Osi 208

Glasses in ancient Egypt? The key to the answer may be found if one considers the controversial theory in two books written by Erich von Däniken in the 1960's and early 1970's ("Chariots of the Gods?" and "Gods from Outer Space"). His theory was given some scientific legitimacy as scientists Carl Sagan and I.S. Shklovskii had written about the possibility of paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitation claims in their book "Intelligent Life in the Universe" (1966). Von Däniken carried the idea several steps further, arguing that there are many unsolved mysteries in archaeology. The rather sudden construction of pyramids and knowledge of astronomy on continents that had no means of mutual communication. He also pointed at many ancient sculptures that seemed to depict spacecrafts and creatures very reminiscent of the Apollo astronauts who first landed on the moon in the late 1960's. I read his books shortly after they were released. If my memory serves me correctly, Von Däniken's theory is that sometime between 10.000 and 5000 BC aliens from a different solar system landed on Earth, stayed there for a while, taught our ancestors some of their knowledge and then headed home again - wherever home was. Much of the excitement about Von Däniken and his theories faded away after the Apollo mission to the moon ended.