Adherents of the Ancient Astronaut thesis believe that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity and made contact with humans in certain points of our history. This encounter – they emphasize – can be evidenced from aspects such as religion, ancient culture, and technologies. A derivative of this thesis is that many, if not all, of the humans in existence today are products of the original extra-terrestrials who populated the earth in a pre-historic period. We were either created by them or born from them, possibly in a process that was described by Thomas Gold, a professor of astronomy as a "garbage theory" where humans spawned form extra-terrestrial waste. A sub-theory states that much of our human knowledge, religion, and culture may have originated from these extra-terrestrials who built (or supported human in building) many of the marvels on Earth such as the pyramids in Egypt or the Moai stone heads of Easter Island (Lieb, 1998). Adherents of this view have amassed an arsenal of reasons to support their point, but few academicians if any accept them. Scientific research has not found any conclusive evidence and all assertions of ancient astronauts remain unsupported.
Ancient Astronauts
Adherents of the Ancient Astronaut thesis believe that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity and made contact with humans in certain points of our history. This encounter -- they emphasize -- can be evidenced from aspects such as religion, ancient culture, and technologies. A derivative of this thesis is that many, if not all, of the humans in existence today are products of the original extra-terrestrials who populated the earth in a pre-historic period. We were either created by them or born from them, possibly in a process that was described by Thomas Gold, a professor of astronomy as a "garbage theory" where humans spawned form extra-terrestrial waste.
A sub-theory states that much of our human knowledge, religion, and culture may have originated from these extra-terrestrials who built (or supported human in building) many of the marvels on Earth such as the pyramids in Egypt or the Moai stone heads of Easter Island (Lieb, 1998). Adherents of this view have amassed an arsenal of reasons to support their point, but few academicians if any accept them. Scientific research has not found any conclusive evidence and all assertions of ancient astronauts remain unsupported.
Argument for Ancient Astronauts
Advocates for ancient astronauts categorize their arguments into three factors:
1. Religion:
Several of the world's religious texts have passages that may indicate allusion to extra-terrestrials. The Ramayana, for instance, has gods and avatars who travel from place to place in flying vehicles, whilst the Book of Genesis, (chapter 6 verses 1 -- 4) mentions "sons of God [who] went to the daughters of humans and had children by them" - the word 'Nephilim too is obscure and is explained by the apocryphal Book of Enoch to refer to a group of 200 "angels" who, ancient astronaut theorists believes, were extra-terrestrials.
The Book of Ezekiel too has a description of winged creatures flying in the Chariot of God who looked like humans. Some of the ancient astronaut theorists believe that Ezekiel had seen spaceships. They also believe that these extraterrestrials had helped the Hebrews carve the Ark of the Covenant and possibly help create some of the miraculous events of the Bible. In fact, a Presbyterian minister claimed that Jesus was an extraterrestrial, citing (John 8: 23) and other biblical verses as evidence.(Colavito, 2005).
2. Culture
Theorists have said that certain cave paintings such as those seen in Wondjina in Australia and Val Camonica in Italy resemble extra-terrestrials. Representation too of flying saucers have said to be existent in medieval and renaissance art (Sprezzatura.it. 2002-11-23) .
The ancient Nazca Lines in Peru are ground drawings that illustrate animals and humanoid figures and can be seen from great heights. This latter fact causes some theorists to remark that they were likely transmitted from instructions by ancient astronauts who abetted the Peruvians in drawing them and that the longer and wider lines on the ground may have been runaways for the spacecraft (Onagocag.com. 1982-08-07.). Similarly, theorists have drawn on the discovery of artifacts in Egypt (the Saqqara Bird) and Colombia-Ecuad which they say resemble gliders and aircraft.
3. Technology
Extra-terrestrial theorists argue that it is impossible that amazing architectural executions such as the pyramids, Machu Picchu in Peru, Baalbek in Lebanon, the Moai of Easter Island or Stonehenge of England could have occurred without intervention of extra-terrestrial beings (Penczak, 2007). People of the time lacked the technological tools to build them, gaps remain regarding how they were accomplished, and it would be challenging for us still today to imitate them.
Criticism of ancient astronaut theory
Critics of the ancient astronaut thesis used some of the following arguments to demolish the claims:
1. Religious
The claims of extra-terrestrials are totally unfounded and many are complete reinterpretations of (for instance) the Bible. proponents such as Von Daniken and Barry Downing, for example, believe that the concept of hell in the Bible was a description of Venus transmitted by extraterrestrials who showed photos of the hot surface on Venus to humans (Penczak, 2007). These, and many more claims, cannot even be called pseudo-science. They are fictitious and stuff of science-fiction.
2. Cultural
These arguments too have been proven to be unfounded with most being discredited and the others simply lacking basis. professor Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky,, for instance, showed that the Nazca lines could easily have been created by nay human on ground from stake and string, whilst archeologists have concluded the artifacts in Egypt (the Saqqara Bird) and Colombia-Ecuador to be stylized renditions of insects and birds
3. Technology
Archeologists have simulated the building of the pyramids (and other sites) and showed that megaliths up to at least 40 tons could be moved by humans unaided. With a larger workforce, ancient technology could certainly have moved megaliths larger than this (History Channel "Mega Movers: Ancient Mystery Moves").
The assertion of the supporters of ancient astronauts are not unique. The Greeks in the Darkly Ages too believed that the mythical giant Cyclopes built the Mycenaean cities
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