The Ancient Alien Question

by Philip Coppens

  After the war, America lost interest in these islands and the locals saw an end of their “Golden Age.” They therefore began to construct piers and created airstrips in their fields, in the hope that these “temples” would entice the gods—the Americans—to return. Indeed, the locals prayed for the return of the ships and planes, for with the return of the gods, a new Golden Age would come.

  Whether or not there ever was a real John Frum is unknown. There are variant spellings: Jon Frum and John From. He is normally described as an American World War II serviceman, sometimes black, sometimes white.

  He is not the only man whom the people of Tanna have mistaken for a god. The Yaohnanen tribe of Tanna believe that Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is a divine being. He is in fact taken to be the pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit and the brother of John Frum. Whereas common knowledge in Britain holds that Prince Philip was born in Corfu, Greece, on June 10, 1921, the Yaohnanen believe that he was born in Tanna, then traveled over the seas to a distant land where he married a powerful lady and would in time return. And return he did....

  It is not clear when the cult was formed, but it is believed to have been sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. It probably occurred when Queen Elizabeth I was somehow depicted as paying particular attention to Prince Philip during a public function, which the natives of Tanna either saw on television or as a photograph, and took Prince Philip as one of their own.

  When the royal couple visited Vanuatu in 1974, the Yaohnanens’ beliefs were reinforced, though the Prince himself was at the time not yet aware of the fact that he was considered to be a local deity. A few years later, when he was told of the tribe, the Resident Commissioner got Prince Philip to sign a photograph, which was then given to his worshippers, who responded by sending him a traditional nal-nal club, with which the prince duly posed, sending the photograph back to the Yaohnanen.

  The Papas of New Guinea called the first seaplane they saw “the devil who came down from the sky” and the first steamboat “God Tibut Amut smoking a long cigar.” During his expedition to New Guinea in the 1920s, Frank Hurley noticed that the natives from the village of Kaimari began to fashion small wooden replicas of his seaplane as toys, which were distributed to all the households. Natives from the Eastern highlands were seen making radio masts from bamboo—copying the Persian Oil Company’s transmitter. Following World War II, the natives of a small New Guinean island built a ghost airport near the village of Wewak, complete with bamboo airplanes, to entice the gods to return.

  The Leahy brothers went to the highlands of Papua New Guinea in the 1920s to make a documentary about the cargo cults. In it, Mike Leahy recounts the story that a small group of adventurers had landed on the island and begun to clear a section of the jungle so that the aircraft could land. When they made contact with the locals, they told them they did not come to steal, but needed to make room so that the “barlas” could land—a big bird that came from the sky and made lots of noise. Grabowski, the pilot, was a tall fellow. Leahy observed:

  Wearing a pilot’s flight suit, white helmet and black protective goggles, he opened the hatch and got out of the plane, while about 2,500 natives were standing in dumbfounded silence along the airstrip. No one uttered a word. They had no idea what was going on. To them, Grabowski was a god. A god who arrived in a celestial bird, also a type of divine creature.4

  What we see on these South Pacific islands is something that shows that men have been mistaken for gods; specifically, that an advanced technological civilization posed such a radical break from their traditional framework that the cargo and the men involved were deified. This is definitive proof that humankind could, and in fact has, numerous times, mistaken other humans—and maybe, by extension, nonhuman intelligences—for God.

  John Frum was prophesied to one day return to the islands, when the Golden Age of the Gods would return. The existence of a Golden Age, when the Gods lived among humankind and taught them sciences, including the constellations, is precisely what we read in the legends and myths of our ancient civilizations. Later on, we will see the story of the Babylonian civilizing god Oannes, who appeared out of the waters of the Persian Gulf, spoke to the local people, and offered them knowledge, including knowledge of the constellations. It precisely echoes the story of John Frum and the cargo cults. Like the Americans after World War II, some of these gods too promised to one day return.

  It is therefore possible that men of flesh and blood, whether human or extraterrestrial, could be mistaken for gods. It is possible that the meeting Ezekiel had with God was truly with the pilot and operator of a spaceship. However, all legends can be interpreted in a number of ways. In the Bible, it is clear that there is a body of evidence that together clearly argues for the presence, in biblical times, of a race of giants. But the presence of these giants in itself is not proof that ancient aliens once bred with human women.

  Legends, by default, cannot be proof, but we can accept them as evidence. And when we take the whole, rather than individual details, it is clear that there is substantial evidence to suggest that “gods” once came to our ancestors, interacted with them, on occasion guided them, and also seem to have helped them in the endeavor known as civilization. In the case of the gods of Vanuata, we know that the Western world and America, the land of their gods, was technologically advanced and possessed the “cargo” to impress the natives. But when we turn to ancient Egypt or Sumer and their claims that gods once ruled their nation, or that Oannes taught them civilization, we cannot look elsewhere on planet Earth and find evidence of a civilization far enough advanced to have sent missionaries to these cultures. Nor have we ever found evidence of creatures that lived a thousand or maybe tens of thousands of years. But, again, whereas a case can be made that the God(s) of the Bible and other legends are truly extraterrestrial beings, there is currently no hard proof. If we need hard proof, then we need to investigate the archaeological record of planet Earth.

  Chapter 4

  Old Buildings, New Techniques

  The search for evidence to answer the Ancient Alien Question has always been focused on buildings or artifacts that our ancestors left behind. The question is whether they created it themselves, or were helped or inspired by alien visitors. Erich von Däniken’s series of questions in Chariots of the Gods is specifically directed to these structures, which at the time were clearly not adequately explained by scientists and archaeologists. The official descriptions seldom explained the intricacies and wonders of a given site.

  Now 40 years later, the situation has somewhat improved, but many of the original questions remain, and none more famous than those surrounding the greatest building on planet Earth constructed by our ancestors: the Great Pyramid.

  The Greatest Pyramid

  The Great Pyramid is the only remaining wonder of the ancient world. It is officially said to have been built as the tomb for Pharaoh Khufu, a king of the Fourth Dynasty who ruled from around 2589 to 2566 BC, but there are skeptics who argue that there is no evidence that Khufu was ever involved with the construction of this pyramid. They point out that the sarcophagus inside the King’s Chamber was found empty, and there are no inscriptions anywhere in or on the pyramid to link it with him. Hence, they argue, the stories that the Great Pyramid is far older could definitely be true. The Arab writer Abu Zeyd el Balkhy actually stated that the Great Pyramid was built when Lyre was in the constellation of Cancer, which would take it to about 73,000 years ago.

  The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the only surviving wonder of the ancient world. Many believe that the scale and precision involved in building this gigantic monument was simply outside the scope of the ancient Egyptians. Recent discoveries have shown that the method and science involved in its construction are so advanced that the how was only recently discovered.

  There is, however, evidence that Khufu definitely was involved with the construction of the pyramid. In the relieving chambers above the King’s Chamber, there is a cartouche containing Khufu�
��s name, which clearly shows that Khufu’s men were there. These relieving chambers were never meant to be entered and had in fact been sealed at the time of the pyramid’s construction. Hence, they date back to the time the pyramids were built. The discovery of Khufu’s name inside thus provided definitive evidence that this pharaoh was responsible for the Great Pyramid.

  In Zecharia Sitchin’s The Stairway to Heaven, published in 1980, the chapter “Forging the Pharaoh’s Name” argues that Colonel Richard Howard Vyse did not discover but instead forged a cartouche containing the name of Pharaoh Khufu. Vyse was credited with this groundbreaking discovery that placed his name in the annals of Egyptology in his book Operations Carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837. Sitchin said that the cartouche had not been seen by previous visitors to the relieving chamber in question. How could they have missed what Vyse so easily found? Furthermore, Sitchin writes, “Wasn’t it odd, I thought, that for centuries no markings of any kind were found by anyone, anywhere, in the pyramid, not even in Davison’s Chamber above the King’s Chamber—and only Vyse found such markings where only he first entered?”

  Next point of debate: The cartouche was executed in red paint. The experts had difficulty distinguishing it from other—recent—inscriptions, and its possible status as a recent addition wasn’t helped with claims that people had been seen entering the structure with red paint. Perring’s memoirs, The Pyramids of Gizeh, do state that the red paint “was a composition of red ochre called by the Arabs moghrab which is still in use.... Such is the state of preservation of the marks in the quarries that it is difficult to distinguish the work of yesterday from one of three thousand years.”

  But the best evidence, Sitchin argued, was that the name of Khufu was misspelled—conforming to a notorious misspelling in a book to which Vyse had access. He claims that the inscription reads Ra-ufu, not Khufu. This mistake would have been unthinkable for ancient Egyptian writers to make, but it is explainable if the inscription was done in 1837. That year, an academic book about hieroglyphics called Materia Hieroglyphica had been published, in which the name of Khufu was erroneously entered. The lines of the sieve were so close together that they appeared in the print like a massive disc, which is in fact another way of writing “Ra.” It is known that Vyse had this book with him.

  Definitely, Vyse had the opportunity to commit this fraud. But in any crime, motive is an important consideration—and Sitchin is able to provide one: Vyse’s expedition was running short of funding, and had not uncovered any major revelation that would grab headlines, which is what he needed to receive more funding. The discovery of the cartouche was therefore a gift from heaven. Too good to be true?

  Perhaps. However, it seems that accusations of forgery work both ways. Sitchin’s opponents have pointed out that the visual evidence for the misspelling that Sitchin provides is erroneous at best, and some claim Sitchin has actually forged evidence in support of his conclusions of forgery! His opponents point out that various other photographs, including those circulated by Rainer Stadelmann when he was working on the ventilation system in the Great Pyramid in the 1990s, reveal that the correct sign was used in the writing in the relieving chamber—hence, Ra-ufu is in fact Khufu. In their opinion, Sitchin, not Vyse, is guilty of forgery.

  In Sitchin’s possible defense, when he first published his accusation in 1980, several photographs now in existence, including Stadelmann’s, had not yet been made; only drawings existed, and perhaps these showed the inaccuracy as well? Unfortunately for Sitchin, that is not the case: A sketch of the cartouche appears in Perring’s book, published in 1839. Sitchin gives no precise source from which he got the cartouche, but as Perring is listed in the bibliography, most assume it was his book that provided Sitchin with a drawing of the cartouche. And, as such, the conclusion drawn by those antagonistic towards Sitchin is that he purposefully faked the story of a forgery in an attempt to predate the pyramid to several millennia before Khufu.

  The Great Pyramid is also the subject of isolationism: It tends to be seen in isolation. But it is not. The Pyramid of Khafre next to it is almost as big, as is the Red Pyramid at Dashur. If aliens built the Great Pyramid, then it needs to be argued that they were also responsible for at least some of the other pyramids in ancient Egypt.

  Just slightly smaller than the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre has retained some of its cover stones at the very top of the pyramid. It therefore allows one to imagine how brilliant—literally—these pyramds would have looked in their heydays.

  So is there no mystery to the Great Pyramid? Actually, there is. The evidence suggests that though Khufu was responsible for its construction, he had at his disposal technology and information that official archaeology does not credit the Ancient Egyptians with. It is technology that was millennia ahead of its time, helping to build the pyramid with an accuracy that defies modern standards.

  The Great Pyramid has been measured in extraordinary detail, which has revealed how purposefully everything to do with this pyramid was executed. Early on, explorer W.M. Flinders Petrie found that the internal volume of the sarcophagus in the King’s Chamber was 1,166.4 liters (about 308 gallons), and the external volume was precisely twice that: 2,332.8 liters (616 gallons). This clearly underlines that whoever built this had access to advanced technology and mathematics. Accurate measurements of the Great Pyramid give its dimensions as 230.2506 meters (755.43 feet) on the North Base, 230.35869 meters (755.77 feet) on the West Base, 230.45318 meters (756.08 feet) on the South Base, and 230.39222 meters (755.88 feet) on the East Base. The maximum deviation from perfect square is therefore 0.09812 meters, or 0.80 feet, which is an accuracy of 0.0004 centimeters per meter, or 0.0015 inch per foot. The deviation from the 90-degree angles of the four corners of the pyramid is 0 degrees 00’02” (northwest), 0 degrees 03’02” (northeast), 0 degrees 3’33” (southeast) and 0 degrees 0’33” (southwest)—an extraordinary accuracy. The slopes of the pyramid are at an angle of 51 degrees, which is known as the “perfect” angle, as it embodies the mathematical ratios of pi and phi—two ratios the ancient Egyptians allegedly did not possess as they were “only” discovered by the Greeks. Yet their usage is on display throughout the pyramid complex. Such accuracy is stunning, far exceeding modern building achievements. No wonder, therefore, that as early as John Taylor in 1859, its construction was ascribed to a divinely inspired race of non-Egyptian invaders, though Mark Lehner in The Complete Pyramids (1997) only ventured as far as to question “Why such phenomenal precision?”, arguing that the answer eluded us.

  Choosing to remove the responsibility for construction of the Great Pyramid—or any other monument—from the native culture is a dangerous exercise that today will greatly upset the scientific establishment. Indeed, it is clear that, for science, keeping all buildings “native” to the culture in which they are found is far more important than actually going with the available evidence. And in the case of the Great Pyramid, it was its accuracy, which far exceeded the accuracy of other buildings of its time in ancient Egypt, that has prodded so many to conclude it was built by non-Egyptians. But the available evidence actually suggests that Khufu, an Egyptian, did build it, but that somehow he had at his disposal information and building techniques that did not seem to have been used before. That is the true great mystery of the Great Pyramid.

  Detail of the section of the Pyramid of Khafre where the Arabs abandoned their work in removing the cover stones. It reveals the extraordinary precision involved in the building work of this and other pyramids.

  It is a fact that not a single pyramid has ever been found in which a mummy was present. Egyptologists are quick to point out that grave-robbers are responsible for this, but in truth intact pyramids have been found, and when their sarcophagus was opened, no mummy lay inside. So, if not a tomb, the question is what the pyramid could be. The most vociferous answer in recent years has come from engineer Christopher Dunn, who, in The Giza Powerplant, argues that the pyramids are power plants.

&
nbsp; Flinders Petrie inspected the King’s Chamber and argued that it had been subject to a violent disturbance, which had shaken it so badly that the entire chamber had expanded by 1 inch. The culprit was identified as an earthquake, the only natural force capable of creating sufficient force. But as Dunn highlights, the King’s Chamber is the only room affected by this event; the Queen’s Chamber remained unaffected. Dunn says he has seen no evidence of laser cutting in ancient Egypt, but the rocks display evidence that some machinery was used. Flinders Petrie estimated that a pressure of 1 to 2 tons on jewel-tipped bronze saws would have been necessary to cut through the extremely hard granite; Dunn found evidence of lathe turning on a sarcophagus lid in the Cairo Museum. Petrie himself found evidence of spiral drilling in granite, measuring the feed rate as 1 in 60, which is incredible for drilling into a material like granite. Petrie was impressed with this feed rate, as he was confronted with an engineering anomaly. The ancient Egyptians could not have achieved this by using the tools ascribed to them. Dunn’s analysis revealed that the ancient Egyptian drill performed 500 times greater per revolution than modern drills! He observed that ultrasonic drilling would be capable of the feats seen by Petrie in the Valley Temple, but the ancient Egyptians of course did not possess ultrasonic drills.

  What if the stones of the Great Pyramid were not quarried, but “made” on site? Joseph Davidovits first aired this theory in 1974. Professor Davidovits is an internationally renowned French scientist, who was honored by French President Jacques Chirac with one of France’s two highest honors, the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, in November 1998. Davidovits has a French degree in chemical engineering and a German doctorate degree (PhD) in chemistry, and was also a professor and founder of the Institute for Applied Archaeological Sciences, IAPAS, Barry University, Miami, Florida, from 1983 to 1989. He was a visiting professor at Penn State University, Pennsylvania, from 1989 to 1991, and has been professor and director of the Geopolymer Institute, Saint-Quentin, France, since 1979. He is a world expert in modern and ancient cements, as well as geosynthesis and man-made rocks, and is the inventor of geopolymers and the chemistry of geopolymerization. He is, in short, a scientific genius and the expert in his field, sometimes referred to as the “father of geopolymers.”