Ancient Records: Is there evidence in ancient rock art, murals, or historical texts that can be interpreted as UFOs or extraterrestrial visitors?

Hey, this is a super interesting question and a core topic of the "ancient astronaut" theory. Many people are fascinated by it, so let's talk about those ancient records that are often interpreted as "evidence" of UFOs or extraterrestrials.

Simply put: There are numerous records that can be interpreted as UFOs, but none are considered "concrete evidence" by mainstream historical and archaeological communities.

Below, I'll list some of the most famous examples, along with the arguments for and against them, so you can form your own judgment.

I. Rock Paintings and Murals: What's in the Ancients' "Doodles"?

Ancient people left behind a vast number of paintings on rocks and in caves, some of which indeed look quite "advanced."

1. The "Astronaut" of Val Camonica, Italy

• What it looks like: This is one of the most frequently cited examples. The humanoid figure in the painting wears a large, glowing "helmet" on its head and holds strange "instruments" in its hands. It looks very similar to how we imagine astronauts today.
• UFO enthusiasts' interpretation: This is a direct depiction of extraterrestrial visitors; ancient people witnessed aliens in spacesuits.
• Mainstream archaeologists' explanation: This is more likely a shaman or deity from the tribe. The "helmet" is actually an exaggerated headdress or mask used in rituals, representing sacred power or a connection to the spirits. Such exaggerated artistic expression is very common in primitive religions.

2. The "Wandjina" of Kimberley, Australia

• What it looks like: These murals depict humanoid figures with large heads, deep, large eyes, but no mouths. There are also lines around their heads resembling halos or helmets. This image easily brings to mind the "Grey aliens" from modern science fiction.
• UFO enthusiasts' interpretation: These are the extraterrestrials that ancient Australian Aboriginal people encountered.
• Mainstream anthropologists' explanation: According to the oral history of the local Aboriginal people, the Wandjina are creation spirits, cloud spirits who bring rain and life. Their large eyes represent their omniscience, and the lack of mouths signifies their immense power to create everything without needing words. The halo around the head represents clouds or lightning. This is entirely part of their mythological system.

3. The "Helicopter" Hieroglyphs at Abydos Temple, Egypt

• What it looks like: On a lintel in an ancient Egyptian temple, some hieroglyphs clearly show the shapes of a helicopter, a submarine, and even a flying saucer.
• UFO enthusiasts' interpretation: Ancient Egyptians possessed or witnessed technology far beyond their time.
• Mainstream Egyptologists' explanation: This is actually an interesting "misinterpretation." In ancient Egypt, pharaohs would carve their names onto buildings. If a later pharaoh wanted to reuse the space, they would sometimes cover the previous pharaoh's name with plaster and carve their own. Over thousands of years, the plaster has fallen off, causing two different, overlapping sets of hieroglyphs to appear combined. For example, the symbol for "bow" and the symbol for "two arms" overlap, making it look like a helicopter. This phenomenon is known as "palimpsest" in Egyptology, and there is very clear evidence to support this explanation.

II. Historical Documents: Written Records of "Celestial Phenomena"

Besides drawings, descriptions in some ancient texts are also quite thought-provoking.

1. The "Wheel" in the Book of Ezekiel, The Bible

• Textual description: In the 6th century BCE, the prophet Ezekiel described a vision he saw: a flying object composed of "a wheel within a wheel," with rims full of eyes, capable of moving at high speed in any direction, accompanied by storms, lightning, and a metallic sheen.
• UFO enthusiasts' interpretation: This was not a miracle, but a detailed UFO sighting report. Josef F. Blumrich, a NASA engineer, even drew engineering diagrams of the craft based on the book's description.
• Mainstream theologians' explanation: This is typical apocalyptic literature, full of symbolism and metaphor. The wheels, eyes, and fire are all symbols of God's omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, not a description of a physical machine. It's an attempt to describe an ineffable divine experience using language understandable to people of that era.

2. The "Vimana" of Ancient India

• Textual description: In the ancient Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, there are frequent mentions of flying machines called "Vimanas." These craft are described as "double-decked circular ships" with portholes and domes, capable of flying at the "speed of thought," not only in the atmosphere but also into space and even underwater.
• UFO enthusiasts' interpretation: This is evidence that ancient India possessed advanced flight technology, possibly derived from extraterrestrial civilizations.
• Mainstream historians' explanation: These epics are essentially mythological stories and literary works. Vimanas are more like mythological tools used by gods and heroes, similar to Hermes' winged sandals in Greek mythology, representing their divine nature. These descriptions are poetic imagination, not technical manuals.

3. The 1561 Nuremberg "UFO Battle"

• Event record: On April 14, 1561, residents of Nuremberg, Germany, witnessed an astonishing "sky battle." According to contemporary pamphlets, numerous spheres, cylinders, and cross-shaped objects appeared in the sky, engaging in aerial combat for over an hour, with some objects eventually falling outside the city in smoke.
• UFO enthusiasts' interpretation: This was a real aerial battle between alien spacecraft, recorded by people of that time.
• Mainstream historians' explanation: This was more likely an atmospheric optical phenomenon known as a "sun dog," or an exaggerated, symbolic account with religious or political implications. In that era of religious reform, people easily interpreted unusual natural phenomena as divine signs or omens of war.

To Summarize

• Proponents (UFO enthusiasts) argue: So many records from different civilizations and different eras point to similar "flying objects" and "humanoid beings." This cannot be a coincidence. Ancient people simply used their limited vocabulary and artistic techniques to the best of their ability to record the advanced things they witnessed firsthand.

• Opponents (mainstream academia) argue:

  1. Cultural context is key: Almost all "evidence" has more reasonable explanations within its own cultural and mythological system. We cannot impose a 21st-century "sci-fi" perspective onto ancient religious art and mythological stories.
  2. Pareidolia: The human brain is naturally inclined to find familiar patterns in ambiguous, random shapes (e.g., seeing faces in clouds). Many "astronauts" in rock paintings might just be abstract symbols that we "project" our own interpretations onto.
  3. Lack of physical evidence: Despite a large number of so-called "records," no ancient artifact has ever been found that proves extraterrestrial technology. There's no wreckage of a "crashed Vimana," nor any "alien alloy" tools.

So, returning to your question: Ancient records contain numerous pieces of evidence that can be interpreted as UFOs or alien visitors, which is why this topic is so fascinating. However, these interpretations often overlook their original historical, cultural, and artistic contexts.

You can view this as an interesting intellectual game: Did ancient people truly encounter visitors from outer space, or are we modern people projecting our own imagination onto ancient mysteries? Currently, the latter possibility seems far more likely.