Many believe, both within and without the confines of the active UFO/alien community, that extraterrestrials had much to do with the population of this planet.

Some percentage of those even believe that the very origins of humankind were conceived, from some map deep within the master plan of that alien race, and even that these aliens have played an active role in every facet of human society. Even if you're in the vast majority of people who might find these ideas far-fetched they’re certainly entertaining reads.

Many well-educated and learned scholars have produced works to highlight their specific ideas that base at least part of their theories upon more widespread and significant records. Take for instance the author and scholar, Zechariah Sitchin, whose books "the Earth Chronicles" (specifically "the 12th planet") talk about ancient astronauts. Sitchin essentially bases his theory on ancient Samaria and texts and passages from the Bible that at least in some instances appear to support the text. He argues that a planet in the farthest areas of our solar system which he calls “Nibiru” crashed into another planet called Tiamat, half of which formed our planet the other is now purportedly the asteroid belt.  “Nibiru”, having survived the collision, purportedly travels now in an orbit which allows contact between it and our solar system every 3500+ years or so.

Sitchin believes the race of aliens called the Annunaki reside on “Nibiru” and in early times (of our Earth's birth) came to earth to extract materials to perpetuate their own work. Such materials include gold, of which the earth has a spectacular amount. Furthermore, it is his argument that because of the long and tedious work they masterminded a plan to genetically engineer minors who could on their behalf, perform the labor: humans.

Is this far-fetched? Incredibly so: however it raises many questions. As many millions and billions of people on earth, since the beginning of time as we know it have questioned their origins their purpose and the hereafter, this theory perhaps falls in line in a long list of theory and belief which deserves further exploration.

These theories actually gain some momentum in retellings of other mythical stories including those of Greek and Roman mythology. In such tales the "far-fetched" idea of a master race creating a subordinate laborer race features prominently: the mythical gods and goddesses in their own words according to these myths, created humans to accomplish the work so that they would not have to. The Bible speaks of God's, deities, and Angels as well as other heavenly hosts which also bear striking similarities to alien races, when a holistic examination between all documents is taken. Is it possible that these written records portray meetings and encounters as well as the record of history between extraterrestrials and the human race? Were biblical miracles and under explained passages potentially simply alien technologies manifested on an uninitiated humankind? Does a date like 2012 mark the year that the Annunaki return to our solar system – has it been 3500+ years? Were humans genetically engineered by an alien race? Is any of this believable?

Many scientists mock what they call fake scholars, a group within which many of them include Sitchin. They call his interpretations and renderings of ancient texts misleading and flawed in its core. It's a difficult question to be asked then of course, with so many nonscientific evidences like artifacts, cave drawings, monuments and oral stories – and yet so few scientific evidences. The believer tends to focus only on nonscientific evidence and the nonbeliever of course in opposition. Who can explain in this modern world, things like the Giza Pyramids, the Nazca Lines, Stonehenge, and Woodhenge?

So many pictures exist of cave drawings around the world that seem to show ancient astronauts, flying saucers and other unexplainable depictions. Prophets in the Bible seemingly described events and occurrences which were far beyond their or our interpretations. Though seemingly easily explained by religious scholars, it leads one to wonder could our views on religion be inherently controlled or guided by an alien entity.

Truth exists everywhere regardless of your specific beliefs: while we may never know here on this Earth or otherwise, whether these ideas are true or warrant some other explanation, it's important to realize the vast volumes of information which can be seen as ambiguous, unexplainable or unable to be attached to a certain set of standards or beliefs. We can but wonder, until the next great piece of insight is thrust upon us.

The Sumerians of Sumer were a culture from Southern Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago who came up with a form of writing called cuneiform. This is the type of writing that appears on the Sumerian clay tablets that were discovered from that culture. Originally, only a few of these examples of Sumerian clay tablets were available and had ended up in a British museum, but in 1877 the French unearthed a major Sumerian site and found thousands of clay tablets and fragments that made up the Sumerian clay tablets that contain all of this fascinating information and speculation on their fascinating culture with its very advanced state so long ago.

Some people believe that much of their culture was influenced by aliens called the Annunaki because their culture seemed to appear from almost nothingness into having many modern things such as the Sumerian clay tablets, which were the very first known form of actual writing. These ancient people whom we know little about did other interesting and unusual things too like:

• Spoke a language that belongs to no known other family language
• Had the first legal system
• Were credited with inventing the wheel
• Were accomplished astronomers with extensive star charts
• Invented number systems that are still used today with a base of 10
• Had schools, agriculture, industries, architecture like high rises, etc!

All before anyone else and all from nothingness, or so it seemed.

All this was discovered when the Sumerian clay tablets were painstakingly translated. These famous writings have many references to aliens and gods and seem to speak about a race of beings that were there helping them to accomplish these great things.

Could it be that they were aliens from somewhere in the universe who wanted to help along the Earth’s culture and influence it? This is what many people believe to be the case. The Sumerian clay tablets talk about how these peoples were also interested in gold and were worshiped as gods, all indicative of a very advanced culture during a time frame on Earth when mankind had little or nothing, then seemingly had it all with all the ways the Sumerian culture grew all of a sudden, could it be an influence of these “aliens?”

Some scholars also believe that many of the Bible’s stories originated in Sumer and could possibly be traced to these Annuknaki aliens, which could mean they have been influencing Earth a lot longer than just the time frame where the Sumerian clay tablets come from.

Whatever the case, this fascinating culture was very modern in a timeframe when that wasn’t the norm, something that will continue to be debated for years to come, as it already has been so far, ever since the Sumerian clay tablets were found.

Earth's exploration of our solar system was taking another giant leap in 1976 with the Viking 1 spacecraft taking the first detailed pictures of our planetary neighbor, Mars, from its own orbit. That leap stumbled upon a shocking potentiality when it took an image of the Cydonia mesa on July 25. While the image was at first ignored as a "trick of the light" by the chief scientist of the Viking program, Gerry Soffen, image 35A72 caught the imagination of a world. Along with nearby features that appeared to be groups of pyramids was a mountain that seemed not only very symmetrical in shape but had the shape, from orbit, of a human-like face!

It was first credited by mainstream scientists to be merely an example of pareidolia, the human mind's ability to see shapes and patters in random imagery, much like pictures in clouds. There are however, a number of factors that can refute this claim of randomness. Additional images of the "face" structure have been taken at different heights, resolutions, and light angles. Even though greater surface detail (the European Space Agency's Mars Express in 2003 to image resolutions as detailed as 46 feet per pixel) did diminish the clarity of a "face" somewhat. It did not diminish the abnormal symmetry of the overall structure. Even if the underlying formations are natural, they have had help in maintaining the integrity of the symmetry that presents a face-like appearance seen from above.

There is also the matter of the "city" just a bit away from the "face" mesa. Contained in this area are structures that have mountains sharply angled to form pyramid shapes. The images of this area were studied extensively by the computer engineers, Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar. Contacted with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland these men began an attempt to explain the features in a geological sense. Although their research showed anomalies that could not be naturally occurring and sought verification from other scientists, their work was largely ignored.

Former NASA consultant Richard Hoagland, the developer of the Pioneer 10 and 11 interstellar plaques, originally took the official stance that it was all an illusion but later study caused him to about-face and make claim for an artificial nature to the structures. He discovered more pyramidal forms in the "city" part of the area including the structure called "the Fort" for what appears to be a set of straight walls and an open enclosed area. He performed solstice alignment calculations based of the positioning of the pyramidal mounds and their spatial orientations to each other. His calculations of solar alignments have held up to independent critique.

The research scientist, Dr. Mark Carlotto, reexamined the Viking images in 1986-87 utilizing new "shape-from-shading protocols for image enhancement and disproved the "trick of light and shadow" hypothesis. Not only did the enhanced images show many additional symmetrical lines and alignment angles, but that there also appeared that, hidden within the "shadows" of the original image, were structures that looked like teeth in the mouth area.

The geomorphologist and cartographer, Erol Torun, who worked with the United States Defense Mapping Agency released a cartographic/geometric analysis of the D&M pyramid demonstrating that the mountain's angles were unlikely to be obtained in a natural mountain and that no known erosion processes could produce these angles either. Dr. Horace Crater of the University of Tennessee Space Institute also published a mathematical analysis of the numerous small mounds in the area around the "face" and the "city' in 1995. His mathematical calculations discounted the probability that the placement of these mounds/structures were randomly occurring.

The controversy over the origin and composition of the objects at Cydonia rages. While some consider it all light and shadows, others feel this is an extraterrestrial proof that other intelligences have shared our solar system and shaped its planets before us. Whether they are still around, living under the surface of the red planet, or passed into the obscurity of the past will require much more investigation. It should be noted that according to ancient Sumerian texts, Mars was a way station for the Annunaki on their travels between Earth and Nibiru. We know from archeology that the ancient Sumerian culture build vast megalithic structures, many of which still stand today. Could there be a direct link to these structures and pyramids of Mesopotamia and the ones that seem to also stand on Mars?

===================
Major photographic resource:
NASA's official page containing the images of the Cydonia Region of Mars
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mgs_cydonia.html
===================

Dr. Sitchin, at fist glance, is an unlikely seeming candidate to be included in the ranks of alien investigators. He did not seek out witnesses to UFO sightings or probe the night skies with binoculars. First and foremost he was a scholar of ancient languages and stories. His particular forte was Sumerian, Akkadian, and the ancient Mesopotamian iconography. He was one of only a handful of scholars who could read and translate the cuneiform writing of the Sumerian clay tablets archeologists had only begun to discover. The tales he read fascinated him with their similarity to many more current texts and legends, myths and religions.

Dr. Sitchin's translations were considered high academic achievement. He did not begin to gather controversy around him until he began to write about his interpretation of these ancient texts; interpretations that flew in the face of accepted academic beliefs in the origins of our species and our place in evolution.

It the texts the Sumerians wrote of their "gods" as beings who originally came down from the sky. Travelling from their home planet, Nibiru, these extraterrestrials colonized and lived on this planet long before humans even existed. As a colony sent to mine mineral resources from the planet, these beings, the Annunaki, eventually grew tired of toiling so menially themselves and demanded their leaders find a better solution. According to the writings of the Sumerians, we humans were the result of that demand. Using advanced genetic knowledge, the scientists of the Annunaki blended their own DNA with an indigenous primate species to create the first humans to work the mines for their alien masters.

Within a series of twelve books, Dr. Sitchin presented his evidence, garnered from both literature and architecture to demonstrate the validity of his theories that the Sumerians were not writing fantasy but chronicling the knowledge and events that took place in their lives under the auspices of their extraterrestrial overlords. From the, as yet, unduplicable technology that raised monolithic structures around the world to complex and inexplicable "out of place artifacts in relation to time and space" (OOPARTS), to astronomical tables containing information a primitive, non-technological civilization could not have known about; the Annunaki seem to have left a huge legacy to their human creations.

Since releasing his interpretations of the texts he translated, Dr. Sitchin's work has created an entirely new and very popular aspect to the UFO-extraterrestrial mythos. In looking at the wider picture, there is a great amount of circumstantial evidence that there may be a great deal of possible truth to these theories and interpretations. Dr. Sitchin's work has disturbed the entire academic belief system, so much so that it is becoming fashionable to debunk or ridicule all his work even on the basis of a very few points where misinterpretation may have occurred. It is so important for academia to discredit Dr. Sitchin that even on his Wikipedia page there is far more information about scholars and pseudo scholars and their efforts to debunk his work that there is information about the man himself.

Where there is smoke, there is usually a fire. From the sheer numbers of academics attempting to debunk Dr. Sitchin's theories it would seem that he struck a nerve with his challenge to their "official" story of humanity's origins and their failure to acknowledge any of the multitude of facts and artifacts that do not fit their version. Even as science is discovering more about the solar system that the ancient Sumerians seemed to have already known, it is worth reading through the rather dry text of Dr. Sitchin's books. If any of this information about the Annunaki that came from ancient Sumeria is true then we may soon be facing a reunion with an alien race that could well have valid reasons for considering our planet, if not our entire species, as their own property.

The belief in the reality of extraterrestrial aliens and their unidentified aircraft has had a long and sometime speckled career. A hundred and fifty years ago it was not uncommon for a newspaper to carry the story of an inexplicable sighting of a flying aircraft. It was fairly well accepted that these objects must have come from another world since we Earthlings had yet to develop even the most rudimentary airplane of our own. There were even reports of the infrequent encounter with beings that were quite obviously not natural to this planet. Even then there were still the skeptics who felt such reporting was a sensational attempt at fooling the people and selling more papers.

By the mid Twentieth Century these sightings became more frequent and widespread. As we entered the Atomic Age it seems that the number of UFO's spotted around the globe mushroomed as greatly as the radioactive clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is almost as if, by unleashing the awesome power of the destructed atom, we had drawn intense and increasing outside surveillance on our actions as a species. Suddenly world governments and the militaries they supported were being ordered to investigate these objects and let their citizens know if there was any danger to be expected from them. Sadly, those governments failed their trust towards their people.

Rather than provide straight answers about the findings of their investigations, the people were offered often ridiculous 'explanations" and told to shut up and not trouble themselves about UFO's. The government and military of the United States especially took a more dastardly approach. Misrepresenting the findings of the Air Force's Condon Report, a campaign of ridicule began to be spread across the land. Aided by the major media outlets, anyone who saw a UFO must by default be a kook or crazy and deserving of scorn. At the very best, anyone coming forth with a report of what they saw was publicly discredited as a liar. This publicly sanctioned attitude thrived for over thirty years before something changed.

Beginning in the 1980's popular media like books, movies, and television began a slow infiltration of the public consciousness with the idea of beings from other worlds. Their interpretations changed from the bug-eyed monsters of early pulp science fiction and took on a more benign demeanor such as that of E.T. who just wanted to go home. By the end of the Twentieth Century, despite conservative's perpetual skepticism, a growing belief in the reality of extraterrestrials and UFO's reblossomed and became an accepted concept in the minds of the majority of citizens.

In 2002 the cable television channel Sci Fi commissioned the Roper Agency to poll Americans about their belief in UFO's. Their findings showed that the efforts to acclimate us to the idea of alien life had met with a great deal of success. While the numbers may vary a bit from country to country (for instance more Canadians believe in UFO's than U.S. citizens) the Roper Poll was only held in the USA. The poll showed that an astonishing 75% of the population was at least partially prepared for proof of extraterrestrial existence. Half the population was quite willing to accept the proof without feeling the need to panic that the government has always claimed as their motivation for withholding what information they had. 55% of the people feel that the government is withholding vast amounts of critically important information about the UFO phenomena from them.

Over two-thirds of Americans firmly believe intelligent life exists in other parts of our galaxy and the universe and nearly half are convinced that some of it found us first and have routinely visited this planet to have a look at us. Fully 12% of the population state that they or others they trust and believe have actually interacted in some form with these aliens and their mysterious craft. A meager 1.4% feel they have possibly been abducted by some of these creatures but realize that 1.4% still equals nearly three million people who have strong belief in aliens but not in any benign way.

With this increased belief and acceptance of the reality of aliens and UFO's it does leave us with a question or two. Are we being set up to accept them openly on our planet as a precursor to becoming subservient to a technologically superior race? Is it possible that the Annunaki of the ancient Sumerian culture are getting ready to return after one of their planet Nibiru's orbits and reestablish their reign on a planet they feel they rightfully own? Is it possible that even more nefariously, is it a mass conspiracy by our own governments to "pretend" to be aliens appearing to force swift and possibly totalitarian control on the people of this planet?

Belief is a wonderful thing to experience, but it should still always be tempered with an objective observation of discoverable fact so you are not led astray by manipulated beliefs.

It seems to be a very fundamental part of human nature to look for something greater than themselves to hold in awe and veneration. This "godspell" is what has led to humanity creating gods and religions since the beginning of human existence. Even discounting the Sumerian legends of the Annunaki there has arisen in the past half century or so, a number of "religions" using the possibility of UFO's and extra-terrestrial entities as divine or spiritual beings bent on "saving" humanity from itself.

Many of these religions have their basis in what their devotees claim are telepathic communications between them and the "star beings" from other worlds and dimensions. While the details, and the entities involved, vary from one religion to the other, there does seem to be a common thread of hope. Most messages seem to be warnings to humanity to alter their behavior towards one more in keeping with harmony and peace while turning away from the greed and callousness that so easily foments hatred and war. Some of these religions include the belief that these "aliens" will ultimately return to us and fix the problems we "unenlightened" humans have created.

Blending elements of Christian mythos with Sumerian legends, the Raëlian Church is purportedly the largest of these UFO religions. Founded in 1974, they believe humans were scientifically engineered by a race they call the "Elohim" and that many of history's greatest spiritual leaders such as Jesus, Moses, and Buddha, were actually Elohim sent here to help instruct humans in proper behavior. That Raëlism encompasses a very open and accepting idea about human sexuality between consenting adults and this is a major drawing card for recruiting new members among younger people. While women are a minority in the Raëlian Church, the "Order of Angels" was started in 1990 and is dedicated "for femininity and refinement for all of humanity." They sponsor exhibits featuring their beliefs including the alien source of crop circles as well a cloning.

The Aetherius Society barely post-dates the American Roswell incident. Founded by George King in London, England in 1955, the Aetherius Society beliefs are similar to the "Ascended Master Teachings." Their primary divergence from these occult traditions is in their insistence on the dangers of atomic science. They feel that humanity is too immature to be working with "the fundamental energy of creation." They too believe such spiritual leaders as Buddha, Jesus, and Krishna were "Cosmic Masters" from another world sent to Earth to help humanity. While believing in a monotheistic god, they also feel that there is intelligent life on many planets throughout space and that they are universally friendly to our young species.

Another of the most notorious UFO religions is Heaven's Gate. Along with the belief that the planet Earth is due to be "recycled," they believe the only way to survive is to leave it for the "Next Level." Begun in the early 1970's by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, the group went through several changes in the early years. Finally, in a combination of ancient astronaut and New Age beliefs the group came to profess the human body as merely a vehicle for the ascending spirit.

They believed "to be eligible for membership in the Next Level, humans would have to shed every attachment to the planet. This meant that all members had to give up all human-like characteristics such as their family, friends, sexuality, individuality, jobs, money, and possessions," according to the sociologist, Robert Balch who wrote frequently about Heaven's Gate. On March 26, 1997, thirty-nine members of Heaven's Gate committed suicide in the belief it was the only way their souls could be transferred to a spaceship they believed was hiding behind the passing Hale-Bopp comet.

Humans seem to always be able to find "god" in whatever is around them. That the technologically advanced cultures of our day have developed UFO religions to help them cope with the mystery that these enigmatic sightings bring about is normal. Faith and belief are strong and powerful motivators within humans so it is not strange that a possible "advanced" race of beings could be construed at some level as "gods." We are still waiting for the aliens to weigh in on what they feel about these religions based upon their possible existence.

There is a party game where one person whispers a short story to another guest who then passes it on to the next. The last person to be told the story then relates it aloud and it is compared with what the first person originally said. Through retelling, it is impossible for the narrative to remain unchanged. In a similar fashion, attempts at understanding just who or what the biblical Nephilim were is impossible. One of the few things that remain a common thread is that they were half-breeds, the children of humans and "something else."

Our most ancient written documents come from the Sumerian culture. It is from this area the roots of modern Judeo/Christian religions also spring. According to Genesis, Chapter 6, verse 4: "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." The maternity of the Nephilim is clear; they are half human. The paternity of these "men of renown" is not so well established. That the word "nephilim" has also been translated as "giant" or "titan" in some texts only further confuses the issue. One can add to that the word used, "Elohim," which is not the word for God but a plural form meaning "gods."

Many theologians claim that the "Sons of God" were angels, sent here originally to watch over the human creation. There is the problem, however, that "angels" are also considered to be sexless beings, neither male or female, which makes it dubious that they would be procreating with anyone. It is known from their name, the Grigori, that they were assigned as "watchers" and that they originally came down to Earth from out of the "heavens" or the "sky." Interestingly, the Sumerians named their live-in "gods," Annunaki, which also means "those to came down from the "heavens" or the "sky."

It was not the original aliens who colonized an as yet uninhabited planet who were interested in mating with the human creatures once they came into being. That practice was originated by a later generation of these beings that were actually born here on Earth. According to the Sumerian cuneiform tablets, the Annunaki mixed the genetics (seed) of an indigenous Earth creature (most likely homo erectus or neanderthalis) and themselves to design a somewhat intelligent worker class of beings to do the heavy toil for them. This was done because the Annunaki mine workers rebelled against Enlil, the Lord of Earth and Sky, and refused to do their assigned tasks. Sound like a familiar theme from another, more spiritually oriented, story?

That the Annunaki were reportedly able to procreate with the human population and produce viable offspring shows a very close genetic similarity between the two races. Is it possible they made us too similar, primarily tweaking the genes that gave them such longevity so that the humans would have only brief lives by comparison? It seems that the short life span was a dominant trait as these children of such matings did not have the near immortality of their alien lineage. The hero/king Gilgamesh spent a vast part of his life seeking a way to be granted the boon of a long life like his Annunaki mother, Ninsun, the great-granddaughter of Enlil himself.

That there have been giants on this Earth is not only a biblical reference. There have been many gigantic skeletons dug up over the years, even though the Smithsonian Institute, where they were so often sent to for safekeeping, seems to keep losing them. The ancient Hebrew texts and the newer Judeo/Christian books all speak of a pre-Adamic race upon the Earth. The Sumerian texts state that the Annunaki came down from their home planet of Nibiru hundreds of thousands of years ago. Since they genetically engineered homo sapiens sapiens long after they took up residence here indicates they were that pre-Adamic race. It explains somewhat, the old Hebraic stories that Adam had a "wife," Lilith, before Eve was created from his "rib."

Despite their semi-divine or semi-alien origins, depending on the way you want to interpret the tales, the life of the Nephilim was not generally any less uncomfortable than that of anyone of mixed ancestry. Never fully accepted by either their human contemporaries or their divine/alien kinsmen, theirs seemed to be a life of struggle to make a place for themselves. There is the biblical tale that Moses ran the last group out of Canaan. It is suggested that Goliath was a wandering remnant of this tragic group of half-breeds. Even within the retold and ever-changing tales, the semi-divine Hercules did not have an easy life or death.

The stories have gone around the campfire far too long to pin a definitive origin on the Nephilim. Whether they were the offspring of angels or aliens, theirs is an indelible part of our culture and literature, if not still a part of our ancestral lineage.

There have long been theories that conflict with the official academic explanation about the origin and construction of the pyramids at the Giza complex in Egypt. Many of these "alternate" theories have a good deal going for them. The more refined date testing becomes the further into the past their construction seems to have been. Their massive size and astonishing degree of structural integrity and cosmic alignments seem too precise to have been constructed by a simple agrarian culture. Now, even one of the academics has hinted there may truly be an alien connection.

During a conference on ancient Egyptian architecture held November 29, 2010, Dr. Ala Shaheen, head of the Archeology Department at Cairo University made the statement that "there might be truth to the theory that aliens helped the ancient Egyptians build the oldest of pyramids, the Pyramids of Giza". It is unlikely Dr. Shaheen was expecting the shock this statement stirred among his audience. As the questions about his comment poured forth, he became more vague in his replies and finally left with only the reply, "I can not confirm or deny this, but there is something inside the pyramid that is "not of this world".

There are several facts that lend themselves to the theory that the pyramids were not built by the Egyptians. Egyptian art tended to depict a full spectrum of their daily life, work, and rituals. Everything from agriculture to childcare to dealing with their enemies is represented and yet nowhere is there a single painting of the building of one of the most monumental structures to grace our planet. They buried their royalty in the Valley of the Kings, not in great stone buildings. Even that most commonplace of tomb paraphernalia, the painted pictures and text of the Book of the Dead, is blatantly absent inside the pyramids at Giza.

There are details of the actual structure that tend to make it unlikely a primitive culture could have accomplished this task alone. The alignment to the cardinal points is almost perfect, a feat even our modern engineers can have trouble obtaining. While a settle rate of six inches over a hundred years is normal and acceptable for large modern buildings, the 6,000 million ton weight of the Great Pyramid at Giza has settled less than an inch and a half over the last 5,000 years. Also compare the straightness of the sides. Modern office buildings are considered quite well constructed if the walls are within 6 inches of being squared, yet the Great Pyramid, forty-two stories tall and covering the area of over a dozen football fields, is squared to within a quarter of an inch of true.

Then we can go a bit East and study the accounts of the Annunaki as chronicled by the ancient Sumerian civilization, which pre-dated that of Egypt. Their writings tell us the Annunaki built this massive stone structure for use as a triangulation beacon to help guide their spaceships in from orbit to the spaceport in the Sinai. It was not until the end of the Second Pyramid War (approximately 8670 B.C.E.) when the structure was overtaken by Ninurta that it was decommissioned for this purpose. Translated from the epic poem Lugal-e: ".... Escorted by the Chief Mineralmaster, Ninurta inspected the array of "stones" and instruments. As he stopped by each one of them, he determined its destiny - to be smashed up and destroyed, to be taken away for display, or to be installed as instruments elsewhere."

Even in some of the monumental writings by the Pharaohs who are academically credited with their construction are references to the pyramids of Giza being ancient even in their time. It should not come as too great a surprise that any still undiscovered artifacts inside the pyramids at the Giza complex would be alien in origin. According to our most ancient historical texts these aliens constructed the entire structure for their own alien purpose in the colonization and exploitation of planet Earth.

There has been much interest over the centuries about the "prophecies" made by the 16th century almanac writer Nostradamus (born Michel de Notredame.) Popularly believed to be a doctor, he in fact failed and dropped out of the medical school of his day. He also refused to accept the title of "prophet" even during his life. This was mostly to save himself from persecution by the Inquisition and the Catholic Church, which held a great deal of both spiritual and secular power at the time. According to the pre-eminent Nostradamus expert, Peter Lemesurier, the most likely method Nostradamus used in formulating his oblique and rambling "quatrains" was bibliomancy and knowledge of history.

Bibliomancy was very popular in the 16th century. One found the ideas for their work by opening a book at random and using the first word or sentence to begin. And as any student of history knows, new political leaders will arise and be compared to past leaders and some of them will be assassinated. Predicting new wars is easy since warfare has always been a popular human pastime. What goes around comes around and just a quick calculation of where the astrological elements are when one event happens will give a distant future time when "everything repeats itself again."

Then there is the method of writing that Nostradamus used. It was a combination of archaic, even in his day, French, Spanish, Latin, and Hebrew, along with coded references, and mystic sounding sensationalism to appeal to the readers of his almanacs, most notably the French Royal Court. Then can be added the problems caused by typesetters that were sometimes careless in their setting and did not follow the copy given them.

An example from the most likely candidate for a prophecy of alien invasion, Verse 72 of the Tenth Century is the phrase "Du ciel" usually translated as "from the sky" when the same phrase is used frequently by Nostradamus to mean "from the region." In the same Verse, the corrected word "deffraieur," meaning "provider" was initially replaced by a typesetter with the word "d’effrayeur," which means "of terror." Finally, Nostradamus did not give the dates in his writings based on the traditional calendar years but dated them from the time of the first Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. So the year 1999 in the Verse would actually figure out to 2324 A.D.

Translation can also add to the confusion of trying to determine what the supposed prophecy said. In its original form Verse 72, Century Ten says:

L'an mil neuf cens nonante neuf sept mois,
Du ciel viendra un grand Roy d'effrayeur,
Resusciter le grand Roy d'Angolmois,
Avant apres, Mars regner par bon heur.

In the book "The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus" by Henry C. Roberts it is translated thusly:

In the year 1999 and seven months
From the skies shall come an alarmingly powerful king,
To raise again the great King of the Jacquerie,
Before and after, Mars shall reign at will.

Peter Lemesurier translated the Verse as:

When 1999 is seven months o'er
From thereabouts shall a great hosting King
Restore the King from Angoumois once more,
Who'll reign propitiously once come the spring.

And Google Translate gives us this version:

The year one thousand nine hundred ninety nine seven months
From the sky will come a great King of Terror,
Life the great King of Angolmois,
Before after Mars to reign by good luck.

There are numerous other translations and just as many varying interpretations. Many believe this prophecy denotes the return of the Annunaki and the subsequent restoration of their rule on Earth, complete with the restarting of the wars they were so frequently party to among themselves as chronicled in many of the ancient Sumerian cuneiform texts. It didn't seem to happen in 1999 A.D. although the faithful may look for it to occur in 2324 A.D.

People love puzzles and it is quite likely that much of Nostradamus' writings were for the entertainment of his readership as they sought their own interpretations of his oblique words. No one has been able to point to any of these predicted happenings before they occurred. It has always been through the process of looking for some clue in the Verses that correlates to a past event that any supposed meaning is determined. It is much like the process of pattern recognition the brain uses to see images in the clouds.

Did Nostradamus predict UFO's and extraterrestrial alien invaders? We will most likely have to wait until they make a public landing or re-establish their rule over us humans before someone can look through the prophecies and find the one that sounds most fitting for the event, then they can say with self-assurance that he did indeed predict it.

Our clearest record of a long-term alien presence on our planet is contained in the thousands of cuneiform clay tablets written by the ancient Sumerians. These records tell not only of their alien-inspired culture but also contain information about the "gods" who created them and lived among them for thousands of years before moving off-planet to let the human species develop on their own. Zechariah Sitchin is not the only person who can translate these texts. There are a handful of other people who have also done so. It is in the interpretation that these men differ.

The academic mythologists read these matter-of-fact tablets and say the Annunaki were just ancient "fairy tales." Joseph Campbell considers them tales of Jungian archetypes while Julian Jaynes labeled them as schizophrenic hallucinations. Only Sitchin has interpreted them as a straightforward documentation of what these ancient people saw and knew and lived with on a daily basis.

These records of the "gods" were right alongside the daily inventory lists, marriage and deed records, and other daily life documents a civilized culture needs to keep up with itself. Then there are the tablets that contain accurate astronomical data on the movement and composition of our solar system that includes information about the outer planets that can only be seen with telescopic equipment. Increased research in archeology and other scientific disciplines is slowly disproving the mythology and giving clues as to the fact of the alien reality from our past.

Astronomically it is known now that the wobble and variations in the orbits of Pluto and Charon can only be caused by an as yet undiscovered outer planet. Recently another object, larger than Pluto, was discovered in the Kuiper Belt around the major planets' orbital area. Eris proves that there is still much to be discovered on the far edges of our solar system. Even further out is the debris field called the Oort Cloud of material. It is from this distant area most of the comets originate from. It is also speculated that a search for the Annunaki's homeworld should start here and most likely already has.

Since the finding of the IRAS, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, from the mid 1980's found what could be considered a tenth planet, facts have been harder to find. It is known that the Naval Observatory was constructed at great cost in Antarctica. In 1992 Harrington and van Flandern of that Observatory published their opinions that what they were observing was indeed another planet and that it could well be an "intruder" planet from outside our own solar system. What makes this discovery so important is that Harrington had originally invited Sitchin to help him go through the ancient Sumerian information so he would know where he needed to look to locate this planet!

On a technological level the proof of an ancient advanced technology existing on our planet can be found through the growing catalog of ooparts (Out Of Place Artifacts in Relation to Time and Space) that have been unearthed. Everything from human footprints criss-crossing dinosaur tracks in Texas to the nearly 5,000 year old electrical batteries discovered in Iraq point to a presence on the planet that far precedes human existence. One can include the exacting stone architecture of ancient monuments that we cannot match even with our modern building techniques. And there is the 1889 discovery by Sir Flinders Petrie of the ancient gold processing plant at Mt. Horeb in Africa, which showed that monoatomic gold superconductors were known and created many thousands of years ago.

And there is the growing genetic evidence that points to the elusive "missing link" between proto-humans and Cro-Magnon homo sapiens as possibly existing only in the laboratories of the Annunaki. The Sumerian texts place the location of the genetic laboratories of Enki and Ninhursag in Africa, coincidentally in the same area and within the same time frame as our discovery of the origins of the mitochondrial DNA that runs through the entire human population.

This location, incidentally, is right near the ancient African gold mines of the Annunaki, adding to the proof of the tale that they originally created us as a slave/worker class to do the mining that had grown so wearisome to the Annunaki themselves. There is as well the evidence that evolution often takes millions of years to create major change in a species. Homo sapiens sapiens went from origin to our modern level of social and mental development in a mere quarter of a million years, much too quickly for natural selection and mutation to have worked.

It may be humbling to some and an outrage to others to think that we are not necessarily the greatest beings in the galaxy. It may be more comforting to some to have originated in some mythical "creation" than to have been the result of a genetic breeding program of an unknown alien race of beings. But a hard truth should always be better than a comfortable lie and as evidence piles upon evidence, it is up to all humans to contemplate the possible alien connection surrounding our very existence.