All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens S13E05 The Desert Codes

This was the language
of the gods.

NARRATOR:
Did extraterrestrial beings

leave behind coded messages?

We may find information
that is vital to mankind.

NARRATOR: Messages that
are carved in stone

and found all over the world?

PAUL BAHN:
There has been an explosion

in new discoveries of geoglyphs

that we didn't
know about before.

NARRATOR:
But once deciphered,

will they reveal
a message of hope...

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Many of
the geoglyphs were created

in order to contact
someone up there.

NARRATOR:
...or a deadly warning?

WILLIAM HENRY: Just imagine
if we don't get that message.

Humanity could be
in the balance.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Saudi Arabia. 2004.

While exploring the ancient
lava fields of Harrat Khaybar,

amateur archaeologist
Dr. Abdullah Al-Saeed

comes upon a number of
what appear to be stone walls,

each approximately
three feet high.

From the ground level,
Dr. Al-Saeed concludes

that the structures have no
discernable pattern or purpose.

That is,
not until four years later,

when he obtains satellite photos
of the very same area.

What he sees astounds him.

There, detectable from the sky
are a vast collection

of more than 400
stone enclosures.

Known to the local Bedouin
as the Works of the Old Men,

these mysterious structures
are quickly examined

and are revealed to stretch
for hundreds of miles.

ANDREW COLLINS: They were within
what's referred to

as-as a lava field of activity.

They're generally described
either as kites

or as gates,

which are more rectilinear forms
of them.

And there are literally hundreds
of these.

In fact, they stretch
all the way from Saudi Arabia

right away across to Jordan
and into Syria.

HUGH NEWMAN: They're kind of
like angular pyramids

almost going off
into the distance like runways,

widening at one end to being
short at the other end.

NARRATOR:
Although no record exists

indicating when these structures
were built,

who built them or why,

the predominant theory
among mainstream archaeologists

is that they were constructed
for hunting purposes

many thousands of years ago.

What we think they are
are prehistoric hunting sites

where gazelle and other animals

would be driven
into the enclosure,

and then on the outsides
of the enclosure, pits were dug

and the animals
would fall into the pits.

The kites, when you visit them
on the ground,

are really hard to find.

In the air you get
the whole pattern.

There are literally thousands
of them.

And they must have been in use
for thousands of years.

And why did they
fall into disuse?

That's an answer
we haven't yet got.

NARRATOR: Although the theory
that the stone structures

were used for hunting purposes
is compelling,

ancient astronaut theorists
argue that if these structures

were really used
for hunting gazelle,

the walls would have needed
to be more than three feet high

since a gazelle can leap more
than ten feet into the air.

Instead, they suggest
that because the structures

are only viewable from the air,

they should be considered
geoglyphs.

BAHN:
A geoglyph is just basically

a drawing on the landscape,
usually quite large scale.

Most geoglyphs are in deserts,

and in deserts
you get a phenomenon

which we call desert varnish.

It's just a natural dark patina
that builds up on the surface.

So if you move the dark parts
to one side,

expose the lighter soil
or sand underneath,

that is one way
of making a drawing.

The second basic technique
is to use the dark stones

and pile them together
to make shapes.

Geometric shapes, animal shapes
or whatever.

And the third basic technique is
simply a combination of the two.

You move things to one side
to expose lightness,

you use the dark stones
to make patterns.

So, you get very nice
combination of the two.

In recent years,
thanks to modern technology,

and particularly
satellite photographs,

uh, there has been an explosion
in new discoveries

of-of geoglyphs that we didn't
know about before.

COLLINS: The interesting fact
about all of these

is that they point
towards the sky.

And what might this tell us?

Well, the first thing is
that many of the geoglyphs

that we know today
were only discovered

once aerial survey
started in around the 1920s.

All of them were
only really revealed

once aircraft got up
into the air.

And this tells us something
very, very important.

BAHN: Most geoglyphs really
only make sense from above.

It therefore seems
that they would be messages

to something nonhuman,
something up there.

NARRATOR: When the now legendary
Nazca Lines of Peru

were first discovered in 1927,

they were considered
a unique phenomenon.

But now, with the benefit
of satellite imagery,

thousands of ancient geoglyphs

are being found
all over the world:

in Kazakhstan, in the
Southwestern United States,

in the Atacama Desert of Chile
and in Bolivia.

COLLINS: Almost everywhere
around the world,

we find what are known
as geoglyphs.

Whether they be
the Nazca Lines in Peru,

British geoglyphs to those
in the Middle East,

they're something that are
virtually universal

around the world
and they've been appearing

for many hundreds of years.

NARRATOR:
But why would ancient people

in so many different locations
around the world

all be making signs that can
only be seen from above?

We don't know for sure
what ancient peoples

were trying to communicate
through geoglyphs,

but the most important thing is
the amount of time and effort

that went into building them.

They're not quick sketches.

They're, many of them,
whole community projects.

And the time that you spend
working on them

is time not spent
gathering food,

not spent defending your land.

It's time not spent
looking after your children.

So, the first thing
that they communicate

is to the community itself what
is important to the community.

NARRATOR:
But could there be another

even more incredible
explanation?

Is it possible that these
ancient geoglyphs were created

not for a terrestrial purpose,
but for an extraterrestrial one?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest further clues
can be found

by examining similar shapes
and symbols

that occur
on a much smaller scale.

Geoglyphs are
gigantic-sized versions

of what we know as petroglyphs,

the most obvious being
the rock art that we'd see

on surfaces of stone rock
around the world

that date back many, many
thousands of years.

Petroglyphs are images
carved into stones or incised

or hammered away.

They occur all over the world
from Australia up through Asia,

Europe, Africa,
through the Americas.

NARRATOR:
Perhaps more intriguing

than the petroglyphs themselves

are the eerie similarities
between them

and their geoglyphic siblings.

We see certain symbols
recurring again and again.

There are many geometric forms.

These take the form
of, uh, spirals,

of concentric rings

and other more rectilinear
or abstract designs.

They're something that
are virtually universal

around the world.

One of the most interesting
geoglyphs that you have at Nazca

is the sun, star,
cross geoglyph,

which is really a very
complicated huge mandala

of interconnected stars
and triangles.

And it's something we see
all over the world

and in Tibet and India
as mandalas and even yantras.

So, things like this that are
so geometrically complicated

and are found all over the world

indicates that there was
some kind of worldwide

symbolic language
that was brought here

by a higher intelligence,
probably extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the thousands

of mysterious petroglyphs
and geoglyphs

found throughout the world

were intended to be
a form of communication

between early humans
and extraterrestrial visitors?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe that proof

of such a profound idea
does exist

and it can be found
by examining an ancient story

associated with one of
the oldest petroglyphs

ever discovered.

Northwest Nevada. 2013.

In the dried-up bed of what was
once Winnemucca Lake,

researchers take
carbonate samples

from a series of recently
discovered limestone boulders.

They are covered with what
appears to be ancient carvings.

Some of the petroglyphs
are believed to be depictions

of ancient shipping techniques,

but others are much more
difficult to identify.

Even more mysterious is the fact
that the local Paiute people

say the petroglyphs were not
created by their ancestors,

but by a race of giants.

HEGG:
The Paiutes said that

initially they did not
create petroglyphs,

that an ancient race
called the Si-Te-Cah did.

The Si-Te-Cah was
a race of giants

that was said to have been
white-complected,

having red hair, and well over
seven-foot tall.

The Paiutes explained that
these giants lived on the lake--

in Pyramid Lake,
on floating cities.

And each Paiute legend has
their own versions

of how petroglyphs were
originally created.

But they remain, to this day,
unaware now of what

a lot of that language was,
like most tribes in the world.

NARRATOR: Samples of
the petroglyphs were taken

to the University of Colorado
at Boulder,

where scientists performed
a series of radiocarbon tests

to determine their age.

The results are astonishing,
and reveal the petroglyphs

were etched between 10,500
and 14,800 years ago,

making them
the oldest petroglyphs

ever found in North America.

HENRY:
When we look at petroglyphs,

with their incredible spirals,
the doorways,

the strange beings
that are featured,

the stories that are told,

it suggests that they all
have an origin

with extraterrestrials
themselves.

NARRATOR:
Could the petroglyphs found

at Winnemucca Lake
really have been created

by an ancient race of
extraterrestrial giants?

If so, what were they intended
to represent?

A map indicating
their planet of origin?

Or was it an alien form
of hieroglyphics which,

when deciphered,
could teach us profound lessons

about mankind's past?

Perhaps further clues can be
found by examining geoglyphs

that some believe are depictions
of actual alien beings.

(wind whistling softly)

NARRATOR:
The Atacama Desert, Chile.

Located on the western side
of a hill called Cerro Unitas

is an enormous geoglyph
of a human-like figure

known as the Atacama Giant.

Although its origins
remain a mystery,

some have estimated it to be
as much as 10,000 years old.

The Atacama Giant
is one of about

500 petroglyphs
in the Atacama Desert

that span a huge area of about
15,000 square kilometers,

produced over about
a millennium of time,

and linking cultures
from the Incas

all the way up to
the early Christianization

of South America.

The Atacama Giant itself
is about 100 meters tall,

and it's a hugely
impressive figure.

It's got the most amazing
symmetry and geometry,

which would have required
the most exquisite planning.

Because once you're up there
digging away,

you can't see exactly
the proportions.

It's clearly a focal point

of the culture of the people
who made it.

COLLINS:
It has these very strange

horizontal and vertical lines
coming out of its head.

Archaeoastronomers have
suggested that

every part of this figure
was actually used

for astronomical purposes.

It marked the different cycles
of the moon in every year.

If you ask the local elders

what the Atacama Giant
represents,

they will say that it represents
sacred space,

and that actually entering
inside them

allowed you communication
with the sky gods.

Given that these geoglyphs
have multiple layers of meaning

and much knowledge
encoded with them,

we have to ask if maybe
it's also a device

to tell the locals when the
extraterrestrials would return.

NARRATOR: Although the
Atacama Giant is extraordinary,

it is by no means unique,

as similar geoglyphs
can be found

in many parts of the world.

Blythe, California.

Located in the desert,
just west of the Arizona border,

an estimated 300 gigantic
figures can be seen etched

in the arid ground.

Known as the Blythe Intaglios,
these ancient carvings depict

animals, spirals,

and, perhaps
most significantly,

gigantic humanoid figures.

These intaglios are unique

in that they're always found
on the shorelines

of ancient lakes that existed
12,500 years ago and prior.

NARRATOR:
In April 2018,

author and ancient astronaut
researcher David Childress

traveled to Blythe to meet with
Alfredo Figueroa,

an elder of the local
Chemehuevi tribe.

He is also known
to many in the region

as The Guardian of the Glyphs.

David was eager to see firsthand
whether the legends

surrounding these unique
geoglyphs could be true.

They can only be seen
from the air, really, right?

Well, they can be seen
from the ground,

but you can see it over intact.

PATRICIA ROBLES:
If you're walking on it,

you really don't know
what you're walking on.

Exactly, yeah, right.

We'll be able to see it
with the drone, I think.

Oh, that's excellent.
You got a drone?

-Yes, we've got it.
-Oh, that's wonderful.

-Let me get the drone out.
-That's the best way.

-Okay, let me get it.
-Thank you.

CHILDRESS:
Who builds this, and-and why?

FIGUEROA: The original tribes
here were the Aztecas.

-CHILDRESS: The Aztecs.
-Right.

Okay. Here we go.

(drone buzzing)

CHILDRESS:
Wow.

That's pretty interesting.

NARRATOR:
With the drone camera,

David and Alfredo
are able to see

the Blythe Intaglios
from a vantage point

that their creators
never could have,

at least not without the aid
of some form of aircraft.

But if this is true,
then why were they created?

And for whom?

CHILDRESS:
All right, this is...

FIGUEROA:
Is Omecihuatl.

"Cihuatl" means "woman."

And she is pregnant,
right here, see?

CHILDRESS: She's, like,
having a baby, then.

Ah, okay.

And right next to her
is the ocelot.

Ocelot is the jaguar.

CHILDRESS:
Okay, so you can see it's a cat

because it has
a very long tail, huh?

Well, the tail is supposed to be
like a "U,"

and in the cosmos,
it represents the Big Dipper.

ROBLES: Here in this place,
they came down.

And because they descended
from the cosmos,

our ancestors created
these images

and aligned them with
the constellations

so that we would understand
that story.

NARRATOR:
But of all the Blythe Intaglios,

the one Alfredo is
most eager to show David

are the ones
that are the largest

and arguably the most dramatic.

CHILDRESS:
This is big. This thing is huge.

FIGUEROA:
That's right.

NARRATOR:
They are the ones representing

the Aztec gods, Kokopelli--
better known as Quetzalcoatl--

and Cicimitl,
the Aztec star god.

CHILDRESS:
Which glyph is this one?

What we're seeing here
is Kokopelli,

and he represents Quetzalcoatl.

CHILDRESS:
The Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl.

-So, this one is...
-ROBLES: Cicimitl.

CHILDRESS:
Cicimitl.

His face there--
you see his nose.

I mean, he's not like
a normal person, is he?

No, he looks just like a...
a E. T.

He looks like an
extraterrestrial. Uh-huh, yeah.

NARRATOR:
An extraterrestrial?

Is it possible that these
incredible geoglyphs represent

not just mythological gods,
but actual alien beings,

whose arrival on Earth was
witnessed by the Azteca people?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and Alfredo Figueroa is
convinced that it was here--

the location of the Aztecs'
legendary home of Aztlan--

where extraterrestrial visitors
came down from the sky.

CHILDRESS: Aztlan is very
important in Aztec mythology.

It was a place where the gods
came down to give them

the information and prophecies
that the Aztecs had.

I mean, you're maintaining
that this whole area here,

around Blythe
and the Colorado River,

is an ancient homeland
of-of the Aztecs

-and-and the gods, too?
-Yes.

The geoglyphs were made by
the Nahuatl people.

The Nahuatl are the origin of
the Aztecas and the Mexicas.

So, they're the ones
that made 'em at first.

And then the Nahuatl people
made these geoglyphs to...

to honor, uh, the creator gods.

Right. And to not forget
where we came from.

Where we came from.
That's right.

NARRATOR: Could it be
that Blythe, California,

really was the ancestral home
of the Aztec people,

and that more than
1,000 years ago,

the area was visited by
extraterrestrial beings?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that the answers

may be found by examining

the most mysterious geoglyphs
of all,

incredible markings that are
invisible to the naked eye.

NARRATOR:
Palpa, Peru.

December 2017.

Researchers use state-of-the-art
drones to photograph

the famous Nazca Lines
with high-resolution cameras.

COLLINS: This is new technology
being employed

to search the landscape,

and to try and find
what the human eye

has not been able to notice
and not even from airplanes.

NARRATOR: What the researchers
find amazes them,

as the HD camera reveals dozens
of additional geoglyphs

that had never been seen before.

COLLINS:
They include a huge serpent,

and also a giant fish,

both of which
are cosmic symbols.

NEWMAN: The thing is, with some
of the figures found in Palpa,

they think they could be older
than some of the Nazca figures,

because they're on hillsides,
and it's known

that the Paracas culture, who
were around before the Nazca,

going back to probably 800 BC,
or even earlier.

It does suggest
that there was more cultures

than just
the Nazca people creating

these effigies and lines in that
part of the whole Nazca region.

NARRATOR:
More geoglyphs,

created by cultures stretching
back nearly 3,000 years?

But who were they?

What were they trying
to communicate?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
One has to wonder,

why did our ancestors
create these things

if they can only be appreciated
from the air?

Because here is the thing:
sometimes it has been proposed

that the Nazca Lines were crests

of different tribes,
of different societies.

But if I were a society leader,

and I had my crest created
on the ground,

but I could not see it, I would
not be very happy with that.

That many of them can
only be seen from the air,

that suggests to me that many
of the geoglyphs were in fact

created in order to contact
someone up there.

COLLINS: The ancients were
trying to represent

that which they believed
was coming from the cosmos,

and that they themselves
were trying to communicate

or make the link
with these cosmic beings.

NARRATOR: For ancient
astronaut theorists,

the link between the Nazca Lines

and extraterrestrial
communication is an obvious one.

They believe ancient man

would have no reason
to make such detailed

and elaborate representations
of life on Earth

unless they were trying
to communicate with someone.

They also cite recent images
recorded on Mars

as evidence
which supports their claims.

Certainly, the photographs

that have been taken
by the Mars orbiters

and the landers and the rovers
would suggest

there are actually
geoglyphs on Mars.

These geoglyphic formations
are structural,

like we see
with the American Indians,

the Mound Builders,
those type of formations.

We're also finding pictographic
images like the face on Mars,

which have facial features.

ERICH VON DANIKEN:
We have wonderful pictures

of the surface of Mars,
and definitely

on the surface of Mars,
we have some stone circles.

Nature does not
create stone circle.

Nature could make
one stone circle,

but not three or four
put together.

NARRATOR: Of particular
interest to researchers

is a recently discovered
geological anomaly

that strongly resembles
a species of bird.

In 2002, a member of
the Cydonia Institute discovered

a parrot formation in
the Argyre basin area of Mars.

After two geologists
and three veterinarians--

one being an avian specialist--
examined the formation,

they confirmed that the parrot
formation had over 17 points

of anatomical correctness, all
adhering to the proper shape,

size and orientation
to a real parrot.

The same motif can be
seen on a copper plate

produced by the Hopewell Indians
that features the same type

of parrot formation
with an upraised wing.

NARRATOR: Could the mysterious
parrot-shaped formation

on the surface of Mars
really offer a link

to the thousands of geoglyphs
found here on Earth?

And, if so, does it offer
evidence that extraterrestrials

have been using them as a form
of communication with humans

for thousands of years?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes, and believe

that the various geoglyphic
depictions of animals,

humans and birds may not have
been intended as mere artwork,

but as a form of language,

whose message for mankind
has yet to be decoded.

NARRATOR:
Elkab, Egypt.

June 2017.

A team of researchers
from Yale University

and the Royal Museums
of Art and History in Brussels

make an historic find.

While exploring this ancient
city, they discover a number

of rock art carvings,
which after closer examination,

date back
an estimated 5,200 years,

making them the oldest
monumental Egyptian hieroglyphs

ever discovered.

Using combinations of
various shapes and symbols,

including representations
of humans and animals,

hieroglyphics is regarded

as a highly sophisticated
writing system,

where every symbol
and combination of symbols

has a specific meaning.

When we look at the hieroglyphs
of ancient Egypt,

they seem to have come
from nowhere.

No one knows
where they came from,

no one knows who they really
were designed for,

or for their purpose, they just
appeared out of nowhere.

So where did these come from?

Were they sort of
just divinely inspired?

Was it some other reason,

was it some gods that emerged
and arrived

and presented them
with this information?

NARRATOR:
The term "hieroglyphics"

literally means "holy writing,"
and ancient Egyptian texts say

it was a gift given to them
from the god Thoth.

There are legends from
all over the world that sky gods

have come down to Earth
and given information

of science and learning,
and also communication

and of language to people.

And early language and alphabets
are these symbols.

(birds chirping)

ROMANY:
We're here in Luxor Temple,

and the hieroglyphs here...

are so interesting.

Most people would think that
ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs

is more like emojis, and symbols
where the sun and a cow

would meet the sky, and you have
this picture of the sky--

it's not pictures
next to each other.

It's a proper language.

It's a language
that has such precision

that people
from all over the world

can translate it
with the same exact meaning.

All this language
was from the god of knowledge.

That's what ancient
Egyptians believed,

that god Thoth gave them
the language, with all it has.

And the kings then used it

to also communicate
with their gods.

Ancient Egyptian kings knew
for a fact that their gods

understood hieroglyphs.

NARRATOR: As described
in the Pyramid Texts,

ancient Egyptian religious texts
that date back

more than 4,000 years,

a meteoric iron object
called the Benben stone

was reported as having descended
from the heavens

like a firebird.

(explosion)

Even Egyptologists agree
that this type of a shape

descended from the sky...

...and made
a controlled landing.

The Benben stone opened,
and people walked out,

the first creator gods.

Now, when I hear a story
like this, I wonder

if this thing may have been
some type of a craft,

because it is very reminiscent

of the top module
of an Apollo rocket.

The Benben came with
hieroglyphic inscriptions on it,

and it was the first form
of hieroglyphic language,

the gift from the gods.

This was the language
of the gods.

NARRATOR:
Did an otherworldly spacecraft

bring the language of
hieroglyphics to the people

of ancient Egypt
thousands of years ago?

And, if so, could there be
a connection between hieroglyphs

and the various individual
figures of animals,

shapes and symbols found
in the world's

petroglyphs and geoglyphs?

CHILDRESS: It would seem that
these petroglyphs and geoglyphs

are ultimately part
of this universal language

that's the forerunner

of hieroglyphic and pictographic
languages, too,

like the Chinese for example.

When we're really able
to understand

these geoglyphs or petroglyphs,

we may find
that there is a message for us

that we have been missing
all this time.

One day, hopefully,
we will find that knowledge

and know that message.

NARRATOR: If hieroglyphs
actually represent

a type of
ancient alien language,

could their earliest examples
exist carved into rocks

and etched in desert sands?

Could they be trying to tell us
that Earth's history

is very different
than the one we've been taught?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest that instead
of viewing them as symbols

of mankind's ancient past,

we should start to look at them
as part of mankind's future.

NARRATOR: Kanda,
the Republic of Macedonia.

There, isolated on a hill
in the middle of a vast steppe,

sits a giant geoglyph
depicting a symbol

known as the cosmic egg.

According to ancient mythology,

it is the great egg
of the universe

from which a powerful deity
is often hatched or born.

COLLINS: The concept
of the cosmic egg is universal.

But what's so interesting
is that a multinational team

who have been
investigating this site

have come to the conclusion
that it's orientated

towards the constellation
of Cassiopeia.

Cassiopeia represents
the queen of Heaven.

NARRATOR:
In addition to the alignment

of the egg with
the Cassiopeia constellation,

many scholars believe
that the symbol

contained in the egg represents
that of the cosmic god Se.

HENRY: He represents
the all-seeing god.

Macedonian myth
says that the god Se

was the child
of the great cosmic mother

and the supreme god father.

NARRATOR:
While there are various theories

as to who made the cosmic egg
geoglyph and why,

ancient astronaut theorists
agree on one point,

that this geoglyph,

like the thousands of others
found all across the world,

was intended to be more than
simply a work of art

or indicate a place of worship.

It was intended to communicate
something of great,

possibly intergalactic,
importance.

CHILDRESS:
It would seem that

extraterrestrials
arrived on Earth,

and then taught humans
the meanings of these symbols.

And then humans
then used these symbols

to try and contact the
extraterrestrials themselves,

either as giant geoglyphs
on the ground

to even just petroglyphs
on the rocks.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut
theorists suggest

that the notion that
petroglyphs and geoglyphs

could represent
a form of communication

taught to humans
by alien visitors

is supported by our own
relatively modern science

of semiotics.

It is the study
of signs and symbols

mankind will need to use
when trying to communicate,

not only with
future generations,

but with extraterrestrials.

EDGAR GARCIA:
Pictographs are more than

pretty simplistic pictures.

They are, in fact, another way
of communicating entirely,

not only on Earth, but in
a spacecraft sent to deep space

to communicate
perhaps with beings

we have no idea about
how they speak, write,

or make signification.

NARRATOR:
In 1991,

the United States
Department of Energy

assigned two teams of experts

to the task of devising
a marking system

for the Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant, or WIPP,

a nuclear waste facility

located in the salt beds
of the Delaware Basin,

26 miles east
of Carlsbad, New Mexico.

The project attempted
to find ways of communicating

the hazard of the plant

to humans living
in the distant future,

humans who may have developed
entirely new languages

or other forms of communication.

One prominent member
of the project

was space artist and science
journalist Jon Lomberg.

Lomberg had previously worked on
NASA's 1977 Voyager mission,

helping to determine
what sounds and images

should be included
on a pair of golden discs

being sent into deep space.

They put together
a panel of people

from a wide variety
of backgrounds,

including me as an artist

and as somebody
who had experience

trying to communicate
with extraterrestrials.

The idea being was,
if we can come up with a way

of communicating
with extraterrestrials,

then communicating with humans
10,000 years

or a half a million years away
should be a piece of cake.

NARRATOR: Through their
research, the teams determined

that simple images are
the most universally recognized.

But some can only be understood
when paired with other images.

We knew that there were
certain elements of human art

that had appeared so widely

that you could assume
everybody would understand them.

And they were: the comic strip.

The idea of a series of images
where first this happens,

and then this happens,
and then this happens,

you find that all over,

from ancient Egypt
to the plains tribes

to the Bayeux Tapestry.

The idea of telling
a story with pictures

seems to be something
that everybody knows.

So we used the linear story
and the stick figure

to try to explain
the meaning of symbols

like the poison symbol
or the nuclear radiation trefoil

or the "do not" sign.

None of these are universal,

but they're easily explained
with a little comic strip.

The whole of written human
history is only 5,000 years old.

It's only by the most
incredible efforts

that we're able to read
the earliest human languages.

So trying to guess how people
are going to understand things

10,000 years from now requires
incredibly imaginative thinking.

COLLINS:
Symbols are universal, and thus,

when we're looking
at hieroglyphs

or petroglyphs on rock

or geoglyphs,

we have to also recognize

that there are
universal symbols.

We may look at them today
and not be aware

of exactly what they mean.

Just possibly some of them

could have been influenced
by external sources,

non-terrestrial intelligences,

perhaps even extraterrestrials.

These messages
potentially contain

tremendous knowledge
for humanity.

It could be something
very simple

like "point yourselves
at this particular star system"

or "meet us at this
particular time and place."

And just imagine if
we don't get that message

and don't make that meeting,

or don't look to that
particular star system.

Humanity could be
in the balance.

NARRATOR: Could it be that
the petroglyphs and geoglyphs

found all over the world

are not only examples
of how early humans

communicated with each other,

but their attempt to replicate
a more sophisticated form

of extraterrestrial language?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes,

and believe the evidence
can be found

by investigating UFO encounters
in which witnesses

reported seeing
hieroglyphic writing

on alien spacecraft.

NARRATOR:
Rendlesham Forest.

Suffolk County, England.

December 26, 1980.

Near an airbase leased
to the United States Air Force

by the R. A. F.,

strange lights are reported
on the horizon.

Two U. S. servicemen
are dispatched to the site

to investigate what they believe

could be a possible
downed aircraft.

Some U. S. servicemen
at a base called Woodbridge

saw a strange light
over the forest

and went to investigate,

and in a clearing
came across this landed craft.

One of them saw these
strange sequence of symbols

upon the side of it.

The object then rose up
and disappeared out of sight.

What were these hieroglyphs?

Were we meant to see them?
Were we meant to record them?

There are some very famous cases

of hieroglyphs being seen
on the side

of what appeared to be
flying saucers or UFOs.

Another UFO incident

where hieroglyphs were seen
on the side of a strange craft

took place at Kecksburg,
in Pennsylvania.

On December 9, 1965,
a fireball was seen

streaking through the skies
of-of Michigan and Ontario

and then crashing
in Pennsylvania.

And this became known as
the Kecksburg UFO.

But what they said
that they found

on this bell-shaped object

were strange hieroglyphic
writing all along the base,

very similar to the early
pictographs and petroglyphs

and geoglyphs that we find
all over the world.

NARRATOR: Could the details
of these and other UFO reports

provide proof that
the geoglyphs and petroglyphs

found all across the world

were actually inspired by alien
encounters in the distant past?

HEGG: I believe that
one day we will break

the entire code of the
ancient language locked away

in the petroglyphs, geoglyphs,
and even megaliths of the world.

And in it, we may
find information

that is vital to mankind.

When we're really
able to understand

these geoglyphs and petroglyphs,

we may find that there is
a message for us

that we have been
missing all this time.

One day, hopefully,

we will find that knowledge
and know that message.

It may be that there's a sort of
metaphysical time lock

or a timeline for the decoding

of the petroglyphs
and geoglyphs.

Maybe now is the time

for us to fully understand
what those messages are.

NARRATOR: Perhaps the keys
to breaking the alien code

are all around us, and have been
hiding in plain sight

for thousands of years.

All we need to do to unlock
their mystery is to see them

from the same perspective as
our extraterrestrial ancestors.

We must look at them
from the sky.

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