Archaeology's Greatest Cover-Up: A Diary From Before the Flood (SEASON FINALE)
What if the greatest archaeological discovery in human history has been hiding in plain sight for over 140 years—disguised as a Victorian novel?
In 1876, a brilliant translator named George Smith reportedly died in the Syrian desert. But two years later, an anonymous manuscript surfaced in America… filled with knowledge no one should’ve had.
Today, we’re following a trail of stolen tablets, faked deaths, and forbidden secrets—clues that suggest one of archaeology’s most explosive discoveries was deliberately buried. And the evidence? It might still be out there, waiting to be uncovered.
This episode wraps up Season One of the Adventure Story Podcast. Over the past few months, it's been an absolute blast sharing more than 20 incredible stories with you.
A show like this takes a lot of time and heart to create, so I want to thank the small but mighty team who’ve helped bring it to life. But most of all—thank you. Your support means everything to an independent creator like me.
For now, I’m stepping back to focus on my writing. I’ve been working on Eden Black’s next adventure, along with a few other exciting projects that need my full attention.
But don’t worry—the adventure isn’t over. The Ark Files and my other novels are available wherever you get your books. And if you prefer to listen, I’ve got a growing selection of audiobooks on Audible. Just search for Luke Richardson—and you’ll find me there.
Until next time—keep exploring.
Like the sound of this story - read THE ARK FILES today!
A secret society... An ancient manuscript... One woman to save the world...
Professional treasure hunter EDEN BLACK discovers that her father's death wasn't an accident - it was murder. Everyone involved in an archaeological dig twenty years ago has met with a similar untimely end. Everyone except Eden, who was ten at the time. When her father's house is raided and burned to the ground, Eden realizes she's next. To survive and learn the truth, she must uncover a manuscript that powerful people will do anything to keep buried. But this time the world is watching, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
THE ARK FILES is the first in a pulse-pounding archaeological thriller series that asks: what if the greatest discoveries in human history are the ones we're not allowed to know about? Fans of Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, and Ernest Dempsey will devour this in hours!
Check out THE ARK FILES now ➡️➡️➡️
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Transcript
What if the greatest archaeological discovery in human history has been hiding in plain sight for over 140 years, disguised as a Victorian novel?
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:Today we're following the trail of stolen tablets, faked deaths and forbidden secrets that suggest one of archaeology's most explosive finds was deliberately hidden from the world.
Speaker A:And the evidence is still out there, waiting to be uncovered.
Speaker A:First, let me take you back in time.
Speaker A: Its: Speaker A:George Smith stared across the churning Mediterranean.
Speaker A:Mammoth waves slammed into the quay, shaking the ground beneath him and flinging spray like venom from a viper.
Speaker A:The storm had come tonight of all nights.
Speaker A:He shuffled from foot to foot, pulling his ill fitting coat tighter around his chest.
Speaker A:The moth eaten garment had cost him a fortune from the hotelier where he'd been hiding for two weeks.
Speaker A:But he needed every bit of warmth for the crossing ahead.
Speaker A:First across the Mediterranean, then the Atlantic.
Speaker A:Two weeks at sea if he was lucky.
Speaker A:He squinted into the absolute darkness, searching for movement beyond the harbour wall.
Speaker A:Behind him, two iron hulled freighters tugged at their moorings like restless beasts.
Speaker A:A gas lamp flickered on the nearest building, its feeble light barely penetrating the storm.
Speaker A:If it isn't the dead man walking.
Speaker A:A voice whispered behind him, barely audible above the wind.
Speaker A:George whipped around, heart hammering.
Speaker A:It's all right, old boy.
Speaker A:Don't worry.
Speaker A:It's only me.
Speaker A:I'm the one who should look like I've seen a ghost.
Speaker A:Rassam.
Speaker A:George exhaled in relief as his friend's lithe figure slipped through the gloom.
Speaker A:There was something feline about the man, the way he moved in constant relaxation even in this weather.
Speaker A:Rassum was impeccably dressed, his long camel coloured coat whipping around his handmade tan leather boots.
Speaker A:The son of a wealthy statesman living by his own agenda rather than the simple need of money.
Speaker A:How are you holding up?
Speaker A:Rasam's Persian accent purred, deep and smooth.
Speaker A:Well, you know it's not been easy, but needs must.
Speaker A:George scrutinised his friend.
Speaker A:Without Rasam's funding, their more eccentric expeditions would never have been possible.
Speaker A:Where are the documents?
Speaker A:George hissed in sudden panic.
Speaker A:You said you would bring them.
Speaker A:Relax, brother.
Speaker A:Rasam smiled.
Speaker A:They're waiting in the carriage.
Speaker A:My men will bring them when the ship arrives.
Speaker A:We don't want them soaked through.
Speaker A:In fact, look.
Speaker A:I think that's her now.
Speaker A:A shape slipped through the waves beyond the harbour arm A dull lamp on the bridge offered a pinprick of light.
Speaker A:Rasam produced an oil lamp from beneath his coat and struck a match.
Speaker A:George recognised the box.
Speaker A:Brighton seafront in colourful oils, incongruous on these Mediterranean shores.
Speaker A:How many of those have you got?
Speaker A:George asked, knowing they were far from ordinary matches.
Speaker A:Several.
Speaker A:Rasam's voice carried amusement as he handed the box over a memento.
Speaker A:You never know when you might need it.
Speaker A:A sudden wave of finality crashed over George.
Speaker A:This is it, isn't it?
Speaker A:Well, we'll.
Speaker A:We'll never see each other again.
Speaker A:Not in this life.
Speaker A:No, rasam replied.
Speaker A:Neither man spoke for several seconds as the wind howled around them.
Speaker A:The ship entered the harbour, engine throbbing.
Speaker A:Two men appeared from the shadows, struggling under the weight of a heavy trunk.
Speaker A:They dragged it to their master's feet before slinking back into the darkness.
Speaker A:How long will it take you to make sense of this?
Speaker A:Rasam looked down at the trunk.
Speaker A:Two years, maybe three, george replied.
Speaker A:And the original tablets?
Speaker A:They'll be moved soon, rasam said.
Speaker A:I know where they're going, and I've got the rest of my life to figure out how to get them there.
Speaker A:The sailors lashed the ship alongside the quay.
Speaker A:Rassam's men carried the trunk aboard.
Speaker A:This is it, then, george said as they embraced.
Speaker A:In the next life, Rasam interrupted, a lump forming in his throat.
Speaker A:Smith hurried up the gangplank.
Speaker A:Beneath his feet, the engine that would take him halfway around the world rumbled hungrily.
Speaker A:The sailors unleashed the ship from her bindings and hurried back inside.
Speaker A:The engine roared, sending power to the twin propellers, which churned the harbour waters anew.
Speaker A:Smith bustled up a set of metal stairs and out onto the deck.
Speaker A:He looked down at the dock, but his friend had already disappeared.
Speaker A:In the next life it is, smith whispered, his voice lost between the howling wind and the pounding engines.
Speaker A:Hey, I'm Luke.
Speaker A:I'm an author of archaeological adventure novels.
Speaker A:I travel the world looking for stories to put into my books and to share with you right here on the Adventure Story podcast.
Speaker A:Now, what you've just heard is the prologue from my novel the Ark Files, but on the episode today, I'm going to tell you the real story.
Speaker A:Or the real story, as far as we know it, anyway.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:Two years after George Smith's death and halfway around the world, a package arrived at the home of Mrs.
Speaker A:J.
Speaker A:Gregory Smith, a naval officer's widow and Novelist.
Speaker A:Inside was an anonymous manuscript with no return address.
Speaker A:The accompanying note claimed it was a translation from an ancient diary discovered in a cave and written by a woman who who lived before the Great Flood destroyed the world.
Speaker A:Mrs.
Speaker A:Smith published it as Ciola, presenting it as fiction.
Speaker A:But here's the kicker.
Speaker A:This novel contains technical details about an antediluvian civilization that wouldn't be discovered by mainstream archaeology for decades.
Speaker A: Details that someone in: Speaker A:To some, this is a tale of incredible coincidence.
Speaker A:But to others, it's a man giving his life to ensure that forbidden knowledge found its way into the world through the safest possible channel, disguised as fiction.
Speaker A:In Smith's novel, Ciola encounters a race of powerful beings called the Sons of God, who are portrayed as fallen angels or Nephilim.
Speaker A:These beings interbred with humans and corrupt the earth, leading to impending judgment of the flood.
Speaker A:Siola's struggle is both spiritual and existential, as she tries to hold onto her faith in an increasingly corrupt world.
Speaker A:But how does this link to George Smith?
Speaker A:First, a little background.
Speaker A:George Smith, a British assyriologist, was one of the most important early translators of Mesopotamian cuneiform texts.
Speaker A:Cuneiform texts, by the way, is simply a term for the earliest known writing system characterised by wedge shaped impressions on clay tablets.
Speaker A:One such translation, as you know already, is the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Speaker A:Now this is a famous flood narrative which shocked Victorian society because it showed a non biblical flood story that existed before Genesis.
Speaker A:According to the accounts of Smith's co workers in the reading room, when he discovered what he was translating, he he ran around the room shouting in delight.
Speaker A:Now G.J.
Speaker A:smith's Siola and the Epic of Gilgamesh contain many similarities, including supernatural beings, a flood as a judgment, immortality, forbidden knowledge and the fall of civilization.
Speaker A:But most strikingly of all, both stories imply a world before the deluge that was rich in knowledge and power.
Speaker A:But they're just stories, right?
Speaker A:They're simple tales of a time that never existed.
Speaker A:Fantasy, if you will.
Speaker A:Surely the similarities between the biblical account of the Flood, the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Siola novel are just coincidences.
Speaker A:Maybe they are, but maybe, just maybe, they're not.
Speaker A:Now, before things get even more mysterious, we need to meet one of the men who started this whole thing.
Speaker A:Hormundz Rassam was a young archaeologist who had worked under the famous British archaeologist Sir Austin Henry Layard, excavating ancient Assyrian sites across the Middle East.
Speaker A: became Gilgamesh, and by the: Speaker A: However, in: Speaker A:wallace, born Budge, keeper at the British Museum, publicly accused Rasam of systematic deception, claiming he'd smuggled valuable antiques out of Mesopotamia while only sending rubbish to the British Museum.
Speaker A:Rassam fought back, suing Budge for slander in the British courts.
Speaker A:He won.
Speaker A:His reputation was restored and Budge was humiliated.
Speaker A:Case closed.
Speaker A:But maybe not.
Speaker A:Maybe Budge had stumbled onto something explosive after all.
Speaker A:What if Rasam hadn't just been stealing valuable artifacts for profit?
Speaker A:What if he'd discovered something so earth shattering that he couldn't risk it being hushed up?
Speaker A:The Epic of Gilgamesh had already rocked Victorian society by proving that flood narratives existed long before the Bible.
Speaker A:But what if Rasam had found something even more dangerous?
Speaker A:Tablets that didn't just tell stories about the Andaluvian world, but provided detailed accounts of how that civilization actually functioned.
Speaker A:What if he'd uncovered evidence of advanced pre flood technology, scientific knowledge or social structures that might completely rewrite human history?
Speaker A:Even today, such discoveries could destroy careers, challenge religious institutions and rock civilization.
Speaker A:The British Museum, despite its scholarly reputation, was still part of the establishment.
Speaker A:Its board included bishops, politicians and aristocrats who had vested interests in maintaining the status quo.
Speaker A:Perhaps Rasam and Smith realised they held something too revolutionary for official channels, something that needed to reach the world gradually, carefully, maybe even disguised as fiction, until humanity was ready for the truth.
Speaker A:So far this sounds like the plot of an archaeological thriller, and we'll come back to that.
Speaker A:But it's possible, maybe just possible, that this book is based on fact rather than fiction.
Speaker A:Here's what haunts me about the story.
Speaker A:Ciola keeps resurfacing.
Speaker A: aze Russell republished it in: Speaker A:But of course, there is only one way to know for sure.
Speaker A:If Rasam really did find the most important archaeological discovery in human history, those tablets are still out there somewhere.
Speaker A:Either they're gathering dust in some private collection, or in a forgotten tomb somewhere beneath the earth.
Speaker A:As for the truth, honestly, I don't know.
Speaker A:Siola is either a timeless fantasy novel, or maybe the greatest cover up in archaeological history.
Speaker A:If Rasam really did smuggle out evidence of an Andaluvian civilization, if Smith really did hide world changing secrets in the pages of Siola, then somewhere out there, the truth is still waiting to be uncovered.
Speaker A:I find this idea that the most explosive archaeological discovery in human history could still be hidden in plain sight, disguised as fiction so gripping that it became the foundation for my novel the Ark Files.
Speaker A:Here's what the Ark Files is all about.
Speaker A:A secret society, an ancient manuscript, one woman to save the world.
Speaker A:Professional treasure hunter Eden Black discovers that her father's death wasn't an accident.
Speaker A:It was murder.
Speaker A:Everyone involved in an archaeological dig 20 years ago has met with a similar untimely end.
Speaker A:Everyone except eden, who was 10 at the time.
Speaker A:When her father's house is raided and burned to the ground, Eden realizes she's next to survive and learn the truth.
Speaker A:She must uncover a manuscript that powerful people will do anything to keep buried.
Speaker A:But this time the world is watching and the stakes they couldn't be higher.
Speaker A:The Ark Files is the first in a pulse pounding archaeological thriller series that what if the greatest discoveries in human history are the ones we're not allowed to know?
Speaker A:Fans of Dan Brown, Clive Cussler and Ernest Dempsey will devour this in hours.
Speaker A:This is the Adventure Story Podcast thank you so much for hanging out today.
Speaker A:It's great to spend some time with you.
Speaker A:Now this wraps up the first season of the Adventure Story Podcast.
Speaker A:It's been so much fun over the last few months sharing 20 incredible stories with you.
Speaker A:We've gone from ancient Egypt to the Arctic and we've explored all corners of the globe and history together.
Speaker A:Now, a podcast like this takes an incredible amount of time and effort to record and produce, so I want to thank the small team who have helped me bring this to life.
Speaker A:But most of all though, of course thank you for joining me on these journeys.
Speaker A:Your support means everything to an independent creator like me.
Speaker A:Right now, though, I need to take some time to focus on my writing.
Speaker A:I've been working on Eden Black's next adventure alongside this podcast, as well as several other projects that need my attention.
Speaker A:There's just not enough time, is there?
Speaker A:Never ever.
Speaker A:Just because I'm off air though, doesn't mean I haven't got adventures for you.
Speaker A:The ARC Files and my other novels are available wherever you get your books.
Speaker A:Links in the description of the podcast, of course, and if listening is your thing, I have a growing selection of audiobooks on Audible.
Speaker A:If you just search for Luke Richardson on Audible, you'll find me there.
Speaker A:Now, if you've enjoyed this season, please leave a review.
Speaker A:It helps other adventure seekers find the show.
Speaker A:I am planning at the point of recording to return with Season two, so please make sure you're subscribed to find out when I that happens.
Speaker A:If you have a story you'd like me to explore or you just want to get in touch?
Speaker A:I'd love, love, love to hear from you.
Speaker A:Let me know in the comments or via email.
Speaker A:Helloukerichardsonauthor.com helloukerichardsonauthor dot com and if you need more adventure in your life, and let's be honest, who doesn't?
Speaker A:You might like to join the Adventure Society.
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Speaker A:That's what you want to know.
Speaker A:When am I coming back?
Speaker A:Lukerichardson author.com Adventuresociety is where you need to go for all that good stuff.
Speaker A:And if you're a fan of adventure stories like the one I told today, check out all of my books@lukerichardsonauthor.com Bon voyage.
Speaker A:Until next time.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:Enjoy the adventure and I'll see you again soon.
