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Pseudoarchaeology and Ancient Aliens 57

Pseudoarchaeology and

the Racism Behind

Ancient Aliens

Where, exactly, the idea of

ancient aliens building the
pyramids began — and why
some academics think racism lies

at the heart of many
extraterrestrial theories.

by Sarah E Bond

At the ancient site of Hatnub, a quarry in the
eastern Egyptian desert not far from Faiyum,
archaeologists have recently discovered a sled
ramp system used to transport alabaster blocks.
structures associated with our ancient Belief can indeed lead to action. In 2014,
Post holes and a ramp with stairs on either side
indicate that the contraption allowed Egyptian civilizations. In 1966, Carl Sagan and Iosif S. German pseudoscientists and “hobbyists”
Shklovskii had already speculated that contact defaced a cartouche of Khufu inside the Great
builders to move heavy blocks up and down
with extraterrestrials might have occurred in Pyramid in their misguided search to prove their
steep slopes. Inscriptions have now helped
their book Intelligent Life in the Universe, but alien theories. The Pyramids of Giza and the
archaeologists from the Institut français
von Däniken took this theory to new levels. Great Zimbabwe site are commonly cited by
d’archéologie orientale and the University of
This year marks the 50th anniversary of pseudo-archaeologists as structures built by
Liverpool to date this groundbreaking
that book’s publication with over 65 million extraterrestrial beings, along with the Moai
technology to at least the reign of Khufu, who
books sold to date. While its ideas might be heads on the tiny Easter Island off the coast of
ruled from 2589–2566 BCE. Khufu is known as
laughable to most, the creation of doubt is a Chile.
the pharaoh who likely commissioned the
building of the Great Pyramid at Giza. pernicious and rhetorical agent. The questioning Stonehenge, in the English countryside
of human building projects in Chariots of the of Wiltshire, is one of the few structures built by
Discovery and reconstruction of the ramp allows
Gods? remains a bedrock for many within the European ancestors placed in this category
us to better understand ancient construction
field of pseudo-archaeology. Far from structures allegedly built by aliens, though in the
techniques. It also chips away at the long-held
innocuous, these alien theories undermine the original printing of Chariots of the Gods? von
but fringe theory that the blocks were so heavy
agency, archaeology, and intellect of non- Däniken does not discuss the site any more than
and the distances they would have to travel so
European cultures in Africa and South America, to say its massive stone blocks were from Wales
lengthy that aliens must have built the pyramids.
as well as the Native peoples in North America and Marlborough. The disproportion of
Where did the theory of aliens building
by erasing their achievements. speculation surrounding non-European versus
the pyramids actually come from? Since the late
19th century, science fiction writers have A potent combination of tabloids and European structures is noticeable. As medieval
television helped to make von Däniken’s book a historian Chris Reidel noted,
imagined Martians and other alien lifeforms
bestseller in the United States. Historian of That’s what the ancient aliens theory
engaged in great feats of terrestrial engineering.
pseudoscience John Colavito has remarked that does: it discredits the origins of civilizations,
Earlier alien theories surrounding Atlantis may
while the book became a bestseller in Europe, it and almost entirely of non-white civilizations.
have spawned fantasies about alien building.
was the National Enquirer’s underscoring of von People may suggest Stonehenge was built by
The most substantial evidence for non-earthly
Däniken’s work through a serial series published aliens — but do the[y] suggest the Roman
creatures arrived in the wake of H.G. Wells’s
in the tabloid that introduced it to readers in the Forum or Parthenon were? No.
success.
US in 1970. Three years later, NBC aired an We must question what is at stake in
Capitalizing on the fervor surrounding
Wells’s The War of the Worlds, astronomer and adaption of the book retitled In Search of these cases. While the British are not in any
Ancient Astronauts (featuring a cast of all white danger of having their overall intellect or
science fiction writer Garrett P. Serviss penned a
men) which translated and visualized pseudo- capability as a culture questioned, many non-
quasi-sequel titled Edison’s Conquest of Mars in
theories of archaeology and science for broad European cultures are historically more
1898. Serviss posited that “giants of Mars” had
popular consumption. vulnerable to such questioning.
moved large blocks and built the Great Pyramid.
It is notable that many (though not all)
He even noted that the Sphinx had Martian
extraterrestrial theories focus on archaeological (Continued on Page 58)
features. Edison’s Conquest was part of a
structures at sites within Egypt, Africa, South
number of science fiction works published as
America, and North America — a fact that has
books or serialized in newspapers in the late
led some academics to see beliefs in ancient
19th century which imagined alien invasions
alien engineers as a stalking horse for racism. In
fought off by great inventors of the time.
a piece for the online journal The Conversation
Thomas Edison was a favored hero in these
rather frankly titled “Racism is Behind
science fiction fantasies much later collectively
Outlandish Theories about Africa’s Ancient
called Edisonades.
Architecture,” Julien Benoit, a postdoctoral
The popularization of the theory of alien
researcher in vertebrate paleontology at the
architects as having a basis in science rather than
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa),
consisting of only fictional musing can be
addressed the continued harm of these theories:
attributed to Swiss author Erich von Däniken’s
Firstly, these people try to prove their
1968 publication of the book Chariots of the
theories by travelling the world and desecrating
Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past.
ancient artefacts. Secondly, they perpetuate and
Originally published in German and
give air to the racist notion that only Europeans
subsequently translated into English, it was one
– white people – ever were and ever will be
of the first popularly sold books to suggest that
capable of such architectural feats.
extraterrestrial life forms, not humans, built