Archaeology on the Joe Rogan Experience

“decades, that civilization began about 6,000 years ago. And before that, there was no such thing as civilization. And they say that the first big megalithic st…”

Hancock claims mainstream archaeology held civilization began only ~6,000 years ago until Gobekli Tepe (dated ~11,600 years old) upended that view, implying a suppressed older civilization.

“It's the single largest block of stone ever cut and quarried in the ancient world.”

The guest claims a 1,460-ton block discovered at Baalbek in 2014 is the single largest block of stone ever cut and quarried in the ancient world.

“Well, they had a depiction of the solar system, not just a depiction, but all of the planets in the proper order.”

Rogan claims a 6,000-year-old Sumerian clay tablet accurately depicts the full solar system, heliocentric and in correct planetary order, including planets not visible to the naked eye.

“Just a year ago, at the bottom of the Sicily Channel, at a depth of more than 120 feet,”

The guest describes a purportedly megalithic man-made structure discovered underwater in the Sicily Channel, submerged for roughly 9,000 years.

“What caused it was exposure to a very long period of heavy, heavy, heavy rainfall.”

The guest claims the Great Sphinx's erosion was caused by prolonged heavy rainfall during the Younger Dryas period roughly 12,000 years ago, implying the Sphinx is far older than the accepted ~2500 BC date.

“And one of the things that went over is the oldest shipwreck that we're currently aware of it's about 4,000 years old. About 6,000. The Dokos shipwreck.”

The oldest known shipwreck is the Dokos shipwreck, described as about 6,000 years old.

“None of those cores came from that tunnel or chamber or any of those features that they described.”

Dibble states that none of the radiocarbon-dated soil cores used to claim a ~25,000-year-old Gunung Padang structure actually came from the described tunnels or chambers.

“this is Jacques Cinq-Mars, who investigated bluefish caves in the Yukon and found evidence of human beings there more than 20,000 years ago. Now if that eviden…”

Hancock claims Bluefish Caves in the Yukon yielded evidence of humans more than 20,000 years ago, over 7,000 years before Clovis.

“there's this really interesting place called the Raqefet Cave. And it was a burial site with about 30 individuals. This is between 11,700 BC and 9,700 BC. A te…”

Muraresku claims a Stanford-led excavation at Raqefet Cave in Israel found 13,000-year-old evidence of beer brewing in a burial site.

“And I'd say we could definitively prove there was no large-scale metallurgy in the Ice Age. If you look at ice cores in the Arctic, right, we can track metallu…”

Dibble claims Arctic ice cores record lead emissions from Roman and medieval metallurgy but show no metallurgical emissions during the Ice Age, ruling out a large-scale metal-working civilization then.

“result of heavy rainfall, exposure to heavy rainfall for thousands of years. And you have to go back to the Younger Dryas to get that kind of heavy rainfall in…”

Geologist Robert Schoch attributed the weathering of the Sphinx to thousands of years of heavy rainfall, implying it is more than 12,000 years old.

“At a place called Jaco Sa in the Amazon, you can find a square perfectly enclosing a circle. Now, that is an exercise called squaring the circle that our acade…”

Hancock claims an Amazonian earthwork site demonstrates the geometric 'squaring the circle' concept predating the Greeks, who are credited by academics as first performing it.

“What Schock is saying is that the Sphinx and the trench out of which the Sphinx is cut bears the unmistakable evidence of precipitation-induced weathering, wea…”

Hancock claims geologist Robert Schoch's water-erosion analysis shows the Sphinx enclosure was carved by millennia of heavy rainfall, implying the Sphinx is far older than the mainstream ~2500 BC date.

“the last time you have that heavy rainfall in Egypt is the period that geologists call the Younger Dryas, roughly between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago. So the b…”

Hancock asserts that erosion patterns on the Sphinx enclosure prove the monument dates to the Younger Dryas period roughly 12,000 years ago.

“The notion that the Great Sphinx is 12,500 years old, which is a notion based on the erosion patterns on the body of the Sphinx, is utterly unacceptable to Egy…”

Hancock claims the Great Sphinx's erosion patterns show it is 12,500 years old, a date rejected by mainstream Egyptology.

“the Sphinx 12,500 years ago was gazing at dawn on the spring equinox at the constellation of Leo. In other words, this lion monument on the ground was looking …”

Hancock claims astronomical alignment (the Sphinx facing the constellation Leo at dawn on the spring equinox roughly 12,500 years ago) supports his view, along with water-erosion evidence, that the Great Sphinx is far older than its conventional dating of about 4,500 years.

“The Indus Valley civilization today in Pakistan wasn't known about until the 1920s. It was found by accident.”

Hancock cites the 1920s discovery of the Indus Valley civilization as precedent for a currently-unknown lost advanced civilization existing undiscovered today.

“27 million square kilometers of the best real estate on earth that were above water during the Ice Age are underwater now. Yes, there's been some marine archae…”

Hancock claims 27 million square kilometers of formerly-exposed continental shelf are now underwater and largely unexamined by archaeology, leaving open the possibility of a lost advanced civilization there.

“The geology speaks to the original Sphinx being more than 12,000 years old.”

Hancock claims geological water-erosion evidence shows the Great Sphinx of Giza is over 12,000 years old, far older than the accepted ~4,500-year Old Kingdom date.

“In 2010, I brought a team, scientists from every field, and we recounted the stones based on the new evidence, and we found out that the stones of the pyramid …”

Hawass says a 2010 recount found the Great Pyramid contains more than one million stone blocks, with average limestone blocks weighing half a ton to two and a half tons.

“But for a reason we do not know, he left it unfinished. And he went to a place called the shore. He built the”

Hawass says Sneferu's architect Nefermaat first built a step pyramid at Meidum which was left unfinished, then Sneferu built the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur whose angle had to be changed mid-construction.

“The ancient Egyptians believed that a pharaoh should be a male. A pharaoh cannot be a female. Anyone who changed the religious belief, they hit him. Hatshepsut…”

Hawass claims Hatshepsut's monuments were destroyed because ancient Egyptians believed a pharaoh could not be female.

“Now. First of all, how old is that? 4600 years ago. Isn't that amazing?”

Hawass states the Wadi al-Jarf papyri are 4,600 years old.

“I found the tombs of the pyramid builders only one mile south of the Sphinx. A major important discovery that can tell everyone, number one, that pyramids buil…”

Hawass says he discovered the tombs of the pyramid builders one mile south of the Sphinx, proving Egyptians built the pyramids based on names found inside.

“First of all, these two scholars from Italy, they have never been in Egypt. They have never worked in the pyramids before. Right. They're using satellite infor…”

Hawass claims the two Italian scholars behind the Giza tomography claims never worked in Egypt and published in a pay-to-publish, non-peer-reviewed journal.

“Number two, that the stones used in building the great pyramid came from Torah. And Torah is 25 miles to the east from Giza. And number three, that Kufu ruled …”

Hawass characterizes the standard textbook claims as: pyramid stones came from Tura 25 miles east of Giza, Khufu ruled 23 years, and the Great Pyramid has 2,300,000 blocks.

“It's called the step pyramid. In the pyramid text, they say that the step pyramid yeah and the pyramid that's the first one in the pyramid text they say that t…”

Hawass says the Step Pyramid of Djoser, built by Imhotep, predates the Great Pyramid by almost 700 years.

“This is why Herodotus, the father of the history history when he came to Egypt in the middle of the 5th century BC he never talked about the things”

Hawass claims Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the mid-5th century BC, never mentioned the Sphinx because it was completely buried in sand.

“Now, a few years ago, a major discovery happened for the first time. It is the first time that we have written evidence about building the pyramid of Khufu. Wh…”

Hawass says the Wadi al-Jarf Papyri, the first written evidence about building Khufu's pyramid, were discovered three years ago.

“So now that you know that the base is solid rock, that removes 1,300,000 stones that were”

The claim is that recognizing the pyramid base is solid carved rock removes about 1,300,000 blocks from the previous 2,300,000 estimate.

“In 2000 to I was chosen by the National Geographic as Explorer in residence were nine explorers with them. With us was Bill Billard, who found Titanic.”

Hawass claims he was chosen as a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, one of nine, alongside Robert Ballard who found the Titanic.

“Located now between the two paws of the Sphinx in the stele it say that thought wasose IV was a prince, and he came to have a nap beside the sphinx. And the sp…”

Hawass recounts that the Dream Stele between the Sphinx's paws records Thutmose IV as a prince who was promised kingship in a dream if he cleared the sand from the Sphinx.

“we have in Egypt 120 pyramids we don't have only Kufu pyramid that everyone is talking about. You have 120 pyramids.”

Hawass states there are 120 pyramids in Egypt, not only the Khufu pyramid.

“But now we discovered that they slaughter 11 cows and 33 goats every day, and this can feed 10,000 workmen a day. Then we believe now, and I published, that th…”

Hawass claims animal bone evidence shows 11 cows and 33 goats were slaughtered daily to feed a workforce of about 10,000 pyramid builders who worked with one day off every ten days.

“Then I brought a team from Cairo University, and we did drill 30 to 35 feet underneath the Sphinx, everywhere. And I do have photos of everywhere under the thi…”

Hawass claims a Cairo University team drilled 30 to 35 feet under the Sphinx everywhere and found solid rock with nothing beneath it.

“He came to the Sphinx and he worked with us for a season. And he came and we published many articles that the erosion that you see outside and inside the Sphin…”

Hawass claims a geologist studied the Sphinx and published articles concluding the erosion is from wind rather than water, contradicting Robert Schoch's water-erosion theory.

“Right, but I thought it was used in Egypt like to measure wood that was in mortar to date the Great Pyramid to 2500 BC. No, that was an experiment to leave the…”

Rogan states that carbon dating of organic material in the Great Pyramid's mortar dated it to around 2500 BC.

“He buried his father in year 28. Then we know now for sure that Kufu ruled for 28 years.”

Hawass claims that based on the Wadi al-Jarf papyri, Khufu is now known for certain to have reigned 28 years.

“Gobekli Tepe is in Turkey. Oh, in Turkey. Yes. Gobekli Tepe is in Turkey and it's more than 11,000 years old. It's very complex stone structures.”

Gobekli Tepe is a complex stone structure site in Turkey that is more than 11,000 years old.

“Like I discovered the Golden City. It's a major, big, large cemetery, large settlement, a city. And you know, this city was chosen the most important discovery…”

Hawass claims he discovered the Golden City near Luxor, chosen as the most important discovery in the world in 2021.

“why not with date 14 never given accurate dating.”

Hawass claims carbon-14 dating has never given accurate dating and does not work in Egypt.

“Enigmatic group once lived alongside homo sapiens in eastern Asia. According to science alert, fossilized remains unearthed from sediment layers dated over 200…”

Rogan reads that a newly described large-headed human group with disproportionately large cranial volumes lived alongside Homo sapiens in eastern Asia over 200,000 years ago.

“and that led archaeologists to dive in on him And there was a ganging up of archaeologists and complaints were made to the Peer-reviewed journal that published…”

The peer-reviewed journal retracted Natawidjaja's Gunung Padang paper without good reasons after archaeologists complained.

“Dani Hilman Natu Wajaja, who is the geologist who brought to the world's attention the mystery of Gunung Padang in Indonesia, which appeared in the first episo…”

Geologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja published a peer-reviewed paper claiming Gunung Padang in Indonesia is a pyramidal structure more than 27,000 years old with earliest phases in the last ice age.

“It's reckoned that there were a million mound sites in North America, if you go back to 1500. There's about 100,000 left, which is a lot actually. But most of …”

There were about a million mound sites in North America around 1500, with roughly 100,000 surviving today and 900,000 destroyed.

“in San Diego. I went to see, the exhibits are in the San Diego Natural History Museum and I talked with the expert there, Dr. Tom Demere. And they are convince…”

The Cerutti Mastodon site in San Diego shows evidence of human butchering of a mastodon dated to 130,000 years ago, according to Dr. Tom Demere.

“level, lowest sea level during the Ice Age. Cyprus was always an island. And yet, there's evidence now that it was settled 14,000 years ago, certainly 14,000 t…”

Cyprus, always an island even at lowest Ice Age sea level, was settled 14,000 to 12,500 years ago by large planned migrations of populations of roughly a thousand people crossing the Mediterranean.

“And there, yes, they found human footprints dated back more than 23,000 years.”

Human footprints found at White Sands, New Mexico have been dated to more than 23,000 years ago.

“anatomically modern humans, we think that they first appeared about 300,000 years ago. Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, 310,000 years ago. Now, I can remember a time n…”

Anatomically modern humans first appeared about 300,000 years ago, with the Jebel Irhoud fossils in Morocco dated to 310,000 years.

“Tom Dillehay who found Monte Verde, who excavated Monte Verde in South America, and realized that it was plus 14,000 years old, and therefore a lot older than …”

Tom Dillehay excavated Monte Verde in South America and determined it was more than 14,000 years old, older than the then-accepted model for the first peoples of North America.

“The Sphinx aligned with, it was looking at the rising sun and behind it the constellation of Leo 12,500 years ago.”

The Sphinx faced the rising sun with the constellation Leo behind it 12,500 years ago.

“Same with Australia. 50,000 years ago human beings got there and even at the lowest sea level”

Humans reached Australia 50,000 years ago, crossing open water even at the lowest sea level.

“Terra Prata is still being made, but most of it is very old. And the oldest that they found so far is about 8,000 years old.”

The oldest terra preta (Amazonian dark earth) found so far is about 8,000 years old.

“the date that she's found 3,000 year old banana phytoliths in Easter Island blows out of the water the notion that Easter Island was only settled a thousand ye…”

Banana phytoliths excavated from a crater on Easter Island have been dated to 3,000 years old, implying much earlier settlement than the conventional date.

“Because if it's the tomb of Khufu then it had to be built in 23 years because that was his Reign uh he would start in theory building it at the beginning of hi…”

The Great Pyramid, if the tomb of Khufu, would have had to be built within his roughly 23-year reign.

“when we work precession into the equation, we find that they're not laid out in the pattern of Orion's belt as it looked in 2500 BC when the pyramids are suppo…”

The three Giza pyramids are laid out matching the pattern of Orion's belt as it appeared in 10,500 BC, not 2500 BC when they were supposedly built.

“you can see the population of rice at archaeological sites, it starts off mostly as brittle, meaning it shatters easily, and over time it takes about 1,500 yea…”

Dibble states archaeological rice populations show a shift from brittle to non-shattering forms taking about 1,500 years to reach full domestication.

“Tom Dillehay discovered the site of, excavated the site of Monteverde in Chile, and he found evidence that human beings had been there 14,000, maybe as much as…”

Hancock states Tom Dillehay excavated Monte Verde in Chile and found evidence of human presence 14,000 to as much as 18,000 years ago.

“So archaeologists named this culture the Clovis culture after that. And it was for a long while thought to be the first culture, the first human presence in th…”

Hancock states the Clovis culture, long held to be the first human presence in the Americas, was dated to around 13,400 years ago and crossed the Bering land bridge.

“For example, here are this publication by Canuto in 2018 records 61,480 structures still to be excavated, found with LIDAR and surface survey, right? And so at…”

Dibble cites a 2018 publication by Canuto reporting 61,480 Maya structures identified via LIDAR and surface survey in northern Guatemala.

“And so the thing is at this point, we have something like three million shipwrecks from around the world. And so one of my questions for Graham is, if this is …”

Dibble states there are roughly three million shipwrecks recorded around the world, none attributable to a lost Ice Age global civilization.

“Oh, the oldest seeds we have go back tens of thousands of years. The oldest domesticated crops we have go back about 11,000 years. And where are those from? Fr…”

Dibble states the oldest domesticated crops date to about 11,000 years ago, from the Fertile Crescent region of Syria and Turkey.

“We have evidence against it from those pollen cores, but also this article by Peter Richardson and colleagues points out that agriculture, it was probably too …”

Dibble cites Peter Richerson and colleagues that Ice Age agriculture was likely impossible because atmospheric CO2 was too low for intensive plant growth.

“But the fact of the matter is, round about 1% of the Sahara has been excavated and 99% hasn't. So to say that there's no possibility of any traces of a lost ci…”

Hancock asserts about 1 percent of the Sahara has been excavated and that during African Humid periods the Sahara was green and fertile.

“So it tells you the story is pretty old. And they thought initially it was probably back in the 1300, but this confirmed that it was at least 2,600 years old, …”

Gibson claims a carved mural discovered at the El Mirador archaeological site confirmed the Popol Vuh myth is at least 2,600 years old, far older than previously thought (circa 1300s).

“above the king's Chamber in the Great Pyramid are five further chambers. And these chambers are roofed and floored with granite beams that weigh about 70 tons …”

Hancock claims the Great Pyramid's relieving chambers above the King's Chamber contain hundreds of 70-ton granite beams.

“And they now know from flying over, they use light lidar, which is this, light emitting radar. So they so when they use this laser radar shit, when they fly ov…”

Gibson claims LIDAR surveys have revealed that most of the Amazon jungle is actually man-made agricultural land, previously home to millions of people in cities now consumed by jungle.

“There's 4 by 8 foot bricks. That's not that's man made. And it is literally the biggest pyramid in the world. It's bigger than the ones in Egypt, and it's in G…”

Gibson claims a pyramid (La Danta at El Mirador, Guatemala) is literally the biggest pyramid in the world, bigger than any in Egypt.

“Gobekli Tepe is discovered. It dates to 11,600 years ago. It's more than 5,000 years older than the supposedly oldest megalithic architecture in the world. And…”

Hancock claims Gobekli Tepe's site had no prior evidence of agriculture and that agriculture appeared simultaneously with the site's construction, implying the monument predates and causes farming.

“San Diego Natural History Museum, and a bunch of other very high-level paleontologists, published in Nature magazine evidence for human presence in North Ameri…”

Hancock claims a 2017 Nature paper on the Cerutti Mastodon site presents accepted evidence of human presence in North America 130,000 years ago.

“we can say that a city like London, which had a population of roughly 50,000 in the 16th century, there were cities of that size all over the Amazon, huge numb…”

Hancock claims pre-Columbian Amazon cities rivaled 16th-century London in size and the Amazon's total population exceeded 20 million people.