All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.Origins.S02E09.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

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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