Horizon Cases & Ancient Aliens: an Overview

Horizon cases. They may be a kind of detective story you're familiar with. They're endlessly intriguing, covering the most bizarre, most ancient, or most mysterious events ever observed or things left behind. Their strange natures make them prime fixations for creative types, spawning endless 'what ifs' and possibilities, like spooky, weird podcast episodes and novellas. The same qualities making these events interesting make them frustrating and disappointing. Like walking towards the setting sun, we can continually think about and research horizon cases, yet, as we can never touch the sun on the horizon, the answers of a horizon case will always be out of reach. Horizon cases can have no final resolution.

Now, you might be thinking, "Why can't we answer these sorts of questions?", and that depends on the topic. Some of these cases have happened so long ago that clues, context, and data in general are lacking. If any evidence does remain, it isn't helpful. Complicating things further, some horizon cases are so bizarre that we have no frame of reference for them. A few even seem to go against our current understanding of the world. Our grasp of organisms, physics, the universe - how everything works. Without new technology or information, the best a horizon case can be given is an educated, shrugging guess.

Horizon cases can cover weird phenomena like meat falling from the sky, multiple deaths with no apparent cause, and, more often, suspected alien activity. You can start with any case for a, well, mostly self-contained story. But as for me, I like to start my investigations at the beginning.

Before the advent of written language and record-keeping, humans created art: shell and bone engravings, wood and stone figurines, and upon rocks, paintings and drawings. Through art, they spoke. They said, "I was here," and "This was important to me." They tell us, "This is something that happened," "This is something I saw." While every piece of prehistoric art is extraordinary, some are exceptionally intriguing. Amidst depictions of extinct animals, stencils of hands, and long-forgotten great hunts are memories of living beings and things seemingly not of this world—and, according to some, perhaps not of this time.

Depictions of so-called ancient aliens, out-of-place artifacts, and ancient astronauts are exceedingly rare. Nevertheless, at least one exists in all prehistoric art forms–and each is vehemently contested. From frightening, supernatural figures and objects in the sky to violent encounters, abductions, and being watched from afar, these old stories are not too different from today's alien encounters. While many accounts of extraterrestrials are met with skepticism, paleocontactonomy is even more discredited; a subset of pseudoarchaeology, its negative press stems from its less than genuine or benevolent history. But to begin, what even is an ancient alien? They are surprisingly hard to pin down and describe.

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Ancient aliens and paleocontactonomy, or paleo-con, for short, is not so much as an area of scientific study, but an unregulated system of loosely related beliefs. At its core, it's about aliens interacting with humans and showing up in art made hundreds to thousands of years ago, from the medieval era to prehistoric times. Researchers, believers, and seekers of paleo-con can possess widely differing opinions on exactly what an ancient alien is, which cases are valid, and what it all means.

For the most part, an ancient alien is a figure that resembles a modern (and by modern, I mean post-1950) description or expectation of an alien: bulbous head, two large, oval eyes, two arms, two legs, small mouth, a creature akin to a Tall Grey. They may also seem to be wearing technologically advanced gear, like a spacesuit, or be accompanied by flying saucers. But, there’s more to this idea than just aliens. There are also ancient astronauts, figures who appear to be humans from the future, or very human-seeming aliens, with technology from our current era, or a time not yet known–a vision of what’s to come. Sort of the opposite, there are also glimpses or remnants of the past in ancient art, like depictions of dinosaurs alongside humans; though, these are only lumped in with paleo-con when it comes to more extreme beliefs and conspiracies. Finally, there’s weird objects, or “out-of-place artifacts”: cellphones, helicopters, guns, and other things that shouldn’t have existed in the art's time period. 

Aliens, spacemen, dinosaurs, planes, and rockets seemingly observed and drawn by cavemen is a perplexing idea. If true, what could it mean? Well, people have a lot of thoughts on that…

Some give paleo-con a religious aspect, seeing humans as creations of extraterrestrial beings, put or left on Earth for one reason or another. Ancient people drew them because they were important, because they had powers, maybe because they also feared them and were present in their lives. Taking it a step down, some believe instead that humans are descendants of aliens–left behind, banished, or otherwise confined to Earth, evolving over millions of years and forgetting who they were and where they came from. Losing their histories, knowledge, tech. Cultures who explain the origin of life or humanity as coming from the stars have their stories claimed by both of these groups as evidence that their viewpoint is more valid. 

Other ancient alien proponents argue that humans were not physically linked to an alien culture, but guided by one. Extraterrestrials were benevolent teachers, gifting farming, metallurgy, construction–basically every skill and tech connected to ancient man. Marvels like the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and Easter Island are used as evidence of these aliens and their help. 

Another perspective is that the strange pieces of art are simply eye-witness accounts of something strange, or, in less fantastical circles, drawings of something misunderstood or exaggerated. Proving this viewpoint comes in many forms–the simplest compares the images to modern alien encounters or examples of myth making. More extreme advocates use gaps in known history or the archaeological record as a weapon, reinterpreting data, or building conspiracy theories to argue that, when interpreted correctly, ancient aliens are proof of what they believe in. 

While it is exciting to think about, there simply is no good evidence to support these claims, aside from some coincidental aesthetics. Maybe ancient humans did see strange things, but drawings, carvings, etc. doesn’t prove that to be so. All of these ancient things have many reasonable explanations; while the best ones have–so far–not been related to alien activity at all, that doesn’t make them any less interesting. Despite bunk science, nefarious hoaxes, and several bad eggs, there is something charming and alluring about ancient aliens–some really do look straight out of a sci-fi movie, eye-witness drawing, or BCwPA book. 

Regardless of how we feel about them and their validity, we’ll look at them one by one, explaining what they look like, what paleo-con claims, their context, and what the archaeological community has to say about it.

Wounded Man

~25,000 BP

A cave painting of a figure and geometric shape. Paleo-con proponents claim this is an example of an ancient Gray Alien and UFO sighting.

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Chhattisgarh Spaceman

~10,000 BP

A cave painting of a few figures in attire and accompanied by objects and geometric shapes. Paleo-con proponents claim these are examples of ancient aliens or astronauts.

Sources

Guthrie, R. Dale. "The Nature of Paleolithic Art." The University of Chicago Press, 2005.

"Ancient Astronauts."

Audio Sources

Squire Tuck // After Chill

Monroeville Music Center // A002

Jungle Forest Wildlife Background Music // BackgroundMusicForVideos

Monroeville Music Center // The Perfect Planet