A few months back, I released a series of shows called Did the Chinese Beat Columbus to the New World.

In those episodes, we explored the amazing claims made by Gavin Menzies in his New York Times best-selling book,

1421, The Year China Discovered America.

Now, as you might remember, by the end of those shows, I had become completely convinced that Gavin Menzies was the worst and his theories were bananas.

In the course of those episodes, I spent some time discussing a 16th century map that is beloved by pseudo historians like Menzies.

This was the depiction of the African and South American coast known as the Peary Ress map.

Now, this map was mostly famous for its southern portion, which some researchers have speculated shows the coastline of Antarctica.

You see, Antarctica would not be discovered for another 300 years after this map was made.

So, how did the map maker, Peary Ress, do it?

Well, some say he was working from some very special sources.

Menzies said they were lost Chinese maps, but others say that the sources had come from the stars.

Now, at the time, I poo pooed this theory pretty hard.

As many of you know, I don't find the ancient alien's thesis particularly compelling.

But in my haste to discredit this interpretation of the Peary Ress map, I made a flub.

I carelessly tossed out the name Graham Hancock as an example of an ancient alien's theorist.

Well, it was not long before my social media started lighting up.

As many of you listeners were quick to point out Graham Hancock is no ancient alien's crackpot.

He is instead a controversial researcher who believes in an advanced prehistoric human society that spanned the globe.

I was told that I shouldn't simply lump him in with the people who believe that extraterrestrials have meddled in the development of human civilization.

Some of you argued that Graham Hancock's theories were much more compelling and therefore worthy of greater consideration.

And so, the gauntlet was thrown down. Clearly, I needed to do an hour-fake history about Graham Hancock.

But I was not long into my research when I realized that this topic extended far beyond the theories of just one researcher.

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