Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization is a 1995 book written by British author Graham Hancock. The book is not widely accepted by scientists and is part of a field called pseudoarchaeology. Hancock suggests that a highly developed civilization existed on Antarctica during the last ice age before the continent moved to its current position. He believes that people who survived this event shared their knowledge with other cultures, leading to the development of the earliest known civilizations. The book uses a theory called hyperdiffusionism, which was also discussed by writers Ignatius L. Donnelly and Charles Hapgood. Hancock later expanded on these ideas in his book Magicians of the Gods.

Thesis

Hancock suggests that an ancient civilization once located in Antarctica, which he claims was farther from the South Pole in the past, left evidence in Ancient Egypt and in cultures such as the Olmec, Aztec, and Maya in the Americas. He points to creation stories that mention gods like Osiris and Thoth in Egypt, Quetzalcoatl in Mesoamerica, and Viracocha in the Andes. He also refers to archaeological sites, such as Tiwanaku in Bolivia. UNESCO states that Tiwanaku reached its peak between 400 and 900 AD, but Hancock believes the city existed much earlier. Tiwanaku is also discussed in other theories about ancient history, such as in Von Däniken’s book Chariots of the Gods? Von Däniken uses Tiwanaku as evidence for the involvement of extraterrestrials, but Hancock disagrees with the idea of "ancient astronauts" and instead connects the civilization to Atlantis.

Hancock claims a major shift in Earth’s poles occurred around 10,450 BC. He says Antarctica was farther from the South Pole before this event and moved to its current location afterward. This idea is based on Charles Hapgood’s theory about the movement of Earth’s crust. Hapgood linked this theory to Atlantis and suggested that crustal movement may have caused the mythical land to disappear. Most geologists do not support Hapgood’s model, preferring the theory of plate tectonics. However, Rand and Rose Flem-Ath used Hapgood’s ideas in their book When the Sky Fell: in Search of Atlantis (1995/2009), expanding on his argument and placing Atlantis in Antarctica.

Reception

Scholars and scientists describe the book's ideas as pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology.

Canadian author Heather Pringle places Fingerprints of the Gods within a tradition of unscientific ideas that includes the writings of H. S. Bellamy and Denis Saurat, as well as the research of the Ahnenerbe, a Nazi organization, and the theories of Nazi archaeologist Edmund Kiss. She points out the book's "wild guesses" about the origins of Tiwanaku and calls Hancock a "storyteller" who invents stories.

Kenneth Feder compares the book to an "old-fashioned travel book" written by someone without training in archaeology. He notes that Hancock attributes the achievements of ancient civilizations to a mysterious group of white people and describes the Maya as "jungle-dwelling Indians" who could not create a complex calendar. Feder finds it difficult to accept Hancock's use of ideas from writers such as Ignatius Donnelly, Charles Hapgood, Arthur Posnansky, Robert Bauval, and Anthony West.

Fingerprints of the Gods has been translated into 27 languages and is believed to have sold about five million copies worldwide.

Hancock responded to criticism with a 2001 edition titled Fingerprints of the Gods: The Quest Continues, which included a new introduction and additional material. Mikey Brass, writing in Skeptical Inquirer, noted that Hancock did not change any of the original text and continued to support the disputed claims. The updated edition did not address scientific evidence that questioned his statements about "Earth Crustal Displacement" and the "frozen mammoths."

Influence

The book Fingerprints of the Gods influenced the 2009 disaster film 2012. In November 2009, during an interview with the London magazine Time Out, director Roland Emmerich stated, "I always wanted to make a movie about a biblical flood, but I never felt I had the right idea. I first learned about the Earth's crust displacement theory in Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods."

Emmerich and co-writer Harald Kloser also mention the book in the special features of the Blu-ray version of 10,000 BC.