1 00:00:08,926 --> 00:00:11,177 NARRATOR: Reports of UFO sightings 2 00:00:11,261 --> 00:00:13,429 come from all corners of the globe. 3 00:00:13,430 --> 00:00:16,599 I was taken on board a 200-foot-diameter spacecraft 4 00:00:16,725 --> 00:00:18,601 in the Mojave Desert and given... 5 00:00:18,727 --> 00:00:21,562 WOMAN: I saw two great big, real bright lights 6 00:00:21,647 --> 00:00:24,732 hanging up in the air. 7 00:00:24,817 --> 00:00:27,443 NARRATOR: Most believe these alien encounters 8 00:00:27,569 --> 00:00:29,445 are a modern phenomenon, 9 00:00:29,446 --> 00:00:34,158 but the fact is, they have been reported for thousands of years. 10 00:00:34,243 --> 00:00:36,744 MICHAEL CREMO: Practically every human civilization 11 00:00:36,829 --> 00:00:41,207 have been in touch with extraterrestrial beings. 12 00:00:41,291 --> 00:00:44,460 In India, Israel. 13 00:00:44,461 --> 00:00:46,754 The Mayans and the Aztecs. 14 00:00:46,839 --> 00:00:51,175 LINDA HOWE: The idea that there was one or more non-human groups 15 00:00:51,260 --> 00:00:54,762 inspiring us is the truth. 16 00:00:56,557 --> 00:00:59,308 NARRATOR: Millions of people around the world 17 00:00:59,435 --> 00:01:01,477 believe we have been visited in the past 18 00:01:01,478 --> 00:01:04,480 by extraterrestrial beings. 19 00:01:04,481 --> 00:01:06,858 But what if it were true? 20 00:01:06,984 --> 00:01:11,070 Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history? 21 00:01:11,196 --> 00:01:15,032 And if so, where did they come from? 22 00:01:15,117 --> 00:01:18,119 And just who were the visitors? 23 00:01:48,525 --> 00:01:51,027 (wind whistling) 24 00:01:59,828 --> 00:02:02,538 NARRATOR: Roswell, New Mexico. 25 00:02:02,539 --> 00:02:06,042 This sleepy town in America's Southwest 26 00:02:06,126 --> 00:02:10,296 was once best known for its large military air base. 27 00:02:10,380 --> 00:02:13,132 But that changed in 1947... 28 00:02:15,135 --> 00:02:17,845 when a local rancher reported that a spaceship 29 00:02:17,930 --> 00:02:20,348 crashed on his property. 30 00:02:20,474 --> 00:02:23,893 Several weeks later, the U.S. Army issued a press release 31 00:02:23,977 --> 00:02:28,272 confirming the existence of an alien craft. 32 00:02:28,357 --> 00:02:31,567 The next day, the military changed its story 33 00:02:31,568 --> 00:02:35,655 and announced that what they had found was a weather balloon. 34 00:02:35,739 --> 00:02:40,576 These conflicting reports sent shock waves around the world, 35 00:02:40,577 --> 00:02:44,580 and the name "Roswell" became a pop culture code word 36 00:02:44,665 --> 00:02:47,792 that forever links extraterrestrial visitation 37 00:02:47,918 --> 00:02:50,920 with enduring mystery. 38 00:02:53,006 --> 00:02:56,342 NICK POPE: Speculation about why the Roswell crash 39 00:02:56,426 --> 00:02:59,595 would be covered up is difficult to pin down. 40 00:02:59,596 --> 00:03:04,600 Some people talk about this in terms of information 41 00:03:04,601 --> 00:03:07,353 that would be shattering to our worldview. 44 00:03:11,942 --> 00:03:15,611 And one of the real implications of disclosure is that 45 00:03:15,612 --> 00:03:19,699 some of our most cherished myths 46 00:03:19,783 --> 00:03:24,161 about the origins of the human race and our history 47 00:03:24,246 --> 00:03:27,540 and archeology would fall apart. 48 00:03:27,624 --> 00:03:30,793 GEORGE NOORY: Something happened at Roswell, New Mexico 49 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:32,128 a long time ago. 50 00:03:32,212 --> 00:03:33,796 People want the truth. 51 00:03:33,922 --> 00:03:36,632 I think there's something in the human being itself 52 00:03:36,633 --> 00:03:40,386 that is striving, that is hungry for this knowledge, 53 00:03:40,470 --> 00:03:43,764 in order to answer questions about our own existence. 54 00:03:43,849 --> 00:03:47,643 NARRATOR: Today, public opinion polls indicate 55 00:03:47,644 --> 00:03:50,646 more than half the world's population believes 56 00:03:50,647 --> 00:03:54,650 aliens have either come here in the past or are coming here now. 57 00:03:54,735 --> 00:03:58,237 But what is it exactly 58 00:03:58,363 --> 00:04:00,656 that makes so many people believe? 59 00:04:03,994 --> 00:04:06,662 I do think looking upward makes sense. 60 00:04:06,663 --> 00:04:08,289 The universe is large. 61 00:04:08,415 --> 00:04:10,499 There are things out there we do not understand. 62 00:04:10,626 --> 00:04:13,002 There is probably intelligent life somewhere. 63 00:04:13,086 --> 00:04:15,671 ROBERT BAUVAL: People tend to forget that we're on a planet 64 00:04:15,672 --> 00:04:18,090 that's four and a half billion years old. 65 00:04:20,677 --> 00:04:24,597 The presence of our civilization in that vast scale of time... 66 00:04:24,681 --> 00:04:28,267 I mean, if I click my finger, it wouldn't even be fast enough 67 00:04:28,393 --> 00:04:31,479 to say this is the time of our civilization. 68 00:04:31,605 --> 00:04:33,689 And to think that we're the only ones 69 00:04:33,690 --> 00:04:36,859 in this vast period of time, to me, is absurd. 70 00:04:40,072 --> 00:04:41,697 SARA SEAGER: Our galaxy, the Milky Way, 71 00:04:41,782 --> 00:04:44,700 has over 100 billion stars. 72 00:04:44,701 --> 00:04:46,285 And in our universe, 73 00:04:46,411 --> 00:04:49,705 we think there are more than 100 billion galaxies. 74 00:04:49,706 --> 00:04:52,500 So if every star had a planet with intelligent life, 75 00:04:52,626 --> 00:04:55,711 how many alien civilizations would we have? 76 00:04:55,712 --> 00:04:59,882 ERICH VON DANIKEN: If you take us as the crown of creation, 77 00:05:00,008 --> 00:05:03,010 or the top of evolution, we look at ourselves 78 00:05:03,095 --> 00:05:04,887 as the greatest, the biggest. 79 00:05:05,013 --> 00:05:07,890 We say, how incredible, uh, 81 00:05:14,731 --> 00:05:16,732 JENNIFER HELDMANN: Each step that we take makes us 82 00:05:16,858 --> 00:05:18,734 a little bit less special. 83 00:05:18,735 --> 00:05:21,028 We used to think that we were the center of the universe, 84 00:05:21,113 --> 00:05:22,655 as humans, and then we realized, 85 00:05:22,739 --> 00:05:24,365 oh, all right, well, that's not true. 86 00:05:24,491 --> 00:05:26,367 And... But we're the center of the galaxy, and, like, 87 00:05:26,493 --> 00:05:27,743 well, all right, so we're, like, 88 00:05:27,869 --> 00:05:30,079 two-thirds of the way out in a spiral arm. 89 00:05:30,163 --> 00:05:32,832 And then, well, at least our sun, you know, with this... No. 90 00:05:32,916 --> 00:05:34,375 The sun is actually in the middle, 91 00:05:34,501 --> 00:05:36,127 and the Earth goes around it. 92 00:05:36,253 --> 00:05:38,754 So Earth isn't even the center of that system, and... 93 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,173 So, the more that we learn, we sort of, you know... 94 00:05:41,299 --> 00:05:42,758 It's a very humbling science. 95 00:05:47,347 --> 00:05:49,765 NARRATOR: When man first landed on the moon, 96 00:05:49,766 --> 00:05:53,686 our perspective on the universe changed forever. 97 00:05:53,770 --> 00:05:56,105 (over radio): Houston, uh, the Eagle has landed. 98 00:06:00,068 --> 00:06:01,986 BUZZ ALDRIN: We aliens... 99 00:06:02,112 --> 00:06:05,865 who happened to... 100 00:06:05,949 --> 00:06:09,785 go down the ladder on July 20, 1969-- 101 00:06:09,911 --> 00:06:11,912 we aliens... 102 00:06:14,541 --> 00:06:18,544 were certainly part of a magnificent race. 103 00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:27,803 I just don't think people have a grasp for what energy it takes 104 00:06:27,804 --> 00:06:30,806 to go from one star to another. 105 00:06:33,769 --> 00:06:36,729 NARRATOR: This historic event raised the question: 106 00:06:36,813 --> 00:06:39,815 if humans can successfully navigate in space 107 00:06:39,816 --> 00:06:43,360 and explore other worlds, why couldn't beings 108 00:06:43,445 --> 00:06:46,906 from other parts of the universe have done the same? 109 00:06:46,990 --> 00:06:49,909 And might they have already come to Earth 110 00:06:49,993 --> 00:06:53,788 hundreds, or perhaps, thousands of years ago? 111 00:06:55,749 --> 00:06:58,834 VON DANIKEN: I think human past is more fantastic 112 00:06:58,835 --> 00:07:00,836 than we all believe. 113 00:07:00,837 --> 00:07:04,381 I have come to the idea that maybe extraterrestrials 114 00:07:04,466 --> 00:07:06,342 were on this planet. 115 00:07:11,848 --> 00:07:13,849 NARRATOR: Cahuachi, Peru. 116 00:07:16,561 --> 00:07:20,231 2,000 years ago, this ancient settlement served as 117 00:07:20,357 --> 00:07:24,276 the religious and cultural capital of the Nazca people. 118 00:07:26,863 --> 00:07:29,490 But sometime around 500 AD, 119 00:07:29,616 --> 00:07:32,076 the Nazca mysteriously disappeared, 120 00:07:32,202 --> 00:07:35,871 leaving Cahuachi to fall into disarray. 121 00:07:37,290 --> 00:07:40,876 1,400 years later, in 1910, 122 00:07:40,877 --> 00:07:44,505 anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka came to Cahuachi 123 00:07:44,631 --> 00:07:48,884 to study the ancient Nazca civilization. 124 00:07:48,885 --> 00:07:52,429 During a dig, he unearthed some of the most surprising 125 00:07:52,514 --> 00:07:56,183 and shocking artifacts he had ever seen. 126 00:08:00,605 --> 00:08:03,440 They were skulls... 127 00:08:03,525 --> 00:08:06,902 with enormous, elongated craniums. 128 00:08:08,905 --> 00:08:10,906 Where did they come from? 129 00:08:10,907 --> 00:08:12,533 How did they get there? 130 00:08:12,659 --> 00:08:15,703 And were they human? 131 00:08:17,831 --> 00:08:23,544 CHILDRESS: In Peru, we find these weird, elongated skulls. 132 00:08:23,670 --> 00:08:25,421 And they're bizarre-looking. 133 00:08:25,505 --> 00:08:29,008 I mean, and-and these people look like aliens. 134 00:08:34,639 --> 00:08:36,473 ROBERT SCHOCH: One may say, okay, aliens. 135 00:08:36,558 --> 00:08:40,019 But another aspect that we have to consider 136 00:08:40,103 --> 00:08:43,898 is that skull and cranial deformation, 137 00:08:43,940 --> 00:08:47,902 forming elongated heads is a practice that's known 138 00:08:47,944 --> 00:08:50,946 throughout much of the ancient world. 139 00:08:51,031 --> 00:08:54,950 NARRATOR: In 1870, the process of skull deformation 140 00:08:55,076 --> 00:08:58,787 was well chronicled by a German botanist and explorer 141 00:08:58,914 --> 00:09:01,707 named Georg Schweinfurth. 142 00:09:01,791 --> 00:09:03,959 While exploring the African Congo, 143 00:09:04,085 --> 00:09:07,963 he came in contact with a tribe called the Mangbetu. 144 00:09:07,964 --> 00:09:11,926 They routinely performed a ritual of cranial binding 145 00:09:11,968 --> 00:09:15,971 that allowed them to physically alter the shape of human skulls. 146 00:09:19,893 --> 00:09:22,811 CHILDRESS: They took infants' skulls 147 00:09:22,938 --> 00:09:26,398 and compressed them and bound them. 148 00:09:26,524 --> 00:09:30,986 And they forced the cranium out and elongate it. 149 00:09:30,987 --> 00:09:33,948 And in many cases, they doubled the size. 150 00:09:36,201 --> 00:09:37,910 SCHOCH: And a big question is 151 00:09:37,994 --> 00:09:39,954 why was this being done? 152 00:09:41,998 --> 00:09:46,168 It may have been a way to distinguish the elite, perhaps, 153 00:09:46,294 --> 00:09:48,796 from the everyday people. 154 00:09:48,922 --> 00:09:53,008 May have been a social stratification type of issue. 155 00:09:53,009 --> 00:09:56,428 Something that also appeals to me is, that may have been 156 00:09:56,554 --> 00:09:59,974 a way to express physically 157 00:10:00,016 --> 00:10:03,352 and maybe try to achieve physically 158 00:10:03,436 --> 00:10:05,646 greater levels of consciousness 159 00:10:05,772 --> 00:10:09,024 or higher levels of mental ability. 160 00:10:09,025 --> 00:10:12,820 TSOUKALOS: In my opinion, they did this 161 00:10:12,946 --> 00:10:16,407 in order to mimic the gods. 162 00:10:16,533 --> 00:10:20,536 And those gods were physical beings, 163 00:10:20,620 --> 00:10:22,830 because if they were just a figment 164 00:10:22,956 --> 00:10:26,041 of our ancestors' imagination, I don't think 165 00:10:26,042 --> 00:10:30,462 that's a compelling enough reason to expose your children 166 00:10:30,588 --> 00:10:36,260 to such a ritual to achieve that type of look. 167 00:10:36,386 --> 00:10:40,055 And in my opinion, these people were misinterpreted 168 00:10:40,056 --> 00:10:42,891 flesh-and-blood space travelers. 169 00:10:43,018 --> 00:10:45,060 SCHOCH: Some people have suggested aliens had 170 00:10:45,061 --> 00:10:48,063 elongated skulls, and apparently, 171 00:10:48,189 --> 00:10:51,692 ancient peoples are mimicking those skulls. 172 00:10:51,818 --> 00:10:53,235 The old saying is that 173 00:10:53,361 --> 00:10:56,071 imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 174 00:10:56,156 --> 00:10:59,867 NARRATOR: Although there have been many images 175 00:10:59,993 --> 00:11:03,454 that attempt to depict what aliens might actually look like, 176 00:11:03,580 --> 00:11:07,666 one in particular has come to dominate the public perception. 177 00:11:07,792 --> 00:11:10,878 It, too, features an elongated cranium, 178 00:11:11,004 --> 00:11:13,714 and is associated with an extraterrestrial race 179 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,425 that many refer to as the grays. 180 00:11:20,388 --> 00:11:22,097 POPE: In terms of entities, 181 00:11:22,098 --> 00:11:26,643 one very common description are the so-called grays-- 182 00:11:26,728 --> 00:11:30,606 three and a half, four feet tall, essentially humanoid, 183 00:11:30,690 --> 00:11:34,234 but, uh, very spindly with disproportionately large heads 184 00:11:34,319 --> 00:11:37,196 and huge, black almond-shaped eyes. 185 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,116 NARRATOR: But would someone in a primitive society 186 00:11:41,117 --> 00:11:45,871 really want to replicate this look and deform their skull? 187 00:11:45,955 --> 00:11:49,416 Some archeologists have a different perspective. 188 00:11:49,501 --> 00:11:52,127 They point to artistic self-expression 189 00:11:52,128 --> 00:11:56,131 as an explanation of these customs. 190 00:11:56,257 --> 00:11:58,133 There are all kinds of people 191 00:11:58,134 --> 00:12:02,679 that either worship the body or use the body as art, 192 00:12:02,764 --> 00:12:07,142 be it a tattoo or a piercing of some sort, or tribes that, 193 00:12:07,143 --> 00:12:10,145 that put things in their ears or on their lips to try to, 194 00:12:10,146 --> 00:12:12,147 to try to grow parts of their body. 195 00:12:12,148 --> 00:12:15,359 Some societies, we know, practiced binding 196 00:12:15,485 --> 00:12:17,444 parts of the body-- feet or heads-- 197 00:12:17,529 --> 00:12:19,071 and tried to make certain shapes, 198 00:12:19,155 --> 00:12:20,280 and this was done for whatever reason. 199 00:12:20,365 --> 00:12:21,573 We know today that this isn't usually 200 00:12:21,699 --> 00:12:23,158 the most healthy thing to do, 201 00:12:23,159 --> 00:12:24,576 but it doesn't mean people don't do it. 202 00:12:24,702 --> 00:12:26,370 People are always trying 203 00:12:26,496 --> 00:12:29,164 to change their body to make it look a certain way. 204 00:12:32,085 --> 00:12:33,961 NARRATOR: Whatever the explanation may be 205 00:12:34,087 --> 00:12:36,463 for these rituals, they are not just found 206 00:12:36,548 --> 00:12:39,174 in Peru and the African Congo. 207 00:12:39,175 --> 00:12:43,303 Skull deformation is a global phenomenon. 208 00:12:43,388 --> 00:12:47,182 CHILDRESS: What's really strange is that 209 00:12:47,183 --> 00:12:50,310 this is found all over the world. 210 00:12:50,395 --> 00:12:52,354 And this is something that archaeologists 211 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,731 cannot easily explain, 212 00:12:54,816 --> 00:12:58,819 because, for people on remote islands, 213 00:12:58,945 --> 00:13:03,198 for people in South America or Malta or in Africa 214 00:13:03,199 --> 00:13:08,203 to suddenly, independently do this cranial deformation 215 00:13:08,204 --> 00:13:10,330 like this seems incredible. 216 00:13:12,375 --> 00:13:17,004 I mean, this is something that had to be learned, 217 00:13:17,130 --> 00:13:19,965 something that was taught to them. 218 00:13:22,010 --> 00:13:25,637 SCHOCH: We seem to have basic similarities, 219 00:13:25,763 --> 00:13:30,517 as if there was one civilization or at least one type of culture 220 00:13:30,602 --> 00:13:34,313 that was influencing people around the world. 221 00:13:37,233 --> 00:13:40,194 I find it more and more difficult to believe 222 00:13:40,236 --> 00:13:42,237 what I was taught as an undergraduate-- 223 00:13:42,238 --> 00:13:46,992 that all these different cultures just coincidentally 224 00:13:47,076 --> 00:13:49,244 came up with the same concepts 225 00:13:49,329 --> 00:13:52,331 independently of each other. 226 00:13:55,543 --> 00:13:58,795 NARRATOR: Is it possible that individual societies 227 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:03,258 around the world were influenced by similar events? 228 00:14:03,259 --> 00:14:05,844 And were they imitating real beings 229 00:14:05,970 --> 00:14:08,388 who visited from other planets? 230 00:14:08,473 --> 00:14:12,267 Some of the most compelling images of an elongated cranium 231 00:14:12,268 --> 00:14:15,854 can be traced to ancient Egypt and the depictions 232 00:14:15,980 --> 00:14:19,358 of one of its most controversial pharaohs. 233 00:14:19,442 --> 00:14:21,276 Could it be that he, too, 234 00:14:21,277 --> 00:14:24,571 was mimicking the look of extraterrestrials? 235 00:14:24,656 --> 00:14:29,284 Or is there an even more outrageous explanation? 236 00:14:29,369 --> 00:14:32,287 Could he have been one of them? 237 00:14:42,215 --> 00:14:43,590 Egypt. 238 00:14:43,675 --> 00:14:47,302 Long before the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids 239 00:14:47,303 --> 00:14:50,847 or even settled along the Nile River, 240 00:14:50,932 --> 00:14:54,017 they spoke of an era called Tep Zepi, 241 00:14:54,102 --> 00:14:56,728 or the beginning of time. 242 00:14:56,854 --> 00:15:01,066 According to legends, Tep Zepi was when sky-gods 243 00:15:01,150 --> 00:15:04,861 descended from the stars to Earth on flying boats, 244 00:15:04,946 --> 00:15:08,949 and then turned mud and water into a new kingdom. 245 00:15:10,827 --> 00:15:12,286 BAUVAL: The word "god," 246 00:15:12,328 --> 00:15:15,539 according to the ancient Egyptian, is "netyro." 247 00:15:15,665 --> 00:15:19,668 It means a being that came from the cosmos. 248 00:15:19,752 --> 00:15:22,087 They are very adamant about the fact 249 00:15:22,171 --> 00:15:25,465 that their gods had descended from the stars. 250 00:15:25,550 --> 00:15:28,427 They tell us that the god Osiris, 251 00:15:28,511 --> 00:15:31,513 who ruled with his consort and sister-- the goddess Isis-- 252 00:15:31,639 --> 00:15:35,100 they were star gods, and in fact they identify them very clearly. 253 00:15:35,184 --> 00:15:39,104 Osiris was identified as the constellation of Orion. 254 00:15:39,188 --> 00:15:42,357 Isis was identified as the god to the star Sirius, 255 00:15:42,358 --> 00:15:45,360 the brightest star in the sky. 256 00:15:45,361 --> 00:15:47,154 There's an interesting point about this-- 257 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:48,947 is that within the constellation of Orion 258 00:15:49,073 --> 00:15:51,533 is the so-called nursery of stars. 259 00:15:54,454 --> 00:15:57,456 The stars in our galaxy literally were born 260 00:15:57,540 --> 00:15:59,374 in that zone. 261 00:15:59,375 --> 00:16:02,127 And it's really peculiar that the ancient Egyptians insist 262 00:16:02,211 --> 00:16:06,381 that the birth of star gods are in this constellation. 263 00:16:06,507 --> 00:16:09,384 They truly believed-- they were very adamant about this-- 264 00:16:09,385 --> 00:16:12,346 that their origins is in the sky. 265 00:16:18,394 --> 00:16:20,604 SCHOCH: Something that we see around the world 266 00:16:20,730 --> 00:16:23,482 with ancient civilizations is that they had 267 00:16:23,566 --> 00:16:27,361 incredible knowledge of the stars, of the planets, 268 00:16:27,403 --> 00:16:29,196 of the heavenly motions. 269 00:16:29,322 --> 00:16:31,823 The average person in the ancient world 270 00:16:31,949 --> 00:16:36,411 had way more knowledge of what’s going on in the skies 271 00:16:36,537 --> 00:16:40,957 than a lot of well-educated people today. 272 00:16:45,421 --> 00:16:49,424 NARRATOR: As ancient Egypt grew into a great civilization, 273 00:16:49,425 --> 00:16:52,594 its citizens believed their pharaohs were sons of Osiris, 274 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:55,514 and thus, living gods. 275 00:16:55,598 --> 00:16:58,809 Artwork and wall carvings depicted them as perfect humans. 276 00:16:58,935 --> 00:17:02,771 And while the people worshiped many different gods, 277 00:17:02,855 --> 00:17:06,024 the pharaoh stood above them all. 278 00:17:06,150 --> 00:17:09,569 This basic Egyptian religious belief remained in force 279 00:17:09,654 --> 00:17:11,655 for nearly a thousand years, 280 00:17:11,781 --> 00:17:15,826 until one pharaoh changed everything. 281 00:17:15,952 --> 00:17:17,452 Who was this heretic? 282 00:17:20,581 --> 00:17:23,208 His name was Akhenaten, 283 00:17:23,292 --> 00:17:25,001 and in every surviving depiction, 284 00:17:25,086 --> 00:17:27,462 he is shown with an elongated skull. 285 00:17:27,463 --> 00:17:30,590 Who was he? 286 00:17:30,675 --> 00:17:34,594 According to Egyptian mythology, he, too, was descended from 287 00:17:34,679 --> 00:17:39,057 the gods who arrived on Earth at the time of Tep Zepi. 288 00:17:39,183 --> 00:17:43,895 But why do so many still believe he actually came from the stars? 289 00:17:46,023 --> 00:17:50,235 In 1352 BC, Akhenaten ascended to the throne 290 00:17:50,319 --> 00:17:53,905 as the tenth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. 291 00:17:54,031 --> 00:17:57,200 Almost immediately, he instituted a series 292 00:17:57,285 --> 00:17:59,411 of radical religious changes, 293 00:17:59,495 --> 00:18:02,998 including a ban on references to multiple gods. 294 00:18:05,501 --> 00:18:07,294 BAUVAL: It's a rather strange thing 295 00:18:07,420 --> 00:18:09,463 that he would want to do that in one sweep, 296 00:18:09,505 --> 00:18:12,507 but he ordered all the-the iconography of previous gods 297 00:18:12,508 --> 00:18:14,092 to be removed. 298 00:18:14,218 --> 00:18:17,262 He only allowed one emblem, which was a sun emblem-- 299 00:18:17,346 --> 00:18:20,223 literally a sun disk with curious arms 300 00:18:20,308 --> 00:18:23,310 or rays pointing down. 301 00:18:23,436 --> 00:18:25,020 Why did he do this? 302 00:18:25,104 --> 00:18:29,274 Because, according to his writings and his poems 303 00:18:29,358 --> 00:18:32,527 that were written about him later on, 304 00:18:32,528 --> 00:18:34,529 he was visited 305 00:18:34,530 --> 00:18:38,909 by one of those beings that descended from the sky, 306 00:18:39,035 --> 00:18:43,538 who told Akhenaten, "This is the way. 307 00:18:43,623 --> 00:18:46,166 I am your god." 308 00:18:46,292 --> 00:18:49,503 NARRATOR: This sun god was known as Aten. 309 00:18:49,545 --> 00:18:53,757 Akhenaten claimed to be a direct descendent of Aten. 310 00:18:53,883 --> 00:18:57,719 BAUVAL: Akhenaten, like any other pharaoh, 311 00:18:57,845 --> 00:19:00,931 regarded himself to be divine. 312 00:19:01,057 --> 00:19:02,557 He was a god. 313 00:19:02,558 --> 00:19:04,559 Not only himself believed himself to be a god, 314 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,853 but the whole nation saw him as a god. 315 00:19:06,938 --> 00:19:09,564 Now, the definition of a god 316 00:19:09,690 --> 00:19:14,569 is that he was a descendant from these celestial beings. 317 00:19:18,574 --> 00:19:20,575 NARRATOR: During his fourth year as pharaoh, 318 00:19:20,576 --> 00:19:22,536 Akhenaten ordered the construction 319 00:19:22,578 --> 00:19:24,496 of a new capital city. 320 00:19:24,580 --> 00:19:28,375 He called it Amarna and dedicated it to the sun. 321 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,339 Akhenaten would spend the next ten years here, 322 00:19:34,423 --> 00:19:38,593 during which time he instituted changes in both art and culture, 323 00:19:38,678 --> 00:19:42,681 including how he himself would be publicly depicted. 324 00:19:44,684 --> 00:19:46,351 CARGILL: In Egyptian iconography, 325 00:19:46,435 --> 00:19:48,937 Egyptian pharaohs are depicted as these 326 00:19:49,021 --> 00:19:51,982 triangular-shaped beings-- these broad, strong shoulders 327 00:19:52,108 --> 00:19:53,775 and these very skinny waists. 328 00:19:53,901 --> 00:19:57,153 Now, we look at leaders today and we know that most leaders 329 00:19:57,238 --> 00:19:59,698 don't have broad shoulders and skinny waists. 330 00:19:59,782 --> 00:20:01,825 But it was important to depict 331 00:20:01,951 --> 00:20:03,785 the Egyptian kings as having 332 00:20:03,911 --> 00:20:05,620 broad shoulders and skinny waists-- very, you know-- 333 00:20:05,746 --> 00:20:09,749 the epitome of what a king ought to look like. 334 00:20:12,211 --> 00:20:13,795 That's exactly the opposite with Akhenaten. 335 00:20:13,921 --> 00:20:17,799 He shows himself perhaps as he really is... 336 00:20:17,925 --> 00:20:19,718 a rather strange look. 337 00:20:19,802 --> 00:20:21,636 He has a very mystical look. 338 00:20:27,768 --> 00:20:31,187 SCHOCH: If we take Akhenaten's statues, for instance, 339 00:20:31,272 --> 00:20:34,649 literally, he was a very strange-looking character. 340 00:20:34,650 --> 00:20:37,777 Sort of combined, some people would say, 341 00:20:37,862 --> 00:20:41,990 feminine aspects with masculine aspects, 342 00:20:42,074 --> 00:20:45,076 may have had an elongated skull. 343 00:20:45,202 --> 00:20:49,289 CARGILL: The change in royal iconography of Akhenaten 344 00:20:49,415 --> 00:20:53,251 showed him as he probably really was, with a misshapen head, 345 00:20:53,377 --> 00:20:57,380 with a potbelly, with a sunken chest, 346 00:20:57,465 --> 00:21:01,092 as opposed to the idealized iconography of 347 00:21:01,218 --> 00:21:04,179 traditional Egyptian artists 348 00:21:04,263 --> 00:21:06,264 that showed this big, strong pharaoh. 349 00:21:11,812 --> 00:21:14,689 NARRATOR: Akhenaten's wife, Queen Nefertiti, 350 00:21:14,815 --> 00:21:17,400 and their children were also depicted 351 00:21:17,485 --> 00:21:20,111 as having elongated skulls. 352 00:21:20,237 --> 00:21:24,699 So why were Akhenaten's and Nefertiti's heads deformed? 353 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:28,453 Did they suffer from a genetic abnormality 354 00:21:28,537 --> 00:21:31,456 or did they deliberately alter their shape? 355 00:21:31,540 --> 00:21:34,709 Some believe there could be yet another explanation 356 00:21:34,710 --> 00:21:37,712 behind their strange, otherworldly appearance. 357 00:21:40,257 --> 00:21:44,135 They look like they're different 358 00:21:44,261 --> 00:21:46,262 than other human beings. 359 00:21:49,141 --> 00:21:52,268 TSOUKALOS: Is it possible that Akhenaten 360 00:21:52,353 --> 00:21:55,730 might have been an extraterrestrial hybrid? 361 00:22:00,653 --> 00:22:02,362 CARGILL: Ancient alien enthusiasts 362 00:22:02,488 --> 00:22:04,739 look at Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt and say, 363 00:22:04,824 --> 00:22:06,574 "Ah, look at that long head. 364 00:22:06,701 --> 00:22:08,368 "That looks like an alien gray. 365 00:22:08,494 --> 00:22:10,745 "That looks like some kind of something that's nonhuman 366 00:22:10,746 --> 00:22:12,038 "or some hybrid between something else 367 00:22:12,123 --> 00:22:13,331 "and something human. 368 00:22:13,457 --> 00:22:14,833 "Must be evidence of 369 00:22:14,917 --> 00:22:18,169 "alien interference, alien reproduction with humans-- 370 00:22:18,295 --> 00:22:19,754 something like that." 371 00:22:19,755 --> 00:22:21,256 BETTYANN BROWN: I've been to Egypt, 372 00:22:21,340 --> 00:22:24,509 and one of the most stunning things about seeing 373 00:22:24,593 --> 00:22:26,761 the archeological remains of ancient Egypt 374 00:22:26,762 --> 00:22:30,890 is that one unique pharaoh, Akhenaten. 375 00:22:30,975 --> 00:22:34,769 TSOUKALOS: I mean, he's got a very narrow, pointy face, 376 00:22:34,770 --> 00:22:39,524 high cheekbones, and a very elongated cranium. 377 00:22:39,608 --> 00:22:42,569 CHILDRESS: The idea that they were either 378 00:22:42,695 --> 00:22:44,320 looking like extraterrestrials, 379 00:22:44,405 --> 00:22:49,200 or perhaps had extraterrestrial DNA in them 380 00:22:49,326 --> 00:22:51,327 is a credible idea. 381 00:22:54,707 --> 00:22:57,792 NARRATOR: Akhenaten ruled for 17 years. 382 00:22:57,793 --> 00:23:00,712 After his reign, Amarna was abandoned, 383 00:23:00,796 --> 00:23:04,174 and temples to the sun were destroyed. 384 00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:08,428 Images of Akhenaten were deliberately defaced. 385 00:23:08,554 --> 00:23:11,723 Ancient Egypt swiftly returned to its old ways, 386 00:23:11,807 --> 00:23:13,808 worshiping many gods. 387 00:23:13,809 --> 00:23:16,770 Was this a rejection of Akhenaten's 388 00:23:16,812 --> 00:23:18,813 radical religious belief system 389 00:23:18,898 --> 00:23:21,816 or a cover-up of his alien identity? 390 00:23:25,821 --> 00:23:28,031 There's been a lot of theories about why. 391 00:23:28,157 --> 00:23:32,327 Um, if... I mean, the most extreme is that he somehow 392 00:23:32,411 --> 00:23:34,829 had some sort of extraterrestrial connection. 393 00:23:34,830 --> 00:23:39,375 If one accepts that conclusion, then it would explain 394 00:23:39,460 --> 00:23:42,837 why he was literally put off the reign 395 00:23:42,838 --> 00:23:44,839 and, some say, put to death. 396 00:23:47,802 --> 00:23:50,970 NARRATOR: Some Egyptologists believe Akhenaten was forced 397 00:23:51,055 --> 00:23:53,681 to abdicate and flee from Egypt 398 00:23:53,808 --> 00:23:57,143 with a group of his loyal followers. 399 00:23:57,228 --> 00:24:01,856 In 1907, the actual body of Akhenaten was discovered 400 00:24:01,857 --> 00:24:03,983 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings 401 00:24:04,068 --> 00:24:08,279 by a British archeologist named Edward Ayrton. 402 00:24:08,405 --> 00:24:12,075 After unearthing Akhenaten's mummified remains, 403 00:24:12,201 --> 00:24:14,786 he was able to confirm that, indeed, 404 00:24:14,870 --> 00:24:19,290 the ancient pharaoh's skull was misshapen and elongated. 405 00:24:21,627 --> 00:24:23,419 CARGILL: Some scholars argue that he suffered from 406 00:24:23,504 --> 00:24:25,880 some kind of physical abnormality; he suffered from 407 00:24:26,006 --> 00:24:29,008 a disorder that caused his face to appear to be long, 408 00:24:29,093 --> 00:24:30,969 or his head actually was longer. 409 00:24:31,053 --> 00:24:32,679 I think with Akhenaten, we're dealing with 410 00:24:32,805 --> 00:24:34,889 a physical deformation that wasn't corrected 411 00:24:34,890 --> 00:24:36,307 by the royal artists. 412 00:24:36,433 --> 00:24:37,976 They just depicted him as he was: 413 00:24:38,060 --> 00:24:40,311 potbelly, sunken chest, long head. 414 00:24:42,314 --> 00:24:44,649 NARRATOR: Akhenaten was succeeded by his son, 415 00:24:44,733 --> 00:24:49,904 Tutankhamen, who became the most renowned pharaoh of all time. 416 00:24:49,905 --> 00:24:54,284 When his tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, 417 00:24:54,410 --> 00:24:59,914 Tutankhamen was also found to have an elongated skull. 418 00:24:59,915 --> 00:25:03,501 Could he have inherited alien genes from his father? 419 00:25:07,506 --> 00:25:12,927 Today, much of Akhenaten's life still remains a mystery. 420 00:25:12,928 --> 00:25:16,306 Did he really change Egypt's entire belief system 421 00:25:16,432 --> 00:25:21,477 because, as some suggest, he was a celestial being? 422 00:25:21,562 --> 00:25:23,938 If that’s true, might there be evidence 423 00:25:24,064 --> 00:25:27,233 of similar entities coming to Earth? 424 00:25:27,318 --> 00:25:32,280 Perhaps more clues can be found thousands of miles away 425 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:35,325 on the other side of the African continent. 426 00:25:35,451 --> 00:25:37,452 (people singing in native language) 427 00:25:41,957 --> 00:25:45,084 Mali, in northwest Africa. 428 00:25:45,169 --> 00:25:48,379 Deep in a remote valley live the Dogon people, 429 00:25:48,505 --> 00:25:50,965 who are the descendants of a nomadic tribe 430 00:25:50,966 --> 00:25:54,344 that settled here around 1000 AD. 431 00:25:54,470 --> 00:25:59,098 Just like Akhenaten's followers, the Dogon had been forced 432 00:25:59,183 --> 00:26:02,685 to leave Egypt because of religious persecution. 433 00:26:04,688 --> 00:26:08,107 SCHOCH: The Dogon claim a very long and ancient tradition 434 00:26:08,192 --> 00:26:11,611 and, in my opinion, maintain some of 435 00:26:11,737 --> 00:26:15,531 the ancient Egyptian traditions and myths 436 00:26:15,616 --> 00:26:18,785 that have been carried on right into the present age. 437 00:26:20,829 --> 00:26:23,998 Parts of ancient Egypt may not have died. 438 00:26:23,999 --> 00:26:29,003 They were carried on, to this day, among the Dogon. 439 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,009 NARRATOR: But what exactly are their beliefs? 440 00:26:35,010 --> 00:26:39,097 Dogon mythology holds that the sky-god Amma created 441 00:26:39,181 --> 00:26:42,934 the first living creature, known as Nommo. 442 00:26:43,018 --> 00:26:46,938 The legend also says that shortly after his creation, 443 00:26:47,022 --> 00:26:50,233 Nommo multiplied into several parts, 444 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,194 one of which rebelled against Amma. 445 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,615 Amma responded by destroying him and scattering his ashes 446 00:26:57,741 --> 00:27:00,576 throughout the world. 447 00:27:02,579 --> 00:27:04,664 PETER FIEBAG (translated): According to the Dogon myths, 448 00:27:04,790 --> 00:27:06,624 a god gave them this knowledge. 449 00:27:06,750 --> 00:27:10,962 He descended from the sky in an ark, surfing on fire, 450 00:27:11,046 --> 00:27:13,047 and landed in a storm. 451 00:27:17,052 --> 00:27:21,764 TSOUKALOS: Still today, Dogon celebrates a festival 452 00:27:21,849 --> 00:27:24,058 in the honor of Nommo 453 00:27:24,059 --> 00:27:29,856 and that visitation that occurred in the remote past. 454 00:27:29,982 --> 00:27:31,274 How do we know this? 455 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,277 For this festival, they have 456 00:27:34,403 --> 00:27:38,906 wooden masks that date back to 457 00:27:39,033 --> 00:27:43,995 a very long time ago, when this festival began. 458 00:27:49,918 --> 00:27:52,086 FIEBAG (translated): Dogon masks tell the mystic stories 459 00:27:52,087 --> 00:27:53,880 of their ancestors. 460 00:27:54,006 --> 00:27:56,007 This is a sculpture of the creator. 461 00:27:56,091 --> 00:27:58,801 They call him Amma. 462 00:27:58,886 --> 00:28:00,178 He is embracing the universe. 463 00:28:02,097 --> 00:28:04,098 This is how they pass on information 464 00:28:04,099 --> 00:28:08,311 from generation to generation-- by stories carved in masks. 465 00:28:18,197 --> 00:28:21,824 NARRATOR: But could Nommo have been a real person? 466 00:28:21,909 --> 00:28:25,203 Some see eerie similarities between the Dogon's legend 467 00:28:25,287 --> 00:28:29,332 and the story of the mysterious pharaoh Akhenaten. 468 00:28:29,458 --> 00:28:33,127 Akhenaten believed he was directly descended 469 00:28:33,128 --> 00:28:35,213 from the sun god Aten. 470 00:28:35,297 --> 00:28:39,133 Nommo was said to have been created by the sky deity Amma. 471 00:28:39,134 --> 00:28:43,137 Is it a coincidence that both cultures, 472 00:28:43,138 --> 00:28:46,140 although thousands of miles apart, 473 00:28:46,266 --> 00:28:50,478 shared mythical tales of beings coming from the skies? 474 00:28:50,562 --> 00:28:52,772 And both Nommo and Akhenaten 475 00:28:52,898 --> 00:28:56,275 were depicted with elongated heads. 476 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,236 Is it possible that these legends 477 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:00,113 were based on real events? 478 00:29:05,285 --> 00:29:06,786 FIEBAG (translated): The Dogon dwell 479 00:29:06,912 --> 00:29:10,581 in the central plateau region of Bandiagara. 480 00:29:10,707 --> 00:29:12,542 Their knowledge is centuries old, 481 00:29:12,668 --> 00:29:14,168 and their priests have been sharing it 482 00:29:14,253 --> 00:29:17,171 with chosen individuals only. 483 00:29:20,092 --> 00:29:23,344 In the 1920s, French anthropologist Grialue 484 00:29:23,470 --> 00:29:26,347 and ethnologist Dieterle visited the tribe 485 00:29:26,473 --> 00:29:28,474 and were invited to share their secrets. 486 00:29:32,563 --> 00:29:35,189 NARRATOR: But one secret stood out: 487 00:29:35,190 --> 00:29:39,902 the Dogon claimed that their god Amma came from a specific star 488 00:29:39,987 --> 00:29:42,405 in the Sirius constellation, 489 00:29:42,531 --> 00:29:45,324 the same place where the ancient Egyptians believed 490 00:29:45,409 --> 00:29:49,162 their god Osiris was born. 491 00:29:49,204 --> 00:29:51,914 This star, which modern astronomers refer to 492 00:29:51,999 --> 00:29:56,502 as Sirius B, the Dogon called Po Tolo. 493 00:29:56,587 --> 00:30:01,215 But what baffles experts is that the star is so far from Earth, 494 00:30:01,216 --> 00:30:04,218 it's impossible to see with the naked eye. 495 00:30:06,221 --> 00:30:08,222 BAUVAL: I was very intrigued by this, by the way. 496 00:30:08,223 --> 00:30:11,225 I mean, the Dogons should not have known 497 00:30:11,310 --> 00:30:13,978 about the existence of this star. 498 00:30:14,062 --> 00:30:17,231 Sirius is the second nearest star from our solar system. 499 00:30:17,232 --> 00:30:19,567 It's eight light-years away. 500 00:30:19,651 --> 00:30:22,945 In fact, it's not even visible with standard telescopes. 501 00:30:23,030 --> 00:30:25,239 It was first seen, literally seen, 502 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,158 and photographed in the 1970s. 503 00:30:28,660 --> 00:30:31,245 TSOUKALOS: Modern science has corroborated 504 00:30:31,330 --> 00:30:35,249 that Sirius B does indeed exist. 505 00:30:35,250 --> 00:30:38,669 Problem is, the Dogon knew about this 506 00:30:38,795 --> 00:30:43,257 before modern science corroborated it. 507 00:30:43,383 --> 00:30:46,260 I mean, that's spooky. 508 00:30:48,263 --> 00:30:50,765 NARRATOR: Measurements taken with the Hubble telescope 509 00:30:50,849 --> 00:30:56,270 in 2003 have confirmed that Sirius B is what's known as 510 00:30:56,271 --> 00:31:00,274 a white dwarf-- or a partially burnt-out star 511 00:31:00,275 --> 00:31:03,277 with extremely dense mass. 512 00:31:03,278 --> 00:31:06,280 Although it is smaller in size than Earth, 513 00:31:06,281 --> 00:31:11,244 it's estimated to weigh eight times as much as our sun. 514 00:31:11,286 --> 00:31:14,288 But how did the Dogon acquire this ancient knowledge 515 00:31:14,289 --> 00:31:17,708 of astronomy that seems to be centuries more advanced 516 00:31:17,834 --> 00:31:19,835 than that of modern science? 517 00:31:21,922 --> 00:31:24,382 The mystery is, how did this story 518 00:31:24,466 --> 00:31:26,300 get passed on down generations 519 00:31:26,385 --> 00:31:29,470 if the story came from a time before astronomers knew 520 00:31:29,596 --> 00:31:31,430 there was a companion star to Sirius 521 00:31:31,515 --> 00:31:34,892 which can't be seen with the human eye? 522 00:31:35,018 --> 00:31:38,854 FIEBAG (translated): This is the Dogon symbol for Sirius. 523 00:31:38,939 --> 00:31:41,315 When you move it around, you can see an orbit 524 00:31:41,316 --> 00:31:43,401 around the center marked by Sirius A. 525 00:31:43,485 --> 00:31:48,864 Sirius B circles around it, so it is a circular system. 526 00:31:48,949 --> 00:31:51,951 This sign is practically an astronomic model 527 00:31:52,077 --> 00:31:54,120 that the Dogon could not have invented 528 00:31:54,246 --> 00:31:57,498 because only Sirius A is visible. 529 00:31:57,624 --> 00:32:00,418 Sirius B and C are invisible. 530 00:32:00,502 --> 00:32:04,630 However, their description of the orbit is correct. 531 00:32:04,715 --> 00:32:07,925 One assumption is that this god, Nommo, 532 00:32:08,051 --> 00:32:10,344 who brought them this knowledge, could have been 533 00:32:10,470 --> 00:32:13,347 an extraterrestrial intelligence. 534 00:32:15,142 --> 00:32:17,435 NARRATOR: Since the early 20th century, 535 00:32:17,519 --> 00:32:19,437 the tribe has been routinely studied 536 00:32:19,521 --> 00:32:22,732 and researched by anthropologists. 537 00:32:22,858 --> 00:32:24,483 This has led many modern historians 538 00:32:24,568 --> 00:32:27,528 to claim that the Dogon must have learned 539 00:32:27,654 --> 00:32:29,655 about astronomy from Westerners. 540 00:32:32,367 --> 00:32:34,368 CARGILL: The Dogon mythology is so fluid 541 00:32:34,369 --> 00:32:37,204 that when science confirms something 542 00:32:37,331 --> 00:32:39,999 that they might have believed in antiquity, 543 00:32:40,125 --> 00:32:41,751 it might have just been sheer coincidence, 544 00:32:41,877 --> 00:32:43,377 or it could have been a conflation. 545 00:32:43,378 --> 00:32:44,670 That is, they heard... 546 00:32:44,755 --> 00:32:46,130 Because it's an oral culture, 547 00:32:46,214 --> 00:32:48,132 and because the mythology is so fluid, 548 00:32:48,216 --> 00:32:51,385 they heard something that someone said about this star 549 00:32:51,511 --> 00:32:53,137 in relation to another star, 550 00:32:53,221 --> 00:32:55,514 and they just grafted that into their mythology. 551 00:32:55,599 --> 00:32:57,391 They grafted that into their religion. 552 00:32:57,517 --> 00:32:59,935 And then when some reporter, some subsequent reporter 553 00:33:00,020 --> 00:33:02,313 comes along and says, "What do you believe?" 554 00:33:02,397 --> 00:33:05,399 they say, "Well, we've thought this for millions of years." 555 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,943 TSOUKALOS: When critics suggest that this knowledge was 556 00:33:08,028 --> 00:33:10,363 given to them by modern ethnologists, 557 00:33:10,405 --> 00:33:14,909 that's simply incorrect, because we know that the story 558 00:33:14,993 --> 00:33:18,829 goes back hundreds of years earlier 559 00:33:18,955 --> 00:33:22,124 than any modern ethnologist ever went there. 560 00:33:24,961 --> 00:33:26,420 FIEBAG (translated): If it were ever proven 561 00:33:26,505 --> 00:33:29,423 that all this information is exactly correct, 562 00:33:29,424 --> 00:33:31,425 including the parts that are still being studied 563 00:33:31,510 --> 00:33:34,720 by astronomers, this would mean that the Earth had visitors 564 00:33:34,805 --> 00:33:37,431 from outer space in prehistoric times. 565 00:33:39,434 --> 00:33:41,435 BAUVAL: Either they inherited that knowledge-- 566 00:33:41,436 --> 00:33:43,229 and the question is, from where? 567 00:33:43,355 --> 00:33:44,814 From a previous civilization, 568 00:33:44,940 --> 00:33:47,441 or from some sort of extraterrestrial civilization? 569 00:33:47,442 --> 00:33:48,651 Or it's a coincidence. 570 00:33:48,777 --> 00:33:51,445 In my view, it is not a coincidence. 571 00:33:53,448 --> 00:33:56,033 NARRATOR: If the Dogon people really possessed 572 00:33:56,159 --> 00:33:58,744 this advanced astronomical knowledge, 573 00:33:58,829 --> 00:34:01,247 were their legends based on real events? 574 00:34:03,542 --> 00:34:06,877 The ancient Egyptians and Dogon were far from alone 575 00:34:07,003 --> 00:34:09,463 in their belief in gods or mystical beings 576 00:34:09,464 --> 00:34:12,383 that came from the sky. 577 00:34:14,428 --> 00:34:17,263 Is there an explanation for similar myths 578 00:34:17,389 --> 00:34:21,058 shared by ancient cultures all around the world? 579 00:34:21,184 --> 00:34:26,063 And what does that reveal as to who these visitors may be? 580 00:34:26,189 --> 00:34:29,817 Perhaps the answer can be found, not in northern Africa, 581 00:34:29,901 --> 00:34:33,320 but here in the rocks and canyons 582 00:34:33,447 --> 00:34:35,448 of the American Southwest. 583 00:34:45,333 --> 00:34:48,002 30 miles south of Gallup, New Mexico, 584 00:34:48,086 --> 00:34:50,629 lies the pueblo of Zuni. 585 00:34:54,676 --> 00:34:57,470 Sheltered from the desolate high plains, 586 00:34:57,512 --> 00:34:59,513 this adobe city is home to the Zuni Indians, 587 00:34:59,514 --> 00:35:04,059 one of the oldest indigenous tribes in North America. 588 00:35:05,687 --> 00:35:09,023 They have inhabited this land for almost 2,000 years, 589 00:35:09,107 --> 00:35:12,109 and have protected their secrets even longer. 590 00:35:15,113 --> 00:35:16,697 CHRIS O'BRIEN: The Zuni are 591 00:35:16,823 --> 00:35:18,616 a very interesting culture, in that they're one of 592 00:35:18,700 --> 00:35:21,660 the few cultures that really have not opened up, uh, 593 00:35:21,745 --> 00:35:25,164 to the rest of the world about their star knowledge traditions. 594 00:35:25,290 --> 00:35:26,957 Most of this type of information 595 00:35:27,083 --> 00:35:30,544 is very closely held by the natives. 596 00:35:30,545 --> 00:35:34,340 And, um, I really find it very intriguing that this is 597 00:35:34,466 --> 00:35:37,551 the time period in history where now we're starting to learn 598 00:35:37,552 --> 00:35:39,720 more and more about their star knowledge. 599 00:35:44,559 --> 00:35:46,852 NARRATOR: Much of the Zuni people's history 600 00:35:46,937 --> 00:35:49,730 is etched in the rocks in the New Mexico desert. 601 00:35:57,155 --> 00:36:01,700 Tribal Elder Clifford Mahooty and archeologist Dan Simplicio 602 00:36:01,785 --> 00:36:05,120 have studied the Zuni's secret history firsthand. 603 00:36:05,205 --> 00:36:09,124 They've collected stories passed down through generations 604 00:36:09,209 --> 00:36:11,710 that are rooted in the belief that the tribe's 605 00:36:11,795 --> 00:36:15,130 creators and protectors are supernatural beings 606 00:36:15,215 --> 00:36:17,383 from the sky. 607 00:36:17,509 --> 00:36:19,426 DAN SIMPLICIO: This one's kind of interesting here. 608 00:36:19,553 --> 00:36:23,597 I would imagine it was created in last century, 609 00:36:23,682 --> 00:36:27,601 but from this design, you can see the star figure. 610 00:36:27,727 --> 00:36:31,230 Celestial images oftentimes are depicted 611 00:36:31,356 --> 00:36:33,607 in a lot of our cultural petroglyphs. 612 00:36:33,608 --> 00:36:36,610 And this is one of them where it depicts the star. 613 00:36:36,611 --> 00:36:42,241 It could be the supernova of the crab nebula. 614 00:36:42,367 --> 00:36:44,994 CLIFFORD MAHOOTY: Our Zuni mythology 615 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:49,623 in the prayer system, in the ritualistic protocols, 616 00:36:49,624 --> 00:36:52,626 talk about these people that came over here 617 00:36:52,627 --> 00:36:55,045 and told us how to actually live our lives 618 00:36:55,171 --> 00:36:56,755 as being sky people. 619 00:37:01,553 --> 00:37:05,222 If you listen to a lot of religious chants and songs 620 00:37:05,348 --> 00:37:07,433 and prayers, that's all they talk about. 621 00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:08,851 They're talking about space. 622 00:37:08,977 --> 00:37:10,436 They're talking about out there 623 00:37:10,562 --> 00:37:12,646 in the universe where they came from. 624 00:37:12,647 --> 00:37:14,982 So they depict it on a rock wall here. 625 00:37:15,066 --> 00:37:18,652 But the actual meaning of it is somewhere more profound 626 00:37:18,653 --> 00:37:21,363 and more complex than that. 627 00:37:23,491 --> 00:37:25,743 NARRATOR: These drawings are thought to have been created 628 00:37:25,827 --> 00:37:29,288 around 1200 BC, yet they appear to depict 629 00:37:29,414 --> 00:37:33,417 modern space travelers and their vehicles. 630 00:37:36,087 --> 00:37:40,633 If you move back a little bit, you can see another figure here. 631 00:37:40,675 --> 00:37:43,093 It has a dome. 632 00:37:43,219 --> 00:37:44,678 Has eyes. 633 00:37:44,679 --> 00:37:46,263 Uh, there's something coming down... 634 00:37:46,389 --> 00:37:48,098 And a nose. 635 00:37:48,224 --> 00:37:50,976 Like a nose. There's a nose, but it kind of flares out... 636 00:37:51,061 --> 00:37:52,770 I think it was something to do with 637 00:37:52,854 --> 00:37:55,314 the ancient ones, when they saw something. 638 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,233 They took as much description of it to put it on there. 639 00:37:58,318 --> 00:38:00,027 Of course, it's not going to be 640 00:38:00,111 --> 00:38:03,822 exactly what they saw, but that's as best as they can do 641 00:38:03,907 --> 00:38:05,658 for something that they saw. 642 00:38:07,202 --> 00:38:09,536 CHILDRESS: With all petroglyphs and things like that, 643 00:38:09,663 --> 00:38:11,705 I mean, they're up to interpretation. 644 00:38:11,706 --> 00:38:15,334 Sometimes they're just doodlings of people. 645 00:38:15,460 --> 00:38:17,127 But other times, they may well be 646 00:38:17,253 --> 00:38:20,714 actual descriptions and depictions of 647 00:38:20,715 --> 00:38:23,926 some kind of god from outer space, 648 00:38:24,052 --> 00:38:26,303 some ancient astronaut. 649 00:38:26,429 --> 00:38:29,348 And when you go around, say, like the Zuni pueblo, 650 00:38:29,474 --> 00:38:32,851 I mean, that's what they'll tell you those petroglyphs are. 651 00:38:32,936 --> 00:38:36,897 Even the Zunis themselves call them the spacemen. 652 00:38:38,733 --> 00:38:41,735 This one seems to have two legs coming out like that. 653 00:38:41,736 --> 00:38:46,573 It has a, you know, broad diamond-shaped body. 654 00:38:46,700 --> 00:38:50,536 Um, there probably was a better head that chipped off here. 655 00:38:50,662 --> 00:38:52,371 Well, that's very different-looking 656 00:38:52,497 --> 00:38:55,082 than humans are. 657 00:38:55,166 --> 00:38:58,043 MAHOOTY: Now usually they're called UFOs. 658 00:38:58,128 --> 00:39:00,295 But in the Zuni way, 659 00:39:00,380 --> 00:39:02,756 we've always been taught that they're the keepers 660 00:39:02,757 --> 00:39:05,551 of the upperworld, which means space. 661 00:39:05,677 --> 00:39:06,969 You know, they're sky people-- 662 00:39:07,095 --> 00:39:11,598 beings that are of the extraterrestrial origin. 663 00:39:11,725 --> 00:39:14,184 And this is still within our mythology 664 00:39:14,310 --> 00:39:16,311 and our religious practices today. 665 00:39:22,777 --> 00:39:24,778 NARRATOR: Like most Indian tribes, 666 00:39:24,779 --> 00:39:28,282 the Zunis call these sky people kachinas. 667 00:39:28,366 --> 00:39:32,327 According to the Zunis' creation story, the kachina gods 668 00:39:32,412 --> 00:39:35,789 came down from the heavens to lead the Zunis to Earth 669 00:39:35,790 --> 00:39:37,791 through a special portal. 670 00:39:40,879 --> 00:39:44,715 MAHOOTY: The sipapu-- that's the entrance to the fourth world, 671 00:39:44,799 --> 00:39:46,425 or the underworld. 672 00:39:46,551 --> 00:39:47,801 And that's a representation 673 00:39:47,802 --> 00:39:50,721 of where the kachinas come and go. 674 00:39:50,805 --> 00:39:54,600 And so, according to the mythologies, 675 00:39:54,726 --> 00:39:58,520 the Zunis were brought forth into the world of light-- 676 00:39:58,605 --> 00:40:02,441 which is where we are at today-- by what I would interpret as 677 00:40:02,567 --> 00:40:04,943 extraterrestrial beings from the universe. 678 00:40:06,946 --> 00:40:10,157 (people singing in native language) 679 00:40:10,241 --> 00:40:12,785 NARRATOR: Every year, 680 00:40:12,827 --> 00:40:15,370 the Zunis participate in a ceremony known as 681 00:40:15,455 --> 00:40:16,997 the Shalako festival. 682 00:40:17,123 --> 00:40:21,251 Dressed in traditional costumes to represent the kachinas, 683 00:40:21,377 --> 00:40:24,838 the Indians celebrate the arrival of the gods on Earth. 684 00:40:24,839 --> 00:40:26,757 (singing continues) 685 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:30,427 CHILDRESS: This is a-a figurine of 686 00:40:30,553 --> 00:40:32,221 kachina gods. 687 00:40:32,347 --> 00:40:35,182 And these guys are some gods from the sky who came down. 688 00:40:35,266 --> 00:40:38,644 Uh, they wear weird helmets. 689 00:40:38,770 --> 00:40:42,147 TSOUKALOS: This one has a helmet as a head. 690 00:40:42,232 --> 00:40:43,857 And if you look at 691 00:40:43,858 --> 00:40:47,778 the whole body of it, it's as if 692 00:40:47,862 --> 00:40:50,030 it wears some type of a, of a suit. 693 00:40:50,156 --> 00:40:55,410 This one here also has the helmet and the visor. 694 00:40:55,495 --> 00:40:58,288 CHILDRESS: For the Pueblo Indians, like the Zunis, 695 00:40:58,414 --> 00:41:00,874 these are their-their sky-gods that every year, 696 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:02,376 they have special ceremonies. 697 00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:04,378 People put on these special costumes 698 00:41:04,462 --> 00:41:08,006 and masks to reenact the coming of the gods. 699 00:41:08,091 --> 00:41:12,094 They really look like ancient astronauts. 700 00:41:19,477 --> 00:41:21,895 BILL BIRNES: If you look at the poetry and the legends 701 00:41:21,896 --> 00:41:26,900 and the stories from American Indian tribes in the Southwest, 702 00:41:26,901 --> 00:41:30,612 they have the legend of the star people. 703 00:41:30,697 --> 00:41:32,531 The star people came to Earth 704 00:41:32,657 --> 00:41:36,827 and seeded planet Earth, and they came on flying ships. 705 00:41:36,911 --> 00:41:40,330 If you speak to the elders, they will tell you that 706 00:41:40,456 --> 00:41:43,458 "a lot of us believe in the existence of extraterrestrials." 707 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,505 THOMAS MILLS: The Zunis don't have a written language. 708 00:41:48,631 --> 00:41:50,924 The storyteller comes and he tells the young children 709 00:41:50,925 --> 00:41:52,426 how it all happened. 710 00:41:52,510 --> 00:41:56,138 All their songs that they do in their ceremonies 711 00:41:56,264 --> 00:41:58,932 tell the story over and over. 712 00:41:58,933 --> 00:42:03,437 And that's how they pass down traditions, customs, beliefs. 713 00:42:03,521 --> 00:42:05,439 They tell it in the Indian way. 714 00:42:05,523 --> 00:42:07,649 They use things they understand 715 00:42:07,734 --> 00:42:09,943 to explain things that they don't understand. 716 00:42:10,028 --> 00:42:13,488 SIMPLICIO: I remember my grandparents talking about 717 00:42:13,573 --> 00:42:17,326 a craft that flew and had actually crash-landed 718 00:42:17,452 --> 00:42:20,454 on one of the mesas east of here. 719 00:42:22,957 --> 00:42:25,959 There's no interpretation of what an aircraft is, 720 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:29,755 so the closest thing that they could interpret as 721 00:42:29,881 --> 00:42:31,048 anything capable of flight 722 00:42:31,132 --> 00:42:34,968 is a bird or our masked kachina dancers. 723 00:42:36,554 --> 00:42:39,765 MAHOOTY: We are very, very superstitious people. 724 00:42:39,891 --> 00:42:43,185 It's always been in the history of Zuni that they have always 725 00:42:43,311 --> 00:42:46,939 been here, even right here where we're sitting right now, 726 00:42:46,981 --> 00:42:48,190 but you just don't see them. 727 00:42:48,316 --> 00:42:49,983 They're in a different frequency. 728 00:42:49,984 --> 00:42:54,321 And those are very, very sacred, and those are very, very secret. 729 00:42:54,405 --> 00:42:56,406 They're out there somewhere. 730 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:04,122 NARRATOR: For those who believe that ancient astronauts 731 00:43:04,207 --> 00:43:07,376 came to Earth thousands of years ago, 732 00:43:07,502 --> 00:43:11,004 prehistoric artwork provides more clues in what they claim 733 00:43:11,130 --> 00:43:14,007 is a growing body of evidence-- 734 00:43:14,008 --> 00:43:18,011 from wall carvings and statues in ancient Egypt 735 00:43:18,012 --> 00:43:23,183 to tribal traditions and exotic masks in West Africa 736 00:43:23,309 --> 00:43:26,979 to petroglyphs in the American Southwest. 737 00:43:27,021 --> 00:43:30,816 All thousands of years old, they seem to recount 738 00:43:30,942 --> 00:43:34,361 similar stories of visitors from the skies. 739 00:43:34,445 --> 00:43:38,448 Could the legends of alien beings visiting Earth 740 00:43:38,574 --> 00:43:40,867 thousands of years ago 741 00:43:40,994 --> 00:43:44,037 have inspired more traditional beliefs? 742 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,842 Celestial beings coming down to Earth. 743 00:43:56,968 --> 00:44:00,053 Gods descending from the sky. 744 00:44:00,179 --> 00:44:02,055 Can these events only be found 745 00:44:02,056 --> 00:44:04,975 in the ancient legends of the Zuni? 746 00:44:05,059 --> 00:44:07,769 Do similar accounts exist in other cultures 747 00:44:07,854 --> 00:44:10,647 and other religions across the world? 748 00:44:10,773 --> 00:44:15,277 And if so, what is the explanation? 749 00:44:15,403 --> 00:44:18,780 TSOUKALOS: We have to remind ourselves that our ancestors 750 00:44:18,865 --> 00:44:20,824 were highly intelligent. 751 00:44:20,908 --> 00:44:25,787 However, their technological frame of reference was different 752 00:44:25,872 --> 00:44:28,790 than our technological frame of reference. 753 00:44:28,875 --> 00:44:32,794 So they didn't have the vocabulary with which 754 00:44:32,879 --> 00:44:35,672 to describe or with which to name 755 00:44:35,798 --> 00:44:38,091 certain things that they saw. 756 00:44:38,217 --> 00:44:40,093 So what did they do? 757 00:44:40,094 --> 00:44:45,474 They used words that they were familiar with in their time, 758 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:49,478 and so they tried to describe whatever they witnessed 759 00:44:49,604 --> 00:44:53,607 to the best of their abilities with their vocabulary. 760 00:44:59,113 --> 00:45:02,240 NARRATOR: Ancient China also shared some of the same beliefs 761 00:45:02,325 --> 00:45:05,494 that can be found in Egyptian, Native American 762 00:45:05,620 --> 00:45:07,621 and Dogon legends-- 763 00:45:07,705 --> 00:45:11,291 that deities arrived from the stars. 764 00:45:11,417 --> 00:45:16,129 According to Chinese mythology dating back to 3000 BC, 765 00:45:16,255 --> 00:45:19,132 when the god named Huang Di was born, 766 00:45:19,133 --> 00:45:21,843 there was a radiance from the great star Chi. 767 00:45:25,556 --> 00:45:28,141 Huang Di would later emerge from the belly 768 00:45:28,142 --> 00:45:33,355 of a fire-breathing dragon to become China's first emperor. 769 00:45:33,481 --> 00:45:37,067 The origins of the Han Chinese people start with a story 770 00:45:37,151 --> 00:45:41,238 of a great god looking down with empathy. 771 00:45:41,322 --> 00:45:44,116 Here were people in poverty, 772 00:45:44,158 --> 00:45:47,994 in a beautiful, rich country, the landscape profound, 773 00:45:48,121 --> 00:45:50,747 but the people were suffering. 774 00:45:50,873 --> 00:45:53,583 He took pity and decided to come down. 775 00:46:00,174 --> 00:46:03,593 TSOUKALOS: Huang Di arrived on planet Earth 776 00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:06,179 in a flying dragon. 777 00:46:06,180 --> 00:46:10,142 He had the power of flight. 778 00:46:10,184 --> 00:46:13,186 Huang Di could be anywhere 779 00:46:13,187 --> 00:46:17,315 within minutes, and he usually accomplished this by 780 00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:21,319 hopping on his dragon and flying somewhere. 781 00:46:25,408 --> 00:46:28,201 Now this divine energy becomes human 782 00:46:28,327 --> 00:46:30,162 and is a great leader-- 783 00:46:30,204 --> 00:46:33,832 the Yellow Emperor who rules and unites the people-- 784 00:46:33,958 --> 00:46:35,625 and there is a period of great prosperity 785 00:46:35,751 --> 00:46:38,211 until his work is done. 786 00:46:38,212 --> 00:46:41,214 NARRATOR: Huang Di brought order to the chaos, 787 00:46:41,215 --> 00:46:44,301 creating China's first empire. 788 00:46:44,385 --> 00:46:48,138 He is seen as a cultural hero and is credited 789 00:46:48,222 --> 00:46:51,391 with the invention of the compass, acupuncture, 790 00:46:51,517 --> 00:46:55,228 and the standardization of Chinese writing. 791 00:46:55,354 --> 00:47:00,150 One of his greatest legacies is the Great Wall of China. 792 00:47:00,234 --> 00:47:02,235 YOUNG: When the land is prosperous, 793 00:47:02,236 --> 00:47:04,237 he decides it's time to go. 794 00:47:04,363 --> 00:47:06,323 And the great yellow dragon comes back 795 00:47:06,407 --> 00:47:08,950 and he gets back into the belly of the dragon 796 00:47:09,035 --> 00:47:11,036 and flies off forever. 797 00:47:13,581 --> 00:47:18,752 Now, were these dragons truly dragons 798 00:47:18,836 --> 00:47:21,588 in a biological nature? 799 00:47:24,383 --> 00:47:29,262 Or were they misinterpreted types of machines? 800 00:47:29,263 --> 00:47:31,264 Because, as we all know, 801 00:47:31,265 --> 00:47:35,560 dragons are always correlated with spewing fire 802 00:47:35,645 --> 00:47:37,062 and a lot of smoke. 803 00:47:39,106 --> 00:47:41,274 Whenever we see a modern rocket take off, 804 00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,694 there's all this smoke; and sometimes the smoke is yellow 805 00:47:44,820 --> 00:47:46,363 and sometimes it's red. 806 00:47:46,447 --> 00:47:50,408 So it's very bizarre how we have these correlations 807 00:47:50,493 --> 00:47:53,870 between the ancient times and modern times today. 808 00:47:55,456 --> 00:47:58,833 Mythology is the effort to grasp what we can't grasp, 809 00:47:58,918 --> 00:48:00,919 to understand what is beyond us. 810 00:48:01,045 --> 00:48:05,298 In the Eastern teachings, the dragons very often carry people, 811 00:48:05,299 --> 00:48:08,301 sometimes on their back, sometimes inside their bellies. 812 00:48:08,302 --> 00:48:12,055 So if we think of them as, as a poet's effort to explain 813 00:48:12,139 --> 00:48:14,307 a vehicle that was strange to them, 814 00:48:14,392 --> 00:48:16,309 well, those sound like flying saucers. 815 00:48:16,435 --> 00:48:18,687 So it might just be a problem with translation, 816 00:48:18,813 --> 00:48:20,313 because, after all, it's just a word. 817 00:48:20,314 --> 00:48:21,398 It's trying to describe something 818 00:48:21,482 --> 00:48:23,483 that's very difficult to grasp. 819 00:48:28,155 --> 00:48:30,907 NARRATOR: 4,000 miles west of China, 820 00:48:31,033 --> 00:48:34,536 another tale of celestial beings influencing civilization 821 00:48:34,662 --> 00:48:39,249 can be found, this time in what is now modern-day Iraq. 822 00:48:40,876 --> 00:48:43,169 The Babylonian legend of Enuma Elish 823 00:48:43,296 --> 00:48:46,965 dates back to the seventh century BC. 824 00:48:47,091 --> 00:48:50,969 The text was first discovered in 1849 825 00:48:51,095 --> 00:48:54,264 by British archeologist Sir Austen Henry Layard 826 00:48:54,348 --> 00:48:55,640 while searching the ruins of 827 00:48:55,725 --> 00:48:59,352 the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. 828 00:48:59,353 --> 00:49:02,564 The story tells of how the first humans were created 829 00:49:02,690 --> 00:49:06,359 by an extraterrestrial race known as the Anunnaki. 830 00:49:14,368 --> 00:49:17,162 TSOUKALOS: In the ancient texts of Sumeria, 831 00:49:17,288 --> 00:49:22,500 we have descriptions of these beings 832 00:49:22,585 --> 00:49:27,130 descending from the sky called the Anunnaki. 833 00:49:27,214 --> 00:49:29,674 The term "Anunnaki" means 834 00:49:29,759 --> 00:49:33,303 "those who from the heavens came." 835 00:49:33,387 --> 00:49:37,807 It says, word for word, that these beings descended 836 00:49:37,933 --> 00:49:41,978 in flying vehicles from the sky. 837 00:49:42,104 --> 00:49:46,149 And we can find not only descriptions of the Anunnaki, 838 00:49:46,233 --> 00:49:48,109 but also depictions. 839 00:49:48,194 --> 00:49:51,571 And we can see them in statues, in carvings. 840 00:49:51,697 --> 00:49:56,951 So it's all very interesting to see that those beings 841 00:49:57,036 --> 00:50:00,789 looked like modern-day space travelers with weird suits. 842 00:50:00,915 --> 00:50:03,208 Some of them wore wristwatches. 843 00:50:03,334 --> 00:50:08,838 They had boots on and helmets and, above all, wings. 844 00:50:08,964 --> 00:50:12,008 And they were always described or depicted 845 00:50:12,134 --> 00:50:17,055 in floating above some "regular people." 846 00:50:19,225 --> 00:50:23,019 So the question is: who were the Anunnaki? 847 00:50:23,145 --> 00:50:26,272 And according to the ancient astronaut hypothesis, 848 00:50:26,399 --> 00:50:29,442 they were space travelers who visited Earth 849 00:50:29,443 --> 00:50:31,444 in the remote past. 850 00:50:38,869 --> 00:50:41,246 NARRATOR: Similar themes can be found in the legends 851 00:50:41,372 --> 00:50:44,791 of Greek and Roman gods, which also describe events 852 00:50:44,875 --> 00:50:49,170 that some interpret as extraterrestrial contact. 853 00:50:49,255 --> 00:50:51,631 Both cultures believed in powerful gods 854 00:50:51,757 --> 00:50:55,093 who lived in the heavens and often came down to Earth 855 00:50:55,219 --> 00:50:57,387 to interact with humans. 856 00:50:57,471 --> 00:50:59,597 (thunder cracks) 857 00:50:59,682 --> 00:51:03,893 CHILDRESS: A well-known example is Zeus and the Greek gods. 858 00:51:04,019 --> 00:51:07,480 And they've come down from the sky and Mount Olympus, 859 00:51:07,481 --> 00:51:09,482 where they live in some mountain. 860 00:51:09,483 --> 00:51:11,276 And they're bringing, really, 861 00:51:11,402 --> 00:51:14,654 civilization and sciences to mankind. 862 00:51:14,780 --> 00:51:17,323 But they have many human attributes, too, 863 00:51:17,450 --> 00:51:20,702 where, yeah, they, uh, they're attracted to human women, 864 00:51:20,828 --> 00:51:23,079 uh, they want to have sex and children 865 00:51:23,205 --> 00:51:24,706 with as many of them as they can. 866 00:51:24,832 --> 00:51:27,459 And then they go back into the sky. 867 00:51:27,501 --> 00:51:31,087 THOMAS BULLARD: These ideas of gods mating with humans 868 00:51:31,213 --> 00:51:32,505 are very commonplace. 869 00:51:32,590 --> 00:51:36,217 Like, Zeus in the Greek mythology was always 870 00:51:36,302 --> 00:51:39,304 coming down, mating with mortals and producing 871 00:51:39,430 --> 00:51:44,517 demigods like Hercules or Helen of Troy, who were, 872 00:51:44,518 --> 00:51:46,102 you know, exceptionally beautiful, 873 00:51:46,228 --> 00:51:49,522 exceptionally powerful, 874 00:51:49,523 --> 00:51:52,025 unusually gifted in every way. 875 00:51:52,109 --> 00:51:53,526 So, in other words, 876 00:51:53,527 --> 00:51:57,280 you were creating a better race in-in this sense. 877 00:51:57,364 --> 00:51:59,699 TSOUKALOS: In the ancient astronaut opinion, 878 00:51:59,825 --> 00:52:05,538 the whole pantheon of gods that we have in ancient Greece 879 00:52:05,539 --> 00:52:09,542 consists of nothing else but flesh-and-blood 880 00:52:09,668 --> 00:52:14,839 extraterrestrials who were misinterpreted as being 881 00:52:14,924 --> 00:52:18,885 these divine creatures by our ancestors. 882 00:52:18,969 --> 00:52:22,555 CREMO: There is a lot of evidence showing that 883 00:52:22,556 --> 00:52:24,891 we're not alone in the cosmos 884 00:52:24,975 --> 00:52:29,687 and that our human civilizations on Earth have been interacting 885 00:52:29,772 --> 00:52:31,564 for long periods of time 886 00:52:31,565 --> 00:52:35,568 with extraterrestrial intelligences. 887 00:52:35,569 --> 00:52:40,198 NARRATOR: Belief in celestial beings interacting with humans 888 00:52:40,324 --> 00:52:43,159 is a cornerstone in several major religions. 889 00:52:43,285 --> 00:52:46,788 In fact, according to the Bible's Book of Genesis, 890 00:52:46,914 --> 00:52:51,292 God created the first humans, Adam and Eve. 891 00:52:51,377 --> 00:52:54,504 The Bible also contains other passages 892 00:52:54,588 --> 00:52:56,589 that describe strange interactions 893 00:52:56,590 --> 00:53:00,969 between otherworldly beings and humans. 894 00:53:01,095 --> 00:53:02,929 CARGILL: People believe messengers of some sort 895 00:53:03,013 --> 00:53:04,597 come down from the heavens. 896 00:53:04,598 --> 00:53:06,516 You know, they came down and they had sex with humans. 897 00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:10,353 And this is where we produced giants-- people like Goliath. 898 00:53:10,437 --> 00:53:13,606 So in a technical sense, they are alien. 899 00:53:13,607 --> 00:53:16,234 They're gods or they're angels; 900 00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:18,319 they're some kind of superhuman thing. 901 00:53:18,404 --> 00:53:21,614 NARRATOR: Interpreting these Bible stories 902 00:53:21,615 --> 00:53:25,785 has also led to a certain amount of debate and controversy. 903 00:53:25,911 --> 00:53:27,787 While most see a single God 904 00:53:27,913 --> 00:53:31,624 directing and influencing mankind's destiny, 905 00:53:31,625 --> 00:53:33,626 others argue that it is really 906 00:53:33,627 --> 00:53:35,837 a number of gods that are responsible. 907 00:53:37,965 --> 00:53:41,634 TSOUKALOS: In the Old Testament, it says very clearly, 908 00:53:41,635 --> 00:53:46,639 "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." 909 00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:48,641 Now, grammatically speaking, 910 00:53:48,642 --> 00:53:52,812 that sentence doesn't make sense, because you have "God" 911 00:53:52,938 --> 00:53:55,148 and then you have "our image." 912 00:53:55,232 --> 00:53:58,359 Well, theologians suggest that by "our," 913 00:53:58,444 --> 00:54:02,238 what they meant is the Trinity, the Holy Trinity. 914 00:54:02,364 --> 00:54:06,743 So basically, if you were to change the word "god" to "gods," 915 00:54:06,827 --> 00:54:10,663 then all of a sudden, the sentence makes sense-- 916 00:54:10,664 --> 00:54:16,210 "and then the gods created man in our own image." 917 00:54:16,295 --> 00:54:17,503 So you have this reference-- 918 00:54:17,630 --> 00:54:20,423 "let us create man in our image." 919 00:54:20,507 --> 00:54:23,885 In several religious texts, specifically the Hebrew Bible, 920 00:54:24,011 --> 00:54:26,804 which Christians also accept, and in the Koran, 921 00:54:26,889 --> 00:54:31,851 which Muslims revere as holy, you have the reference to God 922 00:54:31,977 --> 00:54:34,979 in the plural, and it is incredibly interesting. 923 00:54:37,232 --> 00:54:39,400 NARRATOR: But do all these religious scriptures 924 00:54:39,485 --> 00:54:41,110 that tell similar stories 925 00:54:41,236 --> 00:54:45,406 really point to the possibility that aliens have visited Earth 926 00:54:45,491 --> 00:54:47,450 throughout ancient history? 927 00:54:49,453 --> 00:54:54,540 The fact is, the story of creation in our own Bible 928 00:54:54,667 --> 00:54:58,711 is the story of creation in cultures around the world. 929 00:54:58,712 --> 00:55:02,715 The story of the flood, the evolution of the human species, 930 00:55:02,716 --> 00:55:07,220 the development of language-- all of this points to-- 931 00:55:07,304 --> 00:55:12,725 in fact, the Bible says so-- life on Earth came from 932 00:55:12,726 --> 00:55:16,270 contact with an extraterrestrial life-form. 933 00:55:16,355 --> 00:55:17,814 That's in the Bible. 934 00:55:17,898 --> 00:55:19,691 That's in ancient cultures around the world. 935 00:55:19,733 --> 00:55:22,735 So I believe the theory of ancient astronauts is true, 936 00:55:22,736 --> 00:55:25,113 and I believe there's solid evidence there, 937 00:55:25,239 --> 00:55:28,116 and I believe the harder you try to refute that evidence, 938 00:55:28,242 --> 00:55:30,743 the more you wind up against a brick wall-- 939 00:55:30,828 --> 00:55:33,746 that ancient astronauts visited us, 940 00:55:33,747 --> 00:55:37,875 visited Earth thousands upon thousands of years ago, 941 00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:41,170 and seeded the very civilization we have today. 942 00:55:44,133 --> 00:55:47,051 NARRATOR: If the believers in the ancient astronaut theory 943 00:55:47,136 --> 00:55:51,556 are correct, then just who were these visitors? 944 00:55:51,682 --> 00:55:55,143 And might cutting-edge astrophysics and biology 945 00:55:55,269 --> 00:55:57,770 help us to uncover their identity? 946 00:56:03,777 --> 00:56:07,780 On March 18, 1965, 947 00:56:07,781 --> 00:56:12,785 Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov stepped outside the Voskhod 2 948 00:56:12,786 --> 00:56:16,080 and became the first human to walk in space. 949 00:56:20,794 --> 00:56:22,879 He spent 12 minutes and eight seconds 950 00:56:22,963 --> 00:56:27,133 outside his ship before returning. 951 00:56:27,217 --> 00:56:31,095 Leonov's survival depended upon a protective suit that could 952 00:56:31,180 --> 00:56:33,014 keep him alive where there was neither 953 00:56:33,140 --> 00:56:35,349 atmospheric pressure nor oxygen. 954 00:56:37,811 --> 00:56:41,397 If we need spacesuits, would aliens traveling to Earth 955 00:56:41,523 --> 00:56:43,524 require the same protection? 956 00:56:46,987 --> 00:56:48,821 Is that what we're looking at 957 00:56:48,822 --> 00:56:52,825 in these ancient carvings and drawings? 958 00:56:52,826 --> 00:56:56,954 When critics ask, "Well, why would ancient astronauts 959 00:56:57,039 --> 00:57:01,000 "have to wear astronaut suits 960 00:57:01,126 --> 00:57:05,129 that we're familiar with today?" the answer is very simple. 961 00:57:05,214 --> 00:57:10,051 Can we go through space without wearing a type of suit? 962 00:57:10,177 --> 00:57:11,928 Of course not. We would die. 963 00:57:15,224 --> 00:57:20,937 Because who says that whoever visited us in the remote past, 964 00:57:21,021 --> 00:57:26,567 that they could breathe in the atmosphere of planet Earth? 965 00:57:30,781 --> 00:57:35,076 So it's not farfetched to suggest 966 00:57:35,202 --> 00:57:39,205 that they did, in fact, wear some type of suit. 967 00:57:45,212 --> 00:57:49,882 NARRATOR: Why might these images resemble modern astronauts? 968 00:57:52,719 --> 00:57:54,387 If they are aliens, 969 00:57:54,471 --> 00:57:57,890 is it possible they are similar to humans? 970 00:57:57,891 --> 00:58:02,228 And could they have come from a planet just like Earth? 971 00:58:05,607 --> 00:58:08,109 At the turn of the 20th century, 972 00:58:08,235 --> 00:58:10,862 a group of British and German scientists 973 00:58:10,904 --> 00:58:13,656 considered this possibility. 974 00:58:13,740 --> 00:58:16,909 They embraced a theory put forth by early Greek philosophers: 975 00:58:16,910 --> 00:58:21,247 that all life in the universe began in one specific place. 976 00:58:23,250 --> 00:58:26,544 This theory is called panspermia. 977 00:58:26,670 --> 00:58:30,047 Panspermia is the theory that life formed in one place 978 00:58:30,132 --> 00:58:32,133 and then got spread around to other places. 979 00:58:34,219 --> 00:58:37,722 In outer space, in the medium between stars, 980 00:58:37,848 --> 00:58:40,266 we see molecules that are the building blocks of life. 981 00:58:40,350 --> 00:58:42,685 So it's easy to get the building blocks of life 982 00:58:42,769 --> 00:58:44,478 to another planet. 983 00:58:44,563 --> 00:58:46,105 For example, if life formed on Mars, 984 00:58:46,231 --> 00:58:49,358 it could have come here to Earth... 985 00:58:49,484 --> 00:58:52,278 contaminated Earth and then started life here. 986 00:58:56,283 --> 00:58:59,452 NARRATOR: Roughly 3.6 billion years ago, 987 00:58:59,536 --> 00:59:05,166 Mars was warm and wet, much like the conditions on Earth today. 988 00:59:05,292 --> 00:59:08,961 Biologists believe that because Mars cooled more quickly 989 00:59:08,962 --> 00:59:12,965 than other planets, life may have developed there first. 990 00:59:15,969 --> 00:59:18,179 PAUL DAVIES: Mars is a better candidate 991 00:59:18,305 --> 00:59:21,515 for life during the early part of the solar system. 992 00:59:21,600 --> 00:59:23,976 Mars rocks are coming here all the time, and these have been 993 00:59:24,061 --> 00:59:27,313 knocked off Mars by asteroid and comet impacts. 994 00:59:27,397 --> 00:59:30,983 And we know that they could convey 995 00:59:30,984 --> 00:59:33,945 any Martian microorganisms to Earth. 996 00:59:36,531 --> 00:59:39,992 NARRATOR: In August 1996, a team of scientists 997 00:59:39,993 --> 00:59:42,620 made a stunning announcement. 998 00:59:44,706 --> 00:59:47,792 A Martian meteorite found in Antarctica 999 00:59:47,918 --> 00:59:51,003 contained evidence of fossilized life. 1000 00:59:51,004 --> 00:59:56,175 The four-pound rock, designated ALH 84001, 1001 00:59:56,301 --> 00:59:59,637 showed the presence of carbonate globules 1002 00:59:59,763 --> 01:00:03,015 excreted by microbes when they were alive on Mars 1003 01:00:03,016 --> 01:00:06,143 3.6 billion years ago. 1004 01:00:06,228 --> 01:00:10,189 Earth was no longer alone. 1005 01:00:10,315 --> 01:00:15,111 Life had existed elsewhere in the universe. 1006 01:00:15,195 --> 01:00:17,029 DAVIES: So this cross-contamination 1007 01:00:17,030 --> 01:00:19,949 between Mars and Earth, which 20 years ago, 1008 01:00:20,033 --> 01:00:21,993 was regarded as a rather wild conjecture, 1009 01:00:22,035 --> 01:00:26,205 is now pretty much accepted by the astrobiology community. 1010 01:00:30,377 --> 01:00:33,254 NARRATOR: Astrobiologists studying the origin 1011 01:00:33,380 --> 01:00:36,048 and evolution of life in the universe 1012 01:00:36,049 --> 01:00:39,010 embraced the possibility that life on Earth 1013 01:00:39,052 --> 01:00:41,053 began in outer space. 1014 01:00:46,143 --> 01:00:48,978 Did modern-day scientists finally prove 1015 01:00:49,062 --> 01:00:52,773 what ancient cultures have believed for centuries? 1016 01:00:57,070 --> 01:01:00,281 BAUVAL: The common myth or idea 1017 01:01:00,407 --> 01:01:06,078 that the origins of humankind is from the stars is widespread. 1018 01:01:06,079 --> 01:01:08,873 Ancient cultures have-- the ancient Egyptians, the Mayans, 1019 01:01:08,999 --> 01:01:12,084 the Aztecs, the Indians and so forth. 1020 01:01:12,085 --> 01:01:16,088 Uh, is intriguing, and it's probably true. 1021 01:01:16,089 --> 01:01:18,716 And I mean it from an astrophysical point of view. 1022 01:01:18,842 --> 01:01:20,676 We do come from the stars. 1023 01:01:20,802 --> 01:01:24,055 It's a fact that life on Earth has been seeded by the coming 1024 01:01:24,097 --> 01:01:26,098 of a comet containing the life matter. 1025 01:01:30,937 --> 01:01:34,106 I personally suspect there is life out there. 1026 01:01:34,107 --> 01:01:36,108 In fact, I believe that we have evidence-- 1027 01:01:36,109 --> 01:01:39,070 if nothing else, microbial evidence, 1028 01:01:39,112 --> 01:01:43,032 for life extraterrestrially. 1029 01:01:43,116 --> 01:01:44,950 NARRATOR: But if life did land on Earth 1030 01:01:45,077 --> 01:01:48,120 from outer space, was it by accident, 1031 01:01:48,121 --> 01:01:52,124 or might it have been sent here on purpose? 1032 01:01:57,923 --> 01:02:01,509 One mainstream scientist thought so. 1033 01:02:01,635 --> 01:02:04,887 British geneticist Francis Crick is best known 1034 01:02:04,971 --> 01:02:07,556 for his collaboration with James Watson. 1035 01:02:07,682 --> 01:02:13,145 Together, they unraveled the structure of human DNA in 1953. 1036 01:02:16,983 --> 01:02:20,694 Less than ten years later, they were awarded the Nobel Prize 1037 01:02:20,779 --> 01:02:24,740 for their groundbreaking work in genetics. 1038 01:02:24,866 --> 01:02:29,745 In the 1960s, Crick became a proponent of panspermia theory 1039 01:02:29,871 --> 01:02:32,498 and took it to a whole new level 1040 01:02:32,582 --> 01:02:36,710 with an idea he called directed panspermia. 1041 01:02:36,795 --> 01:02:39,171 GRAHAM HANCOCK: Francis Crick hypothesized that somewhere, 1042 01:02:39,172 --> 01:02:43,175 perhaps on the other side of the galaxy, 1043 01:02:43,176 --> 01:02:48,139 there had been a civilization of advanced intelligent beings. 1044 01:02:48,181 --> 01:02:50,182 And they had found that their planet 1045 01:02:50,308 --> 01:02:52,184 was going to be destroyed. 1046 01:02:52,185 --> 01:02:55,604 Perhaps a supernova was going to go off in their vicinity, 1047 01:02:55,730 --> 01:02:58,607 and their planet would be sterilized of life. 1048 01:03:00,360 --> 01:03:01,735 And he asked himself, 1049 01:03:01,820 --> 01:03:03,404 "What would an intelligent civilization do 1050 01:03:03,530 --> 01:03:05,114 in that situation?" 1051 01:03:05,198 --> 01:03:07,199 Um, well, first of all, they'd try to figure out 1052 01:03:07,325 --> 01:03:09,034 if they could get out of there, 1053 01:03:09,161 --> 01:03:11,829 if they could actually preserve their lives 1054 01:03:11,955 --> 01:03:13,205 and the lives of their descendants. 1055 01:03:13,331 --> 01:03:16,167 Perhaps crowd into spaceships and fly across 1056 01:03:16,209 --> 01:03:17,585 interstellar space until they found 1057 01:03:17,711 --> 01:03:19,712 a suitable planet to colonize. 1058 01:03:25,552 --> 01:03:28,012 NARRATOR: But could it actually be true? 1059 01:03:28,138 --> 01:03:29,555 Could we really be the descendants 1060 01:03:29,639 --> 01:03:33,934 of an alien race that traveled here from another world? 1061 01:03:39,232 --> 01:03:42,651 POPE: The ultimate implication of some 1062 01:03:42,777 --> 01:03:46,238 exobiological theories is actually 1063 01:03:46,239 --> 01:03:48,657 that we ourselves are extraterrestrials, 1064 01:03:48,783 --> 01:03:52,536 that life on Earth arose because 1065 01:03:52,621 --> 01:03:55,873 organic material was brought here from elsewhere. 1066 01:03:58,418 --> 01:04:01,378 BIRNES: What if we’re the ones, 1067 01:04:01,463 --> 01:04:04,882 the descendants of those who came from another planet? 1068 01:04:05,008 --> 01:04:07,218 We weren't created. 1069 01:04:07,260 --> 01:04:12,181 We were brought here, seeded planet Earth as a colony 1070 01:04:12,265 --> 01:04:14,558 from some other planet. 1071 01:04:14,643 --> 01:04:18,270 So we're colonists of another race. 1072 01:04:18,271 --> 01:04:21,232 And that's why the aliens look like us. 1073 01:04:24,277 --> 01:04:26,987 SCHOCH: In my opinion, it's not unscientific 1074 01:04:27,072 --> 01:04:31,116 to consider the possibility of ancient astronauts, 1075 01:04:31,243 --> 01:04:33,285 alien intervention. 1076 01:04:33,286 --> 01:04:35,287 We live in a huge universe. 1077 01:04:38,208 --> 01:04:42,670 Now, bacteria versus humanoids-- 1078 01:04:42,796 --> 01:04:44,505 one may say that's a big difference, 1079 01:04:44,631 --> 01:04:46,382 but in some ways, it's not a big difference. 1080 01:04:46,466 --> 01:04:47,925 Where you have life, 1081 01:04:48,051 --> 01:04:50,678 you have the ability for that life to develop 1082 01:04:50,804 --> 01:04:52,680 into what we consider 1083 01:04:52,806 --> 01:04:56,809 civilization or intelligent beings. 1084 01:05:00,397 --> 01:05:03,399 NARRATOR: Is it just a coincidence that modern science 1085 01:05:03,483 --> 01:05:08,320 and ancient alien theory have come to the same conclusion: 1086 01:05:08,446 --> 01:05:12,449 that life on Earth came from the stars? 1087 01:05:14,869 --> 01:05:18,122 And if it's possible that billions of years ago, 1088 01:05:18,248 --> 01:05:22,334 an extraterrestrial race spread out across space, 1089 01:05:22,335 --> 01:05:27,172 how would they survive in their new home? 1090 01:05:27,299 --> 01:05:30,301 Could they really be our missing link? 1091 01:05:36,349 --> 01:05:40,686 For thousands of years, mankind has tried to depict alien beings 1092 01:05:40,770 --> 01:05:43,981 who they believe came from the skies. 1093 01:05:44,107 --> 01:05:46,191 Many of those creatures seem to share 1094 01:05:46,318 --> 01:05:49,153 characteristics with humans. 1095 01:05:49,279 --> 01:05:53,782 They often have two arms, two legs, fingers and a head, 1096 01:05:53,908 --> 01:05:56,702 just like we do. 1097 01:05:56,786 --> 01:05:59,371 Biologists refer to this basic body shape 1098 01:05:59,372 --> 01:06:02,124 as bilateral symmetry. 1099 01:06:02,208 --> 01:06:05,461 Bilateral symmetry is, very simply, you divide something 1100 01:06:05,545 --> 01:06:09,673 down the middle into two parts-- and lateral means up and down-- 1101 01:06:09,758 --> 01:06:13,218 and the two sides are an exact reflection of each other. 1102 01:06:13,345 --> 01:06:17,389 If you fold the thing in half, all the parts line up. 1103 01:06:27,525 --> 01:06:29,902 RUSSELL TUTTLE: Being bilaterally symmetric 1104 01:06:29,986 --> 01:06:34,323 allows you to be streamlined and to develop a head end, 1105 01:06:34,407 --> 01:06:35,991 so you become cephalized. 1106 01:06:36,117 --> 01:06:37,993 And that certainly happened in vertebrates. 1107 01:06:38,119 --> 01:06:40,120 Virtually, the mouth at the end of something 1108 01:06:40,205 --> 01:06:42,915 and then you get progressive development, and that seems to 1109 01:06:42,999 --> 01:06:45,250 have led to many, many advances. 1110 01:06:48,421 --> 01:06:50,506 DENNIN: So, when you look at it closely, 1111 01:06:50,590 --> 01:06:53,967 you can see a lot of advantages coming in. 1112 01:06:54,052 --> 01:06:57,054 Having the two arms and the two legs to work together 1113 01:06:57,180 --> 01:07:00,391 really gives you great mobility and balance and speed. 1114 01:07:08,024 --> 01:07:09,858 Having eyes on two sides separated 1115 01:07:09,984 --> 01:07:12,277 gives really improved vision in various ways. 1116 01:07:12,404 --> 01:07:14,071 Animals that are predominantly prey 1117 01:07:14,197 --> 01:07:17,241 use their two eyes independently and get a huge field of view. 1118 01:07:17,367 --> 01:07:18,450 Animals that are predominantly hunters 1119 01:07:18,535 --> 01:07:20,244 have them more in the front 1120 01:07:20,370 --> 01:07:21,954 and get really good depth perception, which you need 1121 01:07:22,038 --> 01:07:23,956 if you’re gonna land on the animal you're hunting. 1122 01:07:24,040 --> 01:07:27,459 (lion growling) 1123 01:07:34,050 --> 01:07:37,386 NARRATOR: If it is true that aliens resemble humans 1124 01:07:37,470 --> 01:07:39,888 in their physical characteristics, 1125 01:07:40,014 --> 01:07:44,560 might there also be genetic similarities? 1126 01:07:44,644 --> 01:07:48,105 Could we even be related? 1127 01:07:50,191 --> 01:07:53,485 In 2003, the U.S. Government announced 1128 01:07:53,486 --> 01:07:57,823 that the Human Genome Project had identified all of the nearly 1129 01:07:57,907 --> 01:08:01,326 25,000 genes in the human body. 1130 01:08:01,453 --> 01:08:04,913 For the first time, scientists had a road map 1131 01:08:05,039 --> 01:08:08,417 to the genetic makeup of humans. 1132 01:08:32,275 --> 01:08:36,445 NARRATOR: In 2006, genetic researchers 1133 01:08:36,529 --> 01:08:39,531 at the University of California at Santa Cruz 1134 01:08:39,616 --> 01:08:44,328 discovered an area of the genome they called HAR1 1135 01:08:44,454 --> 01:08:47,664 that appears to be unique to humans. 1136 01:08:47,749 --> 01:08:52,544 Scientists believe the HAR1 gene plays a critical role 1137 01:08:52,545 --> 01:08:55,714 in the advanced development of the human brain, 1138 01:08:55,840 --> 01:09:00,177 and is a key element that sets us apart from other animals. 1139 01:09:00,303 --> 01:09:02,554 But where did it come from? 1140 01:09:02,555 --> 01:09:04,681 Did humans develop this distinct gene 1141 01:09:04,766 --> 01:09:07,559 naturally through evolution? 1142 01:09:07,560 --> 01:09:11,146 Or did it land here from another planet? 1143 01:09:13,149 --> 01:09:16,568 Francis Crick, the British scientist who helped discover 1144 01:09:16,569 --> 01:09:20,531 the structure of DNA, believed that human genes 1145 01:09:20,573 --> 01:09:22,908 could not have evolved by chance. 1146 01:09:22,992 --> 01:09:25,744 Crick didn't feel in that period of roughly 600 million years, 1147 01:09:25,870 --> 01:09:27,955 from the formation of the planet down to the time 1148 01:09:28,081 --> 01:09:29,581 when the planet could first support life, 1149 01:09:29,666 --> 01:09:32,584 there was enough time for DNA to evolve by accident. 1150 01:09:32,710 --> 01:09:35,796 It's an enormously complicated molecule. 1151 01:09:35,922 --> 01:09:38,590 Crick gave this analogy: You would be 1152 01:09:38,716 --> 01:09:44,596 more likely to assemble a fully functioning and flying jumbo jet 1153 01:09:44,722 --> 01:09:48,809 by passing a hurricane through a junkyard than you would be 1154 01:09:48,935 --> 01:09:51,895 to assemble the DNA molecule by chance 1155 01:09:51,980 --> 01:09:54,606 in any kind of primeval soup 1156 01:09:54,607 --> 01:09:56,608 in five or six hundred million years. 1157 01:09:56,609 --> 01:09:59,945 It's just not possible. 1158 01:10:00,029 --> 01:10:02,239 NARRATOR: But if this molecule could not have 1159 01:10:02,365 --> 01:10:06,618 evolved accidentally, how was it created? 1160 01:10:06,744 --> 01:10:10,831 Was it, as some believe, put there on purpose? 1161 01:10:10,957 --> 01:10:13,625 TSOUKALOS: The question should not be 1162 01:10:13,710 --> 01:10:15,794 do the extraterrestrials look like us 1163 01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:17,629 or what do the extraterrestrials look like, 1164 01:10:17,630 --> 01:10:21,633 but do we look like the extraterrestrials? 1165 01:10:21,634 --> 01:10:25,220 Because according to the ancient astronaut theory, 1166 01:10:25,346 --> 01:10:29,766 a long, long time ago, extraterrestrials came here, 1167 01:10:29,851 --> 01:10:34,938 and through a targeted mutation of our genes, 1168 01:10:35,023 --> 01:10:37,608 we "became human." 1169 01:10:44,866 --> 01:10:46,742 FIEBAG (translated): Possibly there's information in our DNA 1170 01:10:46,826 --> 01:10:50,370 about whether human evolution was manipulated or not. 1171 01:10:54,208 --> 01:10:57,836 The DNA is almost deciphered, yet we only understand 1172 01:10:57,962 --> 01:11:00,088 five percent of the information it carries. 1173 01:11:03,217 --> 01:11:06,303 TSOUKALOS: Geneticists have determined 1174 01:11:06,429 --> 01:11:09,681 that it only takes about five percent 1175 01:11:09,682 --> 01:11:14,645 to clone a human being, and that 95% 1176 01:11:14,687 --> 01:11:17,898 of that genetic material that we have in our bodies 1177 01:11:18,024 --> 01:11:20,692 is nothing more than what they refer to 1178 01:11:20,818 --> 01:11:23,862 as "geneticjunk." 1179 01:11:23,988 --> 01:11:25,322 DENNIN: Why is everything there? 1180 01:11:25,448 --> 01:11:26,865 And there's probably parts of the DNA 1181 01:11:26,991 --> 01:11:29,117 that don't have an obvious current function. 1182 01:11:29,243 --> 01:11:31,119 Maybe they're left over from something that was used 1183 01:11:31,245 --> 01:11:33,705 in the past, kind of like our appendix is left over. 1184 01:11:33,706 --> 01:11:36,833 NARRATOR: Could this genetic junk 1185 01:11:36,918 --> 01:11:40,420 hold the key to the evolution of humans? 1186 01:11:40,505 --> 01:11:44,716 Some people suggest that decoding our DNA entirely 1187 01:11:44,717 --> 01:11:49,721 will unlock startling information about our origins. 1188 01:11:49,722 --> 01:11:52,808 But could it even prove that aliens played a role 1189 01:11:52,892 --> 01:11:56,728 in our development thousands of years ago? 1190 01:11:56,729 --> 01:11:59,564 HANCOCK: If you hypothetically wanted 1191 01:11:59,691 --> 01:12:02,943 to record an eternal message 1192 01:12:03,069 --> 01:12:06,738 that could be decoded by a creature that had eventually 1193 01:12:06,739 --> 01:12:09,282 evolved enough intelligence to decode it, 1194 01:12:09,367 --> 01:12:11,743 the place to put that message would not be on 1195 01:12:11,744 --> 01:12:15,288 some monument or in some text, 1196 01:12:15,373 --> 01:12:17,749 which might be swept away, 1197 01:12:17,750 --> 01:12:21,878 but actually on the DNA of the creature itself. 1198 01:12:23,923 --> 01:12:26,758 (baby cooing) 1199 01:12:26,759 --> 01:12:28,760 It's recently been established 1200 01:12:28,761 --> 01:12:34,516 that DNA is a recording medium of almost limitless power. 1201 01:12:34,600 --> 01:12:38,895 It would be technically possible to record the entire knowledge 1202 01:12:38,980 --> 01:12:42,691 of a civilization on the DNA in our bodies. 1203 01:12:42,775 --> 01:12:45,777 All you'd need is a way to access that information. 1204 01:12:48,781 --> 01:12:51,783 VON DANIKEN: I think we have something, 1205 01:12:51,784 --> 01:12:55,287 the whole humanity, in our genes. 1206 01:12:55,371 --> 01:12:59,541 Somewhere in our genes, it is coded 1207 01:12:59,625 --> 01:13:02,794 that extraterrestrials were here thousands of years ago. 1208 01:13:04,797 --> 01:13:07,007 NARRATOR: But the questions persist: 1209 01:13:07,133 --> 01:13:11,344 If aliens visited Earth tens of thousands of years ago, 1210 01:13:11,429 --> 01:13:14,806 how did they get here? 1211 01:13:14,932 --> 01:13:18,310 When we look to the past for the answers, 1212 01:13:18,394 --> 01:13:21,813 are we looking in the wrong place? 1213 01:13:21,814 --> 01:13:25,317 Should we actually look forward... 1214 01:13:25,401 --> 01:13:27,402 to our future? 1215 01:13:36,329 --> 01:13:40,624 Scientists agree that the best chances of finding alien life 1216 01:13:40,750 --> 01:13:43,835 will be on planets similar to ours, 1217 01:13:43,836 --> 01:13:46,963 and descriptions of extraterrestrials seem to 1218 01:13:47,048 --> 01:13:49,132 resemble humans in many ways. 1219 01:13:49,217 --> 01:13:53,136 Some ancient astronaut theorists draw 1220 01:13:53,221 --> 01:13:55,847 a surprising conclusion from these facts, 1221 01:13:55,932 --> 01:13:59,643 suggesting that aliens might actually be human. 1222 01:14:01,646 --> 01:14:05,774 It is odd that many of the descriptions 1223 01:14:05,858 --> 01:14:08,860 of aliens are effectively humanoid, 1224 01:14:08,861 --> 01:14:12,697 and this raises an interesting possibility. 1225 01:14:12,824 --> 01:14:15,408 One idea that's been put forward is that, uh, 1226 01:14:15,493 --> 01:14:17,577 these are not extraterrestrials at all, 1227 01:14:17,662 --> 01:14:20,872 but they're time travelers from the future. 1228 01:14:20,873 --> 01:14:23,208 They could be us from a thousand, 1229 01:14:23,292 --> 01:14:25,877 2,000, 10,000 years from now. 1230 01:14:25,878 --> 01:14:29,714 Let's assume for a moment that 10,000 years from now 1231 01:14:29,841 --> 01:14:31,883 on this planet, if we all survive, 1232 01:14:31,884 --> 01:14:34,886 that time travel was created; they've invented it. 1233 01:14:34,887 --> 01:14:37,848 Just like the time machine of H.G. Wells' days, 1234 01:14:37,890 --> 01:14:40,851 they can go back or they can go forward. 1235 01:14:40,893 --> 01:14:43,895 So let's assume, 10,000 years from now, 1236 01:14:43,980 --> 01:14:46,982 we decide to come back to see us. 1237 01:14:47,066 --> 01:14:49,901 Maybe they have changed physically. 1238 01:14:49,902 --> 01:14:53,613 They look like the alien grays or whoever they may be. 1239 01:14:55,408 --> 01:14:58,618 It could well be that ancient astronauts might not be 1240 01:14:58,703 --> 01:15:00,912 creatures from other planets at all, 1241 01:15:00,997 --> 01:15:05,250 but time travelers from 2720 in a time machine. 1242 01:15:08,921 --> 01:15:11,089 NARRATOR: Time travel is an essential concept 1243 01:15:11,215 --> 01:15:14,759 for science fiction, but would it be possible 1244 01:15:14,886 --> 01:15:16,303 for flesh-and-blood humans 1245 01:15:16,429 --> 01:15:18,221 to find a way to transport themselves 1246 01:15:18,306 --> 01:15:21,933 through time with current technology? 1247 01:15:21,934 --> 01:15:25,228 Would this enable us to cover the vast distances of space? 1248 01:15:27,064 --> 01:15:28,940 If I could travel close to the speed of light, 1249 01:15:29,066 --> 01:15:32,110 I could reach the year 3000, say, in a couple of years. 1250 01:15:32,236 --> 01:15:35,071 Have to get very close to the speed of light for that, 1251 01:15:35,156 --> 01:15:37,949 but it's doable, and we know that this isn't a theory, 1252 01:15:37,950 --> 01:15:39,534 this is, this is real physics; 1253 01:15:39,660 --> 01:15:42,370 we could demonstrate these time-warping effects. 1254 01:15:44,373 --> 01:15:46,333 So you can reach the future quicker 1255 01:15:46,459 --> 01:15:49,377 by traveling close to the speed of light. 1256 01:15:49,503 --> 01:15:52,923 NARRATOR: The concept of time travel was first proposed 1257 01:15:52,965 --> 01:15:55,800 by Albert Einstein in 1905, 1258 01:15:55,927 --> 01:15:59,930 when he published his Theory of Special Relativity. 1259 01:15:59,972 --> 01:16:02,974 Ancient astronaut theory says that astronauts visited us 1260 01:16:02,975 --> 01:16:04,768 a long time ago from somewhere else. 1261 01:16:04,894 --> 01:16:07,103 The technology involved in doing that, 1262 01:16:07,188 --> 01:16:09,397 we would assume would be similar to what we understand now. 1263 01:16:09,523 --> 01:16:11,816 I mean, we know special relativity is a law of physics. 1264 01:16:11,943 --> 01:16:14,527 It holds anywhere in the universe. 1265 01:16:14,612 --> 01:16:17,072 Ancient astronauts would come all the way here and travel 1266 01:16:17,156 --> 01:16:19,616 these large distances and not age that much, 1267 01:16:19,742 --> 01:16:21,534 relative to their home planet. 1268 01:16:21,619 --> 01:16:23,787 Because if you’re going close enough to the speed of light, 1269 01:16:23,913 --> 01:16:27,582 you will have slowed down time enough that when you get back, 1270 01:16:27,708 --> 01:16:29,751 hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years 1271 01:16:29,835 --> 01:16:31,836 could have passed. 1272 01:16:38,010 --> 01:16:41,179 NARRATOR: One limitation to this method of travel 1273 01:16:41,305 --> 01:16:44,349 is that, because a spacecraft has mass, 1274 01:16:44,433 --> 01:16:49,020 it theoretically cannot reach the exact speed of light. 1275 01:16:49,021 --> 01:16:51,398 The resulting reduction in velocity 1276 01:16:51,524 --> 01:16:53,608 would then dramatically increase 1277 01:16:53,734 --> 01:16:58,363 the amount of time needed to cross the vast universe. 1278 01:16:58,447 --> 01:17:01,366 NOORY: Well, there's definitely many theories about 1279 01:17:01,450 --> 01:17:03,743 how extraterrestrials got here, 1280 01:17:03,828 --> 01:17:07,622 how their propulsion system got them to planet Earth. 1281 01:17:07,748 --> 01:17:11,042 They're surely not coming here the way we go out into space. 1282 01:17:11,043 --> 01:17:12,460 They'd never get here. 1283 01:17:12,586 --> 01:17:14,337 They are finding different ways. 1284 01:17:14,422 --> 01:17:17,257 They have either developed a new form of propulsion, 1285 01:17:17,383 --> 01:17:19,384 or they're able to travel through-- 1286 01:17:19,468 --> 01:17:21,052 what I've always believed-- 1287 01:17:21,053 --> 01:17:23,763 wormholes throughout the universe 1288 01:17:23,848 --> 01:17:26,850 that would instantaneously put them here. 1289 01:17:29,603 --> 01:17:34,065 NARRATOR: The idea of wormholes was first proposed in 1935 1290 01:17:34,066 --> 01:17:35,817 by Albert Einstein 1291 01:17:35,901 --> 01:17:39,571 and his longtime collaborator Nathan Rosen. 1292 01:17:39,655 --> 01:17:43,575 They began to explore the possibility that space and time 1293 01:17:43,659 --> 01:17:47,912 could literally be bent to create a time travel shortcut. 1294 01:17:50,624 --> 01:17:52,083 DENNIN: Wormholes have not been detected. 1295 01:17:52,168 --> 01:17:55,837 They are a postulated structure in space 1296 01:17:55,921 --> 01:17:57,714 that involve actually taking-- 1297 01:17:57,840 --> 01:17:59,841 if you want to think of a sheet of paper-- 1298 01:17:59,925 --> 01:18:02,302 bending it in half and connecting the two pieces 1299 01:18:02,428 --> 01:18:04,095 that you get together. 1300 01:18:04,096 --> 01:18:06,181 A wormhole is thought to do something like that. 1301 01:18:06,265 --> 01:18:09,100 Space gets warped, and it connects 1302 01:18:09,101 --> 01:18:11,061 between two different parts of space. 1303 01:18:11,103 --> 01:18:13,021 You know, there's predictions about what they would look like; 1304 01:18:13,105 --> 01:18:15,231 there's theories about them, but we haven't detected one yet. 1305 01:18:15,316 --> 01:18:17,067 You're not actually ever traveling faster 1306 01:18:17,109 --> 01:18:20,487 than the speed of light; you're just cutting corners. 1307 01:18:20,613 --> 01:18:23,239 You don't actually have to go light speed 1308 01:18:23,324 --> 01:18:25,909 and travel for light-years to someplace. 1309 01:18:26,035 --> 01:18:28,870 You literally go there through a wormhole and through hyperspace, 1310 01:18:28,954 --> 01:18:30,288 and bang, you're there. 1311 01:18:30,414 --> 01:18:33,875 DAVIES: If you can have a wormhole in space, 1312 01:18:33,959 --> 01:18:37,670 then it can be turned, in principle, into a time machine. 1313 01:18:37,755 --> 01:18:41,966 And so travel back in time as well as forward in time 1314 01:18:42,093 --> 01:18:43,301 would then be possible. 1315 01:18:43,427 --> 01:18:45,887 The problem is: where do you get your wormhole? 1316 01:18:45,971 --> 01:18:48,139 Uh, it's not inconceivable 1317 01:18:48,224 --> 01:18:50,266 that wormholes were made in the Big Bang, 1318 01:18:50,351 --> 01:18:52,143 coughed out along with everything else; 1319 01:18:52,144 --> 01:18:55,105 there might be one out there in the universe we could harvest 1320 01:18:55,147 --> 01:18:58,149 and adapt to form a time machine. 1321 01:18:58,150 --> 01:18:59,943 DENNIN: If you end up discovering 1322 01:19:00,069 --> 01:19:02,278 that you could make wormholes, then that increases the range 1323 01:19:02,363 --> 01:19:04,906 that you can explore in space and that increases 1324 01:19:04,990 --> 01:19:07,158 the likelihood of having two civilizations 1325 01:19:07,159 --> 01:19:09,369 at the same time with the right technology 1326 01:19:09,495 --> 01:19:11,329 to communicate with each other. 1327 01:19:13,332 --> 01:19:15,667 NARRATOR: While theoretically possible, 1328 01:19:15,751 --> 01:19:18,962 traveling through wormholes or at the speed of light 1329 01:19:19,088 --> 01:19:22,173 is currently impossible for us here on Earth. 1330 01:19:27,138 --> 01:19:32,183 Using modern propulsion methods, it would take 70,000 years 1331 01:19:32,268 --> 01:19:34,561 to reach the nearest star. 1332 01:19:34,687 --> 01:19:36,980 Our fastest rockets are totally puny. 1333 01:19:37,106 --> 01:19:38,815 It's really pathetic. 1334 01:19:38,941 --> 01:19:41,985 So we're talking about .01% 1335 01:19:42,111 --> 01:19:44,487 of the speed of light, if you’re lucky. 1336 01:19:44,572 --> 01:19:47,282 Any object that we can fire out of the solar system 1337 01:19:47,366 --> 01:19:49,617 is going to take tens of thousands of years 1338 01:19:49,743 --> 01:19:51,744 to reach the nearest star. 1339 01:19:55,207 --> 01:19:59,210 NARRATOR: Believe it or not, at 4.6 billion years old, 1340 01:19:59,336 --> 01:20:03,798 our solar system is one of the youngest in the universe. 1341 01:20:03,924 --> 01:20:07,385 But if civilizations exist in other galaxies, 1342 01:20:07,511 --> 01:20:09,971 is it possible that they are more advanced 1343 01:20:10,055 --> 01:20:11,848 than those on Earth? 1344 01:20:11,974 --> 01:20:14,934 And if so, could they be ahead of us in their ability 1345 01:20:15,019 --> 01:20:17,020 to travel through space and time? 1346 01:20:19,023 --> 01:20:20,732 CHILDRESS: For extraterrestrials 1347 01:20:20,816 --> 01:20:24,819 to come here, through the vast reaches of space to our planet, 1348 01:20:24,945 --> 01:20:27,238 they clearly have to have technology 1349 01:20:27,239 --> 01:20:31,201 that's way in advance of what we have today. 1350 01:20:31,243 --> 01:20:33,536 To go from solar system to solar system, 1351 01:20:33,621 --> 01:20:36,998 rather than going warp speed, like in Star Trek, 1352 01:20:37,082 --> 01:20:40,043 you're really going to travel, as they do in Star Wars, 1353 01:20:40,169 --> 01:20:42,545 where you're jumping through hyperspace. 1354 01:20:42,630 --> 01:20:47,258 Going from a solar system to solar system is no time at all. 1355 01:20:52,264 --> 01:20:56,684 Just because we can't travel from star to star does not mean 1356 01:20:56,810 --> 01:21:00,355 another more advanced society can't do it either. 1357 01:21:00,439 --> 01:21:04,567 I think that's the height of human arrogance to say, 1358 01:21:04,652 --> 01:21:07,278 "Just because we can't do it, another 1359 01:21:07,279 --> 01:21:10,490 more advanced civilization can't do it either." 1360 01:21:10,616 --> 01:21:13,910 So, you know, we have to stop looking at us that we are 1361 01:21:14,036 --> 01:21:16,287 the pinnacle of creation, 'cause we're not. 1362 01:21:20,042 --> 01:21:23,670 NARRATOR: Celestial beings. 1363 01:21:23,796 --> 01:21:27,382 Visitors from the skies. 1364 01:21:27,466 --> 01:21:32,262 Deities descending from the heavens to interact with man. 1365 01:21:32,304 --> 01:21:35,390 Could these worldwide stories be the foundation 1366 01:21:35,474 --> 01:21:38,142 for the prevailing belief that something 1367 01:21:38,269 --> 01:21:42,230 greater than ourselves, from beyond our world, 1368 01:21:42,314 --> 01:21:45,316 created the universe as we know it? 1369 01:21:56,662 --> 01:22:00,164 Almost all of the great world faiths are based on 1370 01:22:00,291 --> 01:22:03,501 stories of celestial beings who visit Earth. 1371 01:22:03,627 --> 01:22:06,879 Many millions of people accept these legends 1372 01:22:06,964 --> 01:22:09,132 as part of their core beliefs. 1373 01:22:15,347 --> 01:22:18,349 And from the earliest cave drawings 1374 01:22:18,350 --> 01:22:22,895 to images at Roswell, we see artists' interpretations 1375 01:22:22,980 --> 01:22:27,358 of extraterrestrials or gods coming to our planet. 1376 01:22:29,987 --> 01:22:34,699 YOUNG: In many traditions, there is something coming from above. 1377 01:22:34,783 --> 01:22:38,202 There's a stairway to heaven or there's a whirlwind 1378 01:22:38,329 --> 01:22:40,872 or an angel descends. 1379 01:22:40,956 --> 01:22:43,374 Sometimes the encounter is quite dangerous. 1380 01:22:43,375 --> 01:22:46,210 (thunder rumbles) 1381 01:22:46,337 --> 01:22:49,088 As would be appropriate to something awesome and larger 1382 01:22:49,173 --> 01:22:50,923 and more powerful than we are. 1383 01:22:51,008 --> 01:22:52,383 Usually, it is memorable. 1384 01:22:58,891 --> 01:23:00,391 CHILDRESS: Many of the myths 1385 01:23:00,392 --> 01:23:05,355 are much more specific, and they really talk about gods 1386 01:23:05,397 --> 01:23:08,399 physically coming to Earth-- 1387 01:23:08,400 --> 01:23:14,238 landing, doing miracles, and showing the people how to live. 1388 01:23:17,409 --> 01:23:21,412 NARRATOR: If visitors did come from the stars, is it possible 1389 01:23:21,538 --> 01:23:25,208 that they actually changed the way ancient people thought? 1390 01:23:27,211 --> 01:23:29,420 Did they provide an intellectual spark 1391 01:23:29,421 --> 01:23:32,840 to prehistoric civilizations? 1392 01:23:32,966 --> 01:23:36,511 Could that be the reason why so many different cultures 1393 01:23:36,595 --> 01:23:40,431 could build such large and lasting monuments? 1394 01:23:42,434 --> 01:23:44,435 NOORY: It's almost as if primitive man 1395 01:23:44,436 --> 01:23:46,270 woke up one morning and went, 1396 01:23:46,397 --> 01:23:49,232 "Hey, I've got this knowledge and I know how to make tools 1397 01:23:49,358 --> 01:23:52,360 and I'm gonna go and build all these things." 1398 01:23:52,444 --> 01:23:54,445 Nah, I don't think it happened that way. 1399 01:23:54,571 --> 01:23:58,449 I think others came down to this planet and started teaching 1400 01:23:58,450 --> 01:24:01,536 other people, uh, that were beginning to evolve. 1401 01:24:03,539 --> 01:24:08,042 But the one thing I truly do not believe is that 1402 01:24:08,168 --> 01:24:11,671 modern cavemen at the time basically created 1403 01:24:11,797 --> 01:24:13,881 all this knowledge out of thin air. 1404 01:24:18,178 --> 01:24:19,470 TSOUKALOS: All around the world, 1405 01:24:19,471 --> 01:24:24,434 we have concise descriptions in ancient texts 1406 01:24:24,476 --> 01:24:30,189 which say, word for word, that some beings 1407 01:24:30,274 --> 01:24:33,484 came from the sky. 1408 01:24:33,485 --> 01:24:37,905 So it's as if this intellectual Big Bang 1409 01:24:38,031 --> 01:24:42,493 or this Big Bang of knowledge occurred 1410 01:24:42,494 --> 01:24:45,496 in various periods of time. 1411 01:24:45,497 --> 01:24:49,667 And those various periods of time most concisely 1412 01:24:49,793 --> 01:24:54,672 always correlate with some type of description 1413 01:24:54,798 --> 01:24:58,801 of gods descending from the sky. 1414 01:25:05,517 --> 01:25:07,810 HANCOCK: I do think of that as a very significant 1415 01:25:07,895 --> 01:25:10,480 before-and-after moment in the human story. 1416 01:25:10,522 --> 01:25:14,275 And it is not a moment that is linked to physical evolution. 1417 01:25:14,359 --> 01:25:16,235 We've already got the hardware. 1418 01:25:16,320 --> 01:25:18,613 It's as though something happened to our software 1419 01:25:18,697 --> 01:25:21,741 around about that time, and I think it's a very intriguing 1420 01:25:21,867 --> 01:25:23,868 moment in the human story. 1421 01:25:27,915 --> 01:25:30,541 NARRATOR: For supporters of ancient alien theory, 1422 01:25:30,542 --> 01:25:33,544 the verdict is already in. 1423 01:25:33,670 --> 01:25:35,838 They believe that aliens visited 1424 01:25:35,923 --> 01:25:40,968 many of Earth's earliest cultures thousands of years ago. 1425 01:25:41,094 --> 01:25:43,262 But is it possible? 1426 01:25:43,347 --> 01:25:46,098 Are extraterrestrials responsible for the sacred 1427 01:25:46,183 --> 01:25:49,936 creation myths of the first human civilizations? 1428 01:25:50,062 --> 01:25:53,940 Might they have tampered with our DNA? 1429 01:25:54,066 --> 01:25:57,276 Are humans themselves aliens from another planet 1430 01:25:57,361 --> 01:26:01,739 in the heavens or even from another time? 1431 01:26:01,865 --> 01:26:04,700 While man continues to search for these answers, 1432 01:26:04,785 --> 01:26:07,495 the questions remain. 1433 01:26:07,579 --> 01:26:11,582 If they came here, what was their mission? 1434 01:26:11,583 --> 01:26:16,587 We call Earth home, but with perfect conditions for life, 1435 01:26:16,588 --> 01:26:18,923 could it be a beacon, 1436 01:26:19,007 --> 01:26:21,884 calling out to other intelligent civilizations 1437 01:26:21,969 --> 01:26:24,512 that may exist in the universe? 1438 01:26:28,100 --> 01:26:30,726 CARGILL: I think there is life, simple life, bacterial life, 1439 01:26:30,811 --> 01:26:32,979 microbial life on other planets. 1440 01:26:33,105 --> 01:26:34,897 I think we're going to find that. 1441 01:26:34,982 --> 01:26:36,524 And who knows? 1442 01:26:36,608 --> 01:26:39,443 Maybe one day we'll find some other planet 1443 01:26:39,570 --> 01:26:41,612 that's capable of sustaining life, 1444 01:26:41,613 --> 01:26:44,615 that has evolved people over a long period of time, 1445 01:26:44,741 --> 01:26:47,827 that are also looking up at the stars wondering: 1446 01:26:47,953 --> 01:26:50,329 is there anybody else out there; are we the only ones? 1447 01:26:50,414 --> 01:26:54,166 HELDMANN: What bigger question could we ask about ourselves 1448 01:26:54,251 --> 01:26:55,626 and our place in the universe? 1449 01:26:55,711 --> 01:26:57,795 You know, is there life elsewhere in the universe, 1450 01:26:57,921 --> 01:26:59,630 or are we it? 1451 01:26:59,715 --> 01:27:02,592 I mean, I think it's one of the most fascinating questions, 1452 01:27:02,634 --> 01:27:05,011 and we're fortunate enough to live in a time when we can 1453 01:27:05,137 --> 01:27:07,263 address this question scientifically 1454 01:27:07,389 --> 01:27:09,348 and really try and get at some answers. 1455 01:27:11,143 --> 01:27:13,644 NOORY: You can then come up with a conclusion that something, 1456 01:27:13,645 --> 01:27:18,399 one, very strange is happening on this planet, and two, 1457 01:27:18,483 --> 01:27:22,361 if it's coming from outside of this system, 1458 01:27:22,446 --> 01:27:24,280 then we're being visited by something 1459 01:27:24,406 --> 01:27:26,449 that has some intelligence behind it. 1460 01:27:28,493 --> 01:27:32,455 TSOUKALOS: In the end, the truth wins. 1461 01:27:32,581 --> 01:27:34,999 And we've seen this in history, 1462 01:27:35,083 --> 01:27:39,295 where scientific theories or ideas 1463 01:27:39,421 --> 01:27:44,967 that have been deemed impossible turned out to be true. 1464 01:27:45,052 --> 01:27:49,221 And so it is my firm conviction 1465 01:27:49,306 --> 01:27:53,601 that the same will count for the ancient alien theory.