Présence des extraterrestres
The book “Présence des extraterrestres” by author Erich von Däniken, first published in 1968 under the original title “Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, Ungelöste Rätsel der Vergangenheit” (translated: Memories of the Future, Unsolved Mysteries of the Past), laid the foundation for the theory of ancient astronauts and the field of astroarchaeology. This work became a phenomenon with its translation into English under the title “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past” and later into French in 1969.
According to Von Däniken, certain ancient structures and artifacts, such as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, the Piri Reis map, the Moai statues on Easter Island, the megalithic stones at Pumapunku, the Sun Gate at Tiwanaku, and the Nazca lines in Peru, could be evidence of an advanced technology created by extraterrestrial visitors or humans who learned from them. He also interprets some ancient artworks as images of astronauts or spacecraft. Some passages in the Bible are explained by him as human perceptions of extraterrestrial technology in the form of supernatural phenomena.
However, this book has also received much criticism from the scientific community, with some scientists like Carl Sagan describing it as an example of illogical thinking and containing many errors in facts and reasoning. The book has been labeled as pseudo-science, and many authors have dedicated their work to pointing out the flaws in its arguments or what they consider to be fraudulent claims.