Review

“Fingerprints of the Gods” is a fascinating and relatively entertaining dissertation on some fringe theories about human civilization’s true origins. Piecing together a series of puzzling archaeological head-scratchers, author Graham Hancock slowly (sometimes TOO slowly) and convincingly lays out some very compelling arguments that would place a very intelligent and technologically advanced civilization on planet Earth thousands of years before the mainstream scientific community would like to admit.

Mind you, the only reason I use the word ‘Fringe’ is because these theories do not jive with the textbooks. “Fingerprints” has been copiously researched and substantiated to varying degrees by extremely well-respected members of the scientific community. What’s interesting is that experts in different disciplines each back different parts of Hancock’s story, so that each angle is well documented and ridiculously foot-noted. While I’m sure that many of these experts do not agree with the conclusions that are drawn, it’s difficult to deny that the various pieces of this puzzle fit together in such a way as to suggest we re-examine our understanding of human history.

A short book this is not. At nearly 500 pages (with 50 or so just for the footnotes) it is a hefty tome, but not a difficult read. Hancock has the ability to spell MOST things out for even the casual reader. There are a few chapters that deal with the math behind planetary precession that can be a little foreboding, but for the most part the book is quite accessible and at times becomes quite the page-turner.

Am I convinced? Well to be honest, I’ve had similar thoughts for quite some time now WITHOUT any evidence, so this kind of added some flesh to the skeleton I’d been hiding in my philosophy closet. It seems quite clear to me that mankind can’t have just showed up around 3000 B.C. with all the technical know-how to pull off some of the most amazing architectural and astronomical feats the world has ever known. This knowledge came from Somewhere. As I continue to wander through this world I increasingly find myself muttering, “This has all happened before…” “Fingerprints of the Gods” would at least LEAD me to believe that I might be on to something.