Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization

The pole shift hypothesis hinges on Charles Hapgood's theory of Earth Crustal Displacement. Hapgood was also fascinated with the story of Atlantis and suggested that crustal displacement may have caused its destruction. His theories have few supporters in the geological community compared to the more accepted model of plate tectonics.

The title of the book appears to reference Erich von Däniken's earlier book Chariots of the Gods?, which examines much of the same archaeological, geological and historical evidence as Hancock, while reaching a far different conclusion as to the origin of such evidence.[citation needed]

Members of the scholarly and scientific community have described the proposals put forward in the book as pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology.[2][3]

Fingerprints of the Gods has been translated into 27 languages and is estimated to have sold more than three million copies around the world.[4]

A second edition of the book was published in 2001, entitled Fingerprint of the Gods: The Quest Continues. It includes a new introduction and new appendices in which Hancock responds to some of his critics.