Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

I can understand why ancient alien theories could be offensive. It does seem like theorists are trying to strip specific cultures of their accomplishments, but I don't agree that it is being done intentionally. These theories are really outlandish, and a lot of them stem from literal interpretations of ancient mythology, such as the Sumerian story of creation. Von Daniken believed that aliens began visiting this planet millions of years ago, and that the pyramids were built hundreds of thousands of years ago, long before the area was known as Egypt. To me these ideas strip humanity as a whole of all of our accomplishments, because he's basically saying that we're all the result of an intergalactic science experiment.

/r/ArtHistory Thread Link - hyperallergic.com