Brief Old Testament references to a former civilisation that was destroyed by the Flood have fascinated scholars for centuries, giving rise to exotic speculations ranging from the advanced technology of Atlantis through to extraterrestrial visitors. But it is only now that one British researcher's ten-year quest has brought together the entire body of accounts of an antediluvian race from across the globe - from the ancient texts of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Greece and Scandinavia, to the sacred traditions of indigenous peoples from the Americas, Africa, Indonesia and Australasia. This is the result of that painstaking quest, and its conclusions are unlike anything you have read before. Like other notable revisionist historians, Ian Lawton argues that our forebears were far more culturally advanced than has been previously believed - to the extent that they built sizeable settlements and navigated the oceans to trade. He backs up this belief with tantalising evidence from archaeology. Yet the most significant common theme uniting the ancient traditions is that our 'forgotten race' was originally highly spiritual but became increasingly obsessed with the material world before it perished in a global catastrophe - which geological and other evidence suggests occurred around 11,500 years ago.