Dr Zecharia Sitchin

1. Ancient Sumerian engineer star map
2. Space Rocket from an Egyptian tomb ?

Zecharia Sitchin's Space Rocketfrom an Egyptian Tomb

leading from
Pakal Votan tomb lid 
and 
Dr Zecheria Sitchin

a) Zecheriah Sitchin
Another proponent in the Ancient Astronaut theory was Zecheria Sitchen. Amongst the many claims that he made centred around a civilisation of extra-terrestrials named the Annunaki having visited Earth and being responsible for the human race as we see it, he had the idea that a mural from the tomb of Huy circa 1300BCE depicted what appears according to Zecharia Sitchin in his book, The Stairway To Heaven, is a rocket in a silo.  And he was able to provide a lined drawing. Huy was known to be a viceroy in Nubia and in the Sinai peninsula during the reign of the Pharoah Tutenkhamun. Decorated with scenes of people, places and objects from the two domains of which he was viceroy, his tomb was preserved with a depiction of a very curious looking scene that Zecharia perceived in his individual way as a rocket ship with its shaft contained in an underground silo, it's upper stage with the command module above the ground, The shaft, as he perceived, was subdivided like a multi-staged rocket. Inside the lower part, two people attended hoses and levers and there is a row of circular dials above them. The cutaway of what he perceived as the silo, he imagined were surrounded by tubular cells for heat-exchange or some other energy-related function. Above ground, the hemispherical shape beneath the pyramid, was the base of his imagined upper stage of the rocket and was painting as scorched, as though from  re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and there are "peep holes" all around it's bottom. The cabin is surrounded by worshippers, in a landscape of date palm trees and giraffes. The underground chamber is decorated with leopard skins, and this provided a direct link with certain phases in the Pharoah's Journey to Immortality. The leopard skin was the distinctive garb symbolically worn by the Shem priests as he performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony. It was the distinctive garb symbolically worn by the gods who towed the Pharaoh through "The Secret Path of the Hidden Place" of the Duat—a symbolism repeated to stress the affinity between the Pharaoh's journey and the rocketship in the underground silo.

Photo of Sitchin's drawing? (http://www.mars-earth.com/stairway.htm)

b) Sitchin Is Wrong
Those needing to debunk the claim that the image is based on anything as it is seen, such as  Dr. Michael S. Heiser, have come to assume that this drawing was loosely inspired by something else, a wall painting from the tomb of a High Egyptian elsewhere official since there was to be found no image of this painting in anything online about the tomb of Huy. However, while it attempted to look at comparative imagery from a nearby tomb that gave perhaps an general clue as to what the picture was about in conventional terms showing baskets, leopard skins, giraffes and indeed a stool with a monkey sitting on top placed approximately where the rocket capsule would have been in the mural that interested Zecharia that seemed quite interesting, Dr Heiser's attempt to claim that Dr Sitchin was a fraud for creating this drawing was a complete waste of time

 

 

c) Lepsius' drawing
The image by Carl Richard Lepsius in the book Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia: Vol III: published in 1900. It isn't entirely Zecharia's fault if he really can't see anything in the picture beyond his easily criticised science fictional outlook. The shapes are strange enough to ask what they are for a moment before just considering them to be odd buildings. Around the side of the so-called capsule are heads of nubian people with the vertical feather sticking out of their caps rather than peep-holes. The spike leading down from the capsule has become the tail of a leopard skin draped down the side. The scorch marks become the black and white hide of oxen. Are these simply decorative ornaments spread across a table top?

New Kingdom, 18th dynasty, a wall image: representation of Panther fur in a private grave TT40 of Huy,

detail from mural featuring additional buildings

The whole mural as redrawn by Lepsius in the 1900s , stitched together from seperate images from
  116b, 117 und 118 from the Lepsius-Projekts at the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle.
 
»Der Vizekönig von Nubien Huj führt dem Könige Tut-anchamun die Tribute der Neger vor« (Steindorff I, 67)

Farbige Reproduktion (Lepsius III, 116b-118) einer Wandmalerei aus dem Grab des Vizekönigs von Kusch, Amenhotep, genannt  Huy in 
Theben (Qurnet murrai, TT40).). Bildquelle: Digitalisate von Lepsius III,  116b, 117 und 118 des Lepsius-Projekts der Universitäts- 
und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle.

d) Mural Facsimile at the Metropolitan museum of Art 
However the mural exists and images representing the actual mural have been shown in the internet. A facsimile is shown at the Metropolitan museum of Art done in Tempera on paper back in 1923-1927 by Charles K Wilkinson. The photo found at the bibliopleyades is slightly different and one might ask if it is of the actual mural.. The details really are not clear and it might be hard for me to say anything about how correct it was for anyone to draw one thing or another of the details in any  certain way. 

Facsimile of Nubian Tribute Presented to the King, Tomb of Huy: 
Source: Source http://metmuseum.org/

Detail from Facsimile of Nubian Tribute Presented to the King, Tomb of Huy: 
Source http://www2.metmuseum.org

 closer view of detail from Facsimile of Nubian Tribute Presented to the 
King, Tomb of Huy:  Source http://www2.metmuseum.org

e) Comparable images in other murals
However if you look at these sorts of murals you will find some sort of smallish structure of similar size placed before the Pharoah, often it seems to be a table of offerings with a central pillar.

depiction of part of the mural from Huy's tomb showing "Rocket Silo"

 

source: http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk

scene with offerings before a pharoah from another Book of the Dead. source http://memphistours.files.wordpress.com/

 Tomb in El Khokha on the West Bank of Luxor. source: http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.co.uk/

f) Looking further at the pyramidal devices. 
What can be seen above the place where the Sitchin's rocket and silo is found are more of these pyramidal structures on a bowl covered in ox hide, and the upper parts of the branches of trees are seen to extend to the top of the structure. I might wonder if these are conical structures, and represent sort of tents or teepees built on stilts each with a date palm growing through the centre rather than rocket ships, and perhaps these things were built these things raised off the ground. 

Black and white ox from the same mural

f) A photo of the actual mural itself?

A photo of the actual mural itself seems to exists on the internet from the bibliotecapleyades site and it offers us no further clues. It looks much like the facsimile at the Metropolitan museum of Art

Source: www.bibliotecapleyades.net

Source Quotes

1. Zecharia Sitchin: .... a drawing found in the tomb of an Egyptian governor of a far land shows a rocket-head above ground in a place where date trees grow. The shaft of the rocket is clearly stored underground, in a man-made silo constructed of tubular segments and decorated with leopard skins.
   Very much in the manner of modern draftsmen, the ancient artists showed a cross-section of the underground silo. We can see that the rocket contained a number of compartments. The lower one shows two men surrounded by curving tubes. Above them there are three circular panels. Comparing the size of the rockethead - the ben-ben - to the size of the two men inside the rocket, and the people above the ground, it is evident that the rockethead - equivalent to the Sumerian mu, the "celestial chamber" - could easily hold one or two operators or passengers.
   (The Twelfth Planet, 159-160)
2. Zecharia Sitchin: An even more startling depiction has been found in the tomb of Huy, who was viceroy in Nubia and in the Sinai peninsula during the reign of the renowned Pharaoh Tut-AnkhAmon. Decorated with scenes of people, places and objects from the two domains of which he was viceroy, his tomb preserved to this very day a depiction in vivid colors of a rocketship: its shaft is contained in an underground silo, its upper stage with the command module is above ground (Fig. 27). The shaft is subdivided, like a multi-stage rocket. Inside its lower part, two persons attend to hoses and levers; there is a row of circular dials above them. The silo cutaway shows that it is surrounded by tubular cells for heat-exchange or some other energy-related function. Above ground, the hemispherical base of the upper stage is clearly depicted in the color painting as scorched, as though from a re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. The command module—large enough to hold three to four persons—is conical in shape, and there are vertical "peep holes" all around its bottom. The cabin is surrounded by worshippers, in a landscape of date palm trees and giraffes. The underground chamber is decorated with leopard skins, and this provides a direct link with certain phases in the Pharaoh's Journey to Immortality. The leopard skin was the distinctive garb symbolically worn by the Shem priest as he performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony. It was the distinctive garb symbolically worn by the gods who towed the Pharaoh through "The Secret Path of the Hidden Place" of the Duat—a symbolism repeated to stress the affinity between the Pharaoh's journey and the rocketship in the underground silo. ( Stairway to Heaven, Zecharia Sitchin, p70
3. Detail of a wall painting from the tomb of a high Egyptian official, showing an Egyptian scribe recording deliveries of Nubian products shortly after Egypt's conquest of Nubia. Visible are ebony logs, ivory tusks, baskets of ostrich eggs and gold ingots, ostrich feathers, leopard skins, resins, tamarind nuts, aromatic herbs - even a green monkey. Reign of King Thutmose III. About 1479-1425 BC (Source at Dig Nubia) 
4.  Dr. Michael S. Heiser: There are odd similarities in the style and content to Sitchin's drawing and this mural from a nearby tomb. Notice the cone at the top, Sitchin's command module. Is this just a monkey on top of a triangle table? Remember Sitchen said the silo cutaway shows it is surrounded by tubular cells for heat exchange or some other energy related function, we see these circular golden objects, baskets, could these be Sitchin's tubular cells. Notice the stack of leopard skins, remember what Sitchin says about them? He says the underground chamber is decorated with Leopard Skins, and this provides a direct link with certain phases in the Pharaoh's Journey, and while there are no giraffes or worshippers in this scene like there are in Sitchen's drawing, there are on other walls in the very same temple and of the same style too which is further evidence that this is where Sitchen based his drawing from, and if it is, he has added many self-servicing details like people pulling levers and hoses and charring on the command module from re-entry as well as people. Is Sitchin manipulating common tomb murals that he must know have nothing to do with space travel. Probably this evidence against Sitchen has gone unnoticed for so long is because Sitchin says the mural is from the tomb of Huy when it is actually from the tomb of "Rekmiyer", this would make his trail almost impossible to follow. After thirty years , no one can seem to find a photo of Sitchin's mural at the tomb of Huy despite the fact that photos of that tomb are common and widely available while someone might still produce a photo of this mural and can confirm it to be authentic and from the temple of Huy, I find it very unlikely but it is possible (Sitchin Is Wrong: Youtube)
5. Panther skin from Western Thebes (Qurnet Murrai), left posterior wall of the private tomb No. 110 (numbering according to Carl Richard Lepsius: Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia: Vol III:. Thebes Hinrichs, Leipzig, 1900, pp. 301-302). The proper name of the king was scraped down to the beginning of "Amen" from the throne name no characters have been preserved; Lepsius reconstructed the cartridges entries in the assumption that it was to Tutankhamun due to the obtained character for "Amun" at the wall display in the private grave 110 . (source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huy (Vizekönig_von_Kusch)
6. Masterpiece of Nubian gold work
   Ebenso überreichte man dem König einen vergoldeten Schrein und nicht unerwähnt bleiben darf eines der Meisterstücke der nubischen Werkstätten; eine Art Sockel mit einer darrüberliegenden langen Platte, auf der man in Goldarbeit eine ganze nubische Landschaft von Wawat dargestellt hatte.
   (Translation) Similarly, as you handed the King a gilded shrine and not go unmentioned may be one of the masterpieces of the Nubian workshops; a type of socket with an overlying long plate, where it had presented a Nubian landscape of Wawat in gold work.
   Diese Landschaft gruppierte sich um eine pyramidenförmige, von Trophäen umgebene Hütte. Darauf war ein Wald von Dattelnpalmen mit sehr hohen Wipfeln zu erkennen und zwei Giraffen erhoben ihre Häupter bis zu den Dattelntrauben. An der Platte selbst hingen Felle von Großkatzen und rechteckige Tafeln, die mit Goldscheiben geschmückt waren.
   (Translation) This landscape is clustered around a pyramid-shaped, surrounded by trophies hut. It was with very high tops to detect a forest of date palms and two giraffes raised their heads up to the dategrapes. On the Board itself hung skins from big cats and rectangular panels, which were decorated with gold discs.
   Nachdem die offizielle Präsentation der nubischen Produkte vor dem König beendet war, trat Amenophis-Huy am Ende der Zeremonie vor den König und erhielt seine hoch angemessene Belohnung. Huy verbeugte sich respektvoll vor dem König, um keinen Zweifel daran zu lassen, wem dieser ganze Aufwand gilt. Am Ende der Zeremonie trat Huy aus dem Palast, nachdem er seine angemessene Belohnung erhalten hatte: "Gold an Hals und Armen, immer wieder, außerordentlich viele Male."
   (Translation)After the official presentation of the Nubian products was terminated before the king, entered Amenhotep-Huy at the end of the ceremony before the king and received his high adequate reward. Huy bowed respectfully before the king to leave no doubt as to whom does this whole effort. At the end of the ceremony Huy came out of the palace after he had received his proper reward: "Gold on the neck and arms, again and again, very many times." (Bild: Ausschnitt des Gesamtbildes: Lepsius, Abt. III, Blatt 118 - bearbeitet von Nefershapiland)(http:///Huy%20Vizekoenig%20v.%20Kusch.htm)

Erich Von Däniken

1. Erich von Daniken and Chariots of Gods
2. Von Däniken's Mayan Rocket Man
3. Skeptics in for the attack on von Daniken
4. Mayan Rocket Man segment from "Chariots of the Gods" documentary
5. Mayan Rocket Man segment from "The case of Ancient Astronauts" documentary
6. Carl Sagan vs Von Däniken 
7. Von Daniken's concepts inspires Alien's creators
8. Von Daniken concepts in Alien-vs-Predator
9. Von Daniken's concepts used in Prometheus
10. Pakal Votan tomb lid

Von Däniken's Concepts used in Prometheus

leading from:  
Prometheus - The Return of the Space Jockey
and 
Erich Von Daniken
 

Erich Von Däniken

a) In 2010, at the time when he was prepping for Prometheus, Ridley revealed that Erich had guessed correctly, there had been standing here on Earth and elsewhere, highter creatures. It is a time before the existence of HR Giger's monster and so he would have to create something new.

b) Ridley Revealed that he knew about how in the ‘60s there was a guy called Erich Von Daniken who did a very popular book called Chariots of the Gods, and that he proposed previsitation, which we all pooh-poohed. But Ridley understood that the more we get into it the whole matter, so it went the more science accepts the fact that we’re not alone in this universe, and there’s every feasible chance that there’s more of us out in the universe, not exactly as we are, but creatures that are organically living in other parts of this particular galaxy. And so the famous scientist Stephen Hawking said that he thinks that there are and that he hopes they don’t visit. Because if they do, they’re way ahead of us.

c) Ridley understood that NASA and the Vatican agree that it's almost mathematically impossible that we can be where we are today without there being a little help along the way. That's what they were looking at in Prometheus, some of what they believed were Eric Von Daniken's ideas about how the human race came about.

d) A Doctor Who series called Tomb Of The Cybermen aired in September 1967 showed signs of lending the shape to the scenario of Prometheus, the co-writer of the script Kit Pedler although not entirely convinced about the honesty of Von Daniken still thought that there was something there in his ideas as it offered a myth to the modern technological world

Source Quotes

1. Sehr lange bevor. Scott orientiert sich an Erich von Däniken: «Der hat richtig geraten. Vor Millionen von Jahren hat es hier und woanders höherstehende Geschöpfe gegeben». Es ist eine Zeit, in der HR Gigers All-Monster noch nicht existiert. «Ich muss etwas Neues erschaffen.»"(12,05.2010 Blick (Swiss newspaper))
   Google translates this as "Very long before. Scott is based on Erich von Daniken: "He has guessed correctly. Millions of years ago, there have been standing here and elsewhere higher creatures ". It is a time when the HR Giger's monster does not exist all. "I must create something new."
2. It only makes passing reference to its 1979 inspiration and pays heavy tribute to author Erich von Daniken's ideas in his 1968 book Chariots of the Gods? -- which argued that we are not alone and another sentient entity might have spawned us. (The Hollywood Reporter, (9:00 AM PDT 5/16/2012 by THR staff) Secrets of Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus': An Earthquake, Never-Seen Photos and Nightmarish Monster)
3. Ridley Scott:“In the ‘60s there was a guy called Erich Von Daniken who did a very popular book called Chariots of the Gods?, and he proposed previsitation, which we all pooh-poohed. But the more we get into it, the more science accepts the fact that we’re not alone in this universe, and there’s every feasible chance that there’s more of us, not exactly as we are, but creatures that are organically living in other parts of this particular galaxy. (Stephen) Hawking said he thinks that there are and that he hopes they don’t visit. Because if they do, they’re way ahead of us.”  (Empire, May 2012, p76) 
4. Rildey Scott: NASA and the Vatican agree that is almost mathematically impossible that we can be where we are today without there being a little help along the way. That's what we're looking at (in the film), at some of Eric van Daniken's ideas of how did we humans come about. 
   
   ( Ridley Scott, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace Tease 'Prometheus' at CineEurope, 6:26 PM PDT 6/28/2011 by Scott Roxborough, Hollywood Reporter)
5. A very modern myth was featured: Erich Von Daniken's 1968 book Chariots of the Gods? This was Daniken's first book which postulated the noted incredible idea that Mankind had been regularly visited by alien astronauts throughout pre-history, and this had been recorded by the ancients in their architecture, sculpture, and well, everything really if you believe von Daniken. His worked captured the imagination of the public and the scorn of archaeologists, spawning innumerable copycat books with their own theories that Egyptian pyramids or Stonehenge had been built by alien visitors. Although easy to debunk, von Daniken's work can appear to a certain imagination. "He was interested in Daniken." Jeannette remembers, " he thought he was a bit of a fraud but felt there might be something there. " Mark Pedler agrees" He was a big fan, although he went off it for a bit, with Chariot of the Gods? Total rubbish! His bookshelves were full of books on ancient Persian mythology and Inca stuff.' Kit thought that von Daniken offered a modern myth to a technological world. Instead of the faces of ancient gods, it offered aliens in space helmets emerging from spaceships to give knowledge to man. (The Quest for Pedler: The Life & Ideas of Dr Kit Pedler)

 

Skeptics in for the attack on von Daniken

Leading from

Erich Von Däniken

a) Ronald Story wrote a book "The Space God's Revealed" coming in for the the attack on von Daniken's claims. He was not happy that Von Daniken argues that if this example from his chain of proofs is not accepted by scholars, then these scholars integrity should be doubted, and that a genuinely unprejudiced look at the picture would make even more die-hard skeptics stop and things. While the actual relief would have been very interesting indeed, the picture seen in in the book , while interesting was not very clear. Actually, rather than the god Kukulcan, the human depicted in the picture was Pakal Votan a Mayan ruler, and this person had been buried 683AD

b) On top of the rocket is a bird, Ronald Story believes that if children could recognise the carving as being of a rocket, then the child would identify the hood ornament as a giant bird resembling a rooster, and that this bird was Quetzel, the national bird of Guatamala. Such a big would have caused problems aerodynamically if it were a part of the ship. For Ronald Story, the spacecraft is rather small with few outer protections for the rider, and there was the fact that the astronaut has his head protruding outside the rocket. The figure was barefoot and without gloves, with both fingernails and toenails seen, and has a complicated helmet that does not cover his face. Except for a breachcloth and typical Mayan jade anklets, bracelet and necklace and 'helmet' on his head our astronaut is naked. In other words, he is a typically costumed upper-class Mayan of around A.D. 700 as pictured in other Mayan carvings and painting.

c) In the documentary TV "The Case of the Ancient Astronauts", Ian Graham of Harvard University was brought along to the tomb itself to explain the features of the tomb lid in terms of traditional archeologist views, explaining how the features that look as if they are the sides and bottom of the vessel were the jaws of two stylised serpents, and the tomblid was a mere mortuary slab showing the deceased in his passage towards the Mayan version of heaven (See: Mayan Rocket Man segment from "The case of Ancient Astronauts" for details)

d) Zechariah Sitchen talked about the enigma in his book The Lost Realms. But while he was able to see what was to be seen in the image, what Von Daniken was saying about it and how he was being ridiculed by Archeologists and other scholars, he could not claim to have a viewpoint about it.

Quote sources

1. Ronald Story:"The personage in this Mayan stone carving from Palenque, Mexico has achieved an unexpected fame at the hands of von Däniken's description of the rocket-driving god Kukulkan is convincing in itself."
2. Erich von Däniken:"There sits a human being, with his upper part of his body bent forward like a racing a motorcyclist today any child would identify his vehicle as a rocket.  It is pointed at the front, then changes to strangely grooved indentations like inlet ports, widens out and terminates at the tail in a darting flame. The crouching being himself is manipulating a number of undefinable controls controls and has the heel of his left foot on a kind of a pedal. His clothing is appropriate: short trousers with a broad belt,  a jacket with the modern Japanese opening at the neck and closely fitting bands at arms and legs. With our knowledge of similar pictures we should be surprised if the complicated headgear were missing.And there it is with the usual indentation and tubes and something like antennae on top.  Our space traveler - he is clearly depicted as one - is not only bent forwards tensely; he is also looking intently at an apparatus hanging in front of his face. The astronauts front seat is separated by struts from the rear portion of the vehicle, in which symmetrically arranged boxes circles, points and spirals can be seen (Chariots of the Gods (1968) (Space Gods revealed.1976))
3. Ronald Story: Von Däniken argues that if this example from his 'chain of proofs' is not accepted by scholars, we must doubt their integrity. 'A genuinely unprejudiced look at this picture, ' he tells us, 'would make even more die-hard skeptics stop and think." That much may be true but the illustration of the Palenque carving is Von Daniken's book is small and not easy to see clearly in detail. Moreover, certain details of the drawing have been blacked out. (Space Gods revealed.1976)
4.  Ronald Story:The original relief comes from the tomb at the ancient Mayan ceremonial center Palanque, Chiapas, Mexico (It was found in 1952 kn 1935, as Von Däniken reports) It is carved on the lid of a sarcophagus buried under a large pyramid. The date of the burial (A.D. 683) can be determined by the accompanying Mayan glyphs. (Space Gods revealed.1976))
5. Ronald Story: Several of Von Däniken's points about the relief can be re-examined with clearer illustrations. The 'rocket' is pointed at the end, but there is something perched on top of it.  If a child could identify the carving as a rocket, he could certainly identify the 'hood ornament' as giant bird resembling a rooster! (Actually this is Quetzal, national bird  of Guatamala.)Aerodynamically, the roosters-style ornament might have caused problems.(Space Gods revealed.1976)
6. Ronald Story: This spacecraft is a rather small with few outer protections for the rider. Of great concern is the fact that the astronaut has his head protruding outside the rocket. It is also strange that the figure is barefoot and does not wear gloves. ( Both fingernails toenails are illustrated) and has a complicated 'helmet' which does not cover his face. Except for a breachcloth and typical Mayan jade anklets, bracelet and necklace and 'helmet' on his head our astronaut is naked. In other words, he is a typically costumed upper-class Mayan of around A.D. 700 as pictured in other Mayan carvings and painting.(Space Gods revealed)
7. Zecharia Sitchin: The enigma of the tomb and its occupant was deepened by the depiction on the tomb lid: it was the image of a barefoot Maya sitting upon a plumed or flaming throne and seemingly operating mechanical devices inside and elaborate chamber. The Ancient Astronaut Society, and its sponsor, Erich Von Däniken, have seen in this a depiction of an astronaut inside a spacecraft driven by flaming jets. They suggest that an extra-terrestrial is buried here. Archeologists and other scholars ridicule the idea. (The Lost Realms, by Zechariah Sitchin p71)

Von Daniken's Point of view

Leading from 

Pacal Votan Tomb Lid

Von Däniken since the 1960s has presented multitudes of ancient reliefs, drawings and sculptures and painting in broad strokes the idea that these are depictions of extra terrestrials and space ships. In a way it has been an interesting concept until you look closer and closer at the details and find that quite often what is shown can be proven to be the opposite, however despite the proof offered against much of what he has said, some of his ideas put forth remain very enigmatic such as the tomb lid of Pakal Votan. One can read Von Däniken's books and soon develop the method of thinking that he has provided us with, looking at all these ancient objects and designs from a from a twentieth to twenty first century point of view.

Since the film Prometheus presentation of the Ancient Mayan Space Jockey 'Star Map' Tablet takes inspiration from Von Daniken, we can talk about the image in Chariots of the Gods regarding the sarcophagus lid. Eric Von Däniken asked the question whether primitive imagination could have produced something that seemed so similar to the modern astronaut in his rocket. The strange markings at the foot of the drawing were surely, in his mind, an indication of the flames and gases coming from the propulsion unit.

the Sarcophagus Lid of Pakal Votan

Source quotes

1. Erich von Däniken:"There sits a human being, with his upper part of his body bent forward like a racing a motorcyclist today any child would identify his vehicle as a rocket.  It is pointed at the front, then changes changes to strangely grooved indentations like inlet ports, widens out and terminates at the tail in a darting flame. The crouching being himself is manipulating a number of undefinable controls controls and has the heel of his left foot on a kind of a pedal. His clothing is appropriate: short trousers with a broad belt,  a jacket with the modern Japanese opening at the neck and closely fitting bands at arms and legs. With our knowledge of similar pictures we should be surprised if the complicated headgear were missing.And there it is with the usual indentation and tubes and something like antennae on top.  Our space traveler - he is clearly depicted as one - is not only bent forwards tensely; he is also looking intently at an apparatus hanging in front of his face. Is the astronauts front seat is separated by struts from the rear portion of the vehicle,  in which symmetrically arranged boxes circles, points and spirals can be seen. What does this relief have to tell us? Nothing? Is everything anyone links up with space travel a stupid figment of the imagination? (Chariots of the Gods (1968), p123-124)
2. Erich Von Daniken:" Could primitive imagination have produced anything so remarkably similar to a modern astronaut in his rocket? The strange markings at the foot of the drawing can only be an indication of the flames and gases coming from the propulsion unit." (Chariot of the Gods by Erich Von Danikens p112)
3. Narrator :  After eight refusals, we are finally granted permission to film this ancient celebrity. The sealed sepulchre is opened to us for a brief half hour, up a steap flight of stairs and down into the even more stifling dampness of the interior of the tomb. .And there he is, captured for the first time on film, the winged god of Palenque, what the learned sees is so stunning that we must examine the details seperately. We see a man seated in a capsule intently watching something. His hands seem to be operating some undefinable controls. His foot is pressing a pedal. At the rear of the capsule we see jets trailing flames behind them. Isn't this a typical position for an astronaut, as we so well know it today? He seem to be dressed for the job, in trousers with a broad belt, a sort of jacket tight fitting at the wrists like coveralls. The chair is well upholstered to absorb the shock of the acceleration. A figure before controls also dressed like an astronaut. Another jet trailing flames. This stone deity say the Maya, represents Kukulkan who came from the stars and returned there (Chariots of the Gods documentary , 1970)

   

   Erich von Däniken

4. Narrator : Mysteries of the past manifest themselves on all continents. Within the depths of a temple, the ancient Mayan city of Palenque in central America, von Däniken came upon a stone relief of what is apparently a man seated in a capsule watching something intently. His hands seem to be operating some undefinable controls. His foot pressing a lever. And at the rear of the capsule are jets trailing flames behind them. He seem to be dressed for the job, in trousers with a broad belt, a sort of jacket tight fitting at the wrists . The chair is well upholstered to absorb the shock of acceleration. Mayan legend says that he represents the space travelling god, Kukulkan, the winged god of Palanque. He was carved some time in the seventh century. The possibility haunts us that this figure was the artists rendering of the ancient astronauts who inspired the Mayan culture. (In Search Of: Ancient Astronauts documentary (1973)
5. Richard Karn (Narrator): Our search for clues about the flying machines of the ancient world takes us to southern Mexico, the ancient city of Palenque is one of the most magnificent of the Mayan culture which flourished all across Southern America for almost six hundred years. This is the burial pyramid of Pacal, ruler of the Mayan world about 600 AD. Here we find what Eric Von Daniken believes are signs that the Mayans might have encountered visitors from the sky. Pacal's ornate sarcophagus is rendered in exquisite detail. The lid is a beautifully carved image of the dead king. Erich Von Daniken believes this relief might show Pacal in some kind of spaceship. Look closely, Pacal is seated in the reclining like an astronaut in a space capsule. His hands seem to be gripping the controls almost like an airplane pilot. His nose appears to be attached to a breathing apparatus. The design behind the seat could be a representation of flames like those of a rocket ship" ( Chariots of the Gods? The Mysteries Continue, 1996)
6. Playboy: What is the most convincing evidence you have that Earth has been visited from outer space?  
   Von Daniken: Two kinds of proof : proof by hard facts and proof in mythologies, holy books, legends and so forth. We have very good proof in hard facts. In Palenque, a little place in Yucatán, there is a tomb covered by a large stone. On this stone is a wonderful relief. It shows a man sitting in a kind of frame. He is bending forward almost like a motorcyclist, and at his nose he has what I would call an oxygen mask. He is operating some controls with his hands, turning something on - you can recognise every detail - and the heel of his left foot seems to be on a pedal which has different adjustments. Behind him you see some circles, some boxes, all kinds of mysterious things. And outside is a flame like an exhaust.
   
   Playboy: We're familiar with the stone which also depicts a bird in front of him. What's it doing there?
   
   Von Daniken: Oh, I don't know. Perhaps it represents flight, you know? Anyway, around the stone is a writing saying the relief shows a Mayan priest who died because of "the hot wind." Archeologists say this shows the poor guy was sick and died in a hot summer season. I see it completely differently, that the hot wind was maybe the blast from a spaceship. I would not say this if we did not have, in many other old texgts, similar things where someone is killed by the "hot wind of the gods." You find these hot winds in the Mahabharata, the hindu epic, and in the Sumerian epic of Gilgamech, where Engidu dies because he has been in contact with the gods and their hot wind. (Playboy 1974)