All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S20E16.480p.x264-mSD[EZTVx.to].srt - eng(2)

NARRATOR:
Otherworldly visitors

who imparted knowledge.

AMIR HUSSAIN:
In many ancient cultures,

it's the gods
who show human beings

how to use technology.

NARRATOR:
Teachers who introduced mankind

to Earth-changing innovations.

HUGH NEWMAN:
They were master metalworkers

and they were born of the gods.

NARRATOR:
And their presence

altered the development
of human civilization.

PHILIP IMBROGNO:
They were sent here
to observe the human race

and guide them when it's needed.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that,
throughout history,

our planet has been visited
by teachers from the stars?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Ancient cultures were
very clear in saying

someone came from the sky
and taught them this stuff.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

♪ ♪

Athens, Greece.

In the shadow of the Acropolis

lie the ruins of an ancient
temple called the Lyceum.

More than 2,000 years ago,

it served as a school
of science and philosophy

founded by Aristotle.

Often referred to
as the world's first teacher,

Aristotle shared his wisdom

on nearly every aspect
of human knowledge,

from biology to ethics

and rhetoric to mathematics.

But according to Aristotle,

much of his knowledge came
from an even greater teacher,

one who was known only to him.

There was one idea from
Aristotle that was fascinating,

that was new,
that was different.

It was the idea
of a personal guiding spirit.

He called it the daemonium.

These ideas that would come
from unseen sources.

Some later theologies
called them guardian angels.

These weren't exactly gods.

They were like
personal advisors.

NARRATOR:
Across the planet,

ancient people wrote
about mysterious entities

or godlike beings who taught
them the skills they needed

to establish
their civilizations.

Most of us, uh, when we grow up,

have our parents as teachers,
our family members as teachers.

We go to school.
We have human teachers.

But there's this idea
that, in the ancient world,

the ultimate teachers
aren't just human beings

but the divine.

Many cultures and civilizations
have attribution myths.

How did we get what we have?

Many of them attribute it
to gods,

to teacher gods

who come and gift humanity

with the various things
that we need

in order to build civilizations.

(fire crackling)

NARRATOR:
While the passing down
of knowledge

by otherworldly teachers

is often interpreted
as merely mythological,

ancient astronaut theorists
suggest

the ubiquity of these stories

points to
a more profound explanation.

Are all these ancient stories

just a figment
of our ancestors' imagination?

Or is there a kernel of truth?

The ancient astronaut theory
teaches that, at some point,

our ancestors received knowledge
under the instruction

of visiting flesh-and-blood
extraterrestrials,

whom our ancestors
misinterpreted

as divine spiritual gods.

NARRATOR:
Accounts of otherworldly beings
teaching humans

date back to the beginning
of recorded history,

starting with
the world's first civilization,

the Sumerians.

Emerging in Mesopotamia
over 6,000 years ago,

the Sumerians were the first
people to develop agriculture,

the wheel

and a written language.

And according to their texts,

they attributed
all of this knowledge

to divine teachers
who came down from the heavens

known as the Anunnaki.

HUSSAIN:
In the Sumerian tradition,

Enlil, you know,
one of the gods,

teaches human beings
about agriculture,

teaches human beings
how to plow into the ground

and plant seeds.

It's the gods who show human
beings how to use technology,

how to create this technology.

WILLIAM HENRY:
The Anunnaki instruct humanity
in the various arts and sciences

and rudimentary knowledge
about civilization

and how to conduct themselves.

And this is the origin
of the Sumerians.

This is where they got
their knowledge.

This is why they're the first

with all of their discoveries
and inventions.

And it comes from the Anunnaki.

NARRATOR:
The Sumerian pantheon of gods

also includes a mysterious
figure known as Oannes.

Oannes was the first bringer
of knowledge,

especially mathematics.

And what's so interesting
about Oannes is that,

during the day,
he would be among the people

and teach various disciplines
of science.

And then, at night, he would
disappear into the water.

Is it possible that
our ancestors really were taught

by some sort
of an amphibious being

that initially descended
from the sky?

NARRATOR:
Could it be that the stories
of the Anunnaki

are not mythological

but eyewitness accounts
of extraterrestrial visitors

who shared their knowledge
in the distant past?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining ancient traditions

that have carried through
to the present day.

Shaanxi Province, China.

April 5, 2019.

(drumming)

At the Mausoleum
of the Yellow Emperor,

thousands of people
gather to watch

a traditional dragon dance.

KATHLEEN McGOWAN: The dragon
dance is an ancient ceremony,

which for thousands of years
has been a representation

of the dragons coming from the
sky and returning to the sky.

NARRATOR:
The ceremony in Shaanxi
celebrates

the deity considered to be the
father of all Chinese people,

the Yellow Emperor,

who lived
nearly 5,000 years ago.

The Yellow Emperor is, uh,

one of the earliest, uh,

mythical or semi-mythical rulers
of China.

He is held in extremely high
regard even today

by the Chinese people.

The Yellow Emperor gave
his subjects the lunar calendar,

mathematics,

advanced houses,

writing systems,

astronomy and a variety
of other elements

that really form the basis
for Chinese culture.

NARRATOR:
According to legend,

after the Yellow Emperor
shared his knowledge,

he left the planet
to return to his celestial home.

ANDREW COLLINS:
We find that,
at the end of his life,

he sees this dragon come down

and he literally climbs
aboard it

and is taken bodily into heaven.

So what's going on here?

Is it possible that that dragon

could be what we refer to today
as a UFO?

Some kind of craft
that we can see

in terms
of an extraterrestrial vehicle.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible
that Chinese civilization

was established with the help
of an extraterrestrial visitor

who came to Earth
in the distant past?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes

and suggest that figures like
the Yellow Emperor and Oannes

were only the first teachers
to influence mankind.

As evidence,
they point to stories

associated
with a technological innovation

that changed the course
of human history--

the mastery of metal.

NARRATOR:
According to archaeologists,

roughly 6,000 years ago,

there was a sudden advancement
in our technological ability

as civilizations began
to manipulate metal.

PAUL BAHN:
Metallurgy was a tremendous
step forward for humankind.

Although stone had been
extraordinarily useful

for hundreds of thousands
of years,

once metal becomes
very widespread,

then you have mass production
of all different kinds of tools

and weapons and plowshares
and so on.

So a very, very profound impact
on human development.

NARRATOR:
A key breakthrough was
the creation of bronze,

a metal alloy that consists
of copper and tin.

BAHN:
The development of bronze
is a whole new ballgame.

It's harder, it's less brittle

and you can make all kinds
of wonderful things,

particularly weapons,

slashing swords
and things like that.

NARRATOR: Curiously,
archaeological evidence suggests

that civilizations
across the globe

started making bronze
around the same time.

BILL BIRNES: The development
of metallurgy was intriguing,

because,
right about the same period,

that technology sprang up
all over the world

in different cultures.

What does that tell us?

It tells us
that this has to be taught.

Who taught them?

NARRATOR:
According to
mainstream historians,

this technological breakthrough

was simply the result
of human ingenuity.

But ancient astronaut theorists
believe

there may be
a more profound explanation.

And they point
to mythologies around the world

that claim the knowledge
of how to work with metals

was taught
by otherworldly beings,

like a mysterious group
in ancient Greece

known as the Telchines.

TSOUKALOS:
In the ancient Greek
mythologies,

there is
the so-called Telchines,

who were some of the earliest
metalsmith workers

of celestial origin

that taught the ancient Greeks
how to make swords,

and, essentially,
how to work metal.

HENRY:
The Telchines
were chimeric beings.

They're part human, part fish,

and they made all the magical
implements and technologies

of the Greek stories.

NEWMAN:
The Telchines were
born of the gods,

and they were even said
to have created

the trident of Poseidon

and the sickle of Cronus.

And they were kind of
master technologists

as well as working with metal.

TSOUKALOS:
The ancient Greeks were
very clear in saying

someone came from the sky--

in this case,
it was the Telchines--

that actually then spent time

with the ancient Greeks
and taught them this stuff.

NARRATOR:
Accounts of divine beings
who shared the secrets

of the forge can be found
across the globe.

In Egypt, the god Ptah spread
knowledge about metalworking.

Kanayago instructed
the ancient people of Japan.

And in Celtic lore,
smithcraft was taught

by the Tuatha Dé Danann,

advanced beings who arrived
in Ireland on cloud ships.

TSOUKALOS:
According to the ancient
astronaut theory,

all of these ancient cultures

from all continents
around the world

were, in fact, visited
by the same extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that early
civilizations across the globe

were taught how to work metal
by otherworldly visitors?

According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

support for this notion
can be found

not only in myths and legends

but also in physical evidence
that was recently retrieved

from the bottom of the ocean.

January 2015.

One mile
off the coast of Sicily,

archeologists excavate
a 2,600-year-old shipwreck.

They uncover an ancient treasure
trove of 39 metal ingots.

Spectrographic analysis
reveals the metal

is a mysterious alloy unlike
anything ever seen before.

CAROLINE WHITEHILL:
It's not gold, although
it looks a lot like gold.

It's not your typical
bronze alloy,

although it behaves
a lot like bronze.

It has a very beautiful shine,
and it's an uncommon metal.

These ingots are made
of five different metals.

We have copper, we have iron,

nickel, lead and zinc.

JEFF WILLIAMS:
What's interesting about this is

zinc only occurs in nature
as sphalerite.

It's a zinc sulfur complex.

In order to create zinc,

you have to actually process
the zinc out of this sulfide.

They didn't have
that technology back then.

We didn't have zinc until
about a thousand years ago,

and this is 2,600 years old.

NARRATOR:
Scientists were
astounded to discover

that this advanced alloy
had been produced

centuries before humans are
thought to have had the ability

to manipulate elements
like zinc into metals.

And they were
even more surprised

when they found
that the ingots closely matched

a legendary metal described
by the Greek philosopher Plato

in the fourth century BC
called orichalcum.

Orichalcum is
a very precious metal

that is talked about
in the accounts of Atlantis,

written by Plato
as early as 350 BC.

It was second up in value
to gold itself,

and that a large part
of the city of Atlantis

was actually covered
in orichalcum.

HENRY:
According to Plato, the Temple
of Poseidon in Atlantis

was covered with orichalcum,

that the interior walls
and floors were lined with it,

and that it gleamed red
and white light.

NARRATOR:
According to Plato's story,

the Greek god Cadmus,
grandson of Poseidon,

came down from Mount Olympus
and gave orichalcum

to the people of Atlantis.

COLLINS:
Cadmus is

one of the legendary founders
of Greek civilization.

And quite clearly,

he was a very inspired
alchemist or smithy

who had this knowledge

of how to create
this divine metal.

It's quite interesting, really,
that here is this,

what people thought
was a mythological metal,

that Plato, you know,
had just kind of made up

as part of his Atlantis story.

And yet, we are finding ingots
of this metal in shipwrecks.

How amazing is that?

NEWMAN:
People have kind of gone crazy
about this over the years.

They suggest this could
be evidence of Atlantis itself.

NARRATOR:
Could this mysterious alloy,

found off the coast of Sicily,

be proof that humans were shown
how to manipulate metal

by otherworldly beings
thousands of years ago?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest that
further evidence can be found

in accounts of people
who communicated

with extraterrestrial
teachers face-to-face.

NARRATOR:
A Bedouin shepherd
exploring a cave

13 miles east of Jerusalem

comes across hundreds
of ancient parchments.

Known as the Dead Sea Scrolls,
the documents contain

the oldest versions of the Bible
ever discovered.

Among them
is a controversial text

that describes an encounter
between a man named Enoch

and a mysterious group
of otherworldly teachers

called the watchers.

COLLINS:
Enoch was the great prophet

of the Book of Genesis.

It was he that encountered
the watchers.

And it was said

that they gave
the sciences of heaven,

the rudiments of civilization.

IMBROGNO:
Enoch referred to these people,

whoever they are,
as the watchers.

Now, the watchers were
actually a group of beings

that we refer to as angels,

that were specially sent here
to observe the evolution

of the human race
and guide them when it's needed.

NARRATOR:
The Book of Enoch is
a first-hand account

of the biblical patriarch's
encounter with the watchers.

According to the text,

the watchers brought Enoch
to heaven in a fiery chariot.

TSOUKALOS:
The Book of Enoch

was clearly
an eyewitness account

because he describes everything.

"I, Enoch, did this."

"I, Enoch, went there,
and then, I saw this."

Enoch was taken into
that celestial realm

and the watchers imparted
certain knowledge to him.

For example,
the "angels" said to him,

"Look out the window,

"and see that you're
looking at the Moon.

The Moon has light,
but it comes from the Sun."

Well, this is deep
astronomical knowledge

which, at the time,
really was not known.

Now, you exchange
the word "angels"

with "extraterrestrials,"
and there you have your story.

NARRATOR:
According to
ancient Islamic texts,

Enoch used his newfound
knowledge to create

a breathtaking monument that can
still be seen to this day,

the Great Pyramid of Giza.

COLLINS:
Conventional thinking

says that the Great Pyramid
was built by the pharaoh Cheops

in around 2500 BC as his tomb.

However, ancient accounts
that we have

from Arab writers
and historians,

like al-Maqrizi, tells us

that the designer
of the Great Pyramid was Idris.

"Idris" is the Arabic form
of the name "Enoch."

HENRY:
Al-Maqrizi says
that the pyramids

were built by Enoch,

who was tutored
by the watcher angels

who told him
to come back down to Earth

and build the pyramids
as a repository

for ancient knowledge.

VON DÄNIKEN:
Enoch was educated
by the extraterrestrials.

He learned their language,
they teached him

in astronomy and in engineering.

They dictated him
technological stuff.

How can you construct this,
how can you measure this,

how can you transport
the stone blocks

but with the knowledge
and the teaching

of extraterrestrials?

The reality is,
extraterrestrials were here

thousands of years ago.

NARRATOR:
As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the Book of Enoch reveals
that extraterrestrial teachers

chose certain individuals

to help disseminate knowledge
to humankind.

And they say
further evidence of this

can be found in the ancient
Sanskrit texts of India.

At the center
of this sprawling metropolis

is the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute.

Its collection maintains
the oldest known manuscripts

of the Vedas,

the religious texts
that form the basis of Hinduism.

These sacred teachings are
more than 8,000 years old,

and Hindus believe they come
directly from the gods.

STEAVU:
The word "Veda" means
"knowledge" in Sanskrit.

And so there is
this close association

with a special type of,

uh, wisdom or knowledge that is
transmitted through the Vedas.

Originally the Vedas were
revealed by the gods

to a certain class
of spiritual elect.

And the Vedas were
transmitted orally

from generation to generation
for a very long time.

YOUNG:
The Vedas was part of
the secret lore

of Hinduism that would only be
entrusted to the wisdom keepers,

a very select body of
scholars who would hold

the powerful knowledge,
sometimes called "Sitis,"

or spiritual powers,

that the public might
not be quite ready for.

NARRATOR:
The Vedas and other
ancient Sanskrit texts of India

contain detailed passages
that describe

divine beings
who descended from the sky

and shared knowledge
with a select group of people.

HENRY:
The Vedas tell us that the gods
taught humans how to chant,

how to pray and to sing

in order to communicate
with the gods.

TSOUKALOS:
The Vedas are filled
with flying chariots,

the so-called vimanas.

There's a very interesting part
in the Mahabharata

where a King Revita actually

visits the celestial palace
of Brahma.

Brahma was
the Hindu creator god.

Everything came from Brahma.

And King Revita was actually
taken into the heavens

in a chariot to visit
this gigantic palace.

NARRATOR:
Similar encounters
with mysterious teachers

can be found
in the traditions of

many other ancient
cultures across the world.

YOUNG:
In Buddhism,
Emperor Ashoka consulted

with a secret society
called "the nine unknown men,"

who possess
the knowledge of the universe.

Similar societies existed
in ancient Egypt,

and the ideas were only taught

on a very selective basis.

TSOUKALOS:
That is the connection
of the ancient astronaut theory.

It's not that they all,
out of nowhere,

came up with the same ideas.

But according to
the ancient legends

and mythologies
that our ancestors impart to us,

they say that this knowledge
was given to them

by the so-called gods
that descended from the sky.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that certain
people were in direct contact

with extraterrestrial teachers
in the distant past?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes, and suggest

that this communication
continues to this very day.

And as evidence,

they point to a 19th-century
Russian noblewoman,

whose claims
of otherworldly teachers

laid the foundation for
what would become known as...

the "ancient astronaut theory."

NARRATOR:
Madame Helena Blavatsky

founds a new group called
the Theosophical Society,

dedicated to researching and
revealing the lost civilizations

and forgotten wisdom
of the ancient world.

Madame Blavatsky was
a very well-educated

Russian aristocrat

who had the goal of finding

the unified field theory
of religion.

And she started gathering up

all of these
different traditions,

and finding
where they overlapped,

finding where
they repeated each other,

and coming up with
a wisdom teaching, if you will.

In the mid to late 1800s,

this was
a very popular movement.

GARY LACHMAN:
Theosophy means
the wisdom of the gods.

And the idea of the society
is that they would study

ancient wisdom.

And one of the key aims
of the Theosophical Society

was the creation of
a universal brotherhood,

you know, regardless
of race, creed, color.

NARRATOR:
Before arriving in New York,
Blavatsky traveled widely

in Egypt and India, absorbing
ancient esoteric knowledge.

Madame Blavatsky becomes
interested

in the esoteric world
as a teenager.

And then in her early adulthood
goes off on these

sort of grand adventures.

Eventually,
these adventures take her

to India,
and take her to Tibet.

And throughout this process,

she begins to communicate with

intelligences
that are referred to as

mahatmas or Ascended Masters.

She claimed that these
Ascended Masters were actually

the masters of civilizations
that appeared

on planet Earth
before the human race.

And that they would give
her knowledge, and she would use

that knowledge to pass it on
to individuals to guide them.

LACHMAN:
They had developed to
a higher state of consciousness

so they could communicate
telepathically

and cause things to materialize
and things of that sort.

NARRATOR:
In 1877, Madam Blavatsky
published her ideas

in the book Isis Unveiled.

But rather than take credit,
she claimed her knowledge

came from an unseen source.

BIRNES: One of the things
that Helena Blavatsky taught

was the idea of
automatic writing.

That meant that,
in a meditative state,

your hand was guided
by the Ascended Masters.

And you could write--
not knowing what

you wrote, but you could write,

and what you wrote was

the instruction
from the ancient masters.

McGOWAN:
It is said that she wrote
her entire first book,

Isis Unveiled, with her eyes
closed as automatic writing.

She was the channel that
brought forth this information.

NARRATOR:
According to
Madame Blavatsky,

the Ascended Masters taught her
about ancient civilizations

and profound wisdom
that had been lost to time.

She wrote this notion
that there were previous

civilizations:
Atlantis, Lemuria, uh,

there's something
called the Imperishable Land.

She pushes back
appearance of civilization

much, much further back in time.

According to Madame Blavatsky,
Atlantis and Lemuria

were destroyed
in the flood of the Bible.

And in many ways, her scenario

of Earth and the past
is very much

a precursor
to ancient astronaut theory,

where she's also
got gods from outer space.

NARRATOR:
Many important figures
joined the Theosophical Society,

like Thomas Edison, Nobel
Prize-winning poet W.B. Yeats,

and civil war hero
Abner Doubleday,

who invented baseball.

But Madame Blavatsky had a
particularly profound influence

on a young Indian law student
named Mohandas Gandhi.

Gandhi finds himself
in Madam Blavatsky's salon

in 1889, when he is
a law student in London.

And he is completely--
not only captivated by her,

but changed
by his encounter with her.

LACHMAN:
He was introduced to
the Bhagavad Gita, one of

the great works of
his own nation,

his own religion,
by Madame Blavatsky.

And it was actually
through his introduction

to the Bhagavad Gita
that Gandhi developed "ahimsa,"

which is his philosophy
of non-violence.

NARRATOR:
Inspired in part
by Blavatsky's teachings,

the young lawyer would go on to
become a civil rights activist.

And in 1947, Mohandas Gandhi
would lead India to independence

from British rule.

LACHMAN:
Gandhi, until the last day
of his life,

had nothing but good words
to say about theosophy.

NARRATOR:
Were the teachings of
Madame Blavatsky a result of

influence from mysterious
Ascended Masters?

And if so,
who-- or what-- were they?

Perhaps clues can be found
by examining

influential figures
throughout history

who received instructions
from otherworldly beings.

BIRNES:
Across the planet,
there were these specific areas

where someone with...
call it clairvoyant vision

was able to communicate
with an entity,

a supernatural entity.

In Greece, it was
the Oracle of Delphi.

IMBROGNO:
The Oracle of Delphi
would go into a trance

and channel messages
from the god Apollo.

People would go there-- kings--
if they wanted to go to war,

if they wanted
to change something.

NARRATOR:
Otherworldly guidance
also had a profound impact

on the foundation of Buddhism.

In Buddha's story,
it's very clear

that his meditation under
the bo tree is what put him

in communication with
these otherworldly beings,

and through which he received
his inspiration.

CHILDRESS:
Buddhism itself completely
changed India and Tibet,

China, Korea,
Japan, Southeast Asia.

And we have to wonder,
you know, is meditation

a way to connect to the gods?

NARRATOR:
Could it be
that the Ascended Masters

Madam Blavatsky claimed
to channel were part of

a long line of
extraterrestrial teachers?

And if so, what was their goal?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest these efforts

are part of
an extraterrestrial agenda

to usher in
a new era of humanity

among the stars.

NARRATOR:
Throughout history,
there are stories

of otherworldly teachers
who have shared wisdom

and altered the course
of human civilization.

Could this still be
happening today?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes...

and as evidence,
they point to a mysterious event

that occurred
in Kingman, Arizona.

On May 21, 1953,

eyewitnesses reported
that a disc-shaped object

crashed in the desert
outside the city.

Two days later,

government scientists were
bussed into the area

to investigate the crashed UFO.

MIKE SCHRATT:
When they got there,
it was nighttime.

There were MPs
on all corners of the craft.

It's about a 40-foot-diameter
disc-shaped craft.

It was perfectly intact,
there wasn't a scratch on it.

NARRATOR:
According to reports,
the wreckage was sent

to the top secret
military installation

known as Area 51.

And with the craft was
a survivor from the crash:

an alien entity known as J-Rod.

DENNETT:
J-Rod is an alien

who allegedly worked at Area 51
over a period of years.

It was J-Rod's mission or duty

to help reverse engineer

technology that was, apparently,

from the 1953 Kingman UFO crash.

J-Rod was one of
the crash survivors

and worked directly
with our own government.

NARRATOR:
According to former Air Force
test pilot Bill Uhouse,

J-Rod taught the U.S. military

how to reverse engineer
alien technology.

BILL UHOUSE:
I called him J-Rod.

That's the name that the,
the linguists gave him.

And he talked, he would talk,
but he'd sound just like,

if you spoke,
he'd sound like you.

But he'd try and answer
your question, you know.

Basically, it was only

engineering advice
or science advice.

NARRATOR:
In the years following

the Kingman UFO crash,
scientists at Area 51

developed some of the military's
greatest innovations,

including stealth technology.

Is it possible
that these breakthroughs

were guided
by an extraterrestrial being?

The idea of UFO crashes

and subsequent retrievals
by the government

is central to the whole
UFO phenomenon.

There are many such cases.

Roswell, of course, 1947.

The Kecksburg incident
from 1965.

It's interesting to look

at the sudden
explosion of technology

just about at the time

that these UFO crashes
were first reported.

You see us go

from propeller aircraft

to space rockets

in just a few short years.

HENRY:
Are these crashes
possibly intentional?

Could these be
a gift from the teachers,

assisting us in recreating

or disassembling this technology

and recreating it
in a human fashion?

NARRATOR:
Is it possible
that extraterrestrials

not only taught humanity
in the distant past

but continue to share
knowledge with us today?

And if so, why?

CHILDRESS:
There's many stories

of people who've had contact

with extraterrestrials
who tell us

that they want to lift us up.

They want us to know science
and technology like them.

TSOUKALOS:
What's interesting
in all of these ancient

but also modern encounters
with extraterrestrials,

it seems that there is
an agenda.

To me, one of the most
important things

that the universe has to offer

is the spreading of life
and information.

And this doesn't happen
by happenstance.

It needs intelligence behind it.

And so, ultimately,

I think they, too,
want us to travel out there

and impart knowledge
or spread out this information.

CHILDRESS:
Part of ancient
astronaut theory is that

our mission and goal

and what our extraterrestrial
ancestors have wanted us to do

is be like them.

They want us to achieve

the same things
that they achieved.

They want us to be
a spacefaring nation.

HENRY:
It's up to us to take
that message into our hearts

and recognize that humanity is
on the precipice of actually

being able now to colonize
our nearby star system.

And with that comes
tremendous responsibility.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that humans are

fulfilling
an extraterrestrial agenda?

One that for thousands of years

has been guided
by otherworldly teachers?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes

and suggest evidence of this
can be found by examining

a recent discovery
in our own genetic code.

NARRATOR:
According to anthropologists,

approximately 50,000 years ago,

humanity experienced
a rapid development

in language, art and technology.

Curiously,
many researchers believe

that this was not only
the result of evolution

but that the genes
of ancient humans

went through a sudden change.

WHITEHILL:
There's a very important
transition that happened

about 50,000 years ago

that appears
to have been a genetic switch,

that set apart
a huge gulf between us

and our predecessors.

Languages became more complex
and more creative.

We see paintings that depict

not just what's happening
around them but some sort

of philosophical or esoteric
explanation of things.

TSOUKALOS:
50,000 years ago,

our brain volume
increased by 60%.

That is something that,

according
to Darwinian evolution,

couldn't happen that quickly,
because evolution needs time.

So, what happened?

One of the basic tenets

of the ancient astronaut theory

is that, long ago,

extraterrestrials
finagled our DNA

and essentially gave us
a bigger brain.

VON DÄNIKEN:
The humans on this planet

from the family of apes,
we are part of that,

but we are also part
of extraterrestrials,

because the extraterrestrials
changed the humans

according their own image.

We are a mixture

of human evolution
and extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that,
tens of thousands of years ago,

human DNA was manipulated
by extraterrestrial beings?

And if so, did they design us

to be like them
so that they could teach us

and lead us towards becoming

a technologically
advanced civilization?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that a distant memory

of the genetic transformation
of the human race

is preserved
in ancient writings.

HENRY:
Beginning
with the Sumerian accounts

of the Anunnaki,
who transformed us

by making us a hybrid being
and activating our intelligence,

we have stories
all over the world

of a similar situation where

an otherworldly being
is responsible

for a transformation
of humanity.

NARRATOR:
In Greek mythology,
the god Prometheus is

responsible for creating humans
and advancing our intelligence.

The ancient Egyptians
credited the god Ptah

with the same achievements.

And in the Hebrew Bible's
Book of Genesis,

Adam and Eve have
a mind-altering experience

in the Garden of Eden

when a serpent-like being
tempts Eve with an apple.

McGOWAN:
Eve comes along
and shares the apple with Adam,

and all of a sudden,

they both have this sort
of instantaneous awareness,

this understanding
of who they are as humans

and an understanding
of the world

that they didn't have before.

COLLINS:
Is it possible
that the serpent of Eden is

the memory of some kind
of higher intelligence,

some kind of teacher

that was in touch
with our ancestors

and that this story became
the foundation point

of the Book of Genesis itself?

NARRATOR:
Have otherworldly teachers
been fostering human progress

for thousands of years,

continuing right up
to the present day?

And if these beings were

responsible for activating
our intelligence,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest,

could this evolution be
exactly what they intended

for humanity all along?

According
to the ancient astronaut theory,

we are their offspring.

They made us
homo sapiens sapiens

that we are today.

If you have such a creation,

I don't think you'd would
just abandon that.

And in order for this
whole experiment to work,

these extraterrestrials
then also would show up

and be our teachers.

And today is not the end of this

because they want
to see our progress.

It would not surprise me

that they're here
and still enhancing us

to ensure our future survival.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that humans

are part of
an extraterrestrial experiment,

one that not only began with
the manipulation of our DNA

but has been continued
by otherworldly teachers

for thousands of years?

Perhaps as new technology
allows us to venture deeper

and deeper into space,

we will fulfill an alien agenda

that was set in motion
long ago...

...and become
extraterrestrial teachers

ourselves.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS