I probably shouldn’t ask this, but do you believe the Earth has been visited by intelligent extraterrestrials?  Do you think we are STILL being visited, or “watched”, by aliens?  Do you believe an alien culture was instrumental in the development of our culture on Earth?

We’ve all heard the theory that aliens visited the Earth in antiquity, and that they were regarded as gods.  In May of 2008, the Vatican even agreed that there was a possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and that it (the Church) was okay with that belief.  Wow.  That would’ve got you burned at the stake a few centuries ago.

A very interesting read in 1968.

In 1968 Erich von Danikan published Chariots of the Gods, an international best-seller which hypothesized that ancient technologies and ancient religions where based on alien visitation.  Many of the artifacts von Danikan presented in his book have since been proven by science as having terrestrial origins, but many more are still puzzling and intriguing.

Mayan tomb image. Has been interpreted to show a humanoid figure within a spacecraft.

Jomon statue - has been interpreted as a figure of an ancient astronaut.

The issue heats up when you start looking at archaeological remains.  They’re digging up evidence of civilizations much older than we had thought existed.  The underwater remains are especially intriguing.  Proponents of the theory say that there is evidence of ancient alien visitation in the archaeological record.  I don’t know about that, but I do know that some of the artifacts unearthed are thrilling in their mystery.  Take, for example, the Antikythera Mechanism.

Main fragment of the Antikythera Mechanism - they salvaged three fragments.

That’s mind blowing, in itself.  In fragments, this was discovered in an ancient shipwreck in 1901.  It’s been studied for years, and is now known to be the remains of a complex and sophisticated scientific calculator used to predict the positions of celestial bodies.  This machine has been dated at about 150-65 BCE.  You can go here and watch a computer reconstruction of the device, or go here to the website devoted to research on the device.

Does this mean we have been visited by an alien culture?  I don’t know, myself, but I’d sure like to visit some of those archaeological sites.  What do you think about the issue?  Do you think there is anything in the archaeological record that points to an alien culture?  Do you think we’ve been visited by aliens?  Do you think we’re being watched, or monitored, by an alien intelligence?  Why?