Great Pyramid at Giza Vandalized to 'Prove' Conspiracy Theory

[zappaman]

Two German men who visited the Egyptian pyramids in April 2013 now face criminal charges for their attempt to prove their "alternative history" conspiracy theories through vandalism. The men, Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann, were joined by a third German, a filmmaker who accompanied them to document their "discoveries."

The men were allowed to enter the inner chambers of the Great Pyramid at Giza normally off-limits to the public and restricted to authorized archaeologists and Egyptologists. The group reportedly took several items from the pyramids, including taking samples of a cartouche (identifying inscription) of the pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops. Goerlitz and Erdmann, who are not archaeologists but have instead been described as "hobbyists," allegedly smuggled the artifacts out of the country in violation of strict antiquities laws, according to news reports.

In addition to the three Germans, six Egyptians are being held in connection with the case, including several guards and inspectors from the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry who allowed the men into the pyramid. Tourism, one of Egypt's most important industries, has dropped dramatically in recent years due to social and political unrest. Tour-agency owners — including one of the men recently arrested in connection with this case — are often willing to bend or break the rules if it means satisfying wealthy foreigners, news reports suggest. The German government expressed outrage over the acts, and categorically stated the men were private citizens and not in any way affiliated with its German Archaeological Institute.


more at link:
http://www.livescience.com/43469-great-pyramid-vandalized-by-conspiracy-theorists.html


DOUCHEBAGS.

[shenmue]

1. Idiots

[zappaman]

3. Just fucking sad.

I read those silly CHARIOT OF THE GODS books when I was a kid.
Even then, I thought it was fiction.
People are soooo gullible.

[Bandit]

9. What part of the book do you consider fiction?

All the pictures or just the questions he asked? No where in any of Van danikan's books has he ever claimed his opinions to be facts. He presents evidence and asks questions. You don't seem able to answer any of his questions.

[zappaman]

11. Fiction

Von Däniken offers the following hypotheses:
The existence of structures and artifacts have been found which represent higher technological knowledge than is presumed to have existed at the times they were manufactured. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts were produced either by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary knowledge from them. Such artifacts include the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and the Moai of Easter Island. Further examples include a medieval map known as the Piri Reis Map, allegedly showing the Earth as it is seen from space, and the Nazca lines in Peru, which he explains as landing strips for an airfield.

Interpretations of ancient artwork throughout the world as depictions of astronauts, air and space vehicles, extraterrestrials, and complex technology. Däniken also describes elements that he believes are similar in art of unrelated cultures.

Explanations for the origins of religions as reactions to contact with an alien race, including interpretations of the Old Testament of the Bible. According to von Däniken, humans considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. Däniken asks if the oral and literal traditions of most religions contain references to visitors from stars and vehicles travelling through air and space. These, he says, should be interpreted as literal descriptions which have changed during the passage of time and become more obscure. Examples such as: Ezekiel's revelation in Old Testament, which he interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft with angels in the likeness of man. Moses and the directions 'God' gave him to construct the Ark of the Covenant, which is assumed to be a communication device with an alien race. Lot and his extended family being ordered by human-like 'angels' to go to the mountains, due to the destruction of the city of Sodom by God. His wife looked back at the possible nuclear explosion, and fell "dead on the spot". Däniken attempts to draw an analogy with the "cargo cults" that formed during and after World War II, when once-isolated tribes in the South Pacific mistook the advanced American and Japanese soldiers for gods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods%3F

and yes, I went to wiki since I haven't read the books in quite some time.

[Bandit]

12. So because you don't believe in his hypothesis you say he prints fiction

He NEVER once stated as fact any of his opinions. All the pictures and evidence he presented are real, not fiction. Just because you don't believe his ideas doesn't make his literature fiction. Everybody is entitled to an opinion.

[zappaman]

14. and my opinion is that it is fiction or

just plain bullshit.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Erich_von_Däniken

[zappaman]

20. "All the pictures and evidence he presented are real, not fiction"

If you say so...

Where is the proof for von Däniken's claims? Some of it was fraudulent. For example, he produced photographs of pottery that he claimed had been found in an archaeological dig. The pottery depicts flying saucers and was said to have been dated from Biblical times. However, investigators from Nova (the fine public-television science program) found the potter who had made the allegedly ancient pots. They confronted von Däniken with evidence of his fraud. His reply was that his deception was justified because some people would only believe if they saw proof ("The Case of the Ancient Astronauts," first aired 3/8/78, done in conjunction with BBC's Horizon and Peter Spry-Leverton)!

http://www.skepdic.com/vondanik.html

[Archae]

30. Von Daniken is a con man.

In his book "Gold Of The Gods" it was found he had simply made up most of what he said he saw.

Von Daniken himself spent a couple years in a Danish jail on theft charges, where he was noted to be a serial fabricator.

Von Daniken's theories are also racist in nature, he never has described European constructions as "created by aliens."

[defacto7]

8. Actually all of them are idiots

as far as I'm concerned. Egyptology is about as scientific as Zahi Hawass is an expert on crushing artifacts under his feet as he walks through excavation sites. I've seen him do it.

[REP]

26. I love you

Someone else who see HawASS for the self-promoting useless sack of shit he is. When he's not destroying something, he's spouting off completely wrong information.

[BeeBee]

2. Ergh. It makes me sick when people damage historical monuments. n/t

[onehandle]

4. Egypt and Germans don't mix.

[IMG][/IMG]

[csziggy]

5. Best sentence from the article!

"Suggesting that people from Plato's Atlantis built the pyramids is like saying people from Tolkien's Middle Earth built the pyramids, or inhabitants of Superman's home planet of Krypton built the pyramids — it makes no sense, because they're fictional characters."

That pretty much sums up these whacko "theories"!

[zappaman]

6. I wonder why the aliens created such magnificent pyramids

and now are reduced to making crop circles?

[Marr]

16. I wonder why a spacefaring society would work in stone. /nt

[zappaman]

17. or corn for that matter?

[Marr]

18. Well, that one I understand.

Everyone knows that corn is the universal language. Way better for communicating with completely alien beings than something silly, like math.

[Blue_Tires]

32. Didn't you see "Stargate" back in the day??

[progressoid]

10. I'm not saying it's aliens but

[stevenleser]

35. Good old Giorgio Tsoukalos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_A._Tsoukalos

[LibertyLover]

7. If they took a sample of the cartouche

that means they were in the relieving vaults above the burial chamber. They are the only place where a cartouche appears with Khufu's name. It's in the name of one of the pyramid work gangs. While I'm heartsick about the vandalism, the article makes it sound like they removed "stuff" from the pyramid. That's kinda hard to do given that there isn't anything in it except the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber and modern wood and lighting. An earlier article on the subject that I read indicates they took some samples of stone. But this seems to indicate that they took a sample of some of the red paint that the cartouche in the relieving chambers was painted in. There has long been a controversy about those, with some saying that Col. Vyse, who discovered several of the relieving chambers, painted the reference to Khufu himself. I wonder if this lot hoped to do a chemical analysis of the paint in order to determine if it were ancient or not.

[kjones]

13. But...But? |_(-.-)_| aliens! nt

[Vashta Nerada]

15. Oh this pisses me off.

Those people ruined a Wonder of the World and stole a country's cultural artifacts to attempt to prove their idiotic theories.

[zappaman]

19. Erich von Däniken

In yet another stunning example of the establishment conspiring against innovative intellectuals, von Däniken was convicted for embezzlement and tax evasion shortly after the publication of Chariots. He also had to admit that he had forged some of his "ancient" artifacts allegedly depicting alien visitors.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Erich_von_Däniken

[LongTomH]

25. I think you'll find this a better link.....

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Erich_von_Daniken

[lpbk2713]

21. Reminds me of the (former) Boy Scout leaders who tipped over the rock formation.

I just checked. Those idiots haven't been to trial yet.

[zappaman]

22. First thing I thought too.

Douchebags come in all nationalities.

[JI7]

23. some will say they are being charged to prevent them from exposing the truth

[zappaman]

24. Duh.

If course, that is why!
Let the truth go!

[REP]

27. So many things wrong

It may be a bit over the top, but I can't help but feel that defacing, altering, destroying, etc any ancient site or artwork is a crime against every single human being. I'm still upset about the burning of the library at Alexandria. As I said, not a completely rational reaction, but these are things that once lost are gone forever for everyone.

And why can't (some) people accept that our ancient ancestors were smart and able to create great beauty and huge monuments using, by our standards but not theirs, pretty low tech? They can probably accept massive battles with huge casualties without alien intervention, but somehow math and art = alien to humans?

TL;DR: Humans can make great stuff and also be really fucking stupid.

[zappaman]

28. "nd why can't (some) people accept that our ancient ancestors were smart..."

that's what I don't get.
It is amazing what we humans can do, but some people just don't want to give humans credit for anything!

[Blue_Tires]

31. +1

[Rex]

29. Indisputable proof of Moses and aliens from Mars co-existed at the same time!

They probably took a trans-warp coil or a tri-cobalt warhead.

[msanthrope]

33. I bet the conference on this will be fascinating. nt

[Wolf Frankula]

34. Boshhammer!

Everybody knows the CIA built the pyramids.

Wolf