Short Answer: Yes (at least for some, like Erich von Daniken). Slightly Longer Answer: Yes, because some presume that humans in antiquity were so primitive they could not build these things without the assistance of non-human intelligence. Then, an elect super-race...
Megaliths
Ben Carson and the Pyramids
James Tabor has a short, interesting piece over on the Huffington Post about where Dr. Ben Carson's idea that the pyramids were the storehouses Joseph built to hold grain. It's worth a read, though I have some correctives to offer to both Drs. Tabor and Carson. First,...
Unknown Pyramid Complexes Discovered Using Google Earth
Pretty neat; check this link (with pictures). The interesting thing is that they seem to have the same diagonal arrangement as the pyramids of Giza. I can hardly wait to see what Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval come up with as to how that would fit in the Orion...
Why the Moundbuilder Myth is Wrong
Readers interested in ancient North America (and who are data-driven, not conspiracy-driven or fans of bad biblical interpretation) would do well to read this old (2011) essay by Kenneth Feder, Bradley T. Lepper, Terry A. Barnhart, and Deborah A. Bolnick:...
American Moundbuilders and Earthworks: Textbook Pseudo-Archaeology
Here's a link to a short essay that outlines the basic "techniques" for pseudo-archaeological analysis. While the essay notes the flawed thinking of Glenn Beck in regard to the Newark Earthworks, the essay ought to be a cautionary piece for all Christian Middle Earth...
The Alleged Alignment of the Giza Pyramids with the Constellation Orion
This past weekend I spent some time revisiting Stuart Robbins' excellent Exposing PseudoAstronomy podcast. On of his May 2012 episodes was on the alleged "Orion Correlation" promoted in print and online by Robert Bauval. The basic idea is that the three Giza pyramids...
Another Ancient Alien Fail: Moving 300 Ton Stones to Build China’s Forbidden City
The Live Science blog reported recently that Jiang Li, an engineer at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, has successfully translated an ancient Chinese document that reveals how stones in excess of 300 tons were moved over 70 miles without the wheel to...
More on Wally Wallington – The Guy Who Moves Monolithic Blocks by Himself
Kudos to V. Glitschka for sending me this YouTube Video of Mr. Wallington. It's worth watching - especially the few-second scene of him rotating an entire building by himself using his simple technology (It's at about 2:05 of the video). Sorry, no aliens appear in the...
Two Very Nice Blogs on the Pyramids
Part of combating PaleoBabble is exposing it -- and Egyptology seems to breed more paleo-nonsense than most fields. Another need is dispensing solid information in its place. I'm adding these two blogs to PaleoBabble's blogroll, but I wanted you to know about them...
Ancient Astro-Nuttiness, Al-Maqrizi, and Giorgio Tsoukalos’ Pseudo-Research
Jason Colavito has called Giorgio Tsoukalos' bluff -- precisely what needs to be done to all ancient astronaut BSers. The research they produce is impressive only to non-specialists and those who never check their work. It's pure paleobabble. Here's the introductory...
Transporting the Trilithon Stones of Baalbek: It’s About Applied Physics, Not Ancient Aliens
PaleoBabble readers know that ancient astronaut theorists suffer from a fixation on megalithic construction. The “impossibility” of moving stones of great size and tremendous weight appears to them as proof of alien assistance. This argument of course is simply...
Ancient Construction: No Aliens Needed
Yeah ... scholars are so overwhelmed by the building projects of the ancients that they just have no idea how it was done. They're so frightened by the clarity of the ancient alien visitation idea that they remain silent. There's just no way to explain the precise...
New Evidence Neither Aliens Nor Nephilim Were Needed to Build the Pyramids
It made me sad to even have to type that post heading. But let's face it. It's news to a lot of people. Headlines of this sort have been drawing a lot of attention in recent days: Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid Of Giza Was Built. It's significant news....
On Mathematical Codes for the Great Pyramid and other Megalithic Structures
I'll be honest. I'm among those of you (and there are a lot of us) who'd think of themselves as "math-challenged." That makes me vulnerable to being impressed by people who do amazing things with numbers and then attribute meaning to the results. I've known people who...
Medieval Pyramid PaleoBabble Reborn
That's the gist of this informative essay /by Jason Colavito: "Review of Scott Creighton's "The Secret Chamber of Osiris" (2015). As usual, Jason has done his homework and exposes how Creighton (the author) adopts medieval fantasies about pyramids as science.