue this is the best episode of the bunch. However, other chapters go from the compelling to the bonkers with one chapter looking at “Poverty Point” in North America and immediately jumping into believing that the entire site is part of something much bigger, using a lot of “ifs” “maybes” and “I don’t knows” to piece together a civilization fascinated by the sky, and potentially hinting at an apocalyptic climate event. How much you get out of Ancient Apocalypse depends on what you’re looking for. You won’t get much in the way of balanced viewpoints but tumbling down the rabbit hole and looking deeper at ancient monuments and theorizing that they could be part of something larger is undeniably moreish. This is certainly not a show to take as scientific fact but if you’re looking for more Ancient Aliens and pseudoscience entertainment, this show absolutely has you covered
