Ancient astronaut theory- is a term used to describe the belief that intelligent extraterrestrial creatures visited Earth in the distant past civilization and that such contact was involved with the origin or development of human culture. It was popularized by authors such as Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin.
It can be considered a subset of paleocontact theory, the hypothesis that intelligent extraterrestrials have visited Earth. I.S. Shklovskii, and Hermann Oberth are two notable scientists who have seriously considered this possibility.
Details
Ancient astronaut adherents often claim that humans are either descendants or creations of beings who landed on Earth millennia ago. An associated theory is that much of human knowledge, religion and culture came from extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times. These ideas are generally discounted by the scientific community.
The idea of paleocontact appears in numerous science fiction stories and films, most notably 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Adherents
Ancient astronaut theories have been advanced by authors such as:-
• Charles Fort (1919)
• Morris K. Jessup (1955)
• George Hunt Williamson (1957)
• Peter Kolosimo (in his 1957 book, Il pianeta sconosciuto)
• Henri Lhote (1958),[1]
• Matest M. Agrest (1959)
• W. Raymond Drake (1964)
• Erich von Däniken (1968)
• Robert Charroux (1969)
• Dr. S. Lunskaya (1970)
• Robert K. G. Temple (1976)
• Zecharia Sitchin (1978)
• Richard C. Hoagland
• Burak Eldem
Däniken
Erich von Däniken was a leading proponent of this theory in the late 1960s and early 1970s, gaining a large audience through the 1968 publication of his best-selling book Chariots of the Gods and its sequels. Von Däniken's evidence supporting his vision of paleo-contact are as follows:
Certain artifacts and monumental constructions, their purpose or origin unknown, appear to have required a more sophisticated technological ability in its manufacture than what was presumed by historians for those ancient cultures. These objects and structures are deemed to be beyond the technological capabilities of the associated societies attributed with their manufacture (at least in the eyes of the author and his adherents). Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts were manufactured either directly by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary knowledge from said extraterrestrial visitors. These artifacts and monuments include Stonehenge, the moai of Easter Island, the Antikythera mechanism and the Ancient Baghdad Electric Batteries. )
• In ancient art and iconography throughout the world, certain similar themes can be interpreted to illustrate air and space vehicles, non-human but intelligent creatures, ancient astronauts and artifacts of an anachronistically-advanced technology. Von Däniken also identifies certain details that appear similar across the art of geographically-diverse historical cultures, which he argues imply a common origin.
• The origins of many religions could be interpreted as reactions to encounters by primitive humans with some alien race. According to this view, humans consider the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. Von Däniken indicates that the oral and written traditions of most religions contain references to alien visitors by descriptions of stars and vehicular objects travelling through air and space. The author maintains that these should be seen as literal descriptions from eyewitnesses that have changed during the passage of time to become more obscure, rather than symbolic or mythical fiction. One such is Ezekiel's revelation in the Old Testament, which Däniken interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft.
Since the publication of von Däniken's books, no substantial evidence has been found to verify his claims, while much claimed evidence has been disproven. Most historians regard his claims — as well of those of other ancient astronaut believers — as pseudoscience or pseudoarchaeology.
Sitchin
Zecharia Sitchin's continuing body of work The Earth Chronicles, beginning with the first installment The 12th Planet, revolves around Sitchin's interpretation of ancient Sumerian and Middle Eastern texts and mysterious megalithic sites and anomalous artifacts from around the world. He theorizes the gods of old were actually astronauts from the planet Nibiru, which the Sumerians believed to be a remote "12th" planet (counting the Sun, Moon, and Pluto as planets) associated with the god Marduk. According to Sitchin, Nibiru continues to orbit our sun on a 3,600-year elongated orbit.
According to Sitchin, the Sumerians relate how 50 "Anunnaki" or inhabitants of Nibiru came to Earth approximately 400,000 years ago with the intent of mining raw materials for transport back to their own world. With their small numbers they soon tired of the task and set out to genetically engineer laborers to work the mines. After much trial and error they eventually created homo sapiens sapiens: the "Adapa" (model man) or Adam of later mythology.
Evidence
Many authors use ancient mythologies to support their viewpoints, basing their theories on the basic tenet that nearly all ancient creation myths of a god or gods having descended from the "heavens" to earth to create man. These myths detail extraordinary adventures of these gods as being actually modern technologies, seen from the perspective of a simple-minded earthman.
For example, flying machines often show up in ancient texts. One classical example is the Vimanas, flying machines that can be found in the literature of India in which stories range from fantastic aerial battles employing various weaponry including bombs, to the mundane relating simple technical information, flight procedure, and flights of fancy.
In the Biblical Old Testament, God is described as having various attributes that could be interpreted as being advanced rockets or other flying craft. He is described as having an upper body of metal, appearing on a column of smoke and/or fire and making the sound of a trumpet. These descriptions portray the God of the ancient Hebrews as not only having the characteristics of a flying machine, but also quite clearly describe God as a physical presence, not an abstraction. This God follows the Hebrews around and rains lightning and stones down upon their enemies from His position in the sky. However, poetically, descriptions of God have also featured having protecting wings and outstretched arms in the Psalms, features contrary to the theories of any mechanical manifestation of God. Additionally, the characteristics of the Ark of the Covenant and the Urim and Thummim are identified as suggesting high technology, perhaps from alien origins.
Other examples include the very detailed descriptions in the Biblical Book of Ezekiel, the apocryphal Book of Enoch, and countless ancient stories from China to Peru.
Physical evidence includes the discovery of ancient "model airplanes" in Egypt and South America, which bear a passing resemblance to modern planes and gliders. Probably the most famous piece of circumstantial evidence are the Nazca lines of Peru; countless enormous ground drawings which can only be seen from high in the air.
Earlier ideas
Earlier sources — while generally not referencing ancient astronauts per se — suggest the creation of some monuments was beyond human means, such as Saxo Grammaticus' suggestion that giants had created Denmark's massive dolmens, or in tales that Merlin had assembled Stonehenge via magic.
Evidence for ancient astronauts often consists of allegations that ancient monuments, such as the pyramids of Egypt, or Machu Picchu in Peru, or other ancient megalithic ruins, such as Baalbek in Lebanon, could not have been built without technical abilities beyond those of people at that time. Such allegations are not unique in history. Similar reasoning lay behind the wonder of the Cyclopean masonry walling at Mycenaean cities in the eyes of Greeks of the following "Dark Age," who believed that the giant Cyclopes had built the walls. Typical candidates for the lost civilizations that taught or provided these skills are the lost continents of Atlantis, Lemuria and Mu.
Another frequent theme that can be encountered in many mythologies is a person who comes from far away as a god, or as the archetype of a "civilizing hero" who brings knowledge to mankind. Prometheus is the best-known Western example. In Native American lore there are numerous examples, including Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs and Viracocha of the Incas.
In Theosophical writings of the 19th and early 20th centuries, many precursors to the ancient astronaut theories can be found. Theosophy influenced authors such as H. P. Lovecraft and Charles Fort, and even later authors such as Erich von Däniken.
Ancient astronauts in fiction
The ancient astronaut theory has been addressed frequently in science fiction and horror fiction.
Early occurrences in the genres include:-
• H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu (1926) and At the Mountains of Madness (1931).
• Nigel Kneale's Quatermass and the Pit television serial (1958) used a version of the idea.
• Arthur C. Clarke has written several stories utilizing the theme, most famously in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• Walter Ernsting (The Day the Gods Died).
• Douglas Adams used a satirical version of the theory in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
• The Doctor Who serial Pyramids of Mars featured the Egyptian gods being aliens, and a number of other Doctor Who serials had used similar ideas.
• In Larry Niven's Known Space, humanity is descended from aliens called The Pak.
• In Star Trek, The Progenitors seeded the galaxy with humanoid life.
• Even the Tintin adventure Flight 714 references ancient astronaut theories.
• The TV show The X-Files has borrowed the theory.
• The original Battlestar Galactica and the 2003 remake explored the idea that Earth was colonized by man millennia ago.
• The movie Stargate and its spin-off television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis feature aliens posing as gods to influence early earth cultures, and later on in the SG-1 series, aliens are found to have traveled to earth millions of years ago to influence human evolution.
o The Stargate: Ultimate Edition: Director’s Cut DVD includes a featurette interview with Erich von Däniken entitled "Is there a Stargate?".
• The March 1961 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact contains a piece by Arthur W. Orton entitled "The Four-Faced Visitors of Ezekiel". Although described in the magazine's Table of Contents as a short story, it actually takes the form of a pseudo-factual essay presenting a verse-by-verse analysis of Ezekiel's vision and interpreting this in terms of an encounter with ancient astronauts. In this respect the essay mirrors J. F. Blumrich's book The Spaceships of Ezekiel (1974), although predating it by more than a decade.
• The computer game Rise of Legends features the Cuotl, a Pre-Columbian mesoamerican civilisation manipulated by a group of aliens whose spaceship crashed.
• The Tabletop Battle Game, Warhammer Fantasy also uses aspects of the Ancient Astronaut Theory. The race of Lizardmen being created by the so called Old Ones in an attempt to fight Chaos.
• The manga Bio-Booster Armor Guyver features numerous ancient astronaut trappings in its explanation of the Creators and the origin of the Guyver.
• The Marvel comic The Eternals deals with aliens who had advanced the evolution of apes into man and as well as two sister races
So as not to give you too much to read at one time and allow you to comment I have broken this subject matter into several parts. Please stay tuned, there will be more to come... Do you believe or not?
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