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The Worst Ancient Alien Theory Ever


Carnoferox

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A hypothetical "nuclear extinction" of the dinosaurs. Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; edited by me.

Although an asteroid (or comet) impact event is the prominent theory for the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago, there are certainly many others. Volcanic activity, climate change, disease, cosmic radiation, and faunal disruption are all credible hypotheses that have been put forward by scientists. However, there are also less credible hypotheses, including cataracts, digestive problems, and arthritis. One of the most bizarre of these fringe theories comes from the muddled world of internet conspiracy theorists. According to proponents of the "ancient alien" mindset, the extinction of the dinosaurs was the result of massive nuclear detonations caused by extraterrestrial lifeforms. Yes, there are some people who genuinely believe that aliens nuked the dinosaurs. They assert that aliens wiped out the dinosaurs in order to further mammal evolution, guiding humanity into existence. Although this is nothing more than absurd speculation, "ancient alien" supporters purport to have actual evidence for this nuclear catastrophe.

Radioactive Fossils

Dinosaur_National_Monument_(7002366149).jpg

Fossils from the Morrison Formation, like these at Dinosaur National Monument, are known to contain amounts of radioactivity. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The ancient alien theorists' main argument revolves around radioactivity levels in dinosaur fossils. They often claim that dinosaurs near the very end of the Cretaceous contain the highest amount of radioactivity, supposed evidence of nuclear fallout. It is true that many dinosaur fossils contain trace amounts of radioactivity (a topic which has already been discussed here). The fatal flaw of this argument is the fact that the radioactivity did not originate during deposition. The organic material in the bone has been leached away and replaced by minerals, sometimes radioactive ones like uranium and thorium. This occurred over millions of years, not directly after death. Another major problem is that most radioactive fossils are not from the latest Cretaceous. The Chinle and Morrison Formations, which date to the Late Triassic and Late Jurassic respectively, actually produce the most radioactive fossils. This is due to high concentrations of uranium in the soil in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, where these formations are located. It is clearly evident that the radioactivity in fossils is not the result of nuclear fallout, but rather of natural concentrations of radioactive elements.

Iridium in the K-Pg Boundary

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An exposure of the K-Pg boundary in Colorado. Image courtesy of National Geographic.

Ancient alien supporters also maintain that the high levels of iridium in the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary are evidence of a nuclear cataclysm. According to them, iridium is a common indicator of nuclear blast sites. Once again, this is based in truth; the whitish clay layer of the K-Pg boundary (seen in the photo above) does contain over 1,000 times the normal concentration of iridium. However, the iridium found in the clay layer consists of the two naturally occurring, non-radioactive isotopes, iridium-191 and iridium-193. These two isotopes are relatively rare on earth, but are more commonly found in meteorites. There are 34 radioactive isotopes of iridium, none of which are naturally occurring. The most stable of these is iridium-192, which is produced in a nuclear reactor and is used mainly for radiation therapy, but is not a component of nuclear weapons. Thus, the ancient alien theorists are wrong on two accounts - the iridium in the K-Pg boundary is natural and non-radioactive, and artificially-created radioactive iridium is not even used in nuclear weapons.

Other "Evidence"

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An estimated map of the Chicxulub Crater. Image courtesy of The Yucatan Times.

The Chicxulub Crater in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico is seen by the majority of the scientific community as an indication of an asteroid (or comet) impact. However, the ancient alien adherents believe that it is instead a massive nuclear blast crater. Taking into consideration that the Chicxulub Crater is around 180 kilometers (110 miles) wide and 20 kilometers (12 miles deep), it would have taken an explosion 2 million times more powerful than the largest yield nuclear device ever tested. This is easily feasible for an impactor with an estimated diameter of 10 kilometers (6 miles), but is impossible for any nuclear weapons. 

Another claim is that dinosaur fossils are scattered and disarticulated because of the shock waves from nuclear blasts. The ancient alien supporters point to Late Cretaceous bonebeds like those at Dinosaur Provincial Park and Prince Creek as evidence. These bonebeds are known to have been deposited by fast-flowing rivers, which accounts for the jumbled nature of the fossils. Additionally, there are numerous similar bonebeds known from other time periods, including Ghost Ranch from the Late Triassic and Dinosaur National Monument from the Late Jurassic. These large bonebeds are the result of environmental factors, not nuclear shock waves. 

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, this "theory' (the term is used loosely) is not as dead as some of the others featured in this series. Conspiracy websites like theflatearthsociety.orgperpendicularity.org, and ancientnuclearwar.com have entire pages dedicated to it. It was even featured on an episode of History Channel's notorious Ancient Aliens, appropriately titled "Aliens and Dinosaurs". It is severely distressing that something so outlandish has been assumed and actually accepted by people. Ancient alien theorists will claim that extraterrestrials were responsible for nearly everything in order to build more "evidence" for their delusional argument. There is none of this evidence in the K-Pg extinction event, nor anywhere else. In the simplest terms, famed astronomer Carl Sagan put it best -

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

 

Edited by Carnoferox
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I personally find some of the ancient alien (or more correctly ancient technology) arguments compelling, not necessarily the one you are railing against here. I guess thats the purpose of my post though, why in these threads you have been starting are you aggressively insulting to the people who have a different view than you on the topics at hand? 

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I like starting debates. Seeing if anyone is up for the challenge to defend themselves. What are arguments that you find "compelling"?

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You say: "It is severely distressing that something so outlandish has been assumed and actually accepted by people." ...... 'severely distressing'? Really?

Throughout their lifetime people get interested in and believe for a while, all sorts of strange things ..... so what?! But I'll tell you why I keep an open mind about this particular 'theory'(in the sense that I think there's some truth buried deep within it). When I was sixteen I was contacted through a Ouija board by an 'entity' who claimed to be from Mars and who claimed to have been badly scarred in a nuclear war on Earth, thousands of years ago. This made absolutely no sense to me at the time, I certainly hadn't read any books about the 'theory' and I certainly hadn't heard anyone talking about it. I still don't know what to make of that encounter ...... I just keep an open mind; I don't lose any sleep over it!  

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Human brains make up all kinds of stuff for all kinds of reasons. What they come up with can be seen as false or as the result of outside influences. The problem is at present we know that chemicals, self made by the body or introduced from outside and other forces (magnetic, etc) can also effect how the brain operates. What one does is accept that oddities will occur and then try to find evidence outside of ones own brain that will support or not support what was seen or believed to have been seen.

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9 minutes ago, Carnoferox said:

I like starting debates. Seeing if anyone is up for the challenge to defend themselves. What are arguments that you find "compelling"?

I think the pyramid power plant theory makes sense. I find structures like Baalbek, Peru and Gobleckli  Tepli (spelling might be off) to be pretty compelling evidence of ancient technologies or I think even more to the point, ancient going ons which show we dont quite have the grasp on our history on this planet that we think we do. 

Having had a couple of UFO experiences nothing said can convince me that they arent real so it just doesnt seem much of a leap to me that interaction between ancient man and a more technologically advanced society. 

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:D  It's true ....... aliens killed off the Dinosaurs in order to cultivate man so they can harvest him to make youth serum .......   "Jupiter Ascending"  it was on my TV so it has to be true ........:blink:

Edited by Forever Cursed
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If Ancient Aliens were that advanced, all they had to do was grab an asteroid and hurl it to earth. Seems illogical to waste nukes.

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14 minutes ago, South Alabam said:

If Ancient Aliens were that advanced, all they had to do was grab an asteroid and hurl it to earth. Seems illogical to waste nukes.

Unless they were fighting each other ....... in the U.S. we also tend to start wars on someone else's soil ........ saves on the cost of rebuilding.  :D  and even an advanced race would still have to go find an asteroid to throw at earth .... makes sense to just carry your own ...... save on gas.

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I see where the OP is going and I don't fault him for it, even if he is a little bit of a prick. 

There are a lot of people here who subscribe to the idea that it's okay to believe whatever you want, on the theory that belief is harmless or (even worse) all ideas are equal. And that's non-sense. There is bull**** out there and it's dangerous. Critical thinking is better than not critically thinking. Logic and reasonableness that guide critical thinking are important. They allow you to understand what is really out there and to deal effectively with it. The OP's interlocutor, for example, might believe (in despite of fact), really believe, they can fly, but the moment they jump out a window and gravity takes over, that belief is of naught. And the people telling them her belief of being able to fly is okay are tantamount to aiding and abetting murder.

And that's only on the individual level. Things like government and education and science are no place for any belief, no matter how deeply held. Look at anti-vaxxer people; they hold their beliefs in the teeth of facts, and their inaction in vaccinating their children hold whole communities liable to disease that reason virtually eliminated. Their beliefs end up with dead children. 

I think we're at a very dangerous place, where bull**** magical thinking is allowed to be increasingly rampant, and it's easy to see within a few generations a whole-scale rejection of reason as a value and a consequent Dark Age. I'd just as soon avoid that, and if to do so I have to call a fool a fool, well then....

It might also mean bearing the OP's attitude -- medicine doesn't have to taste good.

--Jaylemurph

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2 minutes ago, jaylemurph said:

I see where the OP is going and I don't fault him for it, even if he is a little bit of a prick. 

There are a lot of people here who subscribe to the idea that it's okay to believe whatever you want, on the theory that belief is harmless or (even worse) all ideas are equal. And that's non-sense. There is bull**** out there and it's dangerous. Critical thinking is better than not critically thinking. Logic and reasonableness that guide critical thinking are important. They allow you to understand what is really out there and to deal effectively with it. The OP's interlocutor, for example, might believe (in despite of fact), really believe, they can fly, but the moment they jump out a window and gravity takes over, that belief is of naught. And the people telling them her belief of being able to fly is okay are tantamount to aiding and abetting murder.

And that's only on the individual level. Things like government and education and science are no place for any belief, no matter how deeply held. Look at anti-vaxxer people; they hold their beliefs in the teeth of facts, and their inaction in vaccinating their children hold whole communities liable to disease that reason virtually eliminated. Their beliefs end up with dead children. 

I think we're at a very dangerous place, where bull**** magical thinking is allowed to be increasingly rampant, and it's easy to see within a few generations a whole-scale rejection of reason as a value and a consequent Dark Age. I'd just as soon avoid that, and if to do so I have to call a fool a fool, well then....

It might also mean bearing the OP's attitude -- medicine doesn't have to taste good.

--Jaylemurph

Well said Jaylemurph.:tu:   I too dislike the shift to magical thinking that the internet has helped drive.  The world is more complex and interconnected today than ever before in history and it is incumbent upon people to approach the burgeoning mass of instantly generated misinformation with rational and logical thought.   The daily bombardment of woo is only increasing and getting easier to create and if we aren't armed with a solid foundation of science and historical knowledge then we are easily persuaded to believe in the well produced YouTube videos that thrive on people's ignorance.  Fantastical claims require fantastical proof is a good rule for people to start with.

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I have to agree with Merc ..... it seems that the more Chaos there is in the world .... the deeper fantastic thinking seems to become.  Almost like creating a fantasy to escape the reality......... and the internet has provided a public forum for which to express it globally.

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And enough of the medical issues.  If an argument can be applied to pretty much anything, it rarely merits being applied to any specific thing.  Unless you have grounds to make a specific medical claim, don't make a general one in its stead.  That's bad discussion habit.

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2 hours ago, Carnoferox said:

A convenient excuse. If you can't handle criticism (who do you expect to believe your story?), you shouldn't be on the Internet.

Okay! Who else has contacted the disembodied spirit of a Martian killed by an ancient nuclear war via a ouija board? No one? Oh...

Nobody, of course.

All the ancient aliens blown up by these nukes were from Venus, as anyone with a real Ouija board can confirm..

BTW, this thread claims the worst AA theory, but this theory is practically mainstream thought compared with what "Ancient Alien theorists believe..." about Bigfoot.

Watch that episode. Your face will be sore from laughing and face palms.

Harte

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10 minutes ago, Harte said:

Nobody, of course.

All the ancient aliens blown up by these nukes were from Venus, as anyone with a real Ouija board can confirm..

BTW, this thread claims the worst AA theory, but this theory is practically mainstream thought compared with what "Ancient Alien theorists believe..." about Bigfoot.

Watch that episode. Your face will be sore from laughing and face palms.

Harte

Helen Lovejoy - What about the annunaki Won't somebody please think about the annunaki

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5 hours ago, Forever Cursed said:

:D  It's true ....... aliens killed off the Dinosaurs in order to cultivate man so they can harvest him to make youth serum .......   "Jupiter Ascending"  it was on my TV so it has to be true ........:blink:

Not quite ... they were BBQing the Dinos ... ( kill two 'birds' with one stone   -  get it ? :) ) . 

 

Where do you think all those drive through 'Dine-o-chicken' outlets came from ? 

 

latest?cb=20131021145332

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No one is thinking of the Annunaki, and no one should be.

Unless there's something amusing to do to them in Goat Simulator.

--Jaylemurph

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5 hours ago, Farmer77 said:

I think the pyramid power plant theory makes sense. I find structures like Baalbek, Peru and Gobleckli  Tepli (spelling might be off) to be pretty compelling evidence of ancient technologies

Gish I would LOVE to see that 'evidence ' ! 

5 hours ago, Farmer77 said:

..or I think even more to the point, ancient going ons which show we dont quite have the grasp on our history on this planet that we think we do. 

and the evidence of 'ancient going ons ' ....     :) 

5 hours ago, Farmer77 said:

Having had a couple of UFO experiences nothing said can convince me that they arent real so it just doesnt seem much of a leap to me that interaction between ancient man and a more technologically advanced society. 

Actually that is ..... one giant leap ...  for mankind   

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5 hours ago, Carnoferox said:

I'm being ****ing serious, alright? I am not trying to make fun of you or degrade you. I think that you should legitimately contact a doctor. Contacting aliens from Mars through a ouija board is not a normal human action. It is probably a sign that you suffer from some sort of previously undiagnosed illness.

hang on ... that is not an hallucination. Many people use such boards and get some type of movement ... evin if someone was pushing the  thing around to spell out a strange . cryptic or even humorous message , in NO WY indicates someone is hallucinating . 

 

Take a powder  Carnoferox 

 

chill. 

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5 hours ago, ouija ouija said:

:lol: Hahaha! As I understood it(what the Ouija board spelled out when questioned), he had come from Mars to Earth. I don't think he was actually dead!

yes, but the blast on earth could have sent him to mars on a shock wave ... and 

booooiing !   he bounced back *  and came     back to earth   ( hmmmm ... that phrase has a wonderfull ring to it )  where you contacted him.  I know some will cite the time difference between the dinos and now ... but it takes a long time to go to mars and back 

* Most dont realise this but the surface of Mars is actually very similar to a bouncy castle

 

5 hours ago, ouija ouija said:

No, I wasn't alone. At the start of the sceance there were three of us, none of whom had used a Ouija board before. When the glass began to move one person leaped up knocking his chair and the table over and ran out of the room. Myself and the remaining friend picked everything up and continued.

He legged it ?     :D  

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4 hours ago, South Alabam said:

If Ancient Aliens were that advanced, all they had to do was grab an asteroid and hurl it to earth. Seems illogical to waste nukes.

Nah ... aliens dont like the asteroid flavor ... real astro Dine-o-chicken  has to have that nutty nuclear flavor  . 

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4 hours ago, Carnoferox said:

So you are not willing to defend yourself? Have I burrowed too far under your thin skin?

Its off topic dude . She already told you what you asked 

 

Chill. 

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5 hours ago, Farmer77 said:

I think the pyramid power plant theory makes sense. I find structures like Baalbek, Peru and Gobleckli  Tepli (spelling might be off) to be pretty compelling evidence of ancient technologies or I think even more to the point, ancient going ons which show we dont quite have the grasp on our history on this planet that we think we do. 

Having had a couple of UFO experiences nothing said can convince me that they arent real so it just doesnt seem much of a leap to me that interaction between ancient man and a more technologically advanced society. 

Puma Punku

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6 minutes ago, skliss said:

Puma Punku

No thanks. I had puma for lunch.

Harte

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3 hours ago, Merc14 said:

Well said Jaylemurph.:tu:   I too dislike the shift to magical thinking that the internet has helped drive.  The world is more complex and interconnected today than ever before in history and it is incumbent upon people to approach the burgeoning mass of instantly generated misinformation with rational and logical thought.   The daily bombardment of woo is only increasing and getting easier to create and if we aren't armed with a solid foundation of science and historical knowledge then we are easily persuaded to believe in the well produced YouTube videos that thrive on people's ignorance.  Fantastical claims require fantastical proof is a good rule for people to start with.

Ohhhh .... poo !    

I mean I do agree with you, but people have always been like this ('magical thinking' ).  pre internet,  the new age book market was full of it !  and it was harder to debunk.

I first came to this site because I got to talk to professional archaeologists, people who could read hieroglyphics, guys that ran a team of stonemasons, Egyptologists, museum curators..   Other sites dont have that and dont have the full range of 'crazies'   .....  its a type of 'balance' .....  narrow extremes or vast ones :) 

Yes, the bombardment of woo is increasing and people (collectively) are rapidly loosing 'natural intelligence'. but IMO that is a 'lifestyles' thing . compounded by but not caused by the internet. Actually, if someone starts posting abso BS  ( say flying swastika theory ) one can just go to 'debunking flying swastika theory' .

 

yeah, they will caterwaul and complain we are part of the conspiracy too ... but it is going so far, that many border fringies are now laughing at it.

 

The other side is ... we are already pretty well down the crazy path collectively ....  

 

nuclear_weapons.jpg

 

.... and you worried about Ouija board players  ? 

I have seen some people not able to light a fire and keep it going .... that is a serious problem for a human ! 

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