Ancient Aliens s17e01 Episode Script

1 Narrator: On the western side of south america Is a land of exotic jungles, vast plains, And astounding archaeological sites.
Giorgio a.
Tsoukalos: All throughout that region of the world, We have some of the most incredible Architectural structures on planet earth.
Narrator: But could new discoveries reveal That the true history of peru Is far more incredible than we ever imagined? Hugh newman: The dating of caral has really put into question The origins of civilization and the planet.
Tsoukalos: This excavation has put the entire region Into a new light.
Narrator: Ancient astronaut theorist Giorgio tsoukalos is joined by author david childress And investigative mythologist william henry To examine evidence suggesting that peru was home To an advanced civilization thousands of years ago David childress: These discoveries are changing the face Of south american archaeology.
Narrator: And was influenced by beings from another world.
The message is consistent throughout all these discoveries That extraterrestrials were helping to advance us.
I mean, this is about as exciting as it gets.
Narrator: There is a doorway in the universe.
Beyond it is the promise of truth.
It demands we question everything We have ever been taught.
The evidence is all around us.
The future is right before our eyes.
We are not alone.
We have never been alone.
Peru is actually one of my favorite Places to visit on the planet, And we've all been to peru.
This is what's so great about that whole region Because it seems as if this whole area Continues to give us new pieces of information.
Henry: And we're just beginning to uncover what's actually there.
It's kind of like a wild frontier down there.
I mean, worlds meet down there, don't they? It's really, uh, just The most mysterious place, and it's a very large country That goes from deserts along the coast Up into the mountains, Down into the jungles It has literally - Every climate in the world.
- Tsoukalos: Mm-hmm.
And it's also a treasure trove For the ancient astronaut theory - Henry: Yeah.
- Because there are many megalithic sites And especially in the legends - And the mythologies of that place.
- Yep.
You have stories of giants and of, uh, gods, The children of the sun.
Narrator: The country of peru in western south america Is known for its many ancient archaeological wonders From the massive stone walls of cusco To the magnificent terraces at ollantaytambo, To the majestic mountain citadel of machu picchu.
These incredible sites have long been connected To a great civilization that emerged in the 13th century ad Known as the inca.
The inca pretty much Not just dominated the landscape, They changed the landscape.
They had these major massive cities From one end of the andes to the other end of the andes.
And in between each of these cities, They had this incredible road network.
We have to think about the inca As part of this aggressive trend Of ideas and of culture and tradition.
Narrator: In 1526, spanish conquistadors, Led by francisco pizarro, arrived in peru, And over the course of the following four decades, Conquered the inca empire.
While the inca only flourished For a little more than two centuries, Mainstream archaeologists remain astonished By their engineering and construction achievements.
But a mounting body of evidence suggests Many of peru's astounding structures may, in fact, Have been built by a much earlier civilization.
The incas were pretty recent, really, -To the spanish.
They're not the oldest, -henry: Right.
- Henry: Right.
- Childress: They had only existed - About 200 years before the spanish arrived.
- Right.
Yeah.
And allegedly, during that period, They built all these giant megaliths around cusco, Sacsayhuamán, even machu picchu and ollantaytambo, And they would have just completed them - Wait - Like, a hundred years before the spanish.
Wait a second, wait a second.
But here's the deal.
That is mainstream archaeology's opinion.
When you ask the local, Including the local archaeologists And tour guides, yes, They will tell tour groups that yes, this is all inca, But when you have deep conversations with them, They all agree that many of those structures Are pre-inca.
And this is where the opinions diverge.
- Henry: Right.
- Who were the pre-inca? Narrator: In April 2019, David childress traveled to peru With author hugh newman to meet With jorge luis delgado, A local expert on and a descendant of the inca.
Jorge believes that many of peru's most incredible Ancient structures do, in fact, predate the inca.
Childress: All right.
Here we are.
Narrator: On this day, jorge took david and hugh To one of peru's most mysterious sites: A location outside of cusco Known only as the x-zone.
Overlooking the sprawling stone fortress of sacsayhuamán, The x-zone is an impressive collection of megalithic ruins, Rock-cut monuments and a maze of underground tunnels.
- Henry: It's incredible.
- Childress: What kind of technology Does it take to cut these so perfectly and straight And then fit them in where you can't fit A piece of paper or a razor blade in here.
Henry: It seems like they're softening the stones somehow, And they're kind of shaping it and then putting it back in.
Like some magical technology.
Narrator: Naylamp was the deity Worshipped by the sican people who settled in northern peru Around 750 ad, centuries before the inca.
Their oral traditions Describe naylamp as a strange being With sharp birdlike features Who, upon his death, sprouted wings And then ascended into the sky.
Is it possible that these traditional beliefs Are grounded in fact, as the sican people claim? And, if so, could naylamp have been, As ancient astronaut theorists suspect, An extraterrestrial being? I think that the incas found these places.
They identified them as very important, and they moved in.
They say so in one of the earliest books Written about that region.
Diego de landa was the one who wrote it.
It says that the incas themselves Said this was not built by us.
-We also have the local legends -henry: Yeah.
That say that there were celestial visitors.
They were not gods.
They were visiting extraterrestrials.
Henry: Well, here's where now we get Fact backing up the local knowledge, Lore, understanding in this.
1994 archaeologist ruth shady Is exploring north of lima, and she said, -"that hill over there that looks artificial to me.
" -tsoukalos: Mm-hmm.
So she goes and gathers some soldiers.
They do some excavating.
Lo and behold, here's this what? Ten-story-tall pyramid.
And that became known as the site of - Caral.
- Right.
Narrator: First discovered in 1905, The site of caral-supe, often referred to as simply caral, Was initially thought to be little more than a scattering Of insignificant and possibly modern ruins.
But while investigating the site in 1994, Peruvian archaeologist ruth shady solís Came to the astonishing revelation that caral Was once a vast and highly sophisticated city.
When you visit caral, you find a huge archaeological complex.
There is a large sunken amphitheater to the south.
There's a major pyramid to the north And then there are more minor pyramids That surround a central area.
There are also other buildings, residential buildings, So it's a really huge complex.
Narrator: But the most extraordinary discovery Was still to come.
While excavating the pyramid's foundation in 1999, Ruth shady and her team unearthed the preserved remains Of ancient mesh bags woven from a long durable grass Known as shicra.
Up until this time, there had been no way To scientifically determine the age of caral Since it is not possible to perform radiocarbon dating On inorganic material like stone ruins.
With the discovery of the grass bags, Archaeologists now had the organic material they needed To determine just how old caral really was.
And what they found was nothing less than shocking.
Carbon dating of the bags Revealed that caral predated the inca civilization By more than 3,000 years.
Schoch: This site went back at least To 2600 bc or earlier.
So that was putting it back 4,600 or more years, Which made it one of the oldest sites As far as civilization in the americas.
Newman: Caral could be the mother culture Of the whole of south america.
The dating of caral has really put into question The origins of civilization on the planet.
Narrator: The dating of caral to 2600 bc, A revelation made just a little more than two decades ago, Completely upended history's well-established timeline.
And continuing excavation has produced evidence Suggesting the site is even older.
These discoveries at caral Are changing the face of south american archaeology And we don't even know what New discoveries they're going to be making in the future.
I mean, you have a choice.
If you're an archaeologist, You're either really excited right now or really nervous Because the chronology has been obliterated, And now we have to ask were extraterrestrials Helping to advance us? And caral is hinting At that as well.
Definitely.
Incredible.
Have either of you been to caral? - No.
- No.
- Well, this is great Because on our video call Is our good friend brien foerster -And he's just been to caral, and I can't wait to hear -awesome.
- What he has to report to us.
- Absolutely.
- Oh, right.
Hey, brien.
Good to see you.
- Childress: Hi, brien.
- Gentlemen.
Tsoukalos: It's been a long time.
Always a pleasure to visit With my ancient aliens compatriots.
- Are you at your house in paracas? - Foerster: Yeah.
I've just come back from an incredible Ancient site called caral On the central coast of peru.
Caral has only been excavated For possibly the last 20 or 30 years.
It was a huge trading center That connected the coast of peru, the highlands of peru, And even the amazon jungle 4,500 years ago.
Narrator: Aside from featuring the remains Of many impressive ancient structures, Caral appears to have been designed Very much like a modern metropolis With specific districts dedicated to various trades, Along with dwellings for as many as 3,000 inhabitants.
Beardsley: At caral, We've got this incredible urban planning.
It has indications of the use of science.
Definitely engineering, definitely mathematics When we start looking at the planning, the structure Of these particular sites.
It's a huge complex.
They're discovering more and more of it.
So as you drive off the highway Towards caral, there are ruins on the left side And the right side going on for miles.
So it was a very major center.
Probably the most incredible thing is the central pyramid.
It's quite massive, and the excavations are ongoing.
Narrator: Standing some 90 feet tall, The great pyramid of caral occupies an area of five acres Or nearly four football fields.
A 30-foot-wide staircase rises From a sunken circular plaza at the base of the pyramid Passing over three terraced levels Until it reaches the top of a platform That features the remains of a large atrium And some kind of structure designed for continuous burning.
But just what was its purpose? Newman: It's quite tall, and it's thought that The ceremonial aspect of the site was carried out From the top of this particular pyramid.
And the chief priests, or shaman, Could actually see over the whole domain of caral And actually almost see to the coast on a clear day.
And so it could have been used for astronomical observations.
Narrator: Recently unearthed archaeological evidence Suggests that, during the same period, Approximately 4,600 years ago, While ziggurats were being built in mesopotamia, As well as the step pyramids in egypt, Incredibly similar structures Were being constructed in caral.
Was this by pure coincidence? Ancient astronaut theorists believe the evidence suggests They could be profoundly connected.
It's almost as if there was some kind of syzygy going on Between egypt and the caral civilization Of northern peru at exactly the same time.
These monuments quite clearly are meant To connect us with otherworldly environments.
They were both constructed around 2600 bc.
I find that very intriguing indeed.
Caral is dated to about the same time That the saqqara step pyramid was built.
Do you see a correspondence between those two sites? It's just curious that this timeline Keeps coming up about ancient places being 4,500 years old.
Like the pyramids in egypt And other locations around the world.
Henry: I think that there was a pre-flood civilization, Everything collapsed and then around this period 3000 bc Then all of a sudden there's this reset in the ancient world.
Yeah, that very much seems to be the case.
Narrator: In ancient traditions around the world, There are accounts of a lost civilization That existed on earth that was destroyed by a great flood Such as the vedas texts of india, The babylonian poem the epic of gilgamesh, The bible's book of genesis, And the incan myth of the unu pachakuti.
According to geologist dr.
Robert schoch, A growing body of evidence suggests That these stories are based on historical events, And that such a cataclysm May actually have occurred around the end Of the last ice age 12,000 years ago.
We now know, based on a lot of geological data, That there were incredible Climatic changes at the end of the last ice age.
My work has put it all together that This was based on major solar outbursts that change conditions On the surface of the earth dramatically.
And to make a very big story very short, There were well-developed cultures, Sophisticated cultures, civilization on earth That were devastated by the events At the end of the last ice age.
Narrator: According to dr.
Schoch, This cataclysm thrust humanity into a dark age For thousands of years.
Until new civilizations emerged around the globe At remarkably similar times.
Schoch: After thousands of years, civilizations reemerged Around the same time period, Between about 3500 bc To 2500 bc or so.
We have that in the old world with egypt, With mesopotamia, In asia with the chinese cultures.
Caral is, I believe, evidence of this in the americas Of the reemergence of civilization.
Can you tell us why, in your opinion, It is such an important ancient site? I think the most important thing was that People of caral were in some way connected To the ancient deity called viracocha, Which we find in other cultures in peru And other locations around the world.
- Wow.
- Henry: They found the gourd buried near caral That had the image of the staff god on it, And they were able to date it to What? Like, 2300 bc? Meaning it was created - By people who lived at caral.
- Foerster: Yeah.
Exactly.
It makes caral the oldest radiocarbon-tested Ceremonial complex in the americas.
It is quite likely that the people of caral Were in some way connected to the Ancient deity called viracocha, which we find in other cultures In peru and other locations around the world.
So you're referring to the so-called staff god, right? The guy with the two staffs.
Yeah, very much so.
So the staff god that was found at caral, I mean, it's really the same guy viracocha, On the gate of the sun at tiahuanco, right? Yeah, very similar.
I mean, of course, The, uh, depictions are relatively crude, But they seem It seems to depict The same kind of deity or ancestor or ancient visitors.
Narrator: While exploring a burial site near caral in 2003, Archaeologist alvaro ruiz made a remarkable discovery.
One of the artifacts that is uncovered and recovered In caral-supe is this gourd fragment.
And on this gourd fragment is an image of this What has come to be called a staff god.
So it's this little guy, and he's standing holding What appears to be a staff in each of his hands.
Narrator: Incredibly, radiocarbon dating of the gourd fragment Revealed that it is roughly 4,300 years old.
The artifact's extraordinary age Suggests the deity drawn on it Was worshipped by the people of caral.
But even more astonishing to archaeologists Is the fact that the so-called staff god Bears a striking similarity to a figure Worshiped by the inca some 3,000 years later.
The staff god was a form of viracocha.
And this is exactly the same figure That's seen again and again In pre-columbian art, At places like tiahuanco on the gateway of the sun, One of the most important structures That existed in south america.
There you have exactly the same figure.
Viracocha was the primary deity of the andes Going back many thousands of years.
He was thought to be the founder of all the ancient sites We see in peru and bolivia today, Including tiahuanco, cusco, Sacsayhuamán, machu picchu and many others.
And he formed them and built them along this alignment Called the path of viracocha Which stretches southeast to northwest Across the whole country.
Beardsley: This must have been, in our estimation, An important symbol because we see this particular symbol Being reused and adopted In other places for several thousand years.
So we see, basically, everything That becomes civilization, that become the inca, We see in caral-supe.
It's kind of strange that, uh, the motif Has remained, which would suggest that that motif Was incredibly important to the local populations.
Foerster: Well, that's a good point because That, again, shows the connection between The same kind of deity or ancestor We see at tiahuanco or pumapunku Or in cusco itself, - Which is pretty incredible.
- That's pretty amazing.
You know, that I mean, that there's Something that something has to be said about that.
We, of course, have made the suggestion viracocha May have been some type of a visitor from another planet Because also, the gear that he is wearing, For all intents and purposes, Looks like a modern-day astronaut.
- Childress: Yeah, true.
- Tsoukalos: Well, if that were true, It would tie in to this whole Worship of viracocha that can be found All throughout peru and south america.
- Yeah, that very much seems to be the case.
- Tsoukalos: Amazing.
Brien, thank you very much for your time.
It was wonderful To connect with you, even if it's like this, And I cannot wait to see you again Face-to-face in person.
That will be a pleasure.
Thanks to all three of you gentlemen.
- Tsoukalos: Thank you.
- Childress: Thanks, brien.
- Okay.
Thank you.
And, you know, what a See, to me The whole idea that this staff god only exists In south or central america No.
- No.
- It that symbolism Or that motif exists - Worldwide.
- Childress: Worldwide.
And it's well known in egypt and sumeria, - Ancient india.
- Henry: Right.
Childress: It's interesting, too, how when you look at The viracocha god At the on the gate of the sun at tiahuanco, On either side of him Are these birdmen, birdmen who can fly.
- Tsoukalos: Right.
And what - Childress: Coming to him.
Tsoukalos: And what better symbolism to signify flight - Than showing people with wings? - Henry: Right.
You know, I mean, we have the same thing in ancient sumeria.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, it is quite possible That this was symbolism to signify people Coming from the sky.
Narrator: Curiously, examples of godlike figures That are depicted as half man and half bird, Much like the figure of naylamp That was worshipped by the sican people of northern peru, Can be found throughout the ancient world From the anunnaki in mesopotamia To the hindu god garuda in india, The tengu in japan, The birdmen of easter island, And the kachinas revered by numerous tribes In north america.
There is even a 44,000-year-old cave painting in indonesia That archaeologists have determined To be a humanlike figure with a bird's head.
We also have the local legends, And they're very clear in saying that viracocha came - And gave instructions, so - Henry: Right.
- To-to create civilization.
- Tsoukalos: Yes.
-To create these buildings.
All these giant pyramids.
-Right.
Tsoukalos: According to the legends, The knowledge of building these things Was given by the so-called gods from the stars.
This has been our argument all along.
That our origin of any of our ancient civilizations Dates much further back Into our distant past than what we're being told.
And that these civilizations all over the world -Are more connected, but archaeologists were saying -right.
- They had no contact.
- Henry: Right.
But now in south america they're proving That's completely wrong, And all of these cultures in south america Into the highlands, into the jungle, all along the coast, They're all connected, and we have all the geoglyphs - All over south america.
- Right.
And, of course, nazca is so famous for its geoglyphs, But caral has the oldest.
Narrator: The nazca lines present one of peru's greatest mysteries Hundreds of massive designs carved into the desert floor, Created on a scale to only be understood From high above the earth.
It is estimated that the earliest of these lines, Called geoglyphs, were made around 500 bc.
But in the year 2000, while excavating caral, Archaeologists discovered a geoglyph That they believe dates to the same period As the ancient city itself, Which would make it, by far, the oldest geoglyph Ever found in peru.
Its shape is nearly impossible to discern From the ground, but when viewed from the sky, The profile of a face is clearly recognizable.
The geoglyph face is constructed of stones Laid out to create the figure itself.
It has its mouth open.
It's looking towards one direction, And also it has what looks like kind of wavy hair, Although this could actually be Blood spurting out of its head.
The caral geoglyph is the oldest known In peru or bolivia.
It's at least 2,000 years older than nazca, maybe more.
And so it does suggest this was the forerunner To all the nazca geoglyphs, and this maybe even influenced The nazca civilization.
So all of this, again, Seems to suggest a commonality.
What I might call a super complex of civilization, So not just one civilization in isolation But a number of related civilizations That cover a very long period in time And go back to a very remote period ultimately.
Yeah, you have to wonder about the geoglyph at caral Because the geoglyphs at nazca are obviously meant to be seen - From the air by the gods.
- Right.
Right.
So you would think the geoglyph at caral has the same meaning.
And I've seen, too, where viracocha Supposedly told the nazca people to make those lines.
That's one of the legends.
I also think maybe this is a type of calling card, And there are other geoglyphs around the world That correspond with each other because you have these lines, These figures, these, you know, things wanting To communicate with the celestial realm, And you have to wonder why because - Coincidence no longer holds water.
- Right.
Narrator: When the nazca lines were first discovered in 1927, They were considered a unique phenomenon.
But in recent years, with the benefit of satellite imagery, Thousands of ancient geoglyphs Are being found not just in south america But all over the world.
In asia, the middle east, Africa, north america, And even europe.
The fact of the matter is that we have geoglyphs worldwide.
And so you have to wonder why.
The idea in the ancient astronaut theory Is fairly simple And that is that our ancestors, Regardless of ancient cultures, They were visited by the same teachers.
There's another famous glyph, uh, farther south From nazca in northern chile called the atacama giant.
- Tsoukalos: Right.
- Childress: And it's actually the largest of all the geoglyphs In south america, and he too seems To be holding a staff, and has an animal with him.
- Yeah.
He's like this, kind of.
- Yeah, like that.
- Henry: Yeah.
- Childress: Uh-huh.
- Tsoukalos: Right.
Childress: Perhaps he's also a A depiction of viracocha.
To me, the most important thing about all of this is that The structures at caral correspond - With the constellation of the pleiades.
- Henry: That's right.
-And so whenever I see stuff like that, it's like, you know, -okay.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
All right, obviously, Our ancestors were able to observe the stars.
Nobody's ever questioned that or debated that.
The power of observation was huge and important, - But why pick the pleiades? - Henry: That's right.
They call it "heaven's mirror," is a term; using the expression "as above, so below," they're trying to create A physical connection to these places.
Narrator: The excavation of caral Over the past two and a half decades has produced A number of archaeological marvels.
But for ancient astronaut theorists, One of the most significant, In terms of possibly explaining its origins, Is its curious and seemingly deliberate design.
Collins: What has been noticed about the layout Of the different structures and buildings at caral, Is that they seem to reflect the astronomical positions Of the star cluster known as the pleiades.
And this seems to be almost beyond coincidence.
Newman: It's almost like a star mirror.
We have the pleiades in the sky, and it mirrors on earth.
It looks just like caral.
The main pyramid would be the central star alcyone, And all the other structures in the complex Match all the other stars in the pleiades.
So there's-there's a real kind of theory that's come forward That they were trying to map the stars onto the earth.
Narrator: For ancient astronaut theorists, The layout of caral is made even more significant Due to the fact that the pleiades Was also of central importance to the inca, Who would emerge in peru more than 3,000 years later.
Foerster: The inca had a very strong connection with the pleiades.
At their ceremonial center called the coricancha in cusco, The rising of the pleiades corresponded With the planting of crops in September of each year.
Newman: There's even a real inca tradition Of the ancestors coming from the pleiades.
So we have to question: Did they actually come from pleiades? But it does suggest, especially along with the viracocha figure That was found there, That much of the inca tradition, The technology and sophistication May have come from the caral-supe civilization.
Narrator: Could caral really have been designed to mirror the pleiades? Curiously, it is only the latest in a long line Of ancient sites that have been found To mirror the star cluster, Such as the winterbourne stoke barrow in England, The nuragic structures on the island of sardinia, And chaco canyon in new mexico To name just a few.
Henry: The seven pyramids of tikal are an example.
The pyramids of abusir in egypt is another example.
The tomb complex of the hongwu emperor, The founder of the ming dynasty, It mirrors the pattern of the pleiades.
It's almost as if these ancient cultures are signaling to us Or leaving a trail for us to follow that says, "this is where our gods came from.
" Or, "this is where humans came from, or the place That we're in fact trying to ultimately travel or return to.
" The hawaiians say their royal ancestors Came from the pleiades.
The cherokee in east tennessee say the same thing.
So divergent cultures are saying exactly the same thing, And there's always the message, "we were visited by beings who came from this star system.
" You have to wonder why.
In this case, the pleiades, to me Suggests that someone wanted to leave behind a message showing - Where they came from.
- Exactly.
Tsoukalos: I think this is fascinating because It's basically a calling card.
We're gonna go all around the planet.
We're gonna build similar structures.
You're gonna see our calling card, And it always wants you to remember the pleiades.
I completely agree with you, And, you know, the fact Look, if there was only -Caral worldwide that had this thing, -right.
Then fine, there's no argument.
But the fact that there are dozens of examples Like that in ancient times, That is the point.
You know, this whole excavation of caral has put The entire region into a new light, And if you think about it, This excavation has only just begun, So who knows what we'll discover in the future And what other keys we'll find.
Childress: So are there amazing discoveries Still to be found in south america? There may well be.
I absolutely think so because There are vast swathes of areas in south america Where, you know, who knows What we'll find in the future because there's nobody there.
Narrator: In 2019, archaeologists uncovered An ancient settlement in the country of bolivia, Just south of peru, that dates back An astonishing 10,600 years.
While excavation has not revealed A sophisticated city like caral, Experts believe that it is just one Of many ancient sites still left To be uncovered in south america.
And that it may only be a matter of time Before we are forced to rewrite history once again.
One has to wonder if one day Archaeology will agree with us.
And I think that this is the direction we're actually going Because they've always said, "oh, you know, Everything is established, we kind of know everything.
" And the truth of the matter is that they don't, and caral -Has proven this because when you look at these pyramids -henry: Exactly.
In different regions of the world, They correspond with each other.
But the depiction of this staff god, one could argue, "oh, you know, this is just a deity holding a staff," Or whatever, but the fact that worldwide Not just in tiwanaku, not just in caral We have this motif of this being holding two staffs.
- Right.
Right.
- That is important.
The message is consistent That extraterrestrials were not only intervening but they were - Helping to advance us.
- Well, gentlemen, This has been a fascinating conversation, And you know, this is what's so great about peru And that whole region because It continues to give us new pieces of information.
Look, there can be so much more to discover, and, no doubt, It will shock us Even more than what we found at-at caral.
We're gonna find something irrefutable very soon, I think.
- It's gonna change everything.
- Tsoukalos: Right.
And I really think that, you know, the more Archaeological evidence we find That is connected to the stars With a combination of stories Of gods that once were here, It'll only be a matter of time where even The most dismissive archaeologists will have to say, "man.
Maybe these guys sitting at this table were right.
" Exactly.
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