Ancient Aliens: Mystic Mysteries of the Mayans

NARRATOR: Chichen Itza, Mexico. Located on the Yucatan Peninsula are the ruins of an

ancient

Mayan city that prospered between 750 and 1200 AD. It was here, in 1969, where Erich von Däniken had a surprising creation on the central pyramid of the city's Castle. He was standing in front of this great pyramid. I did not understand anything. I took all the literature possible from a Central American archaeologist to find out what this is all about. And then I learned the game. They talk about visitors from outside. Of course, they call them gods. MAN 1: According to

ancient

Mayan myths, their main deity was Quetzalcoatl or Kukulcán, Kucumatz, all these different names for exactly the same deity, which was described as a winged or flying serpent, or a flying serpent.

Whatever they saw in the sky could best be described as a flying snake. When we look at the other side of the world, Chichén Itzá is a very important place. It is one of those places where it is said that the gods descended and decreed the destiny of humanity. And there is a specific pyramid, El Castillo, where you see an intricate light show that occurs specifically on the equinoxes of March 21 and September 21. ERICH VON DANIKEN: Early in the morning, you see the sun rise. And as the sun rises, you see on the staircase, lights and shadows, triangles of lights and shadows.

They are produced thanks to the nine platforms. The triangles of light and shadow slowly descend the steps of the pyramid until the sun rises there. The message is absolutely clear. God Kukulcán visited Earth and disappeared again with the promise of returning in the distant future. So they have given this, all the information about the return of the gods, to his temple. MAN 2: And I think this is one of the great things that Erich has done. Not only in the history of Chichén Itzá, but in so many other aspects and other places in this world as well.

So he focuses on certain details and says, look, this is important. This is an extremely difficult detail to create. This is something that traditional archeology tends to overlook. NARRATOR: By establishing a connection between the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Maya and the precise architecture of it, Erich von Daniken became convinced that there was much more to his ancient extraterrestrial hypothesis than he had imagined. In search of more evidence, he sought out another Mayan temple, one that housed what some say was the first ancient astronaut, Lord Pacal. DAVID CHILDRESS: In the ancient Mayan city of Palenque there was a tomb that was discovered in the 1950s.

And within this tomb was a lid on this sarcophagus for Lord Pacal. And that cover is heavily decorated with an image of Lord Pacal. And in that photo, he's doing really unusual things. ERICH VON DANIKEN: You see a man leaning forward, almost like a racing motorcyclist. He has his nose placed over some kind of oxygen mask. He uses his top hand to manipulate the knob. He sees his lower hand, he manipulates some controls. He is sitting in a kind of chair inside a kind of capsule. DAVID CHILDRESS: When Erich looked at that cover, he saw a Mayan king on a rocket.

And that guy was returning to the stars, returning to space. It was a passionate performance. And he was one of the main things in "Chariots of the Gods." And when other people looked at that cover and saw his explanation, they had to agree with him. NARRATOR: Could Erich von Daniken be right? Was Lord Pacal really an alien who visited Earth in the distant past, one who perhaps shared highly advanced knowledge with humanity? NARRACentral America In the west of Honduras are the impressive ruins of In the west of Honduras are the impressive ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Copan. the ancient Mayan city of Copan.

And although the temples, pyramids and monuments of Copan are among the most important of all Mayan sites, researchers seeking to explain the incredible achievements of the Mayans have been drawn to a 72-step structure known as the Hieroglyphic Staircase. like the Hieroglyphic Staircase. like the Hieroglyphic Staircase. The Copán Hieroglyphic Staircase was built at the beginning of the year 700 AD. C. with the intention of writing the history of Copán at that time. And that is why it was designed as a public monument And that is why it was designed as a public monument to the glory and success of all the kings of Yax K'uk' Mo' to the glory and success of all the kings of Yax K' uk' Mo' until the 13th who commissioned its construction. until the 13th when he commissioned its construction. stones in the huge monument,0 ancient Mayan symbols, known as glyphs, ancient Mayan symbols, known as glyphs, form what historians believe to be one of the oldest and most sophisticated systems of writing. writing systems.

But for centuries, the glyphs found throughout Mesoamerica But for centuries, the glyphs found throughout Mesoamerica But for centuries, the glyphs found throughout Mesoamerica were indecipherable. They were indecipherable. Then, in 1880, German librarian and anthropologist Ernst Forstemann cracked the code. Forstemann cracked the code. Ernest Forstemann was a librarian in Dresden. Ernest Forstemann was a librarian in Dresden. And in his desk he kept one of the four Mayan books, the "Dresden Codex." He was a brilliant and extremely logical mathematician. He was a brilliant and extremely logical mathematician and had enormous ideas. And at a time when we couldn't read a single Mayan hieroglyph, he was able to decipher Mayan calligraphy. he was able to discover Mayan calligraphy.

GERARDO ALDANA: Mayan hieroglyphic writing GERARDO ALDANA: Mayan hieroglyphic writing is very robust. And that's because it actually uses two components. hs. There are logograms. Logograms are actually images that represent entire words. So balam, for example, which is jaguar, So balam, for example, which is jaguar, So balam, for example, which is jaguar, could be written only with the head of a jaguar. It could be written only with the head of a jaguar. On the other hand, we have these things that we will do. And these are glyphs. They are images that represent sounds. They are images that sound unrepresented.

NARRATOR: According to interpretations of the Hieroglyphic Staircase, the glyphs narrate not only the history but also the origin of the ancient Mayan rulers. GERARDO ALDANA: The hieroglyphs are really GERARDO ALDANA: The hieroglyphs are really. attached to what was important to royalty at that time, attached to what was important to royalty at that time, genealogies of the kings. ae They went to great lengths to demonstrate how they were connected to their ancestors and their ancestors' gods to establish their right to rule. to establish their right to govern. This is a photograph I took of... a close-up of a sculpture of Uaxaclajuun a close-up of a sculpture of Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, the thirteenth ruler of Copan.

Ub'aah K'awiil, the thirteenth ruler of Copan. Ub'aah K'awiil, the thirteenth ruler of Copan. And he is represented here on the front in all the trappings of him. And then, the sculptor put a hieroglyphic passage. And then the sculptor put a hieroglyphic passage on the side. on the side. We do not believe that commoners knew how to read. But all the elites could do it. But all the elites could do it. And the king could. Then he or another elite individual could come here and impress the people by saying: this demonstrates the semi-divinity of our king and his power to intercede between us and the heavens. and his power to intercede between us and the heavens.

NARRATOR: But what was the true source of power and authority behind the Mayan priests and kings? Do hieroglyphs reveal an otherworldly truth about their origin as the Mayans themselves maintain? Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer is yes. Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer is yes. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: What do we have to think about today e p? And the origin is nothing more than them, the initial clique of priests, they, they, the initial clique of priests, they, they, the initial clique of priests, they were all in contact with extraterrestrials. They were all in contact with extraterrestrials.

And that is why they were revered. Our ancestors thought they were gods because they didn't understand the practicalities behind those visits. But when it comes down to it, it is. But when it comes down to it, it was all a big misunderstanding, it was all a big misunderstanding and a way to keep ordinary people in their place. NARRATOR: Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula. For more than 2,000 years, the rain-soaked jungles and fertile plains served as home to one of the ancient world's most important civilizations, the Mayans. Scholars estimate that between 250 and 900 AD, the Mayan population was made up of between 15 and 20 million people and extended to Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the Mayans were one of the first ancient people to develop a written language, used modern mathematical methods, and built enormous multi-story celestial observatories, all at a time when Europeans were struggling to get through the so-called dark ages. SEAN-DAVID MORTON: The Mayans are considered one of the great advanced civilizations with hyper-advanced astronomy, astrology, trigonometry, architecture, all of these things, while the Europeans at that time were wallowing in the mud. NARRATOR: But perhaps the most surprising Mayan achievement was their system of mapping the stars and planets in calendar form. The Mayans were timekeepers above and beyond anything else.

Keeping up with the times was magical. It was power for the Mayans. In particular, they tracked Venus, the phases of the moon, and eclipses, but they also tracked precession, which is an extraordinarily long cycle. What it means is that every year, say on March 15, the Pleiades rise into the sky for the first time. If you wait 72 years, the day of the Pleiades emergence will be one day earlier. If you wait another 72 years, it will be even a day sooner. And if you wait 26,000 years, the Pleiades will return on that same day. NARRATOR: According to scholars, the Mayans believed that time, like the stars, moved in repetitive patterns called calendar cycles and that these cycles could be used to predict future events.

One of these calendar cycles, the Mayan long count, lasts 5,125 years and will end on December 21, 2012. But why? Why did the Mayans choose this date and what did they think would happen to our world? Perhaps a clue can be found in an astronomical phenomenon located in the center of the Milky Way, an area where there are no stars. SEAN-DAVID MORTON: The Mayans not only knew where the center of the galaxy was, but they also understood that there was a light-year across the black hole they call the Great Rift. LOGAN HAWKES: The Mayans believed that this was the birth canal of the universe and that all things came from the birth canal of the universe.

And on December 21, 2012, the Earth, the Sun, and this birth canal, the dark rift, are all in perfect alignment, and this only happens every 26,000 years. NARRATOR: Could it be a mere coincidence that the mile-counting calendar ends on the same day as this rare alignment in the Milky Way? And did this advanced understanding of celestial cycles really come from ancient Mayan astronomers who observed the stars with only their naked eyes? LOGAN HAWKES: The Mayans believed that this knowledge came to them from their gods and that their gods then existed in the stars. So is it possible that these gods were

aliens

?

The answer to that question is yes, it is possible. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: According to the Mayans themselves, this knowledge was not something that occurred to them, but was given to them as a gift from the gods. The gift back then was not something material. It was knowledge. Knowledge is the currency of the universe. NARRATOR: Planet Earth, 65 million years ago, an eight-mile-wide asteroid hurtles toward the planet at about 12 miles per second and hits the region now known as the Yucatan Peninsula with the force of 100 million megatons of TNT. . According to conventional science, this catastrophic event forever changed the Earth's climate and topography, and ended the reign of the dinosaurs.

DAVID MORRISON: The object that arrived was 8 or 10 miles in diameter. That impact dug a deep hole, lifting material into the atmosphere, black dust, that covered the planet in darkness for months, maybe for a couple of years. Then there will be a time when sunlight will simply be excluded from the Earth's surface and photosynthetic organisms like plants would begin to die. The herbivorous dinosaurs would have had nothing to eat and would have died. Carnivorous dinosaurs would have nothing to eat either. And this could have lasted between 5 and 10 years. How quickly the extinction occurred is a matter of debate.

NARRATOR: But is it possible that some dinosaur species actually survived this cataclysmic event, and not only survived, but thrived for several thousand or even millions of years? Perhaps clues can be recovered near a crater where scientists believe the giant asteroid crashed into Earth, right in the heart of what is now the Yucatan Peninsula. Today, less than 90 miles from the epicenter of the asteroid impact lies one of the largest and best preserved cities in the United States.ancient Mayans, Chichen Itza. One may wonder if it is not a strange coincidence that the same place in Yucatán, which experienced this devastating asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, is also the main habitation area of ​​the ancient Mayans.

PHILIP COPPENS: It is said that Chichén Itzá was the place where the Mayans made contact with the gods. And it seems like an extraordinary coincidence to me, of all the potential places around the Gulf of Mexico that they could have chosen, they took a place where something literally fell from the sky 65 million years ago. And the Mayans believed that this contact with the gods, this contact with heaven occurred there until most recent times. So what we have here is either a coincidence or something else is going on, and actually this something else is something that almost no one has touched on, but I think it's something that really needs to be explored in a lot more detail.

In the Mayan area and other areas of Mexico there are curious representations of dinosaurs. There are pterosaurs, there is a famous dinosaur that appears in one of Bonampak's paintings. So you might wonder how the Mayans knew about dinosaurs. Dinosaurs supposedly became extinct millions of years ago. DAVID MORRISON: But if, as leading scientists believe, dinosaurs had been extinct for millions of years before the evolution of humanity on this planet, then what would explain the richness of Mayan art depicting interactions between humans and animals? which appear to be dinosaurs found in the same area where they supposedly died?