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MISSION CONTROL: Houston,
you are go for landing. Over.

ASTRONAUT:
Roger. Understand.

Go for landing. 3,000 feet.

NARRATOR:
July 20, 1969.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin

became the first men
to land on the Moon.

NEIL ARMSTRONG: That's one
small step for man...

one giant leap for mankind.

NARRATOR:
Just like aliens,

visiting from another world.

It had been the stuff of
science fiction.

Now... everything that could be
imagined seemed possible.

If mankind could travel the
skies and go to other planets,

why couldn't beings from other
planets visit the Earth?

Amidst a wave
of modern UFO sightings,

a new theory emerged--

that aliens visited
Earth in antiquity

and were regarded as gods.

But if that were true,
wouldn't there be proof?

Perhaps there was.

All we needed to do was open
our eyes and our imaginations.

The proof, perhaps,
was all around us.

NARRATOR:
In May of 2008,

a startling proclamation
was issued by the Vatican.

For the first time
in its 2,000-year history,

the Catholic Church
acknowledged the possibility

that intelligent life
could exist on other planets,

and that a belief
in extraterrestrials

did not contradict
a belief in God.

Which means, of course,

that we are now entering
an age in which, uh,

the universe is beginning to be
conceived in different ways

from where it was before.

And if it is a reality for us,

why could it not have been
a reality

for other beings in the universe

who could have visited our Earth

and perhaps guided culture
in ancient times.

NARRATOR: But just what
sparked this sudden turnaround

in religious thought?

Could the church have been
influenced

detected
enormous reservoirs of ice

beneath the Martian surface.

The presence of ice-- and the
possibility of water--

suggested that life could be
sustained, or even generated,

on another planet.

After decades of orbiting space
shuttles and robotic rovers,

the idea of sending man back
into space, to Mars and beyond,

ignited the imagination,
and brought back the notion

that mankind, and alien beings,
had crossed paths before.

In 1968, just one year before

Neil Armstrong's
epic space flight,

a book was published
that forever changed

the way many in the scientific,
religious,

and creative communities
would view their home planet.

Written by Swiss author
Erich von Däniken,

Chariots of the Gods?
attempted to prove that

alien explorers had visited the
Earth thousands of years ago.

And there we had to make
translations

of part of the Bible,
Greek to Latin, Latin to German.

For example,
in the first Book of Moses,

before the Lord descends
on the Holy Mountain,

Moses was ordered to construct
a gate around the mountain,

otherwise the Israelites
would be damaged.

I was shocked.
I said, this is impossible.

My God,
He would never use, first,

a gate to protect Himself,
or to protect the Israelites.

What are they talking about?

And now the work started.

I started to read
thousands of pages

of the beginning of religions
of every mythology,

its always the same story.

Of course with different names,
with different heroes.

Somebody descends from the sky
to the humans.

Our forefathers could not
understand it.

They believed that these
are some gods.

I was shocked.

I asked the question:

Were primitive humans influenced
by extraterrestrials?

Not gods.

And if it all was like
I suggested, where's the proof?

So you start trying to find
at least indications.

That's what I have done now
for at least 45 years.

We have pictorial evidence,
we have artifacts in archeology

and you have what has come out
of the old literature.

Hundreds of indications
which you cannot deny anymore.

MICHAEL CREMO:
What it means is

that we need new explanations
for human origins.

That perhaps we are not alone
in the universe.

And that human-like beings
came to this planet

from some other planet elsewhere
in the cosmos.

I think that's a very good
idea myself.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
And it really excited people.

It was a new way
of looking at the past.

Looking at ancient
civilizations.

And it put this very modern
space-age spin

to the whole thing.

NARRATOR: Chariots of the Gods?
caused a sensation--

fueled, in no small part,
by the popular response to books

like Frank Herbert's Dune,
television shows like Star Trek

and feature films
like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

of possibility
of extraterrestrials.

So it was all wonderful,
coming together.

But it was not planned.

NARRATOR: After a Swiss
newspaper printed excerpts of it

on a weekly basis, more than
10,000 copies of the book

were sold before
ever hitting the market.

So it was a running best-seller,

starting in Switzerland first,
then going over to Germany,

and then the rest of the world.

They had to print and print
and print and print.

It was absolutely incredible.

NARRATOR: In 1970,
a feature-length documentary

was released to theaters,

followed by dozens
of best-selling books--

and growing legions
of fans and supporters.

Chariots of the Gods?
was tremendously influential.

It somehow spoke to people
who want to believe.

When I was a boy,
Chariots of the Gods?

was one of the books
I first read.

I mean I ripped it apart.

I digested it.

I couldn't get enough of it.

I just fell in love
with that book.

'Cause it really opened up
all kinds of new questions.

And Von Däniken was able
to point out many anomalies

in history that the mainstream
archeologists

can't answer very well.

He had what was
a revolutionary new idea.

That of gods from outer space
coming to the planet.

Helping create civilization.

When I first read
Chariots of the Gods?,

I couldn't put that book down.

Because it answered a whole
bunch of questions that I had,

and it was a great combination

of archaeology and adventure.

And it's just a wonderful way
to see the world

and pursue
these ancient mysteries.

And it truly was, I think,

the catalyst for what people
like I do today,

and that is to talk about
the mysteries

and the unusual
and the paranormal.

He paved the way
for a lot of us

to talk about
these strange stories.

And that continues to grow.

And it's going to get bigger
and bigger and bigger.

People want answers to questions

that they can't answer
themselves.

But in spite of the book's
enormous popularity--

or, perhaps, because of it--

von Däniken's theories
were scorned by scientists

and jeered at by theologians.

especially by
the scientific newspapers.

They said, come on,
he's just telling stories.

He's a liar
or he's a fraud or whatever.

There is not
a single piece of evidence

that von Däniken puts forward
that cannot be attributed

to human ingenuity,
technology and development.

ILIA DELIO: Don't try
to reduce the Scriptures

to a science book.

Or don't try to reduce
the Scriptures

to an explanation
of our modern world today.

I don't expect
that the scientific community

now embraces and kisses me
and say oh, wonderful.

Great, you did.

We have to live with critics.

This is normal.

Chariots of the Gods?
was full of speculation.

I had 238 question marks.

Nobody read the question mark.

They always said,
"Mr. von Däniken is saying."

Uh, I did not say.

I asked the question.

Would that be a possibility?

And in Chariots of the Gods?

I made clear differences between
speculations and facts.

NARRATOR:
But as controversial

as many
of von Däniken's theories are,

believers point
to tangible evidence.

How, for example,
could a centuries-old map

chart a land mass that has only
recently been discovered?

CREMO: It would tend to indicate
that the map was made

at a time when Antarctica
was ice-free,

which would be
many millions of years ago.

NARRATOR: And how could
a primitive civilization

know how to harness electricity?

Or even build a computer?

This was tantamount to finding
a jet airplane

in the tomb of King Tut.

NARRATOR: And just who were
these mysterious designs,

only visible from high
altitudes, intended for?

The signs are made
for somebody who flies.

There is no way out of this.

NARRATOR:
Could von Däniken's theory,

that ancient gods
were really alien visitors,

contain any serious
scientific merit?

The answer involves
a search around the world,

and even right before our eyes.

If alien beings
from other planets

had visited the Earth
thousands of years ago,

how would our ancient ancestors

have tried to communicate
with them?

And wouldn't there be
some physical evidence

of the time they spent here?

One answer may lie
in the Nazca Desert of Peru.

There, atop an arid plateau

that stretches
for nearly 50 miles,

countless geometric patterns
and figures

decorate the landscape.

They start abruptly,
they end abruptly.

The longest of it
is 23 kilometer.

Right away, not one curve.

Just incredible.

And ending in one of these
so-called airstrips.

In the mixture of large lines
and small lines,

you see gigantic figures
in the ground--

figures of fishes,

monkeys,

spiders,

apes--

but of such
over-dimensional size

that you can see them
only from the air.

GEORGE NOORY: People built them,
or somebody built them

hundreds and hundreds
of years ago--

perhaps maybe even
thousands of years ago,

that could be signs of
"Hello up there. Here we are."

It's something.

NARRATOR: Various disputed
explanations suggest

that the lines could have been
used for irrigation ditches,

giant astronomical calendars
or pathways,

perhaps used
for religious worship.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Looking at Nazca from the air,

it looks like an airport.

And it really does,

because you have
all these bands,

wide bands
that look like airstrips

that are laid on top
of each other.

But you also have these
gigantic, long straight lines

that go for miles and miles
over valleys, over mountains.

So once again,
you've got this idea of, like,

okay, people are creating this.

But what is the reason?

Is it to show these gods
in aerial vehicles

a "land here" kind of a thing?

Because we just don't
have a good idea

of why people would do this.

And it really does seem that
they're trying to signal people

who are in the air, in space
or flying around our planet.

NARRATOR:
During World War II,

American troops created air
bases on remote Pacific islands.

To natives who had never
witnessed advanced technology,

the sight of giant metal birds
touching down

looked to them
as if the gods themselves

had turned the Earth
into a planetary pit stop.

CHILDRESS: They would see
these big planes land,

and it was all technology
that just, out of the sky.

They didn't know
how these things worked.

But they could see them land.

And what they liked about it

was they were getting
free stuff.

They were getting cargo.

Suddenly,
when the war was over,

all these airstrips were
abandoned and everyone left.

And the islanders
scratched their heads,

and they all said to themselves,
"Wow, wasn't it great

"when all these planes
came out of the sky

"and gave us free cans
of corned beef and stuff?

We really liked that cargo."

Entire religions
sprung up from this,

where priests actually said,
"Yes, you know,

uh, that was our dead ancestors
sending us cargo."

So what they did then

was they began
going to the old airstrips,

and they would build
mock wooden airplanes

to try and get those planes
to come back from the sky

and deliver the cans
of corned beef to them again.

And so you can see how then an
analogy with modern cargo cults

plays exactly into
the ancient astronaut scenario

where something like this could
have easily happened in the past

and entire religions built
around ancient astronauts.

NARRATOR:
But gigantic geoglyphs

aren't the only mysteries
surrounding Nazca.

and shooting and shooting.

I have more or less about
4,000 pictures about Nazca.

-That's incredible.
-This is really fascinating.

You see, this is one
of the pictures which prove

that this mountain was made flat
artificially.

Because you compare
with the mountain around there.

There, the mountain's cap
comes up from both sides.

Here it is flat.
This is absolutely incredible.

This is one of the most
craziest pictures I made

about Nazca.

TSOUKALOS:
The crazy thing is, the rubble,

the remains of that summit
or that mountaintop, gone.

It's nowhere.

It's not in the valley
down below.

It's nowhere in the region.

What happened to it?

Because all the mountains
around it have their summits.

It's there.

And then you have
other mountains

that are as flat as a table,

with bands on top
that look like runways.

NARRATOR: Another question:
Why would visiting E.T.s

be drawn to the bone-dry
deserts of Peru?

TSOUKALOS:
Let's just say, hypothetically,

that a spaceship arrives
here on planet Earth,

and you wanted to quickly
find out

what this planet consists of.

Nazca would be the perfect place
to go and visit

for some sampling
and for some experimentation.

Because Nazca, still today,

is one of the most abundant
areas in the world

regarding raw materials.

There, you find everything.

You find gold,
you find, uh, uranium,

what have you.

It's basically the Cliffs Notes
of planet Earth.

You go to Nazca, and you
immediately know everything

about what our planet
consists of,

because all the raw materials
converge there at high volumes.

JAVIER GRILLO-MARXUACH:
Why do we have to believe

that these simply
could not be an expression

of an artistic impulse,
you know?

Is it really that outlandish
to believe that, you know,

that these natives in Peru
might have wanted to create

some large-scale work of art?

And to say that such
a large-scale work of art

could not have been created

merely for the possibility
of having created it,

rather than the Nazca lines
are so inhumanly vast

that they could only
be admired

by people who are capable
of flight.

Well, you know,
you can say the same thing

about the Great Wall of China.

And yet, the Great Wall
of China has a purpose

that is political,
that is martial.

Somebody might have walked
the Nazca lines

as a spiritual labyrinth

in the shape of a spiritual
totemic object,

and were, in their own way,

supposed to get a kind
of epiphany from that.

The fact
that we don't understand

the purpose of a thing

opens it to tremendous
speculation.

You have to fly over it.

The signs are made
for somebody who flies.

There is no way out of this.

I hope archaeology,
sooner or later,

will come to a similar
conclusion.

NARRATOR: But if visitors
from other planets

were thought to be gods,

wouldn't there be
written accounts of them?

Perhaps the answer can be found
right in front of us,

in one of
the most shocking places of all.

NARRATOR: Ironically,
Erich von Däniken's firm belief

that Earth has been visited
in the past

by beings from other planets
is entirely consistent

with his belief in God
and the Bible.

It is merely a question
of interpretation.

By the way,
I am still a believer in God.

I never lost my God.

But, uh, for a young man,
my God had to be almighty.

My God would never need a
vehicle in which to move around,

a vehicle to go from point A
to point B.

NARRATOR: In what Christians
refer to as the Old Testament,

there are, in fact,
several accounts

of God and his angels
visiting the Earth.

Sometimes these visitations are
accompanied by tremendous noise

and clouds of billowing smoke.

In the book of Ezekiel,
for example,

the prophet claims
that he witnessed a visitation

by heavenly beings
coming down from the skies

aboard a fantastic
flying machine.

As far as von Däniken
is concerned,

it's a highly detailed
description

of an alien sighting.

he also describes what he hears.

He describes the whole thing as
being the splendidness of God.

NARRATOR:
The prophet also details

several four-faced,
winged creatures

who appeared in the likeness
of men

and who traveled upon
a gleaming, wheeled device.

and on this throne
was a being sitting,

looking like a human,
in glittering clothes.

And beneath it,
he saw some vehicles.

He saw some wings.

He describes
the noise of the wings.

He describes
the noise of the wings

with the thundering
of a waterfall.

REVEREND BARRY H. DOWNING:
Ezekiel saw this wheel

within a wheel.

This sounds more high-tech
than supernatural,

and we can't suppose that, um,
people 3,000 years ago

would understand the difference

between the supernatural
and high-tech.

NARRATOR:
But what if there is more

to Ezekiel's heavenly visions

than the imaginative
insights of a religious man?

What if there was a scientific
foundation for them?

DR. LUIS NAVIA: Yes, I once had
the opportunity of meeting

and spending time
and traveling with

a gentleman by the name
of Josef Blumrich.

He was a senior chief engineer
of NASA,

personally involved in
the Mariner expedition to Mars.

He was also in charge
of the landing gear

for the Mariner spaceship.

And he told me himself that
the idea of the design used

for the Mariner spaceship
that landed on Mars

came to him from the reading
of the biblical text

in which there is talk about
wheels within wheels.

So here you have another example
of a person of curiosity

who conceives of these ideas.

NARRATOR:
Another biblical figure

who continues to fascinate
von Däniken

is the character of Enoch.

you find maybe just
one phrase about Enoch.

That's all.

But among the apocryphal texts,

there are volumes and volumes
if you know them.

You find the Book of Enoch.

Enoch is the first person
in antiquity

who writes in the first person.

"I did." "I heard."
"I was there."

NARRATOR:
In one of the ancient texts,

this great-grandfather of Noah

is said to have been taken away
by God for 300 years.

He was taken up to the sky.

Up there, he meets the highest--
the so-called highest.

In religion, they call it God.

He meets the highest, and the
highest says to his servants,

you teach this young man
in our language,

and then you teach him writing.

So he writes books.

Of course, he knows all these
foreigners by name.

He quotes them by name.

He knows their profession.

He knows which of these
extraterrestrials

was the astronomer.

So Enoch is the only
in first person,

thousands of years ago,

who gives some of the names
of the extraterrestrials

and gives
some of their professions.

How is this possible?

We have an eyewitness,
and nobody speaks about it.

So I really was confused.

ROBERT R. CARGILL:
That would be the argument

that the followers
of von Däniken would say:

Why is it so absurd
for aliens to come

when it's completely
acceptable for God

to intervene in human history?

The difference is, von Däniken's
arguing that aliens came

and gave technologies to people
to advance those cultures.

So basically, they gave objects.

They gave, you know, new ideas
and new technologies,

and that those cultures advanced
because of them.

Whereas, at least in the Bible,

it's not like God gave humankind
a magic watch, you know,

or a new missile that they could
use to defeat their enemies.

God gives instruction--
at least the Bible records

that God gives instructions
on how to live

but not how to build new devices

that further or advance
a specific culture.

DELIO: Can we liken Ezekiel's
chariot to a UFO?

The ancients used myth
and metaphor and images

to describe
their experience of God.

I think what we don't want
to fall to

is a type of fundamental
literalism.

The stories
of the Old Testament emerge

out of the people of that time,
out of their own context,

to make sense of their
experience of God.

We can gain insight by reading
the Old Testament

and reading
about Ezekiel's chariot,

but it's not to draw
a strict analogy

between his chariot and a UFO.

TSOUKALOS: When all of these
stories were written down,

writing was
a fairly new invention.

The very first thing
they wrote down

is something that actually
happened to them,

it was so important,
so compelling,

so significant to them that
they had to put it in writing.

Why can't modern society
come to grips

that these stories
might be true after all?

NARRATOR: Von Däniken's
research turned up evidence

of other arguably
extraterrestrial phenomena--

and not only in the Bible.

Almost every religion
has similar stories

about deities with spectacular
powers and abilities

who come to Earth and directly
influence the lives of men.

"this is similar, the stories,
in so many old religions.

Are they talking about
extraterrestrials?"

These so-called gods are here,
they give orders,

they force the humans
to do certain things,

and one day they disappear.

But they always disappear

with the promise to return
in a faraway future.

CREMO: If, as I believe,
people in ancient civilizations

were familiar with space travel,

people in ancient civilizations
were in communication

with human-like beings
from other planets,

then I think we should
expect to find evidence for this

in their literatures,
which we do find.

NARRATOR: Throughout the
ancient Sanskrit epics of India,

there are numerous descriptions
of vimanas,

or mythical flying machines.

One of these accounts even dates
back over 5,000 years.

CREMO:
In the Bhagavad Purana,

which is an ancient
Sanskrit history,

there is a description
of a spacecraft

that was piloted
by a king named Shalva.

It's described
that it was made of metal.

It was described that it
sometimes appeared to be

in two places at once.

It was described
as having a motion

similar to that of a butterfly.

And these descriptions
are consistent

with what people who
observe UFOs today report.

NARRATOR:
In other Sanskrit texts,

such as the Mahabharata,
the Rig Veda and the Ramayana,

there can be found
descriptions of vimana

measuring as wide as 100 feet,

and often equipped with the
capabilities of modern aircraft.

One vimana
produced a shaft of light,

which, when focused on a target,
consumed it with its power.

It's like a Buck Rogers

or Flash Gordon movie
from the '30s.

They read like the wildest
science fiction.

People are flying around
in airships called vimanas,

blasting each other
and having aerial fights,

destroying entire cities.

And the crazy thing is

that all of those stories
are totally accepted

in the modern society of India.

CREMO:
I don't think we could say

that these descriptions
are simply imagination,

because even though they were
written thousands of years ago,

they match
what many people today

report in terms of observing
the actions of UFOs.

Were they just
mythological tales

that they were making up,
fantasy?

Or are these physical,
real events,

and they were trying
to describe them

as the best that they could.

That seems
to make more sense to me.

TSOUKALOS:
I got to tell you this,

I would be out of a job
in India,

because, there,
if I were to talk about

ancient aliens and ancient gods,

they would say,
"Okay, so what else is new?"

NARRATOR:
When backing up their claims

of extraterrestrial visitation,

ancient alien theorists
draw upon two kinds of examples:

There's the evidence
you can read,

such as that found
in ancient texts,

and then there's the evidence
you can actually see.

Among the earliest types
of physical specimens?

Numerous cave and rock drawings

and stone sculptures
found all over the globe.

You know, pictures are worth
a thousand words, absolutely.

When you see pictures depicted,
for example,

on a cave in Italy that show
two astronauts with helmets on,

what the heck could it be?

What could it be?

NARRATOR: Each of these
ancient illustrations or statues

depict figures dressed
in strange attire for the times

and sporting unusual headgear.

But could they really be
representations

of alien astronauts--
visitors from other worlds

who touched down upon the Earth
thousands of years ago?

TSOUKALOS:
All over the world

we have statues and sculptures

and paintings and depictions of
these extraterrestrial beings.

Even in the United States
at Sego Canyon, Utah,

we have petroglyphs
of very weird-looking creatures

that have antennae
on their heads, helmets.

And halfway around the world
in Kimberly, Australia,

for example, we have
the exact same depictions

of these helmeted beings
with a halo around their heads.

And the question I have is:
What did our ancestors see

that compelled them to put this
on their cave walls?

On yet another continent,
in Guatemala City,

we have a sculpture
that looks eerily reminiscent

of a modern-day astronaut.

I mean,
that thing is wearing a helmet.

There is some type
of a mouthpiece.

And on his chest
are some type of controls

or a breathing apparatus.

How is this possible
1,500 years ago?

And in Colombia, there were
thousands of tomb artifacts

that look like modern-day
airplanes.

It has fixed wings,
it has a fuselage,

and it has an upright
tail fin,

which is not intrinsic
to nature,

but it is intrinsic
to modern-day aerodynamics.

Did our ancestors see something
similar flying in the air?

Absolutely.

Another compelling artifact
that was found

was at the Istanbul Museum

where you have
this headless spaceman

sitting inside
some type of a space vehicle.

You can see his hands
and you you can see tubing

that go to some sort of devices.

He's wearing a suit.

His legs are crammed in there.

I mean,
even to the untrained eye,

this looks very aerodynamic

and it looks something that,
you know, came from outer space.

NOORY: These people
witnessed something.

They were told something.

And they tried to depict it
the best way they could

with the kind of technology
they had at the time.

And that was simple tools
and simple artwork.

Many of these
ancient civilizations

were widely separated
in space and time.

They weren't in communication
with each other.

But still, they have
the same kinds of accounts.

I think it's because they all
experienced these things.

And they all have the idea

that we're part of a cosmic
hierarchy of beings.

So, I think we can't explain
things away so easily.

NARRATOR:
But for Erich von Däniken

and other proponents of his
ancient astronaut theories,

perhaps the most significant
illustration

can be found in Mexico.

The Mayan archaeological site
of Palenque

had been abandoned for centuries

before it was stumbled upon
by Spanish explorers.

CHILDRESS:
So we get to the top of this,

and suddenly,

here are the great pyramids
of Palenque.

NARRATOR:
Here, deep within a secret tomb,

under one of the age-old temples
lies the seven-ton sarcophagus

of Palenque's 7th-century ruler
Pacal the Great.

CHILDRESS: Lord Pacal apparently
died here at Palenque.

He was apparently
this mysterious Mayan leader.

He was a giant.

Seven- or eight-feet tall,
actually.

And then they built
this pyramid around his tomb.

The Mayans literally worshipped
him as some kind of a god.

NARRATOR:
King Pacal's sarcophagus

is adorned with a carving

that has become a famous example
of classic Mayan art.

Most believe the illustration
shows Pacal

descending into
the Mayan underworld.

But ancient astronaut theorists

interpret the carving
a vastly different way.

On this slab
is an incredible chiseling.

You see a man and he is sitting
in a sort of capsule.

He has some sort of mask
on his nose

and you see his upper hand,
he's manipulating some controls.

From the lower hand,
he's turning something on.

The heel of his left foot
is on a kind of pedal.

And outside of the capsule,
you see a linking flame.

This is incredible.

This is absolutely a proof
for extraterrestrials.

MISSION CONTROL:
Three, two, one, zero.

Liftoff.

JASON MARTELL: If we look
at the similarities

of what our astronauts look like
when they are in a rocket ship

or in the space shuttle
and have gear attached to them,

there are similarities
being shown.

So one just has to ask
the question of, you know,

is this just an artifact
symbolically showing something?

Or are they trying to depict,

with their own limited
understanding of the time,

what was taking place?

CHILDRESS: Was Lord Pacal
just some Mayan king

that everyone liked?

Was he some important visitor
from some far-off land?

Or was he, even possibly,

some extraterrestrial
from another planet?

NARRATOR: Although most
scientists and archaeologists

discredit von Däniken's
interpretation

of the Palenque carvings,

visitors to the site
are often treated to stories

and offered souvenirs
that support his claim.

This is Erich von Däniken's
theory,

the chariots of the gods, no?

You see, Pacal is supposed
to be driving the rocket,

holding the controls,

the pedals, the engine,

and the fire of the rocket.

This will be the cabin, no?

And this is the oxygen.

Mainstream archeologists claim

that it's really
a depiction of Lord Pacal

and his journey
to the underworld.

He's going under the ground
rather than out into space.

Both are interesting theories,

and either
could be right in my mind.

NARRATOR:
In recent years,

Pacal's tomb has been closed
to tourists and casual visitors.

Although the sarcophagus
is off-limits,

ancient astronaut theorists can
still find a wealth of evidence

in the carvings
along the walls of Palenque.

CHILDRESS:
This is very similar

to what's on the lid
of Lord Pacal, of his tomb.

The way he's got his left hand,
right here,

in like an odd position
and his wrist.

Also some kind of rocket exhaust

or something is coming
out of him.

NARRATOR: But Lord Pacal may
not have been the only alien

who once walked
the Palenque ruins.

CHILDRESS: The Mayans had
such an advanced calendar

and mathematical system.

Why were they so obsessed
with the stars?

One of the most advanced
of any ancient cultures.

And yet the Mayans
just vanished around 500 AD.

We don't know where they went.

And one explanation
is that the Mayans

were some kind
of extraterrestrials,

and they literally
left our planet.

NARRATOR: But ancient cave
drawings and stone carvings

aren't the only types
of illustrations

that fascinate
ancient alien theorists.

In 1929,
historians discovered a map

which had been painted
onto a piece of gazelle hide.

They traced the document back

to a 16th-century Turkish
admiral named Piri Reis.

But in stark contrast to other
maps dating back to that time,

the map depicts landmasses that
were still, as yet, unexplored.

CREMO: It shows the coast
of Antarctica

as it exists under
the current ice cover.

Now, that's really
pretty amazing

because it would tend to
indicate that the map was made

at a time when Antarctica
was ice-free,

which would be
many millions of years ago.

NARRATOR:
The map also accurately charts

the coasts of Europe
and North Africa.

But it's the illustration
of northern Antarctica

that truly astonishes
ancient astronaut theorists

because this region
wouldn't even be discovered

for another 300 years.

MARTELL:
We have to remember

that Antarctica is covered
by at least a mile-thick ice.

We didn't have ground-
penetrating radar until 1958.

So for a map to exist in 1531

accurately showing
the topography,

it's pretty interesting.

NARRATOR: When cartographers
superimposed the Piri Reis map

over a modern map of the world,

they were amazed to discover
that the ancient chart

was fantastically accurate
in the most minute of details.

But how could the creators
of a centuries-old map

have known
of mountains or rivers

that had yet to be discovered?

MARTELL: In 1531,
I really don't know of anyone

who was flying
above the surface of the Earth

high enough to map topography,

and how would they see
underneath the ice?

CHILDRESS:
Their maps were so accurate.

I mean,
we know that they didn't go

to Antarctica and explore it.

But yet they were able to draw
these maps of it.

NARRATOR: But if ancient
aliens possessed the technology

to travel the universe,

would the only evidence
of their journey

be in the form of a few carvings
or a mysterious map?

Wouldn't there also be signs
of a highly advanced technology?

Signs that might be too large
to overlook?

NOORY:
You mean to tell me

that people of that time period
did this by hand?

I don't think so.

NARRATOR:
When it comes to searching

for evidence of ancient aliens,

Erich von Däniken literally
leaves no stones unturned.

and there are two sorts
of evidences

to support my hypotheses.

The one sort is literature.

This might be archeological
or mythological literature.

And the other sort
are practical objects.

For example, the pyramids
are linked to the gods,

the gods who once descended
from the sky to us earthlings.

NARRATOR: Without a little
interplanetary help,

how else could early Egyptians
have learned to stack

the nearly two and a half
million limestone

and granite blocks
that create the Great Pyramid?

How could prehistoric man

move the immense boulders
at Stonehenge?

And how could ancient builders
at Cusco

fit stones so closely together

that even a razor blade
can't fit between them?

CHILDRESS:
As you travel around the world

trying to piece together this
puzzle of the ancient world,

there's not that much to really
get a good grasp on.

But what there is
is giant blocks of stone--

huge articulated granite
or basalt blocks in many cases.

Sometimes they weigh 1,000 tons.

These things are the size
of railway cars.

And you find them in Peru
and Bolivia

and Mexico and ancient Egypt.

You have to ask yourself,

why and how could ancient people
have dragged

these railway-car-size
blocks of stone,

stacked them up together
into these giant buildings?

NARRATOR: Perhaps the most
familiar, and most mysterious,

megalithic structure
in all the world

is the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The oldest and largest
of Egypt's three great pyramids,

this miracle of engineering

is believed to have been
constructed

during a 20-year period,
ending around 2560 BC.

But to ancient alien theorists,

those numbers just don't add up.

The Great Pyramid
was not built in only 22 years,

because logistically speaking,
you would have to cut,

transport and put into place
one stone every nine seconds.

And there are modern engineers
who have come forward

and said we couldn't do this
in 22 years either.

NOORY:
There are all kinds of theories

on how the Great Pyramid
of Giza was built.

So many theories, you just sit
back and shake your head.

And that includes
E.T. visitations,

levitating the blocks
with some kind of sound system,

anti-gravity...

...thousands of workers
pulling long ropes

on a ramp that had to be
almost two miles long

to get it up to where it is.

All I know is that they are
so finely aligned

and that the architecture
is so precise

that even modern people today
with great technology

would have a difficult time
being that good.

How, for example, in the inside
of the pyramids and the tombs,

could they build granite
and marble areas

that were just so perfect
and so clean?

You mean to tell me

that people of that time period
did this by hand?

I don't think so.

NARRATOR: The enormous size
and weight of the stones,

multiplied
by the sheer number of them,

makes one thing certain--

the construction
of the Great Pyramid

remains one of the greatest
marvels and mysteries

of architectural engineering.

MARTELL: I don't want
to discount human ingenuity,

because I do believe that
we do have the ability

to do these things,
over a longer period of time.

But the knowledge to build
some of these monuments,

there had to have been
some type of intervention

or some type of knowledge
given to ancient man

to carry out those instructions.

They couldn't have just come up
with it on their own.

by a foreigner
with the name of Souritt.

And then they say Souritt
is the same

which the Hebrew community
calls Enoch.

Enoch is a prophet
in the Old Testament.

There are books of Enoch
called the apocryphal texts.

You make a connection
with Enoch

to these extraterrestrials.

He clearly says he met
these extraterrestrials.

Now we have writings
in the Book of Enoch,

and he gives the order
to construct a building

which cannot be destroyed

by the thousands of years
of the future.

TSOUKALOS:
And the ancient Egyptian texts

speak that the pyramids
were built by human beings

with the assistance
of the guardians of the sky,

meaning the gods.

And so we have proposed
that the pyramids

were built by human hands

but with the assistance
of extraterrestrial technology.

NARRATOR: As one of the
Seven Wonders of the World,

the Great Pyramid
remains not only

an archaeological mystery,
but a geographical marvel.

In 1877, author and theologian
Joseph Seiss demonstrated

that the Great Pyramid
resides at the intersection

of the longest line of latitude

and the longest line
of longitude--

the exact center of all
the landmass in the world.

Also, each of its four sides
aligns almost precisely

with the four points
of the compass--

though such an instrument
wasn't even designed

until thousands of years later.

But is it just mere coincidence
that pyramid construction--

very similar to that
practiced in ancient Egypt--

was also evolving
halfway around the world?

CHILDRESS: There are pyramids
on remote Pacific islands

and in India and in Mexico.

So this is something
that's all over the world.

Archeologists haven't really
been able to explain

why dissimilar cultures,
separated by huge oceans,

are building
the same structures,

and in many ways, the same way.

NARRATOR: Here in Central
Mexico stands an ancient city

that dates back
more than 2,000 years.

Its name, Teotihuacán, literally
means "City of the gods."

And located at its center
is the Pyramid of the Sun.

Incredibly,
this pyramid's perimeter

is virtually the same as that
of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

A structural coincidence?

Or could it be that both were
inspired by the same designers?

NOORY:
Couple theories for that.

Okay, one, maybe they were all
taught the same thing

by an extraterrestrial race.

Two, there were ancient
travelers

from within this planet who went
from one area to another

over the thousands
of past years.

And then as some skeptics
will say,

"Hey, that's the greatest
archeological way

to make it,
so they just knew it."

I don't think that's the case.

CHILDRESS:
At Teotihuacán, here you have

a giant Pyramid of the Sun
and a giant Pyramid of the Moon.

According to the legends,
these things were built by gods,

who were giants at the end

of one of the destructions
of the world.

Civilizations such as
the Aztecs and the Mayans

and the Hopi Indians
of northern Arizona,

they believe that the world
has been destroyed

four times in the past.

One time by ice,
once by fire, once by water.

Each time,
mankind rebuilds again.

And Teotihuacán
supposedly was built

just at the beginning
of one of these four worlds.

NOORY:
You may ask the question,

why build these huge,
huge structures?

For what purpose?

Well, in Egypt for example,

either the pharaohs
had incredible egos

and they wanted
to outdo themselves, right,

so they built these huge museums
for themselves,

or it's also possible
that these ancients

wanted to leave behind
something for us.

TSOUKALOS: It is written
in ancient Egyptian texts,

the purpose why the pyramid was
built was to store knowledge.

300 books
which allegedly contained

the knowledge of the universe

dictated by the guardians
of the sky.

NARRATOR: Of course,
the pyramids aren't the only

ancient monuments that continue

to baffle scientists
and archaeologists.

There are literally
hundreds of them,

and they can be found
in every corner of our world.

NARRATOR: In a remote area
of the Pacific Ocean

lies one of the most isolated

yet inhabited locations
in the world: Easter Island.

Here, over 800 stone guardians,
called moai,

stand watch
over the island's coastline.

But are they primitive
native carvings,

or eerie portraits
of alien visitors

from thousands of years ago?

Whatever they were for,

they're made to last
for thousands of years.

They're built out of blocks
of stone

that weigh many, many tons.

Not only are people
building structures

out of these huge,
megalithic blocks of stone,

but this was going on
around the world.

And yet, supposedly, it's just
primitive people doing this,

for no really good reason,
it would seem.

MICHAEL DENNIN:
I think one of the things

that comes into
our considerations

of what ancient cultures
could've accomplished

is whether they were able
to write it down or not.

We're very tied to,
if we have evidence

that they wrote down
how they did it,

then we believe
we know how they did it.

So Egypt, we have a lot more
writings and drawings

that show them building
the pyramids,

give us an idea
of the technology.

If you go somewhere
like Easter Island,

we don't have any real written
evidence of what they did.

And sometimes that leads us to
question their innovativeness.

NARRATOR: 3,000 miles away,
in the Republic of Bolivia,

stonework exists
which is amazingly similar

to the statues of Easter Island.

Tiahuanaco is, in fact,

so ancient that it defies
modern dating techniques.

It is estimated to be
over 17,000 years old--

perhaps the oldest city
in the world.

And somehow,
the sculptures at Tiahuanaco

were constructed
in the same style

and with the same
enigmatic expressions

as their distant cousins
on Easter Island.

A lot of the stuff
with Tiahuanaco,

you can see
in earlier civilizations.

All the way back, you know,
before into the...

into the centuries BC in Peru,

you see some
of these same patterns,

some of the same iconography,
imagery.

And you can see
the ancestry of this.

NARRATOR:
But while tourists flock

to the ruins of Tiahuanaco,

perhaps the most mystifying
of all ancient sites

lies just
a few hundred yards away.

Of relatively little interest
to most visitors,

Puma Punku
is a field of stone ruins

that both thrills and stimulates

the imaginations
of ancient alien theorists.

In my opinion,

the most significant
piece of evidence that we have

in this entire
ancient astronaut puzzle,

is Puma Punku
in the Highland of Bolivia.

While the pyramids at Giza

are an incredible feat
of achievement,

compared to Puma Punku,

the pyramids are child's play.

Logic does not exist
at Puma Punku, because there,

we have megalithic structures

which just lie about
this entire site

as if ripped apart by-by
some sort of a great force.

NARRATOR: The blocks
of Puma Punku were so finely cut

that they once
perfectly interlocked,

like the pieces
of an elaborate puzzle.

But with the nearest quarry
over ten miles away,

how did these colossal stones,

some weighing hundreds of tons,
even get here?

We are talking about a place
4,000 meters over sea level.

That means
there are no trees up there

which you could use
for rollers.

Nothing grows,
except a few grasses and bushes.

TSOUKALOS: I have stood
in front of many monuments.

However,
Puma Punku takes the crown.

Because what we find there
is so inexplicable,

so in-achievable
that the question remains,

how was it done,
and for what purposes?

Mainstream archaeologists say
that Puma Punku was built

by the Aymara Indians.

And we would all
have to agree that,

in order to build something
like Puma Punku,

you need writing,
you need planning,

and you need some sort of a idea
where which piece goes

and how it ultimately
all fits together.

But there is one thing

that all the mainstream
archaeologists agree upon--

that the Aymara
didn't have any writing.

So how was it possible that they
built all of this without plans?

CHILDRESS:
What's really amazing,

and why
the ancient astronaut theorists

are so drawn to Puma Punku
and Tiahuanaco

is that the quality
of the stonework

and the immense size
of these blocks

is so incredible and perfect

that there's actually evidence
of machining.

And that they were using
machine tools

to cut these blocks.

One of these platforms
is 800 tons.

And they are so smoothly
polished.

You have some stone,
megalithic stones,

with grooves which
are just few millimeters inside.

Which definitely cannot be made
with Stone Age chisels.

It doesn't work
with Stone Age chisels.

So there is
another technology behind it.

NARRATOR:
The lines cut into these rocks

are exactly straight
and precisely the same depth

from one end to the other.

It's as if only master builders

were allowed to work there.

Because everything
is so precise,

everything is so perfect,

you wonder how any of this
was even possible.

One of the most intriguing
things there

is that the stones
that were used there

aren't sandstone,
they're granite and diorite.

The only stone that's harder
than diorite is diamond.

So the only way that this
could've been achieved

is if the tools
were tipped with diamonds.

they were really shocked.

In their literature,
they say it is impossible

to reconstruct Puma Punku.

It's absolutely impossible.

NARRATOR: But is it really
difficult to believe

that ancient peoples

could have so precisely
carved these stones,

or could build
such an incredibly

intricate structure from them?

If it was ancient astronauts

teaching them
these building techniques,

why don't we see just perfect

almost skyscraper-like
vertical edifices?

Everything was all pyramid-like?

Stone-cutting techniques have
been invented and reinvented,

and independently invented
all over the world.

If you think of yourself
as a god king,

and you want to have
a structure built

that's going to last
thousands of years,

it's much better to build it
out of perfectly fitting stones

without mortar that degrades
and decays

and has to be maintained.

So we see mortar-less
structures,

megalithic structures
all over the world.

CHILDRESS:
You have an anomaly here.

Where on one hand,

these people are supposed to be
very primitive--

they’re just one step
out of the Stone Age--

yet what they're doing
are things

that we couldn't even do
today, apparently.

Or would have extreme
difficulty.

And that is building with these
giant blocks of stone,

perfectly fitting them together
with other blocks,

interlocking them.

The ancient people
of our time, on this planet,

truly saw strange things.

They witnessed bizarre events.

But those stories, other than
in depictions and some artwork

and things like that,
they're gone.

For some reason
they're just gone.

But left behind are incredible
things that we have

that make you wonder how in the
heck were these things built?

Those are great mysteries,

and I think one of the things
that keeps people

just continuing to push
for the answers

are the fact that these things
are so out there

that they can't figure it out.

NARRATOR:
But uncovering the mystery

of just how these
incredible structures

were built would only solve
one piece of the puzzle.

Finding out why they were built
and how theywere used,

poses equally
compelling questions.

Questions that may not be
answerable here on Earth.

NARRATOR: Did aliens really
inspire our ancestors

to build ancient temples
and pyramids?

And if they came here,
did they leave behind

any advanced knowledge
of physics,

astronomy or mathematics?

If so, is there any evidence
that remains to this day?

One example might be this one.

Often described
as the world's first

mechanical "computer,"
it dates back over 2,000 years.

CHILDRESS:
The Antikythera Device

was found in 1900
by sponge divers

diving off a small island
in the Aegean

called Antikythera.

There was a shipwreck there.

And in it was
a coral-encrusted box.

And it was made of metal alloys.

And it then went
to the Athens Museum, where,

a good 50 years later, they
were able to X-ray this box.

And they were able
to discern cogged wheels

that were interconnected,

and give us
a very good depiction

of what this thing was.

And it is a computer.

It's a really sophisticated
machine.

MARTELL: It's a very
interesting piece of technology

because it served two purposes:

One was that it was
an astronomical device

where you could, by using it,
chart your position to the stars

and navigate your way
through the seas.

It was also
an astrological device,

so that someone could tell you,

"Ah, if you were born
on this day

"and your planet sign is this,

"then certain things
are going to happen to you

when the planets
are in this alignment."

So, it was a very interesting
piece of technology

that literally
had more complicated gears

and inner workings
than a modern-day Swiss watch.

And it's found to be dated,
I think, like, 200 BC.

So, it's really an anomaly as
to who could've created that

and what it was being used for.

When archaeologists
first started

to examine this thing
in the 1950s,

they said that they never
could conceive

of the ancient Greeks having
such complicated machinery.

And in fact,
they said this was tantamount

to finding a jet airplane
in the tomb of King Tut.

NARRATOR: Even older
than the Antikythera mechanism

are these carvings on a wall

at the Dendera temple complex
in Egypt.

To some, the strange designs
look eerily similar

to objects
very much in use today.

TSOUKALOS:
In Egypt,

there is this underground crypt

at Dendera
that was always secret

and only the high priests
had access to that crypt.

It's very hot in there,
very narrow, low ceiling,

and on the walls,
you have these reliefs

of what looks like
ancient light bulbs.

Because we have
to question one thing:

How did the ancient Egyptians
light the inside of their tombs?

NARRATOR: According to most
mainstream archeologists,

torches were used
by the ancient Egyptians

to light the pitch-black
chambers of tombs and temples.

Yet nowhere on the ceilings

is there even
the slightest evidence

of soot or smoke residue.

But if torches weren't used,

how else could
these ancient rooms and hallways

have been illuminated?

Another theory
that was proposed

is that the light was directed
from outside by copper mirrors.

And then there was light.

RICK:
Hey,that is a neat trick!

And they've actually tried
to recreate that theory,

but unfortunately, they failed

because only after
a few corners,

the sunlight dissipated

because the copper mirrors
were too weak.

Also, there isn't enough oxygen
inside those tombs

with which to support or feed
a flame of a torch.

I was once inside
the King's Chamber

inside the Pyramid of Giza,

and somebody turned off
the lights,

and immediately
we were in pitch darkness.

And I said, "No problem,

I'll just take out my lighter
from my satchel."

And I turned on the lighter,
and it didn't work.

So how were the insides
of their temples lit?

I mean,
the only remaining solution

is by some sort
of an artificial light source.

And that is,
for example, a light bulb.

So at the underground crypt
at Dendera,

we find reliefs
of such light bulbs.

CHILDRESS: Egyptologists'
explanation of this,

and they have to have
some explanation--

there's got to be one.

It has to be pretty mundane.

It can't be
that it's an electrical device.

Their explanation is that
it is a lotus flower.

And what appears to be a bulb

around is the aroma
of the lotus flower.

And so it's just a very odd
depiction of a flower.

But another explanation,
of course,

would be they actually
had electrical lights.

NARRATOR:
But if the ancient Egyptians

had used some kind
of electric light

to illuminate
their passageways,

why does
the visual evidence exist

only in the temple at Dendera?

In Egypt, you had different
areas of specialty.

And Dendera was the area

where the knowledge of the
light-giving source was kept.

And this secret knowledge
was kept by the high priests.

They're the only ones
who were privy

to this type of information

because Dendera
was the special place

where this specific knowledge
was guarded and kept.

The scientific community
is not saying,

"Oh, there are
no extraterrestrials"

or "They never did it."

They are judging whether or not

this is
a valid scientific theory.

And what do I mean by that?

For something to be
a scientific theory,

it really needs to be something

you can test
with a obvious experiment.

NARRATOR: But how could
the ancient Egyptians

have used anything resembling
a modern-day light bulb

without access to electricity?

After all, electricity wouldn't

be discovered
for thousands of years.

That is, of course,
with the exception

of what scientists
call "The Baghdad Battery."

MARTELL: The Baghdad Battery
was discovered in ancient Iraq.

Scholars today say
there's no way

that ancient man was using
electricity or light bulbs.

So, they look at this
Baghdad Battery,

and there's about
a dozen of them

that have been found in Iraq,
and the only mainstream theory

is that they were using it
for electroplating jewelry.

NARRATOR: Two major proponents
of ancient alien theory,

Jason Martell
and Giorgio Tsoukalos,

demonstrate
just how the Baghdad Battery

could generate electricity,

using a modern mock-up
of the device.

Basically,
this is made out of a clay pot.

Clay just found naturally
in that region in southern Iraq.

And then they would use
a small copper lining

and something along the lines
of an asphalt stopper

wrapped around an iron rod.

And these all applied together

in the combination
of some weak acidic acid,

by combining these elements with
the iron rod and the copper.

And the combination of that

creates an abundance
of electricity.

So what we're gonna do
is basically

just fill the clay pot
with some orange juice here.

-I'll try not to spill it
too much. -Okay.

And then we'll go ahead and put
the copper rod back in there.

Copper and iron rod.

We'll give it a moment to kind
of fill that copper area there.

And then by turning on
the voltmeter,

and applying this
to each side,

we should be able
to generate a charge.

And there it goes
into the positive.

TSOUKALOS:
Mm-hmm.

MARTELL:
And if we give it some time

to get the electrolytes
really buzzing in there,

you'll see that this volt
will actually continue to rise.

NARRATOR: But while some
see the Baghdad Battery

as evidence
that man was sparked on

by extraterrestrial wisdom,

others look at it
and simply say "So what?"

DR. MICHAEL SHERMER:
You could take

some ancient technology,
like the Baghdad Battery,

which probably was used for
something like metal plating

in which
you just mix chemicals,

and it has certain
chemical reactions to it

that they're using
for this reason,

and we can take and put
a voltmeter on it and go,

"Oh, look, we're able to get
a reading out of it."

Well, so what?

Um, that's just
a chemical reaction.

If they were using it,
say, this battery

to operate other machines,
where are the other machines?

If they were sending
the electricity down wires,

where are all the wires

that would have been
all over the culture?

In other words, it's not likely
a one-off invention like that

is going to survive without
all the other inventions

that would have been there
at the same time.

It is a battery.

Everybody agrees with that.

But nobody knows why they made
it and how they made it.

What mind would think of that?

You know, electrical current
back several thousand years ago?

It's very strange,
but it's clearly a battery.

CHILDRESS: The whole idea
that ancient civilizations

actually had knowledge
of electricity

and used electricity

is an accepted
archeological fact today.

Just like in our own
civilization

where about 200 years ago,

Benjamin Franklin
and other scientists

began experimenting
with simple electrical devices,

we now have evidence
that over 3,000 years ago,

people were also experimenting
with electrical devices.

Where might it have led them?

What other electrical devices

would they
have been able to create?

I believe they probably created
all kinds of electrical devices.

NARRATOR:
Tombs...

temples...

ancient light bulbs...

even electricity.

Here on Earth exists evidence

of architectural
and technological wonders,

centuries before
we ever believed them possible.

But if evidence of ancient
astronauts exists here on Earth,

what about elsewhere?

Might we find
what we are looking for

by looking in the sky?

NARRATOR: Here at the ancient
city of Teotihuacán in Mexico,

evidence suggests
that ancient cultures possessed

an incredibly
accurate knowledge

of our neighboring planets.

Some scholars
have even interpreted

the number and orientation
of its pyramids

to perfectly reflect a model
of our own solar system.

TSOUKALOS: Along
the Avenue De Los Muertos,

the "Avenue of the Dead,"
the pyramids there align

in perfect distance
of each of the orbits

of our planets
in our solar system.

NARRATOR:
Perhaps significant is the fact

that the large
Pyramid of the Sun is positioned

at the center
of the other structures,

reflecting the fact
that the Sun

is at the center
of our solar system

and that the planets
revolve around it.

It was a known fact
back then already

that the Sun was at the center
of our solar system,

which "Western science" didn't
find out until much, much later.

NARRATOR: But just how could
Teotihuacán's designers

have known so early on that
the planets in our solar system

revolved around the Sun?

Didn't that take
many more centuries

of scientific progress
and investigation to figure out?

Interestingly enough,
debunkers will say,

"Oh, this is just coincidence

"that these pyramids are aligned

with the planets
of our solar system."

But if we go on the other side
of the planet to Stonehenge,

we have another ancient site

which is way older, by the way,
than Teotihuacán.

Where if you look at Stonehenge
from a bird's-eye view,

you see that these are
all concentric circles.

And each of these circles
corresponds exactly

with the orbit of all of our
planets in our solar system.

So we have two places on Earth
where we have the same thing.

NARRATOR:
In recent years,

Stonehenge
has also been interpreted

by some archaeologists

to be a kind of
astronomical calendar,

one which could be used
to calculate events

such as solar eclipses.

But if that were true, whoever
aligned these massive stones

on the barren English landscape

would have to have had precise
astronomical knowledge

of the path of the Sun.

Built between the seventh
and ninth centuries,

the stone temples of Tikal
tower more than 200 feet

above the Guatemalan
rain forest.

Tikal is home to one
of the largest excavation sites

in the world, one where
thousands of structures

still remain buried
beneath the jungle.

According to most scientists,

Tikal's pyramids played
an essential part

in helping the Mayans
devise their calendar.

By aligning the sightlines

between the highest points
of the structures,

ancient astronomers
could pinpoint

the most important dates
of the year,

such as an upcoming
equinox or solstice.

But what also excites
ancient astronaut theorists

is how perfectly
the layout of Tikal's pyramids

correlate to the star map

of the Pleiades-Orion region
of the sky.

An overhead view
of the structures

almost exactly mirrors the
alignment of the constellation.

This same outline
has been spotted

in an area far from Tikal...

much, much farther.

Recently discovered on Mars
is a cluster of landforms

that offers
a near-perfect replication

of the pyramid pattern of Tikal.

Three distinct locations,
one unique pattern.

Coincidence...

or design?

TSOUKALOS: At Tikal,
the legends and the mythologies

that we have all speak of a time
when the gods intermingled

and interconnected
with our ancestors.

So Tikal also was built
as a message

for future generations to see
that a long, long time ago,

we were visited
by extraterrestrials.

Someone who had seen this
had to have actually

relayed the information to them

because they couldn't
have just guessed.

So it really starts
to raise the question

of saying
this ancient astronaut theory

really needs to have more light
shed on the topic.

DR. SARA SEAGER:
It's certainly possible

that the ancient people
not only measured

all of these astronomy events,

but were able to come up with
a mathematical theory

to put them together,
and then to predict new things.

We shouldn't think that the
ancient people were dummies.

Early man,
people in ancient times

didn't have dashboard-mounted
GPS units.

They had the path of the Sun
through the sky,

the path of of the Moon
through the sky.

They could see
the stars at night.

These were permanent fixtures
that they could navigate from.

So it's not surprising at all
that almost every culture

recorded astronomical
phenomenon.

SEAGER:
We never look up at the sky

and enjoy the beauty of it.

Ancient people would not have
been able to avoid

looking at the sky.

With no electricity,
the skies would be so dark

and the stars
would be so bright.

Not only that, but they relied
on the sky for directions,

for seasons in which to plant
and for a variety of things.

Today, with our GPS units
and navigation systems

and computers, we don't need
to look at the sky.

TSOUKALOS: I want to be
very clear about one thing.

That our ancestors were
as smart as we are today.

However, I don't believe
that ancient astronauts

visited the Earth
in the remote past.

I am convinced of it

because of all
the countless indications

and pieces of evidence
that we can find

from all around the world
in different ancient cultures,

in different
mythologies and legends.

I know it happened because
if you look at all the pieces,

it's the only conclusion
that you can draw.

NARRATOR: But just why
were ancient peoples

so focused on the sky and the
stars in the first place?

Were they waiting
for something to happen?

Or perhaps for something...

or someone to return?

NARRATOR:
Four decades may have passed,

but the ideas put forth
by Erich von Däniken

are still captivating
his followers

and frustrating his skeptics
to this day.

Like an Old Testament prophet
or an ancient shaman,

the author is still out there,

spreading
his firmly held message,

that we are not alone.

NARRATOR: But while the proof
of von Däniken's theories

may be debatable,
their influence on movies,

TV series,

and even radio programs
is undeniable.

GRILLO-MARXUACH: It's a
tremendous lightning rod

for fiction
and for fictional storytelling.

The classic Battlestar
Galactica series

started with a narration
that said,

"There are those who believe
that life here

"began out there
with tribes of humans

"far across the universe

"that may have been the
forefathers of the Egyptians

and the Toltecs and the Mayans."

You know, that's straight out
of von Däniken,

as in that kind of belief,
you know?

It puts us in contact

with an idea
of a mythological intelligence.

And that is one of the things

that we as human beings
crave desperately,

is to know that
we're not alone in the world,

and that somebody else
out there

is either looking after us
or coming to fight for us,

and that will unite us
against a common enemy.

WOMAN: I was reading,
uh, a lot of books

from Eric von Däniken.

And I can imagine that's true,
what he wrote in his books.

And so, I can imagine this, that
we had, uh, help from aliens.

But I don't know.
I'm not sure.

EMILY GAUD: We only know
so much in this world,

and what we do know
is so limited.

And every day, we're finding
more that require us to ask

more questions and bigger
questions and think bigger.

It's possible that something
from another planet came,

some other life-form, um,
intelligent life-form

came and did this.

GREGORY SANDERS:
I mean, who knows?

It could be because, uh,

the origins of many things
are lost in antiquity.

All we have are remnants
and shreds of evidence

to suggest
what might have happened.

LINDSAY CONROY: If someone
told me that it was proven

that aliens had a part in this,
I wouldn't be that surprised.

Why not?

TODD DISOTELL: To be honest,
ancient astronaut theory

has never cropped up in a
discussion with my colleagues.

I don't care how many pints
into it we've been,

we have never discussed
ancient astronaut theory

in any credible way whatsoever.

CHILDRESS:
One of the good things

about ancient astronaut theory

is that it makes us think.

It brings out
the "What about this?

What about that?"

We need explanations
for all these things.

And I think
that one of the main reasons

why mainstream archaeologists
get a real knee-jerk reaction

to the ancient astronaut theory

is that
it's very disturbing to them,

because they don't have
all the answers.

NOORY:
Now, some of them may believe

that life could exist
in the universe,

but their bottom line is:
"Show me the proof.

"Show it to me for real.

"I want to see the spaceship.

"I want to see something
concrete,

"not just a few pictures
that everybody can

interpret as being
this or that."

NARRATOR:
Farfetched.

Ridiculous.

Insane.

Ancient aliens visiting Earth
centuries ago,

building monuments,
influencing scripture?

But what if it all turned out
to be true?

What would happen if just one
piece of evidence turned up--

one stone, one key--
that proved that von Däniken

had been right all along?

And if he is right, what does
that suggest about our future?

If alien visitors
had come here before...

would they come again?

DENNIN: Even I think
the idea of aliens

and them visiting us is very
exciting and interesting,

and it would be really cool
if that happened.

So it gets people excited
about the question.

Maybe they start
thinking about it.

And like many things,
they might ultimately

come to thinking about
the physics or the archaeology

and get involved
in the scientific process.

So that can be
a positive side effect

of these theories
and their popularization.

TSOUKALOS:
If it turns out

that the ancient astronaut
theory is wrong,

I will be the first one
to say, "Okay, no problem."

But so far,

certain pieces of evidence
have not been debunked.

SEAGER: If the ancient alien
astronaut theory

is somehow proven to be true,

this would be a huge boon
to my work

and to the search
for other planets like Earth

with life on them.

Because if alien astronauts
have visited Earth

in the distant past,
it means they're pretty nearby.

And it means that we don't have
to look very far

to find planets like Earth
with signs of life on them.

But evidence has to be treated
with a great deal of caution,

because it has
different meanings.

I'm not sure what the reaction
of the population will be.

DOWNING: It will strengthen
the general concept

that our history of religions

in the world
needs to be looked at again

with more respect
and also with more wonder.

Meaning, what are we supposed
to make of this now?

And what are we supposed
to be doing with this now?

DELIO: If science detects
life on Mars,

if science detects a UFO,

then we need to take
what science is saying to us

and begin to rethink
about ourselves on Earth

in light of the possibility
of new life.

Does that change
our understanding of God?

It should,
if anything, broaden it.

If we do find alien life,
we should rejoice.

(chuckles)

NOORY: And honestly,
the way things are going

on this planet right now,

I would welcome a visitation

every once in a while--
a little help.

It's maybe a question
of just five or ten years.

Sooner or later, we will have
contact with someone out there,

and then the thinking
changes completely.

And one day, they will return.

And if you don't listen
to Erich von Däniken,

you will have
the shock of the gods.