What if Ancient Aliens Built the Pyramids?
Tourists travel from far and wide to see these grand structures, the only wonders of the
ancient world still standing today. As monuments to the Pharaohs of Egypt, the largest three
are hundreds of feet high. In fact, for thousands of years they were the tallest manmade structures
in the world – but what if they weren’t manmade at all?
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what if ancient
aliens built the pyramids?
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The Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed 4,500 years ago, with most archaeologists
agreeing that they serve as vast tombs. Situated just outside of Cairo, the main site consists
of three main pyramids, some smaller pyramids, and the Great Sphinx. The largest, standing
at 450 feet tall, is thought to be the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu. Despite being there
for thousands of years, the pyramid interiors remain mostly unexplored because of an unwillingness
to carry out invasive and potentially damaging excavations. So far, small robots and scanners
have proven our best and safest means of getting inside to have a look around, uncovering various
passages and chambers over the decades. But the pyramids are still at the centre of many,
many mysteries, and exactly how they were built has been a point of interest for centuries…
Which leads us to one of today’s most popular conspiracy theories: that extra-terrestrials
had a hand in their construction.
In the case of the pyramids, a long-term lack of verifiable evidence has led to amateurs
and speculators filling in the gaps for themselves, with more and more bizarre ideas coming to
the fore. One popular line connecting the pyramids with outer space is their seemingly
astronomical positioning, with some proposing a similarity between their location and the
constellation of Orion. It’s a controversial theory, though, not least because most astronomers
agree that the measurements don’t match up to begin with - suggesting that maps used
to prove the link have been altered to better support the theory.
Another idea is that the latitudinal coordinates of the Great Pyramids can be read as identical
to the speed of light in metres per second, with a number sequence of 299792458. Again,
though, it’s a highly contentious point because, with the pyramids being so large,
various other latitudinal values which aren’t the speed of light will also find them. And
then there’s also the fact that the Ancient Egyptians didn’t even measure in meters,
or metres per second. Conspiracists could well argue that some kind of time-travelling
alien might’ve brought the unit of measurement back from the future specifically for the
pyramids… But it’s clear that we’re beginning to grasp at proverbial straws.
By far though, the biggest problem facing the “ancient aliens” hypothesis in this
case is that we have absolutely no concrete proof that aliens exist at all. Saying “aliens
built the pyramids” also doesn’t explain… anything. How are they supposed to have achieved
it? With tractor beams and anti-gravity technology? And for what reason? Just to play a huge prank
on planet Earth, or did they really bury advanced secrets deep within the structures? On the
other hand, what we do know is that the Ancient Egyptians were accomplished at architecture
and construction and built no shortage of other monuments during the time of the Pharaohs.
Egyptologists have long proposed that a sophisticated ramp system was the primary means by which
the pyramids were built… and in 2018, one such ramp - dating to 4,500 years ago - was
actually found by archaeologists in a nearby quarry. A workers’ village has also been
discovered close-by, providing tangible evidence that thousands of people – human people
– built the vast and intriguing spectacles we see today.
It’s possible that the construction methods even for structures as iconic as the pyramids
might simply have been lost to time. In this way, the method behind the pyramids can be
thought of like the lost technology of Damascus steel - which was remarkably strong and is
even thought to have contained carbon nanotubes, but we don’t know how to recreate it today.
Perhaps the true secrets of pyramid construction were once held in the Great Library of Alexandria
- which housed texts from all across the ancient world but was unfortunately destroyed thousands
of years ago. The conspiratorial counter-argument might say that the library could just as well
have held in-depth accounts of long-lost visitors from space – and there is no way to know
for sure - but tips on Egyptian building still rank as more plausible in the minds of most,
compared to accounts of alien overlords.
In general, the ancient aliens theory has also been criticised for being rooted in prejudiced
colonialism, based on the assumption that civilisations in the global south couldn’t
possibly have built the pyramids themselves. Critics argue that the same bias shows itself
in theories on the Easter Island statues, various Mayan ruins, and the so-called “Chilean
Alien”, a body discovered in the Atacama Desert in 2003 which, after extensive testing,
was found to be that of a human girl probably born in the 1960s. She was neither ancient
nor an alien, and the treatment of her remains has since been condemned by Chilean authorities.
So, to explain away the pyramids as simply “the work of aliens” is clearly riddled
with problems, inaccuracies and ethical issues. But, say we lived in a reality where it really
was the truth? Where all of those concerns were adequately answered by solid, recognisable
evidence that the pyramids are of extra-terrestrial origin. What then?
In such a reality, the pyramids would hold the secrets not only to their own construction,
but also to time travel, faster than light travel and the habitability of alien worlds.
But the bigger question of why they were built would still remain. They could serve as a
gateway between us and the rest of the galaxy, willingly built by humans in part to honour
their alien visitors… but they could also be ominous and deadly, with some theorists
going as far as to suggest that they’re actually alien weapons. Here, the pyramids
are billed as though they’re a type of Trojan horse; where an incredible gift is presented
to humanity, but it hides something terrible within - waiting to be let out.
Given that the pyramids aren’t the only site that has been blamed on extra-terrestrial
activity at one time or another, if we found concrete proof that aliens actually were responsible
for Giza, everything else that’s otherwise “unexplained” would then be thought of
in the same way - from the Nazca Lines in Peru, which are only visible from above, to
the iconic standing stones at Stonehenge, which some theories claim are a landing pad
for spacecraft. So, it’s clear that such a revelation - about the pyramids or any ancient,
manmade structure - would completely reshape our ideas on human history.
While the “ancient aliens” theory as it is is fraught with problems, pitfalls and
prejudices… were anything like it ever to transpire, it’d change our understanding
not just of our future and our place in a wider, more populated galaxy, but also of
our timeline until this point. And that’s what would happen if ancient aliens built
the pyramids.
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