Methods of "Ma'at": Mud Sticks

By Graham Hancock
Case Study: The Great Pyramid of Giza

On 12 August 2001 Martin Stower, a regular poster on the Ma'at Message Board, alleged that I and Robert Bauval, together with our publishers, were "distant from a serious commitment to factual accuracy" and, specifically, that in the updated edition of Fingerprints of the Gods I had not informed my readers about an important change in my position regarding the significance of the quarry marks in the relieving chambers above the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid. Stower wrote, "The supposedly rescinded forgery claim stands unchanged, ready to mislead new readers." (GH & RB on Mars and Giza)

This extremely damaging allegation of malpractice and bad faith towards my readers was untrue and should never have been made. Contrary to Stower's allegation, the new edition of Fingerprints of the Gods (specifically advertised as "Updated") does indeed contain an update, and an extensive one, on the quarry marks controversy. On 14 August 2001, after considerable pressure on the Message Boards and behind the scenes by Robert Bauval and myself, Stower confessed that his "assumptions" at the time of his 12 August posting were "erroneous," that he had been "unfair to Graham Hancock," that he wished to "unreservedly withdraw" the allegation of bad faith, and to "repudiate any suggestion inferred that Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval and their publishers are merely indifferent to questions of factual accuracy." (Retractions)

Stower's detailed Retractions are pasted in below and linked here on the Ma'at and GH message boards. Of course such an apology helps to mitigate the damage done by the original posting. But it can never completely undo it. Such smears as these can multiply and propagate all over the net once they're let loose.

As the saying goes, mud sticks.

Even when it isn't really mud at all but just some nonsense that looks like mud.