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According to certain authors, intelligent
extraterrestrial beings called
ancient astronauts or
ancient aliens have visited
Earth, and this contact is connected with the origins or development of human
cultures,
technologies, and
religions. A common variant of the idea include proposals that
deities from most, if not all, religions are actually extraterrestrials, and their technologies were taken as evidence of their divine status.
[1][2]
These proposals have been popularized, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century, by writers
Erich von Däniken,
Zecharia Sitchin,
Robert K. G. Temple, and
David Icke.
[3] Ancient astronauts have been widely used as a
plot device in
science fiction, but the idea that ancient astronauts actually existed is not taken seriously by most academics, and has received little or no credible attention in
peer reviewed studies.
[4]
[edit] Details
Proponents of ancient astronaut theories often maintain that humans are either descendants or creations of beings who landed on Earth thousands of years ago. An associated idea is that much of human knowledge, religion, and culture came from extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times, in that ancient astronauts acted as a “
mother culture”. Other proposals include the idea that civilization may have evolved on Earth twice, and that the visitation of ancient astronauts may reflect the return of descendants of ancient humans whose population was separated from earthbound humans.
[citation needed] These ideas are generally discounted if not ridiculed by the academic and
skeptical communities.
[5]
Proponents argue that the evidence for ancient astronauts comes from supposed gaps in historical and archaeological records, and they also maintain that absent or incomplete explanations of historical or archaeological data point to the existence of ancient astronauts. The evidence is said to include archaeological
artifacts that they argue are
anachronistic or beyond the presumed technical capabilities of the historical cultures with which they are associated (sometimes referred to as "
Out-of-place artifacts"); and
artwork and
legends which are interpreted as depicting extraterrestrial contact or technologies.
Mainstream academics, when they comment at all on such proposals, have responded that gaps in contemporary knowledge of the past need not demonstrate that such speculative ancient astronaut ideas are a necessary, or even plausible, conclusion to draw.
[6] Academic researchers in related disciplines generally maintain that there is no evidence to support the proposals of ancient astronauts or paleocontact.
Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the double helix structure of
DNA, however strongly believed in what he called
panspermia, the concept that earth was 'seeded' with life, probably in the form of bluegreen algae, by intelligent extraterrestrial species, for the purpose of ensuring life's continuity. He believed that this could have been done on any number of planets of this class, possibly using unmanned shuttles. He talks at length about this theory in his book
Life Itself.
[edit] Scientific consideration
In their 1966 book
Intelligent Life in the Universe[7] astrophysicists
I.S. Shklovski and
Carl Sagan devote a chapter
[8] to arguments that scientists and historians should seriously consider the possibility that extraterrestrial contact occurred during recorded history. However, Shklovski and Sagan stressed that these ideas were speculative and unproven.
Shklovski and Sagan argued that sub-lightspeed interstellar travel by extraterrestrial life was a certainty when considering technologies that were established or feasible in the late '60s;
[9] that repeated instances of extraterrestrial visitation to Earth were plausible;
[10] and that pre-scientific narratives can offer a potentially reliable means of describing contact with outsiders.
[11] Additionally, Shklovski and Sagan cited tales of
Oannes, a fishlike being attributed with teaching agriculture, mathematics, and the arts to early Sumerians, as deserving closer scrutiny as a possible instance of paleocontact due to its consistency and detail.
[12]
In his 1979 book
Broca's Brain, Sagan
[13] suggested that he and Shklovski might have inspired the wave of '70s ancient astronaut books, expressing disapproval of "von Däniken and other uncritical writers" who seemingly built on these ideas not as guarded speculations but as "valid evidence of extraterrestrial contact." Sagan argued that while many legends, artifacts, and purported
out-of-place artifacts were cited in support of ancient astronaut theories, "very few require more than passing mention" and could be easily explained with more conventional theories. Sagan also reiterated his earlier conclusion that extraterrestrial visits to Earth were possible but unproven, and perhaps improbable.
[edit] Publication history
Paleocontact or "ancient astronaut" narratives first appear in
early science fiction of the late 19th to early 20th century. The idea was proposed in earnest by
Harold T. Wilkins (1954) and it received some consideration as a serious hypothesis during the 1960s, and has been mostly confined to the field of
pseudoscience and
pop culture since the 1970s. Ancient astronauts appear as a feature of
UFO religions beginning with the
Space opera in Scientology scripture (1967), followed by
Raelism (1974).
Timeline of publications:
- 1897 – Garrett P. Serviss (book, Edison's Conquest of Mars)
- 1919 – Charles Fort (book, The Book of the Damned)
- 1928 – H.P. Lovecraft (short story, "The Call of Cthulhu")
- 1954 – Harold T. Wilkins
- 1955 – Morris K. Jessup
- 1957 – Peter Kolosimo (book, Il pianeta sconosciuto (The Unknown Planet))
- 1957 – George Hunt Williamson
- 1958 – Henri Lhote[14]
- 1959 – Matest M. Agrest
- 1959 – Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels (authors of The Morning of the Magicians)
- 1960 – Brinsley Le Poer Trench
- 1963 – Robert Charroux (book, One Hundred Thousand Years of Man's Unknown History)
- 1964 – W. Raymond Drake (book, Gods or Spacemen?)
- 1966 – Iosif Shklovsky and Carl Sagan (book, Intelligent Life in the Universe)
- 1967 – Brad Steiger (book, The Flying Saucer Menace)
- 1968 – Erich von Däniken (book, Chariots of the Gods?)
- 1971 – Andrew Tomas (book, We are not the first: riddles of ancient science)
- 1972 – Thomas Charles Lethbridge (book, The Legend of the Sons of God: A Fantasy?)
- 1974 – Charles Berlitz (book, The Bermuda Triangle)
- 1974 – Josef F. Blumrich (book, The Spaceships of Ezekiel)
- 1974 – Claude Vorilhon aka Rael (book, Le Livre Qui Dit La Vérité (The Book Which Tells the Truth))
- 1976 – Robert K. G. Temple
- 1978 – Zecharia Sitchin
- 1984 – Don Elkins, James McCarthy, Carla Rueckert (book, The Ra Material: An Ancient Astronaut Speaks (The Law of One , No 1))
- 1988 – Riley Martin
- 1993 – David Icke
- 1996 – Alan F. Alford
- 1996 – Richard C. Hoagland (book, The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever)
- 1998 – Lloyd Pye
- 1999 – Laurence Gardner (book, Genesis of the Grail Kings: The Explosive Story of Genetic Cloning)
- 2003 – Burak Eldem
- 2010 – Ancient Aliens (documentary television series)
[edit] Erich von Däniken
Sarcophagus lid of
Pakal the great, which according to Von Däniken represents an "ancient astronaut" ascending to the stars in his spaceship.
Erich von Däniken was a leading proponent of this theory in the late 1960s and early 1970s, gaining a large audience through the 1968 publication of his best-selling book
Chariots of the Gods? and its sequels.
Certain artifacts and monumental constructions are claimed by von Däniken to have required a more sophisticated technological ability in their construction than that which was available to the ancient cultures who constructed them. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts were constructed either directly by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary knowledge from said visitors. These include
Stonehenge, the
Moai of
Easter Island, the
Great Pyramid of Giza, and the
ancient Baghdad electric batteries.
Von Däniken claims that ancient art and
iconography throughout the world illustrates air and space vehicles, non-human but intelligent creatures, ancient astronauts, and artifacts of an anachronistically advanced technology. Von Däniken also claims that geographically separated historical cultures share artistic themes, which he argues imply a common origin. For one such example, is von Däniken's interpretation of the sarcophagus lid recovered from the tomb of the Classic-era
Maya ruler of
Palenque,
Pacal. Von Däniken claimed the design represented a seated astronaut, whereas the iconography and accompanying
Maya text identifies it as a portrait of the ruler himself with the
World Tree of Maya mythology.
The origins of many religions are interpreted by von Däniken as reactions to encounters with an alien race. According to his view, humans considered the technology of the aliens to be
supernatural and the aliens themselves to be
gods. Von Däniken claims that the oral and written traditions of most religions contain references to alien visitors in the way of descriptions of stars and vehicular objects travelling through air and space. One such is
Ezekiel's revelation in the
Old Testament, which Däniken interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft.
Von Däniken's theories became popularized in the U.S. after the
NBC-TV documentary
In Search Of Ancient Astronauts hosted by
Rod Serling and the movie
Chariots of the Gods.
Critics argue that von Däniken misrepresented data, that many of his claims were unfounded, and that none of his core claims has been validated.
[15]
[edit] Zecharia Sitchin
Zecharia Sitchin's series
The Earth Chronicles, beginning with
The 12th Planet, revolves around Sitchin's interpretation of ancient
Sumerian and
Middle Eastern texts, megalithic sites, and artifacts from around the world. He theorizes the gods of old
Mesopotamia were actually astronauts from the planet "
Nibiru", which Sitchin claims the Sumerians believed to be a remote "12th planet" (counting the Sun, Moon, and Pluto as planets) associated with the god
Marduk. According to Sitchin, Nibiru continues to orbit our sun on a 3,600-year elongated orbit. Sitchin also suggests that the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is the shattered remains of the ancient planet "
Tiamat", which he claims was destroyed in one of Niburu's orbits through the solar system. Modern
astronomy has found no evidence to support Sitchin's claims.
According to Sitchin, the Sumerians relate how 50
Anunnaki, the inhabitants of Nibiru, came to Earth approximately 400,000 years ago with the intent of mining raw materials, especially gold, for transport back to Nibiru. With their small numbers they soon tired of the task and set out to genetically engineer laborers to work the mines. After much trial and error they eventually created
homo sapiens sapiens: the "
Adapa" (model man) or
Adam of later mythology. Sitchin claims the Anunnaki were active in human affairs until their culture was destroyed by global catastrophes caused by the abrupt end of the last
ice age some 12,000 years ago. Seeing that humans survived and all they had built was destroyed, the Anunnaki left Earth after giving humans the opportunity and means to govern themselves.
[edit] Robert Temple
Robert K. G. Temple's 1976 book,
The Sirius Mystery argues that the
Dogon people of northwestern
Mali preserved an account of extraterrestrial visitation from around 5,000 years ago. He quotes various lines of evidence, including supposed advanced astronomical knowledge inherited by the tribe, descriptions, and comparative belief systems with ancient civilizations such as
ancient Egypt and
Sumer. His work draws heavily on the studies of cultural anthropologists
Marcel Griaule and
Germaine Dieterlen.
[16]
His conclusions have been criticized by scientists, who point out discrepancies within Temple's account, and suggested that the Dogon may have received some of their astronomical information recently, probably from
European sources, and may have misrepresented Dogon ethnography.
[17][18][19]
[edit] UFO religions
Main article:
UFO religionVarious UFO religions including
theosophy,
Nation of Islam,
Scientology,
The Urantia Book,
Raëlism, and
Heaven's Gate dogmatically accept ancient and present-day contact with extraterrestrial intelligence as a matter of faith. Many of these faiths rely on the reinterpreting various ancient scriptures and new revelations as being associated with the action of super-intelligent aliens and technologically-advanced spacecraft. Sociologists and psychologists who have examined
New Religious Movements which engage with these themes have noted parallels between amongst these religions which suggest a conscious or unconscious parallel acceptance of the associations between enchantment and the
memes of
science fiction.
[20]
[edit] Evidence cited by proponents
[edit] Religious texts
Proponents cite ancient mythologies to support their viewpoints based on the idea that ancient creation myths of gods who descend from the heavens to Earth to create or instruct humanity are actually representations of alien visitors, whose superior technology accounts for their reception as gods. Proponents attempt to draw an analogy to occurrences in modern times when isolated cultures are exposed to Western technology, such as when, in the early 20th century, "
cargo cults" were discovered in the South Pacific: cultures who believed various Western ships and their cargo to be sent from the gods as fulfillment of prophecies concerning their return.
[21]
Flying machines are sometimes mentioned in ancient texts; one example is the
Vimanas, mythological flying machines found in the
Hindu epics. These tales range from fantastic aerial battles employing various weaponry, to the mundane relating simple technical information, flight procedure, and flights of fancy. (See also
Vaimanika Shastra, a text on Vimanas supposedly "channeled" in the early 20th century.)
[22]
[edit] Ezekiel
In the Biblical
Old Testament, the
Book of Ezekiel tells of a flying object seen as a fiery whirlwind which when descended to the ground gave the appearance of being made of metal. It is described among other things as a wheel within a wheel containing four occupants, "living creatures", whose likeness was that of man. The passage goes on to say that wherever the wheels went the creatures went, and when the living creatures were lifted up the wheels were lifted up.
[23] In chapter 4 of
Chariots of the Gods?, entitled, “Was God an Astronaut?” von Däniken refers to the vision of
Ezekiel, suggesting Ezekiel had seen a spaceship, a hypothesis
Morris Jessup had put forward in 1956
[24] and Arthur W. Orton in 1961.
[25] A detailed version of this hypothesis was described by Josef F. Blumrich in his book
The Spaceships of Ezekiel.
[26]
[edit] Genesis
In the
Book of Genesis, Genesis 6:1-4 states that "When men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose... The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them." In the King James Version they are identified as "giants".
The
Nephilim are perhaps children of the fallen angels, although scholars are uncertain.
[27] Erich von Däniken sees an extraterrestrial connection in this passage, and suggests that here “we have the sons of God, who interbreed with human beings.”
[28]
Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman argue that UFOs carry the fallen angels, or offspring of fallen angels, the Nephilim of Genesis, who have now returned. They believe it was this interbreeding between the angels and humans that led to what they call “the gene pool problem.” Noah was perfect in his “generations,” that is “Noah’s genealogy was not tarnished by the intrusion of fallen angels. It seems that this adulteration of the human gene pool was a major problem on the planet earth.”
[29]
Von Däniken also suggests that the two angels who visited
Lot in Genesis 19 were not angels, but ancient astronauts. They may have used atomic weapons to destroy the city of
Sodom. In any case, the otherworldly beings acted as if there was a time set for Sodom’s destruction. Von Däniken questioned why God would work on a timetable and why an "infinitely good Father" would give "preference to ‘favorite children,’ such as Lot’s family, over countless others."
[30]
[edit] Other Old Testament passages
In several chapters of the Old Testament God is depicted as traveling as a column of smoke and/or fire
[31] and making the sound of a trumpet.
[32] These descriptions also describe Yahweh as having a physical presence,
[33] rather than an abstraction. Yahweh is described raining lightning
[34] and stones
[35] down upon the enemies of the Hebrews. However, descriptions of the Hebrew God have also featured protecting wings and outstretched arms in the Psalms, features which may be considered contrary to theories of mechanical manifestations of God.
[36][citation needed]
Additionally, the characteristics of the
Ark of the Covenant and the
Urim and Thummim are identified as suggesting high technology, perhaps from alien origins.
[37]
[edit] Apocryphal writings
The apocryphal
Book of Enoch tells of similar flying objects and beings called "the Watchers" who have mutinied from "heaven" and descended to earth, but goes further in that Enoch is taken on journeys to various corners of the Earth in the object and at one point even travels to the heavens.
[38]
[edit] Artifacts and artwork
Alleged physical evidence includes the discovery of artifacts in
Egypt (the
Saqqara Bird) and
Colombia-
Ecuador, which are claimed to be similar to modern planes and gliders,
[39] although these have been interpreted by archaeologists as stylized representations of birds and insects.
More support of this theory draws upon what are claimed to be representations of
flying saucers in
medieval and
renaissance art.
[40] This is used to support the ancient astronaut theory by attempting to show that the creators of humanity return to check up on their creation throughout time.
Other artistic support for the ancient astronaut theory has been sought in
Palaeolithic cave paintings.
[citation needed] Wondjina in
Australia and
Val Camonica in
Italy (seen above) are claimed to bear a resemblance to present day astronauts.
[citation needed] Supporters of the ancient astronaut theory sometimes claim that similarities such as dome shaped heads, interpreted as beings wearing space helmets, prove that early man was visited by an extraterrestrial race.
[41]
[edit] Nazca Lines
The ancient
Nazca Lines comprise hundreds of enormous ground drawings etched into the high desert landscape of Peru, which consist primarily of geometric shapes, but also include depictions of a variety of animals and at least one human figure. Many believers in ancient astronauts cite the Nazca lines as evidence because the figures created by the lines are most clearly depicted or only able to be seen when viewed from the air. Writing professor
Joe Nickell of the
University of Kentucky, using only technology he believed to be available to people of the time, was able to recreate one of the larger figures with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
[42]
[edit] Monumental architecture
Evidence for ancient astronauts is claimed to include the existence of ancient monuments and
megalithic ruins such as the
Giza pyramids of Egypt,
Machu Picchu in Peru, or
Baalbek in
Lebanon, and the Moai of
Easter Island.
[citation needed] Supporters contend these stone structures could not have been built with the technical abilities and tools of the people of the time and further argue that many could not be duplicated even today. They suggest that the large size of the building stones, the precision with which they were laid, and the distances many were transported leaves the question open as to who constructed these sites. These contentions are categorically rejected by mainstream archeology. Some mainstream archeologists have participated in
experiments to move large megaliths. These experiments have succeeded in moving megaliths up to at least 40 tons,
[43][44] and they have speculated that with a larger workforce larger megaliths could be towed with ancient technology.
[45] Such allegations are not unique in history, however, as similar reasoning lay behind the wonder of the
Cyclopean masonry walling at
Mycenaean cities in the eyes of Greeks of the following "
Dark Age," who believed that the giant
Cyclopes had built the walls.
[edit] Reception
Despite the proponents' own interpretations of ancient writings and artifacts, there has yet to be found any hard evidence to support the ancient astronaut hypothesis.
Alan F. Alford, author of
Gods of the New Millennium (1996), was an adherent of the ancient astronaut theory. Much of his work draws on Sitchin’s theories. However, he now finds fault with Sitchin’s theory after deeper analysis, stating that: “I am now firmly of the opinion that these gods personified the falling sky; in other words, the descent of the gods was a poetic rendition of the cataclysm myth which stood at the heart of ancient Near Eastern religions.”
[46]
In a 2004 article in
Skeptic magazine,
[47] Jason Colavito argues that von Däniken plagiarized many of the book's concepts from
Le Matin des Magiciens, that this book in turn was heavily influenced by the
Cthulhu Mythos, and that the core of the ancient astronaut theory originates in
H. P. Lovecraft's short stories "
The Call of Cthulhu" and "
At the Mountains of Madness".
[edit] See also
- ^ Lieb, Michael (1998). Children of Ezekiel: Aliens, Ufos, the Crisis of Race, and the Advent of End Time. Duke University Press. pp. 250. ISBN 0-8223-2268-4.
- ^ Cithara. St. Bonaventure University. 1961. pp. 12.
- ^ Von Däniken, Erich (1984). Chariots of the Gods. Berkley Pub Group. ISBN 0-4250-7481-1.
- ^ Harrold,. Noah's ark and ancient astronauts: Pseudoscientific beliefs about the past among a sample of college students. The Skeptical inquirer 11.1 1986: 61. Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. 13 Dec 2010.
- ^ "Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize". http://improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html. Retrieved 2010-08-25. "Ig Nobel Prize"-Erich Von Daniken for Literature 1991, John Edward Mack for Psychology 1993, Richard Hoagland for Astronomy 1997.
- ^ Sagan, Carl. Broca's Brain. 1979
- ^ Shklovski, I.S and Carl Sagan. Intelligent Life in the Universe. San Francisco: Holden-Day, 1966
- ^ "The Possible Consequences of Direct Contact," authored mostly by Sagan, according to line-by-line indications of individual or collaborative sections.
- ^ "civilizations, aeons more advanced than ours, must be plying the spaces between stars." Shklovski and Sagan, p. 464
- ^ Even allowing for millions of years between visits from a hypothetical "Galactic survey ship", Sagan calculated ~10ˆ4 such visits could have occurred "during [Earth's] geologic time". Shklovski and Sagan, p. 461;
- ^ Sagan cites the 1786 expedition of French explorer Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, which made the earliest contact between European and Tlingit cultures. This contact story was preserved as an oral tradition by the preliterate Tlingit, and was first recorded by anthropologist George T. Emmons over a century after its occurrence. Though framed in a Tlingit cultural and spiritual paradigm, the story remained an accurate telling of the 1786 encounter. According to Sagan, this proved how "under certain circumstances, a brief contact with an alien civilization will be recorded in a reconstructable manner. The reconstruction will be greatly aided if (1) the account is committed to written record soon after the event; (2) a major change is effected in the contacted society; and (3) no attempt is made by the contacting civilization to disguise its exogenous nature." Shklovski and Sagan, p. 453
- ^ "stories like the Oannes legend, and representations especially of the earliest civilizations on Earth, deserve much more critical studies than have been performed heretofore, with the possibility of direct contact with an extraterrestrial civilization as one of many possible alternative explanations". Shklovski and Sagan, p. 461
- ^ Sagan, Broca's Brain, p. 67
- ^ Lhote, Henri (1903-1991)
- ^ "Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods: Science or Charlatanism?", Robert Sheaffer. First published in the "NICAP UFO Investigator", October/November, 1974. http://www.debunker.com/texts/vondanik.html
- ^ Temple, Robert K. G., The Sirius Mystery, 1976. ISBN 0-09-925744-0
- ^ Sagan, Carl, Broca’s Brain, published by Random House, Inc. in 1974
- ^ Investigating the Sirius "Mystery" - Skeptical Inquirer (1978) Ian Ridpath
- ^ Walter E. A. van Beek: "Dogon Restudied: A Field Evaluation of the Work of Marcel Griaule." Current Anthropology, 32 (1991): 139-167.
- ^ Partridge, C.H. (2003). UFO religions. Routledge. ISBN 9780415263245. http://books.google.com/books?id=zHT8CeeiWlIC.
- ^ "http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/cargocult.htm"
- ^ "http://www.main.org/polycosmos/glxywest/vimanas.htm"
- ^ King James Red Letter edition 1944, Ezekiel 1:1–28
- ^ von Daniken, 38-9. Morris K. Jessup, UFO and the Bible (New York: Citadel Press, 1956) 56-59.
- ^ Arthur W. Orton: "The Four-Faced Visitors of Ezekiel", Analog Science Fact & Fiction, March 1961, p. 99 (e-text at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30252).
- ^ Josef F. Blumrich: The Spaceships of Ezekiel, Corgi Books, 1974.
- ^ James Orr says “it is not easy to be certain of the interpretation of this strange passage.” “Nephilim,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, ed., (Chicago: Howard-Severance, 1930), Vol. IV, p. 2133.
- ^ von Daniken, 34.
- ^ Missler, Chuck, and Mark Eastman, Alien Encounters: The Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon (Coeur d’Alene, ID: Koinonia House, 1997), 207.
- ^ von Däniken, 37. Le Poer Trench had previously speculated that a space vehicle had used nuclear weapons to destroy Sodom; Brinsley Le Poer Trench, The Sky People (New York: Award Books, 1970; copyright 1960, London) 64-5.
- ^ Exodus 13:21
- ^ Exodus 19:16–19
- ^ Numbers 35:34
- ^ 2 Samuel 22:10–16
- ^ Joshua 10:10–11
- ^ God: a Biography, Jack Miles 1996 ISBN 0-679-74368-5
- ^ FarShores.org AncientDimensions Mysteries: De-Coded: The Ark Of The Covenant
- ^ Book of Enoch Together with a Reprint of Greek Fragments (1912) ISBN 1-56459-523-4
- ^ World Mysteries - Strange Artifacts, Ancient Flying Machines
- ^ Art and UFO - Part 5
- ^ UFO Evidence
- ^ The Mysterious Nazca Lines
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2403stone.html
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/dispatches/990827.html
- ^ History Channel "Mega Movers: Ancient Mystery Moves"
- ^ Ancient Astronauts
- ^ http://jcolavito.tripod.com/lostcivilizations/id26.html
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