Anthropology Quote by Graham Hancock
![“One could imagine that a group of anthropologists and scientists sent off to study a previously uncontacted Amazon tribe today might be bound by similar strictures [not to reproduce with natives]. But suppose some of them disagreed? Suppose some of them "went native"--as used to be said of…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5d7/graham-hancock-10752_anthropology_one-could-imagine-that-a-group-of-anthro_1191303.jpg)
““One could imagine that a group of anthropologists and scientists sent off to study a previously uncontacted Amazon tribe today might be bound by similar strictures [not to reproduce with natives]. But suppose some of them disagreed? Suppose some of them "went native"--as used to be said of colonialists in the days of the British Empire who allowed themselves to get too close to indigenous populations they interacted with. Is that perhaps what happened to the troop of two hundred "Watchers" on Mount Hermon? Somewhere around 10,900 BC, did they break the commandments of their own culture and "go native" among the hunter-gatherers of the Near East? And were the first chance encounters with the fragments of a giant comet a century later in 10,800 BC--encounters that devastated the world--somehow blamed upon their moral lapse?””
About This Quote
Source Book: Fingerprints of the Gods, Graham Hancock, 1995
The author speculates that ancient peoples may have broken cultural taboos, “going native,” leading to catastrophic events linked to cosmic impacts.
In simple terms: Ancient cultures possibly broke rules, causing disaster.
Key Takeaway
Question assumptions about ancient history.
Themes
history
myth
cultural taboos
cosmic events
Mood
skeptical
inquisitive
Type
analytical
speculative
When to use this quote
- archaeological research
- cultural studies
- science communication
- education
Key Concepts
anthropology
archaeology
catastrophism
Questions to Reflect On
- What evidence supports this theory?
- How do we balance imagination and rigor?
A Different Perspective
Speculation may overreach without solid evidence.
![“The fullest account we have of Oannes is found in surviving fragments of the works of a Babylonian priest called Berossos who wrote in the third century BC. [...] Oannes did not do his work alone but was supposedly the leader of a group of beings known as the Seven Apkallu--the "Seven Sages"--who…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/acd/graham-hancock-10752_apkallu_the-fullest-account-we-have-of-oannes-is_2753952.jpg)
![“It is a curious mystery [...] that the exact same notions of the Seven Sages as the bringers of civilization in the remotest antiquity, and of the preservation and repromulgation of “writings on stones from before the flood,” turn up in the supposedly completely distinct and unrelated culture of…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/745/graham-hancock-10752_ancient_it-is-a-curious-mystery-that-the-exact-s_2747014.jpg)
![“Like the legends of Kon-Tiki Viracocha [...], the South American civilizing hero, white-skinned and bearded like Quetzalcoatl and the Apkallu sages [...], who was said to have come to the Andes during a terrifying period, thousands of years in the past, "when the earth had been inundated by a…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ae2/graham-hancock-10752_apkallu_like-the-legends-of-kon-tiki-viracocha-t_2333351.jpg)
![“Then there's the pillar statue in the semi-subterranean temple at Tiahuanaco [Bolivia]. Like the Totem Pole of Göbekli Tepe, it is anthropomorphic. Like the Totem Pole at Göbekli Tepe, it has serpents writhing up its side. Like the Totem Pole at Göbekli Tepe, the long fingers of its hands almost…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/799/graham-hancock-10752_anthropomorphism_then-there-s-the-pillar-statue-in-the-se_1084202.jpg)
![“Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, [...] came to teach [the ancient inhabitants of Mexico] the benefits of settled agriculture and the skills necessary to build temples. Although this deity is frequently depicted as a serpent, he is more often shown in human form--the serpent being his symbol…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5a9/graham-hancock-10752_ancient_quetzalcoatl-the-feathered-serpent-came_147001.jpg)
![“What would have made [seeing Göbekli Tepe from Harran] easier, in antiquity, would have been a tall tower annexed to the temple that once stood here--a temple dedicated to Su-En (usually contracted to Sin ), the Moon God of the Sabians. After telling us that there were "powerful images in this…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b66/graham-hancock-10752_abandoned_what-would-have-made-seeing-g-bekli-tepe_180788.jpg)
![“At Göbekli Tepe there is a creature, sculted in high-relief, identified by Klaus Schmidt as a beast of prey with splayed claws and powerful shoulders, its tail bent to its left over its body. A very similar animal is seen at Cutimbo [in Peru] with the same splayed claws and the same powerful…” quote by Graham Hancock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/823/graham-hancock-10752_coincidences_at-g-bekli-tepe-there-is-a-creature-scul_192409.jpg)
![“Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… [The anthropologist] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner alienation as an urban intellectual.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fe1/susan-sontag-332_alienation_anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-a_15322.jpg)
