Randal Carlson

Randall Carlson is an independent researcher, teacher, and speaker whose work centers on Earth’s ancient past, catastrophic geology, and the role of mathematical patterns in nature. He is widely recognized for bringing together ideas from geology, climatology, astronomy, and sacred geometry into a single interpretive framework that attempts to explain abrupt changes in Earth’s history and their possible effects on early human civilizations.

Carlson was born on March 26, 1951, and grew up primarily in Minnesota, with some time spent in Louisiana. He began working at a young age, including farm labor in his early teens, and later moved into the building trades.

Carlson frequently describes his approach as multidisciplinary, combining geology, astronomy, mythology, and geometry into a unified way of interpreting the past. He is sometimes referred to as a geomythologist or renegade scholar, terms that reflect his effort to bridge scientific observation with ancient narratives. He has also been an active Freemason for several decades and has served as a Past Master of a Masonic lodge in Georgia, an influence that aligns with his long-standing interest in symbolic systems and geometric traditions.

His public profile expanded significantly through media appearances, particularly extended conversations on widely viewed platforms where he discusses catastrophic Earth changes, ancient knowledge systems, and repeating natural cycles. He is the host of the Kosmographia podcast, where he explores these themes in depth, often revisiting geological evidence, astronomical cycles, and historical accounts.

A central theme in Carlson’s work is the idea that Earth’s history includes episodes of sudden and dramatic disruption rather than only gradual change. He frequently discusses the Younger Dryas period, beginning approximately 12,800 years ago, when global temperatures rapidly returned to near-glacial conditions. Carlson supports the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, which proposes that fragments of a comet or similar cosmic object struck or exploded over the Earth’s atmosphere or surface, triggering widespread environmental effects.

In presenting this hypothesis, Carlson points to several categories of evidence, including layers of dark organic-rich sediment known as black mat, indicators of large-scale biomass burning, and geochemical signatures such as elevated platinum levels at the Younger Dryas boundary. He also references the large circular structure beneath the Hiawatha Glacier in Greenland, identified in 2018, as a possible impact feature.

Carlson argues that such events would have had significant consequences for both the environment and human populations. He links the proposed impacts to megafaunal extinctions and to disruptions in early human societies, suggesting that these changes may have reset or redirected cultural development. This perspective leads into his broader interest in whether complex knowledge systems existed prior to these events and were partially lost or transformed afterward.

He often connects geological evidence with ancient traditions, particularly widespread flood narratives. Rather than viewing these accounts purely as mythology, Carlson suggests they may preserve cultural memory of real post-glacial events. As ice sheets melted, sea levels rose dramatically, and in some regions, sudden releases of glacial meltwater could have caused catastrophic flooding. These processes would have reshaped coastlines and displaced populations, leaving lasting impressions that were encoded into oral and written traditions.

Carlson also emphasizes the role of geometry in both natural systems and human constructions. He argues that recurring ratios, symmetries, and patterns appear consistently across scales, from molecular structures to planetary dynamics, and that ancient cultures recognized and applied these principles in architecture and symbolic systems. Through his teaching organization, Sacred Geometry International, he presents courses and workshops that explore these ideas, combining mathematical concepts with observational examples from nature and historical sites.

His collaboration with author Graham Hancock has brought many of these ideas to a wider audience. Together, they have examined connections between geological data, archaeological anomalies, and ancient narratives, raising questions about whether conventional timelines fully capture the complexity of early human development. Their discussions have appeared in long-form interviews, documentaries, and streaming series, contributing to ongoing public interest in alternative interpretations of the past.

Although Carlson does not focus directly on unidentified aerial phenomena, he has addressed the subject occasionally within the boundaries of his broader framework. In several discussions, he has proposed that if advanced human cultures existed prior to known historical timelines, remnants or surviving branches of those populations could account for at least some anomalous observations. In this view, reported phenomena might reflect technological capabilities preserved by a breakaway segment of humanity rather than visitors from distant star systems.

Through decades of research, teaching, and public engagement, Carlson continues to advocate for examining geological data, ancient records, and mathematical patterns together. His work remains outside mainstream academic consensus, yet it represents a sustained and structured attempt to reinterpret evidence surrounding Earth’s most dramatic transitions and their potential impact on human civilization.