The television presenter Graham Hancock, in his numerous bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods, continues an astonishing, deeply controversial, and extensive investigation into the mysteries of our past and the evidence for Earth's lost civilized society. Twenty years later, Hancock returns with a book filled with entirely new, scientific, and archaeological evidence that has recently come to light... The evidence revealed in this book shows beyond reasonable doubt that an advanced civilized society during the ice age was destroyed in global catastrophes between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago.

Near the end of the last ice age, 12,800 years ago, a giant comet that had entered our solar system from the farthest reaches of space, shattered into multiple fragments, struck Earth, causing a global catastrophe on an unimaginable scale since the extinction of the dinosaurs. At least eight of the fragments impacted the northern Arctic ice cap, while others struck the northern European ice cap.

The impacts of the comet fragments generated enormous amounts of heat, which instantly melted millions of square kilometers of ice into water, destabilizing the Earth's surface and causing the global Flood remembered in myths worldwide. A second series of cataclysmic impacts occurred 11,600 years ago, the exact date Plato gives for the destruction and sinking of Atlantis.

But there were survivors - known to later civilizations by names such as "the Wise Ones," "the Magi," "the Shining Ones," and "the Masters of Heaven." They traveled the world with their great ships, doing what they could to keep the flame of civilization burning. They established themselves at critical locations - Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, Baalbek in Lebanon, Giza in Egypt, ancient Sumer, Mexico, Peru, and across the Pacific, where a massive pyramid was recently discovered in Indonesia.

Wherever they went, these "Magi of the Gods" brought with them the memory of a time when humanity had lost harmony with the universe and paid a heavy price. A memory and a warning for the future... For the comet that caused such destruction between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago may not be finished with us yet. Astronomers believe that a shattered "dark" portion of the original giant comet still remains hidden within its fragment stream and threatens Earth. An astronomical message encoded at Gobekli Tepe, and in the Sphinx and pyramids of Egypt, warns that the 'Great Return' will happen in our time...

Pages: 608, Year of Publication: 1011, Dimensions: 13.2x13.2cm