Original subtitles

Legendary weapons reborn in high-tech arsenals.

And mythical technologies rediscovered

through cutting-edge science.

For nearly two decades,

Ancient Aliens has traveled the globe,

exploring towering megalithic structures,

mysterious artifacts

and stories of otherworldly beings

in a quest for evidence that might reveal the truth

of our extraterrestrial origins.

We're reinventing technology

today that existed in the ancient world.

NARRATOR: Now, we take a look back

through the Ancient Aliens archives

to the show's very origins

to examine the evidence that we are not alone.

We have never been alone.

As an ancient astronaut theorist,

I find it fascinating

how many ancient stories of devices sound

eerily similar

-to modern-day technology. -DAVID CHILDRESS: Yeah.

You can find detailed descriptions of flying machines,

energy beam weapons

and even acoustic levitation technology.

Yeah, so you have to ask, are the technologies

that we're developing today

reinventions of what existed on our planet

thousands of years ago?

We talked about this in a season two episode

of Ancient Aliens called "Alien Tech."

NARRATOR: In the early morning hours of November 5, 2005,

the luxury cruise ship, the Seabourn Spirit,

found itself under attack

by pirates in the waters off the coast of Somalia.

But the Somali bandits were successfully repelled

by a relatively new

and formidable defensive weapon--

a long-range acoustic device or LRAD.

Manufactured by the LRAD Corporation,

this sonic device can,

when focused on a target, produce a piercing sound

that can exceed 150 decibels,

enough to cause temporary blindness, nausea

and permanent hearing loss.

CHILDRESS: The U.S. Army used sonic weapons in Iraq.

They're used in crowd control.

There are certain types of low rumbles and signals

that will affect a person.

They make you feel sick.

NARRATOR: The LRAD is currently used by law enforcement,

the military and private security,

and is considered the ultimate in sonic weaponry.

(high-pitched beeping)

But is the LRAD really a 21st-century invention?

Or is there evidence that similar audio weapons existed

in ancient times?

Approximately 17 miles northeast of Jerusalem

lies the ancient ruins of the City of Jericho.

Here, archaeologists have uncovered evidence

of settlements dating back to 9000 BC.

According to the Hebrew Bible,

Jericho is believed to be where God spoke to Joshua,

the successor to Moses,

and instructed him

to march around the walled city once every six days

with seven priests carrying ram's horns

and followed by the Ark of the Covenant--

the golden chest containing the Ten Commandments.

Then, on the seventh day, under orders by God,

Joshua and the Israelites marched around the perimeter

of the city one last time...

(ram's horn blowing)

...but this time, they blew the ram's horns.

The walls of Jericho fell,

and the city was sacked.

DAVID WILCOCK: In the Old Testament,

you see very clear descriptions in Joshua 6

about the shofar,

which is described as a trumpet

that was used in the Battle of Jericho

to actually bring the walls down.

(shofar playing)

NARRATOR: To religious scholars,

the collapse of Jericho's walls was a miracle.

To most modern-day scientists and historians,

the destruction was most probably caused

by an earthquake.

But could it have been something else?

Could the Israelites have possessed

advanced sound wave technology?

If so, where did it come from?

JONATHAN YOUNG: In the scriptures,

we have a fascinating story

about the fall of the walls of Jericho.

The armies were told to circle the wall repeatedly,

and then finally blow their horns,

and down came the walls.

And we know there was a powerful presence.

The Ark of the Covenant,

this mysterious, sacred item was with them at all times,

which, of course, was part of the event

and part of the fall of the walls of Jericho.

(shofar playing)

CHILDRESS: The idea that some kind of sonic weapon was used

to destroy these huge, thick, ancient walls

to allow the Israelites to basically take over that city

is a fascinating one.

So what kind of technology were they using?

It sounds utterly fantastic to us

that they could've had some kind of advanced alien technology.

It's clearly what they're describing.

But there is little doubt

that the Ark of the Covenant was a weapon.

It was described as a weapon,

famously when the Israelites crossed over into Canaan,

and they had to pass by Jericho.

And it could be that there was some technology.

We do not know what that technology was,

but there was clearly an association between the ark

and the falling down of the walls,

and that's the reason that the ark was sent

around the periphery of the city.

NARRATOR: According to many ancient astronaut theorists,

Moses and the Israelites acquired a supernatural source

of energy at Mount Sinai.

This powerful energy source was later contained

in the Ark of the Covenant

and would have provided the kind of power necessary

to amplify Joshua's horns,

and make them into a powerful sonic weapon.

WILCOCK: What's interesting about the Battle of Jericho is

that this particular use of the shofar

clearly seems to be the same thing that we're seeing

with particle beam technology,

death ray technology, thunderbolt technology.

It very clearly seems

that once again we have an extraterrestrial technology

that the ancient people had at the ready

that they could use when needed for military campaigns.

NARRATOR: But even if the Israelites possessed some sort

of advanced, extraterrestrial technology,

could the amplified sound

of ram's horns really bring down stone walls?

According to scientist and former astronaut

Professor Taylor Wang,

recent research into the field of physical acoustics suggests

it is a distinct possibility.

Jericho, wall breaking apart.

If you said it has happened,

caused by acoustic, caused by sound,

well, the possibility has

to be somehow a resonance is built in that wall.

May not be the whole wall, maybe some of the structure material

when that resonance happens,

amplitude gets large enough.

Yes, it could destroy almost anything.

Because what the resonance does

is store enormous amount of energy.

So you keep on, keep on feeding it.

Eventually, it shatters everything.

MICHAEL DENNIN: When you want to know how powerful sound is,

you have to realize that the basic thing

that sound is is a pressure wave.

And it will come down to the amount of energy

you put into your sound wave, and whether or not

that particular pressure wave you generate will couple

or impact the thing you're trying to destroy.

You can make it quite powerful

'cause you can make a very high amplitude,

very large pressures in the sound.

It might be at a frequency or amplitude

where we no longer hear it as sound,

but from a physics point of view, it is still sound

because it's a pressure wave in the air.

So it can get quite destructive

if you put enough energy into it.

You could also think of it as a particle weapon

because you're moving air around,

and you would just need something to focus the sound,

which we know how to do.

And so that would give you a directed energy beam with sound.

NARRATOR: But if,

as ancient astronaut theorists suggest,

early civilizations had been able

to harness the power of sound for destructive purposes,

could there be evidence

that such technology might also have been used

for a more constructive purpose?

Might it help to explain the existence

of mammoth stone structures,

whose construction has baffled modern scientists for centuries?

NARRATOR: Mycenae.

In the second millennium BC,

this ancient fortress city dominated much

of Southern Greece.

Here, fortifications were built in a style known

as cyclopean masonry--

where huge limestone boulders were fitted tightly together

without the use of mortar.

The term "cyclopean" refers to the fact

that, according to ancient myths,

these Mycenaean fortifications were thought to be the work

of a strong, one-eyed race of giants known as the Cyclops.

PHILIP COPPENS: When you look at Mycenae in Greece,

you're confronted with an anomalous civilization really.

It is a city which people who looked at it said,

"Only the Cyclops could have built this."

The Cyclops is perhaps not by coincidence,

a mythical creature.

So, we really are confronted with the fact

that people are saying mankind could not have built this.

It has to have been something above, or other than man,

who has constructed these walls.

And when you look at the fact

that tons and tons and tons of stones have been used

in a way that really defies almost gravity.

And I think that's why we have to say

that Mycenae is definitely beyond human capability

of that specific time

and that specific period in Greek history.

TSOUKALOS: In Mycenae, Greece,

there is what's called the Treasury of Atreus.

And right in there, there is one stone

that has been hoisted over the entrance of that treasury,

and it weighs an estimated 250 tons.

It is perfect. Just unbelievable.

Now we would have difficulties

today moving that stuff around.

Now, I'm not saying that we today cannot do it.

I'm not saying that, but if we're struggling

with our modern technology,

is it really logical to suggest

that our ancestors did this with pivots,

and with little ropes, and with wooden rollers?

MIKE BARA: You look at all these ancient structures,

all over the world.

Mayan structures, pyramids, Greek temples.

You see all of these... these blocks

that are not only enormous.

It would be impossible to move them around

with anything but even our best technology today.

CHILDRESS: One of the great enigmas

of the megalithic buildings

around the world is that in many cases,

they're built with such large

and heavy granite or basalt stones,

even giant cranes would barely be useful

to lift some of these really large stones.

Such as the stones at Baalbek in Lebanon,

where you have just mind-bogglingly huge stones

that weigh, in some cases, over a thousand tons.

NARRATOR: But just how could ancient man have built

such colossal structures?

Were the stones really moved by beings with superhuman strength?

Or might the builders have had access

to an advanced, perhaps alien technology?

For ancient astronaut theorists, the key might be found

not by studying the laws of physics,

but by exploring the interdisciplinary science

of acoustics and the principle of acoustic levitation.

VALONE: Acoustic levitation is another way

that alien civilizations may have influenced our history.

And there is some evidence for that,

especially when you look at some of the research

that's been done in acoustic levitation

here in laboratories.

(high-pitched tone sounding)

WANG: This system is an acoustic positioning device.

And what happens inside,

we create an acoustic force field.

The force field is pushing everything toward the center.

And the force field can rotate, the force field can oscillate.

This ball is a fairly light material.

It's about ten grams, no more.

It's meant to be light.

But if you want to move the very heavy object, a large object,

what you really have to develop, in conjunction

with the acoustic positioning device,

is antigravity device.

Because acoustic position device,

really meant to fine-tuning of the force field,

but the system must be force free.

Otherwise, it won't be budged.

NARRATOR: But is it possible that early builders had access

to the kind of acoustic technology

that would allow for the transportation

and careful placement of mega-ton boulders

and stone blocks?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe

clues can be found in the myths

and tales of magic handed down throughout time.

TSOUKALOS: There are many ancient legends which suggest

that some of the monuments were built

with the help of acoustic levitation.

What the local legend of Stonehenge talks about is

that those big stones were transported

by way of levitation by none other

than Merlin, the wizard.

And he had a magical rod with which he pointed

at the stones,

and they would levitate and position into place.

It's a very fascinating story because we know

that some of these stones have been transported there

from as far away as 200 miles.

And ancient legends are a bridge

to finding what truly happened in our past.

BARA: There are lots of stories of stones being levitated,

all using the power of sound.

It's interesting as you read these stories of magic,

that you see that they have to use the chanting.

They have to chant certain spells, certain words.

Certain vibrational frequencies seem to create certain effects

in the physical realm.

To me, it makes complete sense that the use of a technology,

say, a magic wand of some kind, would be some sort of amplifier.

GEORGE NOORY: I mean, there's no way

that human beings, even 100,000 of them,

could pull these things.

They've done experiments by putting hands around blocks.

You can't get enough hands in there.

You can't get 200,000 hands to lift a block.

And once you roll it with all these people,

how do you move it?

I think the technology had to do with some kind of sound,

and they were able to just come up with some antigravity

and just move 'em into place.

NARRATOR: But did ancient aliens,

using antigravity and sonic levitation technology,

help early humans build the ancient wonders of the world?

WANG: Well, everything's possible.

We have no way to rule in, or rule out aliens

because human technology is very primitive at this stage.

And you look at Earth has only survived four billion years.

But there are planets

billions and billions of years ahead of us.

Their technology and their knowledge--

it can be so far ahead of us that we can't even imagine.

NARRATOR: If early civilizations

did possess the ability to levitate large solid objects,

might they also have had access

to other incredible technologies?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and suggest the evidence can be found

by examining a towering megalithic structure built

with extraordinary precision--

the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The megalithic structures of the ancient world

are astounding feats of engineering.

And many, like the Pyramids of Giza, are not just enormous,

but they're built with incredible precision.

Oh, absolutely, and when you're talking

about moving five-ton stone blocks and stacking them

hundreds of feet in the air,

that doesn't just require engineering,

-but also technology. -CHILDRESS: Yeah.

And some researchers have suggested

that the pyramids themselves

are technological devices.

We talked about this in the very first episode

of Ancient Aliens.

NARRATOR: Of all the ancient structures

located around the world,

perhaps none is more mysterious or as enduring

as the Great Pyramid at Giza.

At a height of 471 feet,

the Great Pyramid stood as the tallest structure

in the world until the completion

of the Eiffel Tower in 1889.

But while other pyramids and temples contain walls filled

with hieroglyphics describing their purpose,

the Great Pyramid lacks even a single marking.

What was its function? Why was it built?

And what secrets remain hidden inside?

Nobody has been able to explain

the interior design of this pyramid.

It simply doesn't make sense according to our logic.

You have narrow tunnels that you have to crouch.

You emerge in grand galleries that are nine meters high.

You have chambers that are made of granite,

where granite doesn't come from in the area.

You have to ship the granite by barges 600 miles away.

TSOUKALOS: It's an anonymous site.

Not a single inscription.

Not a single hieroglyph.

Not a single anything.

It's just there.

DUNN: Some people speculated that it was a temple,

and an initiation chamber, where people would go

to the King's Chamber and become enlightened.

There are anecdotal reports

about people who have been inside the pyramid

and have come out absolutely shaken,

because it was haunted.

Egyptologists believe that the pyramids were built

to bury the dead pharaoh.

The problem with the accepted view is the fact

that not a single dead pharaoh's body

has been found inside a pyramid,

even when the pyramid was completely sealed,

i.e., not a single grave robber could've entered it.

The Egyptologists say it's to conceal the body.

Well, why advertise it?

I mean, there's nothing more visible

than a pyramid for miles.

And to this day, you would have thought,

in this modern age, with all the knowledge we have,

we should be able to explain this pyramid.

We cannot explain this pyramid.

NARRATOR: Engineering expert Christopher Dunn

has been on a personal quest

to unlock the secrets of the Great Pyramid

since the late 1970s.

According to him, there are specific clues

in the design and construction of this mega-monument

that can help answer exactly why it was built.

DUNN: When you look at the Great Pyramid,

and look at the culture that built it,

they're brilliant, brilliant engineers.

In fact, a lot of engineers say

we couldn't build the Great Pyramid today.

And it was built, supposedly, 4,500 years ago,

and it was built to the precision of a machine.

When I started to do the research,

and I examined the Great Pyramid

with the eye of functionality,

it was built like a machine,

perhaps it functioned like a machine.

NARRATOR: The interior design of the Great Pyramid

features four inclined air shafts

emanating from the King's Chamber

and the lower Queen's Chamber.

Like the Great Pyramid itself,

their presence and purpose cannot be easily explained.

The difficulty of building those shafts is incredible.

It's a bit like building a chimney

at an incline across a house.

I mean, as a construction engineer, that is a nightmare.

NARRATOR: In 2002, a team of engineers

and Egyptologists sent a small robot

into one of the air shafts connected

to the Queen's Chamber.

After 65 meters, a stone door blocked its path.

A hole was then drilled through it.

On the other side was a small room

with yet another door leading further up the shaft.

BAUVAL: Since the discovery of the door,

we've had every university, archaeologists,

anthropologists, every engineer you can think of,

nobody has been able to explain the purpose of these shafts.

NARRATOR: But were these shafts ever open?

And if they were,

what might they have been used for?

DUNN: The early explorers

that went into the Queen's Chamber found

that the walls were coated with a layer of salt.

That kind of gelled with a theory

that I had developed.

You had a dilute hydrochloric acid solution

coming down one shaft,

and hydrated zinc coming down the other shaft,

and when they combined in the Queen's Chamber,

they created hydrogen.

NARRATOR: Hydrogen. It is one

of the most powerful energy sources in the universe.

In the mid-19th century, it was hydrogen gas

that helped lift some of mankind's first airships,

called zeppelins, into the sky.

Today, it is used as a fuel to launch rockets into space.

And if, thousands of years ago,

the Great Pyramid was actually producing hydrogen,

that would make it one of the earliest power plants

known to man.

DUNN: The Giza power plant theory

is essentially the drawing of energy from the Earth

through the Great Pyramid,

and converting that energy into microwave energy.

So the chemicals actually come in

through the shafts into the Queen's Chamber.

And then they combine and mix, and hydrogen boils off.

The hydrogen is then lighter than air,

and it will flow into all the upper chambers.

The energy from the Earth

is then vibrating the whole pyramid.

The vibrations are picked up in the Grand Gallery.

So I proposed the Grand Gallery was a resonator hall,

and there are 27 pair of slots

that actually go up the length of the gallery,

and then the resonators were mounted in there vertically.

CHILDRESS: Christopher Dunn is theorizing

that with resonating galleries,

the pyramid shot a microwave out of one of the shafts.

And once you started up this power plant,

it would've gone on

for years, decades, even hundreds of years

without stopping, and creating a microwave.

And that was a usable energy that could be captured.

DUNN: Now, we can speculate where it goes from there.

It could be collected in the immediate vicinity,

or it could keep traveling off into space.

We don't know. That's the mystery.

NARRATOR: But if the Great Pyramid

was actually a power plant producing energy,

was it doing it alone?

Or was it part of a larger network?

And are there any clues that could tell us

what all of that energy was being used for?

(buzzing)

NARRATOR: Perhaps the 20th century's

most influential inventor was a Serbian-American

named Nikola Tesla.

(crashing, buzzing)

His patents on alternating electrical currents

and distribution helped establish

the commercial electricity industry.

He also made contributions to robotics,

radar and computer science.

But while Tesla can be credited for many scientific advances,

one idea that fell short was his attempt

to create a wireless electrical grid.

CHILDRESS: Tesla's project

was to have these towers

around the United States and around the world.

And they would broadcast electricity,

like a television station.

ROBERT H. FRISBEE: Instead of having

to string power lines all over the place,

you just transmit the energy

through the air, or through the ground.

(crackling)

FRISBEE: There were a number of demonstrations

of this device for wireless power transmission

during Tesla's lifetime.

So, we know the device worked.

It appears that he was using the conductivity

of the ground or the air to carry the electric current.

Basically, in the air, if you put enough voltage on it,

you'll get an arc across it.

I mean, you see that all the time

in a fluorescent light bulb.

In the ground, you have water, minerals, salts

that can also carry the ions along,

and therefore, carry the electric current.

NARRATOR: But while Tesla's power towers

proved popular in theory,

the project ended in financial failure.

But could Tesla's idea

of wireless electricity have been a rediscovery

of an ancient technology?

CHILDRESS: I believe

that what Tesla was doing was trying

to recreate what was an ancient power system

that was used around the world.

And the way they did this was the use of obelisks.

Obelisks as monolithic,

granite towers, which are one solid piece of crystal.

And the obelisks themselves were cut to special sizes

and tuned like a tuning fork.

NARRATOR: Could these ancient broadcast towers

really have sent electricity up into the atmosphere?

And if so,

how was the electricity generated?

Each of these obelisks would have required some kind

of generating power station

similar to what we have today.

Electricity is created by rotating magnetic fields.

So rotating magnetic fields generate AC power.

The very first power station was built

by Nikola Tesla at Niagara Falls.

You've got to have some sort of power

that's spinning the rotating fields.

And in this case, it would be water.

So every obelisk would've had

to have had a power station

similar to like the one at Niagara Falls.

It's generating power,

but the obelisk itself is putting the power

into the atmosphere, making it useable.

And this is similar to Christopher Dunn's theory

of the Giza power plant because he believes

that the Great Pyramid was actually sending

a microwave beam to a satellite

that was in orbit around the planet.

That satellite then could've been taking microwave power,

and then, it could transmit it again, in theory,

to some other location on the Earth,

such as, say a remote island,

like Easter Island or something like that.

From some of the descriptions of ancient flying machines,

it's possible that some form

of power beaming might have been used.

And in fact, for a lot of the schemes

that you see, it actually would make a lot of sense.

Because you could put the power-beaming station

on a mother ship in orbit.

You're just beaming energy to the vehicle,

where it's absorbed and turned into propulsion thrust.

It actually makes a lot of sense

because you're taking the energy system,

the power system, off of the vehicle

and locating it remotely.

NARRATOR: Were our ancestors capable

of these incredible achievements?

Or might they have come from another source--

one much more out-of-this-world?

CHILDRESS: Civilizations were much more advanced

than we give them credit,

and literally, as advanced as we are today.

BAUVAL: In my view, we need to take this seriously,

simply because of the scale of the work.

We're looking at monuments that took,

perhaps, a century to build.

Even today, we have difficulty in considering such a project.

DUNN: It just boggles the mind.

And really, to look at those artifacts

and to go back in time and say, "How did they do it?"

We are kind of

cracking the lid open a little bit and looking inside

to try and see just what happened in our history.

COPPENS: It's a question

which is a scientific question.

And you constantly have to ask it.

And the possible answer of

"have aliens visited in the past"

could be a potential "yes."

TSOUKALOS: We can look at these ancient monuments

and finally recognize

that all of this stuff was built

as a message for us to see

that our past is way different

than what we're being taught in school.

NARRATOR: Could it really be

that our remote past was powered

not by primitive tools, but by electricity?

And if so, are pyramids and obelisks what remain

of this forgotten technology?

As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

the answer is a resounding "yes."

And they suggest there is evidence

that our ancestors had access not only to wireless power,

but even nuclear energy.

to generateble

massive amounts of energy.

And it's not just in Egypt where we find evidence of this.

Right. In ancient India, for example,

you have these mysterious

stone sculptures known as Shiva Lingams.

And some Hindu scholars have proposed

that based on ancient Vedic traditions,

that these might represent some type

-of nuclear power. -HENRY: Right.

And there are thousands of these Shiva Lingam sculptures,

throughout, not just India,

but Asia, as well.

We talked about this in a 2016 episode called

"Shiva the Destroyer."

NARRATOR: Sirsi, India.

Ten miles outside of this city in the southwestern state

of Karnataka, within the river Shalmala,

is one of the country's most popular pilgrimage sites--

Sahasralinga.

Hidden under these waters for most of the year

lie stone sculptures known as Shiva Lingams.

These sacred idols are representations

of the god Shiva,

and are visible to thousands of pilgrims once a year

at the festival of Maha Shivaratri.

Maha Shivaratri is a festival where Shiva is worshipped

for his great nature.

Maha Shivaratri is usually held

in the end of February or beginning of March.

During that month,

the water level of the Shalmala River drops down

so that all the Shiva Lingas are exposed.

LAYNE LITTLE: Shiva's depicted as the Shiva Linga,

as kind of a spherical column,

the flaming pillar that is the cosmic axis of the universe.

Every Shiva Linga

that's in worship is set into a yoni.

This is a... a special base,

and it actually serves kind of a utility of function.

It's a spout so that when you pour offerings

over the surface of the linga, they wash over the sacred body.

Images of the Shiva Linga are found throughout Southeast Asia,

even in parts of East Asia.

Sometimes images of Shiva as the Lingam also made its way

into China and into Japan.

NARRATOR: The Shiva Lingam first appeared over 2,000 years ago,

and there is still debate

over what this shape was originally meant to symbolize.

But ancient astronaut theorists suggest

that the icon may represent

an incredibly powerful technological device.

Paris, France, 1900.

At the Paris Congress of History of Religions,

Swami Vivekananda, a scientist and monk

credited with popularizing Hinduism in the West,

gives a lecture addressing the meaning of the Shiva Lingam.

HENRY: For centuries, Western scholars have assumed

that Shiva Linga has purely a sexual connotation.

The cylinder is the male phallic symbol,

and the yoni is the complimentary female symbol.

Then in 1900, the Hindu scholar Swami Vivekananda came to Paris

to deliver a major lecture about Hinduism and symbolism.

During this lecture, he said

that the Shiva Linga actually symbolizes the coming in

or going out of the divine manifesting energy of Shiva.

DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: It stands for energy.

And it has often been misrepresented

in the West that it is simply a phallic symbol

of Shiva, which is not the case.

It is obviously a pillar.

"Linga" means "a pillar."

Modern Hindu scholars have theorized

that the Shiva Lingam stone

actually represents atomic energy.

When we think about this idea of what atomic energy can do,

how it can be used for good,

but it can be extraordinarily destructive,

this certainly pertains to the mythology of Shiva,

who is chaotic energy,

who is a force for incredible good,

but also a force for incredible destruction.

NARRATOR: Is it possible

that this symbol of Shiva's power

actually represents atomic energy?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and suggest the proof can be found

by examining this mysterious shape.

PRAVEEN MOHAN: The cylindrical structure of the Shiva Linga

is similar or almost identical

to a modern-day nuclear reactor.

And the groove that surrounds the base represents

the structures built to dispose of the polluted water.

In ancient times and even today,

Hindus pour water or milk

on top of Shiva Linga as a ritual.

Today, we pour water over the top

of nuclear reactor to cool it.

And interestingly,

most Shiva temples are always found near water bodies,

like rivers or lakes, just like nuclear power plants.

So is it possible

that Shiva Linga actually represents

an ancient nuclear power plant?

HENRY: In the story of Shiva and the Shiva Linga,

we're obviously dealing with some kind

of a universal or cosmic power

that we didn't fully understand until the 20th century,

with the discovery of nuclear power and nuclear fission.

These discoveries that predate modern man

are completely changing our conception

of the ancient past and connecting us

to the true history of humanity.

NARRATOR: Does the Shiva Lingam symbolize

an extraterrestrial technology that once existed on Earth?

If so, might modern science be less about invention,

and more about remembrance?

Perhaps further evidence can be found

by exploring the technological ambitions

that have propelled us into space.

If you want evidence that our modern technology is

reinventing what existed on this planet thousands of years ago,

just look at all the ancient accounts of flight.

So many cultures described flying machines

that you have to believe

our ancestors actually witnessed these things.

Yeah, you have chariots of fire described in the Bible,

vimanas in ancient Hindu texts, and we have

countless stories of fire-breathing dragons.

Right. And when I hear stories

of fire-breathing dragons, then my ears perk up.

Because if you witness a rocket launch

or you see a jet streak across the sky,

what do you see coming out of its back? Fire.

NARRATOR: Merritt Island, Florida.

The Kennedy Space Center.

Six Earth astronauts sit atop NASA's Endeavor Space Shuttle

headed for orbit.

After countdown,

three main engines, together with two solid rocket boosters,

provide the thrust to lift the orbiter off the ground

for its ascent.

ANNOUNCER: And liftoff of shuttle Endeavor.

TSOUKALOS: I urge everyone to be part, one day,

of a rocket launch because it is a life-altering moment.

When you stand there, a few miles away,

you can still feel the power

as that rocket takes off into space.

The grumbling in your stomach, the vibrations,

and you can hear the noise.

And it's a truly magnificent sight

and awe-inspiring.

NARRATOR: But are manned space flights

really a recent phenomenon?

Or could our ancient ancestors have witnessed similar events?

NOORY: There is no doubt

that if we thoroughly investigate this planet,

they will find that this planet

may have already been to the Moon

way before we went to the Moon with a man in 1969.

TSOUKALOS: The interesting thing is

that we have the exact same descriptions in ancient texts

and also in oral traditions,

where, whenever those "gods" appeared,

there was a lot of smoke, a lot of fire,

a lot of noise, and the trembling of the ground.

When rockets are taking off,

it's best to stand back and get out of the way.

And that's a lot of what

the ancient legends are about, too.

When the gods came and went,

may well have been just these rockets

or other aerospace vehicles landing and taking off

and-and making a lot of smoke and noise.

NARRATOR: But could early man

really have had knowledge of rocket technology?

To make their case, ancient astronaut theorists

point to numerous and consistent descriptions of rockets

found throughout many cultures of the ancient world.

STEVEN GREER: When you're dealing with this subject and you look

at the ancient literature, you have to look at it

through the lens of: how was it being experienced

by a civilization with no foundation

for understanding the science, the technology?

And so, I think, in ancient times

there were people who had encounters.

And-- however, I think the way they might have been reported

would have been in metaphors.

In ways that would have made sense to them.

CHILDRESS: In China, you have these stories

of dragons flying through the air.

They make a lot of noise, and smoke comes out of them,

and fire, just like a rocket.

TSOUKALOS: The first emperor of China descended

in a fiery dragon

with smoke and fire.

And whenever that dragon appeared,

the-the earth was quaking and everyone was afraid

and-and threw themselves to the ground.

Now, of course, it wasn't a dragon

in a biological nature, a living being,

but it was a misinterpreted machine.

BARA: If you look at the Greek gods, they were all described

as flying in on chariots of fire.

Well, "chariot of fire," to me, seems very clearly

like it's some sort of rocket,

probably burning its retros as it lands

somewhere in ancient Greece.

In the Old Testament, we can read about

a glowing furnace that descended from the sky.

And sometimes this glowing furnace

is described as a chariot of fire...

...or as the glory of the Lord.

So, there are all these different descriptions,

which, in the ancient astronaut opinion,

describe ancient rocketry.

NARRATOR: From 5000 to 2000 BC,

southern Mesopotamia was home to the Sumerians,

a highly advanced civilization

considered to be among the first astronomers.

Regarded as one of the oldest written stories in history,

the Epic of Gilgamesh

told of a man's journey to the heavens

to meet the god Anu.

ERICH VON DÄNIKEN: The Gilgamesh epic, which goes back to the Sumerian,

that's a-a piece where the hero Gilgamesh

flies over the Earth.

And he describes how the Earth looks from above.

Fascinating. An old story of the first flight.

JASON MARTELL: The most ancient civilization that we have on record,

the Sumerian culture, has left us evidence

of what's called a Shem.

And this object looks very similar

to a modern-day space capsule

that we place on top of a rocket.

And this Shem is where priests would go into the Shem

to interact with the gods.

Or any time man was ascending or descending into heaven.

So it's a very interesting term

used from a culture dating back to 3800 BC

and very clearly matches

the descriptions of a modern-day rocket.

NARRATOR: Could early man have actually possessed

a surprisingly sophisticated understanding

of what we now call rocket propulsion?

In the first century AD,

nearly 2,000 years before the Industrial Revolution,

a Greek mathematician and engineer named Hero

created a steam-powered engine he called an aeolipile.

CHILDRESS: One of the great inventors of the ancient world

was the famous Hero of Alexandria.

He invented all kinds of stuff.

He actually invented what we would describe

as a rocket-type motor.

And, really, something like this is

the beginnings of rocket technology,

and we don't know where Hero got many of his ideas,

but it may well have come from aliens.

NARRATOR: John Robert Tindall,

founder of Tindall Vision Laboratories,

demonstrates a small-scale replica of Hero's aeolipile.

JOHN ROBERT TINDALL: Now, a conventional steam engine

that we think of has pistons that-that get its power,

but aeolipile uses these, uh, opposing jets.

So it's creating thrust, and rather than, uh,

thrust in-- like a rocket

would use it in a linear fashion,

this is causing a rotational effect.

And there's your, uh, your steam turbine, really,

working off of thrust.

Now, this is operating much as it did

in the first century AD.

This is generally considered to be

the first working steam engine.

It works more like a turbine

than a classic steam engine with pistons,

but it's very significant

because it really is taking a--

whoa-- a compressed gas-- ha--

and turning it into energy.

Wow! That has a lot of energy. Steam.

NARRATOR: The name for Hero's steam rocket engine,

aeolipile, translates to "the ball of Aeolus."

In Greek mythology, Aeolus was the god of the winds.

Is it possible that Hero drew inspiration

for his invention from the stories of the gods,

such as those found in Homer's The Odyssey?

Or might he have had help...

...from the gods themselves?

TSOUKALOS: Some have suggested that it was alien intervention,

that aliens taught him how to build this machine.

However, I'm leaning more

towards the idea that he looked at older texts

from previous generations

and that the source of the idea

of how to build this did come from extraterrestrials

but from way before he was alive,

and he just came across those texts.

NARRATOR: But do the descriptions of rockets

and otherworldly devices

found in ancient texts and legends

provide evidence of extraterrestrial encounters

in the distant past?

Perhaps the answer will be discovered

in an unlikely place:

in the hands of the U.S. military.

Some of the most compelling pieces of evidence

we can find of advanced ancient tech

comes in the form of descriptions of weaponry.

Because some of the weapons that the so-called gods

had in their possession sound eerily similar

to the weapons that we are developing today.

Yeah, just look at the Sanskrit texts of ancient India.

They're talking about things

like missiles that detect heat or motion,

weapons of mass destruction,

-even energy beams. -CHILDRESS: Right.

And in ancient Greece, we have accounts

of a giant mirror

that acted like some sort of death ray,

which sounds a lot like the technology

that the U.S. military's developing today.

NARRATOR: May 2010,

off the coast of California.

A powerful new weapon

shoots down unmanned aerial drones

during secret testing carried out by the U.S. Navy.

Firing from a warship

at a distance of nearly two miles,

a ray of intense laser energy

burns through targets traveling at speeds

of more than 300 miles per hour.

But is it possible that such so-called death rays

could have been used before?

Perhaps in ancient times?

I am quite convinced that there have been, in-in the past,

advanced civilizations on Earth

that did have such things as the so-called death ray.

Whether it was used as a weapon

or whether it was just observed being used

is a very, very open question.

NARRATOR: In 214 BC,

Greeks living in the Sicilian city of Syracuse

prepared for an attack by a fleet of Roman warships.

Though outnumbered by a superior military force,

ancient texts suggest that Syracuse was well defended

by a mysterious and powerful new weapon.

Probably the most famous ancient death ray

was the one that was built by the Greek inventor Archimedes.

He was able to create this giant mirror

and parabolic disc

and focus the Sun's rays on the fleet

and set these ships on fire.

So, here we have what would be a primitive kind

of death ray that really worked.

NARRATOR: But how could Archimedes

have conceived such a formidable weapon?

One far in advance of any known at that time?

Researchers suggest the inventor may have drawn inspiration

from Greek myths written nearly 600 years before

the battle of Syracuse.

Myths that told the stories of gods

that brandished cosmic weapons of incredible destructive force.

WILCOCK: If you look in the Greek tradition,

they have a very clear description

of Zeus's thunderbolt...

...which he was able to point at people

or at other things that he wanted to explode,

hit the button, and what they described as lightning

would come out and create a fierce and terrible explosion.

When these ancient gods, like Zeus,

were to come down from the sky...

...in this flurry of-of thunder and lightning

and then get out of their spacecraft,

they were perceived as gods.

These ancient aliens had fantastic technology

available to them, a technology that would have seemed

like magic to our primitive ancestors.

So, when these people came down from the sky,

and they had advanced energy weapons,

they were like gods to our ancient ancestors.

TSOUKALOS: It doesn't matter where you go,

but the gods were always able

to create thunder, create lightning

in a controlled way.

In ancient India,

we have the gods

holding the dorje sometimes like this,

and it looks as if some type of a directed energy beam

comes directly out of the front

to vanquish the enemy,

to destroy him, to incinerate him.

NARRATOR: But if death ray-type weapons had been used in ancient times,

might there be some sort of tangible proof?

Perhaps there is.

Here, scattered throughout the Scottish countryside,

can be found numerous ancient ruins.

Many appear to have been forts or other enclosures

dating back thousands of years.

Remarkably, they also appear

to have been subjected to fire and heat so intense,

it practically turned the stone structures into glass.

It's a process more scientifically known

as vitrification.

Here you have these stone buildings

in which an analysis of the outside

comes to the conclusion that they were heated

to over 1,000 degrees Celsius in temperature.

Conventional fire could not have reached this heat.

You needed a sustained burn at 1,000 degrees Celsius

for a long period of time.

Why is it that it's only these forts

that have this type of charring,

where they're actually glazed like pottery on the outside?

Why is it that you don't see it

on the stones in the surrounding area?

And even more interestingly, why is it that so many of them

are concentrated into this one little area

in Northern Scotland?

I believe this is very clear evidence

of death rays being used.

NARRATOR: According to Celtic legend,

there once was a god named Lugh...

...also known as "the shining one,"

the sun god, and the god of war.

Like the Greek god Zeus,

Lugh was said to wield a mighty magic spear

not unlike the thunderbolts of his Greek counterpart.

YOUNG: We have many stories of divinities

who were powerful figures who had weapons

that seem extraordinary, uh, for their time.

One was the great, uh, Celtic divinity Lugh,

who had a spear that could spit fire and lightning

and do great damage. It was an extraordinary weapon.

We don't have a great deal of detail about it,

but it clearly could dominate any situation that he got into.

When battle was near,

Lugh would draw out his spear, and it roared,

and then flashes of fire came out of it

and it tore through the ranks of the enemy,

never tired of killing and slaying.

It was one amazing weapon.

I mean, how else can we explain

all those numerous vitrified forts

where the surface of the stone is as smooth as glass?

And these spots can only be found

in very concentrated areas through Northern Scotland.

Is it possible that what the Celtic legends

are describing as Lugh is, in fact,

an alien general or other kind of extraterrestrial leader

in possession of a devastating weapon?

TSOUKALOS: All these descriptions of sophisticated weaponry

sounds almost like science fiction.

But is it, really?

Because we have those weapons today.

And I think it is merely a reinvention of history,

that all the stuff that we have today

has been around before

and that our past is not science fiction

but science fact.

NARRATOR: Deadly laser beams.

Acoustic levitation.

Antigravity.

Could these be technologies that were witnessed

and even used by ancient civilizations?

If so, were they conceived in the minds of early man?

Or did they have otherworldly origins?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining godlike powers

that are now becoming our reality.

One thing that's surprisingly widespread in ancient traditions

is the idea of cloaking technology.

And we have so many stories of gods or heroes

having a device that makes them invisible.

Yeah, like the ancient Greek story of Gyges.

He comes upon this magic ring

that makes him invisible,

-then he uses it to become king. -TSOUKALOS: Right,

and this likely would have seemed like magic

to our ancestors, but today we know

it was likely some type of a tech device,

because today we are developing

the exact same cloaking mechanisms.

In fact, we covered this in a season three episode

of Ancient Aliens called "Aliens, Gods and Heroes."

NARRATOR: Lydia, 716 BC.

Gyges, a shepherd in the service of King Candaules,

becomes the unlikely successor to the throne

of this ancient kingdom in modern-day Turkey.

But the story of how this modest servant

rose from a shepherd to a king is so fantastic

that many scholars and historians

have dismissed it as mere myth.

Gyges is out in the field

and there is a terrible earthquake.

He sees a cave open,

goes into that cave and sees a gold ring.

RICHARD RADER: He just kind of walks into, like, this chamber,

which is like a tomb where he sees a-a dead body

that's got some jewelry on it.

So he grabs this ring off of it because he's a poor man.

He puts the ring on and discovers that it gives him

the power to be invisible.

Here he has the-the kind of power a god would have.

And does he use it well? Well, actually,

it's a little questionable how he uses it.

He comes up with a plan.

The next time he goes to visit the king,

he brings that ring with him, turns himself invisible...

...seduces the queen...

...kills the king,

takes over the palace.

COPPENS: What we have here is, really, a multilayered legend.

We have not only the story of the fact

that somebody in the past had the cloak of invisibility

but actually that he did not invent this,

but that this was a legacy from a race

who had buried their dead and that alongside these dead

were artifacts which were technological.

What kind of a magical amulet or technology

are we talking about here?

Was this the ring of the gods

that's described by the ancient Sumerians

as the "ring of cosmic sovereignty"?

TSOUKALOS: When I read stories like Gyges of Lydia,

who has found this ring

which gave him the capability of becoming invisible,

then there are two things that I think of.

One, is it just fantasy?

Or do we have another reference here

that describes misunderstood technology?

Because today researchers at Duke University

are trying to develop an invisibility cloak.

NARRATOR: Duke University engineering professor David R. Smith

is the director of the Center for Metamaterial

and Integrated Plasmonics.

For the past decade,

Smith and his team have been working to create metamaterials,

or artificial materials that are not found in nature.

Just as a piece of glass can control the way light bends,

Smith has set out to prove that certain man-made materials

can actually be constructed to render objects invisible.

This is actually an example of a metamaterial.

This is, uh, a bunch of, uh, pieces of circuit board

all, uh, cut out and assembled together.

And on the circuit boards are little pieces of copper

that are tiny circuits.

And each circuit has a certain response

to electromagnetic radiation.

And the combination of these patterns

plus the shape, uh, gives us, uh, something

that we can call an invisibility cloak.

The idea behind the cloak is that it, uh,

renders something inside of it invisible

and itself invisible as well.

NARRATOR: At present,

the device only makes objects disappear

at microwave frequencies,

but Dr. Smith believes that soon this technology

will also be able to make objects invisible

to even the human eye.

SMITH: Just in the last year or two,

there have actually been experiments showing

certain i-- of the cloaking ideas transitioning

to the visible spectrum: red, green, blue.

Those experiments are actually being done now.

We will have invisibility cloaks at some point

that we could wear as humans.

I definitely think we're gonna get there because science

and speculative science go hand in hand.

Um, science creates a base point,

speculative science pushes it farther into the future.

And that's how technology advances.

NARRATOR: An actual cloak of invisibility?

Though still in development, researchers in Japan

have designed an optical camouflage system

that makes special reflective material seemingly disappear,

including the person wearing it,

thus bringing us closer to achieving

a fully functional invisibility cloak,

like the one described in the story of Gyges.

Could this mean that other

seemingly far-fetched devices of fantasy,

like flying carpets and magic wands...

...are also based on science?

And if so, might they have been used in the ancient past,

perhaps in the hands of extraterrestrial visitors?

Just because we are working on these technologies today

does not mean that we are the first.

Because we find multiple references

in ancient texts that describe devices

with which you were able to go invisible.

DAN DIDIO: So much of our storytelling,

deals with the fact that what we deem to be magic

can really be science at a different time.

NARRATOR: If legendary tales like the story of King Gyges

could be proven to be real, what does it suggest

about other fantastic stories of gods and titans?

NARRATOR: Hisarlik, Turkey.

Within this archaeological site lie the ruins of Troy,

a place once thought by mainstream scientists

to be no more than myth,

until Heinrich Schliemann unearthed its remains in 1871.

Here in the 12th century BC,

the ancient Greek city was the center of the Trojan War,

a Greek battle described in Homer's Iliad.

According to the epic poem,

the goddess Athena gives King Diomedes

the power of divine vision during the war

so that he could see like the gods.

RADER: Athena comes down and she wants to help the Greeks,

so she finds Diomedes, she says,

"I'm gonna help you out here.

"So, what I'm gonna do is strip away this mist

"that's over your eyes.

"Right, you as a human being,

"you don't really know what's going on.

"You just see battle.

"But once I strip away this mist,

"you're gonna be able to see what's really going on,

"which is that, in addition to a battle going on,

there are gods fighting."

YOUNG: King Diomedes sees that Ares,

the god of war, is fighting alongside his enemy Hector,

and he was not to use this sight to attack the gods,

but that is exactly what he uses it for.

COPPENS: The side aspect of this is this.

It's the question: did the gods really have this?

Were they superhuman, like we want to become?

Or did they have technology which enabled them

to do these kind of things?

NARRATOR: Diomedes and the gods' power of super eyesight

may seem like pure fantasy,

but enhanced vision is also becoming a reality

thanks to advancements in spectrometer technology.

Spectrometers are devices used to measure properties of light

over a wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum

than is visible with the human eye,

and today, just as we are developing cloaking devices,

we are also developing technology

to see through those devices.

SMITH: Technology is driven by society's needs,

uh, more than anything else.

But myths have a way of inspiring us,

and, uh, they represent a part of the imagination,

which we need to even envision

the next generation of technologies.

VON DÄNIKEN: If I dream I could go to another galaxy,

I will sooner or later go to another galaxy.

We are the offsprings of the gods,

and all these things are in our brains.

We think we are very powerful.

In practice, we are not.

But we have technology to develop the power,

because we are the sons of the gods.

NARRATOR: Could it really be that the powers

once attributed to the so-called gods

were, in fact, misunderstood alien technology?

Perhaps the answers can be found not in the past

but in the present,

as modern-day advances in science and technology

give us perhaps our greatest evidence

that we have been here before.

NARRATOR: The ability to fly,

to thrive underwater

and to travel through space and explore the universe.

At one time these were all believed

to be impossible notions.

Dismissed as mere science fiction or myth.

But mankind's continued advances in technology

have made the word "impossible" almost obsolete.

In our modern world, steroids can help

generate Herculean muscles.

Titanium joints can replace and even improve

upon our own natural ones.

And even prosthetic gills are being developed

so human beings can breathe underwater

without the use of air tanks.

Today, government contractors like Raytheon Sarcos

and Lockheed Martin develop exoskeleton machines

for the U.S. military.

When worn, they can allow soldiers to walk,

run and lift hundreds of pounds with virtually no effort.

DIDIO: What makes exoskeletons so cool

is that it's an everyman thing.

Anybody can p-put one on, anybody can be the hero.

You can take a person with any sort of physical weaknesses

and make them greater than the person they're fighting.

GRESH: Exoskeletons would be a prime example

of something coming out of comic books

into mainstream reality.

And in reality exoskeletons are becoming

very popular with the military.

A soldier can wear the Raytheon exoskeleton,

for example, and lift 200 pounds.

NARRATOR: While these modern-day supermen

may be limited in their mobility,

the development of exoskeletons

represents an incredible evolution

in the relationship between man and machine.

But did such incredible technology exist before?

Perhaps in mankind's ancient past?

TSOUKALOS: Now, is it possible

that some type of exoskeleton technology

was used in the remote past--

for example, on the Giza Plateau?

Imagine the operator of one of those exoskeleton machines

coming out of that machine.

That person has superpowers,

even though the person doesn't have any powers at all.

The person is only operating sophisticated technology.

One could argue that with all the advancements

we are making today in science

and all the other academic fields,

we are becoming more godlike.

We are not becoming gods,

we are not turning into real superheroes.

We are only becoming godlike

because of our technology.

GRESH: I think we have an innate need to, uh,

push our bodies and our minds to the utmost limits

and strive for superintelligence,

superstrength

and other superpowers.

The reason is that people have long been fascinated

with what could be stronger than humanity itself,

and if it's not human,

then it must come from somewhere else,

either a god or an extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: But with all of his scientific achievements,

is mankind perhaps making himself more and more vulnerable

to what could be terrible consequences?

There are many tales of ordinary mortals

ascending to, uh, become rulers,

to become gods, uh, various positions of enormous power.

Often, these characters then become corrupt.

And-and the stories stick around and are retold

over a long period of time,

long after their sources have, uh, withered away,

to teach us that power corrupts, to be careful what you wish for,

and to be very cautious if ever holding great power...

...because of its ability to harm.

DIDIO: Almost 50% of our stories are about

technology run amok or the dark side of technology.

Because when you talk about superpowers,

when you talk about all this transformation,

everything comes at a price.

And you always have to weigh whether that price

is worthy or necessary to make for the greater good,

and sometimes it's not.

Sometimes the price you pay is just too great

when you lose your own self.

NARRATOR: Are all of mankind's scientific achievements

really examples of emerging technology?

Or are humans

finally catching up to the abilities

of beings who have been here before?

Perhaps only time and further advancements

in technology will tell.

The ancient astronaut theory proposes that, long ago,

E.T.s modified the DNA

of one of our prehuman ancestors to create humans.

And so the question is:

all these cases of modern-day genetic engineering--

are they just examples of alien reinvention?

It would seem so. And we're now talking

about gene-splicing technology to modify our bodies

and make them better for space travel.

And we're looking at merging our biology with technology,

basically to turn ourselves into cyborgs.

Maybe this was our alien ancestors' plan all along.

One day we would evolve to jump-start civilization

on other planets ourselves.

PAUL VALLE: All right, you want to go to Mars?

TRAVIS TAYLOR: Sure, let's go to Mars.

NARRATOR: At the Johnson Space Center

in Houston, Texas,

aerospace engineer Dr. Travis Taylor

meets with Paul Valle, the project manager

for the Active Response Gravity Offload System,

otherwise known as ARGOS.

Travis is eager to experience firsthand

how space colonists will be trained

in order to survive in reduced gravity environments.

And now you are on Mars.

So, this is what Mars is like?

-Yep. -I can jump...

Ah! A lot higher.

So, if I were gonna try and walk across Mars...

The ARGOS simulator was amazing in giving me

some insight and realizing

it's not easy to work on a planet

that isn't the planet I came from.

If I was on Mars or the Moon or anywhere else,

I'd have to completely retrain

my mind and body for working there.

Yeah.

-(chuckles) -Wow.

Whoa, getting up is the hard part.

So, if any civilizations have done that,

they would have had to do the same type of training,

or when they got here, they would be extremely clumsy.

-Yeah. (laughs) -(grunts)

That's almost impossible.

-Yeah, now imagine doing it... -Whoa! There we go.

(both laugh)

Now imagine doing it with a space suit,

-life support. -Hey, yeah, with the...

-All that. -Like the Michelin-- yeah.

You don't realize how much

you use gravity to do everything.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, you don't realize till it's gone.

Right.

NARRATOR: Although recent NASA footage of astronauts

doing somersaults in midair

and eating floating M&M's

paints a whimsical picture of what it's like to live

in a low-gravity environment,

the lack of gravity can, over time,

have a devastating and profound impact on the human body.

What we have to do when we decide to go to Mars

is really study all aspects of human physiology.

How we're going to operate in a gravity

that's much less than the Earth.

Our body will change because of that environment.

We're doing research in many ways right now,

studying the effects of being weightless

and then coming back to the Earth.

NARRATOR: March 2, 2016,

Kazakhstan.

American astronaut Scott Kelly

returns to Earth after a record-setting 360-day mission

aboard the International Space Station.

The duration of the mission was intended to help researchers

understand how prolonged periods of time

in zero gravity can affect the human body.

Scott's identical twin brother Mark, also an astronaut,

served as a control subject.

Because of his twin's DNA,

which is, in theory, identical to his,

they could then determine

what kind of DNA changes had happened to him.

And what they discovered was that

about seven percent of his DNA had been altered.

NARRATOR: Extensive post-mission lab tests

confirmed the astonishing changes that had taken place.

Genes related to Scott Kelly's immune system,

DNA repair, bone formation networks,

his bloodstream, and numerous other systems

have all been altered.

The startling results prompt scientists

around the world to ask: what are the implications

for humans who leave Earth permanently?

So, I did a lot of my early medical work

and medical research on how the human body

adopts to space as you go up into orbit.

So, we are gonna begin to speciate

and form subspecies of humans

as we head off towards the stars.

Perhaps we should genetically modify ourselves

to thrive in outer space.

We're gonna have to modify ourselves

to adjust to different atmospheres,

cosmic rays, radiation, you name it.

DIAMANDIS: Do we want to use gene-editing technology

to evolve ourselves and to modify our DNA,

modify our bodies to meet the needs of space

as the human race is moving irreversibly off the planet?

Once you have the technology to completely decode DNA

and-and recode it,

you also have the technology, then,

to genetically alter

any human being or any animal or plant.

And so, therefore, you're able to genetically engineer

a humanoid species

that will be better adapted to space travel,

better adapted to life on a different planet.

Extraterrestrials coming here in the ancient past

could have easily have done exactly the same thing.

NARRATOR: Could extraterrestrials in possession

of this same DNA-altering knowledge

have used it to aid their colonization efforts

here on Earth thousands of years ago?

An idea which once seemed absurd

now seems remarkably and eerily plausible.

TAYLOR: Could you go back in time

and look at something like the prehuman creatures

and genetically modify them

and create what has become Homo sapiens?

With our technology today,

we could pick a near sentient creature

and start doing genetic modifications on it

and create a new sentient race.

NARRATOR: In addition to genetically modifying the human body,

in order to make it better suited for space travel

and colonization, many experts propose

that there will also need to be a merging of man and machine.

Genetically modified space colonists, they argue,

will have to be fitted with biomechatronic parts

in order to create a human

that is smarter, faster, stronger and more durable.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: I've been talking with some scientists,

and they say the next thing that's going to be coming

is the cyborg evolution

of humanity for those that are going to go into space.

KAKU: We have this Hollywood image

that the aliens are gonna land

and they're gonna come out looking somewhat like us.

And they'll say, "Take us to your leader, earthman."

But I think it could be quite different.

They could be part robotic.

Realize that they could be

thousands of years more advanced than us.

TAYLOR: If there is a culture out there that's more advanced than us,

they've already built these robotic bodies,

why wait for them to come to us?

We have to become a huge spacefaring culture,

a civilization to go out and answer these questions

for ourselves instead of just sitting on our hands

and waiting for them to give us the answer someday.

NARRATOR: In finding ways to modify the human body,

is mankind really going "where no one has gone before"?

Or are we simply fulfilling our destiny,

one that stretches back to the very beginnings

of human life here on Earth?

As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

the more humans venture into space,

the closer they will be to discovering their true origins.

Not on Earth but on an alien world

far, far away.

I think that one of the most important contributions

of ancient astronaut theory

is the realization that we're reinventing

technology today that existed in the ancient world.

You know, and, uh, King Solomon once said,

"There's nothing new under the sun."

And it's like everything that we are inventing today

existed in ancient times.

TSOUKALOS: Right, and if the visitors

from back then would be able to see

what we've accomplished today,

I think they would be mightily proud,

because that is exactly what they wanted.

For us to achieve a high level of technology

to one day leave this planet,

to go out there, to explore outer space.

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