Forgotten civilization: will ours soon become one?

The Great Sphinx of Giza: was it built by a lost civilization thousands of years before that of ancient Egypt? Photo: Geoff Ward

A review of Forgotten Civilization: New Discoveries on the Solar-Induced Dark Age by Robert M Schoch with Catherine Ulissey (Inner Traditions, US $24.99, March 2021 / UK £18.99, April 2021)

With his 2012 book Forgotten Civilization, geologist Robert Schoch put forward his theory that the last ice age ended suddenly about 9700BCE due to coronal mass ejections from the Sun which wiped out the high culture of the time. Humanity was cast back into a ‘dark age’ lasting thousands of years, civilization reappearing only about 3500BCE with dim racial memories and latent faculties waiting to be rediscovered.

Now we have the expanded second edition of Forgotten Civilization with 150 new pages, 40 new photos and essential updates complementing the entire original text, plus that revised sub-title indicating Schoch’s appraisal of the latest scientific evidence for global catastrophe in the distant past — and for the liklihood of one in the near future. For this reason, I found it an engaging, if somewhat daunting, read.

Schoch, it will be remembered, is best (and controversially) known for his 1991 redating of the Great Sphinx of Giza to 10,000–5,000BCE, based on water erosion marks identified on the enclosure walls, and on the results of seismic studies made at the base of the Sphinx and in its surroundings.