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Chariots of the Gods? Ancient astronauts

Academic Criticism (Erich von Däniken)
In the book Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries, archeology professor Kenneth Feder addresses a few of Erich von Däniken's claims about how he wrongly associates ancient civilizations with extraterrestrial life by presenting hypotheses behind his work.

The Inkblot Hypothesis
This hypothesis has to do with von Däniken's view that prehistoric representations of aliens exist in artifacts around the world. "Inkblot" refers to the Rorschach Test, in which the person being tested is told to look at a series of ambiguous inkblot markings on paper. Since the images are nothing specific, a psychologist can get an idea of what the person is thinking about via their answers. In short, what the person sees is up to their imagination. According to Feder, this can be applied to Erich von Däniken's presentation of ancient astronauts. In his 1970 book Chariots of the Gods?, von Däniken states that "Seen from the air, the clear-cut impression that the 37-mile long plain of Nazca made on me was that of an airfield." Considering he was in the process of finding evidence of ancient aliens (called "ancient astronauts" in his terminology), von Däniken exhibits confirmation bias. He did not consider the Nazca Lines to have been made by humans until after the publication of Chariots of the Gods?. (In 1970, von Däniken admitted that the Nazca markings "could have been laid out on their gigantic scale by working from a model using a system of coordinates.") The emic (believer's) perspective that he presents could be easily accepted by a reader who knew little about the Nazca culture or Andean civilizations and had an undeveloped knowledge of the nature of the geoglyphs but was familiar with air travel and the layout of airports.

Furthermore, since the majority of readers of Chariots of the Gods? are not experienced at interpreting features left by ancient civilizations, their interpretations are highly susceptible to von Däniken's opinions of the features. For example, a reader encountering the Nazca Lines for the first time in a book about aliens would be much more likely to associate those features with extraterrestrial origins rather than attributing them to a civilization that existed on Earth.

The Horny Astronaut Hypothesis
This hypothesis involves von Däniken going as far as claiming biological intervention of aliens with ancient humans. In a 1974 interview with Playboy, he states "I say in my books not only that we have been visited from outer space in ancient times, but that those visitors had sexual intercourse with our ancestors." Another proponent of the possibility of aliens visiting Earth in the ancient past is Carl Sagan, but he denies the remote possibility that an extraterrestrial being would have the capability to reproduce with a human.

The "Our Ancestors, the Dummies" Hypothesis
Another central von Däniken hypothesis is arguing that many of the advancements in ancient civilizations such as architecture, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, art, mathematics and more are too incredible for prehistoric humans to have accomplished on their own, without the assistance of extraterrestrials. Although the archeological evidence for humans having made these advancements is plentiful, von Däniken questions mostly the large scale and complex architecture found across the world, but primarily in places other than Europe.

Other Claims
The Moai of Easter Island have been subject to extensive archeological research since their discovery. It is commonly agreed upon that the island was inhabited by Polynesians at around 1200 BC, and they were responsible for carving and transporting the Moai to various points on the island. Erich von Däniken is skeptical of this research, and gives credit to aliens for the volcanic rock sculptures.

Interpreting Evidence
A repeating theme in von Däniken's claims is ethnocentrism. Pointed out by Kenneth Feder, von Däniken has hardly any issues with the archeological records of sites in Europe, with a few exceptions such as Stonehenge. In a vast majority of sites located in North and South America, Asia, and Africa he associates the advancements in architecture, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, art, and mathematics with extraterrestrial intervention. To Feder, there is a clear distinction being made between contemporary people with modern technological knowledge, and the rest of the ancient civilization, who must have not been knowledgeable enough to do it on their own.