For centuries, mainstream archaeologists have dismissed the idea that an advanced civilization existed long before modern times.

Now, an independent researcher claims he has uncovered 'paradigm-shifting evidence of a lost civilization' that hid a sophisticated code through geometry, symbolism, and monument design across the globe to preserve its knowledge ahead of catastrophic events.

Matthew LaCroix told Daily Mail the discovery, sparked by a recent find in Egypt, links symbols across continents and dates back 38,000 to 40,000 years.

According to LaCroix, this civilization tracked cosmic cycles, anticipated global disasters, and embedded teachings about human origins, the structure of the universe, and divine existence into monuments and sacred sites.

His investigation began after identifying recurring giant T-shapes, three-level indents, and step pyramids carved into ancient stones worldwide.

'These specific symbols that are built in different size proportions, and the symbols are found in ancient stones around the world, are not supposed to exist; no cultures are supposed to have any cross-platform,' LaCroix explained.

The symbols appear in locations ranging from Turkey's Van region to South America and Cambodia.

According to LaCroix, the origin of this global system lies in eastern Turkey's Lake Van region at a site known as Ionis. 

He described it as the earliest source of the civilization's symbols, architecture, and teachings, dating it to around 40,000 years old. He argues it preserves the original blueprint later carried to places such as Giza and Tiwanaku.

Recurring motifs, giant T-shapes, step pyramids, inverted pyramids, lions, and sacred geometry, appear at Ionis in their most concentrated form before repeating at distant sites worldwide, LaCroix added.

Nearby, the site of Kefkalesi provides one of the clearest examples of these symbols in stone.

The four-foot-by-four-foot basalt carving, known as the Kefkalesi relief, contains complex iconography that mirrors the symbols found at Ionis, Giza, and South American sites.

'This relief became one of the most important artifacts for my research,' LaCroix explained. 'It connects Egypt back to this region and lets us back-engineer the global pattern.'

He pointed out repeating motifs: 'Here are the T-shapes, repeating over and over. Here's your step pyramid with three doors and the lion right here. These same elements appear repeatedly across sites worldwide.'

Regarding the lion, he added, 'The lion is a guardian, and its placement helps explain the structure of the code.'

LaCroix said the relief solidified his interpretation of the symbols and accelerated his analysis of similar structures at the Sphinx Temple in Egypt.

Mainstream archaeologists, however, date known Lake Van sites to the Urartian period thousands of years ago and say there is no evidence supporting a pre-Ice Age global civilization, and no peer-reviewed research currently supports LaCroix’s proposed dating.

His breakthrough moment came in November 2025, when he re-examined a framed photograph of Egypt's Sphinx Temple he had owned for eight years.

The image, which shows the Sphinx Temple in front of the statue and closed to the public, revealed what he believes is an inverted step pyramid embedded in the structure.

'There, in front of me. It was like I had never seen it before. There was the inverted step pyramid, but the right side had been broken off,' he said.

That realization prompted LaCroix to analyze the entire Giza Plateau, where he identified repeated appearances of inverted step pyramids and giant T-shapes in the Sphinx Temple, Valley Temple and the mortuary temples of Khafre and Menkaure.

Some researchers have suggested the Sphinx was originally carved as a lion before later being reworked with the face of a pharaoh, though the theory is not accepted among mainstream archaeologists.

Using astronomical precession, a slow wobble in Earth's axis, and the Sphinx's proposed alignment with the constellation Leo, LaCroix narrowed the construction date to either around 12,000 years ago, near the end of the last Ice Age, or 38,000 years ago, one full precessional cycle earlier.

He dismissed the younger date, citing theories of catastrophic flooding that would have destroyed surface structures, and instead placed the Great Pyramids, Sphinx, and Valley Temple at roughly 38,000 years old.

LaCroix said the same architectural layout also appears in South America at Tiwanaku and Puma Punku.

'The temple layout of the Acapana Pyramid, which is in Tiwanaku, is the exact same shape as the stone in those designs themselves, as the temple layout,' he explained.

LiDAR scans of Puma Punku revealed a massive T-shaped design, which LaCroix says reinforces his theory of a shared architectural template. 

'So, Fumapunku and Tiwanaku are like a mirror of Egypt in South America,' he said.

At the center of LaCroix's interpretation is what he calls a cosmogram, an ancient geometric model representing the structure of the universe.

According to LaCroix, symbols such as three-level step pyramids, inverted pyramids, and T-shapes encode layered realities: the non-physical underworld, the physical realm, and the celestial realms.

'The left door represents the realm of reality called the underworld, or non-physical realm of reality,' he explained. 'Its counter, on the opposite, is the right door, which is the celestial realms of reality, where the angels are.'

The central vertical axis of the T symbol represents the 'middle door' that balances the system, a concept often referred to in ancient cosmology as the axis mundi, or central point connecting all realms.

'They're showing us how all of reality works, and how it all balances,' LaCroix said.

He tied this framework to preserved Egyptian traditions, particularly Hermeticism, an ancient spiritual and philosophical system attributed to Hermes Trismegistus that emphasizes humanity's connection to the cosmos, the divine, and hidden knowledge.

LaCroix believes the ancient code was deliberately hidden to preserve knowledge humanity later inverted.

Speaking philosophically, he added: 'Guess what, spoiler alert, we're doing everything basically the inverse opposite of what we're supposed to,' he warned.

He said the evidence suggests humans were once understood as divine and interconnected with all existence.

'We have ancient proof that shows that we're a divine being that's connected to the all, and a part of everything... we're supposed to be living in harmony with the Earth and the universe,' LaCroix said.