Many believe that extraterrestrials (or ancient astronauts ) visited the earth in the past, and played a role in human affairs. Those who believe in the ancient astronaut hypothesis, believe that aliens visited the earth in the past, built our ancient wonders, gave us advanced technology, and even created the human race itself. The whole idea goes at least as far back as Erich von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods.

Now, there’s even a show on the “History Channel” about it, called “Ancient Aliens.” I’ve seen at least a few episodes, and to my disappointment very rarely was any skepticism shown towards the very outlandish claims, that were made by the phony “experts,” on that show. It’s one of the many reasons to be pessimistic about the future of educational television in America.

To this day many believe that the gods of our ancient myths were really aliens from another world. According to one believer in this idea who goes by the name Hans Grasholm,

Then, Erich Von Daniken opened A WHOLE NEW REALITY, something I could accept, that made sense, and the proof was in the scriptures. The strange thing about it was that as I studied flying saucers, I realized that I had already had three sightings as a child, but did not know what I was looking at then. If God is driving a flying saucer, there has to be a reason why they gave us religion.

Beyond the question of whether or not there is a God, what good reason is there to think that he, she, or it, rides a flying saucer? Also, just because you thought you saw something as a child, doesn’t mean that you did. Saying you saw an alien spacecraft is an extraordinary claim. Are we supposed to believe that, based solely on eye witness testimony? Grasholm continues, without answering any of these questions.

I have studied all religions for the past 30 years, and it has led me to more than one enormous conclusion. Man was not smart enough to write any of the religions, and I mean the Eastern Spiritualism (the-self), Western Religions (God, - which I always have referred to as the “Extraterrestrial”) or American Creationism (Nature itself, including man). One of the oldest religious text “The Egyptian Book of the Dead” (1*) dates back more than 3000 BC. When writing was invented and the scribes and artists first wrote down what the priests had used in their prayers and litanies, they were very perplexed and hardly understood the text. What I am getting at is that all religions were not composed by humans at the time they were created. And even the Bible is very specific in that: 2 Tim. 3:16 “ALL scripture is inspired by God…,” the key word here is ’inspired’, irrespective of who wrote it down. SO WHO INSPIRED THE PROPHETS?

Why couldn’t the “Prophets” have made it all up themselves? If other people inspired them, why couldn’t they have been other humans, rather than aliens from another planet? Human beings are very creative, even when we’re uneducated about how the world actually works. What good reason is there to think that our ancestors couldn’t have made up completely implausible stories to explain how things came to be, prior to the existence of modern science?

Also what do you mean, when you say the ancient Egyptian priests, “were very perplexed and hardly understood the text.” I don’t get the impression from any book I’ve read or documentary I’ve watched on ancient Egypt, that the Egyptian people didn’t “understand” or were “perplexed” by their religion. In addition, if the Egyptians got their knowledge from contact with benevolent and technologically advanced aliens, who wanted to help us, I’m kind of curious, why did they teach them to believe in things like magic?

Oddly enough after rambling a bit, Grasholm contradicts himself,

I have a few mottoes to go by: ’There is a reason for everything in this world”, - “How I phrase the question is very important”, - and, “Don’t ever lie to yourself’. Before I tell you some of my ideas about Aliens, you better understand my concept about them (the Aliens) and remember, I have no proof that my ideas are right. These are not facts, it is not fiction either, it is an OPINION based on all the UFO reports and MY interpretation of all the religions.

But I thought you said, “Man was not smart enough to write any of the religions,” and “What I am getting at is that all religions were not composed by humans at the time they were created.” I was under the impression that you thought you had “proof.”

Civilizations from other worlds have visited our world for thousand of years. They are mentioned in mythology and scriptures from EVERY Continent.

They are all friendly Aliens; if they wanted to take over this world, they would have done so before humans invented weapons.

I suspect there are a multitude of Alien civilizations visiting this Earth based on the variety of space vehicles being reported.

No, I don’t know of any ancient mythologies that include space aliens. The only religions that I know of that include extraterrestrials of any kind are recently created ones like Scientology. No one believed in Lord Xenu before that fraud L. Ron Hubbard created him.

Sorry but there’s no evidence that aliens visited the earth at any time, in the present or in the past. An alien spacecraft didn’t crash land at Roswell, and they weren’t involved in the construction of the pyramids. However, if Grasholm expects us to believe that aliens gave humans, including the ancient Egyptians their religion, it shouldn’t be surprising that ancient astronauts proponents, claim that they did. The ridiculous website “Other Worlds” states the following,

First, look at this diagram:
The pyramid is highlighted in red, and its two diagonals are extended beyond the end of the pyramid to the north-east and north-west. The mass of squiggly lines above the pyramid is the Delta of the Nile River, and, as you can see the two diagonals encase the Nile neatly and entirely. IS THAT A COINCIDENCE???

Yes, I’m sure that the way the Egyptians did this was to have someone walk hundreds of miles to the end of the delta and hold a really, really long piece of string while someone walked all the way back to the site of the pyramid. Then, those two people stood there while two more people repeated the process on the other side of the Pyramid. Just so that they could build a big building in such a way that its diagonals lie on those two lines.
NOW THAT IS LIKELY????

Here is what really happened: A couple of aliens, flying high enough over the earth to be able to see where the Nile Delta’s origin is, easily saw what orientation the pyramid would need to be in order to have its diagonals lie on those two lines.

Is “Other Worlds” a parody website? Unfortunately I don’t think so, but it would be very funny if it were. I doubt that ancient Egyptians walked hundreds of miles with a string in order to make sure the pyramids were aligned. However, given the fact that there’s no evidence Earth has ever been visited by extraterrestrials, even that seems more likely than “Other Worlds” idea of how the pyramids were aligned. If you were expecting compelling arguments from this individual, you’ll be disappointed. All of “Other Worlds” arguments for aliens, and not humans being responsible for the construction of the pyramids are just as laughably bad.

Second piece of evidence:
The big dark shape on the upper left of this diagram is the great pyramid. If you look at the compass rose in the bottom right, you can see that the pyramid is lined up exactly with the magnetic North Pole, a difference of only 16 minutes, or some absurdly small number like that (there are 60 minutes in one degree). COINCIDENCE? How could the Egyptians possibly have built their pyramid facing the exact magnetic North Pole without even having a compass? FYI, a compass was not invented for a few thousand years after the ancient Egyptians were long gone? IS THAT LIKELY????

This is how it really worked: Those aliens, abundant in their knowledge and drowning in technology, came along and using their compasses, they landed on earth and found the actual magnetic north and south poles. THEN THEY BUILT THE PYRAMIDS!

Another example of “we don’t know, therefore aliens.” Never mind that we still have no real evidence of aliens visiting our planet.

Egyptologist Margaret Maitland has a much more scientific explanation as to how the Egyptians made sure that the pyramids were properly aligned. She did an excellent Job debunking “Other Worlds” website’s ridiculous claims,

What about the pyramids’ extraordinarily accurate alignment?

Precision, according to one website, is only possible if you come from another planet: ‘The pyramids are so accurately aligned with the points of the compass that only aliens could have achieved this all those thousands of years ago.’ It wasn’t visitors from space, but rather the observation of it that allowed for the Egyptians’great accuracy in orienting the sides of theEdwards pyramids. Amazing precision could be achieved just by watching the stars. There was actually a whole institution within temples with priests devoted to star gazing. The theory suggested by I.E.S. Edwards is that using a horizontal circular wall, a person standing within could mark a star’s rising and setting points on the top of the wall, with North identifiable as the bisection of these. A more recent theory advocated by Kate Spence suggests that the architects of the Great Pyramid sighted on two stars (b-Ursae Minoris and z-Ursae Majoris), rotating around the North Pole, which would have been in alignment when Khufu’s pyramid was constructed. Supporting this theory is the fact that inaccuracies in the orientations of earlier and later pyramids can be closely correlated with the degree to which the alignment of these two stars deviates from true north.
The perfect right angles of the pyramid were likely achieved using either a set square, of which ancient specimens are preserved, or using a ‘Pythagorean’ triangle, which was known to the Egyptians before the Greeks. They also used specialized surveying tools called the merkhet (basically a plumb bob) and the bay, a sighting tool made from the central rib of a palm leaf. Examples of such precision tools have actually been excavated are square levels with plumb bobs, set squares, and vertical plumb rods, and there are depictions of them being used by the Egyptians. After each of the four corners of the building had been plotted, the Egyptians would align the straight sides by stretching a rope between each of the corners in a ceremony called ‘stretching the cord’. This method was in use for decades before the first pyramid was ever built, and was first depicted in the reign of the Second Dynasty king, Khasekhemwy.

We actually have a pretty good understanding, thanks to legitimate archaeologists and historians how the pyramids were built. Their construction had nothing to do with creatures from another planet. The ancient Egyptians themselves built them. Here’s a plausible explanation as to how the stones for the pyramids were moved from Discovery News.

Physicists at the University of Amsterdam investigated the forces needed to pull weighty objects on a giant sled over desert sand, and discovered that dampening the sand in front of the primitive device reduces friction on the sled, making it easier to operate. The findings help answer one of the most enduring historical mysteries: how the Egyptians were able to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of constructing the famous pyramids.

To make their discovery, the researchers picked up on clues from the ancient Egyptians themselves. A wall painting discovered in the ancient tomb of Djehutihotep, which dates back to about 1900 B.C., depicts 172 men hauling an immense statue using ropes attached to a sledge. In the drawing, a person can be seen standing on the front of the sledge, pouring water over the sand, said study lead author Daniel Bonn, a physics professor at the University of Amsterdam.

“Egyptologists thought it was a purely ceremonial act,” Bonn told Live Science. “The question was: Why did they do it?”

Bonn and his colleagues constructed miniature sleds and experimented with pulling heavy objects through trays of sand.

When the researchers dragged the sleds over dry sand, they noticed clumps would build up in front of the contraptions, requiring more force to pull them across.

Adding water to the sand, however, increased its stiffness, and the sleds were able to glide more easily across the surface. This is because droplets of water create bridges between the grains of sand, which helps them stick together, the scientists said. It is also the same reason why using wet sand to build a sandcastle is easier than using dry sand, Bonn said.

No mention of imaginary little green men or spaceships, because they didn’t find any evidence of either. If you want to do science, including archaeology, the way its supposed to be done, you have to find evidence to back up your hypothesis. You can’t just say we don’t understand how these people could have done something, and therefore creatures from another planet must have done it.

An even more extraordinary claim made by some people is that aliens interbred with our ancestors. Some even claim that they are still doing so today. A while back “ArchyFantasies” posted an excellent debunking of that claim on her youtube channel, where she mocked and ridiculed it for the joke that it is.

Youtube Video

The belief that “The Star Child,” was an alien human hybrid is nothing more than a fantasy. Nothing about “The Star Child” skull, indicated that anything about it, was not of this world, even if it looked a bit weird. It’s highly unlikely that extraterrestrials would be able to interbreed with humans and produce offspring. Even if they would want to mate with humans and they had the right “plumbing” so to speak, an alien being that evolved completely separately from life on Earth, would be too genetically distinct from humans, for the couple to produce even nonviable offspring. Humans cannot interbred with our closest relatives the Chimpanzees, in spite of one claim to the contrary. We know of no instance in the history of life on Earth where two species of animals that could not interbreed living in close proximity to each other somehow evolved the ability to mate with each other and produce viable offspring. Once two groups of animals with a common ancestor become genetically distinct enough that they cannot interbreed, they never interbreed again. What reason do we have to think that creatures that probably don’t even use DNA as their genetic code, would have evolved a mechanism to interbreed with our species?

If we change the claim that they interbred with us to instead hypothesize that they genetically engineered humans, why? Someone writing for the pseudoscience blog Arcturi, says just that.

What really intrigues Ancient Aliens theorists and why they believe the
Anunnaki were not mythological beings was the sudden emergence of the
Sumerian culture with all its technological advancements such as taxes,
irrigation, agriculture, civil code, priesthood, public building and factories! All
this, which is tied back to the following of their gods and the Anunnaki. This
leaves Ancient Aliens theorists to ponder whether the Anunnaki are a form of
Ancient Alien travelers that manipulated and genetically altered the living
forms which existed on Earth into a “slave race” to do their bidding.

Essentially, the Anunnaki, are a race of extra-terrestrial “android beings” who had the capacity and technology to genetically alter life on Earth and create humans who would serve as a slave race for the purpose of mining gold to save the Anunnaki’s planet Nibiru.

If the extraterrestrials wanted slaves, why make them intelligent creatures that would desire their freedom? Why create a race of beings that could rebel against them? That doesn’t make any sense. Why not make unthinking robots instead? If they’re so advanced, why couldn’t they just build machines and program them to do their bidding instead? Even if you can come up with plausible motive for aliens to want to create us, there’s no evidence that they did. There’s also no good reason to think the Anunnaki, were anything other than myth, and in those myths they don’t really qualify as extraterrestrials. They operate through magic and miracles, not science and technology. They’re a pantheon of gods and goddesses whom the people of Sumeria worshiped. They’re similar in many ways to the ones from other polytheistic religions that dominated the world at the time.

In fact if aliens were involved in the creation of our religions, construction of the pyramids and engineering human beings, where are they now? Where are all the spaceships, where are all the alien bodies? The claims that the “Star Child” was some kind of alien human hybrid have been debunked, and it wasn’t an alien at all. The alien remains should be easy to make out, assuming there are any on Earth. Its preposterous that aliens would look exactly like humans. Even if through an extreme degree of convergent evolution they ended up looking somewhat humanoid, its unlikely they would be able to easily pass for human. They would likely still have a skeletal structure at least somewhat different from ours. Even if a sapient, spaceship building, alien life form evolved from a creature similar to Tiktaalik, it’s unlikely they would have ended up looking exactly like us. There is in fact, a good reason to think they would not be human like in appearance at all. Why aren’t archaeologists digging up all these strange, unearthly creatures when they excavate the ruins of ancient civilizations, not just in Egypt or Sumeria, but anywhere?

We’re not finding anything that appears to be alien technology either. There’s nothing in the archaeological record that couldn’t have originated on Earth. The people who believe this idea, are at least correct about one thing. A space faring alien civilization could easily build something like the pyramids, or any other structure that science says was built by humans in the distant past. However, maybe it would be a little too easy for them. I would argue that the people of Earth are presently building structures far more advanced than the pyramids of Egypt. Today we could build the pyramids much faster than the ancient Egyptians could, using modern technology, that they probably couldn’t even dream of. However, we have yet to master interstellar travel. We humans on the other hand have barely left our home world. We still do not have colonies on other planets. We’re still a single planet species. An alien civilization that had developed the technology to travel between the stars would be far more technologically advanced than we are now. If the aliens were here and were partly responsible for the wonders of the ancient world, and than disappeared, why aren’t we as a species living on other planets by now? If the knowledge of how to build and use their technology was lost, why don’t we see any compelling examples of an ancient world more technologically advanced than the world today?

Back in the early half of the twentieth century, an interesting discovery was made in Iraq, that become known as “The Baghdad Battery” recently The BBC wrote a story on it

It was in 1938, while working in Khujut Rabu, just outside Baghdad in modern day Iraq, that German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig unearthed a five-inch-long (13 cm) clay jar containing a copper cylinder that encased an iron rod.

The vessel showed signs of corrosion, and early tests revealed that an acidic agent, such as vinegar or wine had been present.

In the early 1900s, many European archaeologists were excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, looking for evidence of Biblical tales like the Tree of Knowledge and Noah’s flood.

Konig did not waste his time finding alternative explanations for his discovery. To him, it had to have been a battery.

Though this was hard to explain, and did not sit comfortably with the religious ideology of the time, he published his conclusions. But soon the world was at war, and his discovery was forgotten

The so called Baghdad battery, if it was a battery at all, still wouldn’t be as advanced as the batteries we create nowadays. Electroplating objects is something that we can easily do today. Why didn’t archaeologists find anything like say a wormhole generating device, like they did in the Stargate Movie, and subsequent television series? The most advanced technology in ancient history is less advanced than ours, and far less advanced by far than what I would expect an advanced space faring alien civilization to possess.

Don’t get me wrong, we may find evidence of alien life some day, even an extraterrestrial civilization. I hope that we eventually find compelling evidence that we’re not alone. I would even like to meet the aliens face to face, assuming they would be friendly. We could certainly benefit from making contact with a peaceful technologically advance alien civilization. However, as I write this, we haven’t found any evidence of life beyond Earth at all, especially anything that would make us think that any alien life form ever even visited our planet. Right now, there’s no good reason to think that aliens were involved in the history of our species, in any way shape or form.

In addition to being ridiculous, at times the claims made by proponents of the ancient astronauts idea are offensive as well. Remember their ideas about the ancient Egyptians not being able to build the pyramids that we discussed earlier? Saying that they couldn’t have built them, in spite of the overwhelming evidence that they did, is kind of insulting. By claiming that aliens built the pyramids, they are insulting the people who actually built them. They are basically saying the architects were incapable of designing them, and workers who worked so hard to build them had nothing to do with their construction. In addition they are denying modern day people of Egyptian ancestry their heritage.

Today the African nation of Zimbabwee is named after the ruins known as Great Zimbabwe. For a long time however, Europeans, including archaeologists, simply refused to believe that the locals could have built it. As Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews at Bad Archaeology points out,

Randall-MacIver’s discoveries did nothing to silence the proponents of external origins. As well as the Semitic origins that had long been popular, origins in southern India (Dravidian traders blown on the monsoon winds) or Malaya (the origin of the population of Madagascar) were also proposed. The Semitic origin theory had been boosted by Henry Rider Haggard’s (1856-1925) adventure novel King Solomon’s Mines, published in 1895, and this remained the most popular explanation for the ruins, despite the impossibility of the dating.

In 1930, the German ethnologist Leo Viktor Frobenius (1873-1938) announced in a Cape Town newspaper that he had identified the “source of the civilisation which created Zimbabwe and many hundreds of ruins scattered over Rhodesia, Portuguese East Africa and parts of Bechuanaland”. He placed its foundation between 4000 and 1000 BCE, much earlier than indicated by the archaeologists’ discoveries, and believed the builders to have been Sumerians from near the Caspian Sea. Frobenius also claimed that Atlantis was located in southern Africa…

It is obvious that the interpretation of site in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was coloured by racial prejudice on the part of white European explorers and, later, settlers. Convinced that so complex a monument could not be of indigenous African origin, explorers, antiquaries and archaeologists ignored, misinterpreted and wilfully destroyed evidence. The excavations carried out on the site for more than a century have shown beyond any doubt whatsoever that Great Zimbabwe is an entirely indigenous monument.

Now the people who believe in this ancient alien notion, including Erich von Daniken himself, may not be motivated by racism. However they are still denying actual history and the accomplishments of ancient civilizations, thus distorting everyone’s understanding of the world.

Imagine that one day, four or five thousand years from now, future archaeologists dig up the remains of a city in the country where you live. Now imagine that some people in that future said that the people of your era were too ignorant or too primitive at the time to achieve any of the magnificent accomplishments that you admire. Imagine them saying that all of their technological achievements were only possible because someone else created them. Imagine them saying that in spite of the archaeologists finding overwhelming evidence to the contrary.