this belief distorts and detracts from the real human story, the one told by credible evidence. This is not trivial at a time when our species is growing rapidly and becoming more technologically powerful while also continuing to struggle with violence, ethnocentrism, racism, and scientific illiteracy. We are unlikely to solve our biggest problems until we accept the scientific discovery of ourselves and consistently value a reality-based worldview. But for millions of people, this is more difficult than it should be because they have been seduced by fictions such as the one that says ancient astronauts were at the center of our shared past. Further Reading and he asks this, incredulously, in exactly the same paragraph that he mentions that the first rising of Sirius each year occurs at more or less exactly the time that the annual Nile floods, the central fact of Egyptian culture and economics, begin. Yes indeed, for what possible reason could a civilisation count their year as starting from a regular, easily perceptible astronomical event that coincides with the most important economic period of the year, it's truly unfathomable. [Von Daeniken rules out the possibility of a connexion to the flooding, because Sirius doesn't necessarily predict the exact day of the first flood each year, and hence the calendar matching the flooding must be a coincidence. Presumably he also thinks that, because our solar calendar doesn't have the coldest day of the year fall exactly on January 1 each year, there can be no relation between our calendar and the passage of the seasons?] I can't find any reference to an unusual animal in the tomb of Udimu (better known as Den). However, exotic animal skeletons, included hippos, leopards, baboons and elephants, are common in early Egyptian tombs. These animals were either caught locally, or imported through trade. What daring imagination invented the 'Open Sesame?' incident in the tale of Ali Baba and the forty thieves?

a b Kroth, Jerry (November 1, 2010). Aliens and Man? A Synopsis of Facts and Beliefs. Algora Publishing. ISBN 978-0875868165. A different TV documentary, Horizon Special: The Case of the Ancient Astronauts directed by Graham Massey, was released in 1977 and examined von Däniken's claims. [29] [30] [31] The mistake is to rigidly try to classify the myths as facts or stories. If only Däniken had taken the time to understand the power of symbolism in myth-making... hell, he could have done that purely by reading a few comic books!Transcripts of Däniken's letters to his wife Elizabeth (whom he married in 1959), during this period are provided in Krassa, pp. 130–135. Oh and let’s not forget that the 3,000 year-old carvings in the Egyptian New Kingdom Temple are supposedly images of helicopter-like machines Von Däniken brought the Nazca Lines to public prominence in Chariots of the Gods? [29] with his proposal that the lines were built on instructions from extraterrestrial beings as airfields for their spaceships. [30] In his 1998 book Arrival of The Gods, he added that some of the pictures depicted extraterrestrials. [30] The idea did not originate with von Däniken; it began after people who first saw the lines from the air made joking comparisons to Martian "canals", [29] and had already been published by others. [31] Webster, Gary (1 March 2016). "Aliens or Egyptians – Who Really Built the Pyramids?". HopeChannel . Retrieved 3 November 2017. Fritze, Ronald H. (2009), Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-religions, Reaktion Books, ISBN 978-1861898173

Erich von Däniken (1972). Aussaat und Kosmos. Spuren und Pläne außerirdischer Intelligenzen (in German) (1ed.). Düsseldorf: Econ-Verlag.What is perhaps not so well known is that none of these claims by Däniken were original to him. As explained here … I think Chariots of the Gods was a wonderful and very informative book. Honestly, I have a lot more respect for Erich von Daniken than I do bloats like the so-called "genius" Stephen Hawking. At least Erich traveled to all of these destinations, done hands-on thorough research, and has proof of all of his claims.