Ancient Aliens

Mega-machines cutting through solid rock...

the transportation of multi-ton stone blocks...

modern aircraft carrying millions of people each day

around the world...

and space shuttles sending humans to the stars.

: And liftoff of Endeavor...

But are these examples of modern technology,

or is there evidence that these incredible achievements existed

on Earth thousands ofyears ago?

You begin to have to ask yourself,

are we missing part of the story?

Could ancient man

have possessed knowledge far beyond that of our own century?

And if so, where did it come from?

I think that people in ancient times were

visited by beings coming not from this Earth,

and they gave us scientific technologies.

It becomes ever more apparent

that the possible answer of

"Have aliens visited in the past?"

could be a potential yes.

Millions of people around the world believe we have

been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history?

And if so, what ifthere were clues left behind,

sometimes hiding in plain sight?

What ifwe could find the evidence?

Saqqara, Egypt.

Located roughly 20 miles south of Cairo,

it is home to the world-famous step pyramid

of King Djoser.

Dating back more than 4,000 years,

it is the oldest of Egypt's 97 pyramids.

Saqqara is also famous for being

one of Egypt's oldest burial grounds,

earning it the nickname "City ofthe Dead."

It was here, in 1891, that French archeologists unearthed

an ancient tomb containing the burial remains of Pa-di-Imen,

an official from the third century BC.

Among the various items discovered

was a small wooden model ofwhat appeared to be

a bird, lying beside a papyrus bearing the inscription:

"I want to fly."

The artifact was later sent to the Cairo Museum,

where authorities placed it alongside

several other bird figurines.

The model sat largely unnoticed, until 1969,

when Egyptologist Dr. Kahlil Messiha was examining

the bird collection and noticed that there was something

very different about the Saqqara bird.

It's interesting because on one hand,

clearly, it should look like a bird because it has eyes and has

a typical nose of a bird.

On the other hand, the wings are clearly not bird wings.

To the middle ofthe rim,

you see this wing a bit thicker.

In this region, the lift-up is the highest.

The whole thing becomes thinner to the, um, end ofthe wings.

And those wings, uh, model down.

And this is a very modern aerodynamic design.

Then the other point is, birds have no rudders.

Because a bird does not need a rudder

because of its aerodynamic architecture.

And so, there is the idea they are not representing birds,

but flying machines, or aircraft.

Could the ancient Egyptians have possessed

the power offlight?

In 2006, aviation and aerodynamics expert

Simon Sanderson built a scale model ofthe Saqqara bird

five times larger than the original

to test that possibility.

We're running at a constant speed,

slowly increasing the angle of attack,

and then measuring the forces which it's producing.

That way, we can learn about its flight characteristics.

At ten degrees, we're producing four times weight and lift.

So, it actually would be flying now. That's good.

Tests shows

the Saqqara bird is a highly-developed glider.

And this is a design we use today.

During the Sanderson tests,

it was discovered that the only thing preventing

the Saqqara bird from achieving flight

was the lack of a rear stabilizing rudder,

or elevator, needed to maintain balance.

Is it possible that the Saqqara bird

ever possessed this critical component?

What is, uh...

missing is something like an elevator,

but ifyou look at this feature here, then we may interpret

that something like an elevator was connected here,

but was lost during history.

Computer models

seem to confirm that the Saqqara bird is certainly airworthy.

But there is another problem to consider: launching a glider.

Modern methods require the use of a towplane

that pulls the glider into the air,

then releases it when a proper altitude is reached.

So, how might the ancient Egyptians

have launched the Saqqara bird?

The scientifics of Egyptology told us

that such a bird could be powered off by catapults to fly.

And, uh, we had high acceptance by Egyptian scientists.

The idea of using a catapult does have

a contemporary parallel.

Many oftoday's glider enthusiasts

employ a bungee cord system

to launch their sail craft into the air.

But ifthe Saqqara bird is capable offlight,

where would ancient Egyptians have acquired such technology?

I think that people in ancient times

were visited by beings coming not from this Earth,

and they gave us culture and scientific technologies

to improve our life on Earth

coming from the primitive to a higher developed culture.

If ancient cultures would be able to produce

any really flyable machine,

they would be far more advanced than we believe today.

It changes our... our viewpoint of ancient societies.

It's a fact that our ancestors

were more intelligent and had more technological superiority

capabilities than our history books give them credit for.

You begin to have to ask yourself,

"Are we missing part ofthe story?"

And honestly, I think we are.

I think there has been

a forgotten episode in human history.

And, uh, we're a species with amnesia.

We don't really remember who orwhat we are.

I haven't been convinced that there is

evidence that supports an ancient visitation.

But there is no reason why not, and I think to shut oneself

to that possibility is a mistake,

mainly because there are so many anomalies that we can't explain.

7,000 miles from Egypt,

the dense jungles and rugged mountains of Colombia

contain a vast number of archaeological sites.

Many treasure hunters believed the legendary City of Gold,

El Dorado, lies hidden here

somewhere under a thick canopy oftrees.

While the mythical metropolis has never been found,

early in the 20th century, tomb-robbers searching along

the Magdalena River stumbled upon a gravesite dating back

1,500 years to a pre-Colombian civilization

known as the Tolima.

Among the funerary objects found there

were hundreds of small two- to three-inch gold figurines.

Many ofthose

looked like insects and fish.

However, out ofthose hundreds that they found,

they also found about a dozen

that are eerily reminiscent of modern-day fighterjets.

They have a triangular shape.

They have an upright tailfin,

stabilizers...

and a fuselage.

And they have nothing in common

with anything similar in nature.

Could these gold objects really be proof

that Earth has been visited by ancient aliens?

One ofthe objects

shows a typical swept wings, like with a modern aircraft.

And ifyou compare it to something like a space shuttle,

you see that the basic wing shape is very similar

to wing shapes for high-speed aerodynamic bodies

like a space shuttle is.

There is not a single insect in the world

which has got its wings at the bottom.

Now, when you exclude the possibility that it's an insect,

one ofthe things which remain is the fact that this is

actually, yes, what it looks like: a plane.

In 1997, German aviation experts

including Algund Eenboom and Peter Belting,

set out to prove the speculation by building

a scale-model replica ofthe gold flyer,

fully equipped with landing gear and a working engine.

It was rather simple, because we don't need to put

much parts to this shape because this shape is perfect.

Everything was already done by the native people

2,000 years ago.

They did not add an inch or remove an inch.

Theyjust essentially blew the little thing into a larger size.

I mean, this is sensational

that pre-Colombian culture knew about aerodynamics.

Once completed, the remote-controlled flyer took off

down a makeshift runway and flew.

When you see this thing taking off,

you really feel that this is the real deal.

It was a very successful test and showed us how perfect

ancient people were working out aerodynamic design.

What it shows you that there must

be something happened.

We are not quite sure how it did, but that it did.

This is applied science.

This isn'tjust thinking somewhere.

This is people going out there and making sure and proving,

what I still see, anybody can see this, that this is real.

This is genuine.

This little thing, which sits in a museum, could fly.