British writer and journalist Graham Bruce Hancock describes himself as an "unconventional thinker who raises controversial questions about humanity's past". Prior to 1990, his works dealt mainly with problems of economic and social development. Since 1990 his works have focused mainly on speculative connections he makes between various archaeological, historical, and cross-cultural phenomena. In Supernatural Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious before-and-after moment and to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern mind. As much as 196,000 years ago - perhaps even earlier - humans had achieved "full anatomical modernity", but it was only 100,000 years later that we began to display the symbolic activity associated with fully human behaviour. Even then, the products were minimal. In southern Africa, delicate bone implements from that time have been discovered. Impractical as tools, these items seemed to have been valued for their own sake; 77,000 years ago the first abstract art appeared, geometrical shapes inscribed on a small block of red ochre. But another 40,000 years passed before full-blown symbolism, in a form we would recognise as our own, turned up. Before this, humankind had no art, no religion, and no creative thinking to speak of. Yet the abilities and concerns we associate with "being human" seemed to appear overnight. You can listen online to free English audiobook “Supernatural” by Graham Hancock on our website.
