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* [[Roland Emmerich]]'s film [[Stargate (film)|Stargate]] was based on the research by Erich von Däniken.<ref>{{cite web|url=
* [[Roland Emmerich]]'s film [[Stargate (film)|Stargate]] was based on the research by Erich von Däniken.<ref>{{cite web|url=
http://www.zoozle.co.za/news/?article=2011-03-19-is-there-a-stargate |title=Roland Emmerich's Stargate film based on Erich von Daniken's research |publisher=Zoozle news |accessdate=March 19, 2011}}</ref>
http://www.zoozle.co.za/news/?article=2011-03-19-is-there-a-stargate |title=Roland Emmerich's Stargate film based on Erich von Daniken's research |publisher=Zoozle news |accessdate=March 19, 2011}}</ref>
* [[Ridley Scott]]'s film [[Prometheus (film)|Prometheus]] is based in part on Erich von Däniken's ideas.


== See also ==
== See also ==

Revision as of 15:07, 6 February 2012

Erich von Däniken
Erich von Däniken in 2006
Born
Erich Anton Paul von Däniken

(1935-04-14) 14 April 1935 (age 89)
Zofingen, Aargau, Switzerland
OccupationAuthor

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (born 14 April 1935 in Zofingen, Aargau) is a Swiss author best known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, in books such as Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968. Däniken is one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronaut hypotheses.

Däniken is a co-founder of the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (AAS RA), and designed the theme park Mystery Park in Interlaken, Switzerland, that first opened on 23 May 2003.[1] Däniken's first book, Chariots of the Gods?, was an immediate best seller in the United States, Europe and India, with subsequent books "according to von Däniken, have been translated into 32 languages and together have sold more than 63 million copies."[2]

His ideas are largely rejected by scientists and academics, who categorize his work as pseudohistory and pseudoarchaeology.[3][4][5]

Early life

Von Däniken was raised a strict Catholic, and attended the international Catholic school Saint-Michel in Fribourg, Switzerland. During his time at the school he rejected the church's interpretations of the Bible, and developed an interest in astronomy and the phenomenon of flying saucers.[6]

At the age of 19, von Däniken was caught stealing money, both from an innkeeper and from a camp where he was employed as a youth leader, and was given a four-month suspended sentence. The psychiatrist who examined von Däniken at the time described him as displaying a "tendency to lie".[6] Von Däniken was withdrawn from his school, and became apprenticed to a Swiss hotelier for a time,[7] before moving to Egypt. While in Egypt, he was involved in a jewelry deal which resulted in a nine-month conviction for fraud and embezzlement upon his return to Switzerland.[6]

After his release, von Däniken became the manager of the Hotel Rosenhügel in Davos, Switzerland, during which time he wrote Chariots of the Gods?, supposedly working on the manuscript late at night after the hotel's guests had retired.[8] In December 1964, von Däniken wrote an article entitled Hatten unsere Vorfahren Besuch aus dem Weltraum? ("Did our Ancestors have a Visit from Space?") for the German-Canadian periodical Der Nordwesten.[9] Chariots of the Gods? was accepted by a publisher in early 1967, and printed in March 1968.[8]

In November 1968 von Däniken was arrested for fraud, after being caught falsifying hotel records and credit references in order to take out loans[8] to the value of $130,000 over the course of the previous twelve years. He had been using this money to fund foreign travel to research his book.[6] Two years later,[8] von Däniken was convicted for "repeated and sustained" embezzlement, fraud and forgery, with the court ruling that the writer had been living a "playboy" lifestyle.[10] Von Däniken entered a plea for nullity on the grounds that his intentions were not malicious and the credit institutions were at fault for failing to adequately research his references,[8] but a court-appointed psychiatrist considered the defendant to be fully accountable for his actions, and described him as a criminal psychopath.[10][6] Von Däniken was sentenced on 13 February 1970 to three and a half years imprisonment and fined 3,000 francs.[8][11] He served one year of this sentence before being released.[6][12]

His first book, Chariots of the Gods?, had been published by the time of his trial, and its sales allowed him to repay his debts and leave the hotel business. Von Däniken wrote his second book, Gods from Outer Space, while serving his prison sentence.[6][10]

Claims of alien influence on Earth

The iron pillar of Delhi, erected by Chandragupta II the Great

Several scientists, such as Carl Sagan and I. S. Shklovskii, have written about Däniken's paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitation claims. While Sagan did not rule out the possibility of visitation, he said that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", which Däniken fails to provide.[13]

In Chariots of the Gods?, Däniken wrote that a non-rusting iron pillar in Delhi, India was evidence of extraterrestrial influence.[14] In a later Playboy interview, when told that the column showed some signs of rust and its method of construction was well understood, Däniken replied that since writing the book he had learned of investigations reaching other conclusions, and no longer considered the pillar to be a mystery.[15]

Some also question von Däniken's credibility, as he has also knowingly put forward fraudulent evidence to advance his hypotheses, such as photographs of pottery "depicting UFOs" from an archaeological dig dating back to the biblical era. The PBS television series Nova determined that this was a fraud, and located the potter who made them. Von Däniken said that the deception was justified because some people would only believe his ideas if they saw proof.[16]

In The Gold of the Gods von Däniken said he was guided through artificial tunnels in a cave under Ecuador, Cueva de los Tayos, containing gold, strange statues and a library with metal tablets, which he considered to be evidence of ancient space visitors. The man whom he claimed showed him these tunnels, Juan Moricz, told Der Spiegel that all of von Däniken's descriptions came from a long conversation and that the photos in the book had been "fiddled". Von Däniken told Playboy that although he had seen the library and other places he had described, he had fabricated some of the events to add interest to his book.[17][18][10]

Dr. Samuel Rosenberg said that the "Book of Dyzan", referred to by von Däniken as if it was a real document,[19] was actually "a fabrication superimposed on a gigantic hoax concocted by Madame Blavatsky." He also says that the "Tulli Papyrus", cited by von Däniken in one of his books,[19] is likely cribbed from the Book of Ezekiel, and quoted Dr. Nolli (through Dr. Walter Ramberg, Scientific Attache at the U. S. embassy in Rome), then current Director of the Egyptian Section of the Vatican Museum, as "suspect[ing] that Tulli was taken in and that the papyrus is a fake."[20] According to NYT's Richard R. Lingerman, it is likely that von Däniken obtained these references from UFO books that mentioned them as real documents.[19]

Von Däniken brought the Nazca Lines to public prominence with his 1968 book Chariot of the Gods,[21] attracting so many tourists that researcher Maria Reiche had to spend much of her own time and money preserving them.[22] Von Daniken claimed that the lines were built following instructions from extraterrestrial beings, to be used as airfields for their spaceships.[23] In his 1998 book Arrival of The Gods, he added that some of the pictures depicted extraterrestrials.[23] Archeologists are sure that they were made by pre-columbian civilizations for cultural purposes, and they have not bothered refuting this sort of speculations.[23] Silverman and Proulx say this silence from archaeologists has harmed the profession and the Peruvian nation.[23] The idea was not original of von Däniken, it started as a joke made by people who first saw the lines from the air,[21] and had already been published by other people.[24] Skeptic Joe Nickell says that one of the cropped photos, claimed by von Däniken to be similar to the markings of a modern airport, was only the knee joint of one of the bird figures and was quite small in size.[21]

Von Däniken claimed in Chariots of the Gods? that a version of the Piri Reis map showed some distortions that would only happen if its was an aerial view taken from a spaceship flying above El Cairo, and that the map depicted some Antarctic mountains that were and still are buried into ice, and could only be mapped with modern equipment. His theory relies on the book of Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings by Charles Hapgood. This is debunked by A. D. Crown in Some Trust in Chariots. The map in von Däniken's book only extends 5 degrees south of the equator, which means that Antarctica does not appear. This also means that there would be no visible distortion in an aerial view of the same zone centered in El Cairo. Von Däniken also claims the existence of a legend saying that a god gave the map to a priest, the god being an extraterrestrial being. But such a legend does not exist, Piri Reis always said that he had drawn that map himself using old maps, and the map is fully consistent with the cartographic knowledge at that time.[25] Also, the map is not completely accurate as claimed by von Däniken, since it contains several errors; a fact that vonDäniken didn't correct when he covered the map again his 1998 book Odyssey of the Gods.[26]

Kenneth Feder has accused von Däniken of European ethnocentrism,[27] while John Flenley and Paul Bahn have suggested that views such as his interpretation of the Easter Island statues "ignore the real achievements of our ancestors and constitute the ultimate in racism: they belittle the abilities and ingenuity of the human species as a whole."[28]

Ronald Story published The Space Gods Revealed: A Close Look At The Theories of Erich Von Däniken in 1976, written in response to the evidence presented in Däniken's Chariots of the Gods?. It was reviewed as "a coherent and much-needed refutation of Von Däniken's theories".[29]

A 2004 article in Skeptic Magazine states that Däniken plagiarized many of the book's concepts from The Morning of the Magicians, that this book in turn was heavily influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos, and that the core of the ancient astronaut theory originates in H. P. Lovecraft's short stories "The Call of Cthulhu" written in 1926, and "At the Mountains of Madness" written in 1931.[30]

Speaking in a 2001 documentary, Von Däniken said that although he could not conclusively prove to the scientific community that any of the items in his archive were of alien origin, he felt that "today's science" would not accept such evidence, as "the time is simply not right". He argued that it was first necessary to "prepare" mankind for a "wonderful new world".[31]

Popularity

Däniken became popular in India during the 1970s, as a result of his books being translated into the Bengali language by the translator Ajit Dutta. School level students were the first major group of his believers in India. Däniken subsequently visited the Kashmir region to check for the presence of radioactivity in an ancient temple, where he believed that a spacecraft had once landed.

An exhibit, Un Monde Insolite, largely based on Däniken's book Chariots of the Gods? was opened in Montreal, Canada, for several summers in the 1970s. The exhibit was located in a former pavilion of the Expo 67 exhibition. It featured replicas of various historical artifacts that Däniken claimed were evidence of past alien visitation.

Jungfrau Park located near Interlaken, Switzerland was opened as the Mystery Park in 2003. Designed by Erich von Däniken, it explored several great "mysteries" of the world. [32]

Books

  • Chariots of the Gods? (Souvenir Press Ltd, 1969)
  • Return to the Stars (Souvenir Press Ltd, 1970) ISBN 0285502980
  • Gods from Outer Space (Bantam,1972; reprint of Return to the Stars)
  • The Gold of the Gods (Souvenir Press Ltd, 1973) ISBN 0285620878
  • Miracles of the Gods: A Hard Look at the Supernatural (Souvenir Press Ltd, 1975) ISBN 0285621742
  • In Search of Ancient Gods: My Pictorial Evidence for the Impossible (Corgi books, 1976) ISBN 0552100730
  • According to the Evidence (Souvenir Press, 1977) ISBN 028562301X
  • Signs of the Gods (Corgi books, 1980) ISBN 0552117161
  • The Stones of Kiribati: Pathways to the Gods (Corgi books, 1982) ISBN 0552121835
  • The Gods and their Grand Design: The Eighth Wonder of the World (Souvenir Press, 1984) ISBN 0285626302
  • The Eyes of the Sphinx: The Newest Evidence of Extraterrestrial Contact (Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1996) ISBN 978-0425151303
  • The Return of the Gods: Evidence of Extraterrestrial Visitations (Element, 1998) ISBN 1862042535
  • Arrival of the Gods: Revealing the Alien Landing Sites of Nazca (Element, 1998) ISBN 1862043531
  • The Gods Were Astronauts: Evidence of the True Identities of the Old "Gods" (Vega books, 2001) ISBN 1843336251
  • Odyssey of the Gods: An Alien History of Ancient Greece (Vega books, 2002) ISBN 978-1843335580
  • History Is Wrong (New Page books, 2009) ISBN 978-1601630865
  • Twilight of the Gods: The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials (New Page books, 2010) ISBN 978-1601631411

German language books published between 1984 and 2009

  • Der Tag an dem die Götter kamen (1984) ISBN 3-442-08478-4
  • Habe ich mich geirrt? (1985) ISBN 3-570-03059-8
  • Wir alle sind Kinder der Götter (1987) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3-570-03060-1
  • Die Augen der Sphinx (1989) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3-570-04390-8
  • Die Spuren der Ausserirdischen (1990) (Bildband) ISBN 3-570-09419-7
  • Die Steinzeit war ganz anders (1991) ISBN 3-570-03618-9
  • Ausserirdische in Ägypten (1991)
  • Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1992) (Reissue with new foreword)
  • Der Götter-Schock (1992) ISBN 3-570-04500-5
  • Raumfahrt im Altertum (1993) ISBN 3-570-12023-6
  • Auf den Spuren der Allmächtigen (1993) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3-570-01726-5
  • Botschaften und Zeichen aus dem Universum (1994) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3-442-12688-6
  • Götterdämmerung (2009) KOPP Verlag 978-3942016049
  • Grüße aus der Steinzeit: Wer nicht glauben will, soll sehen!, 2010
  • Was ist falsch im Maya-Land?: Versteckte Technologien in Tempeln und Skulpturen, 2011

Further reading

  • Peter Krassa, Disciple of the Gods: A biography of Erich von Däniken (W. H. Allen & Unwin, 1976). ISBN 0-352-30262-3

Films

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mystery Park, Interlaken". Switzerland Flexitours. Thursday, 8 April 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Kenneth Feder, Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum, page 267 (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2010). ISBN 978-0-313-37918-5
  3. ^ Fagan, Brian M. (10th edition 2000). In the beginning: an introduction to archaeology. Prentice-Hall. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0130307316. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  4. ^ Orser, Charles E. (2003). Race and practice in archaeological interpretation. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8122-3750-4.
  5. ^ Fritze, Ronald H. (2009). Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-religions. Reaktion Books. pp. 13, 200, 201. ISBN 9781861894304.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Playboy, August 1974 (volume 21, number 8)
  7. ^ Story(1976), p1
  8. ^ a b c d e f Story, Ronald (1976). The space-gods revealed : a close look at the theories of Erich von Däniken. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060141417.
  9. ^ Peter Krassa, Disciple of the Gods: A Biography of Erich von Däniken, page 74 (W. H. Allen & Co., Ltd, 1976). ISBN 0-352-30262-3.
  10. ^ a b c d Lingeman, Richard R. (31 March 1974). "Erich von Daniken's Genesis". The New York Times. p. 6.
  11. ^ Däniken's side of the story is given in Krassa, pages 96-107.
  12. ^ Transcripts of Däniken's letters to his wife Elizabeth (whom he married in 1959), during this period are provided in Krassa, pages 130-135.
  13. ^ Carl Sagan (writer/host) (14 December 1980). "Encyclopaedia Galactica". Cosmos. Episode 12. 01:24 minutes in. PBS.
  14. ^ Däniken, Erich von: Chariots of the Gods?, p. 94.
  15. ^ Playboy magazine, page 64, Volume 21 Number 8, 1974
  16. ^ "The Case of the Ancient Astronauts". Horizon. 3 August 1978. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ Stiebing Jr, William H. Ancient Astronauts, Cosmic Collisions, and Other Popular Theories About Man's Past Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1084 ISBN 0-87975-258-8 pp96-98
  18. ^ Von Däniken offered the following explanations in his Playboy interview: "In German we say a writer, if he is not writing pure science, is allowed to use some dramaturgisch Effekte - some theatrical effects. And that's what I have done." Von Däniken added "I have been inside the caves, but not at the place where the photographs in the book were taken, not at the main entrance. I was at a side entrance." He claimed he witnessed in person the objects that he described and published photographs of in his book, and explained that Moricz's denials about his claims were due to the fact that Moricz's expedition crew had signed documents involving pledges of silence about what was in the caves. Von Däniken also stated that a leading German archaeologist was sent to Ecuador to verify his claims, but in 6 weeks of staying there he could not find Moricz. Playboy, p. 58.
  19. ^ a b c Lingeman, Richard R. (31 March 1974). "Erich von Daniken's Genesis". The New York Times. p. 6. A lot of ingredients go into that blender, including (...) apocryphal lore. He refers to "The Book of Dzyan", for example, which he helpfully adds is to be found in "The Secret Doctrine" of Mme. Blavatsky (...) "The Book of Dyzan" exists only in Mme. astral thoughts. (...) Actually, both of these documents have a way of turning up repeatedly in books on flying saucers, which is probably where von Däniken found them.
  20. ^ Edward Uhler Condon, "Scientific Study of Unidentified Objects", Bantam, 1969, cited by the 1974 NYT article "Erich von Däniken's genesis"
  21. ^ a b c Joe Nickell (2005), Unsolved history: investigating mysteries of the past (illustrated ed.), University Press of Kentucky, p. 9, ISBN 9780813191379, It is difficult to take Von Däniken seriously, especially since his "theory" is not his own and it originated in jest. Wrote Paul Kosok, the first to study the markings: "When first viewed from the air, [the lines] were nicknamed prehistoric landinhgs fields and jokingly compared with the so-called canals of Mars"
  22. ^ Clieve Riggles (12 November 1987), "Tribute to Maria Reiche. Review of The Mistery of Nazca Lines by Tony Morrison", New Scientist, vol. 116, no. 1586, p. 62
  23. ^ a b c d Helaine Silverman, Donald Proulx (2008), "The "Mythological" History of the Geoglyphs", The Nasca, Peoples of America, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 167–171, ISBN 9780470692660, (...) many speculative explanations have been proposed for the function of the geoglyphs. The most notorious among these was put forth by Erich von Däniken (...) [here it describes the theories put forward by von Däniken]. But archeologists directed their energies toward science, not refutation of the absurd (see Cazeau and Scott 1979; Feder 1990; Harrold and Eve 1987). But archaeologists did not comprehend the harm the willful appropriation and misrepresentation of the past could cause to the profession and to the Peruvian nation. Rather, archaeologists have continued to write scholarly articles only for scholarly audiences. (...) the geoglyphs and all the other great works of Nasca society were made by the ancient people, were the result of a long process on in situ, authocthonous cultural development, and are fully congruent with what is known about pre-Columbian civilization in the Andes overall.
  24. ^ Robert Todd Carroll (2003), The skeptic's dictionary: a collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions (illustrated ed.), John Wiley and Sons, p. 248, ISBN 9780471272427, Erich von Däniken thinks that the Nazca lines formed an airfield for ancient astronauts, an idea first proposed by James W. Moseley in the October 1955 issue of Fate and made popular in the early 60's by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier in The Mornings of the Magicians.
  25. ^ "Report No. 83-205 SPR The UFO Enigma, Marcia S. Smith, June 20, 1983, Congressional Research Service, Appendix B quoting "Some trust in chariots : sixteen views on Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the gods", editors Thiering, Barry and Edgar Castle, West books, 1972
  26. ^ Fritze 2009, p. 208 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFFritze2009 (help)
  27. ^ Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology Mayfield Publishing Company 1990 3rd ed. ISBN 0-7674-0459-9 p. 195
  28. ^ Flenley, John; Bahn, Paul G. The Enigmas of Easter Island, Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 978-0192803405 p.114
  29. ^ R.Z. Sheppard (2 August 1976). "Books: Worlds in Collusion". Time.com. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  30. ^ Jason Colavito (2004). "An investigation into H.P. Lovecraft and the invention of ancient astronauts. As seen in Skeptic magazine". Skeptic (10.4).
  31. ^ Director: Ralph Lee (3 February 2001). "Loving The Alien: The Real Erich von Däniken". Channel 4. {{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help)
  32. ^ Sue Atwood, "Switzerland: Journey into the unknown" (The Daily Telegraph, 29 December 2003. [1]
  33. ^ "Roland Emmerich's Stargate film based on Erich von Daniken's research". Zoozle news. Retrieved 19 March 2011.

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