Original subtitles

NARRATOR: A biblical relic of unimaginable power.

Lost artifacts that enabled communication with the gods.

And crystal skulls rumored to contain the wisdom

of lost civilizations.

For nearly two decades,

Ancient Aliens has traveled the globe,

exploring towering megalithic structures,

mysterious artifacts

and stories of otherworldly beings

in a quest for evidence that might reveal the truth

of our extraterrestrial origins.

Any sufficiently advanced technology

is indistinguishable from magic.

Now, we have multiple examples of that in the ancient world.

NARRATOR: Now, we take a look back

through the Ancient Aliens archives

to the show's very origins

to examine the evidence that we are not alone.

We have never been alone.

One of the most fundamental ideas

of the ancient astronaut theory

is what I refer to as "misunderstood technology."

Meaning that our ancestors witnessed

extraterrestrials using advanced technology

that they misinterpreted

-as something divine. -DAVID CHILDRESS: Exactly.

And we have a lot of examples of this in the Old Testament,

and we're starting

with the Ark of the Covenant, which is probably

the greatest extraterrestrial device ever written about

-by our ancestors. -Right.

WILLIAM HENRY: Oh, yeah. There's all sorts

of divine powers attributed

to the Ark that sound like a lost technology.

We talked about this

in a 2013 episode of Ancient Aliens--

"Aliens and the Lost Ark."

NARRATOR: The West Bank, July, 2013.

Ten miles north of the Israeli settlement of Beit El,

archaeologists unearth clay pots, stoves

and a portion of a wall

dating back to around 1300 BC.

But the most mundane of their findings here

may also be the most significant--

holes carved into the solid rock ground.

Based on the location and the date of the artifacts,

they believe these holes may have once held the wooden beams

used to support the Tabernacle at Shiloh.

If true, it is the first physical evidence

ever discovered of the ancient sanctuary built

to house what is perhaps the most mysterious religious relic

in the world:

The Ark of the Covenant.

The story of the Ark of the Covenant

is one of the most fascinating

and unexplored stories of the Bible.

The Ark of the Covenant had some very mysterious powers.

GRAHAM HANCOCK: The Ark of the Covenant was

what took me out of mainstream journalism.

I began to wonder, what... what could this thing have been?

NARRATOR: Reproductions of the Ark of the Covenant can be found

in churches, synagogues

and Masonic temples throughout the world.

It has even been featured in popular culture.

But just what is the Ark of the Covenant?

Mount Sinai, the 15th century BC.

According to the Bible's Book of Exodus,

after the Israelites were released from Egypt,

God summoned Moses to the peak of this holy mountain

and gave him two stone tablets

carved with the Ten Commandments.

He also gave him specific instructions

for building the Ark of the Covenant.

It was the box that was constructed

to contain the two tablets of the Ten Commandments,

which were irradiated with divine power,

because they had been touched by the finger of God.

The covenant itself was a contract between God, uh,

and the Israelites.

"I will be your God and protect you,

provided you keep my commandments."

Israel's end of the deal, then,

was going to be kept in the box,

which is the Ark itself.

NARRATOR: But the Ark of the Covenant

didn't only carry the Ten Commandments.

It was also said to be the throne of God himself.

In the Book of Exodus in the 25th chapter,

the verse is very clear.

God says to Moses, "V'asu li mikdash v'shachanti b'tocham."

"Have them make me a holy place,

and I, God, I will dwell among them."

And wherever the Ark went,

that power of God went with them.

The Ark is built in

a reflection of what's called a "heavenly ark."

It was built two and a half cubits,

by one and a half cubits, by one and a half cubits.

So the Ark would've been somewhere in the ballpark

of about a three-by-five foot rectangular box.

DOWNING: It was going to be covered with gold,

on the outside and the inside,

and was to have two gold rings at each of the four corners.

And it was carried with poles that were run through the rings.

And the orders were

that the poles should never be removed from the rings.

And the lid was to be made out of gold,

and on each end of the lid were to be, uh,

cherubim or guardian angels, basically, with wings.

NARRATOR: But why was it so important

that the Ark be constructed to such exact specifications?

And why would God, a spiritual being,

require a physical throne here on Earth?

Perhaps there is an answer

in the Bible's description of Moses

after he returned from Mount Sinai.

TZADOK: After Moses came down from Mount Sinai,

he was glowing, the Bible says,

that he had to wear a scarf over his face.

TSOUKALOS: I am fascinated with the idea

that Moses, all of a sudden, his appearance changed.

And so, the idea that Moses, all of a sudden,

looked different, we have to ask ourselves why?

NARRATOR: Just what did Moses encounter on Mount Sinai?

Was it God?

Or was it someone or something else?

TZADOK: God is clearly an entity not of this Earth,

and by definition, therefore, an extraterrestrial.

Where does he come from?

We must recognize that when the ancients are speaking

about God, there is no other term

that we can use to describe these experiences

other than "extraterrestrial."

NARRATOR: After the Ark was built

and the Ten Commandments placed within it,

the Israelites carried it with them

on their 40-year exodus through the desert.

The Ark of the Covenant was considered powerful,

because it was the meeting place of God and humanity.

And so, it had to be carried on poles

so that it could be conveyed without being touched.

Certain people were allowed to carry it,

and those people were ordained priests.

Aaron, Moses' brother, and his sons were certainly priests.

It was a prestigious job.

But you had to know what you were doing

DOWNING: Now, the Ark would be covered

while they're carrying it, with a cloth, so that

they really couldn't see what they were carrying.

And they were given strict orders

that they should not lift up the cloth

and look at the Ark and try to see it.

NARRATOR: But why was the Ark considered so dangerous

that it couldn't be touched, or even looked at?

According to the Old Testament accounts,

the Ark of the Covenant

was not only a powerful device on its own.

It also housed a number of other important religious relics.

In addition to the Ten Commandments,

it held Aaron's Rod--

the staff that could miraculously

turn into a serpent.

It also held a jar of manna, an edible starch

which reportedly came from the sky.

What we begin to realize is

that the Ark of the Covenant was a sort of tool kit.

And whence this tool kit was assembled,

we have the fully-functioning Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark went before them in the wilderness

and made sure the place

where the children of Israel were to go would be safe

and able to provide for them in the desert.

Anybody who's been to the Sinai Desert,

you could hardly imagine

two to three million people having any kind of sustenance

in a desert.

So, therefore, what the Ark must've accomplished

was profound.

NARRATOR: The Ark of the Covenant was said

to have protected and provided for the Israelites

during the Exodus.

But how?

You know, what makes the Ark of the Covenant

so fascinating is that

it not only held the Ten Commandments, but

also, other items that could have been technological devices.

Yeah, like Aaron's Rod.

And, you know, in addition to the Bible,

there's another ancient text

that describes the Ark and its powers,

-and that's the Zohar. -TSOUKALOS: Right.

And in the Zohar, it is described

that the Ark may have been some sort of a machine

that was dispensing food.

And these two electrical engineers--

George Sassoon and Rodney Dale--

actually built a replica of this device,

which we featured in the very first episode of Ancient Aliens.

NARRATOR: 13th century BC.

According to the Book of Exodus,

Moses, chosen by God,

led the Hebrew people out of Egypt.

Some 600,000 men, women and children

embarked on what would become a 40-year trek

through the Sinai Desert toward the promised land.

During this time, the Bible says

the Israelites survived

by eating a single food source-- manna.

But was this manna a naturally-abundant food

provided by God, or, as some believe,

by an advanced, food-dispensing machine?

TUDOR PARFITT: In the Bible, it explains how the Israelites

got from Egypt, where they'd been slaves,

to the promised land.

They had to cross

the Sinai Desert.

And inevitably, given that there was a lot of Israelites

and very little growing, as it was a desert,

they ran short on supplies.

God stepped in, at this point, and sent manna from Heaven.

This took the form of some kind of seeds

that rained down upon the desert,

and then they were collected the next day,

and they provided food for the Israelites,

except Friday, when there was a double portion,

because on Saturday, being the Sabbath, it didn't fall.

NARRATOR: While the Hebrew Bible fails

to give a clear description of manna,

another ancient Jewish text provides an alternative clue.

The Zohar is a collection of spiritual commentaries

and interpretations of the Torah,

and is central to the mystical Kabbalah belief

written in the 13th century.

The Zohar describes

what is called "the Ancient of Days"

as providing the manna.

But what was this Ancient of Days?

A man, a god, or something else?

The text speaks of different-sized brains,

different-sized faces.

They were connected with different tubes

and different light sources.

Theologians have suggested that this is a description of God.

However, when looked at from a modern perspective,

what is described in the Zohar

isn't necessarily a god figure,

but rather, a type of machine.

NARRATOR: Intrigued by this information,

two electrical engineers-- George Sassoon and Rodney Dale--

used the anatomical descriptions of the Ancient of Days

to design what they called "a manna machine."

DALE: This really is...

is the... the key diagram of the manna machine

as we built it up from the texts.

For instance, one-- here-- is the mouth.

But it's actually the air intake,

which carries what is described as "the breath of life."

The air goes up this tube here,

which is described as the... the brain of the ancient one

but is actually a dew still.

So that, although we were talking about the great sea

and the hairs of the beard and so on,

at the same time, we were able to work out

their relative positions

and build up the specification of the machine

and find that we had something that was biochemically viable.

♪ ♪

(speaking German)

(translated): The machine took in moist morning air

and condensed it in the part of the machine

that looked like a plexiglass dome.

From there, it mixed with an algae culture.

The culture was treated with energy,

such as a strong laser light, in order to speed the growth.

DALE: Of course, it needed energy for cultivating the alga.

And this was produced, we postulate,

in a small nuclear reactor which would produce

both heat and light as required.

(Fiebag speaking German)

(translated): The manna machine was a very dangerous device.

We suspect that the reactor that powered the machine

was transported in the Ark of the Covenant.

TSOUKALOS: We have multiple references in the Bible

that whoever came close to the Ark of the Covenant

and didn't know how to operate it

was smitten to death.

And sometimes people, after they encountered the Ark,

started to lose their nails and started to lose their hair.

So we have evidence of some type of radiation poisoning

which was in direct correlation with the Ark of the Covenant.

And so, the Ark of the Covenant

housed an extraterrestrial device

which was given to the Israelites

during their 40-year wandering through the desert.

NARRATOR: The manna machine is believed to have supplied

a highly nutritious form of green algae or chlorella

as its food source.

It's yet another theory supported by modern science.

DALE: We found that work in the field of space travel,

uh, had already been done

where the green alga chlorella was bred in tanks

and fed to people living in the closed environment,

uh, and kept them alive.

NARRATOR: Research studies done by NASA

in the 1960s and 1970s established that human life

could be sustained for extended periods of time

by consuming chlorella algae and nothing else.

If it's possible for astronauts to survive on algae,

could the Israelites have done the same?

(speaking German)

(translated): The manna machine was a sensitive device.

In order to function properly,

it had to be cleaned once a week.

On that day, the machine was taken apart and cleaned.

So it's possible that the Sabbath we have today

actually originated from cleaning this machine.

DALE: One of the big questions is:

Where did the machine come from?

And I suppose there are two answers to that.

Either it was built on Earth,

which is a theory I can't really subscribe to...

The other question, of course, is that it might have come

from outer space somewhere.

Now, that's quite a big leap of imagination.

But, of course, the interesting part is that

it actually produces food as is used by a spacecraft.

NARRATOR: Did the Ark of the Covenant really house a machine

that provided food to the Israelites

during their 40 years in the desert?

According to ancient astronaut theorists

and many religious scholars, the answer is yes.

But that wasn't the only power the Ark possessed,

for as the Ark could sustain life,

it could also destroy it.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The Jordan River.

A 200-mile border separating

the present-day Kingdom of Jordan

from Israel and the West Bank.

In 1400 BC, this waterway

represented one of the final obstacles

to the wandering Israelites' long-awaited entrance

into the promised land.

DOWNING: The Ark of the Covenant comes into its own

when Joshua is given the task

of, uh, leading Israel across the Jordan River.

And the story is that the Ark of the Covenant

would go first and be carried into the Jordan River.

The water would stop flowing.

Some energy came forth from the Ark,

causing the waters to literally stop and ascend,

and therefore creating dry land

for the entire children of Israel to pass on

off into the Holy Land.

NARRATOR: But if this biblical story is true,

what kind of power could the Ark of the Covenant have possessed

that would cause a raging river to stand still?

What if the people who wrote these stories

were simply reporting on what they were actually seeing?

If that's true, then the Ark of the Covenant

clearly represents a technology

that is more advanced than anything we have now.

If you want to part water, maybe a good way to do it

would be with high-speed winds.

If you blow enough air, you can get the water

out of the way, and you can actually

maybe even form those two walls of water.

CHILDRESS: There's some kind of technology that they're using,

and it's so that they can accomplish their goals

and continue on their journey, and they're able to use

this extraterrestrial technology to do it.

NARRATOR: According to the Bible's Book of Joshua,

the Ark of the Covenant once again proved

a powerful ally when the Israelites arrived

on the western banks of the Jordan River,

set on conquering the seemingly impenetrable

walled city of Jericho.

The reputation of the Israelites preceded them.

People were terrified.

They have heard the rumors of the power

of this great and awesome Ark.

They now come to the city of Jericho.

The people were commanded by God,

"March around the city walls."

They march around the city once on the first day.

The next day, they do the very same thing.

The third, fourth, fifth and the sixth day is the same thing.

On the seventh day, they march around,

and then they blow the trumpets, and all the people shout.

-(trumpets blasting) -(people yelling)

TZADOK: Between the marching of the feet,

the sounding of the rams' horns, the shofar,

and with some power not described from the Ark,

it enabled the big stone mighty walls of the city of Jericho

to somehow be vibrated with a...

earthquake-type force, which caused them to collapse.

(rumbling)

When I hear that they had to walk around Jericho seven times,

and then the trumpets were the ones

that allowed for those walls to crumble,

one would have to ask yourselves,

was there something else to it?

DENNIN: Knocking something down, like a wall, with pressure

is not inconceivable.

So you could imagine trying to do this.

Now, when you look at things, think of standard examples

that we experience.

When the space shuttle lands, we get the sonic boom.

And you can feel it rattling the walls,

and you can actually hear it.

That's far away.

Imagine getting the sonic boom closer to the object.

You might be able to do significant damage to the wall.

NARRATOR: Could the Israelites actually have witnessed

an advanced technology

beyond even our own modern capabilities?

A machine that could instantly part waters

and bring down stone walls?

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe the best evidence

that the Ark of the Covenant may have held alien technology

can be found by studying events that took place

300 years after the sacking of Jericho,

when the Ark was stolen.

According to the Book of Samuel,

when the Israelites went to battle

with the mighty Philistine army around 1100 BC,

they brought out the Ark of the Covenant

to aid them once again.

But God had not given them instructions to do so.

(thunder crashing)

Angered by their presumption

that they could use the Ark as a weapon without his orders,

he awarded victory to the Philistines,

who captured it as a trophy.

The Bible records very strange things

then started to happen.

Death, sickness broke out amongst the Philistines.

Now, in ancient times, they had no understanding of energy

or what we would maybe consider

something similar to a radioactive sickness.

They considered this to be displeasure of the god.

They placed the Ark next to a statue

of one of their gods, Dagan.

And they leave, and when they come back,

they see that Dagan's head has been decapitated

and his hands have been taken off.

So they say, "We've got to get rid of this thing."

DOWNING: And so they loaded

the Ark of the Covenant on a cart

and sent it off in the direction of an Israeli village

called Beth-Shemesh.

Then, of course, everyone ran up to look at the Ark.

And as a result, the Bible says,

70 men died when they looked at the Ark.

(explosive whooshing)

For those who have been fans of Raiders of the Lost Ark

and remember the last scene when Indy is shouting,

"Don't look, don't look, don't look..."

...that's where that story comes from.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The Old Testament contains

numerous other examples of the Ark's devastating powers

and ultimately depicts it as a deadly device

capable of striking down anyone who does not follow God's rules.

TZADOK: When Aaron, who was the high priest,

his two sons approached to give an offering,

it's stated that literally two beams of fire

came forth from the Ark and went up their nostrils

and burnt them from the inside,

leaving their entire outsides intact.

NARRATOR: Beams of fire?

Burning people from inside?

Why would an instrument of God contain such deadly powers?

If the Ark of the Covenant was truly divine,

why would it strike down two people

who were simply trying to make an offering?

TSOUKALOS: Wherever it showed up,

people would all of a sudden die.

In my opinion, it was a storage container

that housed some type of a nuclear device.

And having a nuclear device in the hands

of a technologically primitive society

would result in people dying left and right.

Naturally, people would refer to that as the wrath of God

when, in reality, it's nothing else

but the wrath of atomic power.

(explosive whooshing)

NARRATOR: Is it possible, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest,

that the Ark of the Covenant actually contained

a nuclear device?

One that was brought to Earth not by God

but by visitors from another planet?

JASON MARTELL: It's possible that the Ark of the Covenant

is some type of superweapon that was being controlled

or guided from an extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: Was the Ark of the Covenant actually a sophisticated,

high-tech device that was so advanced

that the ancient Israelites were unable to control it?

Perhaps.

But of all the Ark's alleged powers,

there was one that was the most incredible:

(electrical crackling)

Its ability to communicate directly with God.

There are so many fascinating things

about the Ark of the Covenant,

and one of the most interesting

is that only the high priests could approach the Ark,

and they had to wear a special garment when they did.

Oh, absolutely, and in fact, they did this primarily

to protect themselves from its incredible powers.

Like, they had to wear a special headdress, they had to wear

long robes and something that's called

the breastplate of judgment.

Yeah, that breastplate of judgment sounds like

a clear case of some misunderstood technology,

because that breastplate

had these gemstones in it that would light up and vibrate

when the high priest was interacting with the Ark.

That's a communications device.

NARRATOR: Petra, Jordan.

At the summit of Jebel Haroun,

a small white dome marks the tomb of Aaron,

the brother of Moses.

According to the Hebrew Bible, Aaron was chosen by God

to be the first high priest of the Israelites,

a title that came with enormous responsibility.

FEINSTEIN: Aaron, Moses's brother, served as priest of the people.

And then, following Aaron, the line of the priests

followed his genealogy.

They were the ones designated to carry the Ark.

And they were the ones permitted to come close to it in worship.

CARTER: The attire of the priests was beautiful,

but it was also there for their protection.

They had to wear a miter. They wore a breastplate.

They had to wear a long robe.

They had to keep certain areas of the body protected.

The head, the lungs, the heart, the genital area.

TZADOK: The high priest would have to have

these on to approach the Ark.

And when he approached the Ark, he had to have

a rope tied around his leg. Why?

So if and when something ever went wrong,

and the Ark struck him or he died...

...no one would be allowed to go in to retrieve his body

'cause they would suffer the same fate.

FEINSTEIN: On top of the Ark were the figures of two angels.

And it was said in the Bible that God's presence

came to rest in the tiny space between them.

That was the place where Heaven and Earth touched.

NARRATOR: The space between the angels on the lid of the Ark

was known as the mercy seat,

upon which the image of God would allegedly sit

when communicating with a Levite priest.

But did the Israelites really witness

an otherworldly presence between the two angels?

And if so, was it literally the image of God

or something else?

Based on the numerous accounts of the Ark's awesome power,

some ancient astronaut theorists have proposed

that it may have been an electrical capacitor,

a device used for storing and transmitting energy.

Some of the stories that have come out of history

about the Ark of the Covenant-- that it erupted in sparks

and flames and people would touch it

and die instantly, or that it leveled cities.

And many people have theorized that this is some type

of actual large energy capacitor.

Capacitor is exactly the right word to use.

It relies on static electricity. It's the simplest device.

You just need two conductors with an insulator between them.

You've got the outer gold,

a very nice conductor,

and then, if you open this up and look to the inside,

you'll see a second electrode.

So, what that's gonna look like...

Okay, you have the outer side of your Ark.

That's gonna, say, charge positive.

Then you have your inner wall of the Ark coated in gold.

And then you have an insulator in between;

that's just the wood you make the Ark out of.

Now, what you got to do is get negative charges

here on the inner side.

And the question is, how do I get my positive

and negative charges onto my Ark?

This is where the cherubs come in,

you have one sitting on top here

that's attached to the outer side,

and you can put charge on it and get your positive charge.

The other cherub is gonna be sitting here.

It won't be connected to the outer layer,

but it'll come in from a rod and connect to the inner side.

And this is where we'll put our negative charge.

So, what that looks like

over here at the Ark is this cherub

will not actually be attached to the outer conductor.

There'll be an insulator there,

and then it can have a rod that goes through and attaches

to the inner conductor.

Now, the Israelites claim to have actually been able

to see the presence of God between the two cherubs.

A representation of God.

Now, if they weren't actually seeing a representation of God,

could this arc of energy have been some type

of other energy device that they were seeing?

So, when we're thinking about the Israelites

seeing the image of God between the two cherub wings,

one of the things to keep in mind, I think,

is how the image of God was often described.

We have smoke, fire...

There's very rarely an actual, like,

visual picture of a person.

And so, if you picture what arcs of electricity will be doing,

there'll probably be a little bit of smoke,

um, there will be the really bright light,

there'll be a crackling noise.

That could certainly be something that would be

interpreted as an image of God.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that accounts of God's presence atop the Ark

were actually describing electrical discharge?

And if so, might someone, or something,

have been sending electrical signals

through the Ark of the Covenant

to communicate with the Israelites?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe such a notion

is not only possible, but all the more plausible...

...given the Biblical descriptions of a device

known as the breastplate of judgment.

According to the Book of Exodus, it was worn by the priests

when entering the tabernacle

and was adorned with 12 sacred gemstones

called the stones of fire,

which represented the 12 tribes of Israel.

And according to detailed accounts from sacred texts

known as the Talmud,

these gemstones played an important role

when communicating with God through the Ark.

Somehow, there would be a pulsating sound

emanating from on top of the cherubim.

And these pulsating, high-pitched sounds

would cause vibration in the stones on his breastplate.

The stones would actually start to light up.

There seems to be a very complex but very specific code

happening here that God is communicating through.

It was like some extraterrestrial Morse code

that was being received from the Ark of the Covenant.

NARRATOR: Jerusalem. 995 BC.

Nearly a century after the Philistines

returned the Ark to Judah,

King David transports it to the capital city

with plans to build an enormous temple in order to house it.

FEINSTEIN: It's Solomon, David's son,

who built the Temple of Jerusalem

and installed the Ark in the inner sanctum,

the Holy of Holies.

NARRATOR: Once installed in the Temple in 955 BC,

the mysterious Ark continued to serve the Israelites

for another three and a half centuries.

Until suddenly...

...it vanishes from history.

Book of Kings describes the destruction

of the city of Jerusalem. Says nothing about the Ark.

It disappears from the literary history

in the same way that it disappeared

from material history.

NARRATOR: But what happened to it?

Was it stolen?

Destroyed? Or was it deliberately hidden?

The fate of the Ark of the Covenant

remains unknown to this day.

And similarly, a lesser-known biblical artifact

of immense power has also been lost to history:

Solomon's Ring.

NARRATOR: Temple Mount, Jerusalem.

Summer 2013.

Just 164 feet from the Temple Mount's southern wall,

archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar makes a stunning discovery:

An inscribed earthenware jug that dates back 3,000 years...

...to the time of King Solomon.

The discovery may confirm what many historians have suggested,

that Solomon's Temple once stood at this exact location.

In addition to the historical significance,

the find intrigues treasure hunters,

as it may indicate that other, much more valuable relics

may also lie buried at Temple Mount.

Solomon's Temple was built in the tenth century BC

by the great king of Israel, Solomon.

And it was built, initially, to house the Ark of the Covenant.

NARRATOR: According to the Hebrew Bible,

Solomon's Temple was constructed upon direct orders from God.

Although it is best known for having housed

the Ark of the Covenant and possibly even the Holy Grail,

some treasure hunters believe another relic

of profound historical significance

may lie buried at the site,

a relic that ancient astronaut theorists claim

is of extraterrestrial origin:

Solomon's Ring.

McGOWAN: One of the lesser known great treasures of history

is Solomon's Ring.

And it is said that this ring

had the name of God engraved upon it

in a very secret and cryptic way.

The ring was representative of the authority

from beyond this world.

The wielder of that ring would be able to compel

any and all who recognized

that source of extraterrestrial power to do whatever he wished.

YOUNG: In the Islamic records, the Ring of Solomon

was given to him by angels.

It gave him magical powers.

Through this ring, he-he could control the jinn or genies.

NARRATOR: According to both the Quran and the Hebrew Talmud,

Solomon's Ring also aided him in constructing the temple itself.

MIKE BARA: Somehow, this ring gave him the power to control

otherworldly beings, for want of a better term.

Demons, you can call them genies,

or you can call them extraterrestrials.

TZADOK: Solomon was in need of a higher technology

in order to build his temple.

He knew that he had to contact Ashmodai--

later known by the Greek name Asmodeus--

who was the head of the daemons.

With this ring, clearly not of human origins,

Ashmodai was hereby compelled and required

to provide for Solomon whatever he needed

to fulfill the building of the temple of God.

So, Ashmodai gave to Solomon something called a shamir.

Now, the shamir is described in traditional literature

as this little worm that you put on the stone

and it would cut it precisely.

The shamir was a "worm"

that could cut and drill

through even the hardest of stones rather with ease.

What if the shamir was some type of laser cutting device?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that Solomon possessed

an extraterrestrial device wielding incredible power?

Power that gave its bearer

control and command of otherworldly beings?

And if so, might this explain the mystery

surrounding the disappearance of Solomon's Ring?

TZADOK: Solomon's Ring,

like many of the other temple treasures--

like the Ark of the Covenant--

were considered too hot to handle by average human beings.

These things were concealed when the time was made proper.

(indistinct shouting)

MARTIN: In 586 BC,

the first Temple, Solomon's Temple, was destroyed...

(weapons clanging)

...sacked by Nebuchadnezzar,

-the Babylonian king. -(shouting)

One theory holds

that the most fabulous treasure we can almost conceive of--

gold, silver, the Ark of the Covenant,

possibly Solomon's Ring--

are buried in a secret chamber beneath the Temple Mount.

NARRATOR: Was Solomon's Ring more than just a myth?

And is it possible that this ancient artifact

was, in fact, an extraterrestrial device?

Perhaps further evidence can be found

by examining the seemingly magical tools

of the Greek gods.

One of my most favorite quotes was written

by the sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke,

when he said that "any sufficiently advanced technology

is indistinguishable from magic."

Now, we have multiple examples of that

in the ancient world.

Yeah, like Perseus's magical helmet

-from Greek mythology. -Yes.

He puts this helmet on, he becomes invisible.

I mean, this sounds exactly like what modern scientists

are currently developing with the invisibility cloak.

CHILDRESS: Yeah, you have to ask

whether these ancient Greek writers are talking

about some kind of alien cloaking device.

We talked about this in an Ancient Aliens episode in 2013

called "Magic of the Gods."

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Dallas, Texas.

2011.

Researchers at the University of Texas's Nanotech Institute

discover a process

that can actually make objects invisible.

These scientists spin tiny carbon fibers into sheets...

...and submerge them into water.

An electrical charge heats the material

and changes the way the surrounding water bends light,

making an object appear to vanish at the turn of a switch.

RAY BAUGHMAN: We are not actually seeing

around the object we're cloaking.

What we're doing is we're, uh,

using the heated carbon nanotube sheet

to bend light.

So when we think we're looking in a particular direction,

we're actually looking at neighboring seawater.

We're using very extraordinary materials

to accomplish our mirage cloaking.

NARRATOR: But as innovative as this remarkable technology is...

...stories of devices with similar powers

can be found throughout history.

Serifos, Greece.

-(seabird calling) -It was here,

on this tiny island in the Aegean Sea,

the ancient Greeks believed the hero Perseus

set off on a seemingly impossible mission

to kill the fearsome gorgon Medusa.

So, Perseus had this incredible challenge,

because Medusa was powerful

and you just look at her and die.

So it is a true dangerous situation for the hero.

(whispering voices)

NARRATOR: According to mythology,

Perseus is given a magical helmet

that ultimately ensures his success.

Called the Helm of Darkness,

the cap belonged to Hades,

the god of the underworld.

BRIAN SOWERS: Perseus goes

on this adventure,

with the help of a number of the-the Greek gods.

He is given a number of mythological items

that are gonna help him on his journey.

He is given the Cap of Hades,

which will make him invisible.

(hissing)

He then successfully kills Medusa.

(roaring)

And the other two gorgons try to-to find him,

but they can't see him because he's wearing

the-the helm of invisibility.

NARRATOR: Did the Helm of Darkness really make Perseus disappear?

Or might there be another,

perhaps more scientific explanation?

WILCOCK: This could be

an ancient example of an advanced technology

using the bendable nature of light

and laws of physics that we're now aware of

to make something that seems to be impossible very attainable

and with a technology that anyone could use

if they wanted to.

NARRATOR: Is Hades' helmet evidence of an alien technology

once used in ancient times?

And if so,

might the tales of other magical devices in the distant past

offer proof that our ancestors had access

to other, even more highly advanced,

extraterrestrial tools?

Ponza, Italy.

Located in the Mediterranean Sea,

this crescent-shaped island is thought to be the legendary home

of the Greek goddess Circe,

a goddess thought to possess a wand with remarkable power.

But the notion of a wand as an instrument of magic

can be traced back even farther,

back to the very origins of magic itself.

YOUNG: The idea of magic comes from

the area known as Persia, or Iran.

This is from Zoroaster,

the Zoroastrian traditions and rituals.

The magi,

the priest of that belief system,

would use a-a handful of wands

as a magical intercession,

a way to connect the unseen world and the seen.

Magicians and leaders of all kind use staffs

and verges and rods and-and wands,

scepters, maces--

all from similar traditions.

The ancient accounts of Circe's famous wand

describe it as a formidable weapon,

capable of producing astonishing physical transformations.

TSOUKALOS: According to Greek mythology,

Circe was the daughter of Helios,

the god of the Sun.

And according to those legends,

she was incredibly beautiful.

In fact, she was radiant.

She was glowing, because she was not of this Earth.

The ancient Greeks considered her the goddess of magic.

The stories surrounding Circe

usually refer to her powerful wand,

with which she was able to transform people into animals.

Many different ancient legends

describe some sort of handheld device

that had incredible capability

to do things that would seem to be magical or even impossible.

We see Vishnu's spear.

We see Thor's hammer.

We see Zeus' thunderbolt.

This could very well all be examples

of a handheld technology

that extraterrestrial humans who look like us did possess.

NARRATOR: Might Circe have come

from a divine, possibly extraterrestrial lineage?

And if so, could her wand have been based

on highly advanced alien technology?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe such an idea is possible

and suggest more evidence

of an otherworldly connection in ancient Greece

can be found upon closer examination

of a device used to communicate with the gods.

When we're talking about ancient devices,

some of them are coming from the realm of mythology,

and so people can argue that it's all just fiction.

But some of these ancient devices

are coming from the historical record.

HENRY: Right. Like the famous

omphalos described in ancient Greece.

It sat next to the Oracle of Delphi

and relayed messages from the god Apollo.

Right, and it's described as this giant egg-shaped stone.

And according to legends, god Zeus descended inside of it

at Delphi.

And so you have to wonder, did the ancient Greeks encounter

some extraterrestrial device

that was used both for transportation

and communication?

(birds chirping)

NARRATOR: Delphi, Greece.

Near the Gulf of Corinth,

on the slopes of Mount Parnassus,

a religious shrine known as the Sanctuary of Apollo

was established sometime before 1200 BC.

It was here that the legendary Oracle of Delphi,

a succession of priestesses of Apollo,

prophesized for the people of Greece.

According to the Greek author Plutarch,

the oracle would enter a small chamber in the Temple of Apollo,

take her seat on a tripod,

and inhale sweet-smelling vapors,

inducing a trancelike state

from which she could communicate with the gods.

RICHARD RADER: It was the seat of Apollo's oracle.

So he was the one who provided prophecies there.

The priestess is there just as a conduit for it,

and in fact she has no power of her own.

(horse neighs, sputters)

So Apollo himself is not gonna show up

to actually deliver the oracles.

He's on Mount Olympus.

He's with the other Olympian gods.

His line is open for-for questions,

but he's not gonna show up himself.

Lots of people came to visit,

looking for answers to questions that they had.

And these are people not only in mythology

but, in fact, actual people in history coming to visit.

If you go to Delphi today,

you can see inscriptions

of the answers that were given to questions.

NARRATOR: Although the oracle made her final prophecy

over 1,600 years ago,

for many, the Sanctuary of Apollo

remains an important site

because of the relics and offerings

that may still lie there to this day.

But some believe that among these riches

lies a much more profound treasure:

an omphalos stone.

In Greek, the word "omphalos" literally translates to "navel."

And while there were numerous omphalos stones

throughout Greece,

the egg-shaped omphalos stone at Delphi was the most significant.

RADER: This navel

really just represents, sort of, the center of the Earth.

Now, not the center of what we think of as the Earth

but the center as in the most important place

for the Olympian gods.

One story is that Zeus sent

-some birds flying in different directions... -(hawk cries)

...and where they met was the omphalos.

That was the navel of the Earth.

This is where this oracle would be established.

NARRATOR: But in addition to marking the center of the Earth

for the Olympians,

in some ancient Greek accounts,

the omphalos stone was also the source of her prognostications.

RADER: Sometimes the omphalos stone exerts some power.

Sometimes it's just a vessel

for gaseous fumes that get you high

and put you in the right mindset to talk to the gods.

Sometimes it's just a stone.

TSOUKALOS: If true communication took place

between our world and extraterrestrials,

which the ancient Greek gods were,

then I prefer to think that some type of transmitter

was used and only the oracle knew how to operate it.

Why?

Because she was the chosen one.

It may be that the omphalos stone is a depiction

of a working technological device

that was not made of stone at all.

NARRATOR: Could the omphalos really have been a technological device

that enabled humans to communicate

with extraterrestrials?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and suggest a similar device

once existed half a world away,

in South America.

You know, just like the Greek omphalos

and the biblical Ark, there are stories from ancient Peru

about an object that could be used to communicate

with divine beings. In this case,

it's the Inca god Viracocha,

and the object is called Pachacuti's mirror.

Yeah, and King Pachacuti would look at this device

and see the image of Viracocha,

who would then speak to him.

I mean, this to me is an ancient description

of a modern-day video call on a smartphone.

Right. And the Incas also talked about an object called

the golden sun disc, which was hung in the Coricancha Temple

in Cuzco, and it apparently did the same thing.

I went there in 2017,

and you can still see the holes in the wall

where they hung the sun disk.

That episode was called "The Alien Disks."

NARRATOR: Cuzco, Peru.

Today, the Church of Santo Domingo

sits on the foundation stones of what was once considered

the most important temple to the ancient Inca,

the Coricancha Temple of the Sun.

The original structure, which is believed

to pre-date the Incan civilization,

was rebuilt in the 15th century by the ruler Pachacuti

after he came into possession of a mirrored disk.

Pachacuti is the first Inca

who really created the Inca as an empire,

not just as one of many cultures in the Andes.

ASHLEY COWIE: A legend has it that Pachacuti traveled

to a spring to the east of Cuzco.

A disk was said to have fallen from the sky into the spring.

And when Pachacuti lifted it out of the water,

he saw an image

of Viracocha the creator.

The apparition told Pachacuti,

"You will win many wars."

(yelling)

COWIE: Within ten years, Pachacuti expanded the empire

in a way that's never been seen in history before.

The myths say that he held that mirror

with him for the rest of his life,

and any answers he wanted,

to look into the future or what to do,

he consulted the mirror and the mirror told him what to do.

COWIE: The disk that Pachacuti found truly was his key,

and his driving force to become

one of the most powerful emperors in history.

NARRATOR: Pachacuti began the expansion

of the Incan territory from the valley of Cuzco

to encompass 2,500 miles of the west coast of South America;

from Quito, Ecuador

to Talca, Chile.

Worldwide-- it doesn't matter what ancient culture--

there's some type of a worship

of a disk

that came from the sky.

It is possible that this disk

had some type of an extraterrestrial connection,

and that this disk was a technological device.

CHILDRESS: You have to wonder,

was it some kind of extraterrestrial object

that Pachacuti was now carrying around with him

that allowed him to communicate

with these extraterrestrial gods that were guiding him?

WILCOCK: We've already had smartphones that have come out

in our own history where it's a lot more than what it appears.

You're looking at all of your apps,

you can watch movies on it,

you can send e-mail, you can have telephone calls,

you can have video calls, all kinds of things.

So, that disk may have been something

with a great deal of computer circuitry in it.

Something that had far more capability

than we could ever normally imagine.

NARRATOR: If the accounts of Pachacuti's magic disk are true,

could it have contained some sort of alien technology?

According to ancient astronaut theorists,

further evidence that alien disks exist on Earth

can be found in the Hayu Marca mountain region of Peru.

At the site, known by the locals

as the "Puerta de Hayu Marca"

or "Gate of the Gods,"

is an enormous 23-foot-high door-like structure

carved into the solid rock face.

Contained within it is a smaller, T-shaped opening

just under six feet in height

with a circular depression inside.

Local legends tells us that the gods

would use this as a gateway, or a stargate,

through which they would come and go.

They opened the doorway through this disk

that was placed in a little alcove

or etching place inside the doorway.

CHILDRESS: One of the stories, too, is that a high priest

named Amaru Meru utilized a disk

to open this door.

And so, this was his computer

or key that opened this dimensional doorway.

Once again, the disk is the key.

Here we have an apparent extraterrestrial technology

in the form of a disk, and you would then pop the disk

into where the door is, and that would open the portal.

This circular area has been found

where the door is located,

and so, it does suggest that there may be some veracity

to these ancient legends.

NARRATOR: Interestingly, the disk of Puerta de Hayu Marca

and Pachacuti's mirror are just two

of a number of mysterious disks that are said to have existed

throughout Central and South America.

And legend has it that the very same Coricancha Temple

that Pachacuti rebuilt

housed the empire's most prized possession,

a golden sun disk.

The artifact allegedly disappeared

just before the conquistadors, lead by Francisco Pizarro,

sacked the city in November of 1533.

Nearly five centuries later, in March of 2017,

author and world explorer David Childress

visited the site to see the very spot

where the legendary disk once hung from the wall.

It's thought that this spot here in the Coricancha Temple

is where the seven-foot-wide sun disk was held,

and a long rope was fastened

through these many holes,

and it held the sun disk in place

here in the center of the Coricancha Temple in Cuzco.

NARRATOR: According to Inca legend, the sun disk had existed

since the birth of human civilization.

They described the artifact as being made

from a translucent gold material that came from the heavens.

The disk was said by the Inca

to represent

Viracocha, the creator deity, the apex deity.

And in point of fact, just about every culture

in the ancient Andes also recognized Viracocha--

under various names-- as the creator deity.

COWIE: Legend has it that after Viracocha created the Moon

and the Sun, he created the first man and woman,

Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo.

The first thing Viracocha commanded Manco Cápac to do

on Earth was create the Incan golden sun disk.

The sun disk was an actual manifestation

of the creator on Earth.

They truly believed it was imbued

with supernatural, transdimensional forces,

and it was the point of communication

with the creator himself.

It was like a broadband connection to Viracocha.

CHILDRESS: The Incas believed that they could

go to this sun disk and ask it for help.

So you have to ask yourself,

was the Inca sun disk

some kind of communication device with extraterrestrials?

NARRATOR: If the Incan sun disk was a technological artifact--

one that was deliberately hidden by the Inca--

might it one day be found?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and suggest that remnants of other

advanced-- perhaps extraterrestrial-- devices

have already resurfaced.

You know, with all the devices

that we've discussed, most of them,

all we have are descriptions, but archaeologists

found some amazing devices that we can actually examine.

One of the coolest is the Antikythera device.

HENRY: Absolutely.

Discovered off the coast of Greece in a shipwreck.

It's considered the world's first analog computer,

and it's got all these gears in it.

They think that the sailors would use it

to navigate by the stars.

This thing's over 2,000 years old.

Right. Archaeologists were stunned

when they found it.

In fact, it's one of the first devices that

we've covered on the 2009

original special of Ancient Aliens.

NARRATOR: Did aliens really inspire our ancestors

to build ancient temples and pyramids?

And if they came here, did they leave behind

any advanced knowledge of physics,

astronomy or mathematics?

If so, is there any evidence that remains to this day?

One example might be this one,

often described as the world's first mechanical "computer."

It dates back over 2,000 years.

The Antikythera device was found in 1900

by sponge divers diving off a-a small island

in the Aegean called Antikythera.

There was a shipwreck there,

and in it was a coral-encrusted box,

and it was made of metal alloys,

and it then went to the Athens museum, where,

a good 50 years later,

they were able to X-ray this box,

and they were able to discern

cogged wheels that were interconnected

and give us a very good depiction

of what this thing was, and it is a computer.

It's a really sophisticated machine.

MARTELL: It's a very interesting piece of technology

because it served two purposes.

One was that it was an astronomical device

where you could, by using it, chart your position to the stars

and navigate your way through the seas.

It was also an astrological device,

so that someone could tell you,

ah, if you were born on this date

and your planet sign is this,

then certain things were going to happen to you

when the planets are in this alignment.

So, it was a very interesting piece of technology

that literally had more complicated gears

and inner workings than a modern-day Swiss watch.

And it's found to be dated, I think, like, 200 BC.

So, it's really an anomaly as to who could've created that

and what it was being used for.

When archeologists

first started to examine this thing in the 1950s,

they said that they never could conceive

of the ancient Greeks having such complicated machinery.

And in fact, they said this was tantamount

to finding a jet airplane in the tomb of King Tut.

NARRATOR: Even older than the Antikythera mechanism

are these carvings on a wall

at the Dendera Temple complex in Egypt.

To some, the strange designs look eerily similar

to objects very much in use today.

In Egypt, there is this underground crypt

at Dendera that was always secret,

and only the high priests

had access to that crypt.

It's very hot in there, very narrow, low ceiling.

And on the walls, you have these reliefs

of what looks like ancient light bulbs.

Because we have to question one thing,

how did the ancient Egyptians light the inside of their tombs?

NARRATOR: According to most mainstream archeologists,

torches were used by the ancient Egyptians

to light the pitch-black chambers of tombs and temples.

Yet nowhere on the ceilings is there

even the slightest evidence of soot or smoke residue.

But if torches weren't used,

how else could these ancient rooms

and hallways have been illuminated?

Another theory that was proposed

is that the light was directed from outside by copper mirrors.

And then there was... light.

Hey, that is a neat trick.

And they've actually tried to recreate that theory,

but unfortunately, they failed,

because only after a few corners,

the sunlight dissipated

because the copper mirrors were too weak.

Also, there isn't enough oxygen

inside those tombs

with which to support or feed a flame of a torch.

I was once inside the King's Chamber

inside the Pyramid of Giza,

and somebody turned off the lights,

and immediately, we were in pitch darkness.

And I said, "No problem.

I'll just take out my lighter from my satchel."

And I turn on the lighter, and it didn't work.

So, how were the insides of their temples lit?

I mean, the only remaining solution is,

by some sort of an artificial light source.

And that is, for example, a light bulb.

So, at an underground crypt at Dendera,

we find reliefs of such light bulbs.

CHILDRESS: Egyptologists' explanation of this...

And they have to have some explanation.

There's got to be one.

It has to be pretty mundane.

It can't be that it's an electrical device.

Their explanation is that

it is a lotus flower.

And what appears to be a bulb around is the aroma

of the lotus flower.

And so it's just a very odd depiction of a flower.

But another explanation, of course, would be,

they actually had electrical lights.

NARRATOR: But if the Ancient Egyptians had used some kind

of electric light to illuminate their passageways,

why does the visual evidence exist

only in the Temple at Dendera?

In Egypt, you had different areas of specialty.

And Dendera was the area

where the knowledge of the light-giving source was kept.

And this secret knowledge was kept by the high priests.

And they're the only ones who were privy

to this type of information,

because Dendera was the special place

where this specific knowledge

was guarded and kept.

NARRATOR: But how could the ancient Egyptians

have used anything resembling a modern-day light bulb

without access to electricity?

After all, electricity wouldn't be discovered

for thousands of years.

That is, of course, with the exception

of what scientists call "The Baghdad Battery."

MARTELL: The Baghdad battery was discovered in ancient Iraq.

Scholars today say there's no way

that ancient man was using electricity or light bulbs.

So, they look at this Baghdad battery--

and there's about a dozen of them

that have been found in Iraq--

and the only mainstream theory is

that they were using it for electroplating jewelry.

NARRATOR: Two major proponents of ancient alien theory--

Jason Martell and Giorgio Tsoukalos--

demonstrate just how the Baghdad battery

could generate electricity,

using a modern mock-up of the device.

Well, basically, this is made out of a clay pot,

clay just found naturally in that region in Southern Iraq.

And then they would use a small copper lining,

and something along the lines of an asphalt stopper

wrapped around an iron rod.

And these all applied together,

and the combination of some weak acidic acid--

vinegar, grape juice, orange juice,

in this case, wine--

would be able to generate a charge

by combining these elements with the rod,

the iron rod and the copper.

And the combination of that creates

an abundance of electricity.

So, what we're going to do is basically

just fill the clay pot with some orange juice here.

-I'll try not to spill it too much. -Okay.

And then we'll go ahead and put the copper rod back in there.

Copper and iron rod.

We'll give it a moment to kind of fill that copper area there.

And then, by turning on the volt meter,

and applying this to each side,

we should be able to generate a charge.

And there it goes, into the positive.

TSOUKALOS: Mm-hmm.

MARTELL: And if we give it some time

to get the electrolytes really buzzing in there,

you'll see that this volt will actually continue to rise.

It is a battery. Everybody agrees with that.

But nobody knows why they made it

and how they made it.

What mind would think of that?

You know, electrical current

back several thousand years ago?

It's very strange, but it's clearly a battery.

CHILDRESS: The whole idea

that ancient civilizations actually had knowledge

of electricity and used electricity

is an accepted archeological fact today.

Just like in our own civilization,

where, about 200 years ago,

Benjamin Franklin and other scientists began experimenting

with simple electrical devices,

we now have evidence

that over 3,000 years ago,

people were also experimenting with electrical devices.

Where might it have led them?

What other devices would they have been able to create?

(birds singing)

NARRATOR: Belize, Central America.

In 1924,

British adventurer Frederick Mitchell-Hedges

travelled here with his daughter Anna

to explore the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Lubaantun.

One afternoon, Anna climbed to the top

of a crumbling pyramid, hoping to see the ocean.

BILL HOMANN: It was high noon,

and she was at the top, and the way the sun came in,

the way the rocks had moved in that,

there was just a small opening,

and the light from the sun went through,

and it hit the top of the skull.

And she ran down, and she was all excited.

And she said, "There's someone in there with a flashlight."

NARRATOR: Anna's father and others

in their party were too large

to fit inside the small opening of the pyramid,

so they tied a rope around Anna and lowered her into the hole.

When she came back up,

Anna held the top of a strange crystal skull.

A second search uncovered a matching jaw.

The two-piece skull weighed 11 pounds, seven ounces,

and appeared to be carved from a single piece of rock crystal.

PHILIP COPPENS: It's the only crystal skull

which is almost perfectly humanoid.

It is the only crystal skull which has a detachable jaw.

And, when I say "almost perfectly humanoid,"--

the one thing which is missing is the sutures on the cranium.

It has a perfect cranium.

So, it almost suggests that,

even though it's a human crystal skull,

those who were carving it somehow felt

that this creature was not born.

It somehow came into this world perfectly.

NARRATOR: The skull's appearance created an immediate sensation

among the local tribesmen.

HOMANN: When the natives saw it,

it was like their god had returned.

They all started crying

and kissing the earth and everything.

They were just so excited.

And Mitchell-Hedges seeing this,

he presented it to the high priest.

And they put it in an altar, and for 24 hours a day,

they burned flames around the-the crystal skull.

NARRATOR: The Mayan elders believed

that in ancient times,

13 crystal skulls were buried

in secret places around the world.

Currently, it is claimed that seven have been found.

Four are in private collections,

and one each in the British Museum,

the Smithsonian,

and the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.

All have been the focus of intense examination,

speculation and even worship.

WHITFIELD: A lot of natives and a lot of people working

with crystal skulls say that the high-quartz-content skulls

and especially the quartz skulls themselves,

is the highest frequency or energy or vibration possible

on the physical plane.

And so, a lot of native people kind of worshipped

or took care of these objects

because they knew that they had

or felt that they had the highest energy possible

on the Earth plane.

NARRATOR: But what are the exact origins

of these mysterious crystal skulls?

Since their discovery, scientific tests have determined

that the two owned by the British Museum

and the Quai Branly were not authentic

pre-Columbian artifacts.

Could it be

that the Mitchell-Hedges skull was also a fake?

In the 1960s, it underwent extensive testing

by art curator Frank Dorland and the Hewlett-Packard Company.

HOMANN: They used the most advanced stuff that they had.

They could not find any marks on it,

except for around the jaw,

and I think a little bit around the eyes,

the only place they saw tool marks using their techniques.

At the time, Hewlett-Packard found

that the temperature always stays

about the same temperature,

no matter if it's in hot or cold.

It was carved against the lines of the crystal.

If anybody tried to do that,

it would break into a thousand pieces.

It's made out of a high-level of electronic crystal.

And, uh, they're not really sure exactly where it came from.

If you listen to the academics,

crystal skulls are all modern fabrications.

Meaning, somebody has gone on there with a wheel

and has carved them as such.

And this is where the big divide is

between established academics,

and alternative researchers like myself,

who feel that the academics are not using

all the available evidence to draw their conclusions.

And in short, we believe

that the academics are wrong in their conclusions.

NARRATOR: Are these skulls really ancient artifacts?

And if not, who-- or what-- carved them?

CHILDRESS: Crystal skulls,

according to certain stories, yes, they are alien artifacts.

Even... some people think they're made on another planet.

WHITFIELD: I think

there are links between crystal skulls and extraterrestrials,

not necessarily that they were carved

and created by extraterrestrials.

And I've been told they were created by humans,

but they were created specifically

to hold records from alien civilizations.

NARRATOR: Could there actually be some type

of coded information stored inside these skulls?

And if there is, how could it be retrieved?

WHITFIELD: There's a legend that there were 13 skulls,

and that when the 13 skulls come together

then something significant will change in the world.

TSOUKALOS: Legends suggest

that there are 12 additional worlds out there,

planets which are inhabited by intelligent species.

Now, we belong to those worlds, or to those planets,

and our planet, Earth, is called "planet of the children."

They also suggest that these 13 crystal skulls

that allegedly exist on planet Earth

were each brought here from one of those 12 planets,

and the 13th skull is the one

that apparently contains all of the information

of all those 12 different worlds.

CHILDRESS: Within each crystal skull, information is stored,

and, in fact, IBM has shown that, too,

that quartz crystal can store millions

of gigabytes of information.

And in fact, any quartz crystal, or a crystal skull

could hold much more information

than any computer we have now.

So when these crystal skulls would be brought together,

they begin to interface with each other.

And ultimately, a greater knowledge

and information is condensed and brought to us,

and that's the legend of the crystal skulls.

NARRATOR: Could the mysterious crystal skulls,

along with other legendary devices,

offer the ultimate proof

of mankind's extraterrestrial past,

and perhaps, one day, allow us

to reconnect with our alien ancestors?

As our own technology develops, and we're able

to see what we have

and then look back at these ancient stories

-and see how, you know, it could really be. -TSOUKALOS: Right.

And that is why the ancient astronaut theory makes sense,

because we can look at the ancient world

from a modern perspective,

and then deduce,

perhaps we have these ancient stories because

of our ancestors witnessing some sort of technology.

It's like we are rediscovering the original secrets of the gods

with this technology, and we're finding out

it was all about technology.

We're rediscovering this ancient technology,

and we ourselves are becoming like the gods.

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