“Aliens built the pyramids” and other absurdities of pseudo-archaeology | Sarah Kurnick

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Aliens have invaded ancient history: they've cropped up in humanity's past through popular television and movies, displacing facts with absurd yet commonplace beliefs like "aliens built the pyramids." Archaeologist Sarah Kurnick illustrates why these misconceptions perpetuate racist and xenophobic notions of history and culture — and demonstrates how you can help debunk these dangerous, outlandish myths.

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48 Comments on “Aliens built the pyramids” and other absurdities of pseudo-archaeology | Sarah Kurnick

  1. Our educational system, as well as those around the world in every culture, in every country, are quite insufficient and abusive to the intellect of the human species.

    • @AJ Saignavongs here’s the thing. You’ll never accept it, even when you see it. That’s why there are societies that have broken away from your meaningless mechanistic materialistic view of the Universe. We bypass you and leave to to your own journey.

    • @Brian L What societies are you referring to? I would like for you to list the specific societies and countries that you are describing, I might be interested in visiting some of these places once this pandemic finally winds down. Literally, I am dying to go somewhere outside California after a year of quarantine.

    • @AJ Saignavongs as far as ET visitors go, the pentagon has recently acknowledged them, as well as the French govrnment already 10 or so years ago via an extensive report done by their military.
      This lady is out of touch. Making it into a racism issue is bizarre.White men report on alien craft not haveing a clue what is going on.

      As for Cancer, it is an industry that brings in on average 500.000 dollars per diagnosis.
      500.000 new cases in the US every year.
      Follow the money.
      There are countless testimonies from people online who got cured from cancer by diet. Big Pharma suppresses this, there is no money in carrots and kale.
      Do some research instead of parrotting whatever the establishment feeds you.
      Google this 2 hour documentary: “Healing cancer from inside out” by Mike Anderson.

    • Fun fact. Many “experts” just pretend they know what they are talking about because of their vague assertions. This lady for example. Trust your own discernment first.

    • She is not an expert.
      She has not yet caught up with the 21st century …even the Pentagon now acknowledges aliens.

      That actually makes HER the pseudo archeologist.

      And, if they exist now, it is highly likely they existed all along human history. Now that DOES put things in a different perspective.

      Also I detest the fact she makes anyone who disgrees with her a white supremacist, a racist or a xenophobe.

      It is the cheap kind of demagoguery that actual racists use to forward their narrow minded tunnel visioned views.

    • I wonder what kind of racism is that. Would it be called Species-ism or something else?
      It seems like a combination of lack of Confidence in ourselves and a bit of Masochism (unworthiness).
      A kind of class system with the overlords on top and little us at the bottom. Unacceptable!
      Saying that, I enjoyed watching the 1994 MGM film “Stargate”. Imaginative and quite entertaining! ; )

  2. It’s NOT racist to say the human RACE had help. It’s SPECIESIST. They are talking about men, not races of men. It has nothing to do with their skin color, & everything to do with their level of technology

    • To be fair it’s always Middle-Easterners, Indians and Meso-Americans being accused of working with aliens and very rarely Europeans or East Asians. How many people say that the Colosseum, the Acropolis of Athens or the Forbidden City were built by aliens vs the Egyptian & Mayan pyramids, the Nazca lines or Babylon? There’s pretty common themes to these theories.

    • @Himecha’s Jam You speak of later day creations of Europe, which you can easily see how they were constructed, but further back, there are megalithic structures that defy such explanations, structures involving cyclopean & polygonal constructions, those also existing in Europe, as well as the whole world, even underwater, having been built BEFORE the oceans rose 400 ft after the Ice Age. Academia needs to revisit their timeline of events, taking into consideration structures they are thus far ignoring. Or calling you racist for asking.

    • @dafttool I didn’t study the archeological sites in a systematic way, so I’m going to assume the people that do are not doing it properly because I can’t conceive that people in the past could do the math. Not because of racism though, I swear.

  3. In response to what she said about finding ways to keep archaeology interesting, I think it would be dope if we made 3D scans of artifacts and uploaded them to a VR archive so people worldwide could have virtual access to the “real” items. I’ve found ancient history very interesting and you can find high-resolution photos online, but I haven’t been able to experience these things in person and VR would allow for more opportunity for that.

    • I can see why you say that. Imagine if it was finished. It would have been even better!
      As temples go, my favourite is the Parthenon, Athens, 5th century BCE. Perfection!
      My 2nd favourite is the Agia Sophia, Constantinoupolis, 537 CE. An absolute marvel!
      My 3nd favourite is the Borobudur, Central Java, 840 CE. A very clever inside out step-pyramid temple!
      All were built by Human hands, of course. No Alien involvement. ; )

  4. Went to Barnes and Noble in Denver looking for books on Native Americans in Colorado. There were ZERO books in the Colorado history section, but THREE books on “lost department stores”.

    • I detest the fact she makes anyone who disgrees with her a white supremacist, a racist or a xenophobe.

      It is the cheap kind of demagoguery that actual racists use to forward their narrow minded tunnel visioned views.

    • @rat capsule See, it is in the interests of racists to downplay the racism of their misinformation. So I don’t know if I should trust your supposed outrage.

      It is pretty self-evident that ancient brown people required aliens to help them is pretty racist.

    • @Nonna Yerbusiness Stonehenge is one example of an ancient monument that is also often included in talks about “aliens”. I don’t believe in aliens building any ancient monuments, that is something an individual chooses to believe. I don’t think blatant fictionalised stories of aliens being involved in the mysteries of our past are racist either because they are just that: fictional stories. Alien vs. Predator, to me, is just a sci-fi story about aliens fighting… All of that said, I think she has good points since it’s quite sad that actual natives also *genuinely* buy into the whole aliens built their wonders facade… To compare tin foil hatters to white supremacists is a bit extreme though, the people who actually believe in that sort of thing will always find new conspiracies, their motives are not to promote racism, even if that might be an effect it’s having etc.

    • @James Wharton Sometimes people are repeating misinformation because they are goobers. A lot of people though spread misinformation so that they can spread their hateful ideologies under another guise. If you can dismiss the achievements of other cultures because they needed aliens to achieve it, you can more easily paint them as inferior stone-age savages incapable of complex thought. When you get people to accept that, they are prime targets for recruitment by white supremacist organizations. When it comes to people paying for bots, servers, forming groups, and putting a lot of time into it, there is often an ideological reason to spread that misinformation conducted by organized fringe groups.

      White supremacist groups are essentially cults. Cults often use “personality tests”, “retreats”, “ecological activism”, “mental health workshops”, “business seminars” etc as a cover to get people out there and introduce their cults doctrines little by little once you are involved in the group. In the information age, these tactics have moved to facebook groups and other forms of social media. It is very much in the interests of white supremacist groups to promote ancient aliens myths, and therefore they do.

  5. And to think some Peruvians also state that Machu Picchu was built by aliens, and many of them make money delivering worshops and conferences.

  6. If we had reasonably intelligent archaeologists, rather than the parrots we have at the front, people may have theories that they can believe in.
    Human history goes back further than mainstream archaeologists are willing to admit & construction techniques presented are, very much so, just as fantastical as the Ancient Alien theology.

    • Archeologists aren’t the ones saying that human history doesn’t go back a long way, pop culture is due to racist ideologies that endure.

  7. It’s so so true, I clearly see the effects of pseudo-archaeology in surroundings. It’s scary that it can lead people to believe in things without logical explanation.(I mean that’s not how we do science).

    • She needs to catch up with the 21st century. Aliens have been acknowledged for a while now by various governments, including her own Pentagon.

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