Graham Hancock (1951 - ) is the author of several books, including The Sign and the Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, and '. A recent release (with co-author Robert Bauval) is '. His chief areas of interest are stone monuments or megaliths, ancient myths and astronomical/astrological data from the past. One of Hancock's main themes is his desire to prove the existence of so-called 'lost' civilizations such as Atlantis. He has also attempted to prove the existence of a technologically advanced race that peopled the earth 10,000 years ago. While Hancock's books have sold rather well, his methods and conclusions have found little support among mainstram academics, and Hancock has been criticized as a pseudoarchaeologist.
Hancock admits to no archaeological qualifications and was previously a political journalist before promoting his unorthodox archaeological theories. His ideas have been systematically refuted on numerous occasions, most famously by BBC 2's Horizon programme. Horizon detailed his attempts to join the dots on maps of ancient temple complexes to produce outlines of astrological features and pointed out that the same thing could be done with famous landmarks in New York. The programme also revealed that Hancock had selectively moved or ignored the locations of the temples to fit his own theories. Hancock states that he was misrepresented by the programme. He and Robert Bauval made complaints to the Brodcasting Standards Commission against the way BBC programme portrayed their work, and the BSC admitted that the program was unfair to some extent. See: Broadcasting Standards Commission - Synopsis of adjudication. Horizon: Atlantis Reborn (November 4th 1999), at the website of BBC and BBC Horizon Scandal at the Official Graham Hancock Website.
