AAAAAAUUUUGH
In the late 2000s, there was a show called “Ancient Aliens.” It was widely panned by the scientific community as total shlock, designed to entertain viewers rather than educate them. The show commonly peddled the idea that certain monuments, usually in non-European regions, were created with the assistance of extraterrestrial beings. Despite its near negligible value as educational material, these ideas have continued to remain rooted in smaller circles. A friend of mine, Will McKnowItAll, has insisted that this pseudoscience has truth to it. Through documentary evidence, the principle of Occam’s Razor, and explaining the origin of the myth, I will help to disprove my friend’s misconception.
To begin, the commonly accepted story of the construction of the pyramids is that Egyptians, as paid laborers, constructed them as tombs to pharaohs. Historians have various theories on the stacking of bricks, however all are plausible considering the resources, knowledge, and technology that the Egyptian laborers were working with. Numerous sources, many less than 400 years after the pyramids’ construction, mention the pyramids as marvels of engineering. Greek historians and others in the ancient world regarded the pyramids as one of the seven wonders. They were impressive, not because they were constructed by aliens, but because they were the peak of engineering prowess and an inspiration to proto-nations around the Mediterranean. Reports of the pyramids’ construction spread through the writings of Greek scholars, including Herodotus, who claimed that the Egyptians used a series of ramps and levers to place stones. This assertion is one of the earliest regarding the pyramids and a crucial piece of evidence supporting the hypothesis that the pyramids were a man-made marvel, not an alien assisted effort.
The second line of evidence regards the principle of Occam’s Razor. Occam’s Razor is a principle which regards the least convoluted series of events as the most probable. Applying Occam’s Razor to Will’s assertion that aliens assisted in construction, we immediately run into several questions. Why would the aliens want to build these? We know that the pyramids are serving as tombs… Does this mean that the aliens are swearing fealty or otherwise showing submission to the pharaohs of Egypt? Why would the Egyptians claim the work of the aliens as their own? The theory completely falls apart when even minorly challenged by questioning, as opposed to the theory that the pyramids were man-made. A wealthy kingdom like Egypt could afford to pay laborers, set aside resources necessary for construction, and complete them with interior splendor. The use of advanced engineering to lift the stones and construct the pyramids is far more likely than the use of alien ships.
The last piece of evidence is deconstructing the origin of the myth. There was a long held belief in academia that cultures, like those in Meso-America and Egypt, were less capable due to their “racial inferiority.” This was the precursor to modern assertions that advanced super structures attributed to non-Whites were fabricated by aliens. There are similar claims, for example, about Machu Picchu in Peru and Chichen Itza in Mexico. There are, however, fairly few claims to the contrary. European monuments, like the Parthenon, face relatively few claims of alien activity in their construction. The ultimate reason for these judgements only being applied to non-European mega structures is due to Eurocentrism in history and imparted judgements of so-called lesser (non-European) cultures and civilizations
The evidence I have presented, when factored together, can provide a strong foundation for an argument against my misinformed friend’s conspiracy theory. The documentation by ancient historians, the application of Occam’s Razor, and the deconstruction of the origins of the myth can be used to form a convergence of evidence that ultimately disproves the theory that the pyramids were constructed by aliens.