Erich von Däniken - Astronaut Gods of the Maya: Extraterrestrial Technologies in the Temples and Sculptures

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PROLOGUE

Letter to My Readers

Dear Reader,
This book is like a journey through time. In text and image, I want to document that among the Maya and Aztec not everything is, by a long shot, what we have been taughtanother way of looking yields a new result.

The chaos had already begun with Christopher Columbus. On October 12, 1492, his son wrote in his diary: We noticed two or three settlements, and the native people called to us and thanked God. Some brought water, others brought something to eat.... They asked us if we came from heaven.

The bewildered and utterly baffled natives did not suspect what actually had occurred. Soon after the first encounter, coffee-brown, stark-naked natives ran from all heavenly directions to the landing site and were part of an incomprehensible ceremony. Columbus, as well as the captains and officers of the accompanying ships Pinta and Nina, wore ostentatious garments: dark-brown and dark-red velvet costumes with white Flemish ruffs; Turkish trousers and wide, silver-studded belts; violet silk stockings; and on top of it all, the coats of the Spanish court cavalry. Columbus himself, as has been documented, wore a wide hat from which gold coins jingled. In one hand he carried his rapier and the royal flag in the other. The escorting officers waved flags. Next, two bearded monks in brown cowls tramped over the planking, with a cross on their shoulders. Finally, another part of the ships crew was added, coarse swashbucklers in multicolored clothes. Then bald-headed men staggered ashore, but the Indians were not familiar with bald people. Some had shoes, others were barefoot, and some of the foul-smelling mates wore brightly colored shirts. Still others, despite the humid heat, wore iron helmets. And naturally they carried their knives, rapiers, and shotgunsverily, they made a scintillating and estimable bunch.

Looking back, its amazing that, confronted with this otherworldly theater troupe, the native inhabitants did not run away as if from the devil.

Columbus and his officers generously gave out gifts: cheap red caps, worthless glass pearls, kitschy small mirrors, and some hair combs. The natives reverently named these trifles turey. That means heaven.

A convincing example of magic, with which Columbus fooled the natives, occurred on December 26, 1492. Columbus demonstrated his godly power: I fired a bombard [heavy piece of artillery] and a shotgun. As the Indians heard the crash and saw the muzzle flash, they threw themselves on the ground. It took a long time until they dared to move again.

Almost thirty years later, in 1519, this inglorious play was repeated in a dramatic fashion. Hernando Cortez turned up off the coast of Mexico with eleven ships, 100 sailors, and 508 soldiers. Cortez wanted to command respect and let a cannonball fly over the heads of the Indians. He noted that the natives fell to the ground as if they were dead, and they lay terrified for a while.

Francisco Pizarro was at first classified as a god by the Incas in South America.).

A little pageantry, a little noise, a little superior technology, and any hillbilly would cower in fear.

Today we would say that the indigenous tribes were overwhelmed. They did not know the technologies of the conquerors. They could not classify the foreign beings, uniforms, and weapons. And so the conquerors grew into gods in the imagination of the natives. We all know these were no gods and they never were. The term gods resulted from a misunderstanding.

All this happened centuries ago, and something like that could not happen again.

Really?

An example familiar from Christianity verifies our distorted view: Everyone certainly knows that Jesus of Nazareth preached in Palestine 2,000 years ago and was finally executed by the Romans. For this, there is the written testimony of the Gospels and letters of the apostles. Christianity spread to many corners of the world; a hundred thousand chapels, churches, and wonderful cathedrals were built. In them one can find altars with grandiose oil paintings, Christian artwork made of gold and silver, statues of the Virgin Mary, and crucifixion scenes. A Christian culture was created with its own music, such as Gregorian chants or the orchestral masses of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Have you ever thought that of all those artists and composers who placed their creativity in the service of religion none were eyewitnesses to the actual events? No architects of any cathedral or church, no masons of stone altars, no crib carver of Oberammergau observed the birth and the life of Jesus with his own eyes. Neither Michelangelo nor Bach was present for the Last Supper, and no artisans of the past 2,000 years heard the Sermon on the Mount live. All of themwithout exceptionbecame tools of tradition.

Jesus himself didnt leave behind a single object that could be admired in any museum in the world. He didnt scribble on a single scrap of parchment, press his godly feet in clay, or leave behind his autograph with the actual date of the Roman calendar.

Suppose, in a thousand years, archaeologists were to dig up the remains of Christian churches. With very precise dating they would say that over a period of at least 2,000 years the same motifs were used again and again. They would consistently find crucifixion scenes, manger birth, angels, and apostles with halos on their venerable heads. Naturally, specialist scholars of the future would find contradictions. A Mother of Christ figure from Bavaria will not look the same as a Mother of Christ figure from Kenya. The cathedral of Chartres in France, with its unparalleled beautiful glass windows and its grandiose architecture, is not comparable with the simple concrete churches of 2010. The artists and architects all meant the same thing, but they expressed it in different ways. And something else: due to the discoveries, archaeologists would arrive at the opinion that Jesus of Nazareth changed the earth approximately 2,000 years ago, because the cultural monuments can be dated back to 2,000 years ago.

Those who are Christians know how all of this came about. Will people know this in 1,000 years? How little people know and how quickly misunderstandings arise can be proven from the Age of Discovery. That is exactly what this book is all about. To see the old images in a new light, I must firstwillingly or reluctantlyexplain for the umpteenth time what ethnologists understand by the term cargo cult. Without this explanation, some readers will not be able to follow my thinking.

Yours,

Erich von Dniken

July, 2011

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Cargo Cults with Consequences

In the spring of 1945 the Americans built a base camp in the area of Hollandia in New Guinea. At times as many as 40,000 soldiers were stationed there. Airplanes landed and took off nonstop in order to bring supplies for the War of the Pacific. The bush residents, mostly Papuans, observed uncomprehendingly the hustle and bustle of the foreigners. They understood neither world politics nor technology. Now, American soldiers handed out small gifts, such as chocolate, chewing gum, old shoes, or an empty bottle. Soon, the natives described all of these gifts with the word cargo, a word they had heard from the foreigners. An increasing number of natives ventured out of the bush and to the edges of the airstrip. There, they observed how large silver birds making loud noises rose into the clouds. Possibly to heaven. The natives wished that these heavenly birds would fly directly to their tribal area and there unload their cargo. What was to be done?