''Hidden Worlds: Fresh Clues to the Past'' is the English title of a 1974 book, a translation of a book originally in

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

, by M. Van Der Veer and P. Moerman, that suggests the existence of a previously unidentified

ancient civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of the state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond signed or spoken langua ...

that was subsequently destroyed by a

natural disaster A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...

. ''Hidden Worlds: Fresh Clues to the Past'' is a rejection of Von Daniken's theories; however, Der Veer and P.Moerman concede the existence of

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

. The book contests orthodox history, claiming international settlement in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

prior to European colonization of the region by

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

in 1492. P. Moerman afterwards distanced himself with emphasis from the book, as it had become under the influence of its publisher almost as pseudo-scientific as the publications of Van Daniken and his associates that it hackled (in The Netherlands the book was published by the same publishing company as the works of the authors that they attacked as "cosmidiots"), had been a professional painter until 1969. Van der Veer held all kinds of odd jobs and enterprises, amongst others

Kirlian photography Kirlian photography is a collection of photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharges. It is named after Soviet scientist Semyon Kirlian, who, in 1939, accidentally discovered that if an object on a photo ...

and its

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

claims. None of both held academic-level scientific qualifications or credentials; subsequently, reviewers criticized their work as

pseudoarchaeology Pseudoarchaeology (sometimes called fringe or alternative archaeology) consists of attempts to study, interpret, or teach about the subject-matter of archaeology while rejecting, ignoring, or misunderstanding the accepted Scientific method, data ...

. From P.Moerman, in 1977 a serious comprehensive and elaborate

monography A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published as ...

in Dutch appeared, by a completely different publisher, on his own personal field of interest

paleoanthropology Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinsh ...

-in which he was generally respected as a self-educated expert in spite of lacking a formal academic background- specifically about the

Neanderthals Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

, "Op het spoor van de Neanderthalmens" ("On the tracks of Neanderthal Man")."Op het spoor van de Neanderthalmens", publ. De Boekerij, Baarn, The Netherlands (1977) On this book that properly conformed with established scientific insights and principles, he had been working solely since 1960. That well-wrought monography had nothing in common with the sensational and speculative slant of the two previous books with Van der Veer, who was his brother-law. This book about the Neanderthals was well received by scholars in the field and its content was clearly averse from the pseudo-scientific speculation thet was typical for "Hidden Worlds".

References

{{reflist 1974 non-fiction books Pseudoarchaeological texts