Shifting Cataclysm/Pole Reversal (Hancock)

The Cataclysmic Pole Reversal Theory is the theory that the earth's magnetic poles have rapidly changed in the past and caused advanced ancient civilizations to be lost when they all died during the cataclysmic event. The complete lack of any direct physical evidence of this advanced civilization having ever existed is said to be because the remains of the civilization are hidden beneath the ice of Antarctica.

The Cataclysmic Pole Reversal Theory Inspiration/Origin

The idea that a magnetic pole reversal is relatively new because the concept that the magnetic poles could move was not proposed until 1997 when Joe Kirschvink proposed true polar wander. Although theories prior to the discovery of the magnetic poles movement did not specifically say that there was a pole reversal, the significant ideas are the same. The general idea is that a global catastrophe caused an advanced civilization to die and be lost in time. A few of the most significant arguers of the cataclysmic pole reversal theory are:

Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock is a pseudoarchaeologist with a background in journalism and a degree in Sociology from Durham University in 1973. He has written several books with pheudoarchelogical topics and calls himself, “unconventional thinker who raises controversial questions about humanity’s past.” The controversial questions that Hancock raises would more accurately be called statements. He believes that an ancient civilization, or many ancient civilizations, has been lost in time and “that there could have been major discontinuities in the record which have severely distorted and ‘edited’ the data about the past that historians work with.” He is not specific with where these lost civilizations went and instead suggests many possibilities for where their remains could be hidden, such as the bottom of the ocean or under arctic ice. He does think that the cataclysmic pole reversal theory is a possible explanation for how the ancient civilizations disappeared. On his website, there is an article by Flavio Barbiero called “On the Possibility of Instantaneous Shifts of the Poles” where he claims that an instantaneous shift of the poles is possible and would cause a massive catastrophe.

Flavio Barbiero

Flavio Barbiero is a retired admiral from the Italian Navy, author of several books and pseudoarchaeologist. Barbiero wrote the book “Une Civiltà Sotto Ghiaccio” in 1977. The English translation of the title is “A civilization Under Ice”. This book is about this theory that the remains of an advanced civilization are underneath the ice in Antarctica. Bariero is a believer in Graham Hancock’s cataclysmic pole reversal theory. This is evident by the article he wrote in the third person about his own opinion on the theory. Specifically in the article he states that “Dr Barbiero explains why he continues to be convinced that instantaneous pole shifts can and do occur – with devastating consequences for all life on earth.”

Support for the Cataclysmic Pole Reversal Theory

Well preserved remains of Animals

Cold environments have the capability to mummify living remains in a similar way “to the process that packaged meat undergoes in a freezer”. Graham Hancock and other pseudoarchaeologist use the existence of these frozen remains to argue that only a cataclysmic event could have frozen the animals quickly enough for their remains to be such well preserved. They then argue that this supports the Cataclysmic Pole Reversal Theory because the event would cause a massive, instantaneous climate change. A few examples of this are:

The Beresovka Mammoth

In 1902, Otto Herz, a zoologist at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Pietersburg, excavated a mammoth carcass from Beresovka River in Siberia. Rumors spread that this mammoth was so well preserved that the team that excavated the mammoth carcass had a feast from its meat after the excavation.

Blue Babe

In 1979, the remains of a steppe bison were found in an Alaskan gold. Steppe bison are now extinct. Scientists determined this specific steppe bison to be around 36,000 years old. The steppe bison was found to be very well preserved and covered in blue mineral crystals which got it the nickname “Blue Babe”. The reason that Blue Babe was preserved so well was because it froze very quickly.

Buttercup

In 2013, scientists from the Siberian Northeastern Federal University found a mammoth carcass in a remote part of Siberia that was incredibly well preserved. Scientists named the mammoth Buttercup and began to take staples to determine her age and hopefully find enough DNA to clone her. They were not able to clone her but were able to conclude that she was around 43,000 years old.