Ancient Aliens Debunked

I personally recommend the sections The Pyramids (22:41) and Egyptian "Light Bulb" (1:27:01) for the purposes of this blog, but the rest of it is actually quite informative in and of itself. The entire three hours is spent laying out the lies and truth behind the claims made in the series Ancient Aliens, which narrator and creator of the piece Chris White, the mind also behind ancientaliensdebunked.com, where you may find his references, to which his footnotes correspond, organizes into such categories as megalithic sites, ancient artifacts, and ancient texts. They are further subdivided to cover such topics as the aforementioned pyramids and "light bulb", as well as Puma Punku, the Anunaki (Sumerian gods), Vimanas (mentioned in Indian epic poetry such as the Mahabarata and the Ramayana), etc. Overall it's really interesting, but the part on the pyramids, especially where White gets to talking about the Internal Ramp/Grand-Gallery-as-Freight-Elevator theory is absolutely fascinating.

ETA

At about 54:25 or so we learn about Sumerian dictionaries. "Yes, the Sumerians wrote their own extensive dictionaries. So we don't have to trust Sitchin or anyone else; we can basically just ask the Sumerians what they thought a word meant." - Chris White. This is something I find very interesting as well, and so I have made note of it.

"Three thousand degrees...That's a lot." And I facepalm at the stupidity of that statement. No wonder it's so easy to lampoon Ancient Aliens.

For the Mayan myth freaks of my readership, be sure to check out Pacal's Rocket (1:05:26), which lays out for the uninformed the exact details of the World Tree, the vision serpent, the Celestial Bird, the Sun Monster, and everything else you care to know about the Mayan concept of inter-world (which is to specifically say inter-plane) travel, or transition from, say, the world of the living to the world of the dead. I know I didn't know all of that going in.

"If you asked an ancient Nazcan what they believed about the world and how it worked, they would likely say something like, we take hallucinogenic drugs, we cut off a lot of heads, all in hopes that the Monkey Spirit will help us have good crops this year." - Chris White, c. 1:19:30 (He goes on to suggest that "If it is true [the theory on ancient aliens], they apparently couldn't have cared any less, because there is no hint of it in their mythology." Really, just check out the Nazca Lines commentary, because it really is astoundingly amusing.)

Now, before I get to their take on the light bulb at Dendera, I've got to say this, and I have a feeling White will, too. The light bulb is commonly believed to actually be a depiction of a lotus flower, and not just any lotus flower, but the lotus flower, the one that sprang up at the dawn of time, the one Ra was born out of before he went on to create everyone and everything else, gods included. Or at least, that's how some of the ancient creation myths go. No electricity involved, and certainly no aliens. White goes into detail about the years of soot which do indeed exist and cover very colorful ceiling artwork, the fact that torches do, indeed, work in the pyramids and have for millennia, to the point where there are receipts for lamp wicks, etc., the fact that tombs were built in sunlight and not even supposed to be lit in the first place, and, of course, the aforementioned creation myth (with the mention that Atum is often represented by a snake and that is, in fact, what is depicted where these theorists see filaments. He quotes an expert who notes that "Only one god (Atum) is responsible for the emergence of the universe as a bubble of air in the vast, limitless, inert ocean" (please refer to his website for the reference).)

"Khefri and Atum sort of traded off being aspects of Ra in Egyptian mythology." - White, an interesting note which I have yet to make something of.

I actually didn't know that depicting the sun and moon in Christian artwork as witnesses to the Crucifixtion was a Byzantine thing, or that it was a carryover from artwork depicting the gods of the Sun and Moon in Roman religion. See, there are a lot of interesting things in this world without having to involve aliens.

"It [the reference to ten thousand suns] does not refer to the specific flash of a nuclear blast unless one imagines the gods to be exploding." - Jason Colavito (It amused me.)

Fake text appears in 1952. Quick, NATM Fans, what else happened in 1952? (There are points for the people who get this right.)

Anu has a crown on it, which is cute. It makes sense in context.

Winged Genies who go around fertilizing everything, occasionally accompanying the king because of his responsibility for the fertility of the land. Very interesting stuff, especially for the Sumerian nerds who happen to be reading this.

I'm shifting into commentary because there are specific things I happen across as I (slowly) make my way through this documentary that I find noteworthy, interesting, amusing, etc. and I would like to point them out should anyone decide to skip the entire three hours and just check out what I've decided to pull. Again, I do suggest, for specific purposes of this blog, The Pyramids and the Egyptian "Light Bulb" sections, mentioned above with time stamps, simply because of their specific focus on ancient Egypt, homeland of our favorite brothers (or my favorite brothers, at least), and a focus of interest for me and a large segment of the population and (I hope) my readership.