The theory of paleocontacts, which claims that representatives of highly developed civilizations visited the Earth in time immemorial, is becoming more and more popular. For some reason, most of its adherents believe that its creator is a Swiss researcher Erich von Daniken.
But in fact, he took advantage of the ideas of Soviet scientists - it was in the USSR that paleocontacts almost became an object of scientific study, but a number of fatal accidents prevented …
Perelman is against
At the origins of the theory of paleocontacts, more precisely, the idea of a plurality of intelligent worlds in the Universe, was the father of astronautics Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. At the beginning of the 20th century, a genius from Kaluga talked about other planets, about possible inhabited worlds, to which people would fly. In his work "The Will of the Universe" he wrote: "Previously, no one allowed the possibility of heavenly intercourse, especially travel outside the Earth. Therefore, the opinion was established that they were impossible. And if so, then all the facts proving these relations, if any, were mercilessly denied by people of science."
Indeed, for many years the possibility of visiting the Earth by representatives of any other civilizations did not occur to anyone at all. Largely because people themselves were tied to the Earth and did not imagine that people could actually fly, and not in fairy tales. However, as time went on, mankind invented airplanes, science fiction writers and individual scientists began to think about flights into deep space, and it was then that people began to think about other inhabited worlds …
In 1930, the Soviet journal Vestnik Znaniya published a letter asking an anonymous reader: "If, without a doubt, there are more developed cultures in the Universe than the earthly one, then why have not the inhabitants of other worlds visited the Earth?"
The editors asked authoritative Soviet scientists to comment on this issue, and their discussion is undoubtedly a serious milestone in the study of the theory of paleocontacts.
Promotional video:
True, the famous scientist and popularizer of science Yakov Perelman spoke then in the sense that such a visit by representatives of other civilizations is unlikely. But Tsiolkovsky said: “We have only the fact of not visiting the Earth for several millennia of the conscious life of mankind. And the past and future times!.."
And Professor Nikolai Rynin expressed himself quite definitely: “The statement that the inhabitants of other worlds did not visit our planet is indeed confirmed by the official history of all countries. However, if we turn to the legends of hoary antiquity, we will notice a strange coincidence in the legends of countries separated by oceans and deserts. This coincidence lies in the fact that many legends talk about the placement of the earth in time immemorial by the inhabitants of other worlds. Why not admit that these legends are based on some grain of truth?"
Professor Rynin knew what he was talking about. For many years he collected in the myths of all times and peoples any references to flights - and then published in the multivolume encyclopedia "Interplanetary Travel". These myths say that even in ancient times people flew in amazing flying machines, which are in many ways superior to modern ones …
Alexander Kazantsev: they were
But despite the fact that such authoritative scientists did not deny the possibility of aliens visiting the Earth, nevertheless, paleocontacts (they were called paleovisites in the USSR) did not become an object of scientific study. In many ways, of course, this was hampered by the objective difficulties of the Soviet state - science was solving urgent problems, and few people were seriously interested in the issue of newcomers from the past. Then the Patriotic War began, after which for a long time everyone was not up to this problem.
However, back in 1945, the famous science fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev put forward the assumption that the Tunguska meteorite was in reality a controlled spacecraft that exploded as a result of a nuclear explosion. Later Kazantsev began to assert that humanity itself appeared as a result of visits to the planet by representatives of other civilizations.
True, he stated this not in scientific articles, but in fantastic works. But his ideas found a response in the scientific world, because Kazantsev spoke in his books about real-life scientific mysteries, for example, the death of the planet Phaeton. - researchers have long fought on her mystery.
In 1974 he wrote the novel Faetians. According to the science fiction writer, the mysterious planet died due to a nuclear explosion that occurred during the war between its inhabitants, and several of its inhabitants ended up on Earth and became the progenitors of people.
It is interesting that the Nobel laureate Niels Bohr, who came to Moscow in the early 70s, "blessed" the writer to create the Faetians. Kazantsev, during a meeting of the great physicist with Moscow writers, asked him the question - can the explosion of a super-powerful nuclear device cause an explosion of the entire planet?
Niels Bohr replied: “I do not exclude the possibility of such an explosion. But even if this were not so, nuclear weapons should be banned anyway."
Kazantsev wrote in his memoirs: "The answer of Niels Bohr turned out to be the impetus that prompted me to write the trilogy" Faete ", which hypothesized that humanity may come from space settlers, due to circumstances, did not return to their home planet."
The writer in this novel voiced and interpreted other really existing riddles in his own way - the mention in the ancient Indian epics of flying chariots and mysterious weapons, mysterious Japanese figurines resembling astronauts, the mysterious gods of the Incas and Aztecs, etc.
One could consider all this to be a fantasy, but Kazantsev himself was convinced that extraterrestrial guests had visited our planet in the past. In 1984, during an interview, he was asked the question, does he believe that stellar aliens have been on our planet?
The writer spoke out unequivocally and definitely:
“I don’t understand how the question is posed: to believe - not to believe! I just know: they were. I know, because I have decisive evidence. Now it is necessary that science does not dismiss the "curiosities" of nature and history, but engages in a detailed development of not only radio astronomy, but also the historical direction of searches."
Matest Agrest: traces lead to space
However, it was with the historical direction of the search that there were problems. For some reason, the theory of paleocontacts aroused keen interest among representatives of the exact sciences and was completely ignored by humanitarians - historians and philologists, although it is in various oral and written ancient sources that there are descriptions of visits to the Earth by representatives of advanced civilizations.
As the famous Soviet philologist and researcher of the theory of paleontacts Yuri Morozov wrote: “The reason was simple. Historical sciences have always dealt exclusively with earthly phenomena, and even the beginning of the space age did not shake the concentration of these sciences on purely "domestic" issues. Thus, the situation is paradoxical: the problem of paleovisite has been formulated, its scientific relevance is quite obvious - and there seems to be no one to investigate the problem in concrete historical terms”.
But physicists were trying to investigate the theory of paleocontacts. Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Matest Agrest was sure that the Earth was visited by aliens. Moreover, he proved this precisely with the help of exact sciences - he studied the structure of mysterious tektites, claiming that they were formed as a result of a nuclear explosion.
Agrest also raised the question - why do ancient sources say so much about phenomena that were discovered quite recently? For example, in ancient legends there is accurate information about the satellites of Mars, discovered only in the 19th century.
The physicist prepared an article in which he raised these questions for publication in the collection "Reports of the USSR Academy of Sciences." Its scientific curator was Igor Kurchatov, who recommended the work of Agrest to the Academy of Sciences.
However, the sudden death of Kurchatov prevented this publication - the scientific community considered this hypothesis too bold (the names of the scientists who banned this publication, hardly anyone now even remembers - since they were not famous for anything special and did not discover anything). Then Agrest sent his work to the Literaturnaya Gazeta, and in 1960 there was published his article entitled "Are the tracks leading to space?"
Since after the death of Kurchatov Agrest was left without authoritative support, his publication was very coldly received by the scientific world. But the Western press immediately reprinted Agrest's work, after which the theory of paleocontact became a favorite topic of Western researchers, the first among whom was Eric von Daniken.
Traces of ancient astronauts
However, in the USSR, because of the Iron Curtain, Deeniken was little known (although later his film "Chariots of the Gods" was shown with great success in the Soviet Union), and therefore, for some time, they tried to study the theory of Paleovisites from a scientific point of view.
Agrest's work was published in the collection "On land and at sea", and the editorial board noted that: "The hypothesis of Agrest, regardless of the attitude towards it, is built on a materialistic basis and deserves attention."
Articles devoted to the theory of Paleovisites began to appear in Soviet newspapers and magazines.
Geologist Vladimir Avinsky was engaged in this theory - and it was not by chance, because it is the Gelogues who have to deal with the mysteries of the past, for example, find mysterious objects in coal seams that are millions of years old.
In 1981, the Nauka publishing house published a collection entitled The Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations with an article by the orientalist Igor Lisevich “Ancient myths through the eyes of a man of the space age”. The researcher asked the question - why in ancient Chinese sources there are descriptions of creatures very similar to robots, as well as mysterious silvery carts that can fly?
Articles by the Kharkiv engineer Vladimir Rubtsov, who was published in Technics - Youth, were also devoted to the questions of mysterious flying chariots. For example, in his article "Astravidya - myth or reality?" he viewed from a technical point of view the flying chariots from the ancient Indian epics and claimed to be a description of mechanisms.
Rubtsov collaborated with the philologist Yuri Morozov, who also studied the Paleovisites. At the beginning of 1991, Yuri Morozov's work "Traces of Ancient Cosmonauts" was published in the popular "Question Mark" series. In it, he talked about the history of the study of paleocontacts and about the problems facing researchers.
The work ended on an optimistic note - the scientist argued that an initiative group had been created, consisting of scientists from several countries, the publication of the "Journal of Paleovisitology" was being prepared, and the study of Paleovisites would be on a scientific track. But … the USSR soon collapsed, the scientific community all these years has been experiencing many serious problems, and for many years now scientists have no time for aliens from distant planets, who once left traces on Earth …
Natalia Trubinovskaya