ATLAS

DivergenceOMEGA-11-1-5Sheet 5 of 5 of the dossier Lost Antarctic civilization

An ice-free Antarctica: when, really?

The thesis needs ice-free coasts about 11,000 years ago; ice cores and sediments put the last ice-free Antarctica millions of years back.

Black-and-white engraving of a world map in two heart-shaped lobes with ornate borders; the southern lobe shows a large circular southern land labelled Terra Australis around the pole.
Oronce Finé's 1531 world map, in double cordiform projection; its large southern land, Terra Australis, is the second map Hapgood claimed was drawn from ice-free Antarctic sources. Oronce Finé · public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Summary

The first sheet depends on one date: an Antarctica, or at least a part of it, free of ice at the end of the last Ice Age, around 9,600 or 10,450 BC. Geology tells a different story. Hapgood himself assumed an Antarctic warm period during the northern glaciation, but later research on the paleoclimate and ice sheets of Antarctica discredited it, and recent ice-core data show that the continent was last free of ice over ten million years ago. The icing escalated about 34 million years ago, and tundra lingered until roughly 14 to 10 million years ago. The ice itself keeps a record: the Dome C core goes back 740,000 years and reveals eight earlier glacial cycles, and the ice above Lake Vostok holds a continuous climate record of 400,000 years. Humans, for their part, are far more recent: the ice shelves were probably first seen in 1820 and the first confirmed landing dates to 1895. Between the last ice-free land and the first human visit there is therefore a gap of millions of years, not a few thousand. The idea that people mapped ice-free Antarctic coasts, or lived on them, contradicts this timeline.

What the thesis says

The sources show where these claims circulate, not that they are true.

  1. Thesis

    The thesis dates an ice-free Antarctica to the end of the last Ice Age: Hapgood placed a 15° pole shift around 9,600 BC, and Hancock dates a major pole shift to 10,450 BC.

    • Charles Hapgood, Wikipedia
      He used that to propose that a 15° pole shift occurred around 9,600 BC (approx. 11,600 years ago) and that a part of the Antarctic was ice-free at that time and that an ice-age civilization could have mapped the coast.
    • Fingerprints of the Gods, Wikipedia
      Hancock dates a major pole shift to 10,450 BC.

Verified facts

  1. Verified fact

    Later research on the paleoclimatology and ice sheets of Antarctica discredited Hapgood's interpretation that any part of the continent had been ice-free at or before 9,600 BC.

    • Charles Hapgood, Wikipedia
      Later research concerning the paleoclimatology and ice sheets of Antarctica have discredited the interpretations by Hapgood that an Antarctic warm period coincided with the last glacial period in the Northern Hemisphere and that any part of it had been ice-free at and prior to 9,600 BC (approx. 11,600 years ago).
    • Piri Reis map, Wikipedia
      Hapgood's book was met with skepticism due to its lack of evidence and reliance on polar shift.
  2. Verified fact

    Ice core data show that Antarctica was last free of ice over ten million years ago.

    • Piri Reis map, Wikipedia
      More recent ice core data shows that Antarctica was last free of ice over ten million years ago.
  3. Verified fact

    The icing of Antarctica escalated about 34 million years ago, and tundra ecosystems lasted until around 14 to 10 million years ago.

    • Antarctic ice sheet, Wikipedia
      escalated during the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event about 34 million years ago
    • Antarctica, Wikipedia
      Tundra ecosystems continued to exist on Antarctica until around 14–10 million years ago, when further cooling lead to their extermination.
  4. Verified fact

    The Dome C ice core of the EPICA project goes back 740,000 years and reveals eight previous glacial cycles, and the ice above Lake Vostok provides a continuous paleoclimatic record of 400,000 years.

    • EPICA, Wikipedia
      The core goes back 740,000 years and reveals 8 previous glacial cycles.
    • Lake Vostok, Wikipedia
      The overlying ice provides a continuous paleoclimatic record of 400,000 years
  5. Verified fact

    The first confirmed landing on Antarctica was by a Norwegian team in 1895; the ice shelves were probably first seen in 1820.

    • Antarctica, Wikipedia
      The first confirmed landing was by a Norwegian team in 1895.