Antediluvian

Noah's Ark being the most famous Antediluvian tale.

Antediluvian means before the great deluge or before Noah's flood. I first heard this term my senior year of high school, and I never gave it much credence simply because Noah's account in the Bible happened in the sixth chapter of Genesis, so there wasn't a whole lot before that. I've heard of other flood tales such as The Epic of Gilgamesh and various mythologies, but I never really considered them antediluvian. The word only had some prominence with me because in my head I thought that maybe the "sinking" of Atlantis could have been related to the very same global flood. Little did I know that I was on to something.

 So thoughts linking Atlantis with the Noachian (another new word I learned meaning of Noah) Deluge have been with me for several years, but I never gave them much serious thought until I discovered a man named Graham Hancock. I watched one of his interviews with Joe Rogan and became hooked with him instantly. Learning about him has been like discovering the missing link for me linking my obsession with Atlantis with anachronistic artifacts with ancient mysteries with the great deluge. Thanks to this man and subsequently Randall Carlson, the term 'antediluvian' has taken on an entirely new meaning for me.

The basic hypothesis that Graham Hancock purports is that an ancient global cataclysm occurred about 12,800 years ago. His theories on the cause of the cataclysm has changed over time, but now he purports the theory that a comet may have been the cause of worldwide devastation including a global flood that may have reset society. He goes on to suggest that the antediluvian society may have been a proto-civilization responsible for helping build various ancient megalithic structures around the world and forging the ancient civilizations we know from history. More, these people from the remnants of this proto-civilization may have been confused as gods.

Gobekli Tepe, discovered by Klaus Schmidt

Due to the dating of sites such as Gobekli Tepe (9000 BC!?!) and increasing geological evidence of a global cataclysm, Hancock points out that the timing seems to line up with Plato's Atlantis. In the Critias, Atlantis is said to have sunk beneath the waves around 12,800 years ago which is roughly the same time as when geologists such as Randall Carlson have found evidence of a global cataclysm. This correlation has fascinated me beyond reproach. Before these revelations, my theories concerning Atlantis could only be supported by unusual anachronistic artifacts. Now we have a possible timeline. Hancock suggests that after this global cataclysm destroyed the Atlanteans, the survivors spread out and found various hunter gatherer groups in order to survive. In order to preserve their culture, they taught these hunter gatherer groups how to construct the various megalithic structures.

Could the Sphinx have lost more than its nose?

Gobekli Tepe also helps support the hypothesis that the Great Sphinx of Giza may be older than the Great Pyramids. Stranger still before the discovery of Gobekli Tepe, a few archaeologists point to signs of water erosion on the walls of the Sphinx giving it a new date of about 5000 - 6000 BC. The reason why I point out these facts is because these challenge our timeline of human history more so than anachronistic artifacts ever could. They give credence to the idea that human civilization may be older than we give it credit. The oldest anatomically modern human fossil has been dated to about 200,000 years ago. Think about how much mankind has evolved technologically in the past 200 years. 1000 years. 5000 years. Now imagine 100,000 years.

Why This Matters

Curiosity over the greatest mystery certainly drives me more than anything else and perhaps drives the men I've mentioned as well. Where did we come from? Our origins are something that defines us. Whether you ascribe our origins in a religious way or in a secular way, you cannot deny that trying to answer this question has shaped the whole of human history since it deeply ties with figuring out our purpose and place in the universe.

What did we forget?

Answering the greatest mystery compels me, but what also equally compels me is wondering about what we may have forgotten. The construction of these megalithic structures requires great skill and technology. Fortunately, these stone structures have survived nearly ten thousand years. We have fossils dating back over two hundred thousand years. What could've survived over ten thousand years prior?

Ancient Sanskrit epics refer to ancient flying machines called vimanas. Shamans in the Amazon having been using an ancient brew called Ayahuasca to reach new levels of consciousness for thousands of years. Ayahuasca works by using a chemical called DMT working in tandem with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor allowing it to be ingested orally something that is next to impossible to be combined by mere chance. These examples along with anachronistic artifacts I've discussed previously, convince me that there is knowledge out there that begs to be rediscovered. While flying machines may be interesting, our understanding of consciousness is still very much in its infancy. I wonder if brews like Ayahuasca may be handed down ancient knowledge, but the science behind it has been lost over the ages.

The search for lost knowledge may be a motivator in my life, but the fact that this knowledge was so easily lost also has affected me. I've had a dream that I've wished to accomplish for most of my life. The idea that this dream could be shattered in an instant by a natural global cataclysm burdens my very soul. This revelation has actually caused a form of depression within me fraught with nihilism. The truth is that my dream entrances me, motivates me, and supports me. Randall Carlson points out how lucky we are that our current civilization has been living in a relatively stable environment for so long. It almost seems like we are overdue for some calamity. Perhaps my interest in this topic is motivated by the desire to transcend our current situation and to look beyond the infinite for the sake of my dream.