Humans have accomplished incredible feats, from interspace travel to the eradication of smallpox, we have the unique ability to mold and utilize our surroundings where other species barely scratch the surface. Some speculate however that this ability is not innately ours and instead was taught to us by extraterrestrial beings far beyond our human comprehension.
The very concept of ancient aliens many people see as dehumanizing as it takes our thousands of years of progress and history and essentially dumps it all in the trash, chalking it all up to chance. The idea that a far greater society beyond our understanding exists somewhere scares us because it’s in our nature to need to feel in control. Getting past that leaves us with an interesting topic that whether you think it’s complete hogwash or not is worth discussing even if only for entertainment purposes.
According to Robert Smith with the University of Alberta, There’s always been this fascination with what you could call the other, often very similar to us but sometimes different or even widely different.
Most often when people think of a man-made object that aliens could have supposedly built they probably think of the pyramids. And without putting much thought into it kind of makes sense, with the pyramids themselves consisting of over 2,300,000 blocks each weighing 2.5 tons it seems impossible for any amount of people to have created something so detailed and massive back in ancient times. Other people look at the fact that the perpendicular of the northern face of the Great Pyramid points to the North Pole with fairly high accuracy. Similarly, some people believe that the statues of faces located on Easter Island were carved by aliens for some unknown purpose.
While fun, these theories quickly fall apart when you do a little research and realize that in the case of the pyramid, implements have been found such as ramps and pulley systems that prove human involvement. In addition to traces of the skilled Egyptian sculptors near the pyramids and geographic traces of riverways allowing building materials to be transported a great distance. The same goes for the heads on Easter Island which have bodies hidden under the soil due to mass transport deposits and were carved by the Rapa Nui people to commemorate their ancestors.
Other evidence however can’t be as easily dismissed. Hieroglyphs in the temple of Seit I feature inscriptions of modern technology such as helicopters and speedboats. Similarly, the 100 BC Greek carving named Grave Naiskos of an Enthroned Woman With An Attendant depicts the attendant holding a folded instrument sharing many similarities with a laptop including holes for cables. Pseudoscientists and other theorists believe cases such as these to be significant evidence for aliens and even time travel.
Archaeologists argue that these are simply coincidental cases of pareidolia. The tendency to see patterns in something because it’s similar to something that we are familiar with. The frequency of these cases however may suggest otherwise.
Whether material or myth, the idea of ancient aliens keeps the minds of both skeptics and believers working to provide future possible evidence and theories for us to consume. What you believe is up to you but in the end we have the same insatiable curiosity that keeps us coming back for more.
