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Clypeology & Paleoastronautics
Clypeology is a branch of ufology that studies hypothetic extraterrestrial traces, left or documented in human history: famous or less famous paints, holy texts, archeology, cultural traditions. In the Roman era, such words are often used to describe sightings.
By Michele Bugliaro Goggia - last modified: April 14, 2007 7:43 AM
Sceptics argue that the UFO phenomenon is the subproduct of the war, eventually of the modern cultural era. If there were evidence proving UFO sightings, or even close encounters, occurred in the past, well, this sceptical hypothesis would fall. From latin, the language of Caesar, clypeology is derived from latin "clypei ardentes", no dictionary lists it. William Whitaker defines it this way:
"clype, clypeus, clypei, clype.i, clypeum, clypei": round/embossed shield (usu. bronze); disk of the sun; vault of sky; meteorite
"ard.entes, ardeo, ardere, arsi, arsus": burning, flaming, glowing, fiery, shining, brilliant, eager, ardent, passionat
"logos": the Greek term usually translated ‘word’ (especially word of God) when it occurs in the nt. Logos has a wide range of meaning, e.g., reckoning or accounting, explanation or reason, statement or discourse. In English, it frequently appears in the names of scientific or other disciplines, e.g., biology , psychology , theology"
Following the above definition, clypeology can be defined as the reason of burning shields. Notice how, if a ufological association is evident, an ifological one is too ("meteorite"). At this point, it's clear clypeology is a branch of ufology that studies hypothetic extraterrestrial traces, left or documented in human history: famous or less famous paints, holy texts, archeology, cultural traditions. In the Roman era, such words are often used to describe sightings: philosopher Lucio Anneo Seneca in the Book VII "De Cometis" of his "Questioni Naturali" described clypei ardentes who did not cross the sky fastly like comets, but remained in the sky, burning like a comet, while others last long then disappear. Other authors like Rufino, Socrate, Sozomeno, Teodoreto, San Gregorio Nazianzeno, San Giovanni Crisostomo, Sant'Efrem, Ammiano or Filostorgio even wrote how these objects lead some human acts like wars. As far as holy texts are concerned, they often were written with an epic or with a religious style, and have been interpretated nowadays, by some researchers, to contain references to flying saucers, extraterrestrials, superior beings, technologies that weren't supposed to exist at that time. I believe that, in some cases, interpretations have been pushed too far, leading to an ETH when it wasn't the case.
Paleoastronautics
What about paleoastronautics? We can reconstruct it as paleo and astronautics:
paleo: a combining form meaning old, ancient
as·tro·nau·tics: the science and technology of space flight.
Paleoastronautics refers to alleged availabily of astronautic technology in our past, when official archeoloy doesn't admit it. Famous authors like the Swiss Erich Von Däniken and the Italian Peter Kolosimo belong to this school. Although they can be considered somehow as pioneers of clypeology, I do not give them full credibility. They have published popular books about mysterious archeology, ranging from the Pyramids through Easter Island to Nazca, pointing out how extraterrestrial's technology was to be involved everywhere. Which is wrong.
Clypeology and paleoastronautics would not be complete without some sort of physical evidence: Out-Of-Place-Artifacts (OOPARTS). As the name suggests, they are man-made artifacts that required an advanced technology, unavailable at a given historical time. That's why they are called "out of place". We can say they're anachronismes. Shortly, if it appears too much complicated to be built by humankind, aliens must have helped. There are a number of these objects, whose nature is unfortunately relatively unknown not for their own anomalous appearence, but simply because too many believers have spread wrong, incomplete stories about them. Let's see one.
Antikythera
The Antikythera mechanism, dated about 87 BC and found in 1900, by divers working off the isle of Antikythera, Greece. The mechanism was not an isolated finding, as statues were found too. It was only on May, 17 1902 that archaeologist Spyridon Stais noticed a gear wheel embedded in a rock. The remains of a clock-like instrument, used probably to calculate the orbits of planets. In 1959, Professor Derek De Solla Price, a science historian working at Yale University, wrote an article published on Scientific American, titled "An Ancient Greek Computer". Hard ET believers suggested this was of alien origin, as the human race was not capable of such precise technology, but the mechanism itself features writing in Greek. It is a clockwork!
The Antikythera mechanism remains a good example: you've just read how believers supported the idea of an extraterrestrial technology.
Clypeology and history of art
Further to artifacts, clypeologists and UFO researchers have found UFOs and flying saucers in art and paintings. Again, interpretations have been pushed too far, ignoring the iconography and the symbols. "L'Annunciazione" (see detailed image), by Carlo Crivelli, depicts a ray of light coming from the sky and reaching the Virgin Mary. Pro-UFO researchers believe it's a flying saucers. This is not correct: the object in the sky is formed by a circle of clouds inside which there are two circles of small angels! This is a very common way of depicting God.
The "Esaltation Of The Eucaristy" (see detailed image) by Bonaventura Salimbeni is another good example. Believers claim there is a satellite, similar to the Sputnik. Again, this is not true. It shows the Creation Globe, the sun and the moon.
As you can see, in most cases there's more myth than alien presences in the past. As it often happens in ufology, individuals who strongly support the ETH relate anything to flying saucers or extraterrestrial, even when it's not the case. I believe this is due to one factor: some pseudoresearcher tends to see past cultures as rude and primitive, because they are past. By ignoring archeology, they make a big mistake.
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