History Channel - 21 July

THE YOUNG INVESTIGATORS GUIDE TO

ANCIENT

ALIENS

BASED ON THE HIT TELEVISION SERIES

ROARING BROOK PRESS
NEW YORK

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On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 space mission reached its destination, and the astronauts who had traveled 238,900 miles from Earth stepped onto the surface of the moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong proclaimed the moon landing a giant leap for mankind, and it certainly was. It was the first time in history that beings left their home planet and traveled through space to stand on another world.

Or was it?

Were we really the first creatures in the universe capable of traveling to a distant celestial bodyin 1969? The universe is extraordinarily old. Scientists believe it was formed between 13 and 20 billion years ago by an enormous burst of energy known as the Big Bang. Astronomers know there are billions, maybe even trillions, of stars and planets out there. In 2013, an analysis of data from NASAs Kepler space telescope determined that there could be 40 billion habitable, Earth-size planets in our own galaxy. Habitable means they might contain or have the right mix of chemical and environmental elements to contain life. Some of that life could merely be microscopic organisms. Some might be more advanced than we are.

Millions of people around the world believe we have been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings. What if it were true? Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history?

The television show Ancient Aliens has spent years examining the possibility that aliens did in fact visit Earth in distant times, and they left clues. All around the globe are incredible ancient structureslike the Pyramids in Egypt, Puma Punku in Bolivia, Stonehenge in Englandapparently constructed to align with objects in space, yet their construction remains a mystery. Its unknown how ancient people with primitive tools could precisely engineer, cut, and move stones weighing literally hundreds of tons. Ancient Astronaut theorists study the possibility of human interaction with extraterrestrials over the course of thousands of years. They look at evidence including artifacts, ancient texts, ruins, and other structures to hypothesize about the role of aliens in specific moments in history. A major text in the field of Ancient Astronaut theory is a book called Chariots of the Gods, by Erich von Dniken, published in 1968. In this book, von Dniken outlines many hypotheses about the possible historical connections between humans and extraterrestrials. Ancient Astronaut theorists have expanded on von Dnikens work as they research specific time periods in world history.

Primitive cultures from around the world have left illustrations and sculptures that seem to depict otherworldly beings, some of whom appear to be wearing spacesuits and helmets. And many ancient cultures have left us stories of beings who came down from the sky. Among these stories there are tales of visits from star people and sky people, who were credited with creating the universe or starting mankind. The ancient cultures often worshipped them as gods.

The Great Pyramids of Giza

El Castillo at Chichen Itza

One basic principle of Ancient Astronaut theory is that primitive cultures exposed to technology vastly more advanced than their own might misinterpret the technology as magic. And they might think of the beings who control the magic as wizardsor even gods. Science and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously wrote: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Imagine showing something like an iPhone, or a television set, or a rifle to a Stone Age tribe. What would they think about you and your mysterious power? Cases exist from not so long ago, when remote people on islands in the South Pacific were exposed to modern technology and weapons during World War II. Some of them even believed their visitors to be worthy of worship.

The tombstone of King Pakal from the Temple of the Inscriptions. Many believe the images engraved on the top depict ancient extraterrestrial activity.

Ancient texts from cultures all over the world contain references to beings who came from the sky. The Mayans of Central America, who had extremely advanced astronomical knowledge for their time, have texts known as the Chilam Balam which say that the road to the stars descended from the sky, and the 13 and 9 gods came to Earth.

Can it be more clear? asks Ancient Astronaut expert Giorgio Tsoukalos, whose face (and gravity-defying hairstyle) is familiar to anyone who has watched the Ancient Aliens television show. Right there we have a direct reference to someone that has arrived from outer space, and we have a written record about this.

Even the Bible, in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, describes a fiery vessel carrying beings who arrive from above: Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures.

Another basic idea of Ancient Aliens theory is that when early cultures developed the ability to writeto record their knowledge for eternitythe first things they took the effort to chisel into stone werent made-up fantasy stories. They wrote down information they believed to be true, information they felt that others needed to know, based on events they had witnessed or learned about. Is it really possible that every ancient story of beings or gods coming from the sky was purely imagined?

Some ask why, if aliens ever did visit Earth, arent we seeing them now. In fact, scientists refer to something called the Fermi Paradox. In 1950, the physicist Enrico Fermi asked, if extraterrestrial civilizations supposedly exist throughout our galaxy, why havent we seen any traces of them in modern times?

One answer to that question is that Earth has been around for about 4.6 billion years, and modern human beings have existed for an estimated 200,000 years, yet we have been keeping modern records of what has occurred on our planet for only about 5,000 years. Concluding that there have never been any aliens, just because we havent seen them recently, would be like watching one or two pitches of a baseball game and deciding theres no such thing as a home run because nobody hit one while you were watching.