INTRODUCTION: If there were only one line of evidence to suggest ‘ancient astronauts’ then it could probably be easily dismissed. But when there are half a dozen or more independent core concepts pointing in the direction that at least ‘ancient astronauts’ is a plausible hypothesis, that’s another can of worms altogether and that’s what we have here.
IN THEORY: We can start with arguments from theory like the Fermi Paradox, which suggests that technologically advanced extraterrestrials (an extremely logical concept given the age and vastness of the cosmos) should have noticed and recorded the third rock from the Sun many times. from the time it takes to scan the Milky Way galaxy from stem to stern, even by one to ten percent, the speed of light is only a small fraction of the age of the galaxy. Then there is the theoretical argument that if today’s UFO phenomenon is due in part to extraterrestrial intelligence, then it would be such an extraordinary coincidence that our generation is THE generation so blessed with extraterrestrial visitation. Of course, if aliens were here in the distant past, then that extraordinary coincidence is lost.
IN ART: Ancient humans could draw and sculpt with as much precision as modern humans; therefore, images that appear otherworldly should be taken at face value, unless there is evidence to the contrary.
IN ARCHITECTURE: It seems that there are several structures that when dated are incompatible with the ancient technologies required to build them. For example, there are ‘impossible’ architectural structures such as the Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek (Lebanon); Pumapunku within the Tiahuanaco/Tiwanaku complex (Bolivia); Nan Modol (Micronesia); and those Olmec (Mexico) heads with the added weirdness that they look African. (Note: I’m not including the Egyptian pyramids here. There are some things humans can do.)
IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Cultural anthropological anomalies abound, such as a) why the sudden rise of human culture around 50,000 years ago and settlement around 10,000 years ago in unconnected geographic regions; b) Why did some bands of humans choose to live in environments (such as the tundra) totally unsuitable for their native environment of equatorial Africa?
IN PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Physical anthropological anomalies also abound, such as a) why all of our hominid ancestors went extinct (unless you want to count the as-yet-unconfirmed existence of Bigfoot, the Yeti, etc. as ancestors); b) why humans (and their immediate ancestors) are the only species to have a bipedal gait without the benefit of a balanced tail; c) how the ethnic or racial diversification of the human species can be achieved in only 50,000 years; e) How come humans alone have developed massive brain complexity, skyrocketing IQ, and the ability to have abstract thoughts and concepts? d) How come humans lost their natural fur only to later have to put on artificial fur (clothing)? Could all of these be explainable more by artificial selection (genetic engineering) than natural selection (a concept possibly reinforced today given the emphasis on genetics and reproduction in UFO alien abduction cases)?
IN MYTHOLOGY: When the mythologies of all societies and cultures share common (but unmundane) concepts, then one has to sit back and realize that something extraordinary is happening. For example: a) animal-animal and animal-human hybrids; (b) sky gods; c) dragons; d) gifts, such as agriculture presented to humans by the gods; (e) shapeshifters and shapeshifters; f) wars in heaven; g) an extraordinary focus of relatively few astronomical objects such as Sirius, the Pleiades and Orion; h) gods who left promising to return one day, like Jesus, and like Lono, a higher god from the Hawaiian Islands who descended to Earth through a rainbow, unfortunately it was another case of mistaken identity since the natives originally mistook Captain James Cook for the return of his Lono.
IN ABSTRACTIONS: Those rather bizarre concepts that humans have come up with as extremely long cycles of creation and destruction or, for that matter, the idea of creation itself, which is anything but obvious from human observations and experience. day to day. Human beings seem to have ingrained some ideas that are unlikely to have developed naturally or have or have no real relevance to their daily routine. For an example of the latter, the Maya had this custom of tracking the cycle of the planet Venus from where it appeared in the sky to when it reappeared in exactly the same place. It must have been too academic an exercise as it had no day-to-day relevance to say planting or harvesting crops. What was the real point of doing this? Well, I guess it was an early form of ‘practical’ astrology, and important decisions (like going to war) were based on all of this. Reading tea leaves or chicken innards, rolling a dice, or even having your high priest/shaman smoke some magic mushrooms for inspiration/orientation would have been much easier, which is why we see here the extraordinary importance of a celestial object. In a ‘former astronaut’ context, why Venus? Now, Venus is certainly not a planet one would no longer associate as a home to intelligent life (microorganisms in the upper atmosphere might be another story). But there was that ‘satellite’ of Venus, called Neith, observed and recorded numerous times by astronomers that just disappeared! Today, Venus does not have any natural satellites.
IN ASTROARCHEOLOGY (ASTROLOGY): Ancient cultures around the world engaged in astronomical observations that had no relevance to their immediate survival needs*: You don’t need Stonehenge to do agriculture. Whether ten, eight, six, four, or even two thousand years ago, their basic priorities were food, shelter, sex, family, community, and defense. The only real celestial object of any relevance to the above is the Sun: heat, light, and food (via photosynthesis, though that wouldn’t have been an obvious connection). Why our ancient ancestors’ emphasis on observational astronomy (studied today as the discipline of astroarchaeology), unless, of course, the sky and the celestial objects in it had some additional special meaning? That is something like what today we would call astrology.
The most obvious reason to intensely observe the sky is to chart the ever-changing seasons, of obvious importance to any culture that depends on agriculture and hunting. Except you don’t really need celestial alignments to tell you when to plant your crops or go fishing. Mother Nature’s own local signs should clue you in and give you all the signs you need, like when the trees start to put out their leaves; flowers begin to appear; or when a certain species of migratory bird reappears in the sky; or when you see the fish. And you certainly don’t need celestial cycles to tell you when to harvest your produce or go hunting. An apple that is ready to eat is pretty obvious. A herd of cattle in the distance is also quite obvious, only, of course, ten thousand years ago one did not have to rely on the unpredictable appearance of game animals, since domestic animal husbandry had already been carried out. (There were chicken farmers and cow farmers and sheep farmers and pig farmers, etc.).
Another related oddity is that while everyone and your great-grandmother put an emphasis on the solstices, the longest and shortest daylight periods of the year, the equinoxes are far more significant. On the shortest day of the year (winter solstice) you can’t start planting right away even though the days will get longer. It may be so, that spring will arrive, eventually in three or four months. On the longest day of the year (summer solstice) it is still not possible to harvest, although the days are going to get shorter. It could be oh dear; winter is coming, eventually in three or four months. Eventually it is not a reason to pay special attention to the solstices. However, it is close to planting time on the vernal equinox; near harvest time on the autumnal equinox.
Another reason often given for observing the sky is to predict eclipses. How many lunar eclipses do you need to predict and see before you realize they have no terrestrial consequences (and the waxing and waning moon also get a bit boring after several cycles)? And it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see a single solar eclipse in your lifetime, even if you can predict them, so there’s almost no need to predict them. If you happen to find yourself in the right place at the right time under the right conditions, you might well, in your astronomical ignorance, experience up to seven minutes of terror, but you’ll survive no worse for wear and tear. Eclipses are not events within the broad context of your daily life and survival.
But you may need to draw celestial alignments or cycles to honor your ‘gods’ who identify with such celestial objects for whatever reason. That could be what led ancient humans to carefully chart what are just a few points of light in the sky (comets, the Sun and the Moon, I can understand those are interesting in their own right, but I don’t care how they’re built). many Stonehenge equivalents; cannot be used to predict comets).
Speaking of honoring the ‘gods’, it’s one thing to come up with all sorts of fantastical tales about how the constellations came to be, and quite another to position your structures to reflect the pattern of those constellations. That is elevating their importance to the realm of honoring the ‘gods’ identified with them.
In fact, the whole concept of astrology (using celestial alignments to predict the future) shows an extraordinary and widespread fascination with celestial bodies that not only make no practical sense, but are certainly not consistent and therefore not offer practical results. I mean taking twins: the same birthday and year of birth, most likely not, different destinations. About 400,000 people are born every day. Will they all share the same fate?
IN WTF IT’S GOING ON HERE: Even some of the ancients wondered how some of their own builds came to be. The ancient Greeks attributed some of their massive walls and fortifications to the Cyclops, calling them Cyclopean walls. The inhabitants of the eastern islands did not move their huge stone statues from the quarries to where they stand today: the statues walked on their own. Other cultures attributed the movement of huge stone blocks to being carried on the back of dragons. When humans don’t take credit for supposedly human achievements, something is wrong somewhere, like human mythologies that credit the gods with the gift of agriculture to their culture. At least the ancient Egyptians took credit for the pyramids.
*Navigating the oceans out of sight of land using the positions of the Sun, Moon, and stars would become important, but not until well into the Present Era (CE), probably beginning with the people of the Pacific Region with corners of Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand. European maritime exploration and discovery followed. But in the pre-current era (BCE), celestial navigation was of lesser importance in those days of sailing on the waters but within sight of land (whenever possible).