The X-Files History - Black Oil...Ancient Astronauts! [II]

[Dennis Wittig]

ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS = GODs

"They're here, aren't they?!"-MULDER

"Mr. Mulder, they've been here for a long long time!"--DEEP THROAT

ERICH VON DAENIKEN, starting with his popular CHARIOTS OF THE GODS, sold
over forty million books presenting his theories that the EARTH WAS
VISITED BY EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS some 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. While
*they* were here, he suggests, they built THE GREAT PYRAMIDS IN EGYPT,
laid down air fields that can still be seen today in PERU, and interbred
with early humans to produce HOMO SAPIENS. As evidence VON DANIKEN
points to the countless legends seen in cultures around the world that
tell of WINGED GODS OR FLYING MACHINES. These were inspired, not by
flights of fancy in the teller's mind, but by actual visits down through
the ages of aliens with their advanced technology. For more tangible
proof VON DANIKEN points to archaeological oddities found around the
world. He suggests that Egyptians could NOT have built the Great Pyramid
of Cheops without access to advanced technology and it is no coincidence
that it's height, when multiplied by 1,000 million, is the distance from
the Earth to the Sun. He also claims the famous mysterious lines in
PERU'S NAZCA PLAIN are an alien airfield and that their unerring
straight path for miles, even over mountains, could only be achieved if
their building was directed from the air.

As intriguing as "his" idea of ancient astronauts might be, VON
DANIKEN's "evidence" is less then convincing when examined closely. The
Great Pyramid's height is *not* a 1,000 millionth the distance to the
sun anyway. Archaeologists have found evidence that simple techniques
like barges and earth ramps were used to build the monuments of ancient
Egypt [however, that still doesn't mean that there weren't aliens
involved]. Straight lines, like those found at Nazca, can be made by
simply planting two sticks in the earth, using them to line up a third,
and then repeating the pattern for any distance needed...

As for his theories that the [ancient] astronauts "mated" with human
beings, it seems unlikely that visitors from space would be so
biologically close to humans that they could interbreed. Also DNA
evidence seems to suggest all human beings alive today can trace their
ancestry back to a very small group of pre-humans living in Africa some
100 thousand years ago [it is fair to note this information was not
available when VON DANIKEN wrote his books]. If this is true any genes
introduced by visiting aliens have not survived to modern man.

Of course these discrepancies don't prove that Earth wasn't visited by
ancient astronauts, but it is unlikely such an astounding claim will be
accepted without some equally astounding proof [Like a 23rd century
watch found on the wrist of a recently unearthed mummy]. Except that
hard evidence that extraterrestrial forces were present at mankind's
creation turn up soon!

Strangely enough some scientists have speculated that we may indeed had
ancient extraterrestrial visitors, but they didn't wear shiny suits or
arrive in flying saucers.

Discovery of a meteorite from Mars that contains what looks like fossil
microbes have led some experts to suggest that if Mars did have life
some of it may have traveled here via a rock blasted out of that planet
when the planet was struck by a large asteroid. While objects found in
this Mars rock are definitely dead, there is speculation there maybe
other microbes that could have survived the journey [um... did I just
say BLACK OIL?!!]. If so, they [could] have influenced life on Earth.

The term "ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS" designates the speculative notion that
aliens are responsible for the most ancient civilizations on earth. The
most notorious proponent of this idea is ERICH VON DANIKEN, author of
several popular books on the subject. His Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved
Mysteries of the Past, for example, is a sweeping attack on the memories
and abilities of ancient peoples. VON DANIKEN claims that the myths,
arts, social organizations, etc., of ancient cultures were introduced by
astronauts from another world. He questions not just the capacity for
memory, but the capacity for culture and civilization itself, in ancient
peoples. Prehistoric humans did not develop their own arts and
technologies, but rather were taught art and science by visitors from
outer space...

Where is the proof for VON DANIKEN's claims? Some of it was fraudulent.
For example, he produced photographs of pottery that he claimed had been
found in an archaeological dig. The pottery depicts flying saucers and
was said to have been dated from Biblical times. However, investigators
from Nova [the 'fine' public-television science program] found the
potter who had made the allegedly ancient pots. They confronted von
DANIKEN with evidence of his fraud. His reply was that his deception was
justified because some people would only believe if they saw proof ["The
Case of the Ancient Astronauts," first aired 3/8/78, done in conjunction
with BBC's Horizon and Peter Spry-Leverton].

However, most of VON DANIKEN's evidence is in the form of specious and
fallacious arguments. His data consists mainly of archaeological sites
and ancient myths. He begins with the ancient astronaut assumption and
then forces all data to fit the idea. For example, in Nazca, Peru, he
explains giant animal drawings in the desert as an ancient alien
airport. The fact that the lines of the drawing would be useless as a
runway for any real aircraft because of their narrowness is conveniently
ignored by VON DANIKEN. The likelihood that these drawing related to the
natives' science or mythology is not considered. He also frequently
reverts to false dilemma reasoning of the following type: "Either this
data is to be explained by assuming these primitive idiots did this
themselves or we must accept the more plausible notion that they got
help from extremely advanced peoples who must have come from other
planets where such technologies as anti-gravity devices had been
invented." His devotion to this theory has not dwindled, despite
contrary evidence, as is evidenced by still another book on the subject,
Arrival of the Gods : Revealing the Alien Landing Sites at Nazca [1998].

There have been many critics of ERICH VON DANIKEN's notions, but Ronald
Story stands out as the most thorough. Most critics of VON DANIKEN's
theory point out that prehistoric peoples were not the helpless,
incompetent, forgetful savages he makes them out to be. [They must have
at least been intelligent enough to understand the language and
teachings of their celestial instructors--no small feat!] It is true
that we still do not know how the ancients accomplished some of their
more astounding physical and technological feats. We still wonder how
the ancient Egyptians raised giant obelisks in the desert and how stone
age men and women moved huge cut stones and placed them in position in
dolmens and passage graves. We are amazed by the giant carved heads on
Easter Island and wonder why they were done, who did them, and why they
abandoned the place. We may someday have the answers to our questions,
but they are most likely to come from scientific investigation not
pseudoscientific speculation. For example, observing contemporary stone
age peoples in PAPUA NEW GUINEA, where huge stones are still found on
top of tombs, has taught us how the ancients may have accomplished the
same thing with little more than ropes of organic material, wooden
levers and shovels, a little ingenuity and a good deal of human
strength.

We have no reason to believe our ancient ancestors' memories were so
much worse than our own that they could not remember these alien
visitations well enough to preserve an accurate account of them. There
is little evidence to support the notion that ancient myths and
religious stories are the distorted and imperfect recollection of
Ancient Astronauts recorded by ancient priests. The evidence to the
contrary--that prehistoric or *primitive* peoples were [and are] quite
intelligent and resourceful--is overwhelming.

Of course, it is possible that visitors from outer space did land on
earth a few thousand years ago and communicate with our ancestors. But
it seems more likely that prehistoric peoples themselves were
responsible for their own art, technology and culture. Why concoct such
an explanation as Von DANIKEN's? To do so may increase the mystery and
romance of one's theory, but it also makes it less reasonable,
especially when one's theory seems inconsistent with what we already
know about the world. The Ancient Astronaut hypothesis is unnecessary.
Occam's razor should be applied and the hypothesis rejected.

ERICH VON DANIKEN isn't the only one suggesting that the Earth had
ANCIENT VISITORS. ROBERT TEMPLE wrote a book called THE SIRIUS MYSTERY
about an African tribe called the DOGON and their beliefs about
[ANCIENT] ASTRONAUTS named the Nommos [TomBli mentioned it already in
May 1998]!

ZECHARIA SITCHIN & THE EARTH CHRONICLES - DR. SCULLY'S POV

"...he's just another nut making a living selling books that treat folks
to a tale they want to believe in." Rob Hafernik [no comment]

SITCHIN, along with ERICH VAN DANIKEN and IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY, comprise
the holy trinity of pseudoscientific mythmakers regarding ancient
history. Each begins with the assumption that ancient myths are not
myths but historical and scientific texts. SITCHIN's claim to fame is
announcing that he alone correctly reads ANCIENT SUMERIAN CLAY TABLETS.
All other scholars have misread these tablets which, according to
SITCHIN, reveal that GODS FROM ANOTHER PLANET [NIBIRU, which orbits our
Sun every 3,600 years, a.k.a. PLANET X] arrived on Earth some 450,000
years ago and created humans by some genetic engineering with female
apes.

No other scientist has discovered that these descendents of gods blew
themselves up with nuclear weapons some 4,000 years ago. SITCHIN stands
alone, on nobody's shoulders, as a scholar nonpareil. He alone can look
at a Sumerian tablet and see that it depicts a man being subjected to
radiation. He alone knows how to correctly translate ancient terms
allowing him to discover such things as that the ancients made
rockets.........

SITCHIN, like VELIKOVSKY, presents himself as erudite and scholarly.
Both are VERY knowledgeable of ancient myths and both are nearly
scientifically illiterate. Some say that ZAK SITCHIN [like VON DANIKEN &
VELIKOVSKI] weaves a compelling and entertaining story out of facts,
misrepresentations, fictions, speculations, misquotes and
mistranslations [believe it or not]. Each begins with their beliefs
about ancient visitors from other worlds and then proceeds to fit facts
and fictions to their basic hypotheses. Each is a master at ignoring
inconvenient facts, making mysteries where there were none before and
offering their alien hypotheses to solve the mysteries. Their works read
like bad-science fiction rather than good science. Nonetheless, they are
very attractive to those who love a good mystery and are ignorant of or
indifferent to the nature and limitations of scientific research.

SITCHIN's ideas have been appropriated by RAEL, another *wise* man, who
has started his own religion [Raëilian Religion] around the idea that we
humans are the result of a DNA experiment by ancient visitors from outer
space. Rael has even written a channeled book, dictated to him by
extraterrestrials. It is called The Final Message. We can only hope it
is. [LOL!!]

IS THE TRUTH OUT THERE?

Never mind the problematic nature of interstellar space travel. Never
mind the solid archaeological evidence for human construction of
pyramids, mounds and ancient rock paintings. Never mind that humans
themselves are really quite capable of magnificent feats without
intervention from the stars. Never mind Occam's Razor. When ERICH VON
DANIKEN published "Chariots of the Gods?" in 1970, he unleashed a flood
of the most humorous, unscientific, and outrageous speculation in the
realm of cult archaeology. The problem is, many believed him, in spite
of all the evidence to the contrary [as SCULLY'd say:]. A quarter
century later, the Ancient Astronauts *game* is still alive...

Archaeology is one of the great scientific triumphs of the twentieth
century. In 1900, a handful of archaeologists pursued early
civilizations in Central America and the eastern Mediterranean. Today,
there are more than 10,000 archaeologists around the world, experts in
everything from early hominids to factories of the Industrial
Revolution. As specialists, we write the past in small snapshots and
usually work far from the public eye, for the days of extravagant
theories and grandiose adventures of yesteryear are long gone except in
Hollywood movies. Unfortunately, there are those who still want their
archaeology simple, dramatic, and nothing less than space fiction, which
is why Ancient Astronauts have become big business.

Back in the 1970s, Swiss author ERICH VON DANIKEN cashed in on the
popular obsession with space exploration and life on other planets with
a series of books and films that made him a multimillionaire. His
best-selling Chariots of the Gods, published in 1976, argued that
spacecraft landed long before modern humanity peopled the earth. The
Ancient Visitors carried out breeding experiments and produced a
"creature intelligent enough to have the rules of society imparted to
it." These new beings invented agriculture and became the first artists,
then created their own warlike civilizations. SODOM AND GOMORRAH were
destroyed by an atomic bomb [yeah]! The Ark of the Covenant was an
electrified transmitter that allowed Moses to communicate with the
astronauts! VON DANIKEN even claimed that Ancient Astronauts complete
with space helmets were carved on stelae at the Mayan city of Copan!
Fortunately, the astronaut craze quietly died in the 1980s. But it was
highly profitable. VON DANIKEN has sold an alleged 56 million copies of
his books, which he promotes tirelessly in popular lectures.

Why does anyone take VON DANIKEN seriously, or the compellingly narrated
fables concocted by much more sophisticated theorists like British
writer GRAHAM HANCOCK, who claims that a great civilization flourished
under the Antarctic ice 12,000 years ago? How convenient that one cannot
dig down to find it! Is it a yearning for escapist adventure or a desire
for simple explanations of a complex past? The von Danikens and Hancocks
weave superficially complex hypotheses, stitched together from a
mishmash of "scientific" evidence that appeals to those who like exotic
explanations of the past and are impatient with the slow ways of
science. Publishers love such stories, because they sell books. Both
Chariots of the Gods and Hancock's works have hovered on the fringes of
bestseller lists.

In Chariots, DANIKEN claimed that Peru's celebrated Nazca lines
reflected visits by astronauts from other worlds thousands of years ago.
The archaeologists have proven otherwise. About a thousand years ago,
the ancient Nazca of southern coastal Peru created a web of intricate
lines on the desert pampa by sweeping away the topsoil to form
rectangles, spirals, triangles, and straight lines. Many of the lines
make little sense on the ground, but from aloft they coalesce into
birds, monkeys, and other animals, even plants. Similar "geoglyphs"
occur in many parts of the Andes, depicting humans, llamas, and
sometimes mythical beings. Aerial photographs and satellite imagery have
now revealed not only more figures at Nazca but more than 800 miles of
straight lines, some of them as much as 12 miles long. Some radiate from
hills interconnected by more linear marks, which may have served as
paths that led to better watered areas. The precise meaning of the Nazca
lines will probably always elude us, but there is no question they are
linked to ancient Andean religious beliefs that forged close ties
between the living and spiritual worlds. Perhaps, for example, the
famous Owl Man figure on the pampa at Nazca depicts a shaman passing
between the living and spiritual realms as he turns from human into
animal.

Just when they hoped his astronauts had gone away, VON DANIKEN has
returned to Nazca with a refined theory. In his new fantasy, ARRIVAL OF
THE GODS, he feels entangled in a "strange spirit road of
hallucinations" as he contemplates the lines. He abruptly trashes all
the scientists who have studied Nazca, their efforts to use radiocarbon
tests to date the figures, and their careful ceramic analyses and
thoughtful dissections of Native American religious beliefs. Then he
complains that he cannot get permission to carry out his own field
research on the lines, because his results would not subscribe to
prevailing opinions! Undeterred, VON DANIKEN has pored over aerial
photographs, for he believes that the figures could only be understood
by someone who could fly over them. His research cut a broad swath
across Nazca. He even reports unverified discoveries of vaults of human
skeletons over 100,000 years old found by a conveniently deceased
prelate with an interest in archaeology, burials with "facial forms
almost unknown on earth" [now, of course, lost to science]. Meanwhile,
we are told, the archaeologists "carry on snoozing in their blissful
dream world, in their psychological, shaman-jungle of misconceptions."
VON DANIKEN identifies"antenna-beings", "flying gods" with
space-helmet-like hats drawn on mountain sides, visitors from elsewhere.
He calls patterns of points and lines in the desert a millennia-old
Visual Approach Side Indicator System used for landing ancient flying
machines. Next we find ourselves in Sanskrit literature, which describes
"three towns in the heavens." From them, aircraft called vimanas landed
on earth. VON DANIKEN insists one of these landed at Nazca in search of
minerals, creating a trapezoidal indentation on the ground. The local
people watched in amazement as "human-like beings with golden,
shimmering skins" walked around, mined for metals, then flew away in
their heavenly chariot. The gods soon returned, built landing aids, then
eventually left for ever. The awe-struck Native Americans now revered
Nazca as a place of pilgrimage. Generations of pilgrims built figures
and runways as a sign for the gods to return, but they never did. E.V.
DANIKEN is never at a loss. He even persuades a model-making friend to
build a reconstruction of an ancient aeroplane modeled from a golden
insect ornament from Bogota, Columbia. Presto! The ancient flying
machine flies successfully and becomes the logo of the Ancient Astronaut
Society. Now we are promised a theme park to commemorate the ancient
space travelers. ERICH VON DANIKEN has raised his astronaut theories to
the status of a highly profitable cult, with himself as the Great
Prophet.

Why does the ancient astronaut cult flourish while serious, scientific
investigations of the Nazca lines provoke almost no popular attention?
Maybe because we live in a world where science is routine and
inaccessible by reason of its technical complexity to many people who
yearn for entertainment, epic adventure, and escapism. The von Danikens
of this world have realized this and spin their elaborate fantasies to
cater to a natural human desire for easy, romantic answers. Add the
intoxicating romance of INDIANA JONES and the STAR WARS epics and you
have a profitable mass-market audience close at hand. We scientists with
our slow moving and deliberate research will not compete in this
marketplace. Nor should we try, for we are not entertainers. The
archaeodramas perpetuated by Hancock, von Daniken, and their ilk, draw
attention to archaeology, but they do irreparable harm to our work. By
embracing an approach that invites the reader to become one of those in
the know, who is not afraid to abandon the cautious ways of scientists,
the von Danikens of this world create commercially attractive,
adventurous scenarios that masquerade as science, when they are pure
fiction [and, perhaps, their perpetuators know this in their heart of
hearts]. Anyone with a critical scientific eye can tear the ancient
astronauts to shreds in minutes. Yet the Hancocks and von Danikens write
so convincingly that thousands of people are led to believe that this
kind of folderol is what archaeologists do for a living, that such
archaeodramas actually tell us what happened in the past. Time and time
again, I have had students ask me about ancient astronauts or
10,000-year-old civilizations in Egypt. I soon find out they actually
believe in these bizarre versions of history. I try to show them how the
ancient world revealed by science is infinitely more fascinating and
challenging to the imagination than any number of gold shimmering
Astronauts and Ancient Landing Strips. But it is an uphill battle in a
society where "INDIANA JONES", "STAR WARS" & "THE X-FILES" reign
supreme.

BYE FOR NOW! DENNIS WITTIG

"THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE - IN A LOT OF WAYS - IS THE SAME
AS THE SEARCH FOR GOD - TRYING TO FIND MEANING IN THE UNIVERSE - HIGHER
POWER - THIS WAS THE MOST EXPLICIT ATTEMPT WE'VE EVER MADE TO TRY AND
SAY 'WHAT IF ALIENS ARE GOD???'" FRANK SPOTNITZ

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