Erich von Daniken, Stargate: Atlantis, and one Archaeologist’s Need to Voice his Opinions (like I ever keep quiet with my opinions)

NOTE: I wrote this post about a month or so ago, and then saved it as a draft. In the chaos of the move, the new house, and the new department (not to mention that I didn’t hook up high speed at home until about a week ago), it got forgotten. So, here ya go…read, cogitate, and enjoy.

Last night, the SciFi Channel premiered Stargate: Atlantis, a spinoff show from their popular Stargate: SG-1 series. The show itself is based on a number of ideas that flow from the same sort of pseudoarchaeological pool that I’ve discussed in previous posts (most notably my three part Atlantis Lost; Atlantis Found? post) Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a sci-fi nut, and thought Stargate: Atlantis rocked (note: and, as of 821/04, I still do). However, I constantly have to work to separate my love of Stargate:SG-1 (and Stargate: Atlantis) as entertainment, and my obligation as an archaeologist to pursue and encourage the ethical and accurate representation of the past.

As a result, I thought I would take some time to muse on of one of the most popular (and addle minded) pseudoarchaeological/psuedohistorial ideas ever to come down the pipe – that, in one way or another, extra terrestrials interfered with the any number of human ancient human societies during their development. And, as with the Atlantean myth, the idea that aliens had, at the very least, a hand in our development, has its roots in the ramblings of one man…in this case, a schmuck named Erich von Daniken.

Von Daniken was born in 1935 in the Swiss down of Zofingen. He studied religious texts at the College of St-Michel in Fribourg. While managing a 5 star hotel in Switzerland, he wrote the first of several books whose premises were based on his own "interpretation" of archaeological sites, historical texts, and non-western religious beliefs and mythologies in order to further his whole "we wouldn’t be who we are if it weren’t for aliens" crap. The book was called Chariots of the Gods (1968), and went on to sell millions of copies. Yup, a millions

Erich von Daniken’s books (he went on to write more after Chariots of the Gods) have been translated into 28 languages, and have sold 60 million copies worldwide. From his books, two full-length documentary films have been produced: Chariots of the Gods and Messages of the Gods. Of the more than 3,000 lectures which Erich von Daniken has given in 25 countries, over 500 were presented at universities. He’s even partially bankrolled a theme park in Switzerland (called Mystery Park) which, as the park’s own promotion material states, "brings together the great mysteries of this world in vivid and realistic multimedia presentations, making them accessible, able to be encountered and experienced by everyone."

So, what is the big deal about von Daniken? Why is he such a thorn in the side of most archaeologists? Well, lets take a look at his thoughts on ancient Egypt as a great example (one of many, I assure you).

Given Egypt’s widespread public popularity, its no great surprise that von Daniken takes aim at Egyptian culture and civilization as one of the prime examples of the Our Ancestors, the Dummies Hypothesis. He says that “if we meekly accept the neat package of knowledge that the Egyptologist serve up to us, ancient Egypt suddenly appears without transition with a fantastic ready made civilization.” He further describes the accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians as being “genuine miracles in a country that is suddenly capable of such achievement without recognizable prehistory.” For those who have even the most superficial knowledge of ancient Egypt know that there are thousands of years of prehistory (called the Predynastic) which chronicle in which the inhabitants of the ancient Nile Valley (and surrounding areas) developed an extremely vibrant, rich, and sophisticate culture that led very seamlessly to the ancient Egypt of the pyramids and the Valley of the Kinds – the historic ancient Egypt that is so very much ingrained in our collective cultural conscience. There are hundreds and hundreds of archaeologists (including myself) who have spent years researching this very period. I assure you, the ancient Egypt that is so popular today, didn’t just spring up overnight.

So, anyway, what is Von Daniken’s solution to the "archaeological enigma" of the so called “ready-made” civilization springing up “suddenly” and “without transition” in a land with “norecognizable prehistory?” If you were to say from aliens, you would be right.

Von Daniken claims that, by themselves, the Egyptians could not have built the pyramids. Why? Well, because they did not have the tools with which to cut the limestone! Apparently, copper and bronze are incapable of cutting limestone. Further, he asserts that, once cut, the Egyptians could not have transported the stone blocks (some of which weighed more than 2000 pounds), since they had neither wood no rope. Hmm, well, I guess that rope and wood I excavated from a Predynastic household (dating to about 3400 BC or so – about a thousand years before the Pyramids on the Giza Plateau were built) was just a figment of my imagination. Furthermore, he says that, even if they could have cut and transported the stone, it would have taken tens of thousands of individuals to actually build the pyramids, and archaeologists have yet to find evidence of for the buildings that would have been needed to house the workers. Apparently, von Daniken has chosen to ignore both the copious census, logistical, and administrative records that the Egyptians kept (stating the number of individuals involved in the various pyramid building projects) and the massive settlements surrounding the pyramid complex at Giza built to house and support the pyramid workers.

Beyond his unsubstantiated claims about pyramid construction, von Daniken goes on to make many other completely unsupportable claims about ancient Egypt: “How about this one. The height of the pyramid of Cheops (note: the Greek name for Khufu – the Pharaoh responsible for building the largest of the Giza Pyramids was Cheops) multiplied by a thousand million corresponds approximately with the distance from the earth and the sun.” Unfortunately, it does not. When calculated properly there is a difference of more than 2 million miles.

Discussing mummification, von Daniken claims that the process was introduced by extraterrestrial aliens to preserve the bodies of Egyptian leaders who could be reawakened when the aliens was returned. He believed that aliens introduced “the first audacious idea that cells of the body had to be preserved so that the corpse could be awakened to anew life after thousands of years.”

Unfortunately for von Daniken, there are no laser burns on the pyramids, no wrecked flying saucers
stashed under the sphinx, and no resurrected 4000 year old Egyptian mummies (outside of Hollywood of course). Instead, what we are left with is the remarkable evidence of the obvious great ingenuity and toil of the culture of ancient Egypt.

The lesson of ancient Egypt has nothing to do with spaceships or extraterrestrial aliens. On the contrary, the lesson is one of human abilities, intelligence and accomplishment.

What a wanker.