Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Massive megalithic structures

built thousands of years ago.

Advanced engineering knowledge

that defies conventional explanation.

And a nearly identical architectural style

found all over the world.

For more than a decade,

Ancient Aliens has traveled the globe

to explore the most incredible pyramids ever discovered.

Now, we're going to visit the top ten pyramid sites

that just may hold the proof that Earth has been visited

by extraterrestrials.

♪ ♪

Pyramids are some of the most mysterious

ancient structures on the planet.

And while they are most often associated with Egypt,

they can actually be found all around the world.

But are they merely incredible feats of engineering

or could they be direct evidence

of our extraterrestrial ancestors?

When I think of all the amazing pyramid sites

we've investigated on Ancient Aliens,

one of the most compelling

is a structure in modern-day Mexico that was actually

designed to commemorate an otherworldly visitation.

At number ten on our list of the top ten pyramid sites:

El Castillo.

NARRATOR: The Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico.

Hidden in the dense jungle

lies the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá.

And standing at its center

is a massive step pyramid

believed to have been built

sometime between the 9th and 12th centuries AD,

known today as El Castillo.

Made of limestone blocks

and standing almost 100 feet tall,

the pyramid is thought to represent a calendar,

with each of its 18 terraces

commemorating a month in the Mayan year.

But its most interesting feature can be found

on the massive central staircase.

Castillo is a stepped pyramid, um, with some

outward radiating staircases

on each of the sides of the building,

and these staircases have big high balustrades on them,

and at the base of the balustrade

are these big carved snakeheads, carved in stone.

NARRATOR: El Castillo was built to venerate the Mayan god

known as Kukulkan, or the "Feathered Serpent."

There were traditions in ancient Mexico

of a great teacher arriving on the Gulf Coast.

He was said to be Kukulkan,

which translates as "the plumed or feathered serpent,"

and when he arrived, he brought with him

the arts of civilization.

He taught astronomy,

he created the first calendar,

he also taught agriculture,

and eventually, he left, promising to return.

And he was often depicted as a human being as well.

NARRATOR: Kukulkan is depicted in serpent form

on either side of the central staircase of El Castillo.

Twice a year, during sunset and sunrise,

an optical illusion appears on these stairs.

Every year, on the 23rd of March,

you see, when the sun is going up,

some lights and shadows,

like triangles climbing down the stairway,

exactly the stairway where his head is on.

And on the 21st of September, you see the opposite.

Kukulkan disappears.

What we have here is a visual rendition

of the descent of Kukulkan,

the descent of extraterrestrials

visiting this pyramid structure known as El Castillo.

WILLIAM HENRY: You wonder, perhaps a craft landed here,

and this light shadow effect of a serpent making its way

descending down the staircase,

and then emerging through a serpent head

is a recollection of that original event.

If you leave Chichén Itzá and travel 900 miles due west

through the jungles of Mexico, you'll find another

incredible site known as Teotihuacan.

Three massive pyramids stand at the center

of this temple complex

that have a direct connection to the stars.

At number nine: the pyramids of Teotihuacan.

NARRATOR: Just 35 miles northeast of Mexico City

lies an ancient complex dating back

to at least the first century AD.

The site covers an area of seven square miles

and was once the largest city in Mesoamerica

with a population of over 150,000.

DR. EDWIN BARNHART: The city of Teotihuacan

was the largest and most powerful city

that Mesoamerica ever saw.

At the city core, which is the Avenue of the Dead,

the first big long straight road,

they build the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon.

Both of those are gigantic pyramids.

And also on the Avenue of the Dead

is the temple of Quetzalcoatl.

NARRATOR: While the origins of the site

have left archaeologists baffled,

the Aztecs, who occupied the area around 1400 AD,

are credited with giving it the name Teotihuacan.

BARNHART: The name Teotihuacan means "birthplace of the gods."

And the Aztecs believed that the gods themselves

were born there at Teotihuacan.

And the Aztecs talk about the many gods coming down

to Earth and creating humans.

TSOUKALOS: If you have stories of people descending from the sky,

and our ancestors also called them the gods,

you have to wonder, well, who or what did they mean

when they said the so-called gods?

Were our ancestors visited

by flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials

whom our ancestors thought

were divine in origin when they never were?

NARRATOR: Do the pyramids of Teotihuacan hold secrets

of extraterrestrial visitation?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and they believe that the pyramids standing at the center

of the city point directly to the origins

of these visitors, the constellation of Orion.

PHILIP COPPENS: The Temple of the Sun,

the Temple of the Moon, and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl

are in the same layout as Orion's Belt.

And this is not coincidental.

The Mayans are very specific about Orion's Belt.

They say it is a point of creation.

It is said that, in 3114 BC,

the gods came from Orion's Belt to Earth,

and this occurred in Teotihuacan.

BARNHART: Teotihuacan, despite its size,

has no hieroglyphs whatsoever.

There are other cultures in Mesoamerica

that were using writing systems.

There's nothing like that at Teotihuacan,

so we don't really have a-a clear history

of what happened at Teotihuacan.

In many ways, Teotihuacan is an enigma.

The next site on our list was home to a prolific culture

that constructed over 250 pyramids

more than 600 years ago.

But what's most amazing to me is that the ancient people

who built these incredible structures

claimed that they received help from otherworldly beings.

Number eight: the Sicán pyramids of Peru.

NARRATOR: The Lambayeque Valley. Northern Peru.

1988.

Explorer Thor Heyerdahl investigates what appears to be

an area of large, earthen hills,

but soon discovers that these hills are, in fact,

massive adobe brick pyramids,

severely eroded over the centuries.

This was the site of a culture called the Sicán,

and these people, who rose around 750 AD,

seemed to be absolutely obsessed with the creation of pyramids.

In fact, they created as many as 250

within this valley alone.

And in one particular town, they created 26.

NARRATOR: According to mainstream historians,

the Sicán people mysteriously disappeared in 1375.

And although there were no written records left behind

to explain why they were obsessed with building pyramids,

ancient astronaut theorists say clues may be found by examining

the multiple images of birdmen that archeologists

have discovered inside one of the structures.

The birdman image is something that's iconic

of depicting someone who can come from the sky.

So, these glyphs that are seen on the walls

of these structures are particularly interesting.

NARRATOR: Gods depicted as half-bird and half-man

were worshipped by many pyramid-building civilizations

in the ancient world, including the Egyptians,

the Mayans, the Aztecs,

and even the Sumerians,

who built pyramid-like structures called ziggurats

as much as 6,000 years ago.

You have to wonder if these birdmen

aren't extraterrestrials coming to Peru

and instructing the people on building these pyramids.

Many of the pyramids we've investigated

on Ancient Aliens were constructed so long ago,

no written records exist to explain who built them or why.

But the pyramid builders at one location

in Guatemala actually carved

a story of an otherworldly visitation in stone.

Number seven on our countdown

of the top ten pyramid sites: El Mirador.

NARRATOR: Northern Guatemala. 1979.

Western archaeologists begin excavation of a site

that was mysteriously abandoned in 150 BC.

Known as El Mirador,

it is not only the oldest Mayan city,

but the largest, covering more than 14 square miles.

BARNHART: The central part of El Mirador has two gigantic pyramids

that are connected by a big causeway in between them.

One's called El Tigre. The other one's called La Danta.

La Danta is 70 meters tall.

That's one of the tallest in the entire world.

And it's so massive that, when you get to the top

of its first basal platform,

there's enough space where they put three more pyramids

in a triad form on top of it.

NARRATOR: But perhaps even more intriguing than the size

and scope of the pyramids at El Mirador

is an ancient stucco facade that was found between them,

which, according to ancient astronaut theorists,

provides an important clue about the origins of these structures.

The archeologists at El Mirador were investigating

the causeways and the aqueducts between the two big pyramids.

They came upon a stucco façade

that showed figures floating in the air.

The archeologists interpret them

as the Hero Twins from the Popol Vuh.

Now, The Popol Vuh is foundational

to Maya civilization and life,

as foundational as the Bible is to Christianity.

The story of the Popol Vuh really centers around

two boys, a pair of twins.

They're called the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

And they battle with the Lords of Death,

and they make the world safe for creation, us, to occur.

NARRATOR: According to the Popol Vuh,

this battle didn't take place on Earth,

but in a mysterious realm called Xibalba.

In Maya the word Xibalba means the Underworld.

But some have suggested that the word Xibalba

doesn't necessarily mean Underworld, but the Milky Way.

If you look at that carving, the guy is clearly wearing a helmet,

and he has this backpack,

and he's actually floating in space,

or he's descending from the sky.

You have, uh, what seem to be like some kind of helmet.

Could these stone carvings be depictions

of ancient astronauts?

And you have to wonder if this pyramid

isn't some kind of landing site

for extraterrestrial craft.

You might be surprised to learn that one of the oldest

pyramidal structures on Earth is in a place

that has never been associated with pyramids,

my own ancestral homeland of Greece.

Number six on our countdown: the pyramid of Hellinikon.

NARRATOR: Argos, Greece.

Just outside this ancient city

stands a mysterious stone structure

known as the pyramid of Hellinikon.

It is the only pyramid in Europe

recognized by mainstream archaeologists.

ROBERT SCHOCH: The pyramid of Hellinikon is quite small.

It's maybe only 23 feet by 30 feet by maybe 12 feet tall,

but it's incredibly interesting.

Some people suggest that it was maybe a watch tower,

or a guard tower, or a small garrison.

We don't really know what it was for, what its purpose was,

and even more controversial is the dating of it.

TSOUKALOS: The pyramid of Hellinikon is one of the most

enigmatic ancient structures on planet Earth. Why?

Because, according to some archaeological research,

it dates to before the Great Pyramid at Giza.

NARRATOR: In 1995,

scientists working at the Academy of Athens

dated samples from the site using a new

and experimental method called optical thermoluminescence.

The results suggest that the pyramid

was built around 2730 BC,

roughly 2,000 years before the rise of the Greek Empire.

This was a structure that is very mysterious.

It was constructed by a completely unknown culture.

We know almost nothing about it,

and what we do know, though,

is that there were several of these structures around.

So, who built them? And what happened to them?

NEWMAN: There were 15 other pyramids like this

found in the area.

Most of these are now completely destroyed.

So, we have to question who really built this.

When you think of pyramids, you think of Egypt.

You think of Central America. You think of India.

But pyramids in Greece?

We have to ask the question, why has that shape

been with us for such a long time?

And I think that the knowledge for building

these megalithic structures was imparted

by the so-called gods who were

misinterpreted flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials

who visited Earth a long time ago.

We're nearly halfway through our countdown

of the top ten pyramid sites featured on Ancient Aliens.

In 2018, I traveled to Egypt

and visited the next location on our list,

which was designed by a remarkable individual

who was said to have a profound connection to the stars.

At number five: the Step Pyramid of Djoser.

NARRATOR: Saqqara, Egypt.

Located just 15 miles south of the Giza Plateau

is an ancient burial ground of Egyptian royalty.

Among the many tombs stands

what mainstream archaeologists suggest

is the oldest pyramid in Egypt:

the Step Pyramid of King Djoser.

The step pyramid at Saqqara

is known as "The Stairway to Heaven."

The complex is vast. It's about 40 acres,

entirely walled in.

There's a 30-foot wall with 13 false doors.

You only get in if you know where the right door is.

NARRATOR: Mainstream archaeologists suggest the pyramid was built

as a tomb for King Djoser,

but like all other Egyptian pyramids,

there is no credible evidence

that a body was ever entombed there.

In April 2018, ancient astronaut theorist

Giorgio Tsoukalos traveled to the Djoser Pyramid

with Egyptologist Ramy Romany

to get an up-close look at the mysterious site.

Now, this pyramid is 5,000 years old.

TSOUKALOS: That's amazing.

Did they ever find a mummy in there?

No, they never found an actual mummy in there,

but they found statues.

And there is a statue next to-- it's still there--

of King Djoser.

It's a human life-size statue.

TSOUKALOS: Okay, and how many chambers are inside this pyramid?

ROMANY: There are a couple of chambers, but the pyramid is such a maze

to go in and out from that they have not discovered

everything inside yet

because it's not the safest place to be now.

NARRATOR: While the Djoser Pyramid has been weathered by time,

mainstream archaeologists believe,

when it was built in the 27th century BC,

it was the most impressive structure in Egypt.

The six-tier, four-sided structure originally stood

205 feet tall,

with a base measuring 358 feet by 397 feet.

And unlike other buildings of the time

that were constructed entirely from mud bricks,

the Djoser Pyramid was built using 11.6 million

cubic feet of stone and clay,

and it was covered in polished limestone,

most of which is gone today.

In the text that we can read about Djoser,

does he mention at all, uh,

how he was inspired to build this?

It was one brilliant man.

That man was called Imhotep.

-Okay. -Who, in history, came out of nowhere.

He was the designer and engineer of that pyramid.

What does Imhotep actually mean?

It means-- I know you're gonna like this--

but it means, "I come in peace."

-Oh, really? That's very interesting. -Yes.

So, the extraterrestrial greeting, so to speak.

Yes.

He showed up

into the life of the king out of nowhere,

and then ascended into position so quickly,

which is very uncommon in ancient Egypt.

What does that mean? What do you mean "out of nowhere"?

-Did he drop from the sky, or did he come from another land? -(laughs)

In Egyptian history, you can normally trace

every position back to their parents.

But Imhotep, nothing.

HENRY: Imhotep rose to the incredible status

as the vizier, or wizard, to the pharaoh.

This is where we get that word wizard from, vizier.

There are great mysteries about who Imhotep was,

where he came from.

COLLINS: He had an incredible knowledge of medicine.

He had an understanding of blood circulation.

He did the first dentistry.

Uh, may even have performed operations.

He was also an astronomer,

had an incredible knowledge of the stars.

But most incredible of all is the fact that it's said

that the knowledge of how to create the earliest pyramids

actually came from a text that fell from the sky

out of nowhere and came into the hands of Imhotep.

HENRY: What's fascinating is the depictions of him.

He looks like he's got this oversize head.

He's got strange looking hands. He almost looks nonhuman.

Do we know how long he lived?

That is also a mystery.

We don't know how he died, but he was buried in a tomb.

And that tomb was around here in Saqqara.

The tomb of Imhotep has never been found.

-So far, right? Yeah. -So far.

But look around you, the desert is massive.

When the tomb of Imhotep is discovered,

it will be the discovery of the century.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists are hopeful that,

if the tomb of Imhotep is ever discovered,

it might be found to contain the remains

of an otherworldly visitor.

But perhaps even more compelling evidence

of an extraterrestrial connection to ancient pyramids

can be found with a series of hidden structures in China

can be found with a series of hidden structures in China

that, according to some researchers,

may hold remnants of alien technology.

China is a treasure trove for the ancient astronaut theory.

Its mythology is rich in stories of otherworldly beings

and is home to some truly incredible relics.

But what many people don't know is that China is also home

to dozens of pyramids,

all of which were completely unknown to the outside world

until the 1940s.

At number four on our countdown: the hidden pyramids of China.

NARRATOR: Shaanxi province, China.

1945.

U.S. Army Air Corps pilot James Gaussman is transporting

military supplies from India.

While flying over a rural valley,

he spots a mysterious structure.

One of the most unusual stories

of pyramids came out of World War II.

The story is of an American pilot who was

flying the Burma Hump over

to Chongqing in central China.

And what he claimed he saw was a huge pyramid in the valley

with a gigantic crystal capstone on the top of it.

He was so amazed by this huge pyramid in this remote valley

that he flew around it once with his plane.

This pyramid has never ever been discovered since then.

NARRATOR: Two years later, another U.S. aviator,

Colonel Maurice Sheahan,

spotted what appeared to be a second pyramid in the area.

HENRY: Colonel Maurice Sheahan looks down,

and he sees a giant pyramid

that he says is larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza.

He reports this to The New York Times

and it causes a sensation.

NARRATOR: Until then, no pyramids had ever been found in China.

But in the years that followed,

more than 30 pyramidal structures have been discovered

throughout the region, many of which

have become covered in vegetation.

But perhaps the area's most mysterious

pyramidal structure can be found in the city of Xi'an.

Standing 26 feet tall and dating back 1,500 years,

it is made from compressed earth

and known as the "Altar of Heaven."

From the beginning, Chinese mythology is linked

to the universe and to the extraterrestrials.

All the Chinese kings communicated

with the so-called gods, which, in reality,

were extraterrestrials on the so-called "Altar of Heaven."

When we step aside from the standard theory that

the pyramids were used as tombs,

this pyramid is very interesting because of its shape.

On the outside, there's a large ramp

that leads up to a platform.

It's very possible that this pyramid was actually

some type of ancient landing source or a landing pad.

The same stone structure,

with different ring about the main altar,

we find in Peru, over the city of Sacsayhuamán.

And the rulers of the Inca were, of course again,

the descendants from heaven, like in China.

So, one has to ask the question, who was the architect?

Could it be that the architect was none other than

an extraterrestrial giving this knowledge to our ancestors?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the mysterious

pyramidal structures recently found in China,

were used by ancient rulers to connect

with otherworldly beings?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and suggest further evidence can be found at another pyramid site

roughly 500 miles west in the province of Qinghai

on a remote mountain called Mount Baigong.

When you go to Mount Baigong, what you find is

a huge mountain with what appears to be

an artificial pyramid with three triangular entrances

going inside this mountain pyramid.

And inside are all of these metallic pipes.

The floor of these caves

are littered with metallic parts.

It's like this was some kind of base.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the strange metallic pipes

found within this pyramidal structure

have served a technological function?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe Mount Baigong

could be connected to ancient Chinese stories

of a magical place called Kunlun Mountain.

CHILDRESS: In Chinese mythology, the Kunlun Mountain

was said to be the center of the Earth,

and it was supposedly a huge pillar

of jade and jasper

and precious gems that

reached up into the sky.

DOMINIC STEAVU: Mount Kunlun is a mythical mountain

that is an axis mundi, which is a central pillar

around which the entire universe revolves.

This is a connector between

Earth and the rest of the universe.

It's where celestial beings can communicate with earthly beings.

You have to wonder, if Mount Baigong is not

this mythical Kunlun Mountain that was

some kind of extraterrestrial base

that spanned Earth and the stars.

NARRATOR: Could these pyramid sites in China

serve a similar function

to other pyramids found around the world

and might they have been inspired

by extraterrestrial encounters?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and suggest

further evidence that the ancient pyramid builders

were influenced by otherworldly beings

can be found at a mysterious site in Indonesia

that's hiding a massive prehistoric structure.

High in the mountains of Indonesia,

a pyramid has been discovered that is known

for certain to be over 10,000 years old.

Number three on our countdown

of the top ten pyramid sites: Gunung Padang.

NARRATOR: Western Java, Indonesia. 2013.

The Indonesian government sponsors an excavation

to explore what might be hidden beneath the layers

of dirt and rubble at a site known as

Gunung Padang, or "Mountain of Light."

They uncover incredible evidence

revealing a 300-foot-tall step pyramid

dating back at least 10,000 years.

CHILDRESS: Gunung Padang is made of millions

of tons of basalt that has been piled up

into a huge mountain,

which is also riddled with strange chambers and tunnels.

COLLINS: The people who constructed Gunung Padang built

rectangular enclosures, rock mounds, stairways.

And, although the outer monument that we see today

probably only dates to about 600 BC,

we now know that, beneath this,

is further structures of a much earlier date.

And indeed that has given dating evidence that suggests

that there was human activity there as early as 25,000 BC.

NARRATOR: According to geologists, 20,000 years ago,

this area of Java was not an isolated island,

but the southernmost part of a subcontinent

known as Sundaland.

This has led some researchers to speculate that Gunung Padang,

with its high elevation, could have been at the pinnacle

of a civilization that disappeared

sometime around 10,000 BC,

when melting ice caps flooded the region

and turned it into the series of islands it is today.

But if true, just who was this mysterious culture

capable of building a 300-foot-tall pyramid?

In Indonesian star lore,

there's a constellation of particular interest.

They call it Vendum Viduk. We call Ursa Major.

It is thought that it is the shape of a boat,

and that the original craft, the original starship

carrying the people came from this place to their land.

Their houses, the long houses, the community structures

are built in the shape of a boat,

always facing northward

in honor of the place of their origins.

These star travelers are said to have started

the original royal family.

The name of the people, Toraja,

means "those who come from the stars."

NARRATOR: Might the builders of the massive pyramid

at Gunung Padang have been the star travelers of local legend?

For ancient astronaut theorists,

the answer is a resounding yes.

CHILDRESS: Indonesian archeologists have no idea who would have built this.

How they could have built it. What its purpose was.

And, in fact, many of them would say, "Yes,

"this was built by the ancient gods

for some purpose that we don't know."

While the structure at Gunung Padang has been

overcome by nature, just 300 miles east

on the island of Java

is an extraordinary pyramid that remains almost perfectly intact.

The number two site on our countdown:

the Temple of Borobudur.

NARRATOR: Magelang, Indonesia.

Located on the island of Java is the world's largest

Buddhist monument, the Borobudur Temple.

Built during the 8th and 9th centuries AD,

this religious structure consists

of six rectangular terraces

topped by three concentric circular terraces

creating a unique pyramid design.

Borobudur is definitely not an obvious pyramid, but it is.

It is a stacked pyramid on top of which

have been built structures.

MARTELL: The Borobudur Temple is known as a shrine,

but also a place of pilgrimage where people

start at the base and work their way up to the top,

which they theorize is like reaching nirvana.

DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: Many of the Buddhist temple architecture,

you know, the steppe architecture,

they're based on all these number formulas.

For example, Borobudur was created based on mandala.

Mandala is a pictorial representation of the universe,

and the mandala is based on 72 numbers.

NARRATOR: Borobudur's nine platforms combine to create a perfect

Buddhist mandala when viewed directly overhead.

Researchers question why and how the builders

would create such an intricate religious symbol

that can only be viewed from the air.

But according to ancient astronaut theorists,

the answer can be found on top of the pyramid,

where there are 72 bell-shaped structures known as stupas,

each housing a seated statue of Buddha.

CHILDRESS: Buddha is depicted as sitting inside of these small stupas.

But it looks like Buddha

is flying a flying saucer at Borobudur.

That's the obvious thing you think of when you see this.

And so, is this really how the Buddhists even think

of Buddha themselves, as someone who arrives

in a disc-shaped craft, like an extraterrestrial?

Each stupa, in my opinion,

represents a type of flying craft.

Because stupa actually means celestial chariot,

a way with which to reach the celestial realm.

The journey didn't happen in their heads.

It wasn't something ethereal. It wasn't something spiritual.

It happened.

Extraterrestrial contact took place

in Indonesia thousands of years ago.

in Indonesia thousands of years ago.

We've finally reached number one on our countdown

of the top ten pyramid sites.

And if you're a fan of Ancient Aliens,

I'm sure you guessed this one right from the start.

Number one on our list: the Giza Plateau.

NARRATOR: On the western coast of the Nile River in Egypt

is a limestone plateau called Giza.

Here stand the three most mysterious

and sophisticated pyramids ever constructed on Earth.

The massive structures are engineered to near perfection

and are believed by many to have been intentionally

placed to align with the three belt stars

of the Orion constellation.

But of greatest significance to ancient astronaut theorists

is the largest of the three: the Great Pyramid.

This enormous structure stands 480 feet tall

and was built from more than 2 million

limestone blocks, each weighing thousands of pounds.

The construction of the Great Pyramid

was an engineering feat that remains unmatched to this day.

CHRIS DUNN: The Great Pyramid of Giza covers 13 acres.

The precision of this building, uh,

exceeds anything that we require of builders today.

For instance, the area of the 13 acres was leveled

within seven-eighths of an inch.

That's about the thickness of a thumbnail.

But that's not all. The casing stones

are filled with some kind of mysterious cement

that nobody's been able to figure out what the formula is.

This is not the work of primitive people.

TSOUKALOS: Oftentimes, we throw around the words

"awesome" or "monumental,"

and we don't really think about these words,

but when you stand in front of the Great Pyramid,

the word "awesome" is in fact true.

ROMANY: It's the most marvelous ancient structure in the world.

What's inside the Great Pyramid of Giza

is absolutely mind-boggling.

You look at the beautiful, perfect tunnel,

with perfectly smooth walls,

and a vaulted ceiling that rises all the way up.

And there are shafts, tunnels,

and the architecture, and the way it was built

is a mystery till today.

NARRATOR: According to most Egyptologists,

this miracle of engineering

was constructed during a 20-year period

by order of the pharaoh Khufu,

sometime around 2500 BC.

But many experts claim this dating is based

on highly questionable data,

and ancient astronaut theorists suggest

the origins of the three pyramids at Giza

are far more profound.

Archaeologists and Egyptologists claim that they were

tombs for the pharaohs, and yet no Egyptian pharaoh

was ever found in a pyramid in Egypt.

We have found the mummies of many Egyptian pharaohs,

but they're found in vaults deep underground

at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor,

hundreds of miles away from the pyramids.

The pyramids have no real explanation

of what their purpose was.

DUNN: When you look at the Great Pyramid as a schematic,

for me, it looks like a machine.

Well, if that's the case, what did this machine do?

I propose that the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid

to be a power plant and that the pyramids

were actually geomechanical devices.

In other words, they were attached to the Earth.

They were tuned to vibrate with the frequencies

of the Earth, and they converted the energies

of the Earth into electromagnetic energy.

NARRATOR: Was the pyramid site at Giza

designed as an ancient powerplant?

Perhaps advances in technology will soon shed new light

on the origins of these mysterious structures.

TSOUKALOS: Archaeology is rooted in interpretation,

just like the ancient astronaut theory.

I'm still of the personal opinion

that the Great Pyramid complex dates to a time

when the gods walked among humans.

Something extraordinary happened right here in ancient Egypt.

Perhaps under the tutelage of extraterrestrials,

teachers from another star system.

The pyramids of the Giza Plateau

will never cease to amaze and inspire.

But at each pyramidal site we've investigated,

we've found clues that point to otherworldly visitations.

Could these extraordinary structures

hold the keys to unlocking the truth

about our extraterrestrial origins?

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