Ancient catastrophes and lost civilizations: Maverick researcher Randall Carlson reveals hidden histories of humanity

March 4, 2025 by Lance D. Johnson

For over four decades, geological researcher and independent scholar Randall Carlson has been piecing together a startling narrative about humanity’s ancient past—one that challenges mainstream historical accounts and reveals a world shaped by repeated, catastrophic events. Carlson’s interdisciplinary research, which draws from geology, climatology, mythology, and sacred geometry, suggests that advanced civilizations once thrived across the globe, only to be obliterated by cataclysms of unimaginable scale. His work points to a shared, universal knowledge among ancient cultures—knowledge that may have originated from a lost, pre-historic era.

Carlson’s theories, while controversial, offer a compelling explanation for the gaps in human history and the enigmatic remnants of ancient societies. By examining geological evidence, ancient myths, and cosmic cycles, he paints a picture of a world where civilizations rise, fall, and rise again—a cycle driven by forces beyond human control.

Mythical history and the Atlantis connection

One of Carlson’s most intriguing theories ties ancient myths to real-world events. He points to Plato’s account of Atlantis, a story relayed by the Athenian statesman Solon, who visited Egypt around 600 BC. According to Solon, Egyptian priests spoke of an advanced civilization, Atlantis, which existed 9,000 years before his time and was destroyed in a catastrophic event.

Carlson notes that this timeline—approximately 11,600 years ago—aligns with the end of the Younger Dryas, a period marked by sudden cooling followed by rapid warming. He argues that this correlation is not coincidental but evidence of a real-world event that inspired the Atlantis legend. “Plato’s story of Atlantis is not just a myth,” Carlson explains. “It’s a memory of a civilization that was lost in a global cataclysm.”

This connection, Carlson believes, is part of a larger pattern. Ancient cultures, from the Egyptians to the Mayans, may have inherited knowledge from this lost era, preserving it in their myths, sacred geometries, and monumental structures.

Catastrophes and the disappearance of historical records

Carlson’s research addresses a fundamental question: if anatomically modern humans have existed for at least 150,000 years, why is there no continuous historical record of their civilizations? He attributes this absence to repeated catastrophic events that erased entire societies and their accumulated knowledge.

Modern human skeletons dating back 150,000 to 180,000 years confirm that people of equivalent intelligence to contemporary humans lived through these vast time spans. Yet, the lack of surviving records suggests that these civilizations were wiped out by cataclysms of overwhelming scale. Carlson has identified at least 16 significant catastrophes over the last 150,000 years—events powerful enough to dismantle civilizations entirely.

“If such disasters were to occur today,” Carlson warns, “modern industrial society would be equally vulnerable to obliteration, potentially leaving behind only minimal traces of its existence for future generations to find.”

Cosmic cycles and the Great Year

Carlson ties these catastrophic events to cosmic cycles, particularly the concept of the Great Year—a 25,920-year cycle corresponding to the Earth’s axial precession. He believes that ancient cultures, including those that built the pyramids and megalithic structures, understood these cycles and encoded their knowledge into their architectural and mythological traditions.

He further suggests that certain disasters, such as the onset of the Younger Dryas around 12,900 years ago, are connected to these cosmic cycles. The Earth’s movement through space, he posits, influences the periodic arrival of cosmic materials, such as asteroids and comets, into the inner solar system. This process, he argues, follows a predictable rhythm, much like the precessional cycles observed in ancient traditions.

“Early civilizations recognized these patterns,” Carlson says, “and attempted to warn future generations by preserving this knowledge in their myths, sacred geometries, and monumental structures.”

The scarcity of physical evidence

One of the main challenges in proving the existence of these lost civilizations is the lack of surviving physical evidence. Carlson attributes this scarcity to the sheer magnitude of past disasters, which would have been truly epic. If modern civilization were to face an event of similar proportions, he theorizes, much of its technological and historical record would be wiped out, leaving only scattered remnants that would be extremely difficult to find.

He illustrates this concept by pointing to modern disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. These events, though localized, caused immense destruction. Carlson extrapolates from these examples, asking what would happen if a disaster were 100 times, 1,000 times, or even 10,000 times more severe. He concludes that such large-scale catastrophes could erase nearly all traces of our civilization, burying it or sweeping it out to sea—just as he believes happened in the past, probably many times.

Significant catastrophic events in human history

Carlson identifies several major events that he believes would have inevitably wiped out ancient human civilizations. Some of the most impactful include:

• Toba Supereruption (~72,000 BP): A massive volcanic eruption in Sumatra that likely triggered a volcanic winter, reducing human populations to critically low numbers.

• Heinrich Events (Various Dates): Iceberg discharges into the North Atlantic, disrupting ocean currents and triggering abrupt climate changes.

• Younger Dryas Climate Catastrophe (~12,900 to 11,700 BP): A period of severe cooling, possibly linked to a cosmic impact, which coincides with the proposed timeline for Atlantis’s destruction.

• Burckle Crater Event (~4,320 BP): A proposed meteor impact in the Indian Ocean, potentially connected to flood myths from various cultures.

The quest for hidden knowledge continues

Based on his decades of research, Carlson is convinced that ancient civilizations were not only aware of catastrophic cycles but also sought to preserve their knowledge for future generations. He believes that their myths, sacred geometries, and monumental structures serve as a record of past events and a warning of periodic cosmic destruction.

With each disaster, civilizations were wiped out, forcing survivors to rebuild from a near-primitive state. Despite the loss, Carlson contends that fragments of this ancient knowledge endured, passed down through traditions, oral histories, and architectural legacies. By studying geological evidence and ancient records, he suggests that we may yet uncover the lost wisdom of these early civilizations, learning the secrets of creation as we anticipate and prepare for future cosmic events.

In the grand tapestry of human history, Randall Carlson’s work serves as a reminder that our past is far more complex—and far more fragile—than we often assume. Like a ship navigating through a storm, humanity has weathered countless disasters, each time emerging with fragments of its former self. Yet, as Carlson’s research suggests, the echoes of our ancestors’ wisdom remain, waiting to be rediscovered in the ruins of a forgotten world.