Original subtitles

and may contain mature subject matter.

Viewer discretion is advised.

William Shatner: You know, I've been around for a while.

Met some interesting people, done some crazy things.

So you just might think that there's not much that

can take me by surprise.

You'd be wrong.

The world is full of stories and science and things that

amaze and confound me every single day, incredible

mysteries that keep me awake at night.

Some I can answer.

Others just defy logic.

Is the history of the world wrong?

In a Mexican cave a young girl finds a bizarre

900 year old skeleton.

Is it evidence aliens once walked our planet?

Lloyd: This is the equivalent of landing on the moon.

A Peruvian doctor discovers stone carvings that could

rewrite the history of evolution.

Did dinosaurs live alongside humans?

Dennis: This is one of archaeological's

most baffling enigmas.

And a two thousand year old wooden model reveals an

incredible secret...Did the ancient Egyptians

invent the airplane?

David: This is going to throw the way we view

ancient civilizations completely topsy turvy.

Shatner: It's a weird world and I love it.

[♪]

William Shatner: I love books.

They make me think, especially anything about history,

thousands of years- human development and achievement,

they're all contained in the pages of these wonderful

documents that normally teach generation after generation of

where we came from, but where we might be going.

Have you ever stopped to consider what it might mean

for us if all we've learned and all we think we've learned

about- our past- is wrong?

It's unthinkable, isn't it?

Well guess what?

There's real and bizarre events out there that are

telling us we may need to rethink everything we know

about everything.

The unthinkable is here.

Researcher, Lloyd Pie is the guardian of what he contends

is the most important artifact ever discovered.

The story begins in the Mexican countryside

over 80 years ago.

Lloyd: It was originally discovered in about 1930 by a

young girl about a hundred miles southwest of Chihuahua.

She was visiting relatives there, she went out exploring

the area, found a mine tunnel, went in and inside

the tunnel found two skeletons.

Examining the bones, the girl thinks one of the

skulls looks very strange.

Lloyd: It was a misformed or, uh, misshapened skull.

She believed it was a deformity.

With no idea what she stumbles across.

The girl removes the skull as a Macabre souvenir.

She holds onto it for 60 years.

Lloyd: She brought it to her home in El Paso, kept it for

her whole life.

When she found out that she was dying in the early 90s,

she asked some friends if they would take it for her.

The skull ends up in the care of Melanie Young, a medical

professional who immediately makes a shocking discovery.

Lloyd: She had seen a lot of deformity and she said right

away, I don't think this is necessarily

a deformed human skull.

And that's how I got involved.

Perplexed, Melanie approaches Lloyd.

He's an expert in human skulls.

But in his years of studying human development, he's never

seen anything like it.

Lloyd: I looked into those eye, it was like, whoa.

This really is something unusual.

It's so unusual.

It's so bizarre a moron can see this is

not really a human skull.

It's something else.

But what?

Lloyd: I took it to experts in every field of,

of human physiology.

The eye guy, the brain guy, the ear guy,

the skull shape guy.

During the course of '99, I came to understand that

physiologically, it was really nothing like a human.

It is human-like, but it is definitely non-human.

No other way to say it.

But if it's not human, what was it?

Lloyd broadens his search.

Lloyd: I took it to experts in UFOs and aliens and had people

who had been in it for years evaluate it.

After close examination, the UFO experts

reach a stunning conclusion.

Lloyd: The skull is an alien that died on earth and was

buried on earth 900 years ago.

The consensus was it looks like the skull

of a grey alien.

Lloyd: The alien that we all know, the one with the heart

shaped face on a thin little neck and the weird eyes.

We all know that look.

A grey alien.

With this in mind, Lloyd and his supporters name the

artifact The Star Child Skull.

They keep looking for answers.

Lloyd: How it got here, I don't know.

Was it crash landed?

I don't know.

Did it come here on a visit and get sick and die?

I don't know.

The implications are as big as you can imagine.

The Star Child is going to change history.

It's going to prove that at least once an alien being

walked on the earth.

William Shatner: Dear friends, we are gathered here today to

pay our last tributes and last respects to the memory of our

departed and beloved alien child.

Oooh.

Oh sorry, would you, would you excuse me for a minute?

William Shatner: This story is definitely weird or what.

Does the Star Child skull belong to an alien child who

was visiting or even conceived on earth, but tragically died?

If so, does this change the course of history?

But even more importantly, what about the parents?

Did anyone think of letting them know?

Did they give their child a proper farewell?

I doubt it.

William Shatner: I'm so sorry. Ooh.

Was a wonderful child who loved comics, sports, and

practical jokes like destroying planets with his

father's death ray, he'll be sadly missed.

Would anyone like to say a few words?

Is the Star Child skull the most important archeological

discovery ever made?

Not everyone thinks so.

Yale University neurology professor, Steven Novella has

studied the Star Child skull and claims it's appearance is

nothing unusual.

Steven: Going through medical school and training as a

neurologist, I've seen on many examples of, uh, similar kinds

of deformities before.

There are lots of genetic anomalies that produce

abnormalities or deformities.

Novella's research has led him to believe the Star Child

skull belonged to a human suffering from a medical

condition called hydrocephalus.

Steven: Hydrocephalus is a term that literally means

water on the brain and what happens is that the fluid

that's normally inside and around the brain does not flow

like it normally should and that causes the water and the

pressure to build up inside the brain

and inside the skull.

Steven: In young children where the bones of the skull

have not yet fused, this can cause

the skull to balloon out.

Sometimes even to incredible size.

For Novella, it's this ballooning that explains the

Star Child skull's unusual appearance.

Steven: The overall size and shape of the skull and the,

the arrangement of the deformities matches pictures

of children and skulls of people with hydrocephalus.

Certainly I've seen pictures of many of them, which looked

very similar to the Star Child skulls.

Sadly, there would have been no treatment for this painful

condition in the era from which

the Star Child skull belongs.

Steven: The modern treatment for hydrocephalus is to drain

the fluid from inside the brain, it reverses all of the

abnormal effects of the hydrocephalus.

This is a modern neurosurgical treatment, however, this would

not have been available prior to 50 or 60 years ago, let

alone hundreds of years ago.

So does this mean that we've yet to play host to

intergalactic visitors?

Steven: I have nothing against the notion that there are

aliens in the universe.

I think it would be really cool.

I just don't think this skull is it, this is not the

evidence of anything alien.

So is this the end of the mystery?

Did the Star Child skull belong to a human suffering

from hydrocephalus?

Trenton Holiday and John Verano are professors of

anthropology at the University of Tulane.

They have a different take.

Trenton: Originally when I saw the skull, I suspected it

might have suffered from hydrocephaly, however, I've

since revised my opinion on that.

I don't think it was a hydrocephalus individual.

So if not an alien and not hydrocephalic, just who was

the Star Child?

John Verano: The most unusual feature of this Star Child

skull is just the shape of the skull.

It's flat in the back, it's bulged at the sides, and I can

explain that very easily by cradleboarding.

Cradleboarding was an early solution to a problem many of

us face today- making kids portable.

Trenton: Cradleboarding was a very common practice

in South America.

It was originally done as a means of restraining the

infant so that they could be brought out into the fields.

It also was done for aesthetic reasons.

But how could a simple baby carrying device create the

bizarre shape of the Star Child skull?

John: Here's an example of an actual cradleboard from Peru.

I've strapped on a doll just to give you an idea of the way

an infant would be put on it.

And then here you can see how the head is strapped down.

A strap goes over the forehead and goes over the back of the

skull, holds the child's head in place.

But cradleboarding had a side effect.

As the skull was compressed in one direction, it grew in the

other to make room for the

baby's rapidly developing brain.

John: This is a child's skull that was cradleboarded.

It's bulging out on the two sides and that's because there

is pressure that was put on the,

the backside of the skull.

What you can see is the way the skull is flattened in the

back and it's kind of bulging out from the side, giving it

this unusual shape that if you didn't know about

cradleboarding, you might think, boy, that's a bizarre

looking human skull.

Were the strange features of the Star Child skull caused by

an ancient child carrying device?

Or is the truth way more bizarre?

Lloyd: The Star Child had an alien father

and an alien mother.

The features of a 900 year old skull puzzle

the scientific community.

Some offer practical explanations, such as

cradleboarding.

Others disagree.

Lloyd: When a skull is cradleboarded, a baby's bones

are so soft that they flatten.

So if you feel this, it's very flat.

As flat as the board that it was pressed to.

The Star Child has this natural convolutions to it.

So what that means is it was not flattened artificially,

it grew this way.

So if it's not cradleboarding, could hydrocephaly have

deformed the skull?

Lloyd: Anybody that says the Star Child is a hydrocephalic

is missing a very important point.

When you look at standard hydrocephalic pictures,

you see, it's blown up all around.

There's no significant features like this.

This grew this way because its genes told it

to grow that way.

Having dismissed the opinion of traditional science, Lloyd

undertook his own research.

His findings are astonishing.

Lloyd: What makes the Star Child skull different is that

there are 25 major physical differences between

it and human skulls.

There's no one part of it that's exactly like a human.

It is completely different.

And what that indicates is that its genes

are radically different.

But does this mean the Star Child skull could only be of

extraterrestrial origin?

In 2003, DNA technology allowed Pie to put

his theory to the test.

Lloyd: We got the first test by a laboratory that was

capable of doing ancient DNA and the answer that they got

was that the mother was human and the father was not.

Clearly something's wrong with the father.

The father's not human.

Is the Star Child skull evidence that aliens

bred with humans?

Native American legends tells stories strikingly

similar to Pie's theory.

Lloyd: There would be beings from the stars would come down

from the skies, pick a woman in a village and they would

make her pregnant.

So the Star Child fit right into that.

But as technology advances, so does the story of the

Star Child skull.

In early 2011, a new DNA test led Lloyd to an even more

astonishing claim.

Lloyd: The conclusion that we've come to now after

several DNA tests and, and extensive analysis of those

results is that the Star Child had an alien father and an

alien mother and when I say alien, I mean, non-human.

The difference is so stark, the difference is so wide,

there is no way that we can call this a human.

Is this the rst physical evidence that aliens exist?

Lloyd has no doubt.

Lloyd: It's going to change human history to have to

accept that at least once 900 years ago an alien being

walked the earth, lived here, died here,

and was buried here.

This is the equivalent of landing on the moon.

What is the Star Child skull?

For now it remains an enigma.

Did it belong to a deformed child?

Or an ancient adult with a disease of the brain?

Is it conclusive that we are not alone?

Weird...or what?

William Shatner: You know, I've always had a, a

fascination with the relics of the ancient past, and I'm not

just talking about the Beatles or the Rolling Stones or

Leonard Nemoy.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

When it comes to our far distant history, there's

nothing quite as spectacular, mysterious, and even

frightening as dinosaurs.

Surely the king of all creatures, real life monsters

that dominated the planet, until something wiped them

out, long before man even evolved.

What a pity that we only find them now in museums

or as cute toys.

Can you imagine what it'd be like to see one in the flesh?

Well, maybe we already have.

And maybe we still can.

...Weird or what?

Adventurer Dennis Swift travels the world in search of

ancient artifacts.

But nothing he's found compares to a discovery made

in Egat Peru by a man named Javier Cabrera.

Dennis: Dr. Cabrera made the greatest discovery in the

history of mankind.

The implications are staggering.

It began innocently enough at a birthday party in 1966.

Dennis: It was Dr. Cabrera's 42nd birthday.

One of the doctor's oldest friends brings

him a special gift.

Dennis: Dr. Cabrera's given a stone.

It was found in some official archeological excavations.

The stone was carved by an ancient Peruvian tribe.

His friend thinks it's a trinket, but the doctor makes

a discovery that sets his heart racing.

Etched into the stone is an image that defies explanation.

Dennis: He recognizes it to be a species of fish that went

extinct 150 million years ago.

But how do you explain that?

Seeking answers the doctors employs local workmen

to find more stones.

Dennis: Dr. Cabrera began to find more of these stones and

people brought them to him.

The more he delved into it, the more it consumed his life.

As more and more stones arrived, Dr. Cabrera realizes

they feature other images that just

shouldn't have been there.

Dennis: Some of the stones seem to be depicting

impossible scenes, things that would cause

the textbooks to be rewritten.

What had the doctor found?

It was something that would shock the world.

Dennis: He risked his reputation.

He said if you look closely at this, you'll see a dinosaur on

there with two people.

It's an astonishing moment, but how can it be?

Dinosaur fossils weren't identified until 1824.

How could an ancient people have known about

them 1000 years ago.

Dennis: Finding artifacts and information that showed that

these people had knowledge of dinosaurs that predated our

knowledge was truly amazing.

But could it be proved?

After comparing the etchings on over 400 stones to real

fossils, he discovered the depictions were accurate.

The Peruvian artists must have known what

dinosaurs looked like.

Dennis: Now not only is that astonishing, it began to say

to him, they saw living, breathing dinosaurs.

This is one of archeological's most baffling enigmas.

Did the dinosaurs live millions of years longer than

we thought they did?

Dennis: I've studied the Ecostones

for well over 20 years.

I believe they are very substantial strong evidence

that dinosaurs and man lived together.

Current scientific belief is that the dinosaurs were wiped

out by an asteroid 66 million years ago.

59 million years before early man even existed.

Swift, however, believes there's

evidence to the contrary.

Dennis: In the cultures around the world, they talk about

encountering these animals of giant size and they fit the

description of what we would call a dinosaur.

Dennis: I've been with the American Indians and they say,

we don't like to tell white people, cause they make fun of

us, but they believed that their ancestors fought against

what we would call a triceratops.

Could some dinosaurs have survived extinction?

Did they walk among ancient Peruvians.

For Swift, the artifacts uncannily accurate proportions

don't lie.

Dennis: There's a styrockosaurus on the stone.

Does it have dermal spines? Yeah.

Does its tail sticking out while its walking? Yes.

Does it have three toes? Yes.

So it's a dinosaur.

But if Swift is right, there's an even bigger question- if

dinosaurs walked the earth with humans only a relatively

short time ago, then what happened to them?

Where are they?

Dennis: I believe that they existed from a few thousand

years ago to maybe 500 years ago and there's a possibility

that there could be a handful left.

There was a Frenchman in 1967, I believe, he even took

photographs of a, of a footprint, it's three toed,

it's huge, and it has a claw on the back.

Only a dinosaur had that kind of a footprint.

So, yeah, dinosaurs could be out there.

William Shatner: Oh boy this is incredible.

That guy thinks that dinosaurs are still roaming the earth.

Well, let's think about what that means.

There's not a lot of room left on the planet so they're going

to have to share our neighbourhoods, right?

Maybe, maybe we can have one as a pet.

Can you imagine keeping one in your backyard?

Whoa.

I think not.

Has somebody got a pooper scooper?

A big one?

Did man and dinosaur coexist?

Should we rip up our history books?

Ken: I think that people actually watch the Flintstones

and think it's reality programming.

Ancient Peruvian stone carvings pose a shocking

question- did our ancient ancestors

walk alongside dinosaurs?

Archeologist, Ken Feder, doesn't think so.

Ken: I think people actually watch the Flintstones and

think it's reality programming.

It's not, it's a cartoon, folks.

Fred did not have a pet dinosaur.

That really didn't happen.

But how can Feder be sure humans never saw dinosaurs?

He points to the tens of thousands of fossils collected

worldwide, which confirm they died out 66 million years ago.

Ken: We have a whole lot of evidence that dinosaurs died

off long before there were people.

And the fact that we have a bunch of stones with carvings

and people riding around on dinosaurs, is not strong

evidence at all.

But if ancient Peruvians didn't see dinosaurs, how do

we explain the ecostones?

Ken: They're fake, they're hoaxes.

The story of the ecostones from start to finish mirrors

the stories of lots of other archaeological hoaxes.

They start small,but once it becomes clear that there's a

guy willing to buy some stones, suddenly we have

thousands of these things.

And the actual stones themselves become more and

more elaborate.

Rather than finding them in caves, could the Peruvian

peasants simply have made the stones themselves?

There's only one way to find out.

Art student, Justine McGraw, has been asked to test Feder's

theory that the stones are merely fakes.

She's going to attempt to replicate the stones using

basic tools.

Justine: So I begin by just copying out the image.

It's a very simple line drawing.

The drawing complete, Justine begins carving.

She uses a power tool for speed, though the etching

could easily be done by hand.

Although the pattern is complete, the stone doesn't

have an ancient look.

Justine has an inexpensive solution.

Justine: I'm going to cover the stone in a mixture of

manure and olive oil.

It's a rather down to earth solution.

Her method of baking the stones is equally low tech.

But could some manure, olive oil and a BBQ really recreate

the mysterious ecostones?

Justine: After just three hours of baking, this is what

my ecostone looks like.

For Feder, the results of this experiment are decisive.

Ken: You have two possible explanations in science- one

that requires overturning everything we know and one

that simply requires people trying

to make a buck by hoaxing.

So it's a lot easier for me to accept the possibility that

people are making fakes than to completely rewrite

everything we know about geology, biology and so on.

Is this the end of the mystery?

Are the ecostones just fakes?

Author Andy Lloyd is not so sure.

Andy: They weren't just created in someone's shed in

the back garden 20 years ago.

Some scientific work that's been done on them appears to

indicate that there is a degree of oxidation over the

engravings which would indicate that

they're of some antiquity.

So if the stones really are ancient that proves that the

images they depict must have happened, right?

Well, not necessarily.

Andy: I don't think that's very, very likely that man and

dinosaur could have shared the earth at any time.

However, the artists from ancient Peru who created them

may have received knowledge about dinosaurs from ancient

civilizations who's own understanding of the dinosaurs

that was as good as ours.

Civilizations stretching back to ancient Greece unearth

dinosaur remains.

They thought they were the bones of giants.

But what if some ancient civilization

did know what they were?

Who could have done such a thing?

Andy: Atlantis is an excellent candidate, because the

discussions and descriptions of Atlantis show that it was a

very technologically advanced civilization for its time.

The lost city of Atlantis- an advanced ancient civilization

that has said to have flourished around the time of

the Ice Age, before falling into the ocean.

Could Atlantians have discovered dinosaurs?

Andy: We can speculate that the Atlantians had a very good

understanding of, um, natural history, because their ability

with science and technology was evidently

quite far advanced.

They would have probably dug up dinosaur bones during their

mining expeditions and piece together a dinosaur in the

same way that we did.

But many believe Atlantis to be little more than a legend

based on stories told by the Greek philosopher Plato.

Is this strong enough evidence of its existence?

Andy: We can't authenticate the existence of Atlantis

through anything other than Plato's writings.

But some of his writings are some of the most important

literature from that period.

It seems odd that it's a story that Plato would have made up.

This is the missing Atlantian link in our understanding of

ancient civilizations and knowledge.

Could the Atlantians have traveled the world spreading a

knowledge that was kept alive in stories and art?

Or could the ecostones be definitive proof that our

ancestors shared the earth with dinosaurs?

Or are they one of the most elaborate hoaxes of all time?

Perhaps one day we'll know for sure, but in the meantime it's

most certainly weird...or what?

A two thousand year old wooden model excavated from Egypt's

oldest pyramid reveals an amazing secret.

Did the ancients invent modern flight?

David: It could have been launched easily from the top

of a pyramid.

William Shatner: You know, I like to think of myself as a

bit of an adventurer, Indiana Jones, if you'd like.

Ah!

Let's see, I've been all over the world and collected some

amazing relics...Wrong relic.

Of course some are more amazing than others.

Some...make you wonder what they might say

if they could talk.

But can you imagine finding something that could truly

change the world?

Well, here it is.

Sikara, Egypt in one of the country's oldest burial

grounds, French archaeologists begin to unearth the burial

tomb of the 3rd century BC official,

Badiada among the artifacts recovered is what looks to

be a model of a bird.

It's catalogued and stored at the Cairo museum

for over 70 years.

But no one could predict the shock waves special register

6347 would soon make.

The late Egyptogist, Dr. Khalil Messiha realized

the model was very unusual.

It leads him to a breathtaking conclusion.

David: Dr. Messiha had found evidence of what appears to be

a glider or an airplane.

Something that the ancient Egyptians

supposedly didn't have.

Author David Childress thinks Dr. Messiha has much to teach

historians and the world.

David: To me the research of Dr. Khalil Messiha is very

important, because here we have a mainstream Egyptologist

finding an artifact, uh, that we know is authentic coming

from, uh, over 2000 years ago- a model, a very miniature

model of an airplane much like the early airplanes that were

built, uh, in America and around the world

at the turn of the century.

Could the artifact be a model of an ancient flying machine?

It's a stunning revelation.

Our histories tell us the first powered

human flight was in 1903.

If Dr. Messiha is correct, the ancient Egyptians may have

beaten the Wright Brothers by over 2000 years.

Although met with initial skepticism, tests by leading

aeronautical engineers proved that the model now known as

the Sikara Bird was designed for flight.

David: Ancient cultures have many stories of, of flight of

the manas and magic carpets, flying chariots.

But here with the Sikara bird, we have an actual model of

what could be an ancient airplane.

Did the ancient Egyptians experiment with flight?

Is the artifact the model of a full sized glider or plane?

David: It's very important that we find artifacts like

the Sikara Bird and, and other strange artifacts from these

ancient cultures.

Cause it really helps us place their legends and myths in

context, such as flight.

Is it possible that they actually had flight

like we do today?

And I think they did.

Is the Sikara Bird proof that the ancient Egyptians had

technology 2000 years ahead of its time?

And if they did, how did they get it?

David: This is going to throw Egyptology and the way we view

ancient civilizations completely topsy turvy.

A man discovers a model wooden bird in a Cairo museum.

Is the Sikara bird proof the Egyptians took to the skies

2000 years ago?

Katja Gause is an Egyptologist,

she has her doubts.

Katja: When I first heard that, uh, the Sikara Bird was

being used to support such claims of early aviation,

I was completely, uh, uh, taken aback.

Katja: Certainly they were fascinated with the skies.

But there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that the

Egyptians had an interest in aviation.

But if the Sikara bird was not the model of a glider,

what was it?

Katja: The symbol of a bird is extremely important, uh,

within the Egyptian religious and political system.

We find them used in the hieroglyphic writing system.

We find them as images protecting the king.

One bird in particular- the falcon- had a role which

explains why it would be placed in a tomb.

Katja: The deceased Egyptian wishes to ascend to the sky

and sometimes says he does so on falcon's wings.

There's one problem though.

The Sikara Bird looks nothing like the other

Egyptian falcons.

So what can explain its flat tail and plane like wings?

Katja: It is not unheard of that toys were given to

deceased children and they would be put into their tombs

so they would be accessible for their afterlife and for

their eternal pleasure.

Could the mysterious artifact be nothing more than

a simple child's toy?

Are the smooth body and flat tail the result

of amateur craftsmanship?

And not deliberate design?

Katja: Even though there are a few idiosyncrasy in its

representation, the Sikara Bird is most likely

an image of a falcon.

There is no evidence that the Egyptians experimented with

aviation technology.

The claim is ludicrous to say the least.

Are we reading too much into an ancient toy?

Not everyone thinks so.

David: Artifacts like the Sikara Bird are important

because science likes to think it's got everything explained.

We can explain, uh, how the Egyptians built the pyramids

and all of their ancient technology, but items like the

Sikara Bird throw a monkey wrench into some of these old

theories because suddenly it's possible that the ancient

Egyptians and other civilizations could do much

like we do and have flight, have electricity,

have machines.

But how can Childress be so sure that what looks like a

bird is really a model airplane?

David: It's clearly an aerodynamic design and not

just some simple toy.

The wings are at what is known as the dihedral angle, that's

a special angle that the wings of a glider have to be at in

order to achieve lift.

And the Sikara Bird has that.

So the wings are air worthy, but what about the tail?

David: Dr. Messiha had also found evidence that the very

top part of the tail rudder had been broken off and he

theorized that it had in fact had also another vertical tail

much like a modern jet would have.

But if the Sikara Bird was a model of an ancient glider,

there's one big problem- where is Egypt's flat desert could

you glide from?

David: It if was a glider, it could have been launched

easily from the top of a pyramid perhaps much like hand

gliders themselves launch today.

Were the crowning achievements of Egyptian civilization used

as a launch pad by an ancient pair of Wright Brothers?

David: If scientists are right that this is a model of a

functioning glider, this is going to throw Egyptology and

the way we view ancient civilizations

completely topsy turvy.

William Shatner: Ok, this is blowing my mind.

Are they honestly trying to tell me that this 2000 year

old ugly duckling is evidence of an ancient mastery of the

laws of aerodynamics?

That it could fly?

Well there's only one way to find out...

...Anybody got any glue?

A simple bird replica or evidence of early flight?

What is the Sikara Bird?

Martin Gregory designs gliders.

He thinks he knows the answer.

Martin: When I first heard the Sikara Bird was a model for a

full sized airplane, I was, um,

skeptical to say the least.

I knew for a start that the ancient Egyptians didn't have

anything that could be used as an ancient airplane.

And that gives you the clue because Egypt's pretty flat.

And you're going to need some way of getting

the airplane into the air.

And you also, if you're going to use it for carrying cargo,

you're going to need something to power it so it

can travel a useful distance.

Martin: I decided the only way I could find out if the Sikara

Bird could have been a flying model is to build one myself.

Using the exact dimensions of the ancient artifact, Gregory

constructs an identical replica.

He'll launch it with a device used to test scale glider

models.

Martin: I'm just about to launch the Sikara Bird in its

original form as it came out of the pyramid with no tail

Martin: That flight did what I expected it to do.

It's lack of aerodynamics kicked in and it tumbled and

fell to the ground.

The test is conclusive.

Martin: A model of that size needs a stabilizing tail.

Dr. Messiha believed that the Sikara Bird originally had a

tail, which it snapped off with age.

Could a tail make a difference?

Martin: Next we're going to launch the Sikara Bird again,

but this time fitted with a tail plane.

This will stabilize it and let us see how good or poor a

glider it is.

2000 years of history hang on this one test.

It travels further, but not much.

The end results are the same.

Martin: The wing with rounded edges and that just doesn't

generate very much lift at all.

And in terms of stability, all modern airplanes have the wing

bent up at the tips for stability instead of swooping

down like this one does.

So does the experiment prove that the Sikara Bird was

really a child's toy?

Following his experiment,

Gregory has a theory of his own.

Martin: I think there's a possibility

that it's a wind vane.

As you can see, I think it's a far better weather vane than

it is a flying model.

So is the answer to a 2000 year old mystery really

blowing in the wind?

Was the Sikara Bird simply an ancient play thing?

Or could it be evidence of mankind's

first attempt at flight?

We may never know.

Weird or what?

So there we have it.

Three ancient artifacts that bring into question everything

we understand about history.

It was an oddly shaped skull that was found

in a Mexican cave.

Is it proof that aliens once visited earth?

Scenes depicted on ancient stone carvings question our

natural history.

Did man and dinosaur share our planet?

And a 2000 year old wooden model suggests the impossible.

Did an ancient civilization fly?

You decide.

William Shatner: Join me again next time for more stories

that will undoubtedly be weird or what?