Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Throughout the ancient world,

there is one mysterious figure

that appears again and again-- the birdman.

Depictions of birdmen are found all over the planet.

NARRATOR: In many cultures, birdlike figures were revered as gods.

HEATHER LYNN: The Sumerians worshipped Anunnaki, which were

often depicted almost like a hybrid-- human and bird.

NARRATOR: And their presence transformed the development of civilization.

RABBI ARIEL BAR TZADOK: It is their job to guide

the affairs of human beings.

NARRATOR: Are the so-called birdmen simply a product

of the imagination, or could they represent something

far more profound?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: There had to have been a spark of inspiration.

Are they physical beings from another planet?

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: America's largest reservation spans

more than 27,000 square miles,

covering parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

The Navajo people have inhabited this land

for more than a thousand years,

and they say that, throughout their history

right up to the present day,

they have had encounters with an otherworldly being

known as the birdman.

I spent 31 years in law enforcement

with the Navajo Nation Rangers.

In my, uh, career on the Navajo Reservation

we've had a lot of people report seeing birdmen figures.

This is a normal theme for most Native American tribes

in the United States.

Native Americans have a long history

of sky beings coming to them.

And in many cases, these beings look like humans

with wings.

NARRATOR: While each tribe

has its own unique language and mythology,

remarkably, many share the tradition

of worshipping a birdman figure.

DOVER: The birdman figure in Native cultures

are human-shaped people.

Sometimes they're giants.

They are considered a celestial being of some kind

who has come down from the sky.

In Navajo culture, they do have magical abilities.

They do heal.

But one of the main aspects of any figure

is that they impart knowledge.

When Natives see a birdman, this is a very, very good sign.

Seeing something like that is-is considered a pretty big thing.

NARRATOR: One of the most remarkable examples

of birdman worship in North America can be found

outside of Collinsville, Illinois,

where a series of mysterious earthen mounds

rise above the plain.

These mounds mark the location where the Mississippian people--

one of the largest ancient civilizations

in North America-- once flourished.

Near one mound-- numbered 72--

archaeologists found a curious gravesite,

now known as the "birdman burial."

They found the remains of a male and female

that were placed on an elevated platform

covered by a bed of more than 10,000 marine shell beads

placed in the shape of a falcon.

The bird's head appeared beneath and beside the man's head.

And the wings and tail of the bird

were beneath his arms and legs.

This burial reflects the deep reverence

for the birdman in spiritual structures.

ED BARNHART: This arrangement of shells around the main bodies

makes sense because we know that the Mississippians

had a supernatural being who may or may not be a god,

but he's a very powerful creature

that lives up in the sky.

We see depictions

on also stone tablets.

NARRATOR: At a site called Monks Mound,

just a mile from the birdman burial,

archaeologists found a sandstone tablet

that features another human figure

with birdlike attributes.

HUGH NEWMAN: This tablet appears to have a humanoid figure

with a beak

but also what appears to be the arms moving forward

in a certain way to make it look like wings.

NARRATOR: While the Mississippian people of the Midwest

left behind abundant evidence of birdman worship,

in the southwest, Native tribes

still carry on the traditions of the ancient Pueblo people,

performing rituals to connect with the kachinas.

These otherworldly beings are often depicted

with birdlike features.

LYNN: The kachinas have many different features,

but a lot of them look like birds, winged beings.

They connect the people on Earth to

the celestial gods in the sky.

Many tribes still practice ceremonies

dedicated to the kachinas.

These rituals will include

things like interpretive dancing,

drums, music, and often the individuals will be wearing

headdresses featuring vivid colors and feathers.

NARRATOR: Even more curious than the widespread reverence

for birdman figures throughout Native American cultures

is the fact that similar half-bird,

half-human hybrids can be found throughout the ancient world.

At the site of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia,

a giant megalithic doorway called the Gate of the Sun,

features a carving of the Inca god Viracocha

flanked by dozens of birdlike figures.

NEWMAN: It is said that Viracocha himself,

the great god of the Andes, was actually the person

who instigated the construction of Tiahuanaco and Puma Punku.

DAVID CHILDRESS: In the middle of the gate is a depiction of Viracocha,

but on either side of Viracocha there are these birdmen.

And these famous birdmen, in my mind, are symbolic

of flight,

and essentially, these birdmen are men who can fly.

NARRATOR: Another location where birdman figures

feature prominently is on the remote Pacific Island

of Rapa Nui, more commonly known as Easter Island.

While Easter Island is famous

for the towering stone moai statues

that stand along its shoreline,

for centuries the islanders have also worshipped

an otherworldly being called Tangata manu, or the birdman.

NEWMAN: All over Easter Island, we do find depictions

of birdman-type creatures,

which is a reference, really, to some of the earliest traditions

before humans were even supposed to exist on the island.

TSOUKALOS: The chief birdman was a guy called Makemake.

And when he arrived on Easter Island,

he saw how beautiful it was

and he wanted to populate it with people.

And so he crafted the Easter Islanders

out of Easter Island soil,

and that's how the people of Easter Island came about.

DOMINIC STEAVU: Across many different cultures, uh,

this figure of the half-bird, half-human hybrid

shows up again and again.

Very often what they have in common is the idea that

human/birds figures, uh, are capable of flight.

They can travel between different realms

or different planes of existence.

In Japanese folklore, Tengu are these

very powerful, uh, mountain spirits.

All of them are somehow related to birds or have avian features.

They represent a higher form of knowledge

that they are known to transmit to people who are open

to receiving that knowledge from them.

HENRY: Depictions of birdmen are found all over the planet.

Is it because birds represent transcendence?

Why are the depictions so strikingly similar?

TSOUKALOS: It's really bizarre when you look

at pretty much all cultures

and see that they have depictions and references

and legends of the so-called bird people or birdmen.

And so, that illustrates to me that it had to start somewhere,

or there had to have been a spark of inspiration.

In the ancient astronaut opinion,

the most important thing that our ancestors

wanted to convey to us is that they experienced someone

in physical form that had the capability of flight.

NARRATOR: What could be behind the ubiquity

of the birdman iconography in ancient cultures?

Is it due to some kind of otherworldly encounter?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by looking to the pages of the Holy Bible.

NARRATOR: Throughout history, ancient cultures

across the globe

have portrayed human figures with birdlike wings.

In the Western world, none are more well-known than a group

of beings that are described in Judeo-Christian texts.

HENRY: When you think about a winged human figure,

you most notably think about angels.

Angels are figures that intervene in human affairs.

They warn us about coming events

or they-they intervene in a positive way.

NARRATOR: In the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis,

angels first appear as divine beings

sent to Earth as messengers of God.

TSOUKALOS: Angels are winged beings.

Now, the church, up until about 300 AD

not once mentioned angels.

From about 300 to 400 AD

was when the first references of angels first entered the Bible.

Before that, it was never "angel,"

but it was always the word "messenger."

And often, "messenger from the sky."

TZADOK: It is their job, as the heavenly court,

to guide the affairs of human beings,

to speak into the minds of individuals.

But these angels were not spiritual beings,

they were physical beings.

They're not of this world.

Therefore, they are not terrestrial,

and therefore, they are extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the angels of the Bible

were physical beings who came from another world?

Perhaps additional clues can be found by examining

a controversial text that was stricken

from most versions of the Bible.

Called the Book of Enoch, it describes in great detail

the first angels to arrive on Earth, known as the watchers.

TZADOK: It is said in ancient legend that these watchers

are the ones who observe humanity

and direct human affairs to influence us in their own ways.

ANDREW COLLINS: The watchers were said to be these rebel angels

who came down from Heaven to mix with mortal-kind.

They were said to have revealed the arts and sciences

of Heaven, and this allowed us

the rudiments of civilization.

We are told that they could fly

through the air like birds or eagles.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the account of the watchers

described in the Book of Enoch

is based on real historical events?

LYNN: The Book of Enoch was a biblical story

that was taken out of the Bible completely.

It isn't included, except for in the Coptic faith.

They still include the Book of Enoch as part of their canon.

But many people suggest that the reason the Book of Enoch

was omitted from the Bible

is because these entities hold some deeper truth.

NARRATOR: Mainstream scholars believe

the Book of Enoch was written sometime

around the 3rd or 4th century BC,

but the stories contained within it may be much older.

And ancient astronaut theorists suggest

the watchers were first described

more than a thousand years earlier by the Sumerians.

HENRY: The Sumerians were the first known civilization.

They have the distinction of being the first

to discover writing, agriculture, astronomy,

all of these first technologies.

The ancient Sumerian texts tell us that these

winged figures with birdlike heads

originally brought this knowledge to humanity.

LYNN: The Sumerians worshipped Anunnaki,

which are beings that came down from the sky.

They were depicted as chimeric beings,

almost like a hybrid, human and bird.

AMIR HUSSAIN: For the Sumerians,

their knowledge wasn't self-derived.

Their inventions, their great things

were not of their own design.

They were taught by the gods.

The Anunnaki show human beings how to use technology,

how to create this technology.

NARRATOR: Like the watchers,

there was a specific group of the Anunnaki

who were tasked with influencing human affairs.

The Sumerians also revered Apkallu,

which were a little bit lesser Anunnaki beings,

but very important as well.

They were also birdmen figures.

They had wings, feathers,

and often were depicted even with beaks.

Their role was to act as intermediaries between

the kings and the gods.

TSOUKALOS: One of the basic propositions of the ancient astronaut theory

is that these birdmen signified flight.

The idea was never to suggest

that the Anunnaki themselves actually had wings

sprouting from their back,

but rather that our ancestors

tried to depict that the Anunnaki

had the capability of flying or of flight.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the stories

of the watchers and the Anunnaki are true?

Could these birdlike beings have once walked the Earth

alongside humans in the distant past?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining curious carvings

at one of the world's most mysterious ancient sites.

Here, atop a flat limestone plateau,

stand the oldest known

megalithic structures in the world.

Adorning many of the monolithic stone pillars

are intricate carvings of both human and animal figures.

ROBERT SCHOCH: At Göbekli Tepe,

what we find are beautifully carved limestone pillars,

long, narrow, high, and they weigh up to ten or 15 tons.

Some of them are 15 or 18 feet tall.

NARRATOR: Radiocarbon dating of artifacts unearthed

at Göbekli Tepe suggest the site

is over 12,000 years old,

predating the Sumerians by at least 5,000 years.

But some researchers have noticed

a curious connection between the two cultures.

HENRY: At Göbekli Tepe, there's a carving

of these three handbags that appear

above this birdlike creature.

What's fascinating about finding these handbag symbols

at Göbekli Tepe is that,

just 400 miles to the south in Sumeria,

you find exactly the same symbolism,

and these handbags are being held

by winged figures with birdlike heads.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the birdmen figures at Göbekli Tepe

not only represent otherworldly visitors,

but the very same visitors described

by the Sumerians as the Anunnaki

and detailed in the Book of Enoch as the watchers?

Could the carvings provide evidence

that these mysterious beings were present on Earth

as much as 12,000 years ago?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and point to further evidence in ancient Egypt

and accounts of a bird-headed god called Thoth.

NARRATOR: According to ancient hieroglyphic writing

known as the Pyramid Text,

before the age of the pharaohs,

humans lived side by side with the gods.

HENRY: Before 3000 BC,

you have this age known as Zep Tepi, or "the first time."

A golden age in which the gods walked on the Earth,

which the gods ruled.

NARRATOR: During this so-called golden age,

Egypt was ruled by the god-king Horus,

who was depicted with a human-like body

and the head of a falcon.

PAMELA SMITH: In Egyptian mythology,

Horus is the son of Isis and Osiris.

Horus was one of the gods who helped people transition

between different states of being.

Like, you know, life and death and rebirth, et cetera,

so is seen often as a guardian and also as a protector

to keep the evil gods

from hurting humans.

RAMY ROMANY: Horus was the king on Earth, but the god in sky.

He had wings. He could fly. He can protect his own people.

NARRATOR: All of the human pharaohs who came after Horus

were said to embody his power

and received communication from the gods.

But why did the ancient Egyptians,

like so many other early cultures,

depict this prominent deity with birdlike features?

TSOUKALOS: We know that Horus was a celestial sky god.

Horus did not originate here on Earth,

and ancient Egyptians were very, very concise

in stating that he was a physical being

that came from the stars.

NARRATOR: Are Horus's birdlike features meant to indicate

that he was a being who came down from the sky?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and point to the fact that, in Egypt,

bird-headed figures were often linked

to contact with a higher realm.

Like the bird-headed god Thoth.

SMITH: Thoth was, uh, human from the shoulders down,

and his head was an ibis,

which is a bird with a sharp beak.

In Egyptian mythology, Thoth was the god of literacy,

of writing, of science, and of magic,

and brought all those things to humans.

Thoth was the Egyptian god of knowledge who invented

and taught the Egyptians to write with hieroglyphics.

There was no known language prior to hieroglyphics.

So, he is the giver of language to the Egyptian people.

ROMANY: God Thoth was an extremely important god in ancient Egypt.

He is the one that had all the information.

Every time a pharaoh or an engineer

would talk about how he was able to create something,

he would say, "I was given this information by god Thoth."

NARRATOR: According to mainstream archaeologists,

the oldest pyramid in Egypt is the Step Pyramid of King Djoser.

Constructed in the 27th century BC,

the six-tier, four-sided structure

was designed by a mysterious figure named Imhotep.

ROMANY: Imhotep, who was a commoner,

became the high engineer, the main architect,

and he came out of nowhere.

Ancient Egyptians believed that god Thoth

actually told Imhotep how to build the pyramid.

NARRATOR: Remarkably, the iconic pyramid

was not Imhotep's only accomplishment

that was credited to the influence of Thoth.

ROMANY: Imhotep, he also was a high priest.

He also was a high physician.

The most ancient medical document known to humanity

was written by Imhotep himself.

He had a lot of knowledge

that he claims was given by his god Thoth.

NARRATOR: According to Egyptian mythology,

Thoth established a school

to spread knowledge throughout the region.

HENRY: For more than 3,000 years, the Egyptian mystery school

sustained and preserved and amplified

the mystic wisdom of the ancients.

The mystery schools were started by Thoth.

And it was believed that the mystery school actually

operated in Memphis, which Thoth is believed

to have built himself.

The mystery schools were attended

by some of the most illustrious figures in history.

The Book of Acts, for instance, tells us

that Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

This is a reference to the Egyptian mystery schools.

Moses became a magi performing supernatural feats,

including miracles, and even talking with God

in the burning bush.

Also, Pythagoras studied in the Egyptian mystery schools

for 22 years where he learned

that all the planets in our galaxy are inhabited.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the secret wisdom taught

at the Egyptian mystery schools was provided

by birdlike beings who descended from the sky?

Curiously, in China,

there are similar traditions of important leaders

who were also part-bird and part-human.

These figures were not only seen as capable of communicating

with higher beings, but were often given secret knowledge.

STEAVU: In early forms of Daoism,

the expression "winged transformation"

refers to, uh, becoming an immortal

or being on the path to becoming an immortal.

And part of that process involved sprouting feathers

on one's body, growing wings from one's back,

and becoming, essentially, a type of bird-human hybrid.

NARRATOR: For ancient astronaut theorists,

the ubiquity of birdlike figures

in art and mythology reveals extraterrestrial contact

throughout the ancient world.

And as further evidence, they point

to a centuries-old ritual in modern-day Mexico

called the Dance of the Flyers.

NARRATOR: Every year, the people of this city

gather to watch a breathtaking ceremony

called Danza de los Voladores,

or the Dance of the Flyers.

HENRY: These acrobatic figures

will scale this 100-foot-tall pole,

and there's a fifth person that's waiting there

with them called the "Carpola,"

and he starts playing a flute, playing a drum,

and the four other people that are with him-- the acrobats--

tie their ankles to the tower,

and they suddenly start swinging around the tower.

TSOUKALOS: In 52 rotations

they descend down to Earth.

In my opinion, what we have here

is called living mythology.

Because, when you ask these Voladores,

"What are you doing?"

they say, "We are commemorating the arrival of our ancient gods

who descended from the sky."

NARRATOR: According to tradition, the five dancers on the pole

are said to represent birdmen.

Some scholars believe the ritual honors

the Mayan god of creation, Itzamna,

who could transform into a bird.

But ancient astronaut theorists suggest this ritual

reveals a more profound connection with the heavens.

HENRY: From an ancient astronaut perspective,

are they actually witnessing the descent

of extraterrestrials?

And they're recreating that original scene

that they saw long, long ago?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Dance of the Flyers

is not a portrayal of mythological gods

descending from the heavens,

but of otherworldly visitors coming to Earth in spacecraft?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining

a flying feathered deity

known to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl supposedly came from someplace far away

and taught the people agriculture,

writing, astronomy,

and a lot of the finer arts of living.

TSOUKALOS: Quetzalcoatl was a sky god,

and allegedly, he descended from the sky in physical form

and taught the local populations

in different scientific disciplines.

And the interesting part about that is,

is that you have the Aztecs, you have the Olmecs,

you have the Toltecs, you have the Maya.

And their main celestial deity is Quetzalcoatl.

NARRATOR: Curiously, Quetzalcoatl is depicted

by various Mesoamerican cultures

both as a flying serpent and as a human-like figure.

And as far as ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned, the most intriguing depiction

of this god is also the oldest,

a nearly 3,000-year-old carving made by the Olmecs.

BARNHART: It depicts a person who's kind of sitting swayback

inside the body of a curving snake.

The tail is in front of him and the head comes up over his head.

And some people think it's, uh, it's an image

of some sort of vehicle that he's driving.

It is such an interesting and evocative piece of art

that it's gotten a ton of names.

One of them is the rocket man.

CHILDRESS: He's seated inside of a dragon

that's encircling him.

So, here we have to wonder

if it's depicting, perhaps,

extraterrestrial technology, like a spacecraft.

NARRATOR: Could this artwork reveal that Quetzalcoatl

was a human-like being who was seen piloting a spaceship?

For ancient astronaut theorists,

this carving contains another intriguing detail

that suggests Quetzalcoatl was not a fictional deity,

but an extraterrestrial visitor.

HENRY: It portrays Quetzalcoatl

holding what appears to be a handbag.

It is one of the primary identifying symbols of the gods.

JASON MARTELL: Now, we know from the Sumerian mythologies

that the Anunnaki also are carrying this bag.

We seem to notice that this bag crosses cultures

as possibly some type of artifact.

It raises the question of

is this possibly extraterrestrial in origin.

TSOUKALOS: This handbag is identical to what you can find

in the Middle East,

which is very strange because

why would they have the same symbolism?

Well, the idea is that the same teacher people

not only went to Sumeria and Göbekli Tepe,

but also they went to Central and South America.

And so, this motif that these handbags exist worldwide

is not a coincidence.

NARRATOR: According to ancient astronaut theorists,

it is also no coincidence that, in culture after culture,

we find gods depicted with wings.

TSOUKALOS: The truth of the matter is that these birdmen depictions

and references exist in almost every ancient culture.

The reason why I think that this is important

is because our ancestors wanted to commemorate

that they experienced someone in physical form

that had the capability of flight.

MARTELL: These gods depicted clearly with wings

or having coming down on some type of a winged object.

The comparisons between these ancient cultures seem

to tell me that ancient man was witnessing something

in the sky that, to them, represented the power of flight.

NARRATOR: Could it be that ancient cultures

often depicted their gods with wings

not only to signify that these beings

had descended from the sky

but also to indicate that they traveled in flying vehicles?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining Hindu accounts

of a birdman who was also a chariot of the gods.

NARRATOR: In the heart of this modern metropolis,

on an island in the Chao Phraya River,

stands the opulent grounds of the Grand Palace.

This complex of buildings and temples

has been the official residence for the kings of Thailand

since 1782.

Here, adorning the Temple of the Emerald Buddha,

are more than 100 mysterious golden statues

of a birdlike deity named Garuda.

HENRY: In Hindu and Buddhist symbolism, Garuda is part-human.

It's got a torso of a human, it's got the head and beak

and claws of an eagle.

The Garuda is a sort of protector in Hindu

and-and Buddhist symbolism.

The Garuda is also seen stomping out the Nagas,

which are the serpent beings, which are representative

of negative energies or forces.

So, in this case, the Garuda

becomes a sort of protector in Hindu

and-and Buddhist symbolism.

NARRATOR: According to ancient Hindu texts,

Garuda served as the chariot for the powerful god Vishnu.

In Hindu mythology, Garuda is probably

the most famous flying deity,

and he is often the carrier,

the mount of Vishnu.

And Vishnu in the triumvirate

of the Hindu mythology is the sustainer,

the one who is protecting and upholding what is going on.

STEAVU: Garuda is the national emblem of Thailand,

or, uh, at least of its royal family,

and it's closely associated with a divine kingship.

So, Garuda is the mount of Vishnu.

And the kings of Thailand have historically

seen themselves as incarnations of Vishnu.

So, having Garuda as an emblem of their government

kind of projects this image in which

the kingship is connected to this divine source.

NARRATOR: The earliest account of Garuda can be found in the Rigveda,

a Sanskrit text written more than 3,500 years ago.

As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

the text details an encounter

with otherworldly technology.

TSOUKALOS: Legend says that Vishnu traveled inside Garuda

from place to place.

And when Garuda landed, his belly opened

and Vishnu would walk out and give instruction

or educate the people.

Well, what bird opens its belly

and lets people in and out?

I'll tell you want bird, passenger planes.

But if you've never seen a passenger plane before,

how would you describe it?

Well, you describe it with terminology

that you're familiar with.

NARRATOR: Could it be that stories of Garuda

are actually eyewitness accounts of an extraterrestrial machine

that flew through the sky like a bird?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

further evidence for this notion

can be found at a recently excavated site

that was dedicated to a bird deity.

Archaeologists from the British Museum

complete a seven-year excavation

of the ancient site of Girsu

and uncover the ruins of ancient Sumerian walls.

The walls are found to be part of a temple

built 4,500 years ago to honor the Sumerian god Ningirsu.

NEWMAN: A few years ago, a very interesting temple

in Iraq was uncovered.

And eventually, they realized that this temple

within this larger complex related

to what was known as the white thunderbird.

The whole thunderbird mythos is related to Ningirsu.

That was like the avatar of this great god.

NARRATOR: The story of the thunderbird god Ningirsu

comes from a firsthand account of Sumerian King Gudea.

Written on large cuneiform cylinders found at the site,

King Gudea described that the giant winged god Ningirsu

appeared before him.

TSOUKALOS: The archaeologists themselves say that this temple was built

due to a vision that a man had

where a gigantic man

with the wings of a gigantic thunderbird

descended from the sky,

and he was the first bringer of knowledge in that area.

We've heard these stories before because, in North America,

many First Nation myths begin with thunderbirds,

out of which the so-called kachinas came,

and the kachinas were the first bringers of knowledge,

physical beings.

Also, in ancient India, you have stories

of thunderbirds,

and in ancient Japan.

A thunderbird has always been considered this thing

that flies across the sky very fast

and also very, very loud with noise, thunder.

And sometimes, these thunderbirds landed

and the bellies opened and people walked out.

That, to me, is what I refer to as misunderstood technology

where they would describe a technological thing

with the terms that they knew about.

NARRATOR: As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

stories of thunderbirds,

along with Hindu accounts of Garuda,

clearly indicate that ancient people

witnessed flying craft coming down from the sky.

And incredibly, while the White Thunderbird temple

in Southern Iraq dates back 4,500 years,

other birdman imagery has been found

that is far, far older.

NARRATOR: Here, within the Lascaux caves,

are some of the best-preserved examples of ancient rock art.

Discovered in 1940, the walls and ceilings

of the caves are adorned with more than 600 paintings.

Archaeologists believe the artwork could be

as much as 22,000 years old.

COLLINS: The most important of the chambers

is what's known as the well shaft.

This is a, uh, deep sunken pit

on the wall of which are some very interesting images.

One of them shows a birdman

that seems to be falling backwards.

Professor Michael Rappenglueck of Munich University

concluded that these different images represented

the constellation of Cygnus, the celestial bird,

and other stars in that same vicinity,

and that the position of the birdman was exactly

in line with where you would see

the constellation of Cygnus if you were above the surface.

NARRATOR: For decades, researchers believed

this was the oldest example of a birdman.

But in 2019, a team of archaeologists

exploring a cave in Indonesia

discovered a painting that was at least twice as old,

dating back roughly 44,000 years.

HENRY: Archaeologists made a startling discovery when they found

the birdman among this collection of figures.

And according to neuroscience,

we only just began making human art at this time.

So, this means that one of the very first examples

of human art was the birdman.

NARRATOR: Why is it that the oldest cave art ever discovered,

which contains mostly mundane imagery,

features a hybrid creature that's part-human and part-bird?

Do the exceptionally ancient cave paintings in Indonesia

and France present some of the most compelling evidence

of all that the birdman figures represent alien visitors

that our ancestors saw with their own eyes?

Certainly, birdmen have been depicted in,

you know, ancient cave paintings

and by civilizations all around the world.

We have to just wonder, do these birdmen

actually fly with their wings?

I mean, we think of extraterrestrials

as coming in vehicles.

And to me, that's what birdmen are about.

Depictions of birdmen are found all over the planet,

from ancient Egypt to the Greeks,

to the early Christian and-and Jewish tradition.

Is it because birds represent transcendence

and entering into the-the higher worlds?

Are they alien-human hybrids

portrayed as part-human, part-bird?

We don't really know, but the final line of speculation

is that these birdmen were extraterrestrial beings

who were visiting these various cultures around the planet

throughout time.

TSOUKALOS: Pretty much all ancient cultures

have depictions and legends of the so-called birdmen.

There had to have been a spark of inspiration.

They are commemorating the arrival of ancient gods

who descended from the sky.

This is what the ancient astronaut theory teaches,

that our ancestors were all visited

by flesh and blood extraterrestrials

whom our ancestors misinterpreted as gods.

NARRATOR: Do the countless depictions

of half-bird, half-human figures

found throughout the world

provide a historical record

of extraterrestrial visitation in humankind's ancient past?

Could it be that rituals and iconography

that have survived to the present day

have a far more profound meaning behind them than we are aware?

Perhaps the proof of our alien origins is hiding

in plain sight.

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