|
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. Ancient astronauts acted as a “mother-culture”. 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:- 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 paleocontact are as follows: 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. Graham Hancock Graham Hancock was heavily influenced by Erich von Daniken’s theories. Hancock theorizes in his book, “Fingerprints of the Gods”, that a “mother culture”, given knowledge and technologies by extraterrestrials, planted the seeds of knowledge and culture into ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians. This “mother culture” theory is often closely tied to the myths of the lost continent of Atlantis. Raelian Religious Movement Raelianism is a religious movement created by Claude Vorilhon (or Rael). Rael, who claims to have encountered extraterrestrials on a number of occasions, explains the creation of humans as having been done by an alien race, named Elohim, from another planet using their DNA. The raelian movement also argues against evolution and support cloning. 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 (which can also be interpreted as a kind of crown), 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. More support of this theory draws upon what are thought to be flying saucers in medieval and renaissance art. Objects in the paintings that cannot be explained with relevance to the art piece are often assumed to be flying saucers. This helps support the ancient astronaut theory by showing that the creators of man kind return to check up on their creation throughout time. Other artistic support for the ancient astronaut theory is Paleolithic cave paintings. Vondijina in Australia and Val Camonica in Italy (seen above) bare a resemblance to present day astronauts. Supporters of the ancient astronaut theory claim that a few coincidental similarities such as dome shaped heads, or beings wearing space helmets, prove that early man was visited by an extraterrestrial race. 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. The cross-cultural similarities of deities coming from the heavens and the manners in which they speak to humans are explained by some as evidence of visitations by extraterrestrial beings. The myths of Gods and Goddesses are real accounts of these visitations. The extraterrestrials are seen as divine due to their technology which is superior to the point it can only be explained as the “powers” or magic of the God or Goddess by the creators of the deity myths. 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. Theory Overturned In the 1940’s, two French anthropologists found a startling discovery while researching the Dogon tribe of West Africa. They found that the Dogon people had knowledge of a small star which revolves around the other well known star Sirius. This other small star which, impossible to see by the naked-eye, was not known about by western astronomers until 1862. The anthropologists said the Dogon knowledge predated western knowledge of the star by hundreds of years. The anthropologists explained this by extraterrestrial visits to the Dogon tribe. This theory was eventually overturned when further research by other anthropologists found that only the few tribe elders spoken to by the anthropologists knew of the star, which led other researchers to believe that the research by the two French anthropologist was manipulated. Although this theory is thourghly refuted, many people still read Robert K. G. Temple's The Sirius Mystery. Alan F. Alford, author of “Gods of the New Millennium”, (1996) is an adherent of the ancient astronaut theory. Much of his work draws on Sitchin’s theories. However, he does admit to some faults in Sitchin’s theory after deeper analysis. “I am now firmly of the opinion that these gods personified the falling sky; in other words, the descent of the gods was a poetic rendition of the cataclysm myth which stood at the heart of ancient Near Eastern religions.” (Alford) Ancient astronauts in fiction The ancient astronaut theory has been addressed frequently in science fiction and horror fiction. Early occurrences in the genres include:- Notes See also | ||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||
 |
|
| |