Summary Of The Documentary Ancient Aliens: A New Truth Or A Speculation
Ancient Aliens: A New Truth or A Speculation.
In 2009, the History Channel produced a documentary named “Ancient Aliens.” The content of the documentary was the Swiss writer Erik Van Dankien’s book The Chariots of the Gods. It attempts to analyze the Ancient Alien theory, according to which aliens visited earth in ancient times and influenced human civilization. Excellent video footage and an assortment of commentary from various archeologists, authors and scholars makes it interesting. The video footage of the ancient mysterious artifacts make it interesting. Even the still pictures help audience to understand the concepts. Editing is the best part of the documentary. It helps in flow of content. The narration helps to provoke many thoughts …show more content…
by raising questions and is persuasive at times also since it tries to explain the unsolved mysteries of ancient world through the perspective of ancient alien theory. Yet there are many questions ancient alien theorists try to answer. Despite its effort to be objective, the film is biased and mainly based on speculation. “Ancient Aliens” is a thought provoking documentary based on speculation but worth watching.
Ancient alien theorists posit many points in the documentary which need more logical explanation. Theorists believe that intelligent life visited earth thousands of years ago and taught people technology and skills more advanced than human capacity. The Nazcal lines, Stonehenge and Easter Island are remains of their visitation. The primitive people worshipped them as gods (Ancient Alien theory, 2011), but this explanation is based on speculation only. First of all, there has never been any proof of existence of life on other planets so far although we cannot deny the new scientific finding by NASA that suggest possibilities of life on other planet. Still the fact is that extraterrestrial life is only a possibility. Unidentified Flying Object and Air Force Project Blue Book(n.d) findings suggested that there is no evidences that support extraterrestrial vehicles visiting earth.( On these grounds a new theory of evolution which embraces the existence of aliens as a core values is based on speculation only.
The evidence provided by the ancient alien theorists to support ancient alien theory is interesting and thought provoking. The documentary provides new details and information otherwise avoided or overlooked about the ancient mysteries like Nazcal lines, Moai of Easter Island, Puma Punko and many more. For example the stones in Puma Punku have perfectly straight grooves in them that are only 1 cm deep and for the Great of Pyramid of Giza to be finish in 22 years, each block had to be cut, transferred and put into place one every nine seconds(Ancient Aliens, 2009). However the explanations provided by the ancient alien theorists are based on one sided perspective only. Ancient alien theorists underestimate human ability and give all the credit of great ancient monuments to aliens.
The gigantic line structures in the Nazca desert of Peru can be recognized from an aerial view only.
The purpose behind the creation of these structures still remains a mystery. In the documentary, David Childress, the author of “Technology of the Gods” states “It really does seem they [Nazca Lines ] were trying to signal people who are in the air”(Burns, 2009). Ancient alien theorists ask who could have been flying in that time besides the extraterrestrials. In its attempt to be objective the documentary includes commentary from Javier Grillo-Marxuach, a science fiction writer and producer, who argues “the Nazca lines are so inhumanly vast that they could only be admired by the people capable of flight is illogical .You can say the same thing about the great wall of china"(Burns, 2011). He added that the Nazcal lines could be for irrigation purpose or have religious motives. Ancient aliens theorists put forward the hypothesis that the straightness and thorough details of the Nazcal line is beyond human capacity. Maria Reiche (1980s) who dedicated her life studying Nazcal lines refuted the ancient alien theorists’ explanation that Nazca lines are beyond human ingenuity[ as quoted by Kathy Doore in The Nazca Lines
Theory]:
This fact of straightness may be explained by the extraordinary eyesight of the ancient people of Peru. There are only two places in the world where we have this kind of telescopic eyesight, where people can see small things at immense distances, the one is in Mongolia in the Gobi Desert, and the other is here among these people…I presented one of these people to an Oculist (Ophthalmologist) to see if drawing might harm his eyes … This boy can also draw very tiny images to a fraction of accuracy. I believe this explains many things about the Nazca drawings (n.d).
This suggests that the inhabitants of the Nazca desert have the ability to draw giant straight geometrical lines without any hi-tech support from extraterrestrials.
Another support provided for ancient alien theory in the documentary is The Book of Enoch. Van Dankien suggests The Book of Enoch is the record of extraterrestrials visiting earth. The Book of Enoch is, however, denounced by Christian churches on the ground that it is false and baseless. On other hand, the analysis of The Book of Ezekiel is interesting and thought provoking. The History Channel official website further elaborates it as follows:
In The Book of Ezekiel, part of the Hebrew bible, a prophet has a vision of a flying vessel accompanied by fire, smoke and a loud noise. Some ancient alien theorists have argued that the vehicle’s design closely mirrors that of a modern spaceship. Rather than a divine intervention, then, perhaps the text describes an early encounter between humans and alien astronauts (2011).
Josef F. Bhumrich(1974) ,Chief of NASA 's Advanced Structural Development Branch and the member of Marshall Space Flight Center from 1959-1974, also explains the scientific foundation of the flying vessels mention in this ancient religious text in his book The Spaceships of Ezekiel.He wrote that the details of gods’ flying vessel as mention in bible like the wheels within wheels is the same as the engineering design of space ship.
The most convincing part of the documentary is an analogy made with the Cargo cult which resulted from the World War II air drops. American troops established air based camps in remote Pacific island and the native saw airplanes for the first time. Cargos full of food were thrown to them from air. For these pre industrial people it was totally a miracle and they interpreted it as their ancestors blessing. When the American troops returned home after the war, the Pacific islander stopped receiving this cargo. These people built mock air planes and worshipped them in the hope that the planes will return back again and would bring the blessing in the form of cargo. A new religion called the Cargo Cult emerged from this incident (Burns, 2009) .The ancient alien theorists compare it to the ancient interpretation of god. It may be just like the Pacific Islanders, our ancestor’s perceived the aliens as god who landed on earth and taught them technology and civilization.
Ancient alien theorists questions how the ancient people could have moved the gigantic blocks of stone needed to construct the Great Pyramid, Stonehenge and Puma Punku. They hypothesized that intelligent life helped human to construct this monument, otherwise these architecture and engineering wonders were beyond human ability. The stones in Puma Punku are cut precisely and smoothly which was ahead of the engineering technique of the ancient time (Burns, 2009).In the documentary, Todd Disotell, anthropologist in New York University, argue “Stone-cutting techniques have been invented and reinvented, and independently invented all over the world”. Moreover National geography explains how Pyramids were built:
An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 workers built the Pyramids at Giza over 80 years. Much of the work probably happened while the River Nile was flooded. Huge limestone blocks could be floated from quarries right to the base of the Pyramids. The stones would likely then be polished by hand and pushed up ramps to their intended positions…Architects achieved an accurate pyramid shape by running ropes from the outer corners up to the planned summit, to make sure the stones were positioned correctly(DeLaine, n.d).
This suggests that the explanation of ancient aliens theorist are one sided and solely based on the speculation. Other scientific explanation can be given besides the intervention of aliens. The documentary Ancient Aliens tries to present the Van Dakien theory or the ancient alien theory in an objective way but it fails to balance both side of the story in many places. For instance, it documents the commentary from the advocates of the ancient alien theory more often than from the opposing researchers. Furthermore it ends without making any statement and leaves it to audience whether to believe in Ancient aliens theory. Overall this is an interesting documentary although mainly based on speculation.
References
Ancient Alien Theory. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved, March 1, 2011, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/articles/ancient-alien-theory.
Blumrich, Josef F. (1974). The Spaceships of Ezekiel. New York: Bantam Books
Burns,K. (Director). (2009). Ancient Aliens. History Channel .United States: Prometheus Entertainment.
Daniken,E.V. (1968). Chariots of the God. USA: Putnam
DeLaine, M. (n.d). Egypt: secrets of an ancient world. National Geography. Retrieved, March 2, 2011, from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html
Doore,K. (1998). The Nazcal Lines Theory. Retrieved from http://www.labyrinthina.com/mariareiche.htm
Unidentified Flying Object and Air Force Project blue Book. (n.d). Department of the Air Force. Retrieved from http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=188&page=1
In 2009, the History Channel produced a documentary named “Ancient Aliens.” The content of the documentary was the Swiss writer Erik Van Dankien’s book The Chariots of the Gods. It attempts to analyze the Ancient Alien theory, according to which aliens visited earth in ancient times and influenced human civilization. Excellent video footage and an assortment of commentary from various archeologists, authors and scholars makes it interesting. The video footage of the ancient mysterious artifacts make it interesting. Even the still pictures help audience to understand the concepts. Editing is the best part of the documentary. It helps in flow of content. The narration helps to provoke many thoughts …show more content…
by raising questions and is persuasive at times also since it tries to explain the unsolved mysteries of ancient world through the perspective of ancient alien theory. Yet there are many questions ancient alien theorists try to answer. Despite its effort to be objective, the film is biased and mainly based on speculation. “Ancient Aliens” is a thought provoking documentary based on speculation but worth watching.
Ancient alien theorists posit many points in the documentary which need more logical explanation. Theorists believe that intelligent life visited earth thousands of years ago and taught people technology and skills more advanced than human capacity. The Nazcal lines, Stonehenge and Easter Island are remains of their visitation. The primitive people worshipped them as gods (Ancient Alien theory, 2011), but this explanation is based on speculation only. First of all, there has never been any proof of existence of life on other planets so far although we cannot deny the new scientific finding by NASA that suggest possibilities of life on other planet. Still the fact is that extraterrestrial life is only a possibility. Unidentified Flying Object and Air Force Project Blue Book(n.d) findings suggested that there is no evidences that support extraterrestrial vehicles visiting earth.( On these grounds a new theory of evolution which embraces the existence of aliens as a core values is based on speculation only.
The evidence provided by the ancient alien theorists to support ancient alien theory is interesting and thought provoking. The documentary provides new details and information otherwise avoided or overlooked about the ancient mysteries like Nazcal lines, Moai of Easter Island, Puma Punko and many more. For example the stones in Puma Punku have perfectly straight grooves in them that are only 1 cm deep and for the Great of Pyramid of Giza to be finish in 22 years, each block had to be cut, transferred and put into place one every nine seconds(Ancient Aliens, 2009). However the explanations provided by the ancient alien theorists are based on one sided perspective only. Ancient alien theorists underestimate human ability and give all the credit of great ancient monuments to aliens.
The gigantic line structures in the Nazca desert of Peru can be recognized from an aerial view only.
The purpose behind the creation of these structures still remains a mystery. In the documentary, David Childress, the author of “Technology of the Gods” states “It really does seem they [Nazca Lines ] were trying to signal people who are in the air”(Burns, 2009). Ancient alien theorists ask who could have been flying in that time besides the extraterrestrials. In its attempt to be objective the documentary includes commentary from Javier Grillo-Marxuach, a science fiction writer and producer, who argues “the Nazca lines are so inhumanly vast that they could only be admired by the people capable of flight is illogical .You can say the same thing about the great wall of china"(Burns, 2011). He added that the Nazcal lines could be for irrigation purpose or have religious motives. Ancient aliens theorists put forward the hypothesis that the straightness and thorough details of the Nazcal line is beyond human capacity. Maria Reiche (1980s) who dedicated her life studying Nazcal lines refuted the ancient alien theorists’ explanation that Nazca lines are beyond human ingenuity[ as quoted by Kathy Doore in The Nazca Lines
Theory]:
This fact of straightness may be explained by the extraordinary eyesight of the ancient people of Peru. There are only two places in the world where we have this kind of telescopic eyesight, where people can see small things at immense distances, the one is in Mongolia in the Gobi Desert, and the other is here among these people…I presented one of these people to an Oculist (Ophthalmologist) to see if drawing might harm his eyes … This boy can also draw very tiny images to a fraction of accuracy. I believe this explains many things about the Nazca drawings (n.d).
This suggests that the inhabitants of the Nazca desert have the ability to draw giant straight geometrical lines without any hi-tech support from extraterrestrials.
Another support provided for ancient alien theory in the documentary is The Book of Enoch. Van Dankien suggests The Book of Enoch is the record of extraterrestrials visiting earth. The Book of Enoch is, however, denounced by Christian churches on the ground that it is false and baseless. On other hand, the analysis of The Book of Ezekiel is interesting and thought provoking. The History Channel official website further elaborates it as follows:
In The Book of Ezekiel, part of the Hebrew bible, a prophet has a vision of a flying vessel accompanied by fire, smoke and a loud noise. Some ancient alien theorists have argued that the vehicle’s design closely mirrors that of a modern spaceship. Rather than a divine intervention, then, perhaps the text describes an early encounter between humans and alien astronauts (2011).
Josef F. Bhumrich(1974) ,Chief of NASA 's Advanced Structural Development Branch and the member of Marshall Space Flight Center from 1959-1974, also explains the scientific foundation of the flying vessels mention in this ancient religious text in his book The Spaceships of Ezekiel.He wrote that the details of gods’ flying vessel as mention in bible like the wheels within wheels is the same as the engineering design of space ship.
The most convincing part of the documentary is an analogy made with the Cargo cult which resulted from the World War II air drops. American troops established air based camps in remote Pacific island and the native saw airplanes for the first time. Cargos full of food were thrown to them from air. For these pre industrial people it was totally a miracle and they interpreted it as their ancestors blessing. When the American troops returned home after the war, the Pacific islander stopped receiving this cargo. These people built mock air planes and worshipped them in the hope that the planes will return back again and would bring the blessing in the form of cargo. A new religion called the Cargo Cult emerged from this incident (Burns, 2009) .The ancient alien theorists compare it to the ancient interpretation of god. It may be just like the Pacific Islanders, our ancestor’s perceived the aliens as god who landed on earth and taught them technology and civilization.
Ancient alien theorists questions how the ancient people could have moved the gigantic blocks of stone needed to construct the Great Pyramid, Stonehenge and Puma Punku. They hypothesized that intelligent life helped human to construct this monument, otherwise these architecture and engineering wonders were beyond human ability. The stones in Puma Punku are cut precisely and smoothly which was ahead of the engineering technique of the ancient time (Burns, 2009).In the documentary, Todd Disotell, anthropologist in New York University, argue “Stone-cutting techniques have been invented and reinvented, and independently invented all over the world”. Moreover National geography explains how Pyramids were built:
An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 workers built the Pyramids at Giza over 80 years. Much of the work probably happened while the River Nile was flooded. Huge limestone blocks could be floated from quarries right to the base of the Pyramids. The stones would likely then be polished by hand and pushed up ramps to their intended positions…Architects achieved an accurate pyramid shape by running ropes from the outer corners up to the planned summit, to make sure the stones were positioned correctly(DeLaine, n.d).
This suggests that the explanation of ancient aliens theorist are one sided and solely based on the speculation. Other scientific explanation can be given besides the intervention of aliens. The documentary Ancient Aliens tries to present the Van Dakien theory or the ancient alien theory in an objective way but it fails to balance both side of the story in many places. For instance, it documents the commentary from the advocates of the ancient alien theory more often than from the opposing researchers. Furthermore it ends without making any statement and leaves it to audience whether to believe in Ancient aliens theory. Overall this is an interesting documentary although mainly based on speculation.
References
Ancient Alien Theory. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved, March 1, 2011, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/articles/ancient-alien-theory.
Blumrich, Josef F. (1974). The Spaceships of Ezekiel. New York: Bantam Books
Burns,K. (Director). (2009). Ancient Aliens. History Channel .United States: Prometheus Entertainment.
Daniken,E.V. (1968). Chariots of the God. USA: Putnam
DeLaine, M. (n.d). Egypt: secrets of an ancient world. National Geography. Retrieved, March 2, 2011, from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html
Doore,K. (1998). The Nazcal Lines Theory. Retrieved from http://www.labyrinthina.com/mariareiche.htm
Unidentified Flying Object and Air Force Project blue Book. (n.d). Department of the Air Force. Retrieved from http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=188&page=1