Manifesto

It surprises me that no professional archaeologists have apparently become involved in the debates conducted on the fringes of scientific enquiry about supposed evidence for alien activity on other worlds in our solar system. The moon and Mars, especially, have long fascinated the more speculative writers on ‘ancient mysteries’, while some have cast their net even wider. When archaeologists have ventured opinions on the subject, they have generally been dismissive and sometimes openly hostile, adding fuel to the erroneous claim that there is a ‘Scientific Establishment’ seeking to stifle debate on these issues. From the other side, engaging in fringe debates can be professional suicide, dragging the archaeologist into areas seen by colleagues as beyond the pale of serious attention (as happened to Tom Lethbridge when he began dowsing with pendula).

However, suppose that our neighbouring worlds did indeed bear the traces of civilisations other than or earlier than our own. This would be a tremendously important discovery, one that would radically change our views of the human past (assuming, as some have done, that such remains were of anthropogenic origin) or provide irrefutable proof of other forms of life in the cosmos (assuming, as others have done, their extraterrestrial origin). There is no ‘Establishment’ trying to dismiss such claims without examination, merely a reluctance to perform the necessary analysis. I cannot be the only archaeologist to be interested in these matters, though; I have a long-standing interest in astronomy, aliens and ufology, and my disappointment at the obviously hoaxed Roswell “alien autopsy” film was intense.

As archaeologists, we can make serious and important contributions to what ought to be a proper debate: we are well placed to evaluate the claims for lunar obelisks and Martian pyramids, better at least than the fringe writers making claims about them or the astronomers debunking them. It is often stated by sceptics—usually without any justifying argument—that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In this instance, they clearly do not require anything extraordinary, just aerial photographs of reasonable quality and resolution. The interpretation of aerial photographs forms an important component of our discipline, and we have extensive experience in distinguishing archaeological from geological or geomorphological phenomena. The same techniques could be deployed in the analysis of not just those objects that have been rightly or wrongly singled out as anomalous by fringe authors, but also of all photographs of other worlds whose resolution is good enough to give us the necessary detail. Those of the Mars Orbital Camera, with resolutions as fine as 1.4 m per pixel, are perfect in this respect.

It is not my intention at the outset either to debunk or support the claims for extraterrestrial civilisations. I suggest that it is a question we must approach with an open mind, otherwise we will simply find evidence to confirm what we already believe, whether in support of the ET hypothesis [i] or against it. By doing this, we can make a real impact on the debate, lending expert opinion on a subject area dominated by non-archaeological speculation and astronomical scepticism. At the same time, we need to examine why it is that we earth-bound humans have such a compelling need to search for life elsewhere. In an age where ‘alternative’ and ‘cult’ archaeologies attract possibly larger sections of the public than mainstream archaeology, we owe it to them to present a fuller picture about not just the past but also about the relevance of our discipline to such things as claims for extraterrestrial monuments.