ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS: FACTS & FALSEHOODS.

by David Calvert

According to the Ancient Aliens hypothesists and proponents, the ancient texts of Sumeria describe beings descending from the sky called the Annunaki. The term ‘Annunaki’ they will tell you means ‘those who from the heavens came.’

This is entirely wrong. The word Annunaki means ‘princely seed’ or ‘princely blood’. The idea is that the Annunaki were direct creations of Anu, who was regarded as the father and king of the gods.

As we will see, this is the main idea associated with the Annunaki in the minds of Sumerians, that is that they were directly created by Anu, and so it makes sense that even their name reflects this idea, that is that they were the offspring of the prince.

The term itself means ‘of royal seed’ or ‘princely seed’, because the annunaki were considered the offspring of Anu, or An, the great God of heaven. The annunaki were also the offspring of An and his consort ‘Ki’ of heaven and earth. There was this divine coupling in the way the Mesopotamians conceived their pantheon.

So, if the term Annunaki means ‘princely’ seed, or ‘offspring of the prince’, how is it that the Ancient Alien theorists say that the word for Annunaki means those who from the heavens to earth came?

The short answer is that everything Ancient Alien hypothesists say about the Annunaki comes from a man named Zecharia Sitchin. Sitchin wrote many books claiming that the Annunaki were really aliens. Unfortunately, at the time that he wrote this in the 70’s, there weren’t many ways for ordinary people to see if what he was saying was true or not.

To put it simply Sitchin’s translation of the word Annunaki is wrong.

Sitchin claimed to be an expert on Sumerian writings, yet we can now see that he didn’t seem to even understand the basic grammar and vocabulary rules of the Sumerian language. Several real scholars challenged him on his translations, and on his lack of any academic credentials in the field, pointing out that there is no record of Sitchin having anything but a journalism degree.

As we progress and look into some of the specifics of Sitchin’s views articulated by the Ancient Alien believers, I think you will see that determining the truth about this difficult subject is not out of the hands of the common person.

It says, word for word, that these beings ‘descended in flying vehicles from the sky’.

This is a preposterous statement. I challenge anyone to produce this word for word text.

You can do a search online, and literally see all the references to the word Annunaki in the Sumerian texts. The only time it refers to anything even close to this is when it talks about the Annunaki being direct creations of Anu in heaven. A few examples of this are:

‘The Anunna, the (gods), whom An conceived in the sky‘.

‘The Anunna, whom An in the sky conceived‘.

These texts emphasize the point that the main Sumerian concept regarding the Annunaki was that they were directly created by An; that’s what’s being said here.

The idea that the text says that they ‘descended out of flying vehicles’ is pure fiction.

The proponents of the Ancient Astronaut Theory are basing their belief system on a falsehood. Moreover, the archaeological evidence they put forward as proof of the Annunaki’s superior technology is also deceptive.

The theory just doesn’t fit in with the archaeological evidence of the time period, and is replete with incorrect assertions and dubious claims.

This is a common ploy among cranks and self-appointed challengers of science. They spout off a series of misinterpretations and falsehoods to hide the truth underneath an avalanche of falsehoods and distortions. Most of the followers who are drawn into this web of deceit accept without question that what they are told is true, and don’t even bother to check out the so-called “facts”.

Below is a list of falsehoods put forward by the Ancient Astronaut proponents:

• The dinosaurs were wiped out by aliens to make way for mankind’s eventual domination of the Earth.

The various ancient alien hypothesists do little more than assert that such an event must have taken place.  They provide no actual evidence for their claims. Instead, they borrow evidence from fundamentalist Christians, who are never actually identified as such.

So, if ancient aliens weren’t responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, then who or what was?

In the 1980s, father-and-son scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez discovered in the geological record a distinct layer of iridium–an element found in abundance only in space–that corresponds to the precise time the dinosaurs died. This suggests that a comet, asteroid or meteor impact event may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. In the 1990s, scientists located the massive Chicxulub Crater at the tip of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, which dates to the period in question.

There are also several other competing scientific theories to account for the extinction period – none of which involve aliens.

I was once a proponent of the ancient astronaut theory in my youth. This was a time when Eric von Daniken’s books, Chariots of the Gods, and others, were being widely publicised. In 1976 however, a Sceptical Inquirer article showed that the book was flawed. By 1997, in a BBC-PBS production, the book had been debunked. The episode refuted the following claims:

• An image of an ancient astronaut was carved on a Mayan sarcophagus.

The design below does not represent an ancient alien in some kind of cockpit, as Däniken, et al would have us believe. What it actually shows is the iconographic figure of the Mayan ruler Pacal the Great of Palenque. The iconography and accompanying Maya text identifies it as a portrait of the ruler himself with the World Tree of Maya mythology.

• The Nazca Lines in Chile were originally an ancient-astronaut spaceport.

There are various plausible theories as to what the Nazca lines truly represent. What they aren’t are ancient ‘spaceports’. It stands to reason that if we had been visited by ETs in our ancient history, with their vastly superior technology, they wouldn’t require what look like modern day runways to land. The idea is absurd in the extreme. One only has to research the incredible capabilities of UFOs in present-day sightings to reach that conclusion. The lines were actually made in the ground by removing the reddish pebbles to uncover the whitish/grey ground beneath. Scholars differ in the interpretation the purpose of the designs but, in general, they ascribe religious significance to them. Because of its isolation and the dry, windless, stable climate of the plateau, the lines have been relatively naturally preserved.

 

• Where did the Ancient Mayans get their advanced knowledge of the stars from?

The first functional telescopes of the modern era were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century. The knowledge of lenses however dates much further back in time, as attested to by numerous ancient lenses, from disparate civilisations, that have been discovered by archaeologists. They were crude by modern-day standards. From these discoveries, we learnt that ancients possessed telescopes. Given that they were crude in design, tells us they weren’t created by a superior intellect. These were created by human ingenuity, and have no connection to extra-terrestrials. The ancient Peruvians were also excellent astronomers.

• Another of their claims is that ancient astronauts built the pyramids in Egypt.

There is no evidence whatsoever to the notion that the pyramids were constructed by extra-terrestrials. Once again, we are confronted by the biased speculation that they could only have been constructed by a super intelligent race of space-faring aliens. However, this is far from true, as is the idea that they were built using slave labour. Graffiti discovered inside the Giza monuments themselves paint an entirely different picture.

Recently, Egyptologist Mark Lehner, an associate of Harvard’s Semitic Museum, found the city of the real pyramid builders. He began drawing on diverse strands of evidence from geological history, to analysis of living arrangements, bread-making technology, and animal remains, that offer up an entirely different perspective to that of the Ancient Astronaut hypothesists, and one which is far more credible.

More evidence began to crop up when Faunal analyst Richard Redding, of the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, identified tremendous quantities of cattle, sheep, and goat bone, sufficient to feed several thousand people, even if they ate meat every day. Much of the cattle bone evidence showed that they were under two years of age when slaughtered. He was astounded by the sheer volume of cattle bone evidence he was finding. He identified that much of the bones came from cattle under two years of age. Here was evidence of many people—presumably not slaves or common labourers, but skilled workers—feasting on prime beef, the best meat available. Remains of the labourers were also unearthed, and they bore injuries consistent with their trade.

So, there we have it, solid evidence that the pyramids were built by human artisans. There is much more evidence to support that the Egyptians erected the pyramids. It can be found in the link provided below.

https://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/who-built-the-pyramids-html