Experts discover hidden city 'destroyed by ancient flood' - and it changes what we know about human history

Archaeologists believe they may have uncovered remains of an advanced ancient civilisation that was wiped out by a massive flood around 20,000 years ago.

At Tell Fara in Iraq, a team found signs of a major flood beneath 5,000-year-old Sumerian ruins. A thick layer of clay and sand suggests that an even older civilisation may have existed before being buried by the deluge.

Similar flood layers have been discovered in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and Egypt, raising the possibility that ancient floods erased early societies across the world.

Researcher Matt LaCroix told the Daily Mail that geological records point to a global disaster around 20,000 years ago, claiming "nothing in the last 11,000 years even comes close to explaining it."

He believes sudden climate shifts may have triggered massive floods.

Some point to the Younger Dryas, a sharp cooling period about 12,800 years ago, as a possible cause of ancient flooding. But most scientists argue there’s no evidence of a global flood or lost civilisation from that time.

Critics also note that people 20,000 years ago were mostly small, nomadic hunter-gatherer groups.

LaCroix disagrees. He believes the real catastrophe happened even earlier, around 20,000 years ago. Instead of relying solely on archaeological finds, he compared geological records, such as ice cores, tree rings, volcanic debris, and magnetic shifts, with ancient flood myths and astronomical alignments.

He argues these natural records reflect the same event described in flood legends.

By combining these clues, LaCroix believes only a much earlier catastrophe fits both the scientific and mythological evidence.

If correct, this would push the origins of civilisation back at least 8,000 years, challenging the mainstream belief that cities first appeared around 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.

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