View source for Ancient astronauts

{{Short description|Pseudoscientific claims of past alien contact}}
{{about|the idea that aliens visited ancient humans|the idea that aliens seeded life on earth|Directed panspermia}}
{{about|the real-life topic|the plot device from works of fiction|Ancient astronauts in popular culture}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox pseudoscience
| image = Antropomorfi detti astronauti (b) - R 1 - Area di Zurla - Nadro (ph Luca Giarelli).jpg
| image_width = 250
| caption = [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|Petroglyphs from Val Camonica]], Italy; ancient astronauts proponents believe that these figures resemble [[astronaut]]s.
| topics = [[Archaeology]]
| claims = Intelligent extraterrestrial life visited the Earth in ancient times and affected human civilization.
}}
{{Paranormal}}
'''Ancient astronauts''' (or '''ancient aliens''') refers to a [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] set of beliefs<ref name="Lieb 1998">{{Citation |last=Lieb |first=Michael |title=Children of Ezekiel: Aliens, UFOs, the Crisis of Race, and the Advent of End Time |pages=51–54, 249–251 |year=1998 |chapter=The Psycho-pathology of the Bizarre |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXhsbM6-lx0C&pg=PA51 |place=[[Durham, North Carolina]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |doi=10.2307/j.ctv11sn0vx.6 |isbn=978-0-8223-2137-8 |oclc=9354231}}</ref><ref name="Hammer-Swartz 2021">{{Citation |last1=Hammer |first1=Olav |title=Handbook of UFO Religions |volume=20 |pages=151–177 |year=2021 |editor-last=Zeller |editor-first=Ben |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |chapter=Ancient Aliens |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkswEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 |place=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/9789004435537_008 |isbn=978-90-04-43437-0 |issn=1874-6691 |s2cid=243018663 |last2=Swartz |first2=Karen |author-link=Olav Hammer}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=May |first=Andrew |title=Pseudoscience and Science Fiction |page=133 |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2O0QDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |edition=illustrated |place=[[Heidelberg]] |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |bibcode=2017psf..book.....M |isbn=978-3-319-42605-1}}</ref><ref name="Vetterling-Braggin 1983">{{Citation |author-last=Vetterling-Braggin |author-first=Mary |title=Philosophy of Science and the Occult |pages=278–288 |year=1983 |editor-last=Grim |editor-first=Patrick |access-date=July 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319194133/https://books.google.com/books?id=d57WiB38aTMC&pg=PA278 |archive-date=March 19, 2024 |url-status=live |chapter=The Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis: Science or Pseudoscience? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d57WiB38aTMC&pg=PA278 |edition=1st |place=[[Albany, New York]] |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |isbn=978-0-87395-572-0}}</ref> that hold that [[Extraterrestrial intelligence|intelligent]] [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial beings]] (alien [[astronaut]]s) visited [[Earth]] and made contact with [[humans]] in [[Ancient history|antiquity]] and [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] times.<ref name="Lieb 1998" /><ref name="Hammer-Swartz 2021" /><ref name="Vetterling-Braggin 1983" /> Proponents of the theory suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, religions, and human biology.<ref name="Lieb 1998" /><ref name="Hammer-Swartz 2021" /> A common position is that [[Deity|deities]] from most (if not all) religions are extraterrestrial in origin, and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as evidence of divine status{{Efn|Quote from science fiction author Arthur Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology will appear indistinguishable from magic."}} by early humans.<ref name="Lieb 1998" /><ref name="Hammer-Swartz 2021" /><ref>{{Citation |title=Cithara |date=November 1961 |volume=1 |pages=12 |url=https://www.bookdepository.com/Cithara-V1-No-1-November-1961-St-Bonaventure-University/9781258677152?ref=bd_recs_1_1 |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220175239/https://www.bookdepository.com/Cithara-V1-No-1-November-1961-St-Bonaventure-University/9781258677152?ref=bd_recs_1_1 |archive-date=February 20, 2022 |url-status=live |publisher=Literary Licensing, LLC |isbn=1258674610}}</ref>

The idea that ancient astronauts existed and visited Earth is not taken seriously by [[academic]]s and [[Archaeology|archaeologists]], who identify such claims as [[Pseudoarchaeology|pseudoarchaeological]]<ref>{{Citation |author-last=Rathje |author-first=William |title=The Ancient Astronaut Myth |date=January–February 1978 |journal=[[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology]] |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=4–7 |place=New York |publisher=[[Archaeological Institute of America]] |issn=0003-8113 |jstor=41726852 |author-link=William Rathje}}</ref> or [[unscientific]].<ref>{{Citation |author-last=Cole |author-first=John R. |title=[[Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory]] |date=1980 |volume=3 |pages=1–33 |editor-last=Schiffer |editor-first=Michael B. |chapter=Cult Archaeology and Unscientific Method and Theory |place=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[Academic Press]] |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-003103-0.50006-X |isbn=978-0-12-003103-0 |jstor=20170153 |s2cid=142959012}}</ref> It has received no credible attention in [[peer review|peer-review]]ed studies.<ref>Harrold; "Noah's Ark and Ancient Astronauts: Pseudoscientific Beliefs About the Past Among a Sample of College Students;" The Skeptical Inquirer; vol 11.1; 1986: 61; [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]]; December 13, 2010.</ref> When proponents of the idea present evidence in favor of their beliefs, it is often distorted or [[Hoax|fabricated]].<ref name="Hines">Hines. T. ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books, 2003. p. 304</ref> Some authors and scholars also argue that ancient astronaut theories have racist undertones or implications, diminishing the accomplishments and capabilities of [[indigenous cultures]].<ref name="Lieb 1998" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bond |first=Sarah E. |date=November 13, 2018 |title=Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens |url=http://hyperallergic.com/470795/pseudoarchaeology-and-the-racism-behind-ancient-aliens/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719042917/https://hyperallergic.com/470795/pseudoarchaeology-and-the-racism-behind-ancient-aliens/ |archive-date=July 19, 2023 |access-date=July 11, 2023 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Close encounters of the racist kind |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/01/02/close-encounters-racist-kind |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319194136/https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/01/02/close-encounters-racist-kind |archive-date=March 19, 2024 |access-date=July 11, 2023 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |date=January 2, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

Well-known proponents of these beliefs in the latter half of the 20th century who have written numerous books or appear regularly in [[mass media]] include [[Robert Charroux]], [[Jacques Bergier]], [[Jean Sendy]], [[Erich von Däniken]],<ref name="Lieb 1998" /><ref name="Hammer-Swartz 2021" /><ref name="Vetterling-Braggin 1983" /> [[Alexander Kazantsev]],  [[Zecharia Sitchin]], [[Robert K. G. Temple]], [[Giorgio A. Tsoukalos]],  [[David Hatcher Childress]], [[Peter Kolosimo]], and [[Mauro Biglino]].

== Overview ==
[[File:Mesopotamian cylinder seal impression.jpg|thumb|[[Mesopotamia]]n [[cylinder seal]].]]
Various terms are used to reference claims about ancient astronauts, such as ancient aliens,<ref>{{Citation |last=Gromacki |first=Gary |title=Ancient Aliens or Demonic Deception? |date=2012 |journal=Journal of Ministry & Theology |volume=16 |issue=2 |url=http://www.galaxie.com/article/jmat16-2-02 |access-date=July 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129162453/https://www.galaxie.com/article/jmat16-2-02 |archive-date=November 29, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> ancient ufonauts,<ref>{{Citation |last=Lewis |first=James R. |title=Excavating Tradition: Alternative Archaeologies as Legitimation Strategies |date=2012 |work=Numen: International Review for the History of Religions |volume=59 |issue=2/3 |pages=202–221 |doi=10.1163/156852712X630789}}</ref> ancient space pilots,<ref name="Grünschloß">{{Citation |last=Grünschloß |first=Andreas |title=Ancient Astronaut Narrations. A Popular Discourse on Our Religious Past |date=2007 |journal=Fabula |volume=48 |issue=3–4 |pages=205–228 |url=https://www.uni-marburg.de/fb03/ivk/mjr/pdfs/2006/articles/gruenschloss2006.pdf |access-date=July 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005024215/https://www.uni-marburg.de/fb03/ivk/mjr/pdfs/2006/articles/gruenschloss2006.pdf |archive-date=October 5, 2016 |url-status=live |doi=10.1515/FABL.2007.018 |s2cid=163071861}}</ref> paleocontact,<ref>{{Citation |last=Herrick |first=James A. |title=The Men Behind the Myths: Erich von Däniken |date=February 6, 2009 |work=Christianity Today |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/february/17.23.html |access-date=July 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129162456/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/february/17.23.html |archive-date=November 29, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> astronaut- or alien gods,<ref name="Hiscock">{{Citation |last=Hiscock |first=Peter |title=Cinema, Supernatural Archaeology, and the Hidden Human Past |date=2012 |work=Numen: International Review for the History of Religions |volume=59 |issue=2/3 |pages=156–177 |doi=10.1163/156852712X630761}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Hanegraaff |first=Wouter J. |title=Fiction in the Desert of the Real: Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos |date=2007 |journal=Aries |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=85–109 |doi=10.1163/157005906X154728}}</ref> or paleo- or biblical-SETI ([[search for extraterrestrial intelligence]]).<ref name="Richter">{{Citation |last=Richter |first=Jonas |title=Traces of the Gods: Ancient Astronauts as a Vision of Our Future |date=2012 |work=Numen: International Review for the History of Religions |volume=59 |issue=2/3 |pages=222–248 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/894139 |access-date=June 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129162446/https://zenodo.org/record/894139 |archive-date=November 29, 2022 |url-status=live |doi=10.1163/156852712X630798}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Lewis |first1=James R. |title=Introduction (to special issue on alternative archeologies) |date=2012 |work=Numen: International Review for the History of Religions |volume=59 |issue=2/3 |pages=119–124 |doi=10.1163/156852712X630734 |last2=Andersson |first2=Pia}}</ref>

Believers in such ancient astronaut stories often maintain that all or some humans are either descendants or creations of [[extraterrestrial intelligence]] who landed on Earth at some point in the ancient past. An associated idea is that human knowledge, religion, and culture came from extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times, in that ancient astronauts acted as a "[[mother culture]]".  Additionally, proponents often claim that travelers from outer space built many of the structures on Earth (such as [[Egyptian pyramids]] and the [[Moai]] stone heads of [[Easter Island]]) or aided humans in building them.<ref>{{Citation |last=Olien |first=Michael D. |title=The Human Myth: An Introduction to Anthropology |date=1978 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/humanmythintrodu0000olie/page/236 236–241, 245, 255] |url=https://archive.org/details/humanmythintrodu0000olie/page/236 |chapter=Did Ancient Astronauts Bring Civilization? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mvFKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA236 |place=USA |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=0-06-044918-7 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Proponents contend that the evidence for ancient astronauts comes from documentary gaps in historical and archaeological records while citing [[artifact (archaeology)|archaeological artifacts]] that they believe, contrary to the mainstream explanations, are [[anachronism|anachronistic]] and supposedly beyond the  technical capabilities of the people who made them. These are sometimes referred to as "[[out-of-place artifact]]s"; and include artwork and legends which believers reinterpret to fit stories of extraterrestrial contact or technologies.<ref>{{Citation |last=O'Hehir |first=Andrew |title=Archaeology from the dark side |date=August 31, 2005 |work=Salon |url=http://www.salon.com/2005/08/31/archaeology/ |access-date=July 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207182236/https://www.salon.com/2005/08/31/archaeology/ |archive-date=December 7, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

As a [[pseudoarcheology]], the idea receives notice in fringe [[Tabloid journalism|pulp]] media, such as the [[History (American TV network)|History Channel]] series ''[[Ancient Aliens (TV series)|Ancient Aliens]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Killgrove |first=Kristina |title=What Archaeologists Really Think About Ancient Aliens, Lost Colonies, And Fingerprints Of The Gods |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/09/03/what-archaeologists-really-think-about-ancient-aliens-lost-colonies-and-fingerprints-of-the-gods/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230711120326/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/09/03/what-archaeologists-really-think-about-ancient-aliens-lost-colonies-and-fingerprints-of-the-gods/ |archive-date=July 11, 2023 |access-date=July 11, 2023 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> Such shows use a strategy known as '[[Gish gallop|fire-hosing]]' to co-mingle fact with fiction in order to spread theories of an alternate past with tropes that follow [[White supremacy|white supremacist]], [[Nativism (politics)|nativist]], [[imperialist]], [[Settler colonialism|settler-colonial]], and [[Christian Identity]] beliefs relevant to the past.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Wade |first=Lizzie |date=April 12, 2019 |title=Beliefs in aliens, Atlantis are on the rise |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.364.6436.110 |url-status=live |journal=Science |language=en |volume=364 |issue=6436 |pages=110–111 |bibcode=2019Sci...364..110W |doi=10.1126/science.364.6436.110 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=30975865 |s2cid=109940906 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230711115909/https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.364.6436.110 |archive-date=July 11, 2023 |access-date=July 11, 2023}}</ref> The celebrity proponents of ancient aliens profess to be a part of an oppressed minority of academics that 'big archaeology' is [[Conspiracy theory|conspiring]] to disenfranchise while their identity of being a maverick or a rogue aligns with the individuals' lack of credentials.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Rossi |first=Franco |date=2021 |title=Reckoning with the Popular Uptake of Alien Archaeology |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XU4SAMREFCGWJDSGFMHS/full?target=10.1080/14655187.2021.1920795 |url-status=live |journal=Public Archaeology |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=162–183 |doi=10.1080/14655187.2021.1920795 |s2cid=237124510 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010101054/https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XU4SAMREFCGWJDSGFMHS/full?target=10.1080/14655187.2021.1920795 |archive-date=October 10, 2022 |access-date=June 28, 2023}}</ref>

Like archaeological endeavors of the criticized past, these proponents focus primarily on [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World|monumental archaeological structures]] claiming they could have only been constructed with extraterrestrial intervention. The implication is that the [[Person of color|non-white]] [[Indigenous people]] in the regions in which these monuments appear could not have built them on their own.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 28, 2019 |title="Ancient Aliens": A Damaging Perspective |url=https://theliberatormagazine.com/2019/02/28/ancient-aliens-a-damaging-perspective/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230711120638/https://theliberatormagazine.com/2019/02/28/ancient-aliens-a-damaging-perspective/ |archive-date=July 11, 2023 |access-date=July 11, 2023 |website=The Liberator Magazine |language=en}}</ref> However, Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer Ruth H. Burns, in ''Atmos'' magazine, counters that ancient alien theory and the idea of extraterrestrials in general supports the viewpoints of indigenous, non-European peoples. She believes the denial of extraterrestrial encounters and indigenous peoples' stories tracing their origins to extraterrestrials is part of "Indigenous erasure," as it minimizes or completely discounts the viewpoints of indigenous peoples. Many indigenous peoples trace their ancestry to "star-people" or the like—extraterrestrials who as the progenitors of indigenous peoples cannot by definition be white or "Aryan."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burns (Hopkins) |first=Ruth, a.k.a. Cankudutawin (Red Road Woman) |date=August 8, 2023 |title=Ancient Ties: Indigenous Peoples and the Extraterrestrial |url=https://atmos.earth/ancient-ties-indigenous-people-and-the-extraterrestrial/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104175657/https://atmos.earth/ancient-ties-indigenous-people-and-the-extraterrestrial/ |archive-date=January 4, 2024 |access-date=January 4, 2024 |website=Atmos}}</ref>

A common feature in the stories portray the [[Nordic aliens|aliens as light-skinned]] or [[Aryan]] in complexion, as prominent alien astronaut proponent [[Erich von Däniken]] claims in his foundational work ''[[Chariots of the Gods?]]''<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Some ancient astronaut proponents are thus associated with white supremacism, although their theories are sometimes applied to European cultures as well.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 11, 2017 |title=7 Ancient Sites Some People Think Were Built by Aliens |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel-and-adventure/7-ancient-sites-some-people-think-were-built-by-aliens |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231226101512/https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel-and-adventure/7-ancient-sites-some-people-think-were-built-by-aliens |archive-date=December 26, 2023 |access-date=December 26, 2023 |website=National Geographic |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stothers |first1=Richard |date=2007 |title=Unidentified Flying Objects in Classical Antiquity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30038660 |url-status=live |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=79–92 |issn=0009-8353 |jstor=30038660 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408000555/https://www.jstor.org/stable/30038660 |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref>

These claims are so outlandish that up until recently, mainstream archaeologists essentially ignored them as absurdities.<ref name=":1" /> The few dedicated popular science explainers and skeptics who did offer opinions on the ideas universally panned them. For example, [[Carl Sagan]] wrote, "In the long litany of 'ancient astronaut' pop archaeology, the cases of apparent interest have perfectly reasonable alternative explanations, or have been misreported, or are simple prevarications, [[hoax]]es and distortions".{{sfnp|Sagan|2011|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vYpP6zmD9G8C&q=ancient+astronaut&pg=PP1 65–68, 79]}}

== History of ancient aliens beliefs and their proponents ==
Paleocontact or "ancient astronaut" narratives first appeared in the [[history of science fiction|early science fiction]] of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the 1898 novel ''[[Edison's Conquest of Mars]]''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Envisioning Martian Civilizations |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/finding-our-place-in-the-cosmos-with-carl-sagan/articles-and-essays/life-on-other-worlds/envisioning-martian-civilizations |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203184021/https://www.loc.gov/collections/finding-our-place-in-the-cosmos-with-carl-sagan/articles-and-essays/life-on-other-worlds/envisioning-martian-civilizations |archive-date=February 3, 2023 |access-date=February 3, 2023 |website=Library of Congress |quote=In the story the Martians were 14 feet tall and had advanced enough technology that they had visited the Earth 9,000 years earlier.}}</ref> and the works of [[H.P. Lovecraft]].<ref>Card 2018: p. 249</ref> The idea was proposed in earnest by journalist [[Harold T. Wilkins]] in 1954. It grew in popularity in the 1960s, mainly due to the [[Space Race]] and the success of Erich von Däniken's works, although it also received limited consideration as a serious hypothesis. Critics emerged throughout the 1970s, discrediting Von Däniken's claims. Ufologists separated the idea from the UFO controversy. By the early 1980s little remaining support could be found.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=William F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vH1EAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT47 |title=Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience: From Alien Abductions to Zone Therapy |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=9781135955229 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

=== Shklovskii and Sagan ===
[[File:Stone statue, late Jomon period.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[Dogū]] figurine made during Jōmon period (dated 1000–400 BCE).]]
[[File:P1150882 Louvre Relief Dudu AO2394 rwk.jpg|thumbnail|upright|Votive relief of the winged priest of Dudu on display at the Louvre Museum, France]] [[Carl Sagan]] co-authored a widely popular book ''Intelligent Life in the Universe'', with Soviet astrophysicist [[Iosif Shklovsky]] and published in 1966.<ref>{{harvp|Shklovskii|Sagan|1966|pages=448–464}} Chapter 33: "The Possible Consequences of Direct Contact"</ref> In his 1979 book ''[[Broca's Brain]]'', Sagan suggested that he and Shklovsky might have inspired the wave of 1970s 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."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sagan |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GlXPqexwO28C&pg=PA79 |title=Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science |publisher=Ballantine Books |year=1980 |isbn=978-0345336897 |access-date=July 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319194137/https://books.google.com/books?id=GlXPqexwO28C&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=March 19, 2024 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}}</ref> Sagan pointed out that while many legends, artifacts, and purported out-of-place artifacts were cited in support of ancient astronaut hypotheses, "very few require more than passing mention" and could be [[Sagan standard|easily explained with more conventional hypotheses]]. Sagan also reiterated his earlier conclusion that extraterrestrial visits to Earth were possible but unproven and improbable.{{sfnp|Shklovskii|Sagan|1966}}

=== Erich von Däniken ===
{{Main|Erich von Däniken}}
[[File:Pacal the Great tomb lid.svg|thumb|upright|The sarcophagus lid of [[K'inich Janaab' Pakal|Pacal the Great]].]]

Erich von Däniken was a leading proponent of this hypothesis 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.

According to von Däniken, certain artifacts require 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]], [[Pumapunku]], the [[Moai]] of [[Easter Island]], the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]], and the [[Baghdad Battery|ancient Baghdad electric batteries]].

[[File:Hieroglif z Abydos.jpg|left|thumb|The so-called "[[Helicopter hieroglyphs]]", at [[Abydos, Egypt]]. ]]
Von Däniken writes 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 states that geographically separated historical cultures share artistic themes, which he argues imply a common origin. One such example is von Däniken's interpretation of the sarcophagus lid recovered from the tomb of the Classic-era [[Maya civilization|Maya]] ruler of [[Palenque]], [[Pacal the Great]]. Von Däniken writes that the design represented a seated astronaut. The iconography and accompanying [[Maya script|Maya text]], however, identifies it as a portrait of the ruler himself with the [[Wacah Chan|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 [[god]]s. Von Däniken states that the oral and written traditions of most religions contain references to alien visitors in the way of descriptions of stars and vehicular objects traveling through air and space. One such is [[Ezekiel]]'s revelation, which Däniken interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft (''[[The Spaceships of Ezekiel]]'').

Von Däniken's hypotheses became popularized in the U.S. after the [[NBC-TV]] documentary ''In Search of Ancient Astronauts'' hosted by [[Rod Serling]], and the film ''[[Chariots of the Gods (film)|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 have been validated.<ref>[http://www.debunker.com/texts/vondanik.html "Erich von Däniken's ''Chariots of the Gods?'': Science or Charlatanism?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824125416/http://www.debunker.com/texts/vondanik.html|date=August 24, 2019}}; Robert Sheaffer. Via Debunker.com; originally published in ''NICAP UFO Investigator'', October/November 1974</ref> In particular the [[Christianity|Christian]] [[creationist]] community is highly critical of most of von Däniken's work. [[Young earth creationist|Young Earth creationist]] author Clifford A. Wilson published ''Crash Go the Chariots'' in 1972 in which he attempted to discredit all the claims made in ''Chariots of the Gods''.<ref>Clifford Wilson, ''Crash Go the Chariots'', Lancer Books, 1972{{page needed|date=July 2022}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

In ''Chariots of the Gods?'', regarding the [[Nazca Lines]], von Däniken states that "Seen from the air, the clear-cut impression that the 60 km [37-mile] long plain of Nazca made on me was that of an airfield."<ref name="Chariots of the Gods?">{{cite book |last=von Däniken |first=Erich |title=Chariots of the Gods? |date=1968 |publisher=G.P. Putnam Sons |pages=17}}</ref> Considering he was in the process of seeking evidence of ancient aliens, von Däniken exhibits [[confirmation bias]], as he does not consider the Nazca Lines to be man-made until after the publication of ''Chariots of the Gods?'' This [[etic]] perspective that he presents could be easily accepted by a reader familiar with air travel, and an undeveloped knowledge of the nature of the [[geoglyphs]]. Furthermore, since the majority of readers of ''Chariots of the Gods?'' are not educated in viewing artifacts from ancient civilizations, their interpretations are highly subject to von Däniken's opinions of the artifacts. [[Kenneth L. Feder]] argues a reader seeing the Nazca Lines for the first time in a book about aliens would be much more likely to associate those features with extraterrestrial origins, rather than from a civilization that existed on Earth.<ref name="Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries">{{Citation |last=Feder |first=Kenneth |title=Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries |date=2018 |pages=189–206 |publisher=Oxford Press |isbn=978-0190629656}}</ref>

In 1970, von Däniken admitted that the Nazca markings "could have been laid out on their gigantic scale by working from a model using a system of coordinates."<ref>{{cite book |last=Feder |first=Kenneth |url=http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp264-ss17/files/2013/01/ch09.pdf |title=Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries |date=April 15, 2013 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |isbn=978-0078035074 |edition=8th |page=224 |access-date=October 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006200626/http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp264-ss17/files/2013/01/ch09.pdf |archive-date=October 6, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Zecharia Sitchin ===
{{Main|Zecharia Sitchin}}
Zecharia Sitchin's series ''The Earth Chronicles'', beginning with ''The 12th Planet'', revolves around Sitchin's unique interpretation of ancient [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] and [[Middle East]]ern texts, [[megalithic]] sites, and artifacts from around the world.<ref name="Skepdic">{{Citation |last=Carroll |first=Robert T |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary |date=1994–2009 |work=Zecharia Sitchin and The Earth Chronicles |url=http://www.skepdic.com/sitchin.html |access-date=January 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920223457/http://www.skepdic.com/sitchin.html |archive-date=September 20, 2019 |url-status=live |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref><ref name="NYT, Kilgannon">{{Citation |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |title=Origin of the Species, From an Alien View |date=January 8, 2010 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/nyregion/10alone.html |access-date=October 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112011856/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/nyregion/10alone.html |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |url-status=live |quote=Mr. Sitchin was called silly before—by scientists, historians and archaeologists who dismiss his hypotheses as pseudoscience and fault their underpinnings—his translations of ancient texts and his understanding of physics.}}</ref> He hypothesizes that the gods of old [[Mesopotamia]] were astronauts from the planet "[[Nibiru (Sitchin)|Nibiru]]", which Sitchin states 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 the Sun on a 3,600-year elongated orbit. Modern [[astronomy]] has found no evidence to support Sitchin's ideas.<ref name="Skepdic" />

Sitchin argues that there are Sumerian texts that tell the story that 50 [[Anunnaki]], inhabitants of a planet named 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 grew 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 and Eve|Adam]] of later mythology. Sitchin contended 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. Sitchin's work has not received mainstream scholarly support and has been roundly criticized by professionals that have reviewed his hypotheses. [[Semitic languages]] scholar [[Michael S. Heiser]] says that many of Sitchin's translations of Sumerian and Mesopotamian words are not consistent with Mesopotamian cuneiform bilingual dictionaries, produced by ancient [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] scribes.<ref>{{Citation |title=Open Letter to Zecharia Sitchin |work=stichiniswrong.com |url=http://sitchiniswrong.com/letter/letter.htm |access-date=October 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005042914/http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/letter/letter.htm |archive-date=October 5, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Pilkington">{{Citation |last=Pilkington |first=Mark |title=Zechariah Sitchin |date=August 2003 |work=[[Fortean Times]] |url=http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/199/zechariah_sitchin.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403132246/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/199/zechariah_sitchin.html |archive-date=April 3, 2013 |url-status=dead |author-link=Mark Pilkington (writer)}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Anunnaki |work=stichiniswrong.com |url=http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/anunnaki/anunnaki.htm |access-date=January 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014214444/http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/anunnaki/anunnaki.htm |archive-date=October 14, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Alan F. Alford]], author of ''Gods of the New Millennium'' (1996), was an adherent of the ancient astronaut hypothesis. Much of his work draws on Sitchin's hypotheses. However, he now finds fault with Sitchin's hypothesis 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."<ref>{{Citation |title=Ancient Astronauts |url=http://www.eridu.co.uk/Author/human_origins/ancient_astronauts.html |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717033657/http://www.eridu.co.uk/Author/human_origins/ancient_astronauts.html |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |publisher=Eridu.co.uk}}</ref>

=== Robert Temple ===
{{Main|Robert K. G. 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 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 anthropology|cultural anthropologists]] [[Marcel Griaule]] and [[Germaine Dieterlen]].<ref>Temple, Robert K. G., ''The Sirius Mystery'', 1976. {{ISBN|0-09-925744-0}}</ref>

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.{{sfnp|Sagan|2011}}<ref>{{Citation |author=Ian Ridpath |title=Investigating the Sirius 'Mystery' |date=1978 |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/7809/sirius.html |access-date=October 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216222836/http://www.csicop.org/si/7809/sirius.html |archive-date=February 16, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=van Beek |first=Walter E. A. |title=Dogon Restudied: A Field Evaluation of the Work of Marcel Griaule |date=1991 |work=Current Anthropology |volume=32 |pages=139–167 |doi=10.1086/203932 |s2cid=224796672}}</ref>

=== UFO religions ===
{{Main|UFO religion}}
Various [[new religious movement]]s including some branches of [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]], [[Scientology]], [[Raëlism]], [[Aetherius Society]], and [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]] believe in ancient and present-day contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Many of these faiths see both ancient scriptures and recent revelations as connected with the action of aliens from other planetary systems. Psychologists have found that UFO religions have similarities which suggest that members of these groups consciously or [[Subliminal stimuli|subliminally]] associate enchantment with the [[meme]]s of [[science fiction]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Partridge |first=C.H. |title=UFO religions |date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHT8CeeiWlIC |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-26324-5}}</ref>

== Claims of proponents ==
{{see also|Prehistoric religion}}
[[File:Rama welcomed.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Rama]] being welcomed upon his return to [[Ayodhya (Ramayana)|Ayodhya]] in king [[Ravana]]'s flying chariot [[Pushpaka Vimana]]]]

Among scientists, the consensus is that the ancient astronaut hypothesis is not impossible, but unjustified and unnecessary. The "mysteries" cited as evidence for the hypothesis can be explained without having to invoke ancient astronauts; proponents look for mysteries where none exist.<ref name="Hines" /> Since ancient astronauts are unnecessary, [[Occam's razor]] should be applied and the hypothesis rejected according to the scientific consensus.<ref>Carroll, R. T. ''The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions''. Wiley, 2003. pp. 21–22{{ISBN?}}</ref>

=== Ancient 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 representations of alien visitors, whose superior technology accounts for their perception as gods. Proponents draw an analogy to occurrences in modern time when isolated cultures are exposed to advanced technology, such as when, in the early 20th century, "[[cargo cult]]s" 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.<ref>[http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/cargocult.htm "Cargo Cults"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128023429/http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/cargocult.htm|date=November 28, 2012}}; SJSU.edu</ref>{{User-generated inline|reason=This is a blog website owned and operated by one person. Not a reliable source.|date=June 2019}}

The ancient Sumerian myth of ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', inscribed on cuneiform tablets and part of the [[Library of Ashurbanipal]], says humankind was created to serve gods called the "''[[Annunaki]]''". Hypothesis proponents believe that the Annunaki were aliens who came to Earth to mine gold for their own uses. According to the hypothesis proponents, the Annunaki realized mining gold was taking a toll on their race, and then created the human race as slaves.<ref name="Enuma">{{Citation |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |title=Enuma Elish – The Babylonian Epic of Creation – Full Text |date=May 4, 2018 |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/225/enuma-elish---the-babylonian-epic-of-creation---fu/ |access-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423000119/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/225/enuma-elish---the-babylonian-epic-of-creation---fu/ |archive-date=April 23, 2021 |url-status=live |encyclopedia=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>

==== ''Ramayana'' ====
{{See also|Vaimānika Shāstra}}
In [[Hindu mythology]], [[Hindu deities|the gods]] and their [[avatar]]s travel from place to place in flying vehicles called [[Vimana]]. There are many mentions of these flying objects in the ''[[Ramayana]]'', which used by the Lankan king Ravana from Sri Lanka dates to the 5th or 4th century BCE. Below are some examples:

From Book 6, Canto CXXIII: The Magic Car:<ref name="ramayana">{{cite book |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/index.htm |title=Rámáyan of Válmíki |date= |publisher= |translator=Ralph T. H. Griffith |access-date=March 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412232155/http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/index.htm |archive-date=April 12, 2018 |url-status=live |via=Sacred-Texts.com}}</ref>
<blockquote><poem>Is not the wondrous chariot mine,

Named Pushpak, wrought by hands divine.
...
This chariot, kept with utmost care,
Will waft thee through the fields of air,
And thou shalt light unwearied down

In fair Ayodhyá's royal town.</poem></blockquote>

From Book 6, Canto CXXIV: The Departure:<ref name="ramayana" />
<blockquote><poem>Swift through the air, as [[Rama|Ráma]] chose,

The wondrous car from earth arose.
And decked with swans and silver wings

Bore through the clouds its freight of kings.</poem></blockquote>

Erich von Däniken discusses the ''Ramayana'' and the ''vimanas'' in Chapter 6 of ''Chariots of the Gods?'' suggesting that they were "space vehicles". To support his hypothesis, he offers a quotation which he says is from an 1889 translation of the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' by C. Roy: "[[Bhima]] flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a storm".<ref>von Däniken, Erich; ''Chariots of the Gods?''; "Chapter 6: Ancient Imagination and Legends or Ancient Facts?"; 1968.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Vimanas |url=http://www.main.org/polycosmos/glxywest/vimanas.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210023753/http://www.main.org/polycosmos/glxywest/vimanas.htm |archive-date=February 10, 2010 |accessdate= |work=main.org |publisher= |translator=}}</ref>

==== The Bible ====
===== Book of Genesis and Book of Enoch =====
The [[Book of Genesis]], Chapter 6 verses 1–2 and 4, states:
{{Blockquote|text=When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the [[sons of God]] saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose... The [[Nephilim]] were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them.|title=Genesis 6:1–4 (New International Version)}}

Many Christians consider these groups to be the different families of Adam and Eve's children. Another interpretation is that the Nephilim are the children of the "sons of God" and "daughters of humans", although scholars are uncertain.<ref>[[James Orr (theologian)|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.</ref> The [[King James Version]] translates "Nephilim" as "giants" (or [[Gibborim (biblical)|Gibborim]]). Ancient Astronaut proponents argue that Adam and Eve ate of the [[forbidden fruit]] in order "to be godlike", and this was the first step in [[human evolution]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2019}}

The first part of the apocryphal [[Book of Enoch]] expands and interprets Genesis 6:1: that the "sons of God" were a group of 200 "[[angel]]s" called "[[Watcher (angel)|Watchers]]", who descended to Earth to breed with humans. Their offspring are the Nephilim, "giants" who "consumed all the acquisitions of men". When humans could no longer sustain the Nephilim, they turned against humanity. The Watchers also instructed humans in [[metallurgy]] and [[metalworking]], [[cosmetics]], [[Magic (paranormal)|sorcery]], [[astrology]], [[astronomy]], and [[meteorology]]. God then ordered the Watchers to be imprisoned in the ground, and created the Great Flood (or the numerous [[Deluge myth]]s) to rid Earth of the Nephilim and of the humans given knowledge by the Watchers. To ensure humanity's survival, [[Noah]] is forewarned of the oncoming destruction. Because they disobeyed God, the book describes the Watchers as "[[fallen angel]]s".<ref>{{Citation |title=''Book of Enoch'' (English and Swedish translations) |url=http://enoksbok.se/cgi-bin/slaupp.cgi?%7C1%7C1%7C%7Cjmf |access-date=March 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826172815/http://enoksbok.se/cgi-bin/slaupp.cgi?%7C1%7C1%7C%7Cjmf |archive-date=August 26, 2017 |url-status=live |publisher=Enoksbok.se}}</ref>{{Original research inline|date=June 2019}}

Some ancient astronaut proponents argue that this story is a historical account of extraterrestrials visiting Earth, called Watchers because their mission was to observe humanity. Some of the extraterrestrials disobeyed orders; they made contact with humans, cross-bred with human females, and shared knowledge with them. The Nephilim were thus half-human-half-extraterrestrial [[hybrid (biology)|hybrids]].<ref>''[[Ancient Aliens (TV series)|Ancient Aliens]]'', Series 2 Episode 7: Angels and Aliens</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2019}}

Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman argue that modern UFOs carry the fallen angels, or offspring of fallen angels, and that "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".<ref>Missler, Chuck, and Mark Eastman, ''Alien Encounters: The Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon'' (Coeur d'Alene, ID: Koinonia House, 1997), 207.</ref>

Von Däniken also suggests that the two angels who visited [[Lot (biblical figure)|Lot]] in Genesis 19 were ancient astronauts, who used atomic weapons to destroy the city of [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]].<ref>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) 64–65.</ref>

Marc Dem reinterprets the Book of Genesis by writing that humanity started on another planet and that the God of the Bible is an extraterrestrial.<ref>Gordon Stein, The encyclopedia of the paranormal, Prometheus Books, 1996 p. 29</ref><!-- If Marc Dem is being cited, why is the source authored by someone else? -->

===== Book of Ezekiel =====
[[File:Ezekiel's vision.jpg|thumb|An engraved illustration of Ezekiel's 'vision' (1670)]]
Chapter 1 of the [[Book of Ezekiel]] recounts a vision in which Ezekiel sees "an immense cloud" that contains fire and emits lightning and "brilliant light". Within the cloud, the passage describes [[cherub]]im and [[ophanim]]:

{{Blockquote|text=...and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved...

As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.|title=Ezekiel 1:5–9, 15–19 (New International Version)}}

In Chapter 4 of ''Chariots of the Gods?'', entitled "Was God an Astronaut?", von Däniken suggests that Ezekiel had seen a spaceship or spaceships; this hypothesis had been put forward by [[Morris Jessup]] in 1956<ref>von Daniken, 38–39.  [[Morris K. Jessup]], ''UFO and the Bible'' (New York: Citadel Press, 1956) 56–59.</ref> and by Arthur W. Orton in 1961.<ref>{{Citation |last=Orton |first=Arthur W. |title=The Four-Faced Visitors of Ezekiel |date=March 1961 |page=99 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30252 |access-date=March 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329203615/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30252 |archive-date=March 29, 2015 |url-status=live |publisher=Analog Science Fact & Fiction |via=e-text at Project Gutenberg}}</ref> A detailed version of this hypothesis was described by Josef F. Blumrich in his book ''[[The Spaceships of Ezekiel]]'' (1974).<ref>Josef F. Blumrich: ''[[The Spaceships of Ezekiel]]'', Corgi Books, 1974.</ref>

===== Elsewhere in the Bible =====
The characteristics of the [[Ark of the Covenant]] and the [[Urim and Thummim]] have been said to suggest high technology, perhaps from alien origins.<ref>{{Citation |title=AncientDimensions Mysteries: De-Coded: The Ark Of The Covenant |url=http://farshores.org/a06ark.htm |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726050113/http://farshores.org/a06ark.htm |archive-date=July 26, 2011 |url-status=live |publisher=Farshores.org}}</ref>

[[Robert Dione]] and [[Paul Misraki]] published books in the 1960s describing the events in the [[Bible]] as caused by [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] [[technology]].<ref>Profile of Paul Misraki in UFOs in the 1980s by Jerome Clark, Apogee Books, 1990</ref><ref>Philip H. Melling, Fundamentalism in America: millennialism, identity and militant religion, 1999, p. 183</ref> [[Barry Downing]], a [[Presbyterian]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]], wrote a book in 1968 arguing that [[Jesus]] was an [[extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial]], citing John 8:23 and other biblical verses as evidence.<ref>''The Bible and Flying Saucers'' First Edition 1968. Second edition published in 1997 {{ISBN|1-56924-745-5}}</ref>

Some ancient astronaut proponents such as [[Von Däniken]] and [[Barry Downing]] believe that the concept of [[hell]] in the [[Bible]] could be a real description of the planet [[Venus]] brought to Earth by [[extraterrestrials]] showing photos of the hot surface on Venus to [[human]]s.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}  Proponents of the hypothesis state that '[[God]]' and '[[Satan]]' were aliens that disagreed on whether or not human beings should be allowed the information that is offered by the tree of knowledge. [[David Childress]], a leading proponent of ancient astronaut creation hypothesis, compares this story to the Greek tale of [[Prometheus]], who gave mankind the knowledge of fire. Ancient Astronaut proponents believe the biblical concept of Satan is based on a misunderstood visit by extraterrestrials. Erich von Däniken posited that the descendants of extraterrestrials had children with [[hominid]]s, and this was referred to in the Bible as the "[[Original sin]]." Von Däniken believes that the biblical [[flood myth|great flood]] was punishment after an extraterrestrial 'God' discovered that earthbound, [[fallen angel]]s were mating with ape-like early humans.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Ancient Aliens and the Creation of Man |url=http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/episodes/season-3 |series=Ancient Aliens |network=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] |airdate=November 24, 2011 |minutes=27:20 |access-date=March 23, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309074917/http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/episodes/season-3 |archive-date=March 9, 2014}}</ref>

====The Book of Invasions====
[[David Childress|Childress]] and others have written that the passage in the ''[[Book of Invasions]]'' describing the arrival of the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]] in Ireland, records "the arrival of aliens in spacecraft with cloaking devices" at [[Slieve Anierin]]. The text states "so that they were the Tuatha De Danand who came to Ireland. In this wise they came, in dark clouds. They landed on the mountains of Conmaicne Rein in Connacht and they brought a darkness over the sun for three days and three nights".{{sfnp|Colavito|2015|pp=94–95}}

=== Ancient artwork ===
[[File:Wandjina rock art.jpg|thumb|[[Wondjina]] rock art in the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]] region, Australia]]

==== Worldwide petroglyphic evidence ====
Ancient astronaut proponents believe [[Hopi]] cave drawings of [[Kachinas]] (spirit beings) found in the desert link the origins of the [[Hopi]] and [[Zuni people|Zuni]] tribes with "star people". They point to similar etchings elsewhere as evidence that extraterrestrials visited many different ancient civilizations.{{Citation needed|date=June 2019}}

Other artistic support for the ancient astronaut hypothesis has been sought in [[Palaeolithic]] [[cave painting]]s. [[Wondjina]] in Australia and in the [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica]], in Italy (seen above) are said to bear a resemblance to present day astronauts.<ref>Cave paintings and locations such as Wondinja and are discussed in the book ''UFO: the continuing enigma'', Reader's Digest Association, 1991, {{ISBN|978-0895773975}}</ref> Supporters of the ancient astronaut hypothesis sometimes argue that similarities such as dome shaped heads, interpreted as beings wearing space helmets, prove that early man was visited by an extraterrestrial race.<ref>{{Citation |title=UFO Evidence |url=http://www.etcontact.net/AncientAstronauts.htm |access-date=March 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328011611/http://www.etcontact.net/AncientAstronauts.htm |archive-date=March 28, 2014 |url-status=dead |publisher=Etcontact.net}}</ref>

==== Medieval and Renaissance art ====
More support of this hypothesis draws upon what are said to be representations of [[flying saucer]]s and other [[unidentified flying object]]s in [[Medieval art|Medieval]] and [[Renaissance art]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Art and UFO – Part 5 |date=November 23, 2002 |url=http://sprezzatura.it/Arte/Arte_UFO_5_eng.htm |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722053547/http://sprezzatura.it/Arte/Arte_UFO_5_eng.htm |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |url-status=live |publisher=Sprezzatura.it}}</ref>{{User-generated source|date=June 2019}}
{{clear}} Some examples of these said objects include an ovoid shape in the sky of the painting ''Madonna con Bambino e San Giovannino'' ([[Madonna and Child]] with the Infant Saint John), an unidentified flying object in the [[The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius|''Annunciazione'']] ([[Annunciation]]) (1486) by Carlo Crivelli, a "spherical object with antennae" that appears similar to [[Sputnik]] in Bonaventura Salimbeni's ''Santissima Trinita'' ([[Holy Trinity]]) (1595), and many such unidentified flying objects in Masolino Da Panicale's ''Miracolo della neve'' (Miracle of the Snow) (1428). According to Italian art expert Diego Cuoghi, these objects contain religious symbolism behind them as most paintings of the time were of religious subjects. In such artworks, he says that angels and "radiant clouds" often appear in the sky. He says the object in the ''Madonna and Child'' is one of these radiant clouds, the object in the ''Annunciazione'' is a vortex of angels, the Sputnik-like object of ''Santissima Trinita'' is a globe representing creation with two [[sceptre]]s held by [[God]] and [[Jesus|Christ]], and the ''Miracolo della neve'' contains many [[lenticular clouds]].<ref>Polidoro 2005</ref>

==== Nazca Lines ====
[[File:Nasca Astronaut 2007 08.JPG|thumb|A large [[geoglyph]] near the Nazca Lines.]]
The ancient [[Nazca Lines]] are hundreds of huge ground drawings etched into the high desert of southern [[Peru]]. Some are stylized animals and humanoid figures, while others are merely straight lines hundreds of meters long. As the figures were made to be seen from a great height,{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} they have been linked with the ancient astronaut hypothesis. In the 1970s, the pseudohistorical writer Erich von Däniken popularized a notion that the Nazca lines and figures could have been made "according to instructions from aircraft" and that the longer and wider lines might be [[runway]]s for spacecraft. According to archaeologist [[Kenneth Feder]], Von Däniken's extraterrestrial interpretation is not supported by any evidence. Feder wrote that "the lines are interpreted by archaeologists as ceremonial pathways of the ancient Nazca people; they were used precisely in this way in the fairly recent past."<ref>Feder, K. L. "Ancient Astronauts". In [[Michael Shermer]] (Ed). ''The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience''. ABC-CLIO. p. 19</ref>

[[Joe Nickell]] of the [[University of Kentucky]] re-created one of the figures using only wooden stakes and string.<ref name="nazca1">{{Citation |title=The Mysterious Nazca Lines |date=August 7, 1982 |url=http://www.onagocag.com/nazca.html |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715000556/http://www.onagocag.com/nazca.html |archive-date=July 15, 2011 |url-status=live |publisher=Onagocag.com}}</ref>

=== Ancient artifacts ===
====Ancient flying machines====
Proponents of the ancient astronauts idea say some artifacts discovered in [[Egypt]] (the [[Saqqara Bird]]) and [[Colombia]]-[[Ecuador]] ([[Quimbaya artifacts]]) are similar to modern planes and gliders.<ref>Sommer 2012: p. 8</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Strange Artifacts, Ancient Flying Machines |date=December 17, 1903 |url=http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_7.htm |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614001754/http://world-mysteries.com/sar_7.htm |archive-date=June 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |publisher=World Mysteries}}</ref> These artifacts have been interpreted by mainstream archaeologists, however, as stylized representations of birds and insects.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}}

=== Ancient structures and megalithic sites ===
[[File:AhuTongariki.JPG|thumb|left|[[Ahu Tongariki]] near [[Rano Raraku]].]]

Proposed evidence for ancient astronauts includes the existence of ancient monuments and [[megalithic]] ruins such as the [[Giza pyramids]] of Egypt, [[Machu Picchu]] in Peru, or [[Baalbek]] in [[Lebanon]], the [[Moai]] of [[Easter Island]] and [[Stonehenge]] of England.<ref>Christopher Penczak, Ascension Magick: Ritual, Myth & Healing for the New Aeon, 2007, p. 226</ref> Supporters say that 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.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}}

These ideas are categorically rejected by mainstream archeology. Some mainstream archeologists have participated in [[List of megalithic sites#List of efforts to move and install stones|experiments to move large megaliths]]. These experiments have succeeded in moving megaliths up to at least 40 tons,<ref>{{Citation |title=NOVA &#124; Transcripts &#124; Secrets of Lost Empires &#124; Stonehenge |date=February 11, 1997 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2403stone.html |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830225435/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2403stone.html |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |url-status=live |publisher=PBS}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=NOVA Online &#124; Mysteries of the Nile: The Third Attempt |date=August 27, 1999 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/dispatches/990827.html |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430023706/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/dispatches/990827.html |archive-date=April 30, 2009 |url-status=live |publisher=Pbs.org}}</ref> and some have speculated that with a larger workforce larger megaliths could be towed with the use of known ancient technology.<ref>History Channel "Mega Movers: Ancient Mystery Moves"</ref>
{{clear left}}

====Pyramids of Egypt====
Von Däniken states that ancient Egypt, with its great structures of the [[Giza pyramid complex]] such as the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] and the [[Great Sphinx of Giza]], became a "fantastic, ready-made civilization" suddenly and without transitions and development.<ref>Däniken 1972 cited in Feder 2020: p. 225</ref> Ancient astronaut proponents suggest that sites like the pyramids of Giza were instead constructed by extraterrestrials.<ref>Card 2018: p. 82</ref><ref name="auto">Feder 2020: p. 226</ref> However, archaeological evidence demonstrates not only the long cultural trajectory of [[prehistoric Egypt]] but also the developmental processes the ancient Egyptians underwent.<ref name="auto" /> Egyptian tombs began with important leaders of villages being buried in the bedrock and covered with mounds of earth. Eventually, the first [[pharaohs]] had tombs covered with single-story, mud-brick, square structures called [[mastabas]]. The [[stepped pyramid]] developed out of multiple mastabas being stacked on each one in one structure. This led to the construction of pharaoh [[Djoser]]'s Step Pyramid at [[Saqqara]], which is known from records to have been built by the ancient Egyptian architect and advisor [[Imhotep]].<ref>Feder 2020: pp. 227–228</ref> It was pharaoh [[Sneferu]] who had his pyramid transitioned from a stepped to a true [[pyramid]] like the well-known pyramids of Giza.<ref>Feder 2020: p. 229</ref> A [[papyrus]] document like a logbook kept by an official called  [[Diary of Merer|inspector Merer]] has also been discovered with records of the construction of the Great Pyramid.<ref>Tallet and Marouard 2014: pp. 8–10</ref>

====Moai====
The Moai statues of Easter Island were moved miles from the [[Rano Raraku]] quarry to their current locations, and archaeologists have wondered how massive statues such as these could have been transported.<ref>Hunt and Lipo 2011: p. 55</ref> The folklore of the native [[Rapa Nui people]] says that chiefs and priests used [[Mana (Oceanian mythology)|mana]] to make the statues of the island walk.<ref>Hunt and Lipo 2011: p. 56</ref> In 1982, Czech engineer [[Pavel Pavel]] and a group of sixteen people used a replica concrete moai to test a method that could have transported the statues. They tied ropes to it and in two groups pulled and twisted it back and forth, making it move forward in a walking motion. They called it the "refrigerator method" and demonstrated that the massive statues could be easily moved by a small group of people.<ref>Hunt and Lipo 2011: p. 79</ref>

=== Religious and cultural practices ===
[[File:Crânedéformé.jpg|thumb|right|A physiologically manipulated [[Paracas culture|Paracas]] skull (housed at the ''Museo Regional de Ica'' in [[Peru]])]]
A number of ancient cultures, such as the ancient Egyptians and some Native Americans, [[Artificial cranial deformation|artificially lengthened]] the skulls of their children. Some ancient astronaut proponents propose that this was done to emulate extraterrestrial visitors, whom they saw as gods.<ref name="aa-s3e8">{{Citation |author=[[Kevin Burns]] (executive producer) |title=[[Ancient Aliens (TV series)|Ancient Aliens]], Series 3, Episode 8: Aliens and Lost Worlds |year=2011 |publisher=[[A+E Networks]] |medium=motion picture}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Vesco |first1=Renato |title=Man-made UFOs 1944–1994 : 50 years of suppression |date=1994 |edition=1st |place=Stelle, IL |publisher=AUP Publishers Network |isbn=0932813232 |oclc=32056133 |last2=Childress, David Hatcher}}</ref>

====Akenaten====
Among the ancient rulers depicted with elongated skulls are pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] and [[Nefertiti]]. The depiction of Akhenaten and his family with traits like elongated skulls, limbs, underdeveloped torsos, and [[gynecomastia]] in [[Amarna art]] is hypothesized to be the effect of a familial disease.<ref name="auto1">Retief and Cilliers 2011</ref><ref name="auto2">Eshraghian and Loeys 2012: p. 661</ref> Marriage between family members, especially siblings, was common in ancient Egyptian royal families, elevating the risk of such disorders.<ref>Habicht and Henneberg 2015</ref><ref name="auto2" /> Studies on the remains of the ruling family of [[18th Dynasty]] Egypt have found evidence of deformities and illnesses.<ref name="auto2" /> Proposed syndromes of Akhenaten include [[Loeys-Dietz syndrome]], [[Marfan's syndrome]], [[Frohlich syndrome]], and [[Antley-Bixler syndrome]].<ref name="auto1" /><ref name="auto2" /> Akhenaten worshipped the sun disk god [[Aten]] and it is suggested that such worship could point to a disease that is alleviated by sunlight.<ref>Card 2018: p. 80</ref><ref>Eshraghian and Loeys 2012: p. 662</ref>

== In popular culture ==
{{Main|Ancient astronauts in popular culture}}
{{See also|Extraterrestrials in fiction}}
Ancient astronauts have been addressed frequently in science fiction and horror fiction in many different media. In a 2004 article in ''[[Skeptic (U.S. magazine)|Skeptic]]'' magazine, [[Jason Colavito]] writes that von Däniken borrowed many of the book's concepts from ''[[The Morning of the Magicians|Le Matin des Magiciens]]'' (''Morning of the Magicians''), that this book in turn was heavily influenced by the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], and that the core of the ancient astronaut hypothesis originates in [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'s works "[[The Call of Cthulhu]]" and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''.<ref>{{Citation |last=Colavito |first=Jason |title=Charioteer of the Gods |work=Skeptic |volume=10 |issue=4 |year=2004 |url=https://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/04-04-26/ |access-date=July 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802150526/http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/04-04-26/ |archive-date=August 2, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Colavito later expanded on this idea in his book ''[[The Cult of Alien Gods|The Cult of Alien Gods: H. P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture]]''.

The idea that aliens visited Earth in the past is frequently seen in works of fiction. For example, the comic book ''[[Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor]]'' considers that all the [[Norse mythology]] is based on actual beings living in other dimensions, who were worshipped as gods by the Vikings and who reappear on Earth in modern times. Däniken's work, however, inspired several works and franchises over time, such as ''[[Eternals (comics)|Eternals]]'', ''[[Stargate]]'', ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'', ''[[Prometheus (2012 film)|Prometheus]]'' and ''[[The X-Files]]''. All those works do not take the idea seriously, but merely use it as a narrative device.<ref>{{cite web |author=Max Evry |date=November 5, 2021 |title=The Pseudoscience Classic That Inspired Eternals... and Many Other Movies |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/pseudoscience-classic-that-inspired-eternals-and-many-other-movies |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531151200/https://www.ign.com/articles/pseudoscience-classic-that-inspired-eternals-and-many-other-movies |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |accessdate=May 16, 2022 |publisher=IGN}}</ref> Another angle may be to leave the aliens out of the story, and focus instead on devices they left behind, as in the novels ''Scarlet Dream'', ''Galactic Derelict'', ''World of Ptavvs'', ''Toolmaker Koan'', and ''A Fire Upon the Deep''.<ref>{{cite web |author=James Davis Nicoll |date=October 8, 2021 |title=Five SF Novels Featuring Ancient Alien Artifacts |url=https://www.tor.com/2021/10/08/five-sf-novels-featuring-ancient-alien-artifacts/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813010840/https://www.tor.com/2021/10/08/five-sf-novels-featuring-ancient-alien-artifacts/ |archive-date=August 13, 2022 |accessdate=May 16, 2022 |publisher=Tor}}</ref> Aliens may also appear as an [[elder race]] that created or shepherded humans in their early times; and may or may not be present in the work's present day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clute |first=John |url=http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=elder_races |title=Elder Races |publisher=Orbit |year=1997 |location=London |access-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928133005/http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=elder_races |archive-date=September 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[Ancient Aliens (TV series)|Ancient Aliens]]'' is a television series that features proponents of the ancient astronaut hypothesis, such as [[Giorgio A. Tsoukalos]], [[David Childress]], Erich von Däniken, [[Steven M. Greer]], and [[Nick Pope (journalist)|Nick Pope]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Ancient Aliens |date=June 14, 2011 |url=http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704191636/http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens |archive-date=July 4, 2011 |url-status=live |publisher=History.com}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=June 2019}}

== Proponents ==
Many publications have argued for the ancient astronauts hypotheses. Notable examples include these:
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 1919: [[Charles Fort]] (book, ''[[The Book of the Damned]]'')
* 1953: [[Desmond Leslie]] (book, ''Flying Saucers Have Landed'')
* 1954: [[Harold T. Wilkins]] (book, ''Flying Saucers from the Moon'')
* 1956: [[Morris K. Jessup]] (book, ''UFO and the Bible'')
* 1957: [[Peter Kolosimo]] (book, ''Il pianeta sconosciuto'' – ''The Unknown Planet'')
* 1957: [[Eric Frank Russell]] (book, ''Great World Mysteries'')
* 1958: [[George Hunt Williamson]] (book,  ''Secret Places of the Lion'')
* 1958: [[Henri Lhote]]<ref>{{Citation |title=Lhote, Henri (1903–1991) |date=February 1, 2007 |url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/L/Lhote.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406150745/http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/L/Lhote.html |publisher=Daviddarling.info |access-date=June 18, 2011 |archive-date=April 6, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> (book, ''The Search for the Tassili Frescoes: The story of the prehistoric rock-paintings of the Sahara'')
* 1960: [[Jacques Bergier]] and [[Louis Pauwels]] (book, ''Le Matin des magiciens'' (''[[The Morning of the Magicians]]''))
* 1960: [[Brinsley Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty|Brinsley Trench]] (book, ''The Sky People'')
* 1961: [[Matest M. Agrest]] (article, The Astronauts of Yore)<ref>{{Citation |last=Agrest |first=Matest |date=1961 |work=НА СУШЕ И НА МОРЕ |pages=526–542 |place=Moscow |language=ru |script-title=ru:КОСМОНАВТЫ ДРЕВНОСТИ |agency=Geografgis}}</ref>
* 1963: [[Robert Charroux]] (book, ''Histoire inconnue des hommes depuis 100.000 ans'' – ''One Hundred Thousand Years of Man's Unknown History'')
* 1964: [[Peter Kolosimo]] (book, ''Terra senza tempo'' – ''Timeless Earth'')
* 1964: [[W. Raymond Drake]] (book, ''Gods or Spacemen?'')
* 1964: [[Robert Charroux]] (book, ''Legacy of the Gods'')
* 1965: [[Paul Misraki]] (book, ''Flying Saucers Through The Ages'')
* 1965: [[Robert Charroux]] (book, ''The Gods Unknown'')
* 1967: [[Brad Steiger]] (book, ''The Flying Saucer Menace'')
* 1967: [[John Michell (writer)|John Michell]] (book, ''The Flying Saucer Vision'')
* 1968: [[Erich von Däniken]] (book, ''[[Chariots of the Gods?|Erinnerungen an die Zukunft: Ungelöste Rätsel der Vergangenheit]]'', translated as ''Chariots of the Gods?'')
* 1968: [[Barry Downing]] (book, ''The Bible and Flying Saucers'')
* 1969: [[Robert Dione]] (book, ''God Drives a Flying Saucer'')
* 1969: [[Jean Sendy]] (book, ''Those Gods Who Made Heaven and Earth; the novel of the Bible'')
* 1969: [[Jacques Vallee]] (book, ''Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers'')
* 1970: [[John Keel]] (book, ''Operation Trojan Horse'')
* 1972: [[T. C. Lethbridge]] (book, ''The Legend of the Sons of God: A Fantasy?'')
* 1974: [[Charles Berlitz]] (book, ''[[The Bermuda Triangle (book)|The Bermuda Triangle]]'')
* 1974: Josef F. Blumrich (book, ''Da tat sich der Himmel auf'' (''[[The Spaceships of Ezekiel]])''
* 1974: [[Claude Vorilhon]] aka ''Rael'' (book, ''Le Livre Qui Dit La Vérité'' – ''The Book Which Tells the Truth'')
* 1974: Robin Collyns (book, ''Did Spacemen Colonise the Earth?'')
* 1975: [[Graham Cairns-Smith]] (a [[biochemist]] who suggested that the ancestors of humans might have had alien biochemistries and presented evidence to support this possibility in a biological research journal)<ref>{{Citation |last=Cairns-Smith |first=A. G. |title=A Case for an Alien Ancestry |date=1975 |work=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=189 |issue=1095 |pages=249–274 |bibcode=1975RSPSB.189..249C |doi=10.1098/rspb.1975.0056 |s2cid=83571446}}</ref>
* 1975: [[Serge Hutin]] (book, ''Alien Races and Fantastic Civilizations'')
* 1976: [[Robert K. G. Temple]] (book, ''[[The Sirius Mystery]]'')
* 1976: [[John Baxter (author)|John Baxter]], Thomas Atkins (book, ''The Fire Came By: The Riddle of the Great Siberian Explosion'')
* 1977: [[John Philip Cohane]] (book, ''Paradox: The Case for the Extraterrestrial Origin of Man'')
* 1977: [[Warren Smith (author)|Warren Smith]] (book, ''UFO Trek'')
* 1978: [[George Sassoon]] and [[Rodney Dale]] (book, ''[[Manna Machine]]'')
* 1978: [[Zecharia Sitchin]] (book, ''The 12th planet'')
* 1984: [[Salvador Freixedo]], (book, ''¡Defendámonos de los Dioses!'' – Spanish: Let Us Defend Ourselves from the Gods!)
* 1988: [[Salvador Freixedo]], (book, ''La Granja Humana'' – Spanish: The Human Farm)
* 1988: [[Riley Martin]] (book, ''The Coming of Tan'')
* 1989: [[Salvador Freixedo]], (book, ''La Amenaza Extraterrestre'' – Spanish: The Alien Threat).
* 1993: [[David Icke]] (book, ''And the truth shall set you free'')
* 1996: [[Alan F. Alford]] (book, ''Gods of the New Millennium'')
* 1996: [[Murry Hope]] (book, ''The Sirius Connection: Unlocking the Secrets of Ancient Egypt'')
* 1996: [[Richard C. Hoagland]] (book, ''The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever'')
* 1998: [[Lloyd Pye]] (book, ''Everything You Know is Wrong&nbsp;– Book One: Human Evolution'')
* 1998: [[James Herbert Brennan]] (book, ''Martian Genesis'')
* 1999: [[David Hatcher Childress]] (book, ''Technology of the Gods, The Incredible Science of the Ancients'')
* 1999: [[Laurence Gardner]] (book, ''[[Jesus bloodline|Genesis of the Grail Kings: The Explosive Story of Genetic Cloning]]'')
* 2003: [[Burak Eldem]] (book, 2012: ''Appointment With Marduk'')
* 2009: [[Giorgio Tsoukalos]] et al. (TV, ''Ancient Aliens'')
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[Archaeoastronomy]]
* [[Extraterrestrial hypothesis]]
* [[First contact (science fiction)]]
* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience]]
* [[Panspermia]]
* [[Pseudoarchaeology]]
* [[Science fantasy]]
* [[Silurian hypothesis]]
* [[Xenoarchaeology]]
* In film:
** [[2001: A Space Odyssey]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation |last=Card |first=Jeb |title=Spooky Archaeology |date=2018 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |isbn=978-0-8263-5914-8}}
* {{Citation |last=Charroux |first=Robert |title=Masters of the world |year=1974 |publisher=Berkley Pub. Corp |asin=B0006WIE1O}}
* {{Citation |last=Colavito |first=Jason |title=The Cult of Alien Gods: H. P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture |title-link=The Cult of Alien Gods: H. P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture |date=2005 |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |isbn=1-59102-352-1}}
* {{Citation |last=Colavito |first=Jason |title=Foundations of Atlantis, Ancient Astronauts and Other Alternative Pasts: 148 Documents Cited by Writers of Fringe History, Translated with Annotations |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYX2BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1476619408}}
* {{Citation |last=Däniken |first=von |title=Chariots of the Gods |date=1972 |publisher=Berkley Publishing Group |isbn=0-425-16680-5 |author-link=Erich von Däniken}}
* {{Citation |last1=Eshraghian |first1=Ahad |title=Loeys-Dietz syndrome: A possible solution for Akhenaten's and his family's mystery syndrome |date=2012 |journal=South African Medical Journal |volume=102 |issue=8 |pages=661–664 |doi=10.7196/samj.5916 |doi-broken-date=June 16, 2025 |hdl=10067/1011150151162165141 |pmid=22831939 |last2=Loeys |first2=Bart |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free}}
* {{Citation |last=Feder |first=Kenneth |title=Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries |date=2020 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190096410}}
* {{Citation |last=Grünschloß |first=Andreas |title="Ancient Astronaut" Narrations: A Popular Discourse on Our Religious Past |date=June 2006 |work=Marburg Journal of Religion |volume=11 |issue=1 |url=http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/pdf/2006/gruenschloss2006.pdf |access-date=December 9, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309165229/http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/pdf/2006/gruenschloss2006.pdf |archive-date=March 9, 2008 |url-status=live |issn=1612-2941 |author-link=Andreas Grünschloß}}
* {{Citation |last1=Habicht |first1=Michael |title=Body height of mummified pharaohs supports historical suggestions of sibling marriages. |date=2015 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=157 |issue=3 |pages=519–525 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22728 |pmid=25916977 |s2cid=205335354 |last2=Henneberg |first2=Maciej |doi-access=free}}
* {{Citation |last1=Hunt |first1=Terry |title=The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island |date=2011 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-1-4391-5031-3 |last2=Lipo |first2=Carl}}
* {{Citation |last=Polidoro |first=Massimo |title=There's a UFO in my painting! |date=2005 |magazine=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=29 |issue=3}}
* {{Citation |last=Raël |title=The Message Given by Extra-terrestrials |date=1974 |publisher=Nova Dist |isbn=2-940252-20-3}}
* {{Citation |last1=Retief |first1=Francois Pieter |title=Akhenaten, a unique pharaoh |date=2011 |journal=South African Medical Journal |volume=101 |issue=9 |pages=628–630 |pmid=21920162 |last2=Cilliers |first2=Louise}}
* {{Citation |last=Sagan |first=Carl |title=Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science |year=2011 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-394-50169-7 |orig-year=1979}}
* {{Citation |last1=Shklovskii |first1=Iosif S. |title=Intelligent Life in the Universe |year=1966 |url=https://archive.org/details/intelligentlifei00shkl |place=San Francisco, California |publisher=Holden-Day |oclc=257089397 |last2=Sagan |first2=Carl |author-link=Iosif Shklovsky |author-link2=Carl Sagan |translator-last=Fern |translator-first=Paula |url-access=registration}}
* {{Citation |last=Sitchin |first=Zecharia |title=The 12th Planet (The Earth Chronicles, Book 1) |date=1999 |publisher=Avon |isbn=0-380-39362-X |author-link=Zecharia Sitchin}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Sommer |first=Morgana |title=Pseudoarchaeology and the ancient astronaut theory: an analysis of a modern belief system |date=2012 |access-date=April 29, 2022 |type=MSc |publisher=California State University, Monterey Bay |url=https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes/392 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706165413/https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes/392/ |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |url-status=live}}
* {{Citation |last1=Tallet |first1=Pierre |title=The Harbor of Khufu on the Red Sea Coast at Wadi al-Jarf, Egypt |date=2014 |journal=Near Eastern Archaeology |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=4–14 |doi=10.5615/neareastarch.77.1.0004 |s2cid=163572620 |last2=Marouard |first2=Gregory}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Citation |last=Avalos |first=Hector |title=The Ancient Near East in Modern Science Fiction: Zechariah Sitchin's ''The 12th Planet'' as Case Study |date=2002 |work=Journal of Higher Criticism |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=49–70}}
* Fagan, Garrett G. (2006). ''Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-30593-4}}
* Harris, Christie. (1975). ''Sky Man on the Totem Pole?''.  New York: Atheneum. {{ISBN|9780689304507}}
* Stiebing, William H. (1984). ''Ancient Astronauts, Cosmic Collisions and Other Popular Theories About Man's Past''. Prometheus Books. {{ISBN|0-87975-285-8}}
* Story, Ronald. (1976). ''[[The Space Gods Revealed|The Space Gods Revealed: A Close Look at the Theories of Erich von Däniken]]''. Harper & Row. {{ISBN|0-06-014141-7}}
* Trefil, James. (2007). [https://www.csicop.org/sb/show/who_were_the_ancient_engineers_of_egypt/ "Who Were the Ancient Engineers of Egypt?"]. ''Skeptical Inquirer'' (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) 17.1.
* White, Peter. (1976). ''The Past Is Human: Debunking Von Daniken's Gee-Whiz Theories''. Taplinger. {{ISBN|978-0800862664}}

== External links ==
* {{Citation |title='Fringe' or 'cult' archaeology examined by professional archaeologist Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews |url=https://www.kmatthews.org.uk/cult_archaeology/index.html |access-date=February 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214041445/http://www.kmatthews.org.uk/cult_archaeology/index.html |archive-date=December 14, 2007 |url-status=dead}}
* [https://skepdic.com/vondanik.html Ancient Astronauts] – [[Skeptic's Dictionary]]
* {{Skeptoid|id=4449|number=449|title=Ancient Astronauts}}
* {{URL|https://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-16}}

{{UFOs}}
{{Extraterrestrial life}}
{{Falsification of history}}
{{Pseudoscience}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient astronaut speculation| ]]
[[Category:Alleged extraterrestrial beings|-]]
[[Category:Alleged extraterrestrial visitation]]
[[Category:Fringe theories]]
[[Category:Pseudoarchaeology]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Supernatural urban legends]]
[[Category:UFO conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:UFO-related phenomena]]