Previous edition: London : Heinemann, 1995

Includes bibliographical references and index

Part I: Introduction: The mystery of the maps (1. A map of hidden places ; 2. Rivers in the southern continent ; 3. Fingerprints of a lost science) -- Part II: Foam of the sea: Peru and Bolivia (4. Flight of the condor ; 5. The Inca trail to the past ; 6. He came in a time of chaos ; 7. Were there giants then ; 8. The lake at the roof of thye world ; 9. Once and future king ; 10. The city at the Gate of the Sun ; 11. Intimations of antiquity ; 12. The end of the Viracochas) -- Part III: Plumed serpent: Central America (13. Blood and time at the end of the world ; 14. People of the serpent ; 15. Mexican Babel -- 16. Serpent sanctuary ; 17. The Olmec enigma ; 18. Conspicuous strangers ; 19. Adventures in the underworld, journeys to the stars ; 20. Children of the first men ; 21. A computer for calculating the end of the world ; 22. City of the gods ; The Sun and the Moon and the way of the dead) -- Part IV: The mystery of the myths 1. A species with amnesia (24. Echoes of our dreams ; 25. The many masks of the apocalypse ; 26. A species born in the Earth's long winter ; 27. The face of the Earth was darkened and a black rain began to fall) -- Part V: The mystery of the myths. 2. The precessional code (28. The machinery of heaven ; 29. he first crack in an ancient code ; 30. The cosmic tree and the mill of the gods ; 31. The Osiris numbers ; 32. Speaking to the unborn) -- Part VI: The Giza invitation: Egypt 1 (33. Cardinal points ; 34. Mansion of eternity ; 35. Tomb and tombs only? ; Anomalies ; 37. Made by some god ; 38. Interactive three-dimensional game ; 39. Place of the beginning) -- Part VII: Lord of eternity: Egypt 2 (40. Are there any secrets left in Egypt? ; 41. City of the Sun, chamber of the jackal ; 42. Anachronisms and enigmas ; 43. Looking for the first time ; 44. Gods of the first time ; 45. The works of men and gods ; 46. The eleventh millennium BC ; 47. Sphinx ; 48. Earth measurers ; 49. The power of the thing) -- Part VIII: Conclusion: Where's the body? (50. Not a needle in a haystack ; 51. The hammer and the pendulum ; 52. Like a thief in the night) -- Appendix I: BBC Horizon Hancock interview transcripts -- Appendix II: What is radiocarbon dating and is it a reliable method of dating archaeological sites? / Sean Hancock -- Appendix III: An interpretation and critique of the radiocarbon database for Tiahuanaco / Sean Hancock

"In this new edition, Hancock responds to critics and brings readers up to date with developments in the debate. He exposes the eerie network of connections between: the Great Sphinx and pyramids of Egypt; the Andean temples of Tianhuanaco; the Mexican pyramids of the Sun and Moon; the lost continent that lies beneath Antarctica; ancient knowledge of spherical geometry and astro-navigation; the myths and legends of humanity that have remained strangely consistent across geographical and social divides; and new theories concerning the causes of the ice ages.His new evidence suggests not only the 'fingerprints' of an unknown civilization that flourished during the last ice age but also horrifying conclusions about the type and extent of planetary catastrophe required to obliterate almost all traces of it."--Publisher's description