The questioning of human building projects in Chariots of the Gods? remains a bedrock for many within the field of pseudo-archaeology. While its ideas might be laughable to most, the creation of doubt is a pernicious and rhetorical agent. This year marks the 50th anniversary of that book’s publication with over 65 million books sold to date. Shklovskii had already speculated that contact with extraterrestrials might have occurred in their book Intelligent Life in the Universe, but von Däniken took this theory to new levels. Originally published in German and subsequently translated into English, it was one of the first popularly sold books to suggest that extraterrestrial life forms, not humans, built structures associated with our ancient civilizations. The popularization of the theory of alien architects as having a basis in science rather than consisting of only fictional musing can be attributed to Swiss author Erich von Däniken’s 1968 publication of the book Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past.
Wells’s success.Ĭover of Serviss’ Edison’s Conquest of Mars (1898) Illustration by G. The most substantial evidence for non-earthly creatures arrived in the wake of H.G. Earlier alien theories surrounding Atlantis may have spawned fantasies about alien building. Where did the theory of aliens building the pyramids actually come from? Since the late 19th century, science fiction writers have imagined Martians and other alien lifeforms engaged in great feats of terrestrial engineering. It also chips away at the long-held but fringe theory that the blocks were so heavy and the distances they would have to travel so lengthy that aliens must have built the pyramids. Discovery and reconstruction of the ramp allows us to better understand ancient construction techniques.
Khufu is known as the pharaoh who likely commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Inscriptions have now helped archaeologists from the Institut français d’archéologie orientale and the University of Liverpool to date this groundbreaking technology to at least the reign of Khufu, who ruled from 2589–2566 BCE. Post holes and a ramp with stairs on either side indicate that the contraption allowed Egyptian builders to move heavy blocks up and down steep slopes. A female Egyptian head with an elongated skull is likely a depiction of the child of Amenophis IV/Akhenaten, 1351-1334 BCE, limestone and red paint, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (image via the Walters Art Museum creative commons)Īt the ancient site of Hatnub, a quarry in the eastern Egyptian desert not far from Faiyum, archaeologists have recently discovered a sled ramp system used to transport alabaster blocks.
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