Ancient astronaut hypothesis

The ancient astronaut (or alien) hypothesis (AAH)

or contact (AAC) is a pseudoscientic hypothesis that
posits that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited
Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and
prehistory.[1] Proponents suggest that this contact inuenced the development of human cultures, technologies,
and religions. A common claim is that deities from most,
if not all, religions are actually extraterrestrial in nature,
and that such visitors advanced technologies were interpreted by early humans as evidence of divine status.[2][3]

culture". Some ancient astronaut proponents also believe

that travelers from outer space, referred to as astronauts
(or spacemen) built many of the structures on Earth
(such as Egyptian pyramids and the Moai stone heads of
Easter Island) or aided humans in building them.[6][7]

2 Ancient astronauts hypothesis of

creation

Proponents subscribing to the resultant paleocontact hypothesis proposal, particularly in the latter half of the 20th
century, include Erich von Dniken, Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, Zecharia Sitchin, Robert K. G. Temple, David Icke,
Peter Kolosimo,[4] and Robert Charroux.

Proponents argue that the evidence for ancient astronauts

comes from documentary gaps in historical and archaeological records, and they also maintain that absent or
incomplete explanations of historical or archaeological
The idea that ancient astronauts actually existed is not data point to the existence of ancient astronauts. The evtaken seriously by academics, and has received little or no idence is argued to include archaeological artifacts that
credible attention in peer reviewed studies.[5] Ancient as- they deem anachronistic, or beyond the accepted techtronauts have been widely used as a plot device in science nical capabilities of the historical cultures with which
they are associated. These are sometimes referred to as
ction.
"out-of-place artifacts"; and include artwork and legends
which are interpreted in a modern sense as depicting extraterrestrial contact or technologies.

Overview

Legitimate academics have responded that gaps in contemporary knowledge of the past need not demonstrate
that such speculative ancient astronaut ideas are a necessary conclusion to draw.[8]

3 Hypothesis origins and proponents

Paleocontact or ancient astronaut narratives rst appeared in the early science ction of the late 19th to early
20th century. The idea was proposed in earnest by Harold
T. Wilkins in 1954; it received some consideration as a
serious hypothesis during the 1960s; and has been mostly
Ancient astronauts proponents suggest that aliens came to Earth conned to the eld of pseudoscience and pop culture
long ago, citing such evidence as this ancient Mesopotamian since the 1970s.
cylinder seal as proof of advanced technological inuences

3.1 Shklovski and Sagan

Proponents of the ancient astronaut hypotheses often

maintain that humans are either descendants or creations
of extraterrestrial beings who landed on Earth thousands
of years ago. An associated idea is that humans evolved
independently, but that much of human knowledge, religion, and culture came from extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times, in that ancient astronauts acted as a "mother

In their 1966 book Intelligent Life in the Universe,[9]

astrophysicists I.S. Shklovski and Carl Sagan devote a
chapter[10] to arguments that scientists and historians
should seriously consider the possibility that extraterrestrial contact occurred during recorded history. However,
1

A physiologically manipulated Nazca skull (housed at the Museo

Regional de Ica in Peru). AAC theorists claim the practice came
about to emulate the bone structure of ancient alien visitors to
earth.

HYPOTHESIS ORIGINS AND PROPONENTS

Sagan illustrates this hypothesis by citing the 1786 expedition of French explorer Jean-Franois de Galaup,
comte de La Prouse, which made the earliest rst contact between European and Tlingit cultures. The contact story was preserved as an oral tradition by the preliterate Tlingit. Over a century after its occurrence it
was then recorded by anthropologist George T. Emmons.
Although it is framed in a Tlingit cultural and spiritual
paradigm, the story remained an accurate telling of the
1786 encounter. According to Sagan, this proved how
under certain circumstances, a brief contact with an alien
civilization will be recorded in a re-constructible manner.
He further states that the reconstruction will be greatly
aided if 1) the account is committed to written record
soon after the event; 2) a major change is eected in the
contacted society; and 3) no attempt is made by the contacting civilization to disguise its exogenous nature.[13]

Votive relief of the winged priest of Dudu (on display at the Louvre Museum, France)

A Dog gurine from Japan (dated 1000400 BCE). Ancient

astronaut proponents suggest that these may represent extraterrestrial visitors.

Shklovski and Sagan stressed that these ideas were speculative and unproven.
Shklovski and Sagan argued that sub-lightspeed interstellar travel by extraterrestrial life was a certainty when considering technologies that were established or feasible in
the late '60s;[11] that repeated instances of extraterrestrial visitation to Earth were plausible;[12] and that prescientic narratives can oer a potentially reliable means
of describing contact with alien.

Additionally, Shklovski and Sagan cited tales of Oannes,

a shlike being attributed with teaching agriculture,
mathematics, and the arts to early Sumerians, as deserving closer scrutiny as a possible instance of paleocontact
due to its consistency and detail.[14]
In his 1979 book Brocas Brain, Sagan[15] suggested that
he and Shklovski might have inspired the wave of '70s
ancient astronaut books, expressing disapproval of von
Dniken and other uncritical writers who seemingly built
on these ideas not as guarded speculations but as valid
evidence of extraterrestrial contact. Sagan argued that
while many legends, artifacts, and purported out-of-place
artifacts were cited in support of ancient astronaut hypotheses, very few require more than passing mention
and could be easily explained with more conventional hypotheses. Sagan also reiterated his earlier conclusion that
extraterrestrial visits to Earth were possible but unproven,
and improbable.

3.3

3.2

Zecharia Sitchin

Erich von Dniken

Main article: Erich von Dniken

Erich von Dniken was a leading proponent of this hy-

The so-called "Helicopter hieroglyphs", at Abydos, Egypt, which

are argued to depict ying craft

argues imply a common origin. One such example is von

Dnikens interpretation of the sarcophagus lid recovered
from the tomb of the Classic-era Maya ruler of Palenque,
Pacal the Great. Von Dniken claimed the design represented a seated astronaut, whereas the iconography and
accompanying Maya text identies it as a portrait of the
ruler himself with the World Tree of Maya mythology.
The origins of many religions are interpreted by von
Dniken as reactions to encounters with an alien race.
According to his view, humans considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. Von Dniken claims that the oral and
written traditions of most religions contain references to
alien visitors in the way of descriptions of stars and vehicular objects travelling through air and space. One such is
Ezekiel's revelation in the Old Testament, which Dniken
interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft
(The Spaceships of Ezekiel).
Von Dnikens hypotheses became popularized in the
U.S. after the NBC-TV documentary In Search Of Ancient Astronauts hosted by Rod Serling and the movie
Chariots of the Gods.
According to Erich von Dniken, the Sarcophagus lid of Pacal
the Great represents an ancient astronaut ascending to the stars
in his spaceship.

Critics argue that von Dniken misrepresented data, that

many of his claims were unfounded, and that none of his
core claims have been validated.[16]

pothesis in the late 1960s and early 1970s, gaining a large

audience through the 1968 publication of his best-selling
3.3
book Chariots of the Gods? and its sequels.

Zecharia Sitchin

Certain artifacts and monumental constructions are Main article: Zecharia Sitchin
claimed by von Dniken to have required a more so- Zecharia Sitchins series The Earth Chronicles, beginphisticated technological ability in their construction than
that which was available to the ancient cultures who constructed them. Von Dniken maintains that these artifacts were constructed either directly by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary
knowledge from said visitors. These include Stonehenge,
Pumapunku, the Moai of Easter Island, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and the ancient Baghdad electric batteries.
Von Dniken claims that ancient art and iconography
throughout the world illustrates air and space vehicles,
non-human but intelligent creatures, ancient astronauts,
and artifacts of an anachronistically advanced technology. Von Dniken also claims that geographically separated historical cultures share artistic themes, which he

Stone glyphs depicting a story about the Anunnaki (inhabitants

of the planet Nibiru) mentioned in ancient Sumerian texts

ning with The 12th Planet, revolves around Sitchins

unique interpretation of ancient Sumerian and Middle

4 EVIDENCE CITED BY PROPONENTS

Eastern texts, megalithic sites, and artifacts from around

the world.[17][18] He hypothesizes that the gods of old
Mesopotamia were actually astronauts from the planet
"Nibiru", which Sitchin claims 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. Modern astronomy has found
no evidence to support Sitchins claims.[17]
Sitchin claimed there are Sumerian texts which tell the
story that 50 Anunnaki, inhabitants of a planet named
Nibiru, came to Earth approximately 400,000 years ago
with the intent of mining raw materials, especially gold,
for transport back to Nibiru. With their small numbers
they soon grew 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.
Sitchin contended the Anunnaki were active in human
aairs until their culture was destroyed by global catastrophes caused by the abrupt end of the last ice age some
12,000 years ago. Seeing that humans survived and all
they had built was destroyed, the Anunnaki left Earth after giving humans the opportunity and means to govern
themselves. Sitchins work has not received mainstream
scholarly support and has been roundly criticized by professionals that have reviewed his hypotheses. Semitic
languages scholar Michael S. Heiser says that many of
Sitchins translations of Sumerian and Mesopotamian
words are not consistent with Mesopotamian cuneiform
bilingual dictionaries, produced by ancient Akkadian
scribes.[19][20][21]

3.5 UFO religions

Main article: UFO religion
Various new religious movements including some
branches of theosophy, Scientology, Ralism, and
Heavens Gate believe in ancient and present-day contact
with extraterrestrial intelligence. Many of these faiths
see both ancient scriptures and recent revelations as
connected with the action of aliens from other planetary
systems. Sociologists and psychologists have found
that UFO religions have similarities which suggest that
members of these groups consciously or subliminally
associate enchantment with the memes of science
ction.[26]

4 Evidence cited by proponents

Rama being welcomed upon his return to Ayodhya in his ying

car. Some ancient astronauts proponents claim this narrative is
further evidence for ying vehicles, or Vimanas, in antiquity.

3.4

Robert Temple

Main article: Robert K. G. Temple

4.1 Ancient religious texts

Robert K. G. Temples 1976 book, The Sirius Mystery argues that the Dogon people of northwestern Mali
preserved an account of extraterrestrial visitation from
around 5,000 years ago. He quotes various lines of evidence, including supposed advanced astronomical knowledge inherited by the tribe, descriptions, and comparative
belief systems with ancient civilizations such as ancient
Egypt and Sumer. His work draws heavily on the studies
of cultural anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine
Dieterlen.[22]

Proponents cite ancient mythologies to support their

viewpoints based on the idea that ancient creation myths
of gods who descend from the heavens to Earth to create or instruct humanity are actually representations of
alien visitors, whose superior technology accounts for
their perception as gods. Proponents draw an analogy to
occurrences in modern times when isolated cultures are
exposed to Western technology, such as when, in the early
20th century, "cargo cults" were discovered in the South
Pacic: cultures who believed various Western ships and
their cargo to be sent from the gods as fulllment of
prophecies concerning their return.[27]

His conclusions have been criticized by scientists, who

point out discrepancies within Temples account, and
suggested that the Dogon may have received some of
their astronomical information recently, probably from
European sources, and may have misrepresented Dogon
ethnography.[23][24][25]

The ancient Sumerian myth of Enma Eli, inscribed on

cuneiform tablets and part of the Library of Ashurbanipal, says humankind was created to serve gods called the
"Annunaki". Hypothesis proponents believe that the Annunaki were aliens who came to earth to mine gold for
their own uses. According to the Enuma Elish story, the

4.1

Ancient religious texts

Annunaki realized mining gold was taking a toll on their Many Christians consider these groups to be the dierrace, and then created the human race as slaves.[Cited 1]
ent families of Adam and Eves children. A more fantastic interpretation is that the Nephilim are the children
of the sons of God and daughters of humans, al4.1.1 Ramayana
though scholars are uncertain.[31] The King James Version translates Nephilim as giants (or Gibborim). AnIn Hindu mythology, the gods and their avatars travel cient Astronaut theorists argue that Adam and Eve ate
from place to place in ying vehicles (see Vimana). of the forbidden fruit in order to be godlike, and this
There are many mentions of these ying machines in the was the rst step in human evolution. Hypothesis propoRamayana, which dates to the 5th or 4th century BCE. nents argue further that the biblical tree of knowledge is
Below are some examples:
a metaphor for the human DNA sequence.
From Book 6, Canto CXXIII: The Magic Car:[28]
Is not the wondrous chariot mine,
Named Pushpak, wrought by hands divine.

This chariot, kept with utmost care,

Will waft thee through the elds of air,
And thou shalt light unwearied down
In fair Ayodhy's royal town.
From Book 6, Canto CXXIV: The Departure:[28]
Swift through the air, as Rma chose,
The wondrous car from earth arose.
And decked with swans and silver wings
Bore through the clouds its freight of kings.

The rst part of the apocryphal Book of Enoch expands and interprets Genesis 6:1: that the sons of God
were a group of 200 "angels" called "Watchers", who
descended to Earth to breed with humans. Their ospring are the Nephilim, giants who consumed all the
acquisitions of men. When humans could no longer
sustain the Nephilim, they turned against humanity.
The Watchers also instructed humans in metallurgy and
metalworking, cosmetics, sorcery, astrology, astronomy,
and meteorology. God then ordered the Watchers to be
imprisoned in the ground, and created the Great Flood (or
the numerous Deluge myths) to rid Earth of the Nephilim
and of the humans given knowledge by the Watchers. To
ensure humanitys survival, Noah is forewarned of the oncoming destruction. Because they disobeyed God, the
book describes the Watchers as "fallen angels".[32]
Some ancient astronaut proponents argue that this story
is a historical account of extraterrestrials visiting Earth,
called Watchers because their mission was to observe humanity. Some of the extraterrestrials disobeyed orders;
they made contact with humans, cross-bred with human
females, and shared knowledge with them. The Nephilim
were thus half-human-half-extraterrestrial hybrids.[33]

Erich von Dniken discusses the Ramayana and the vimanas in Chapter 6 of Chariots of the Gods? suggesting
that they were space vehicles. To support his hypothesis, he oers a quotation which he says is from an 1889
translation of the Mahabharata by C. Roy: "Bhima ew
with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilChuck Missler and Mark Eastman argue that modern
liant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a
UFOs carry the fallen angels, or ospring of fallen angels,
storm.[29]
and that Noahs genealogy was not tarnished by the inSee also, the Vaimanika Shastra, a text on Vi- trusion of fallen angels. It seems that this adulteration of
manas, which supposedly channeled in the early 20th the human gene pool was a major problem on the planet
century.[30]
earth.[34]
4.1.2

Book of Genesis and Book of Enoch

The Book of Genesis, Chapter 6 verses 14, states:

When human beings began to increase in
number on the earth and daughters were born
to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
...
The Nephilim were on the earth in those
daysand also afterwardwhen the sons of
God went to the daughters of humans and had
children by them.
Genesis 6:14 (New International Version)

Von Dniken also suggests that the two angels who visited Lot in Genesis 19 were ancient astronauts, who used
atomic weapons to destroy the city of Sodom.[35]
Marc Dem reinterprets the Book of Genesis by claiming
humanity started on another planet and that the God of
the Bible is an extraterrestrial.[36]

4.1.3 Book of Ezekiel

In the Old Testament, Chapter 1 of the Book of Ezekiel
recounts a vision in which Ezekiel sees an immense
cloud that contains re and emits lightning and brilliant light. It continues: The center of the re looked
like glowing metal, and in the re was what looked like
four living creatures. These creatures are described as

4 EVIDENCE CITED BY PROPONENTS

the biblical concept of Satan is based on a misunderstood visit by extraterrestrials. Erich von Dniken posited
that the descendants of extraterrestrials had children with
hominids, and this was referred to in the Bible as the
"Original Sin. Von Dniken believes that the biblical
great ood was punishment after an extraterrestrial 'God'
discovered that earthbound, fallen angels, were mating
with ape-like early humans.[46]

4.2 Ancient artwork

An engraved illustration of Ezekiels 'vision' (1670)

winged and humanoid, they sped back and forth like

ashes of lightning and re moved back and forth
among the creatures. The passage goes on to describe
four shiny objects, each appearing like a wheel intersecting a wheel. These objects could y and they moved
with the creatures: When the living creatures moved, the
wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures
rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.[37]
In Chapter 4 of Chariots of the Gods?, entitled Was God
Wondjina rock art in the Kimberley region, Australia
an Astronaut?", von Dniken suggests that Ezekiel had
seen a spaceship or spaceships; this hypothesis had been
put forward by Morris Jessup in 1956[38] and by Arthur
W. Orton in 1961.[39] A detailed version of this hypothesis was described by Josef F. Blumrich in his book The
Spaceships of Ezekiel (1974).[40]

4.1.4

Elsewhere in the Bible

The characteristics of the Ark of the Covenant and the

Urim and Thummim have been said to suggest high technology, perhaps from alien origins.[41]
Robert Dione and Paul Misraki published books in the
1960s claiming the events in the Bible were caused by
alien technology.[42][43] Barry Downing, a Presbyterian
minister, wrote a book in 1968 claiming that Jesus was an
extraterrestrial, citing John 8:23 and other biblical verses
as evidence.[44]
Some ancient astronaut proponents such as Von Dniken
and Barry Downing believe that the concept of hell in
the Bible could be a real description of the planet Venus
brought to Earth by extraterrestrials showing photos of
the hot surface on Venus to humans.[45] Proponents of the
hypothesis state that 'God' and 'Satan' were actually aliens
that disagreed on whether or not human beings should
be allowed the information that is oered by the tree of
knowledge. David Childress, a leading proponent of anComparison of some Ural pictograms to modern structural forcient astronaut creation hypothesis, compares this story
mulae of several chemical compounds (according to Russian reto the Greek tale of Prometheus, who gave mankind the searcher Vladimir Avinsky)
knowledge of re. Ancient Astronaut theorists believe

4.3
4.2.1

Ancient artifacts

Worldwide petroglyphic evidence

gists as ceremonial pathways of the ancient Nazca people;

they were used precisely in this way in the fairly recent
Ancient astronaut theorists believe Hopi cave drawings past.[51]
found in the southwestern desert, link the origins of Hopi Professor Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky, was
and Zuni tribes with star people (see "Kachinas"). They able to re-create one of the gures using only wooden
point to similar etchings elsewhere as evidence that ex- stakes and string.[50]
traterrestrials visited many dierent ancient civilizations.
They state that the Hopi and Zuni drawings depict contact with beings from space who are not gods, but [have] 4.3 Ancient artifacts
brought knowledge from another planet.
Other artistic support for the ancient astronaut hypothesis Alleged physical evidence includes the discovery of artihas been sought in Palaeolithic cave paintings. Wondjina facts in Egypt (the Saqqara Bird) and Colombia-Ecuador,
in Australia and in the Rock Drawings in Valcamonica, which are claimed to be similar to modern planes and
[52]
although these have been interpreted by arin Italy (seen above) are claimed to bear a resemblance gliders,
[47]
chaeologists
as stylized representations of birds and into present day astronauts.
Supporters of the ancient
sects.
astronaut hypothesis sometimes claim that similarities
such as dome shaped heads, interpreted as beings wearing space helmets, prove that early man was visited by an
4.4 Megalithic sites
extraterrestrial race.[48]
More support of this hypothesis draws upon what
are claimed to be representations of ying saucers in
medieval and renaissance art.[49] This is used to support
the ancient astronaut hypothesis by attempting to show
that the creators of humanity return to Earth periodically.
4.2.2

Nazca Lines

Ahu Tongariki near Rano Raraku; ancient astronaut proponents

claim the stone structures were built by (or with the help of) extraterrestrials

The Astronaut - a large geoglyph near the Nazca Lines

The ancient Nazca Lines are hundreds of huge ground

drawings etched into the high desert of southern Peru.
Some are stylized animals and humanoid gures, while
others are merely straight lines hundreds of meters long.
As the gures were made to be seen from a great height,
they have been linked with the ancient astronaut hypothesis. Von Dniken (1970) says that the Nazca lines and
gures could have been made according to instructions
from aircraft and suggests that the longer and wider
lines might be runways for spacecraft.[50] Archaeologist
Kenneth Feder has written that Von Dnikens extraterrestrial interpretation is not supported by any evidence.
Feder wrote that the lines are interpreted by archaeolo-

These 10,000-year-old carvings in Azerbaijan resemble human

beings, but are according to supporters of the hypothesis also similar to beings reported by abductees.

Evidence for ancient astronauts is claimed to include

the existence of ancient monuments and megalithic ruins such as the Giza pyramids of Egypt, Machu Picchu in
Peru, or Baalbek in Lebanon, the Moai of Easter Island
and Stonehenge of England.[53] Supporters contend these

7 PROPONENTS

stone structures could not have been built with the technical abilities and tools of the people of the time and further
argue that many could not be duplicated even today. They
suggest that the large size of the building stones, the precision with which they were laid, and the distances many
were transported leaves the question open as to who constructed these sites.

speculation. He concluded that the ancient astronaut hypothesis is unnecessary. Occams razor should be applied
and the hypothesis is rejected.[61]

Terence Hines author of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2003) has described the ancient astronaut hypothesis as a pseudoscience and has said that its proponents
look for mysteries where none exist. According to Hines
These contentions are categorically rejected by main- ancient astronaut proponents such as Von Dniken have
stream archeology. Some mainstream archeologists have fabricated evidence and distorted the facts of archeologparticipated in experiments to move large megaliths. ical research.[62]
These experiments have succeeded in moving megaliths In a 2004 article in Skeptic magazine, Jason Colavito
up to at least 40 tons,[54][55] and they have speculated that claims that von Dniken plagiarized many of the books
with a larger workforce larger megaliths could be towed concepts from Le Matin des Magiciens (Morning of the
with the use of known ancient technology.[56] Such al- Magicians), that this book in turn was heavily inuenced
legations are not unique in history, however, as similar by the Cthulhu Mythos, and that the core of the ancient
reasoning lay behind the wonder of the Cyclopean ma- astronaut hypothesis originates in H. P. Lovecraft's works
sonry walling at Mycenaean cities in the eyes of Greeks "The Call of Cthulhu" and At the Mountains of Madness.
of the following "Greek Dark Ages", who believed that Jason Colavito later expanded on this claim in his book
the giant Cyclops had built the walls.
The Cult of Alien Gods: H. P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture.[63]

4.5

Religious and cultural practices

A number of ancient cultures, such as the Ancient Egyptians and some Native Americans, articially lengthened
the skulls of their children. Some ancient astronaut proponents propose that this was done to emulate extraterrestrial visitors, whom they saw as gods.[57][58] Among the
ancient rulers depicted with elongated skulls are pharaoh
Akhenaten and Nefertiti. It has been pointed out that the
Grey aliens (historically referred to as "little green men"),
described by many alien abductees have similarly shaped
heads.[57] In the program Ancient Aliens it was suggested
that the owners of the biggest of the lengthened skulls
may be human-extraterrestrial hybrids.[57]

6 Popular culture
Main article: Ancient astronauts in popular culture

The ancient astronaut hypothesis has been used as a background or as the main topic in many ctional works
such as Lovecrafts short story "The Call of Cthulhu"
(1926) and novella At the Mountains of Madness (1931)
as well as in many of his other works. In addition to the
previously mentioned tiles, The Ancient Astronaut theory inuenced the television shows Quatermass and the
Pit, The X-Files, Earth: Final Conict, and a few Star
Trek projects including, most notably, "Who Mourns for
Adonais?". The lms 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968),
5 Critics
Stargate (1994), Alien vs. Predator (2004), virtually all of
the Transformers movies, Knowing (2009), Thor (2011)
Alan F. Alford, author of Gods of the New Millennium
and Prometheus (2012) were heavily inuenced by this
(1996), was an adherent of the ancient astronaut hypoththeory. Other works of ction including many comic
esis. Much of his work draws on Sitchins hypotheses.
books, manga, anime and video games were also inuHowever, he now nds fault with Sitchins hypothesis afenced by this theory.
ter deeper analysis, stating that: I am now rmly of
the opinion that these gods personied the falling sky; in Ancient Aliens is a television series that features the
other words, the descent of the gods was a poetic rendi- main proponents of the ancient astronaut hypothesis, such
tion of the cataclysm myth which stood at the heart of as Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, David Childress, Erich von
Dniken, Steven M. Greer, and Nick Pope.[64] In the
ancient Near Eastern religions.[59]
fourth movie of the Indiana Jones series, The Kingdom
The Christian creationist community is highly critical of
of the Crystal Skull, aliens with elongated skulls are demany of the ancient astronaut ideas. Young Earth crepicted.
ationist author Cliord A. Wilson published Crash Go
the Chariots in 1972 in which he attempted to discredit
all claims made in von Dnikens book Chariots of the
Gods.[60]
7 Proponents
Robert Todd Carroll in the The Skeptics Dictionary
(2003) has written that ancient astronaut ideas are not Many publications have argued for the ancient astronauts
based on scientic investigation but pseudoscientic hypotheses. Notable examples include these:

9
1919: Charles Fort (book, The Book of the Damned)
1954: Harold T. Wilkins (book, Flying Saucers from
the Moon)
1956: Morris K. Jessup (book, UFOs and the Bible)
1957: Peter Kolosimo (book, Il pianeta sconosciuto
(The Unknown Planet))
1958: George Hunt Williamson (book, Secret Places
of the Lion)
1958: Henri Lhote[65] (book, The Search for the
Tassili Frescoes: The story of the prehistoric rockpaintings of the Sahara)
1959: Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels (book,
The Morning of the Magicians)
1960: Brinsley Le Poer Trench (book, The Sky People)
1961: Matest M. Agrest (article, The Astronauts of
Yore)[66]
1963: Robert Charroux (book, One Hundred Thousand Years of Mans Unknown History)

1974: Robin Collyns (book, Did Spacemen Colonise

the Earth?)
1975: Graham Cairns-Smith (a biochemist who suggested that the ancestors of humans might have
had alien biochemistries and presented evidence
to support this possibility in a biological research
journal)[67][68]
1975: Serge Hutin (book, Alien Races and Fantastic
Civilizations)
1976: Robert K. G. Temple (book, The Sirius Mystery)
1976: John Baxter, Thomas Atkins (book, The Fire
Came By: The Riddle of the Great Siberian Explosion)
1977: John Philip Cohane (book, Paradox: The
Case for the Extraterrestrial Origin of Man)
1977: Warren Smith (book, UFO Trek)
1978: George Sassoon and Rodney Dale (book,
Manna Machine)
1978: Zecharia Sitchin (book, The 12th planet)

1964: W. Raymond Drake (book, Gods or Spacemen?)

1980: J. J. Bentez (book, Los astronautas de Yav

Spanish: Yahwehs astronauts)

1965: Paul Misraki (book, Flying Saucers Through

The Ages)

1984: Don Elkins, James McCarthy, Carla Rueckert (book, The Ra Material: An Ancient Astronaut
Speaks (The Law of One, No 1))

1967: Brad Steiger (book, The Flying Saucer Menace)

1967: John Michell (book, The Flying Saucer Vision)
1968: Erich von Dniken (book, Chariots of the
Gods?)

1984: Salvador Freixedo, (book, Defendmonos de

los Dioses! Spanish: Let Us Defend Ourselves
from the Gods!)
1988: Salvador Freixedo, (book, La Granja Humana Spanish: The Human Farm)
1988: Riley Martin (book, The Coming of Tan)

1968: Barry Downing (book, The Bible and Flying

Saucers)

1989: Salvador Freixedo, (book, La Amenaza Extraterrestre Spanish: The Alien Threat).

1969: Robert Dione (book, God Drives a Flying

Saucer)

1993: David Icke (book, --and the truth shall set you
free)

1969: Jean Sendy (book, Those Gods Who Made

Heaven and Earth; the novel of the Bible)

1996: Alan F. Alford (book, Gods of the New Millennium)

1972: Thomas Charles Lethbridge (book, The Legend of the Sons of God: A Fantasy?)

1996: Murry Hope (book, The Sirius Connection:

Unlocking the Secrets of Ancient Egypt)

1974: Charles Berlitz (book, The Bermuda Triangle)

1996: Richard C. Hoagland (book, The Monuments

of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever)

1974: Josef F. Blumrich (book, The Spaceships of

Ezekiel)

1998: Lloyd Pye (book, Everything You Know is

Wrong Book One: Human Evolution)

1974: Claude Vorilhon aka Rael (book, Le Livre Qui

Dit La Vrit (The Book Which Tells the Truth))

1998: James Herbert Brennan (book, Martian Genesis)

10

1999: David Hatcher Childress (book, Technology

of the Gods, The Incredible Science of the Ancients)
1999: Laurence Gardner (book, Genesis of the Grail
Kings: The Explosive Story of Genetic Cloning)
2003: Burak Eldem (book, 2012: Appointment With
Marduk)

REFERENCES

[11] "...civilizations, aeons more advanced than ours, must be

plying the spaces between stars..."; Shklovski and Sagan;
p. 464
[12] Note: Even allowing for millions of years between visits from a hypothetical galactic survey ship, Sagan calculated ~104 such visits could have occurred during
[Earths] geologic time"; Shklovski and Sagan; p. 461;
[13] Shklovski and Sagan; p. 453

See also
First contact (science ction)

[14] stories like the Oannes legend, and representations especially of the earliest civilizations on Earth, deserve much
more critical studies than have been performed heretofore,
with the possibility of direct contact with an extraterrestrial civilization as one of many possible alternative explanations. Shklovski and Sagan, p. 461

Pseudoarchaeology

[15] Sagan, Brocas Brain, p. 67

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

The Space Gods Revealed (book)

Xenoarchaeology (archaeology on supposed alien
cultures)

References

[1] Patrick Grim (1982), Philosophy of Science and Occult

(1st ed.), SUNY Press, pp. 285, ISBN 978-0-87395573-7
[2] Lieb, Michael (1998). Children of Ezekiel: Aliens, Ufos,
the Crisis of Race, and the Advent of End Time. Duke
University Press. p. 250. ISBN 0-8223-2268-4.
[3] Cithara. St. Bonaventure University. 1961. p. 12.
[4] Von Dniken, Erich (1984). Chariots of the Gods.
Berkley Pub Group. ISBN 0-425-07481-1.
[5] Harrold; Noahs Ark and Ancient Astronauts: Pseudoscientic Beliefs About the Past Among a Sample of College Students;" The Skeptical Inquirer; vol 11.1; 1986: 61;
Committee for the Scientic Investigation of Claims of
the Paranormal; 13 Dec 2010.

[16] Erich von Dnikens Chariots of the GodsScience

or Charlatanism?; Robert Sheaer; October/November,
1974; NICAP UFO Investigator, retrieved .
[17] Carroll, Robert T (19942009). The Skeptics Dictionary. Zecharia Sitchin and The Earth Chronicles. John
Wiley & Sons. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
[18] Kilgannon, Corey (January 8, 2010). Origin of the
Species, From an Alien View. The New York Times. Retrieved 29 October 2010. Mr. Sitchin was called silly
beforeby scientists, historians and archaeologists who
dismiss his hypotheses as pseudoscience and fault their
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understanding of physics.
[19] Open Letter to Zecharia Sitchin. stichiniswrong.com.
[20] Zechariah Sitchin, Mark Pilkington, Fortean Times, August 2003.
[21] The Anunnaki. stichiniswrong.com.
[22] Temple, Robert K. G., The Sirius Mystery, 1976. ISBN
0-09-925744-0
[23] Sagan, Carl, Brocas Brain, published by Random House,
Inc. in 1974

[6] Olien, Michael D. (1978). Did Ancient Astronauts Bring

Civilization?". The human myth: An introduction to anthropology. USA: Harper & Row. pp. 236241, 245,
255. ISBN 0-06-044918-7.

[24] Investigating the Sirius Mystery at the Wayback Machine (archived February 16, 2008) - Skeptical Inquirer
(1978) Ian Ridpath

[7] Ancient Astronauts; article; Weekly World News Apr 3,

2001

[25] van Beek, Walter E. A. (1991). Dogon Restudied: A

Field Evaluation of the Work of Marcel Griaule. Current
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[8] Sagan, Carl (1979). II The Paradoxers - 5. Night Walkers and Mystery Mongers: Sense and Nonsense at the
Edge of Science. Brocas Brain. USA: Random House.
pp. 5354. ISBN 0-394-50169-1.

[26] Partridge, C.H. (2003). UFO religions. Routledge. ISBN

978-0-415-26324-5.

[9] Shklovski, I.S and Carl Sagan. Intelligent Life in the Universe. San Francisco: Holden-Day, 1966

[28] "''RMYAN OF VLMKI'' translated by Ralph T H

Grith. Sacred Texts. Retrieved 2014-03-11.

[10] The Possible Consequences of Direct Contact, authored

mostly by Sagan, according to line-by-line indications of
individual or collaborative sections.

[29] von Dniken, Erich; Chariots of the Gods?; Chapter

6: Ancient Imagination and Legends or Ancient Facts?";
1968.

[27] Cargo Cults; SJSU; retrieved .

11

[30] Vimanas; Main; accessed .

[31] James Orr says it is not easy to be certain of the interpretation of this strange passage. Nephilim, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, ed.,
(Chicago: Howard-Severance, 1930), Vol. IV, p. 2133.
[32] "''Book of Enoch'' (English and Swedish translations)".
Enoksbok.se. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
[33] Ancient Aliens, Series 2 Episode 7: Angels and Aliens
[34] Missler, Chuck, and Mark Eastman, Alien Encounters:
The Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon (Coeur d'Alene,
ID: Koinonia House, 1997), 207.
[35] von Dniken, 37. Le Poer Trench had previously speculated that a space vehicle had used nuclear weapons to
destroy Sodom; Brinsley Le Poer Trench, The Sky People
(New York: Award Books, 1970; copyright 1960, London) 64-5.

[50] The Mysterious Nazca Lines. Onagocag.com. 198208-07. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
[51] Feder, K. L. Ancient Astronauts. In Michael Shermer
(Ed). The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABCCLIO. p. 19
[52] Strange Artifacts, Ancient Flying Machines. World
Mysteries. 1903-12-17. Archived from the original on
14 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
[53] Christopher Penczak, Ascension Magick: Ritual, Myth &
Healing for the New Aeon, 2007, p. 226
[54] NOVA | Transcripts | Secrets of Lost Empires | Stonehenge. PBS. 1997-02-11. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
[55] NOVA Online | Mysteries of the Nile | August 27, 1999:
The Third Attempt. Pbs.org. 1999-08-27. Retrieved
2011-06-18.

[36] Gordon Stein, The encyclopedia of the paranormal,

Prometheus Books, 1996 p. 29

[56] History Channel Mega Movers:

Moves

[37] Ezekiel 1, New International Version

[57] Kevin Burns (executive producer) (2011). Ancient Aliens,

Series 3, Episode 8: Aliens and Lost Worlds (motion picture). A+E Networks.

[38] von Daniken, 38-9. Morris K. Jessup, UFO and the Bible
(New York: Citadel Press, 1956) 56-59.
[39] Arthur W. Orton: The Four-Faced Visitors of Ezekiel,
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ebooks/30252).

Ancient Mystery

[58] David Hatcher Childress, Renato Vesco.

UFOs. 2007. p.179

Man-Made

[59] Ancient Astronauts. Eridu.co.uk. Archived from the

original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-18.

[40] Josef F. Blumrich: The Spaceships of Ezekiel, Corgi

Books, 1974.

[60] Cliord Wilson, Crash Go the Chariots, Lancer Books,

1972

[41] AncientDimensions Mysteries: De-Coded: The Ark Of

The Covenant. Farshores.org. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-18.

[61] Carroll, R. T. The Skeptics Dictionary: A Collection of

Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. Wiley, 2003. pp. 21-22

[42] Prole of Paul Misraki in UFOs in the 1980s by Jerome

Clark, Apogee Books, 1990

[62] Hines. T. Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus

Books, 2003. p. 304

[43] Philip H. Melling, Fundamentalism in America: millennialism, identity and militant religion, 1999, p. 183

[63] Charioteer of the Gods. Jcolavito.tripod.com. 200103-10. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-18.

[44] The Bible and Flying Saucers First Edition 1968. Second
edition published in 1997 ISBN 1-56924-745-5

[64] Ancient Aliens. History.com. 2011-06-14. Archived

from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-18.

[45] Hell is on the planet Venus Weekly World News Aug 31,
1993. Books.google.com. 1993-08-31. Retrieved 201106-18.

[65] Lhote, Henri (1903-1991)". Daviddarling.info. 200702-01. Retrieved 2011-06-18.

[46] Ancient Aliens and the Creation of Man. Ancient Aliens.

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[66] Agrest, Matest (1961). .

(in Russian) (Moscow). Geografgis. pp. 526542.

[47] Cave paintings and locations such as Wondinja and are discussed in the book UFO: the continuing enigma, Readers
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[67] Cairns-Smith, A. G. (1975). A case for an alien

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Bibliography

Charroux, Robert (1974). Masters of the world.

Berkley Pub. Corp. ASIN B0006WIE1O.
Colavito, Jason (2005). The Cult of Alien Gods:
H. P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture.
Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-59102-352-1.
Dniken, Erich von (1972). Chariots of the Gods.
Berkley Publishing Group. ISBN 0-425-16680-5.
Grnschlo, Andreas (June 2006). ""Ancient Astronaut Narrations: A Popular Discourse on Our
Religious Past (PDF). Marburg Journal of Religion
11 (1). ISSN 1612-2941.
Ral (1974).
The Message Given by Extraterrestrials. Nova Dist. ISBN 2-940252-20-3.
Sitchin, Zecharia (1999). The 12th Planet (The
Earth Chronicles, Book 1). Avon. ISBN 0-38039362-X.

10

Further reading

Avalos, Hector (2002). The Ancient Near East in

Modern Science Fiction: Zechariah Sitchins The
12th Planet as Case Study. Journal of Higher Criticism 9 (1): 4970.
Fagan, Garrett G. (2006). Archaeological Fantasies:
How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and
Misleads the Public. Routledge. ISBN 0-41530593-4
Harris, Christie. (1975). Sky Man on the Totem
Pole?. New York: Atheneum.
Stiebing, William H. (1984). Ancient Astronauts,
Cosmic Collisions and Other Popular Theories About
Mans Past. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975285-8
Story, Ronald. (1976). The Space Gods Revealed:
A Close Look At The Theories of Erich von Dniken.
Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-014141-7
Trel, James. (2007). Who Were the Ancient Engineers of Egypt?. Skeptical Inquirer (Committee for
Skeptical Inquiry) 17.1.
White, Peter. (1976). The Past Is Human: Debunking Von Danikens Gee-Whiz Theories. Taplinger.

11

External links

'Fringe' or 'cult' archaeology examined by professional archaeologist Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews at

the Wayback Machine (archived May 11, 2008)

EXTERNAL LINKS

Ancient Astronauts - Skeptics Dictionary

Skeptoid #449: Ancient Astronauts at Skeptoid
[1] Mark, Joshua J. Enuma Elish - The Babylonian Epic of
Creation. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History
Encyclopedia Limited. Retrieved 1 December 2013.

13

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