By far the biggest perspective changing knowledge I have encountered over the last few years is the Younger Dryas Cataclysm Hypothesis. Although the mainstream is not on board yet, the evidence appears to be strong that a meteor or comet fragment hit us 12,800 years ago, wiping out most humans and lots of entire species of animals.
An alternative viewpoint by geophysicist Robert Schoch is that a massive solar storm was responsible, with biblical level lightning storms raining down on the globe. Either way, and possibly even more so with the solar storm possibility considering that lesser events could erase the digital crutches that prop up our societies at any moment, it’s kind of scary.
Are we periodically wiped off the face of the planet? Would anybody like a cup of tea?
I was watching this program about just such an event. The program had to do with one of the unique things about human DNA versus animals in that only a very small percentage of our DNA accounts for the differences between humans.
Their theory on that is due to an ice age triggered by a huge volcano 75,000 years ago that reduced the human population to the extent that we are all descended from about 5 to 7 thousand breeding females located in Africa.
Just a theory of course but nature wiping out species is nothing new.
Yeah, I think the thing that changes everything is how recent these events were compared to the wiping out of the dinosaurs. If the sun, meteors, volcanoes and {insert 10 other known and unknown things here} can and do wipe us out every few thousand years then we should at least be digging down to build our homes instead of wandering around like ants in a pesticide factory!!!
Well, the “experts” tell us that Yellowstone will erupt again. They say the historical record shows it erupts every 600,000 years or so and it’s been over 600,000 years since the last eruption.
Again, just theories from the “experts” but I think the consensus is that when it does pop it’s cork, we’re all toast.
Another interesting thing is how so many ancient cultures have a flood myth like Noah’s Ark.
I kind of look at it like my attitude about nuclear war during the Cold War. If it happens, take me out in the first shot because I don’t want to suffer through the aftermath.
Yes, the stories that are shared by ancient cultures that supposedly had no contact with each other are evidence of something. That there was global trade going on long before we thought and/or that some global events were turned into stories to pass on.
The evidence of weathering on the Sphinx enclosure appears to date it long before mainstream Egyptology does too, perhaps even tens of thousands of years or so according to experts in geology who know more about rocks and weathering than expert Egyptologists.
All in all it looks like our history is a load of bollocks and our future is looking a bit shaky. 
Couldn’t agree more, I think so much of human history is unknown.
I think the Sphinx is a good example. That erosion on the sides of the Sphinx sure looks like water erosion to me, but what do I know.
The other interesting thing is how the head is disproportionately small to the body. Some theorize that’s because the original head was re-carved by later dynasties.
It’s interesting to think that there are things we have got fundamentally wrong about where we came from. It the same with everything - at least some of what we know to be true now will completely change as new instrumentation and evidence comes to light.
Some of that evidence may never be discovered.
So many past civilizations built next to water, who’s to say how many past civilizations slipped under the waves due to tsunami’s, earthquakes, volcanoes with all traces of their existence erased.
History and stuff like that was one of the few things in school that I found interesting.
I think it’s always helpful when running headlong into what’s next, we stop and think about where we have been.