Perhaps it would be more accurate to speak in this chapter of the orgins of man rather than his evolution, though we shall be considering this also. That some of the theories in relation to the beginning of homo sapiens are revolutionary there can be no doubt. In chapters 13 and 14 we have looked at some of the radical theories of certain modern writers about the beginnings of mankind based to a large extent on accepted or current wisdom (i.e. not too "way out" as the expression is). In this chapter we shall  be looking at some ideas (about origins) that are indeed revolutionary, and are antipathetic to the generally accepted "received wisdom".
      In previous chapters it may be that what we were truly considering was the (rapid) development of skills, both cerebral and physical, in certain races; above all, the apparently accelerated growth in intelligence. We read of various "explanations" for this phenomenon. Here we shall be examining some theories that not to put too fine a point on it, involve extraterrestial agencies. "Evidence" of such activity will be shown: not necessarily to try to win converts, but presented to readers to enable judgement to be made. The "High Priests" of this theory are Erich van Daniken and  Zecharia Sitchin who one must add, have many acolytes.

FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS

     In the Preface to his book, THE SECRET OF THE GODS,  the author, E.T. Stringer, poses the most important questions to beset modern man. He asks: What are we? Why are we here? What is the function of the Earth in the scheme of things?
       A paraphrase of his introductory paragraph sets the scene, I believe, for this chapter.
       Imagine, he says, that millions of years ago a gigantic spaceship approached the Earth. It came from outside the Solar System and was guided by a number of radio beacons still transmitting today. The spaceship circled the Earth several times in different paths until it became locked into a permanent orbit.  The travellers in the spaceship wre totally unlike human beings in appearance and the life they saw on Earth would be very strange to present day eyes. They made a number of expeditions to earth from the spaceship.
       Did these landings, asks Stringer, mark the beginning of the epoch of interbreeding between "man" and "gods" - namely the travellers from the spaceship. In this scenario, we have to realise that all this happened millions of years ago, and the most recent was about one million years ago. After this the spaceship was left deserted and maybe still orbits the Earth - but immensely far out. One day the spaceship may return.  On the other hand, if  the spacecraft is not immensely far out and appears as a dead satellite, the moon is the spacevehicle (or was) so that we as modern man have evolved from the original travellers in it. Accordingly, the "god" we call man in this way came to Earth in the first place. As Stringer says, this is speculation;  - but what exactly can be proved?

ACCEPTED VIEWS?

       Conventional history teaches that life, animal and plant, appeared quite suddenly on this earth some 550 million years ago; suddenly in view of the fact that no fossil remains have turned up from the preceding aeons. In the course of time, the dinosaurs dominated the earth, making their appearance about 200 million ago. After the disappearance of the dinosaurs, mammals began to appear. About 4 million years ago earliest man apeared.  Civilised, or cultured man, appeared only some 10,000 years ago. This is the "accepted" account of development on earth.  But is it true?
       Recent fossil discoveries suggest it is not.  Perhaps the most famous are the fossil footprints of human form in rock strata dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. The conclusion is therefore that humans were alive tens of millions of years ago.  Alternative explanations are encountered: none as far as I am concerned is convincing. It seems rational to believe that intelligent life (Man) walked the earth millions of years ago. As we have stated, humanity evolved early, reached its apogee, then declined - or was (more likely) destroyed by some catastrophe.
      In 1974 the skull of "Lucy" (as she became known) was found. This is believed to be the oldest reliable evidence so far found of a primitive human. Conventional anthropology has it that Lucy is representative of man`s ancestry; but might she be just a parallel development? Darwinian evolutionary theory would accept the former; the stumbling block is the immense gap between human and primate abilities.

      Humanity, I am forced to conclude, had already evolved by the time Lucy flourished, some four million years ago: maybe  millions of decades earlier.  Michael Baigent. in his book, ANCIENT TRACES, sums up the position nicely: "Behind the interpretation [of fossil remains] lies the assumption that these bones represent progressive stages of man`s evolution over the last 4 or 5  million years. Without this assumption  some of the finds would receive quite a different explanation. This assumption has quietly attained the status of an ideology which clouds the modern perspective on the past". (p. 99)
        In 1993 a ground breaking book was published called FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY (by Richard Thompson and Michael Cremo)  in which the authors, among many other things, established evidence suggesting that humans akin to modern man, lived many millions of years ago. One notable thesis was that humans and apes were living at that same remote time. The book`s whole tenor was that orthodox positions on human beginnings ought at least to be questioned. They assembled lots of evidence, including the demonstration that humans used tools some 1 million years ago, or more.  Cremo and Thompson  concluded that "the total evidence including fossil bones and artefacts is most consistent with the view that anatomically modern humans have coexisted with other primates for tens of millions of years".(p. 750)
       Not only has man been on the earth millions of years earlier than conventional history teaches, but he has been changed, indeed mutated at some very remote era in the past. Change would indicate or even explain the seemingly accelerated development of man whereby in a comparatively short time he was able to accomplish such monumental tasks as building the Pyramids and constructing the temples of South America. Mutated suggests something much more; more drastic, more fundamental. This latter thesis is, however improbable it may seem  at first glance, so important, (though so revolutionary) in any discussion of man`s origins that it must be considered at some length, which we shall do later.

EXTRATERRESTIALS?

     "I am convinced that our longing for the stars [wish to know more about them] ...the search for immortality....is kept alive by a legacy bequeathed by the `gods`. Our ancestors received their intelligence from the `gods` who must have possessed knowledge that made the whole process [of man`s development] a rapid one."
     No prizes for guessing who wrote that!
     In the 60s when Von Daniken first wrote his revolutionary books on the origin of man, the probability of there being extraterrestial life on other planets was not generally entertained.  CHARIOTS OF THE GODS was to alter our way of thinking about the universe. His ideas depend upon the aceptance of  the fact, not the theory of time dilation whereby we must accept that the concept of our terrestial years are irelevant to people on an interstellar space journey. Time can be (is) transmuted by energy and speed.

WERE THE GODS ASTRONAUTS?

      In the Bible we read that `God` created man in his own image.  Therefore it follows that we are physically like God or the `gods`  - but when did this happen? At the very beginning of Creation, some time later, a long time later? Daniken`s belief is that man, the ancestor of modern man, was at some stage, undetermined,  mutated artificially by God or god (or the gods) so that he separated from the apes, living in comparison a swiftly developing distinct existence. Who were these gods  or this God/god? Were they in reality cosmonauts who seemed like gods to men of those times and if so did they bring to our earth knowledge we are now only just acquiring and thus gave intelligence to our remote ancestors by manipulating the genetic code? Homo sapiens originated therefore by planned mutation of the genetic code of hominids, as Daniken maintains, and by the artificial production of a female being probably in a retort. (The confusing accounts of the creation of woman in the Bible give rise to this conclusion.)
     If the gods/astronauts were indeed the beings who changed man thousands of terrestial years ago it must be appreciated that as Daniken points out, only a few decades would have passed for the crew of the spaceship. This is the reality of the time dilation effect.
     It is possible that these superior beings were physically as well as mentally much greater than "modern man"; as we have pointed out earlier, many finds from the past suggest, indeed evidence, that giant beings once walked this earth.  We must with Daniken ask the questions: were [these beings] direct descendants of gigantic cosmonauts from another world? Were they especially intelligent beings or were they products of mutations that had gone wrong? Looking at the many wonders around the globe it is hard NOT to think of highly skilled, huge men as the builders of these monuments and cities. It is not just size, but precision which amazes. What motivated the builders to take so much trouble and to exert so much labour? This is one of the core questions - which may never be answered. Was it an overwhelming desire to please the "gods" and to do their (understood) bidding? If so, another  question arises: WHAT "gods"?  Fanciful creations would not have lingered long in man`s belief; as Daniken says, the "gods" must have been real figures, so clever and mighty that they made a deep impression on our ancestors, dominating their thinking for many centuries.

MUTATION?

      "Experimental" mutation activity may contain the clue to the constant references to monstrous hybrids in literature (old and new). Tales and depictions of half human, half animal creatures abound and indicate that at one time there were many such beings. No less an authority than Plato remarked that at one time there were three sexes...the third was of great strength...possessing extra limbs... At some stage the "gods" left. After this it is possible that man regressed, degenerated. The "Fall" may have been "recessive evolution" (in Daniken`s words) owing to interbreeding with animals - a theme constantly encountered in ancient writings. According to this thinking, the concept of "original sin" is a reference to what is bestial in, and about, man. Sumerian literature (one of the oldest extant) tells of "gods" who descended from the stars, fertilised our ancestors and then  returned to
the stars. We are further told that the first men resulted from the interbreeding of gods and children of earth - "Sons of God" ; "Daughters of man" (we are reminded). 
     Several of the books of the bible (as we have mentioned) speak of very strange happenings. They claim to give eye-witness accounts of things that in those times could not be imagined....unless...those self-same gods possessed knowledge we have had only since 1945!  Artificial insemination, manipulation of the genetic code - are
both to be inferred from close reading of the biblical texts. Much of the old Testament now becomes intelligible in this light. With Daniken I would agree that many of the OT stories   refer to fertilisation by the gods, who wished to create a special race to "carry out the terrestial tasks they later entrusted it with" (p. 163)
      Reading the Old Testament, it is possible to interpret many of the paragraphs in Leviticus especially as references to the "gods`" attempts to free mankind from his habit of cross-breeding with animals so that in consequence the "gods"  carried on "a hard but successful battle against the half men, half animals, and on behalf of the higher men genetically programmed by them". (p. 164)
       Undoubtedly there are many puzzles and mysteries in the Old Testament from reconciling an omniscient, merciful God with the vengeful and repenting God often seen in the OT pages. It does appear that the God of the universe (if such there be) is completely distinct from the "gods" whom we read about in myth and legend - and religion! Man made "offerings" to the gods as a sort of quid pro quo (or reward) for the gods for the great amount of intelligent knowledge transmitted? Eventually the "gods" left but the "new" men they had created were protected, by "servants of the gods".
          Stories from many cultures speak of  gods coming and choosing a group whom they fertilised and separated from others, imparting knowledge to them. They came because they were able to for time had a different meaning to them. This latter fact is quite simply fundamental to any appreciation of one of the main theses of this study. Combine this with a belief that there are “out there” civilisations millions of years in advance of our own and at the least, we have to reconsider the world story as it is taught us.  Of course there are prejudices, entrenched positions held, which hold that the normal conventional view is only the one to have. Academics in the main, and religious leaders often seem as if they do not want to know about prehistory revelations “that might replace belief in the creation by knowledge of the Creation”. (p. 10 THE GOLD OF THE GODS)
       There have been, however, academic figures who have not been hide-bound by traditional thinking: the famous Lord Kelvin was one. He advanced the theory that (as we have mentioned earlier) life did not originate on this earth but was brought here by spores from….the universe. Today we do hear as much of his thinking on this subject as we ought. Why?  Maybe the answer is that it is too revolutionary….or too near the mark!

WAR – IN HEAVEN; ON EARTH

      War in heaven is a concept we all hear about (or did) in our childhood.  This was between God (or Gods/gods) and some of the angels or “sons of God”. However there are many ancient writings which tell of a “celestial” war which might have a basis of truth in distant memories of a very remote time when there was indeed a war between beings of distant planets. Imagine with Daniken, a scenario where a defeated party escaping in a spaceship had to make for a planet similar to their own home and would have to develop a civilisation there. (Perhaps the vast underground network of tunnels seen in several parts of the world were their “shelters” from their attackers.)  Maybe it was here and at this time that “the gods” created men in their own image. According to this theory there is only one source of the origin of homo sapiens: the mutation made by the “spacemen”. This is alluded to in world-wide literature and legend.  So it is not a unique theory.
       Let us continue with the scenario. Eventually the victors in the cosmic battle returned to their home permanently. The losers i.e. those now on Earth emerged and created man, (as we mentioned in the previous paragraph), like unto themselves.  But progress and evolution were too slow for the erstwhile losers in the war, now recognised as “gods”. (See parallel story in Genesis.) Like the God of the Bible, the creators were often vengeful and punitive; they felt they had a right to be: they were as creators, responsible for future behaviour. Created mankind feared the gods/God and what they perceived as divine judgement.  .

     It follows of course that if beings from space came to Earth they knew how to fly – conventionally, that is, not only by rocket or spacecraft. Looking at constructions on the earth, many of which can only be appreciated from above has introduced the speculation that our distant ancestors had the technology (taught them by the astronauts) which enabled them to fly, the Nazca lines and designs on the ground in Peru, being one such construction. Naturally such a claim if true would revolutionise accepted thinking about the development of homo sapiens. We might well ask: were the gods astronauts?
       If they had the ability to space travel they would also have possessed the knowledge to make atomic weapons.  Ancient texts, Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern  have passages which make sense only if the presumption is made of the possession of this type of weapon.  The opening paragraphs of Ezekiel in the OT are puzzling and obscure on a surface reading, but interpreted in the above light, (and in the light of space travel) fall into context. Equally puzzling is The Book of Enoch in which the prophet tells of his strange journeys to another world, called “the heavens”. It all makes sense if the text is understood as the account of an astronaut (Enoch) taken up into space where he travels. Undoubtedly something very strange is revealed to us constantly in ancient texts.  We do well to examine it. Above all, we must not be so arrogant as to presume that Earth alone has sentient beings: it is logical to suppose that there are millions of other civilisations in the cosmos, many of them far more advanced than we are.
 
     One of the main puzzles of the Bible is the inculcation  of the belief that God is supremely powerful, omniscient and merciful.  However some of the acts attributed to God are anything but godly.  Perhaps he was neither omniscient nor abstract, but a being of flesh and blood, who made mistakes – as in Greek and Roman mythology. The “gods” (or “God” ) were fallible – like us, and created us in their image. Maybe in the very beginning, Earth was itself made habitable by beings from another planet, perhaps many light years away, by a process similar to that now contemplated for some of the less inhospitable planets in our solar system, called terra forming, by which an atmosphere is created suitable for human existence  The planet Venus is one such that may be possible to “convert” by the introduction of blue algae into the Venusian atmosphere (proposed by the late Carl Sagan, a distinguished American astronomer). Can it be positively proved that extra-terrestials DID NOT carry out this process, millions of years ago?
     Chapter 5 of ACCORDING TO THE EVIDENCE presents a fitting conclusion to this section.  A paraphrase would run like this. Extra-terrestials worked according to a plan, not chance. They cultivated life and different species with deliberation. In the light of this thinking, whereby extra-terrestials took a vital part in creation, millions of years of evolutionary chance are obviated. None of this is impossible or inconceivable. Flora and fauna have been “developed”, mutated for many years; why not human beings? Modern advances in embriology only need be cited.  Cloning is now (or soon will be) commonplace; is this not a type of life creation? The science of genetics is in its infancy – on this planet, but may have been  developed  millions of years ago on other worlds.  “What happened in nature during milliards of years of evolution by billions of chance mutations .can be created in genetic laboratories in weeks, without dependence on chance.” (p. 259)

      Of course revolutionary theories are usually considered legitimate targets for criticism. From Velikovsky in 1950, (who suggested the present solar system came into being as a result of various planetary cataclysms), through  Daniken, and Sitchin and a clutch of other modern writers, traditional thought has been at odds. The difficulty is that it is virtually impossible to prove ANY theory (to do with creation and evolution) be it “accepted” or radical. It is the bias of probability (or rationality), the dispassionate weighing of evidence, that ultimately decides the individual. One can present a selective choice of elements – or not! In the final analysis (as the expression is) belief is personal; conviction itself is a subjective thing – in our study context. In other fields it may not be so.
UFOs and “FLYING SAUCERS”

     Since “the Roswell incident” of 1947 the issue of “flying saucers” has brought to some prominence an interest in UFOs and the whole question of extraterrestial intelligent life. This phenomenon has been the catalyst for a plethora of books on the subject. Naturally there are very mixed reactions to so-called UFOs and “visitations” by alien beings.Some people view the phenomena in black and white terms, adducing that the aliens (if believed in) are either emissaries of God or of the Devil, i.e., angels or  demons. Others view them as neither: simply extraterrestial beings. For such people, UFO activity is the method by which advanced aliens interact with humanity since they created us aeons ago.  Maybe the stories of abductions relate to the aliens` attempts to as it were “keep tabs” on us. In this light, Jesus Christ becomes a demi-god who had a human mother and a superhuman father.  (Shades of the fallen angels and their miscegenation with mortal women in the Bible.) Christ was therefore created to become the king of the Jews , the Mesiah; he was the son of God, and son of man precisely because he was half alien and half human.  And God becomes a representative of  a very advanced species “intimately involved in the affairs of  Earth”  (Eric Stetson; see estetson@ix.netcom.com )
     As we have learned, the OT speaks of the offspring of mortal women and fallen angels as (among other things) “mighty men”. They were in fact, demi-gods, many of whom were chosen as kings to rule human societies.  Borrowing from the ideas of Stetson,  they were giants because they inherited height from the nordic superhumans and “of old” because they inherited longevity also from the same source.
     As we have said, much in the Bible can be read with more meaning if we presume that UFOs and alien abductions were referred to, albeit in non-specific, circumlocutory language. It is clear too that the Hebrews, “the chosen people” did indeed have a close relationship with the gods, who it is equally clear, “intervened “ (Stetson) for their benefit in various ways. Eventually, the “gods”, superhuman beings,  returned to their  home planet  leaving specific people to lead Earth`s civilisations.
     Maybe at this point I should lead into one of my major figures (in a later chapter) : Sitchin,  and summarise some of his conclusions.
        The name, Adam, refers to the human race as a whole.
        Adam (or the Adam) were placed in Eden ( a large fertile region) to till the soil for their “heavenly masters”.
        The fall of man was a slave rebellion supported by one of the two superhuman leaders (Lucifer).
        The creation story in the OT (Genesis) is itself a reinterpration of much older texts, mainly Sumerian.

        It is important to realise that the Hebrews believed in Elohim, a plural term, which translates as “the gods”. The “God” (or god) of the bible was simply the ruler at that time of planet Earth. As Stetson says, he was deified (as were all the other superhumans) because of  his immense superiority in all aspects,  but was physical and imperfect…..
     Because of this superiority, the superhuman, supernaturals were deified “by virtually every ancient culture including the one that produced our Bible”.
     The conclusion is: higher beings found our tiny world a very long time ago.

GOD and GODS

     Another conclusion is that the “God” of the Bible is NOT the true God who made the earth, and is omnipotent and omniscient. The scriptural god makes mistakes and is vengeful. This cannot be the true God.
. But the  “gods” could so behave! And none of the scriptures were eye-witness accounts: they were written by evangelising tendentious authors who took advantage of poetic licence. Belief or rather in the words of the poet, it is the “suspension of disbelief” which is ultimately important to religious adherents;  believers in the progress of science, in evolution, selection, mutation  (as Daniken says) come to the same conclusion about mankind (as do the religious) – that man is the apotheosis of a process of creation.  So in this regard there  is no conflict.
     We have stated earlier (and partially reiterated it above) that to early man extraterrestials were as gods, later transmuted into a god or God. This would go quite a long way (if not all the way) to explain scriptural references, allusions, anecdotes and personal reminiscences and accounts that fill the Bible. Exegetical readings (and commentary) now are commonplace, shorn of the obfuscating reverence that up to the present, has obscured meaning. This, I believe, can only be to the good. Belief on remote visitations by extraterrestials of course remains subjective….but the weight of evidence!  Is it convincing?
     There is no doubt that interest in extraterrestials  is on the increase. Many people are convinced that UFOs are vehicles from outer space, and some even allege a form of abduction. Their occupants may be descendants of those who came to Earth many moons ago. Maybe they wish to observe how their creation, man, is getting on. Maybe they wish to establish contact again…when the time is right. Some people belief passionately  in the truth of these statements; many do not.  As far as I am concerned, nothing  is proved but equally nothing can be disproved. All I would say is that it is arrogant of us to think that we are the only sentient intelligent beings in creation; there may be other forms of life that are dissimilar to us Earth dwellers.

ANGELS and DEMONS

     Fundamentally, we may ask ourselves the question that John Keel poses (in his book, OPERATION TROJAN HORSE):  did ancient man misinterpret UFO manifestations by placing them in religious context? Thus angels (as they were considered) were in reality spacemen, according to modern interpretation. Demons might have been (and were so interpreted) as “fallen” creatures. Good versus evil in ancient eyes was the reflection of conflict between good “angels” (astronauts, spacemen, aliens) and “bad” angels/demons. A reading of the Bible shows there were encounters with rebellious angels who seek only to lead man astray and with God`s angels who do only His will. Ways of manifestation are open to BOTH, it must be deduced.
     The internet article, mt.net/-watcher/ofos.html makes some very pertinent points on this topic.  “The issue is whether they [the aliens] are really extraterrestial life forms here to help us – or demons with the express purpose of deceiving multitudes.” Indeed there are all over the Bible descriptions of demonic forces bent on leading people astray.  Confusion is their aim: aliens it seems know (according to some thinkers) that there is a God but intend/want to spread doubt/confusion among humans – which is exactly what the rebel angels hope to accomplish by pretending to be aliens. The latter are really spirit beings who inhabit genetically engineered bodies. (internet article).
     UFOs may convince people that they have no need to put their trust in a Saviour. May be aliens fulfill an anti-christian agenda; if so, aliens must be agents of Satan and the fallen angels.  The important word of course is MAYBE. What must be stated is that there are writers on this topic who believe that there is no difference between what our culture describes as aliens and what the Bible attributes to the fallen angels.

     In this chapter we began by examining the ideas of Daniken particularly with regard to the evolution of intelligent man and his subsequent development. Stringer we saw asked some basic questions, mainly of the type: why are we here? The “accepted” view of evolution was called into question; we noted that there is evidence of man millions of years ago.  An important question is: why did ancient man build stupendous monuments? What what his motivation?  Maybe it was stimulation derived from the “gods” who by means of genetic engineering and artificial insemination transmuted mankind for ever.
     In the Bible there is much mention of God and gods. There is salient mention of “war” in heaven; perhaps this latter is reflected in war on earth, which we discussed. The really fundamental question is: were the gods/God astronauts? Readings  of certain passages of the Scriptures puts us in mind of extraterrestial activity, visitations and the like. We have according to many, modern “visits” in flying saucers, UFO phenomena generally. Maybe it was in this remote time of visitation or indeed of colonisation by beings from another world that the giants “on the earth” were created (as the Bible says). It seems difficult…some may think … not to believe that our planet was discovered by extraterrestials countless years ago. To early man, the “visitors” must have seemed like “gods”. Finally we had a look at the present (growing) interest in UFOs/extraterrestials and the connection of this topic with the concept of demons and angels.

     In the following section/s we shall give some (more detailed) attention to the idea that mankind has incurred some kind of collective amnesia which needs to be considered in the light of the thesis that knowledge and skills came originally from other worlds (or world) . Looking at the great structures of ancient man around the world some of which cannot be duplicated now with all our modern technology leads us to believe that there are many arts and skills which we have forgotten. The ideas of such as Hancock and Drake will be pertinent to our theme.

© A.B. Finlay Ph.D