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How Pseudoscience Exploits Human Remains for Alien Theories - Aliens 78
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This episode delves into the ethical implications surrounding using human remains in archaeology and pseudoscience, particularly within the context of ancient alien theories. It critically examines how figures like Jaime Maussan have manipulated human remains to promote sensationalist claims of extraterrestrial involvement in human history, often neglecting the dignity of the individuals represented. The discussion highlights the troubling legacy of hyperdiffusion and racism that usually underpins these pseudoscientific narratives, contrasting them with the self-reflective practices emerging in modern archaeology. As the episode unfolds, it raises crucial questions about the responsibilities of both researchers and the public in handling and presenting human remains. Ultimately, it calls for a commitment to integrity and respect in understanding the past, advocating for a history that honors all of humanity.
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Transcript
Introduction to Ancient Aliens Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network.
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome to Digging Up Ancient Aliens. This is the podcast where we ex examine and alternative history and ancient alien narratives in popular media. Do these ideas hold water to an archaeologist or are there better explanations out there? We are now on episode 78 and I am Fredrik, your guide into the world of pseudo-archaeology.
00:00:36
Speaker
and This time we will talk about Ancient Alien, but focus will be more on how the supporters and believers use human remains online to support their ideas. This is a bit of an extended version of the talk I presented at the Theoretical Archaeology Group meeting in Bournemouth this December, or December of 2024.
Support and Engagement
00:01:01
Speaker
This was during a session on human remains in the online sphere in general. There was a lot of great talks, and I'm a bit sad that not more of them are available online. I want to thank all of you who support the show. You're really helping out producing this content, I'm humbled and grateful for your support, and If you, dear listener, who getting this free podcast for free want to help out, I will tell you how to do that and get some bonus stuff at the end of the episode. Remember that you can find sources, resources, and reading suggestions on our website, taking up ancientaliens.com.
00:01:43
Speaker
There you can also find contact info if you notice any mistakes or have any suggestions. And if you like the podcast, I would really appreciate it if you left one of those fancy five-star reviews that I heard so much about. Now that we have finished our preparations, let's dig into the episode.
Ethics in Archaeology vs. Pseudo-History
00:02:08
Speaker
With regard to these topics and its many sensitivities, where to start? Well, it's a good question. A question best pondered with a bitter taste of a recently discovered cup of cold coffee, as Jack Karrack once wrote, but we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the sky.
00:02:29
Speaker
While the subject we're about to dive into may not be crazy, it certainly is unusual and crucial. Ethics. Especially in archaeology and how it compares to the pseudo-historical use of human remains online. But before we get into the use of human remains in pseudo-historical places, we need to understand ancient aliens and the ideas of history.
Origins of Ancient Alien Theory
00:03:00
Speaker
For those who have been lucky enough to have been spared from the Ancient Alien Theory, let me ruin that for you. The main gist of Ancient Alien Theory, or Ancient Astronaut Theory, or as Professor Ken Fader calls it, the horny spaceman theory, it is that human evolution, cultural development and all of human history can only be understood if it was caused by a third party. In this case it's ET who instead of building a phone and going on a bike raid, instead creates humans and play a part in our development
00:03:36
Speaker
all knowledge, architecture, and societal advancement are given to us by an alien being with a vested interest in us. I'll get to why Professor Fader calls it a honey spaceman theory in just a moment. At this point, one might wonder where this idea originated from, and there's a couple, well, villains maybe, it to choose from. But a name that's often left out of this discussion is actually none less than Carl Sagan. In 1963 he published a paper suggesting that space traveling aliens existent. In the end he implied that the myth on Earth could be evidence of aliens visiting us,
00:04:23
Speaker
And if Erich von Daniken was a aware of this paper when he published his book Cherries of the Gods in 1968, well it's unfortunately unknown, but he is one of the main influences on the ancient alien ancient astronaut theory.
00:04:41
Speaker
And we do know for a fact that he is a building some of his ideas on of the works of ah Louis Powell and Jacques Berger, who drew significantly from the work of H.B. Lovecraft and the esoteric movements that emerged after World War II.
00:04:59
Speaker
Erich von Daniken promoted the notion that an alien civilization visited Earth and played a role in the creation of humanity and the development of our history. All human technologies originate from an alien source, given to our primitive ancestors, as he calls it.
Racial Implications of Alien Narratives
00:05:18
Speaker
Another big name within the movement is Sakaraya Sitchin,
00:05:21
Speaker
who is maybe most known for his theory that alien beings came to Earth to mine golds and, well, their as atmosphere were out of it. Sitchin's evidence for this was Sumerian tablets, which he claimed to have been able to translate. so There is, however, little evidence that Sichin even could read Cuneiform, experts have pointed out that the translation often contradicts the dictionaries that was made by the actual scribes of Sumer, Arcadia, and the following cultures.
00:05:53
Speaker
As so happens, the gold digging aliens were either lazy or horny, or maybe both, and they started to experiment or mate with early hominids, creating humans as we are today. Through this, they could then get a slave workforce for their mining operation.
00:06:12
Speaker
And depending on the author, there was also a hierarchy between the perceived races. Von Denneken, for example, wrote in Cherise of the Gods, quote, was the black race a failure? And did the extraterrestrial change the genetic code by gene surgery and then program a white and yellow race?
Debunking Alien Mummy Hoaxes
00:06:31
Speaker
Note the early use of, I'm just asking questions.
00:06:36
Speaker
while we could easily spend much more on ancient alien theory. And in fact, we have a whole back catalogue of this show that has hours on it. But in summary It builds on hyper-diffusion, anti-evolution, racism, and colonial ideas about our history. We will see these elements in how the ancient astronaut theories used these human remains online. Now, in September 2023, a journalist named Jamie Mawson presented what he claimed were two alien beings to the Mexican parliament.
00:07:14
Speaker
and In that hearing, Masang claimed that these specimens had been tested by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, which were able to confirm that these were in fact ancient alien mummies.
00:07:32
Speaker
While it's corrected Unam did to test this specimen, it turns out they did a C14 analysis of the provided samples. And we all know that C14 samples don't really support that something Well, it doesn't show the genetic so structure of the sample. It can just provide a range of when it lived or died, basically. And, well, this test does not support Masson's claim that the university confirmed it to be alien form. Something that was left out of the original reporting is that Jimmy Masson has been involved in several hoaxes throughout the year, like the Metapec creature.
00:08:20
Speaker
and um You can google this, it will look odd at first, and it turned out to be just a shaved monkey. As we learned back in episode 38, the Montac Monster, identifying a creature that's supposed to have fur and no longer has it can be surprisingly challenging. If you don't believe me, pause the podcast for a moment and google shaved bear.
00:08:47
Speaker
Now, what would your first suggestion if seeing that in the wild be that it that's that is definitely a bear? Probably not, or you might be way better at zoology than I am, and I'm not an expert on that, so it might not be that difficult.
Dehumanization in Pseudo-History
00:09:07
Speaker
Let's move on. This was followed up by the demon fairy, which, according to Aya Romano, consists of several bat remains, sticks, and epoxy glue.
00:09:16
Speaker
And if you picture a demon fairy made out of bat remains and glue, you're probably quite close to what Masan created. he He has been doing some weird hobby crafting at home in his garage for sure.
00:09:32
Speaker
In 2015, Malzahn leveled up to using human remains for the first time, presenting a proven mummy of a child as an alien being in a now private YouTube video from the Gaia channel. We haven't really covered much of the Gaia channel here, but maybe something we will look into in the future.
00:09:52
Speaker
The abuse of remains of children is not a one-time occurrence in this ah talk, unfortunately. We will also get to how these people get access to the to remains like this in a little bit. So if the aliens were not cake, nor extraterrestrial beings, what were they?
00:10:14
Speaker
According to Flavio Estrada, a forensic archaeologist who had the opportunity to study some of Massan's mummies, because he actually created several of them, they consist of human remains, animal bones, glue and paper.
00:10:29
Speaker
X-ray is taken on some of these specimens confirms this. We see a mixture of different sets of bones. We see a monkey cranio. And if we look closely at their hands, for example, we can see that phalanges are doubled and sometimes in the wrong direction.
00:10:46
Speaker
Bones in general are basically just floating around and can quite easily be identified by someone with a rudimentary understanding of the autonomy of a skeleton. Now, this is not a very sophisticated creation by someone with an expertise in autonomy. That's very, very clear. Still, Mosan has not been known for being a paragon of scientific rigor, or even a good hoaxer, as seen in the previous examples.
00:11:13
Speaker
So while the aliens seem to be some sort of crude paper mache art project at first glance, day the reality is much darker. Now Massan got these remains from a smuggler who was operating in Peru and then mixed it together with the the ingredients we mentioned previously.
00:11:35
Speaker
and the source is a man called Leonardo Riviera who um has admitted to smuggle at least 200 remains out of Peru. Unfortunately, smuggling is a quite lucrative business in Peru and access to remains, mummies and artifacts are quite easily and while there are work being done to try to stop this smuggling and looting, it's unfortunately, well, still going on. And then this is one of the reasons why you shouldn't buy artifacts online. You don't know who you're supporting, where they got their artifacts from, and the well, you're contributing in a way to the destruction of our shared history and
00:12:28
Speaker
the history in most cases of indigenous people. And ancient Indian people, unfortunately, rarely regard remains as something worthy of dignity to them, they are objects or artifacts rather than beings.
Misuse of Elongated Skulls
00:12:42
Speaker
On one of Giorgio Succolo's profiled pictures for one of those sites where you can get a personalized video message, we see Succolo posing with an elongated skull in his hand. Here we can plainly see that it's not an individual in the picture, it's it's a prop.
00:12:59
Speaker
Jafres Carre talks about approaching remains in a way that gives them dignity and prefer preserves their self-respect, their humanity, in a sense. And applying to the ideas of Kant, we can see how we can ethically approach remains while keeping this integrity intact. In the case of Succla's posing with the remains,
00:13:23
Speaker
one game question if the integrity of the individual is actually preferred. I don't think he has thought of these things at any points. Another thing to consider is that ancient alien theorists don't even view these remains as human.
00:13:38
Speaker
as we will see. Some of these people claim that elongated skulls are not humans but hybrids or even alien beings. So not only is this person in the picture stripped of their integrity, they're also stripped of their humanity.
00:14:09
Speaker
Suppose that you go online to places where alternative history ideas are shared. Well, you can definitely count on getting a slight migraine. But you will also note that if there are posts showing human remains, the remains are most often from Peru. And this can be explained by the practice of artificial cranial deformation, or ACD.
00:14:36
Speaker
which we recently mentioned. This is a practice that comes from the Paracas and Nazca people that it that over the centuries used artificial cranial deformation, especially in smaller children, to get these elongated craniums. And these craniums have been a staple in social media poses of pseudoscientists. And Even if ACD can be found all over the globe, from well Europe to Africa to South America, it seems to be, according to these alternative history people, a mystery. But in reality, it's actually well understood. and
00:15:19
Speaker
It has been practiced until the 1900s. For example, in France, it was called the Toulouse Deformity, and we have pictures of it that's very recent. On top of this, it can also be explained with the rampant smuggling in Peru at the moment. So these said remains can be quite easily accessed and then photographed and shared.
00:15:45
Speaker
often in a setting that shows them to be non-human. And if you read a caption that usually accompanies these ah pictures of these elongated skull, they often have claims that DNA tests show that these are not humans.
00:16:02
Speaker
These individuals are either 100% alien, they're not human, or maybe they're 50% alien, they're a mixture between an alien extraterrestrial being and a human. But it's hard to claim that this is little other than dehumanizing these remains. When something is not human, it's easier to not apply an ethical reflection regarding the remains. Not that we have seen such reflections among the pseudoscientific crowd so far.
00:16:31
Speaker
And the claim regarding the DNA often seen in these posts is the work of Brian Forrester and later also L.A. Marusulli. Brian Forrester is a sculpture and a tour guide who had made a name for himself by promoting ancient Indians as part of South American and Egyptian history.
00:16:52
Speaker
And in 2014 he managed to take samples from remains that had and had those sent to an unspecified lab. The sampling can be seen on YouTube and it's quite disturbing. In the video we can see how people without adequate DNA sampling and equipment destroy the mummy of a very young child.
00:17:15
Speaker
Dr. Jennifer Reff, Carl Feijen, Keith Fitzpatrick Matthews all point out that the result of the forest 2014 samples were contaminated, as seen in the data and the fact that, well, those taking the samples didn't wear the adequate equipment. And the remains that forests are tested were obtained from a private museum called the Juan Navarro Hero Paracas Museum.
00:17:43
Speaker
and we can see how they utilize these remains and ancient alien personas to market themselves in social media.
Ethical Archaeology vs. Pseudo-History Practices
00:17:51
Speaker
The museum has previously allowed the TV show Ancient Alien to film parts of their episode at their facilities, and a similar stories seem to occur with Marzulli's test. Dr. Raff points out that while a proper lab was used in his test,
00:18:08
Speaker
The lab warned Marzulli that a sample showed signs of contaminations, something that did not hinder Marzulli from claiming that the DNA was evidence of a giant slash European hybrid creature that roamed South America and is proof of Atlantis or whatever that fancier boat.
00:18:29
Speaker
This whole process, ranging from sampling without the ethical discussion to using bad samples as evidence, is highly unethical. And I think we all can agree on that. Spreading it online without proper sources reinforced the idea that the human remains displayed are not human, they are something different.
00:18:48
Speaker
And I want to continue a bit on Marsilius' claim here that the these ah elongated the skulls, their DNA is evidence of giants and ah lost a lost civilization. Because giants, they they have their weird place in ancient alien lore and can sometimes refer to the fact that aliens were larger or they create giants in a lab. But if we go online,
00:19:16
Speaker
Claims about giants found are among the oldest and most common ideas that we find online, except for the elongated skull. In some cases, like Derek Olsson, also known as a Stargate Voyager, they just take a picture and hope you won't google it. Mr. Olsson posted some time ago about giants with a picture of human remains. It was cropped in the hope that you would think it was a giant and he discussed how there's evidence of giants as archaeologists have uncovered and then trying to hide or something like that. However, the image he used was stolen from a mirror article discussing a find in the Astrakhan region of Russia.
00:20:02
Speaker
the people discussed in the article were of average human height and not giants in, well, any sense of the word. In other cases, we see old-school Photoshop or nowadays we see generative AI being used to promote this idea. I can't help it, but I love the old picture of giant skeleton excavated by people and it looks so horribly bad photoshopped.
00:20:28
Speaker
It's almost so bad it becomes good in a sense. However, we should not forget that the remains are still individuals we see and the images contribute to the otherization of group, often groups and people of color.
00:20:45
Speaker
And if you have spent any time online lately, as I mentioned, AI images become a staple of the internet. And conspiracy theories and alternative alternative history promoters have, of course, seen value in these tools and used them to flood us with a manipulated picture of a past that never was.
00:21:04
Speaker
Giants are a ubiquitous thing of course, and without the need to know how to resize an image in pain, you can make as many bad AI rendering of giant human remains as you like. Giants are also alternative history legends, and they are among the oldest.
00:21:21
Speaker
and have been host since the 1800s. An example is the San Diego giant that started appearing in papers around the turn of 1900s and can still be found in post today, portrayed as real archaeological finds. These are just a few examples of how ancient alien pages and accounts use human remains online, and it's It's worth noting that they did not invent this story or approach. Ancient aliens did precisely what we see online, but for years in book form and then through the ancient alien TV series and
00:21:58
Speaker
That one has been going for 18 seasons or more at this point. While they don't use human remains that often, luckily in displayed on the television, we we do see the same ideas as we see online, as in the tele-show.
00:22:14
Speaker
For example, in the early shows we follow an author named David Childress to a museum to see hidden giant remains, and in the clip we see Childress lifting the remains of an indigenous person by, well, putting his eyes in the eye socket, and then goes on to describe the crane as being part of another species. Again, demonstrate the act of dehumanization the remains and objectifying them,
00:22:39
Speaker
And we see similar tendencies when the show visits the Juan Navarro hero Paracas Museum, as we mentioned earlier.
00:22:58
Speaker
The ancient astronaut theory is clearly not based in science. While archaeology has started to deal with its colonial roots and discussing the ethics of research of human remains, the alternative history crowd has gone, well, the opposite way. They are continuing the colonial legacy and doubling down on things like hyper-diffusion. I'm not going to argue that archaeology as a field is perfect.
00:23:24
Speaker
A recent example is when samples were taken from Cranium, stored at the Kontiki Museum, against the Norwegian Ethic Board's recommendations. Now, Raft enthusiasts Thor Heyerdahl collected the remains on Rapa Nui between 1955 and 1956. As far as I can understand, Dinghy's remains were collected with approval of the Chilean government.
00:23:50
Speaker
but not with the approval of the local population of Rapa Nui. While it was not an on-comest practice back day, it's not how we should do things today. So when Norwegian Professor Erich Torspi applied to the Norwegian Ethic Force in 2017, they asked him to obtain permission from the people at Rapa Nui before any samples could be taken. Unfortunately, Torspi ignored the recommendation and proceeded to take the samples anyway.
00:24:19
Speaker
they will always be those who prioritize their needs or careers or well-perceived, well, route to fame over others. Of course, this is hard to prevent, but as a field we can discuss this and how, for example, remains should be displayed both in museums and online, and how they should be sampled, what are the ethics, what are the guidelines, and we can create these guidelines and recommendations on how to use remains in press releases, online content, on archaeology, in sampling, in the research. We are interested in improving and dealing with complex questions as a discipline. On the other hand, the alternative history crowd is more interested in being
00:25:08
Speaker
in being perceived as doing science. Methodology and reflection are always in the back seat, if practiced at
Rejecting Pseudo-Archaeology & Colonial Legacy
00:25:17
Speaker
all. For them, the remains are objects that can be used to prove their story, something we can clearly see in their presence online.
00:25:27
Speaker
In the end, what we see online, the Mexican cake aliens, the deassembling of mummies in Peru, the so-called giants conjure up from Photoshop or AI-generated images, and the elongated skull's miscast as half-alien hybrids is not simply eccentric entertainment or harmless speculations.
00:25:51
Speaker
The spectacles ah promoted by figures like Yemi Massan or other authors who claim DNA ave the dna evidence from mishandled samples reflect a deeper, more troubling pattern.
00:26:06
Speaker
They inherit a colonial legacy of hyper-diffusion and race, causing non-European histories as primitive and dependent on mythical out-fighters. They turn human remains into mere props, as if Ancient ancestors were nothing more than puzzle pieces to be rearranged and glued together to support a preconceived narrative, one rooted in the belief that primitive people couldn't possibly have achieved their culture or technological feats without the meddling of horny spacemen. This misuse of ancestral human remains, often taken without
00:26:46
Speaker
Ethical reflection and display without dignity serves a larger purpose. To validate a fantasy denying human culture's complexity and autonomy, the pseudo-archaeological approach these fringe theorists take contrasts sharply with the self-examining field of archaeology, which continues to wrestle with ethical breaches, such as the mishandling of the Rapa Nui skulls at the Contiki Museum,
00:27:13
Speaker
and where archaeologists strive to acknowledge past wrongs and foster responsible, reflect respectful, courageous alternative history proponents double down, producing content that dehumanizing the dead disregard scientific standards and resist accountability. By recognizing these patterns, by seeing how Eric von Däningergen can resist failures of human evolution, Zachariah Citroen gold-mining extraterrestrial and David's chiller's caution, casual handling of indigenous crania all echo through today's AI-generated hocus. we can reject this ah exploitative fantasy.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:27:55
Speaker
In doing so, we honor the lived experience of our ancestors, protect cultural heritage from further misuse and ensure our understanding of the past is grounded not
00:28:14
Speaker
When we choose to respect the dignity of ancient people and resist cheap shortcuts to alien explanations, we reaffirm our commitment to a history that belongs to all of
00:28:41
Speaker
And on that note, we will leave the podcast for today. Please spread the word by leaving a positive review on platforms like iTunes, Spotify, or among your friends. Share an episode or two with them.
00:28:54
Speaker
especially your favorite episodes. For more information about me and the podcast, check out digging up ancientanians.com. You'll find an extensive list of sources and resources and reading recommendations for those eager to expand their knowledge on this. And you also have ah proper academic sources for this one since it was used in a conference. So you can see where exactly I got all of this from.
00:29:21
Speaker
If you want to support the show head over to patreon.com slash digging up ancient aliens or if you want another option that's not patreon you can sign up at the members portal at digging up ancient aliens dot com slash support. Signing up there will give you early episode and they are of course ad free. You also get bonus content and extended episodes.
00:29:44
Speaker
If you want to contact me, it can be done through most social media sites. And if you have comments, questions, suggestions, or write that email in all caps, you find my contact info at the website. This show is created with the support of the Archeology Podcast Network. You can find a lot of great show like the CRM Podcast and, well, and my travel on their website.
00:30:07
Speaker
Producer of the show is Ashley Aray. I, Frederik Trusan, wrote, edited and mastered the episode you are listening to. Simon Martelor created the intro music and our outro is by the band called Trausgruve, who sings their song, Foljaat, or Tin Foil Hat. Links to both of these artists can be found in the show notes. Until next time, keep shoveling that science.