Original subtitles

NARRATOR: 700 years ago,

a civilization emerged in North America

that was among the most sophisticated in the world.

DAVID CHEETHAM: When the Spanish came into the basin of Mexico,

they looked at the Aztec Empire

and they thought they were having a dream.

NARRATOR: The Aztecs built

one of history's most powerful empires

and they claimed that its success

was determined by a war between the gods.

The Aztecs talk about a final battle.

JASON MARTELL: This war is happening in space

with two races fighting over the destinies of mankind.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the story of the Aztecs

contains profound truths

about humankind's ancient past?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: The gods that the Aztecs worshipped traveled

to Earth from the stars.

Could these otherworldly gods have been, in fact,

flesh and blood extraterrestrials?

NARRATOR: There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is the promise of truth.

It demands we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

NARRATOR: Extending from the highlands of central Mexico

to the jungles of Costa Rica

is a region historians refer to as Mesoamerica.

It was completely unknown to Europeans

until the 16th century AD,

but Mesoamerica is considered

a cradle of civilization,

where numerous cultures emerged and thrived for centuries.

Mesoamerica has a long, long history.

The total history is some 3,000 years,

beginning somewhere around 1800 BCE

with the Olmecs.

The Olmec are widely considered

our first Mesoamerican civilization.

They are the first to build

major, major architecture.

The Olmec established many of the things

that subsequent cultures would use.

They had gods, for example,

like rain gods

and other kinds of gods, that appear

in other civilizations

in similar, if not identical form.

So, in many ways, they're considered

the mother culture of Mesoamerica.

NARRATOR: Shortly after the emergence of the Olmecs

came the Mixtec Kingdom that began in 1500 BC.

Then came the Maya who started building massive cities

in the Yucatán Peninsula around 750 BC,

followed by the Zapotec Kingdom

that formed in 500 BC,

and later the Toltecs

who arose around 800 AD.

Everything from big architecture

to advanced religious practices,

to long-distance trade, uh,

to major urban planning,

all of these were developed

by the civilizations in Mesoamerica.

NARRATOR: But in 1325,

a new civilization emerged in the region

that would become more powerful than any that had come before.

They were called the Aztecs.

OCHOA: The Aztecs were a wandering people,

who hailed from the northern parts of Mesoamerica.

After centuries of wandering in the north,

they made their way towards the central valley of Mexico.

BARNHART: The Aztec Empire started in 1325.

Over the next hundred years, they build it up.

Their influence suddenly spreads from Central Mexico

all the way down into Honduras.

They affect the Zapotec, the Tarascans, the Maya.

Their reach met the very ends of their world.

CHEETHAM: The Aztec people created

Mesoamerica's only fully documented empire.

An empire being a state

that takes over other states.

BARNHART: They are these violent conquerors.

They are our first real expansionistic culture.

First they take over all of Central Mexico.

They go down to Puebla.

Then they take over Oaxaca.

At that time, the Mixtec and the Zapotec

have been living in relative harmony for centuries.

But the Aztec come down there

and not only do they take over,

but they rename all of their towns.

They continue that all the way down

into the highlands of Guatemala.

WILLIAM HENRY: The Aztec Empire was enormously powerful.

They were able to network

amongst these cities and they were

a highly sophisticated civilization

that had greater technological capability,

or certainly pyramid-building capability.

Mathematics and astronomy were at the center

of the Aztec culture

and it suggests that they were great watchers of the stars.

Their math, their science was

well advanced for their time.

NARRATOR: As their lands grew, the Aztec Empire flourished.

They established vast trade networks,

developed an advanced counting system,

and created a sophisticated justice system.

CHEETHAM: Among the many things that characterized

the spectacular nature of the Aztec culture

are things like the economy

that was reaching to the furthest parts of Mesoamerica

to obtain exotic goods.

They had a system of politics,

which divided out nobles from commoners.

And many, many other traits that characterized

this fantastic civilization.

NARRATOR: The sparkling jewel in the crown of the Aztec Empire

was their capital, which was built

on the same location where Mexico City stands today.

Called Tenochtitlan,

it was a magnificent floating metropolis

on Lake Texcoco.

OCHOA: Tenochtitlan, in its heyday,

was likely the largest city in the world.

A population of about 150 to 200,000 residents.

Larger than Paris.

It is located on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco.

That island metropolis is connected

to the mainland by four major causeways

that connect it and allow it to engage in economic trade.

BARNHART: All of the causeways out to the mainland

from their capital island city

had garden after garden after garden.

As you walked through the city,

you walked through this just beautiful botanical landscape.

There were more rivers than there were walking paths.

Everyone that lived in the town had a canoe

parked outside like their car.

When the Aztecs build their capital Tenochtitlan

there, in that lake,

they built the pyramids and other structures there

aligned with the Pleiades and to other planets

and solar systems as well.

NARRATOR: At its height, the Aztec Empire controlled

over 80,000 square miles

and more than five million people.

The Aztecs were not only one of the greatest civilizations

anywhere in the world, but also the most feared.

This stemmed from a wide-spread religious practice

that was equal parts terrifying and mysterious:

Human sacrifice.

BARNHART: The main temple in the city of Tenochtitlan,

we call it the Templo Mayor.

It was actually a double temple.

One side was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the war god,

the other one to Tláloc, the rain god.

So it was a place central to the city.

All of the major festivals took place

at its base and around it,

but its first and foremost function

was sacrifice.

HENRY: Upon the opening of this pyramid,

over 20,000 men, women, and children

were sacrificed to the gods.

The reasoning was that the gods needed the blood

to keep the universe in order

and also to appease all the gods.

OCHOA: The Aztecs had an understanding

of the world as being ordered by order and chaos.

And their gods had to be appeased.

And so that meant human sacrifice on a regular basis

as part of religious expression and religious ritual.

NARRATOR: But if the Aztecs felt compelled

to perform human sacrifice to appease the gods,

who taught them this?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

the answer can be found by examining

the hundreds of Aztec historical documents

that have survived until today

and their accounts of powerful beings

who came from the stars.

NARRATOR: A team of historians working closely

with The National Museum of Anthropology

makes an incredible announcement.

They have acquired three never-before-seen Aztec texts,

called codices, that had been hidden away

in a family archive for hundreds of years.

We have documents about Aztec life and history.

We call them codices.

The ones that are made in Mexico

in their fashion are fan-fold books.

They're a single piece of amate bark paper

that folds out like an accordion.

They tell us all sorts of information about Aztec origins,

Aztec politics, and who conquered who.

NARRATOR: The codices have provided historians detailed accounts

of the Aztec government, trade, and religious beliefs.

But most interesting to ancient astronaut theorists

is a set of pages known as the Codex Boturini,

that tells the Aztec origin story.

OCHOA: When it comes to the origins of the Aztecs,

they claimed to have originated

from some mythical land called Aztlán.

HENRY: The name "Aztec" means "people of Aztlán."

To them, Aztlán was their original homeland.

It was this Edenic paradise.

It was a land with a lake and an island.

Very peaceful.

BARNHART: In the accounts of the Aztecs,

Aztlán is a real place.

It's not some sort of heaven or other world.

It's somewhere to the north.

NARRATOR: According to the Aztec legend,

in the middle of Aztlán stood a steep hill

and inside was a mysterious cave

with seven chambers called Chicomoztoc.

The Aztecs say that from here,

all of the people of Mesoamerica emerged

after a visit from an otherworldly being.

HENRY: Aztlán was the domain of a goddess named Coatlicue.

She is a creator goddess.

And in Aztec mythology, she brings this flint knife

to Earth, and she places it in the seven caves.

And from within these seven caves then emerge

all the tribes, including the Aztecs.

CHILDRESS: This flint knife descended from the sky

into the seven caves of Aztlán.

And you have to wonder what this giant flint thing was.

Was it perhaps an extraterrestrial craft?

TSOUKALOS: The original stories of somebody descending

from the sky and imparting knowledge

happened, in reality, by flesh and blood extraterrestrials,

whom our ancestors

misinterpreted as gods.

Why were our ancestors considering them as gods?

Well, because they descended from the sky.

NARRATOR: Could the Aztec legend of a flint knife

descending from the sky be describing

an extraterrestrial craft?

As far as ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned, even more intriguing

are the striking similarities that exist

between descriptions of Aztlán

and the legendary lost city of Atlantis,

a place that was said to be ruled

by otherworldly beings.

There are some very provocative similarities between the stories

of Aztlán and Atlantis.

They're both considered to be Edenic sort of paradises.

They both had canals or waterways.

They are both described as circular.

In fact, when you look at paintings

of Tenochtitlan and compare them with paintings of Atlantis,

they're virtually interchangeable.

And then, when you remove the Z,

Aztlán is actually Atlan or Atlantis.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Aztecs' ancient homeland

of Aztlán was, in fact, the lost city of Atlantis?

Perhaps further clues about this otherworldly origin story

can be found by examining

a mysterious ancient site just north of the Aztec capital.

This impressive complex,

encompassing nearly eight square miles,

is home to two of the largest pyramids on Earth:

The Pyramid of the Sun

and the Pyramid of the Moon.

The ancient city is believed to have been built

sometime around the first century AD.

But just who built it remains a mystery.

One of the more interesting things about Teotihuacan

is the fact that we don't know who built it.

But there's no question that Teotihuacan

was a metropolis.

Teotihuacan before the Aztecs

was the largest city ever constructed in Mesoamerica.

At its height, it had

somewhere around 200,000 people living there.

It had the most massive pyramids that had ever been built.

NARRATOR: In the 1977 book

Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids,

written by Peter Tompkins,

engineer Hugh Harleston Jr.

mapped Teotihuacan and declared

that its buildings have a profound connection

to the stars.

What's so fascinating there is that many of these pyramids

there align directly with our planets

in our solar system,

including Pluto.

Now, officially, Pluto was not discovered until the 1930s.

So how did the people

of Teotihuacan know about Pluto?

Well, the answer to that is that somebody told them.

And who told them?

The extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: In their codices, the Aztecs called Teotihuacan

"the birthplace of the gods"

and described hundreds of otherworldly beings

arriving on Earth at this location.

But as far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

the notion that extraterrestrials

once inhabited Teotihuacan

is supported by physical evidence

that was discovered at the site in 2015.

Beneath Teotihuacan's third largest pyramid,

called the Temple of the Feathered Serpent,

a team of archeologists unearthed a series of tunnels

containing some very curious substances.

HENRY: Mexican archaeologists opened up a tunnel

that had been sealed for the past 1,800 years.

And when they went inside, they found this liquid mercury.

And there's no other reason for the Aztecs

or any other culture to have been using liquid mercury

unless it had some technological purpose.

Another discovery was large sheets of mica

in chambers within the pyramid.

TSOUKALOS: Mica is used in computers

and also it is used as a heating shield

in space travel.

So now what does that do

underneath Teotihuacan?

We know that spinning of mercury can actually

create some type of electromagnetic lift.

So mica, mercury;

these are all high signs of something technological.

Something involving high heat.

Either a capacitor or some type of lifting mechanism.

CHILDRESS: So it has been suggested

that the pyramids at Teotihuacan

were energy devices, very high-tech stuff.

So you have to wonder if, in a way, this is also probably

extraterrestrial technology.

NARRATOR: Does Teotihuacan contain physical evidence

that the hundreds of gods the Aztecs documented

in their codices were, in fact, alien visitors?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining the Aztec god

that the Temple of the Feathered Serpent

was built to honor...

Quetzalcoatl.

At the southern end of this ancient metropolis

stands the Temple of the Feathered Serpent.

Its magnificent façade is embellished

with numerous ornate stone statues of a snake head

ringed in feathers.

This visage depicts one of the most prominent gods

worshipped throughout Mesoamerica,

a being known to the Aztecs

as Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl was undoubtedly one of the major gods

for multiple civilizations in Mesoamerica.

A particular characteristic of Quetzalcoatl

is the feathers on the bottom of his body

that really denote the deity.

Quetzalcoatl is one of the,

if not the primary Mesoamerican god.

He's a god of light, a god of wisdom,

a god of healing,

and, ultimately, a peacemaker.

In their codices, the Aztecs write

about Quetzalcoatl teaching their ancestors

various disciplines that were essential

to establishing their vast civilization.

Quetzalcoatl descended from the sky

in physical form and taught the local populations

in different scientific disciplines.

Like mathematics,

agriculture, medicine,

writing, all these different things.

It's interesting to see that this is not the only place

where, in ancient mythology, the same takes place.

Because there are other cultures around the world

that also refer to teacher gods who descended from the sky.

NARRATOR: Throughout the ancient world,

stories can be found of powerful beings

who came from the stars and shared wisdom

with early humans to help jumpstart civilization.

In Egypt, the god Ptah shared knowledge

of technology and metalworking.

Prometheus taught the Ancient Greeks

how to wield fire.

And the world's first civilization,

the Sumerians, wrote that they were visited

by divine teachers known as the Annunaki.

AMIR HUSSAIN: In the Sumerian tradition,

one of the gods, Enlil,

teaches human beings about agriculture,

teaches human beings how to plow into the ground and plant seeds.

It's the gods who show human beings

how to use technology,

how to create this technology.

TSOUKALOS: This idea that there were teacher gods

a long time ago... the ancient astronaut theory suggests

that our ancestors were all visited by the same teachers.

The same extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Could Quetzalcoatl represent

an extraterrestrial visitor

who helped to establish civilization in Mesoamerica?

According to ancient astronaut theorists,

support for this notion can be found

not only in the Aztec codices,

but also by examining a number

of curious depictions of the Feathered Serpent God.

La Venta, Mexico.

1955.

American archeologists Philip Drucker and Robert Heizer

begin an excavation of an Olmec pyramid mound.

North of the main pyramid,

they unearth a mysterious carved stela that they date

to around 1200 BC.

Now known as Monument 19,

it is believed by many to be the oldest depiction

of Quetzalcoatl ever discovered.

La Venta Monument 19 is such an interesting

and evocative piece of art that it's gotten a ton of names.

One of them is "the Rocket Man."

TSOUKALOS: It depicts this weird scenery

of some guy enclosed inside a snake.

And it's as if he's sitting on some sort of a seat.

The guy's, you know, wearing some sort of a suit

with a helmet.

And he is, you know, just sitting inside this enclosure.

In my opinion, it's an example of misunderstood technology.

Monument 19 is a representation

of Quetzalcoatl, the Teacher God, inside of a flying craft.

NARRATOR: Does Monument 19's unique depiction of Quetzalcoatl--

not as a feathered serpent,

but as a human-like figure

sitting within the body of a serpent--

provide further evidence

that he was a real-life visitor from another world?

Curiously, the Olmecs weren't

the only people to depict Quetzalcoatl in human form.

There are also Maya and Aztec depictions

of Quetzalcoatl that show a human face

seeming to emerge from the mouth of a serpent.

VON DÄNIKEN: Now according to Central American tradition,

Quetzalcoatl is supposed to have descended from a star.

He's represented as the feathered serpent,

but also he's represented

in a human form with the helmet.

There are many of these representations of Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl was definitely an extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: As far as ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned, Quetzalcoatl was

just one of many otherworldly visitors

encountered by the Aztecs.

And while he is credited as a key figure

in the establishment of their civilization,

there was another sky god

that would come to define the Aztec society.

One who demanded human sacrifice.

NARRATOR: Tula, Mexico.

Here, 50 miles north of the Aztec capital

of Tenochtitlan, lie the ruins

of another incredible Mesoamerican city.

It was home to the Toltecs,

who flourished from roughly 950 to 1150 AD.

The site is full of monumental stone structures

and beautiful carvings,

but the people who built it left behind

no written record of who they were.

The little that historians have been able to piece together

about the Toltecs comes from the Aztecs,

who claimed to be their descendants

and chronicled their oral history.

CHEETHAM: The Aztec always wanted

to demonstrate their heritage.

And the Aztecs would claim descent from Toltec peoples.

BARNHART: The Toltecs are said to be the master artists of all time,

the most eloquent speakers,

the best musicians, the best politicians.

To be civilized was to be Toltec,

but most of these are stories that the Aztecs told us.

NARRATOR: Among the most intriguing artifacts

left by the Toltec are several giant monolithic statues

standing on top of a pyramid.

According to ancient astronaut theorists,

these figures represent beings

from a technologically advanced society.

In Tula, Mexico, there is a site that's famous

for these gigantic, colossal statues

known as the Atlantean Columns.

And in my opinion, it's one of the best representations

of ancient astronauts because what you're looking at

are essentially people that are dressed in some sort

of a pressurized suit.

Their hands are on the side

and they're holding some sort of weaponry.

It's unlike anything that was ever found in that region.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the enormous statues

at Tula depict otherworldly visitors?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and point to Aztec writings that claim

the Toltec were guided by the god Quetzalcoatl.

According to the Aztec codices,

Quetzalcoatl taught them not only the skills needed

to develop their civilization,

but also to live in peace among one another.

CHILDRESS: Quetzalcoatl is known as a very benevolent teacher god

who taught peace and love.

And he forbade human sacrifice,

which was very common in Central America

for thousands of years.

NARRATOR: But the Aztecs described that

within their vast pantheon of gods

there were opposing agendas.

And a brother of Quetzalcoatl,

named Tezcatlipoca,

had very different intentions for humanity.

Tezcatlipoca is more of a sorcerer.

Understanding of the dark wisdom.

A god of the night, demanding that blood be spilled.

BARNHART: Tezcatlipoca validated powers

through strength and violence.

Tezcatlipoca was an agent of chaos.

NARRATOR: For the Aztecs and their Toltec ancestors,

Tezcatlipoca offered strength and conquest.

And he wished to be honored through human sacrifice.

But Quetzalcoatl stood in his way.

Tezcatlipoca demanded human sacrifice.

And he schemed to have Quetzalcoatl,

uh, evicted, if you will, from the Toltec and Aztec tradition.

BARNHART: The Aztecs talk about

a final battle in which the forces of Tezcatlipoca

and those of Quetzalcoatl meet.

And Quetzalcoatl is defeated and repelled.

NARRATOR: According to Aztec codices,

coinciding with this battle between the gods

was an earthly conflict

between those who worshipped Quetzalcoatl

and those devoted to Tezcatlipoca.

When the followers of Tezcatlipoca

emerged victorious,

it sealed the Aztecs' fate

to become a war-like people

who conquered their neighbors

and sacrificed humans to the gods.

MARTELL: Looking at this through the lens of the ancient astronaut theory,

I wonder if this war between Quetzalcoatl

and Tezcatlipoca

is something happening above the veil,

that in space there's something going on

with two races fighting over the destinies of mankind.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that a certain group of extraterrestrials

influenced the Aztec people to become more warlike

and even engage in human sacrifice?

For ancient astronaut theorists,

what makes the story of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca

even more intriguing is

that the notion of gods warring over humanity

can be found in numerous ancient cultures

throughout the world.

Throughout human history, we have

this continuous interplay between

the dark gods and the light gods,

very similar to what we see

among the Toltecs and the Aztecs.

For example, in Ancient Sumeria,

you have the conflict between two brothers,

Enki and Enlil.

You find the same story played out in the Greek tradition

between Prometheus and Zeus.

This idea that there were good gods versus bad gods

could be a distant memory

of some sort of an extraterrestrial war

that happened here on Earth.

NARRATOR: According to the codices,

when Tezcatlipoca replaced Quetzalcoatl

as the primary deity,

human sacrifice began to take place

on a scale never seen before.

And the Aztecs not only sacrificed their enemies,

but even their own people.

CHEETHAM: Those that witnessed some of this

talk about tens of thousands

of people being dispatched

in a single ritual event.

And they did it because the gods demanded it.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that this bloody ritual

was inspired by otherworldly visitors

who had some nefarious agenda for humanity?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest further evidence

of an extraterrestrial influence in Aztec culture

can be found by examining the arrival

of the Spanish conquistadors

and the downfall of the Aztec Empire.

NARRATOR: The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.

1509.

Over the course of five nights,

King Montezuma II witnesses a rare celestial event,

which he interprets as a sign from the gods.

BARNHART: Montezuma II is sitting on the throne

when there's a bad omen of a comet

that comes through the sky.

Comets were unexplained and bad juju.

In this particular case, though, Montezuma

goes to the king of Texcoco,

who is a philosopher king.

And he asks him, you know, what does this mean?

And he says "Well, all of our omens say

"that you will be sitting on the throne

at the end of the Aztec Empire."

Montezuma and his wise men read this as a sign

that now is the time for the return of Quetzalcoatl.

NARRATOR: According to the Aztec codices,

when Quetzalcoatl was driven from the Earth

by his more violent brother Tezcatlipoca,

he vowed he would one day be back.

And the possibility of his return

weighed heavily on King Montezuma.

HENRY: One might think they would be welcoming

the appearance of Quetzalcoatl, but not Montezuma.

He's very concerned that they've reimplemented

human sacrifice,

much to the chagrin of Quetzalcoatl.

And they're terrified that this will be judgment day for them.

NARRATOR: In November 1519,

ten years after the appearance of the comet,

500 Spanish conquistadors arrive

at Tenochtitlan,

led by Hernán Cortés.

Armed with swords, lances,

shields and crossbows,

they are prepared to be met with hostility.

But as they cross the causeway into the capital,

they are shocked to be greeted warmly by a friendly king.

Cortés's physical appearance precisely matches

the description of the god Quetzalcoatl.

He's a powerful type of a figure.

And Montezuma's looking at him, thinking,

here's this representative of this god,

if not the god himself,

appearing before him.

TSOUKALOS: When the Spanish conquistadors arrived,

the local population of present-day Mexico,

they never moved a finger to protect themselves.

BARNHART: Cortés actually captured Montezuma himself

right in the middle of his own city.

And from there, he took control of the entire city.

Montezuma's belief that Cortés was Quetzalcoatl

had devastating consequences.

After Cortés seized control of Tenochtitlan,

the Aztec people violently rebelled against the Spanish

and stoned King Montezuma

to death.

Unrest quickly escalated to all-out war.

HENRY: The Aztec Empire was enormously powerful.

And when Cortés comes along with his 500 men,

Cortés went to all the outlying tribes

and made alliances with them

and made a pact that they would end human sacrifice

if they assisted Cortés

overthrowing the Aztecs.

And this is exactly what happened.

BARNHART: Less than a thousand Spaniards could've

been easily dispatched.

But the Spanish met the Tlaxcalans.

And the Tlaxcalans fielded 50,000 people

against the Aztecs.

The Indigenous allies of the Spaniards knew

how to maneuver in Lake Texcoco

and find where the Aztec

and Tlatelolcan warriors would be located.

That was a war that involved

over 100,000 Indigenous warriors

fighting on the side of the Spanish.

So, in essence, this was a Spanish-Indigenous war

versus the Aztecs.

NARRATOR: By 1521, just two years

after the Spanish arrived in Tenochtitlan,

the Aztec Empire had fallen.

The prophecy that Montezuma II would be

the last Aztec king had come to pass.

But is it possible that Quetzalcoatl was a real,

extraterrestrial entity who had a hand

in the downfall of the Aztecs

in order to put an end to human sacrifice?

You have to wonder if there was

an extraterrestrial agenda behind all this,

in that Quetzalcoatl himself was perhaps

an extraterrestrial who was benevolent

and here to bring mankind out of these dark ages

of human sacrifice and brutality.

NARRATOR: After the fall of the Aztec Empire,

the Spanish demolished the city of Tenochtitlan,

drained Lake Texcoco, and began to build

modern Mexico City in its place.

OCHOA: The fall of the Aztec Empire

transformed the western hemisphere.

There are new rulers heading

what once was the Aztec Empire.

There is a whole new civilization in the Americas.

NARRATOR: Although the Aztec Empire came to an end

more than 500 years ago,

their descendants are still around today.

And some of them claim there is physical evidence

that the story of the Aztecs' otherworldly past

is true.

NARRATOR: Located in the California desert,

just west of the Arizona border,

an estimated 300 gigantic figures

can be seen etched in the arid ground.

Known as the Blythe Intaglios,

these ancient geoglyphs depict animals,

spirals, and gigantic humanoid figures.

They are protected by descendants of the Aztecs

known as the Chemehuevi.

And according to Chemehuevi elder Alfredo Figueroa,

two of the largest geoglyphs

represent very early versions of Aztec gods

Tzitzimitl and Quetzalcoatl.

We don't use the word gods.

We use the word "creator."

[speaks native language]

TSOUKALOS: Our ancestors wanted to convey to us

that they experienced

an ancient visitation by extraterrestrials.

Because Quetzalcoatl and all these ancient gods

promised that they would return one day.

NARRATOR: Chemehuevi historian Patricia Robles says that

what makes these geoglyphs of even greater importance

is their age.

PATICIA ROBLES: They were known to Indigenous people

for thousands of years

through our native cultural traditions.

They're more than 10,000 years old.

The glyphs were made by the first humans

that came to this Earth.

Ancient civilizations are coming to surface

because the time has come

to tell the truth about human origin.

We are star people.

We came from the stars.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Blythe Intaglios

include depictions of Aztec gods

that were created more than 10,000 years ago?

And if so, might this suggest

that the Aztec origin story

that involves gods descending on Mesoamerica

in the distant past,

giving rise to civilizations like the Olmecs,

Mixtecs, Toltecs, and others,

is true?

CHILDRESS: For centuries the Americas were this unknown land.

And we are finding out all kinds of new things.

We're pushing back the dates of civilization.

And, with the Aztecs,

the gods are credited

with starting their civilization.

And they believe that they traveled

to Earth from the stars.

Now, what if there is something to that?

HENRY: In the story of the Aztecs is a drama

that has played out multiple times in human history,

between what appear to be almost factions

of different extraterrestrial species.

And in the Aztec story, we have Quetzalcoatl.

The same entity appears over and again in numerous cultures.

TSOUKALOS: North America is one of the few places

where we still have living mythologies

where we can ask living people about their history.

And these cultures did speak of physical beings

descending from the stars and imparting knowledge.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the incredible ruins,

writings, and oral history of the Aztecs

tells a story of otherworldly activity

in the distant past?

Were the hundreds of gods recorded in the Aztec codices

in fact extraterrestrials

who influenced civilizations throughout Mesoamerica?

Perhaps the truth will be revealed

not by some newly discovered archaeological site or relic,

but by the return

of our alien ancestors.

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