There are some folk who don't see the gem inside my rough exterior who might consider me a hot head. To which I say a hearty "bite me". But let this opinion be a caution that within this blog may lurk items of a venting nature or perhaps those which might be considered a rant. So be it. Proceed with caution. You have been warned.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Ancient Cargo Cults

I was watching a TV series "Ancient Aliens" that springboards off the 40 year old series of books by Erich Van Daniken purporting that things like henges in Britain, the Nazca lines, huge earthworks at various locations around the world and other notable seeming inexplicable anachromisms can only be evidence that in prehistoric times extraterrestrial visitors assisted human beings in constructing these anomalies. The reasoning seems to be that without advanced technology which ancient humans did not possess, these constructions would have been impossible. I think this reasoning is a bunch of crap as it has been proven again and again that techniques available to ancient humans were completely adequate for the "seemingly impossible" tasks. Stones can be moved and raised using no more advanced technology than logs and levers. Thor Heyerdahl has proved that monumental stone works (Easter Island statues) can be made with stone tools. Designs so large they can only be observed from the air can be laid out and excuted by simply scaling small designs.

However, the more intriguing question around such sites would seem to be why ancient humans would expend the huge efforts over long periods of time required to build such monuments. Oddly, one possible answer to this question is, in my opinion, even better evidence for the possibility of alien vists in the distant past.

On certain islands in the pacific during World War II the US established air bases to supply troops thoughout the pacific with the necessities of war. When the War ended and the armed forces abandoned these island bases, the native tribes who had become used to the cast off technological and material goods that they were able to appropriate for their own use brought in by the aircraft, developed strange religious practices. These are known as "cargo cults" and one of their distinguishing characteristics is the attempt to duplicate the air fields, aircraft and other trappings of the air bases out of primitive materials such as stone, wood, and bamboo in hopes that the airplanes and strange uniformed beings would return and bring them materials wealth again.

It seems to me that what we see in the primitive "ancient alien" sites around the world are analogous to these cargo cults. Surely if primitive humans had alien help building these sites, they would not be the crude henges and earthworks we see now but technologically advanced sites typified by precision and advanced techniques. Instead these sites fit the cargo cult model much more closely. Once you imagine that these sites are actually attempts by the natives (our ancestors) to imitate the landing fields/structures used by the alien visitors, who have obliterated evidence of their presence and departed, in hopes of their return, it becomes much easier to understand their purpose, the great efforts expended on them and their crudity in spite of their scale.

Just sayin'