Ancient Aliens of the Bible

Erich von Däniken composed the basis of his theories based on his interpretation of ancient art, ancient scripture, and recently discovered artifacts in his book “Chariots of the Gods”. Däniken’s work is often considered pioneering in alternative history circles. However, there is evidence of much debate involving the subject matter prior to his emergence in the debate. His interest began with his analysis of the ancient scriptures and he set out to prove himself right.

Many passages from the Holy Bible have been interpreted by Däniken, presented in his book the “Chariots of the Gods”, to suggest his ancient alien theory was not only correct, but also well known to Old Testament writers. The meat of his argument, and that of many others, is found in the Book of Genesis which is the first book in the Holy Bible, and the Book of Enoch which was left out because of its controversial assertions. The Book of Ezekiel also contains what Däniken would consider evidence. Genesis introduces to us the character of Enoch. Enoch was a most righteous man who, according to Genesis, walked with God and could not be found again. Many say he was taken to heaven without tasting death. The context in which Enoch’s story appears is in an era when the Sons of God, as they are called in Genesis, married the daughters of men and created giant offspring known as the Nephilim. This is the extent of the Holy Bibles explanation. It leaves a lot to be explained; who are these “Sons of God,” that they might produce giants by mating with mortal women? The explanation lies in the Book of Enoch. According to the Book of Enoch, these “Sons of God” are angels who subsequently fell, or became fallen after God had seen what they did with the daughters of men. The angels were forbidden to take mankind as wives. These angels also taught men various trades, how to make weapons, how to make war, mathematics, etc.

Now the bloodline left by Adam was corrupted. God’s creation was exceedingly wicked and he regretted what his work had become. All flesh was corrupt, except for Noah and his sons. The Holy Bible says that Noah was perfect in his generations, indicating his bloodline was not corrupted like the rest of the flesh was. So God saved Noah and his generation.

From this bit of history is where Däniken’s interest becomes fixated on other worldly visitors. His book the “Chariots of the Gods” presents a theory that rests on the assumption that these angels were not angels; they were intelligent beings from another world. From there Däniken connects some more dots. He takes Ezekiel’s “wheel within a wheel” as his next bit of evidence. Däniken becomes fascinated by the idea and sets out across the world in search of artifacts, petroglyphs, and any and all accounts of ancient history he could find.

Val Camonica, Italy, is home to more than thirty thousand rock paintings dating as far back as fifteen thousand years. Many of these rock paintings have been interpreted by Däniken in an extraterrestrial manner. Some of the paintings depict humanoid figures wearing what resembles modern space suits, complete with the bubble over the head region and light reflecting off of it.

Ancient technologies such as the Bagdad Battery suggest that many ancient peoples had knowledge that was unworldly for their time period. The Nazca Lines in Peru are also described in the “Chariots of the Gods”, and Däniken suggests that they are actually maps that can only be seen from the sky, leaving one to wonder who they were meant for, as we did not learn to fly until at least fifteen hundred years after the lines were drawn. Ancient Hopi legends about six fingered men, from another world, prompted the tradition of raising the hand as a greeting.

The Nazca lines are one of the great archaeological riddles of modern times. These gigantic drawings cover 400 square miles of the Nazca desert, a high, arid plateau in southern Peru. The area is unusual in its ability to preserve these drawings. With only minutes of rainfall each year, the climate is one of the driest in the world. The surface of the plateau is exceptionally stony and flat which minimizes the effect of ground-level winds. As a result, there is minimal erosion due to either rain or wind and virtually no sand or dust to blanket the plain. Any lines scratched on the ground tend to become permanent features of the surface.

Age of Nazca Lines

Scientists believe the lines were etched on the ground by the Nazca people sometime between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D. In addition to geometric shapes and figures, the Nazca lines depict living creatures, imaginary beings, and stylized plants. The lines fall into two categories: geoglyphs and biomorphs. Geoglyphs are geometric in shape and include trapezoids, circles, triangles, spirals, and straight lines. Their size is enormous: one straight line was drawn nine miles across the plateau. The biomorphs encompass some 70 plant and animal figures such as a monkey, hummingbird, lizard, pelican, killer whale, and a condor with a wingspan of 130 feet. All of the biomorphs are located together in one region of the plain. Some archaeologists think the biomorphs may have been drawn as much as 500 years before the geoglyphs.

Perhaps the most mysterious aspect of the Nazca lines is that the various shapes, pictures and figures are clearly visible only from the air. The initial reports of their existence came in the 1920s when aircraft began flying across the Peruvian desert and passengers reported seeing something resembling primitive landing strips on the ground.

The surface colors of the desert plateau provided an enormous writing pad for the Nazca to create their drawings. The contrasting colors on the ground heighten the visibility of the figures from the air. The lines were drawn not by adding gravel or dirt but, instead, by removing part of the ground’s surface. The Nazca desert is covered with gravel primarily consisting of rust-colored pebbles. When the Nazca removed these pebbles, the lighter-colored soil underneath was exposed. Exposing the whiter earth caused lines to appear on the desert’s surface and the various shapes and figures to take form.

Purpose of Nazca Lines

Since their discovery, both scholarly and fantastic explanations have been advanced to explain the purpose of the Nazca lines. There is no consensus among archeologists as to why the Nazca sketched the lines. Early theories proposed they were a giant observatory, an astronomical chart or celestial calendar, created to show the direction of rising stars and important planetary happenings.

Currently, the most accepted theory is that the lines have a religious significance and, perhaps, were drawn to be seen by sky gods. The lines may have been messages to the gods, paths leading from one shrine to another, or enclosures for religious rituals. Given the arid landscape, another theory with potential is that the drawings were related to water. Research suggests some of the lines may be connected to ancient aqueducts, raising the possibility they were a map of underground water sources.

Since scientists have no definitive explanation, other theories have been put forth. Author Erick von Daniken contributed one of the most controversial: that the lines were runways for an ancient airfield where alien space craft landed.

Whatever their purpose, the Nazca lines are deteriorating due to tourist traffic as well as commercial endeavors. For now, preservation is losing out to economic necessity.

A Controversial Concept

The Rare Earth Hypothesis is based on the theory created by scientists, Peter D. Ward and colleague Donald Brownlee. Brownlee, an astronomer and astrobiologist along with Ward, a paleontologist and geologist, share the summation that while the universe is vast in size, its naturally hostile nature makes the possibility of life on planets other than Earth, or anywhere else in the universe, a statistical improbability therefore making our own planet a “rarity”. Although challenged by other ideas such as the Copernican Principle, many feel this simple proposition alone supports the Rare Earth Hypothesis.

In their book, “Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe”, Ward and Brownlee ask the sometimes controversial and argued question, “What is needed to create life?” Rare Earth offers the conclusion that the Earth, in its assumed orphaned birth, is rare and by way of this, so must be any complex organism created from it.

The Rare Earth Hypothesis uses common facts relating to celestial events proven to have taken place millions of years ago to form the basis for its theory. Surmising that because the Earth holds the ingredients for the formation of simple life forms since its earliest recorded age, and accepting that common fact has proven other researched or explored planets to not be as fit for the growth of complex organisms, many feel The Rare Earth Hypothesis can be grounded in factual evidence and not based solely on theory, opinion or conjecture alone.

Basis in Facts

gliese 581 c ability to form life

Ward and Brownlee use several common facts to bolster their Rare Earth Hypothesis position.
• While no other celestial body has been proven to have had sustained water available, the Earth is made up of nearly all water which covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface.
• While no other celestial body has a radiating star sufficiently close enough to its rotational balance, Earth does.
• While other celestial bodies are positioned either too near a heat radiating source (too hot) or too far (too cold), Earth’s position, being third from the Sun, makes its climate system ideal.
• While the atmospheres of other celestial bodies are fraught with deadly vapors and gasses, Earth’s atmosphere of nitrogen, oxygen and minor yet important percentages of carbon dioxide, ozone and water vapor, give our planet the universally rare benefit of a clean air source for new life growth and sustainment.

According to the Rare Earth Hypothesis, the above stated conditions, along with the circumstances of Earth’s gravitational rotation, size and impact from general planetary debris, give Earth a relative advantage in complex organism development over other planetary bodies. Also considered in the Rare Earth Hypothesis is Earth’s general placement and distance between other planetary bodies. Earth’s position, between Venus and Mars, affords its surface temperature to remain markedly controlled changing only according to seasonal alignment with the Sun.

Comparative Ideas

Ward and Brownlee, with the Rare Earth Hypothesis, seek to challenge other published or stated hypotheses like The Copernican Principal. Supported by Carl Sagan, and named by Hermann Bondi after famed mathematician and astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, The Copernican Principle would suggest that the planet Earth is not a rarity at all and is at no more of a celestial advantage than other planets. But with the use of mathematical statistics aimed at understanding Earth’s early formation of available resources for the growth of complex organisms, and taking into account the absence of other events to which this would apply in the general universe, The Rare Earth Hypothesis presents a clearly evidentiary case in support of the theory.