Controversial British writer Graham Hancock has abandoned plans to film a new season of his hit Netflix show Ancient Apocalypse in the US following an outcry from Indigenous groups over his depiction of their history and culture.
Hancock is a former journalist who has been criticized by experts for his promotion of fringe beliefs in the show which presents theories about an advanced lost civilization active during the last ice age.
Producers on the show, which reportedly reached Netflix’s top 10 status in 31 countries, had applied for permits to film new episodes at the Grand Canyon national park in Arizona and the Chaco Canyon national historical park in New Mexico, the Guardian has learned, despite strong objections from local tribal leaders.
An application to film at Grand Canyon was lodged by ITN Productions, makers of Ancient Apocalypse, in February, with a further permit for Chaco Canyon then granted, a National Parks Service (NPS) spokesperson confirmed. However, ITN told the Guardian that neither of the permits will now be taken up, with the show instead looking to film at locations outside the US. The company declined to specify a reason for this move.
According to information obtained by the Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act request, ITN did do some filming for four days in Chaco Canyon in January.
The crew planned to return to the park for more filming in March, but an email to Chaco staff states they cancelled their trip at the last minute due to “some delays with permissions for some other sites we were hoping to film in”.
The description for the Secrets of the Ancients program listed on the Chaco filming permit application said the program would explore “one of archaeology’s biggest mysteries: the peopling of the Americas”.
It went on to state: “We’ll uncover the latest findings about the earliest inhabitants of the Americas and reveal remarkable scientific knowledge that’s been handed down for generations. Where did humans settle first in the Americas, and what do we know about them?”
Hancock, who is not an archeologist, has attracted the ire of those in the profession, as well as Native groups, for pushing a theory that an advanced ice age society, responsible for modern understandings of maths, architecture and agriculture, was wiped out by floods triggered by comet strikes nearly 12,000 years ago.
Evidence of this is found at ancient sites around the world, Hancock claims, with the writer visiting such places in countries including Turkey, Mexico and Indonesia in the first season of the Netflix show, aired in 2022. During the show, which Netflix promoted with the tagline “What if everything we know about prehistoric humans is wrong?”, Hancock railed against “mainstream archaeology” for not accepting his theories.
“[Hancock] presents his theories as being superior to what the first inhabitants of the area say about their own history,” said Stewart Koyiyumptewa, tribal historic preservation officer for the Hopi Nation.
The Hopi people have lived in or near the Grand Canyon for at least 2,000 years and claim a sacred site inside the canyon as their place of emergence. They also have strong ties to Chaco Canyon.
A Grand Canyon national park staff member who is Native American also pushed back against issuing a permit to ITN.
“This is embarrassing and a discredit to our agency when we have been working hard to respect Indigenous people and right many historical wrongs,” wrote the staff member in an email to Grand Canyon park management. “This is just degrading.”
According to a memo sent last March by a Grand Canyon national park staff member to leaders of the 11 Indigenous tribes affiliated with the park, Grand Canyon senior management sought to deny ITN permission to film in the natural wonder. “However, upon review at the Washington level, it was determined that NPS cannot deny this permit,” stated the memo, which was seen by the Guardian.
Hancock’s show is no stranger to such controversy. Scholars of Indo-Pacific history and Indigenous leaders in Micronesia objected to Hancock’s portrayal of archaeological sites in Indonesia and the Federated States of Micronesia in season one of Ancient Apocalypse.
According to Hancock, the ancient pyramid Gunung Padang in Indonesia and the ruins of Nan Madol in Micronesia were both built by an “advanced civilization” more than 20,000 years ago during the last ice age. However, present-day Pohnpeians say their oral histories passed down through generations describe the city of Nan Madol as being built by their ancestors beginning around 1,000 years ago – a timeline supported by historians and archaeologists.
Professor Patrick Nunn, who specializes in researching Pacific geography and archaeology at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Hancock’s theories about who built Nan Madol strip Indigenous peoples of their rich histories and can be traced to “racist philosophies” and “white supremacist” ideologies of the 19th century.
In a May 2000 essay published on his website, Hancock writes: “I have consistently argued that the Americas were inhabited in prehistoric times by a variety of ethnic groups – Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid … Such ideas have caused deep offense to some American Indians, who have long claimed to be the only ‘native’ Americans.”
He goes on to describe various prehistoric artifacts that he says prove the presence of Caucasians and Africans before Columbus landed on the continent in 1492. This includes his research into the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, who he says was described by the Aztecs as “tall, white-skinned and red bearded – sometimes blue eyed as well”.
In addition to defying Indigenous histories and more than a century of established archaeological research in North America, Hancock’s theories are especially damaging because they fuel long-held racist beliefs that seek to erase the violence of colonization and slavery upon which the United States was founded, say Hancock’s detractors.
When Koyiyumptewa learned last March that the National Park Service was going to allow ITN to film in Grand Canyon, he sent an email, seen by the Guardian, that was addressed to Grand Canyon staff, ITN and Netflix stating he was “extremely disappointed” with the National Park Service’s decision.
“That kind of decision is supposed to involve consultation with tribes,” Koyiyumptewa told the Guardian. “And it’s not just Hopi that objected. Numerous tribes were against allowing that permit because it brings negative consequences to us. But we were not consulted before the decision was made.”
Established archeologists have called on Netflix to label the show as science fiction, accusing Hancock of damaging their profession and of exhibiting racist attitudes towards Indigenous peoples.
“After more than a century of professional archaeological investigations, we find no archaeological evidence to support the existence of an ‘advanced, global ice age civilization’ of the kind Hancock suggests,” a letter sent by the Society for American Archaeology, after the airing of the Netflix show, states.
The letter adds that the claims in the show are “preposterous” and that “Hancock’s narrative emboldens extreme voices that misrepresent archaeological knowledge in order to spread false historical narratives that are overtly misogynistic, chauvinistic, racist and antisemitic.”
ITN did not respond to questions about the criticisms of the show. Hancock has previously defended his work, denying that he has sought to spread disinformation or fuel racist reimaginings of different cultures.
“That archaeologists have not found material evidence that would convince them of the existence of a lost civilization of the ice age is not by any means compelling evidence that no such civilization could have existed,” Hancock said in response to the Society for American Archaeology’s letter.
Hancock, previously a journalist at the Economist, wrote several books on international aid before switching focus to human prehistory. He has written more than a dozen books that embrace historical and archaeological themes. His son, Sean Hancock, works at Netflix as a senior manager of unscripted originals.
