Customer Reviews

Heaven's Mirror : Quest For The Lost Civilisation

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is no mere picture book and Hancock is no Velikovsky. This book has a message of pivotal importance to all humans. It rolls back the horizon of human knowledge to unknown epochs, to a prior high-civilization with technological skills we may not even possess today. Hancock's claim is no less than that. He proves that the monumental layouts of ancient Tiwanaku, Gizeh and Ankor are actually based on star-patterns from 10,500 B.C. and that they contain the coded numbers of the earth's 26,000 year precessional zodiac cycle. Talk about ante-diluvian amnesia! If this theory is correct, then a high civilization existed at or before the 11th Millennium B.C., located in the equatorial regions, with the ability to travel world-wide, while most other humans were still in the stone age. One may ask why are there no inscriptions in stone from this civilization? That mystery may be resolved in due course. More importantly, I think this basic hypothesis is very plausible. With new dating techniques, we must now reevaluate the entire basis of pre-history which, until now, been based on stale eurocentric + mid-eastern cultural preconceptions limited to notions about ice caps and Cro-Magnons inexplicably leading to the rise of the Sumerians, Babylonians, through a series of Indus valley migrations. These findings will surely force the world's archeologists to reappraise those areas of the planet not covered by ice in the period 20,000 to 10,000 BC. I predict that the impact of this theory over the long term may mirror that of Darwin's Origin of the Species. Heaven's Mirror is a disturbing master-work in every respect. My sincere wish is that conventional archeologists should hold back from scorning Mr. Hancock. I ask them to open up to the new evidence with equanimity and address it with a scientific rather than emotive response.

For everyone left in the world who is spellbound by the precision and scale of architectural feats of wonder fashioned centuries ago by enigmatic people, Heaven's Mirror is the pot of gold at the end of the reading rainbow. Not only is this marvellous book packed with breathtaking photography of such sites as Giza, Angkor Wat, Teotihuacan, Machu Picchu, Sacsayhuaman and many more, but the accompanying text and diagrams eloquently lay out a theory whose ramifications shake the fundamental assumptions of human history.

Graham Hancock is proposing that the unimaginable amount of effort that went into megalithic structures around the world was NOT merely the result of ego-driven monarchs erecting tombs for themselves and monuments for their gods. For if you stand at these sites (as Hancock and Faiia did) at crucial times during the year (solstices and equinoxes) you can easily see that entire groundplans are oriented with the sun, moon and stars. In fact, Hancock prodigiously documents that many of these sites are exact replicas of constellations known to be of great significance to the civilizations that built them. Further, many sites mirror their respective constellations not as they looked when the sites were built, but in the epoch of 10,500 BC. This in turn requires knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes, the apparent shift of the constellations through the sky caused by the wobbling of the earth on its axis. This process takes almost 26,000 years to complete and takes 72 years to shift just one degree.

It just so happens that not only are these ancient megalithic sites exact replicas of constellations in a common, vastly distant epoch, but the sites themselves are separated in relation to each other by units of measurement that also proclaim precessional knowledge. For example, Giza, Egypt (whose three famous pyramids have apexes that reproduce the pattern of stars formed in Orion's belt (Orion was literally thought of as Osiris to the ancient Egyptians) and whose infamous Sphinx faces directly east and would have faced its "reflection" in the constellation Leo just before dawn in 10,500 BC) is located 72 degrees of longitude from Angkor Wat in Cambodia (a site which, seen from above, depicts the constellation of Draco, also in the sky to the north in the epic of 10,500 BC). 72 years, you'll remember, is the amount of time the sky takes to precess one degree.

I hope the foregoing will encourage you to read this book from cover to cover. The above example is really just a tiny piece of the massive amount of evidence contained in this incredibly important book. Graham Hancock deserves praise for being bold enough to continue the controversial search for the truth he began in Fingerprints of the Gods. His attention to quantifiable detail, referral to original sources of scholarly study via endnotes and use of mouthwatering photography and clear diagrams make Heaven's Mirror a huge pleasure to read. What he's suggesting flies in the face of conventional notions about the technological sophistication of the ancients, but then, so do the very edifices that they've cleverly designed to last until now. Far from trying to shroud these ancient sites with an air of mystery, Hancock is trying to unravel some of their secrets by using hard science combined with a knowledge of religious syntax to get at the real significance of the message left by the builders. It now seems that there was indeed a strong reason for making sites that could not be destroyed by the gradual or even the sudden ravages of history.

I won't spoil the message part for you, but suffice to say that if Hancock is correct in his hypotheses, modern civilization could learn some things of great relevance from the ancients.

Much of what Hancock presented in FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS appears
here, but there is also much that is new -- notably the celestial
alignments of the Yonaguni underwater monument and the beautiful
photography of Santha Faiia from exotic and important sites around the
world. The book has, however, one major failing -- that of paying
homage to the Inquisition-inspired portrayal of the Americas as
populated by savages. Hancock states, "...the great mystery of
Central America is that a culture of such unmitigated ferocity was
also a vehicle for profound religious ideas." He should know
better but Hancock has mixed together truly ancient Mexico --
populated for thousands of years before Christ by Olmecs and the
people who built Teotihuacan -- with the Mexico Cortez encountered in
the 16th C., populated by the barbaric Aztecs. The Aztecs were
relative latecomers to the Valley of Mexico, arriving as little as 300
years before Columbus. They built inferior pyramids -- mostly from
broken stones and boulders of earlier constructions, they borrowed
earlier spiritual beliefs -- including knowledge of Quetzalcoatl (who
advocated the sacrifice only of flowers and butterflies), and they
conducted the mass sacrifices so gleefully related by the historians
under pay of the Church of the Inquisition. Were the Aztecs, as
Hancock seems to say, contributors to the spirituality of Central
America? No, they never got to Central America, and they marked a
confused dead-end to thousands of years of pre-Columbian culture in
Mexico. And although some savagery may have marked the decadent years
of the Maya who did flourish in Central America and Mexico's Yucatan,
it must be remembered that most of the Mayan city-states were built
without defensive walls and with interconnecting canals and roads
(sacbeob), signs of cooperative civilization, not the barbarism that
marked the fortified cities of the Mediterranean and European
regions.

As I write about this heated debate/book, I have realized how each one of us will subjectively react to Graham Hancock's current book and the previous others. My subjective reaction we know is not the proof. The answer to end this debate is simple, find the means to test the hypothesis being put forth...That there was an ancient advanced civilization around 10,500 BC whose knowledge we all share through stories, myths and structural evidence that employs some advanced astronomical principles...

For a true Scientist, classifying Graham Hancock is not important, testing his theories and the evidence he presents, however is and to do so with an open mind. As a researcher Hancock has taken the time to observe the same sites, texts and myths as have others in the past. He is postulating different conclusions from what others have done..Not in vaccuum either...He provides you with plenty of evidence, contextual information and interpretation....more definitive than the "Fingerprints of the Gods"... Others have interpreted differently..He is willing to test it...Are there any takers?

The BBC program's attempt to prove/disprove Graham Hancock's theories is not sufficient. Debunk a theory proposed on physical evidence on a tv program? We have not come so far in our scientific advancement by disproving a hypothesis in that fashion...Why not consider the physical evidence and evaluate/re-evaluate the evidence..Then subject the idea through the rigourous of the scientific process...Let this be done with ideas put forth by Graham Hancock and some of his collabarators...

If people disagree with Graham Hancock, test the hypothesis...If we cannot test it, treat it as fiction and read it and forget it...But let us not jump to "scientific" conclusions by doing what Graham Hancock is accused of doing...being unscientific...Either take the time to prove / disprove it or just let it be....

And as a reader, keep your mind open when reading this book. Personally I find Hancock's hypothesis very interesting and believe that more research is needed..to prove or disprove..What exists as evidence for the players in this debate is necessary but not completely sufficient to prove their position beyond doubt..Why so?

Let us compare the field of Physics with Cultural Anthropology. A famous Scientist made a very definitive end-of-the-19th-Century declaration that Physics can explain all physical phenomena save for a few, one of them being the Photo-Electric effect. However, one Einstein was willing to think differently and has changed our thinking about physical reality. His discoveries have not finished off Physics, but re-energized it and given the power to explain even more about the universe we live in and opened our eyes to how life can truly be stranger than fiction. Was the opinion stated by a prominent scientist and held by a majority of scientists of that time really the truth and the whole truth? Far from it as it turns out. An additional advantage with Physics is that, many of the hypothesis can be confirmed through lab based experiments and observable physical phenomena. These are repeatable or tend to repeat themselves and so can be re-tested and theories can be revised. Let us also not forget that we are human. This should actually be sufficient!

The orthodox hypothesis about rise of civilizations and Graham Hancock's new hypothesis and other alternate theories,however do not have such luxury. They are working with languages, texts, myths and physical pieces of evidence that no one person can completely claim to understand or explain. They may be able to recreate the skies in 5000 BC and 10000 BC, but nothing like physics. So the researchers in such a field should pay attention to all the data and whatever secondary data they can lay their hands on. I have read quite a few articles by the proponents of different theories.. Still I believe for reasons stated above, a lot more rigorous research is needed...and I will look forward to such research.

To really appreciate all of Mr. Hancock's materials, I recommend viewing the tape Monuments to Life, which is a lecture he gave at Leeds in 1996. In this tape he presents a wide range of his views, and shows his great insights to the ancient clues that surround us here on earth.

One of Mr. Hancock's greatest assets is his contempt for the "stories" we have been told as facts through the years, and his replacement of far more plausible explanations.

I would have to rate Mr. Handcock as a guide in the wilderness, and his insights provide a path to a far more acceptable presentation of the ancient world than any other single speaker.

While I would assume they don't welcome him in Egypt, I welcome him with open arms, and mind, because he looks and reports what he finds, not what he feels will be accepted.

NOTE: The next time you see pyramids with steps, don't think of them as being used to go up, think of them as being used to go down, and see if the picture makes more sense...

"Heavens Mirror" is a lush book of alternative ancient history from Graham Hancock, author of "Fingerprints of the Gods", a book I really enjoyed. Though I definitely did find it interesting, it left me with a bad taste in the mouth after I read it, if that makes sense.

Graham Hancock believes that long ago there was a civilization as sophisticated and thoughtful as ours, wiped out by the last ice age (around 10,500 BC), and whose influence can be seen in cultures round the world. He put forward this theory in his book "Fingerprints of the Gods", a well presented, heavily researched book. Graham is still writing about this lost culture, but rather than focusing on it's apparent influence like he did in "Fingerprints", he focuses on their beliefs and rituals. He finds a lot of things in common between certain cultures of the world. There's the idea of a "navel of the world", the idea of an afterlife world in the sky, references to the procession of the equinoxes, temples and structures in the form of certain constellations. Jumping from continent to continent, he tries to piece things together, hopefully coming to a conclusion.

First of all, I must say, this is a well presented book, just like "Fingerprints of the Gods". Hancock's wife, Santha Faiia, provided the photography, and there are some fantastic shots of famous ancient monuments, taken from angles and distances I have never seen before. It's almost as if you are there. They were a treat to look at, and she rightfully gets co-authorship of the book because of it. There are diagrams, which really, REALLY helped with the astronomical and mathematical elements. The content of the book, the studies on ancient beliefs, was also fascinating to read.

That's not to say this is a book without flaws. Graham doesn't seem to know who he is writing to here, newcomers to his books or old regulars. Sometimes he assumes we've read his books, and other times he repeats himself. He repeats himself in a few ways, actually. He'll make the same point a couple of times, which I found a little bit annoying, and it caused my eyes to wander from the page more than once. He seems a little more intense in his writing that he does in "Fingerprints of the Gods" too, and I can't say it's the most inviting feel to have. Plus, there are hardly as many references as his last books.

I felt a little bit uneasy reading this book, and I couldn't quite put a finger on why. It started when I noticed Graham Hancock was using the word "initiate" frequently when talking about the ancient learned people. The last alternative history book I read that used the word "initiate" frequently descended into obsessive nonsense very quickly, and was almost impossible to comprehend (let alone believe or consider). "What was Graham getting at here?" I thought. I got a little more uncomfortable when he started throwing the the words "gnosis" and "gnostic", and started mixing beliefs together.

Graham had been making all these links, pointing out these common factors, but not really stopping to explain why. The conclusion, when he finally got to it, came as something as a shock, though I felt it coming. He claims to believe that the ancient people were onto something in their rituals. He quotes gnostic gospels of the Christian era as if they were not only correct, but influenced by this ten thousand year old culture he claims existed. Then, came this sentence, wedged within the final paragraph:

"Modern religions, like modern science, have let us down, offering us no nourishment or guidance. Perhaps our only hope ... [is] when certain ideas come to life again, and we should not deprive our grandchildren of a last chance at the heritage of the highest are farthest-off times"

That says it all about why I felt so uneasy about the book, I think. Rejecting basically everyone in favor of his mish mash of ancient beliefs. It's one thing to say that civilizations have things in common, it's quite another to say that they have the answers for the future, if you know what I mean.

It was a very interesting look at ancient cultures, I do agree, very well presented with some fantastic pictures. That's the reason I give it four stars. Graham Hancock's conclusions, however, are rather worrying. I hope he doesn't get too sucked into these kind of theories.

Last September I went to England with my British husband to visit his family on the Isle of Wight, after which we rented a car and proceeded on a 1600 mile journey through the ruins of castles, abbeys, and ancient stone circles and henges. What sparked my interest the most was the great antiquity and severe lack of knowledge that surrounded all of the stone circles and other ancient henged sites that we were lucky enough to come across on my "search for the past". When we came back to America I started to do some research on the many prehistoric sites in England that I was privy to see, via the web, books, television, anything I could get my hands on, something to let me know how or why these great megalithic stone circles and henged structures came into being. It was at that time the Discovery Channel just happened to air the three episodes of Graham Hancock's "Quest for the Lost Civilization". I sat intrigued for three nights straight contemplating the possibility of an ancient civilization that was wiped out via flood or some similar catastrophy. Immediately I felt that Hancock's theory could be correct, and that what I was taught in text-book history class, which I found most boring and often skipped, could be wrong. I then bought the book "Heaven's Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civilization". I was thirsty for knowledge and read this book vehemetly, most often concurring to Hancock's opinions that an ancient civiliation could have once existed, and due to some tragedy, most likely a flood, was suddenly wiped out of existance. According to Hancock, the most likely catalyst to the demise of this ancient "mother culture" was a great catistrophic flood that affected the whole of the Earth in the year 10,500 BC, of which there were but a few survivors. This notion is brought together by the fact that several ancient cultures including the Egyptians, Olmecs and hence the Myans, Easter Islanders, Cambodians, etc. all had similar belief systems, similar mythologies, similar architecture, similar astronomical calculations and alignments, which is theorized to come from an even more ancient common source. Being that humanity has been around for hundreds of thousands of years with the same brain capacity as ours today, is it so hard to believe that we never used that brain capacity until just 4000 years ago? Keep an open mind when reading this book, for it just might open it further.

This book is a must buy for anyone interested in the topic of ancient civilisations, and archaeo-astronomy. The author's arguments are profound, interesting and and totally understandable to anyone whom may be a new comer to this area of research. His theories and observations on the geodetic positioning of ancient sites around the world is refreshinly new in an area of investigation that I feel was beginning to go stale.

The writing is first class, as we have come to expect from Mr Hancock, and this coupled with the many coloured and often breath taking photographs, and simple effective diagrams, make this the best book to date that the author has published. It not only helps the reader to understand the nature of the argument, but gives them an almost personal feel for the topic, as if they are traveling alongside Mr. Hancock and making these discoveries together.

The thing that should fascinate every one is discovering and hearing new things. When Galileo first said that the earth is round and that the sun is the center of our galaxy and the earth, everyone stood against him and made fun of him; when the first doctors in history treated someone of his disease they were considered as sorcerers; when some scientist discovers or invents something new, there is always someone that envies him and stands against him. Our world is made of anger! When Hancock wrote in his book that a more sophisticated and advanced civilization existed before the year 10500 BC., he didn't say that just based upon his imagination, what he said makes more sense than every other scientist. The Sphinx is synchronized with Leo constellation, the three Pyramids are perfectly synchronized with the Orion constellation, and the temple of Angkor is perfectly synchronized with the Drako constellation, but the synchronizing occurs in 10500 BC. OK, this may be a coincidence, but what about the orientation of each place of the last mentioned, and what about the holes in the Pyramids walls, and which are exactly orientated towards the Orion constellation. But the most interesting things of all are the dimensions that these places present, the longitude, the Latitude, the number of bricks: it had to be a logic to all that. We have sophisticated architecture plans in our days, but I don't think that any of their parameters are perfectly matching with any of the known constellations. Taking into consideration all the things and parameters that are presented, none of Hancock's conclusions seem "nongrata". As about the criticism given to this book, or shall I say given to the ideas? They are totally unfounded: some book critics don't admit that there may be a much more intelligent person than they are, that's beside of the fact that many university professors don't know what is beyond the seas, or how to change a flat tire, so why should you take this limited intelligence criticism into consideration, think logically, and don't pay attention to critics, who wouldn't be able to sell popcorn in a cinema's hall if it wasn't for the people who listen to them, don't let anybody think for you. It's a great book! Enjoy reading it.

There are essentially five types of arguments for one or more intelligent ET civilizations having visited and exploited earth and influencing (if not helping "create") humanity and continuing to do so. The first is the logico-statistical, which is essentially that in a universe as large and as old as ours, anything that can happen has happened, does happen, and will happen in a mulititude of spacetime locales. The second is the mythological: Our sacred histories are full of accounts of the gods, sons of god, angels, demons, faeries, etc. coming to earth from the sky, out of the sea, etc. The third is the testimony of all those who have seen flying saucers and met various intelligent non-humans (some of whom allegedly advise that, yes indeed, they have been coming and going for milleinia). The fourth are the megalithic monuments found all over the world whose origins, engineering, and construction are inexplicably sophisticated and, in some cases, beyond any known human technology, past or present. The fifth is the aesthetic argument, to the effect that in our time, science fiction is prophecy, from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to Gene Roddenberry, and within such genre, intelligent non-human civilizations are fundamental. The fact that current human science and technology (whether or not inadvertently a/o secretly assisted by ETI), much of it classified, has either accomplished or is now on the verge of such things as "anti-gravity" field propulsion vehicles (i.e. "flying saucers"), particle beam weaponry, and bio-engineering transgenic species and increased longevity, makes it all the more plausible (if not demonstrable) that the sons of adam may simply be tracing the same paths pursued by other, more mature civilizations. Hancock's explorations of the megalithic monuments and myths and the questions he raises are truly worth pondering. However, his hypotheses about a secret society of astronomer-priests which many find too fanciful and preposterous, are, in my opinion, to the contrary, insufficiently imaginitive if one merely accepts the conclusion of the first argument above. It is not crop circles (which humans can make with computer controlled directed energy devices such as masers) that are the "signs" we should attend to; they are the myths and megalithic monuments. The "gods" have left far more than their fingerprints; they have left all sorts of messages for the sons of adam. (Among these messages, for example, are that man has both a body and soul, his body is subject to death, and his soul must reckon with divine judgment concerning the good and evil he does. Eternal life as enjoyed by those who live in the heavenly realms is an ancient quest for the sons of adam.) Hancock and his talented wife are to be commended for calling our attention to some of these myths and monuments so expertly and helping us better see how truly marvelous they are. Wonder if they had any help from on high?