What if some of the greatest mysteries of human history have been misunderstood?
Imagine standing before the Great Pyramid of Egypt, looking up at millions of enormous stones fitted together with remarkable precision. Or imagine seeing the giant statues of Easter Island, the mysterious lines of Nazca, or ancient drawings that seem to show strange machines and flying objects. Who built these things? How did they do it? And where did their ideas come from?
Von Däniken travels across history looking for clues. He examines ancient monuments, maps, myths, religious stories, and unusual artifacts. He points to places such as the Egyptian pyramids, the Nazca Lines in Peru, Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, Easter Island, and ancient Maya cities. He argues that some of these achievements seem difficult to explain using the technology we normally associate with ancient civilizations.
He also looks at ancient stories. What if descriptions of gods flying through the sky were not stories about supernatural beings—but memories of real visitors arriving in advanced machines? What if ancient pictures that appear to show strange vehicles or figures in unusual clothing were attempts to record encounters with technology people did not understand?
It is important to remember that Von Däniken's ideas are controversial. He often presents questions and unusual possibilities as evidence for his theories. Many historians and archaeologists disagree with his conclusions and argue that ancient Egyptians were capable of extraordinary engineering without help from extraterrestrials.
As you read, don't simply ask, “Do I believe Von Däniken?”
Ask the historian's questions:
What is the evidence? What other explanations are possible? Is the evidence being interpreted fairly? What information is missing? And what evidence would convince me that the claim is true—or false?
The mystery is not only what happened in the ancient past.
The mystery is also how we know what we think we know about it.
"History is a Greek word," wrote British historian Arnold Toynbee, "which means, literally, just investigation." The process of investigating what happened long ago is a process that involves analyzing evidence, determining a source's credibility, and evaluating different points of view about what is important and why.
These are all essential critical-thinking skills, not just for the history classroom, but also for life. You will need to exercise these skills whenever you make an important decision about your own future. These skills will also help you make more informed decisions about public issues as a citizen and voter.
Listen to the story and then use the process of investigation to answer these questions:
1) What historical evidence did the archaelogists find?
2) How credible was the evidence?
3) Evaluate their point of view. What did they get right? What did they get wrong?
4) What does this story teach us about our study of the past?
Suppose you are a historian who found this stone etched with a statement.
What questions would you ask about this stone?
How would you use it to interpret the past?
For centuries, scholars puzzled over the hieroglyphs they found carved onto ancient Egyptian ruins, tablets, and papyri. But in 1799, a unique discovery would finally help unlock their meaning. It was a stone inscribed with three different texts: Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and Ancient Greek.
Read the introduction in the text, then watch this video in which Franziska Naether shares how scholars decoded the ancient message of the Rosetta Stone.
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