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March 31, 2026

Are lost ancient civilizations real?

S2 E11 131 MINS

Most archaeology textbooks tell a fairly similar tale of human civilization: from stone tools to precision technology; from petroglyphs to written language and art; from nomadic life to city-states. But a growing group of researchers and academics say we might be missing something. Have we overlooked signs of earlier advanced cultures? 

This episode digs into alternative theories of human history and whether or not there is credible evidence to support them. Might there be an era of ingenuity lost to time? Or are we simply inventing a more epic past because it makes the human story feel bigger?



Participants

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Edwin Barnhart

Archaeologist, explorer and educator
Director, Maya Exploration Center

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Flint Dibble

Teacher in archaeology, Cardiff University
Consulting scholar, Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania

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Sarah Helen Parcak

Professor of anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Archaeologist and Egyptologist

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Eduardo Góes Neves

Professor of archeology, University of Sao Paulo in Brazil
Director,  Museum of Archeology and Ethnology of the University of Sao Paulo

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Imran Garda

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