Summary[]
According to ancient alien theorists, extraterrestrials with superior knowledge of science and engineering landed on Earth thousands of years ago, sharing their expertise with early civilizations and forever changing the course of human history. But how did this concept develop, and is there any evidence to support it? Ancient alien theory grew out of the centuries-old idea that life exists on other planets, and that humans and extraterrestrials have crossed paths before. The theme of human-alien interaction was thrust into the spotlight in the 1960s, driven by a wave of UFO sightings and popular films like 2001: A Space Odyssey. The space program played no small part in this as well: If mankind could travel to other planets, why couldn't extraterrestrials visit Earth? In 1968, the Swiss author Erich von Daniken published Chariots of the Gods?, which became an immediate bestseller. In it, he put forth his hypothesis that, thousands of years ago, space travelers from other planets visited Earth, where they taught humans about technology and influenced ancient religions. He is regarded by many as the father of ancient alien theory, also known as the ancient astronaut theory. Most ancient alien theorists, including von Daniken, point to two types of evidence to support their ideas. The first is ancient religious texts in which humans witness and interact with gods or other heavenly beings who descend from the sky-sometimes in vehicles resembling spaceships-and possess spectacular powers. The second is physical specimens such as artwork depicting alien-like figures and ancient architectural marvels like Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. If aliens visited Earth in the past, could they make an appearance in the future? For ancient alien theorists, the answer is a resounding yes. They believe that, by sharing their views with the world, they can help prepare future generations for the inevitable encounter that awaits them.
—History Channel
Synopsis[]
[]
(scenes of Apollo 11 moon landing)
Houston, you go for landing. Over. Rodger at Tango for landing 3000 ft.
July 20th, 1969: Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to land on the moon.
That's one small step for man... ... One... ... giant leap for mankind.
Just like aliens, visiting from another world. It had been the stuff of science fiction. Now, everything that could be imagined seemed possible. If mankind could travel the skies and go to other planets, why couldn't beings from other planets visit the Earth? Amidst a wave of modern UFO sightings, a new theory emerged, that aliens visited Earth in antiquity, and were regarded as gods. But if that were true, wouldn't there be proof? Perhaps there was. All we needed to do was open our eyes and our imaginations. The proof, perhaps, was all around us.
Act 1[]
1:58
The Catholic Church acknowledges the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
In 2002 the Mars Odyssey spacecraft detected enormous reservoirs of ice beneath the Martian surface.
1968, Erich Von Daniken published "Chariots of the Gods?"
Doing translations of the Bible, EVD noticed shocking, unbelievable stories - anomalies in history.
EVD began looking for, and found evidence of ET contact in past.
Inspired by popular film and TV, the theory and popularity of COTG grew.
EVD and COTG faced enormous criticism from the scientific community.
Contrary view: All EVD's evidence can be explained by human ingenuity and technology.
Evidence:
- The Piri Reis Map showed Antarctica before the continent was discovered.
- The Baghdad Battery -- electricity in ancient times
- Computer (Antikythera device?) built in ancient times
- Nazca Lines -- only visible from high altitudes
Act 2[]
11:05
Nazca, Peru
Evidence: Lines resemble air strips: long, straight, ending abruptly. Longest is 23 KM. Other lines form figures: fish, monkey, spider, ape. But of such size to only be seen from the air.
Speculation: Could have been used as navigation points.
Analogy: In WW II, US built air bases on remote Pacific islands. Natives would not comprehend airplanes. After the bases were evacuated, the natives built mock airplanes to get the "gods" to bring back more of the supplies that the airmen left behind. Speculation: entire religions could similarly have been built around ancient astronauts.
Evidence: Nazca mountains appear to be artificially flattened, with bands on top that look like runways. The rubble from the flattened mountain is nowhere to be found.
Nazca is rich in mineral resources. Speculation: ET's would find Nazca an ideal location to study the planet.
Act 3[]
19:41
Evidence in the Bible.
EVD is deeply religious, his religion does not conflict with AA theory.
Evidence: Ezekiel's chariot - a description of a flying machine.
Joseph Blumrich, NASA engineer of Mars Mariner spaceship. The idea came to him from Ezekiel's chariot.
Enoch - not in (canonical) Bible. But in apocryphal texts is the Book of Enoch.
Enoch was taken by God "The Highest" (up to the sky) for 300 years. There Enoch was taught by servants (extraterrestrials), who he knew by name and profession.
Contrary view: Biblical stories such as Ezekiel's chariot are symbolic, metaphor.
Pro: Writing was new to ancients, so they wrote about actual events, what they saw.
EVD noticed similar stories in other religious texts. Aliens/gods influence humans, then disappear with promise to return in the distant future.
In India's Vedas, there are descriptions of Vimanas, mythical flying machines. The Bhagavad Parana, 5000 years old, describes a spacecraft piloted by King Shalva. Made of metal, appears in two places at once, motion similar to a butterfly.
Analogy: These are consistent with contemporary UFO descriptions.
Vedas describe aerial battles with vimanas. The stories are unquestioned in India.
Act 4[]
30:15
Evidence is in two categories
- Written historical accounts
- Physical or pictorial evidence
Physical evidence examples exist around the world of depictions of beings with space suits or headgear.
Evidence: In Columbia artifacts have been found resembling aircraft. Fixed wings, fuselage, upright tail fin not intrinsic to nature.
Evidence: "spacecraft" at Istanbul Museum. Contains seated figure with tubing.
Evidence: Great Pyramids of Palenque, Mexico. 7-ton Sarcophagus of Palenque's 7th century ruler: Pakal the Great (K'inich Janaab' Pakal). The carving on the sarcophagus depicts Pakal in a spacecraft operating controls.
The Mayans had advanced math and calendar. Yet they vanished around 500 AD.
Speculation: Mayans were extraterrestrials, and left planet.
Evidence: The Piri Reis map. It depicts the coast of Antarctica as it appears under the current ice cover. => map was made when Antarctica was ice-free - millions of years ago. Antarctica was discovered 300 years after the map was made. The map was fantastically accurate. Mountains, rivers not yet discovered were depicted.
Act 5[]
41:24
EVD has collected vast evidence, both written and physical.
Early humans could not stack 2.5 million blocks to create the Great Pyramid, move the immense boulders at Stonehenge, fit stones at Cusco closely with razor precision, move enormous blocks of stone weighing 1000 tons.
The Great Pyramid was supposedly built in 22 years, 2560 BC. Requires cutting, moving, and placing 1 stone every 9 seconds. The precision of alignment of the Great Pyramids are so accurate that modern engineers would have difficulty. It could not have been done by hand.
Pyramid was constructed by pharaoh Surid, who is said to be the same as Hebrew Enoch. The book of Enoch says he commanded a building be built which cannot be destroyed.
Ancient Egyptian texts say humans built pyramids with assistance of "the guardians of the sky".
1877, Joseph Seiss showed that the Great Pyramids are at the longest line of latitude, and longest line of longitude; the center of all the landmass in the world. The four sides align precisely with compass points. Compasses weren't invented until thousands of years later.
Similar pyramid construction also developed on Pacific islands, in India, Mexico.
Central Mexico, ancient city of Teotihuacan dates back 2000 years. Pyramid of the Sun is at the center. The base is the same size of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Speculation: both inspired by the same designers.
Theories:
- All were taught the same thing by an extraterrestrial race.
- Ancient travelers went to different areas (building pyramids).
- Skeptics: The design is naturally architecturally superior.
Legend: the Aztec pyramids were built by giant gods at the end of one of the destructions of the world.
Aztecs, Mayans and Hopi Indians believe the world has been destroyed four times in the past: by ice, fire, water. Teotihuacan was built at the beginning of one of the four worlds.
Egyptian texts say the Pyramid was built to store knowledge -- 300 books containing the knowledge of the universe, dictated by "the guardians of the sky".
There are hundreds of ancient monuments all over the world.
Act 6[]
51:50
Easter Island, there are 800 Moai stone statues. Speculation: portraits of alien visitors. No logical reason exists for ancient people building monuments.
Written evidence lends credibility. Egypt has writings and drawings showing how they built the pyramids. Easter Island has no written evidence.
Teotihuacan is so ancient that it defies dating methods. It is estimated to be over 17,000 years old. Sculptures at Teotihuacan were constructed in same style as those at Easter Island.
PumaPunkuEstá a unos cientos de metros de Tiahuanaco. Las estructuras megalíticas están disparcidas, como si (la especulación) se rompiera con gran fuerza. Las piezas fueron cortadas con precisión y perfectamente entrelazadas. La cantera más cercana está a 10 millas de distancia. Se transportaron piedras de 100 toneladas de toneladas. La tierra es estéril; No hay árboles disponibles para los rodillos. Los principales arqueólogos dicen que Puma Punku fue construido por los indios aymaras. La construcción de Puma Punku requerirá escritura y planificación. Los principales arqueólogos dicen aymara no tenia escrito Hay evidencia de mecanizado y trabajo de herramientas en los bloques de piedra. Las piedras son tan grandes como 800 toneladas, sin embargo, no es posible con los cinceles de la Edad de Piedra. Las líneas se cortan con rectitud y profundidad de precisión. Las piedras son granito y diorita. Solo el diamante es más duro que la diorita, por lo que las piedras se cortaron con herramientas de diamante. Hay estructuras de precisión, sin embargo, en todo el mundo. Las personas primitivas supuestamente construyeron estructuras con precisión, entrelazando piedras.
Act 7[]
1:01:57
The world's first mechanical computer, dating back over 2000 years - the Antikythera Device. Found in 1900 by sponge divers off the island of Antikythera in the Aegean. It was an astronomical device used for navigation. Also an astrological device that has more gears than a Swiss watch. Dated 200 BC.
Carvings on the walls of the Dendera temple complex in Egypt are older. The carvings resemble modern devices - ancient light bulbs. Mainstream archaeologists claim torches were used to light the tombs and temples. Yet no smoke or residue is on the ceilings. Other theory: light was directed from copper mirrors. Attempts to duplicate the effect failed due to light dissipation and weak mirrors. There is not enough oxygen in the tombs to feed a torch. Egyptologists explain the "bulb" as a lotus flower and it's aroma. (Speculation?) Dendera was the place where the special knowledge (of electric lights) was kept.
The Baghdad Battery was discovered in ancient Iraq. Mainstream theory is that they used it to electroplate jewelry. Jason Martell and Giorgio Tsoukalos built a mockup of the Baghdad Battery to demonstrate it's voltage generation. Contrary: no other devices or wiring were found.
Act 8[]
1:13:09
Evidence at Teotihuacan suggest ancient cultures had knowledge of other planets. The number and orientation of pyramids perfectly reflect a model of our solar system. The pyramids along The Avenue of the Dead are perfect alignment with the orbits of planets of our solar system. Teotihuacan was constructed before Western science described a heliocentric solar system.
Stonehenge, older than Teotihuacan, also has concentric circles corresponding with planetary orbits.
Stone temple complex of Tikal is one of the largest excavation sites in the world. Built between 7th and 9th centuries. Thousands of structures remain buried. Alignments were used to pinpoint astronomical dates of the year -- solstices and equinoxes. The layout of Tikal exactly corresponds to the star map of the Pleiades / Orion region of the sky. The same corresponding layout has been discovered on Mars. Legends and mythology of Tikal describe a time when the gods intermingled with our ancestors.
Ancient people used the paths of the sun, moon and stars for orientation, timing, planting, etc..
Act 9[]
1:20:47
The ideas put forth by Erich Von Daniken are still captivating after four decades. The influence on movies, TV, and radio is undeniable. Classic Battlestar Galactica (1978) began with narration, "There are those who believe that life here began out there with tribes of humans far across the universe, that may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, and the Toltecs, and the Mayans." The work is inspiring people to think about extraterrestrial life, the origins of life. Mainstream archaeologists do not discuss ancient alien theory because of lack of concrete evidence. The possibility of alien visitors returning is exciting to some. Certain pieces of evidence have not been debunked. Ancient alien contact would mean life on other planets is nearby. It would mean our concepts of religion would need to be re-examined. Eventually we will have contact.
Contributors[]
- Luis Navia - Prof. of Philosophy NY Inst. Of Technology
- Barry Downing - Author, The Bible & Flying Saucers
- Erich von Däniken - Author, Chariots of the Gods?
- Michael Cremo - Author, Forbidden Archaeology
- David Childress - Author, Technology of the Gods
- Sara Seager - Prof. of Planetary Sciences, MIT
- George Noory - Radio Host, Coast to Coast AM
- Giorgio Tsoukalos - Publisher, Legendary Times Magazine
- Robert R. Cargill - Biblical Archaeologist, UCLA
- Ilia Delio - Prof. of Spirituality Studies Washington Theological Union
- Javier Grillo-Marxuach - Science Fiction Writer / Producer
- Jason Martell - Alien Investigator
- Michael Dennin - Physicist, UC Irvine
- Arthur Demarest - Archaeologist, Vanderbilt University
- Todd Disotell, Ph. D. - Anthropologist, New York Univ.
- Michael Sherman - Editor-in-Chief, Skeptic Magazine
Narrated by[]
References[]
Ancient Civilizations[]
- Aymara Indians; Aztecs; the guardians of the sky; Hopi Indians; Mayans
Astronomical[]
- Mars; Orion; Pleiades;
Artifacts[]
- ancient light bulbs; Antikythera device; Baghdad Battery; beings with space suits or head gear; Moai; mock airplanes; Piri Reis Map; resembling aircraft
Literature[]
- anomalies in history; apocryphal texts; Bhagavad Parana; Bible; Book of Enoch; Chariots of the Gods?; Vedas; Writing
People, Contemporary[]
- Joseph Blumrich; Joseph Seiss
People, Historical []
- Enoch; King Shalva; Pakal the Great; Pharaoh Surid
Religions []
- Catholic Church
Sites[]
- Avenue of the Dead; Cusco; Dendera; Easter Island; Great Pyramid of Giza; Great Pyramids of Palenque; navigation points; Nazca Lines; Nazca mountains; Puma Punku; Stonehenge; Teotihuacan; Tikal
Technology, Science[]
- artificially flattened mountains; diamond; Diorite; Ezekiel's chariot; granite; Mars Mariner spaceship; Mars Odyssey spacecraft; Spacecraft; Vimanas
External Links[]
| IMDB | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1418108/?ref_=tt_urv |
| History Channel (series, not including pilot) | https://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens |
| Wikipedia (summary only, on main AA page) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Aliens#Pilot_(2009) |
| Daily Motion (watch free online) | https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1b5kt9 |
| Dot sub (watch free, subtitles, transcript) | https://dotsub.com/view/109297c5-bcb4-458b-a67d-fa4fbc55e0e5 |
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