Recently I watched an "ancient astronaut" DVD and a puzzling question jumped out at me: As well as the enigmatic carvings into the land which can only be fully comprehended from a plane or helicopter in the air, the "landing strips" which crisscross the Nazca Plateau in Peru, just don’t make any sense. The top of the mountain was carved off, the debris from that excavation is nowhere to be found, and tiny particles of glass are found in the sandy, rocky soil. It seems that the Incans were expecting an airplane to land, and hoped to please the occupants of that plane with their exotic carvings, which stretch over miles. As to where the top of the mountain (debris) went, and why/how the area is covered by tiny particles of glass, these remain a mystery.

Next, there is the Mayan King, Pacal the Great, whose sarcophagus cover is engraved with what looks like a an astronaut, piloting a technology -driven rocket into the skies. Pacal is not alone, because in many places in the world, there are carvings, paintings, and artifacts with NASA-like astronauts with padded (insulated) suits, "globe" helmets, and, in some cases, breathing apparatus.

I wish to make note here that I am aware of the mainstream explanations for "ancient astronaut" artifacts, and while they do not make sense to me, either, I acknowledge they may be correct.

Here is the puzzle within a puzzle, which popped out as I watched these "ancient astronaut" DVDs: If ancient astronauts actually visited Peruvian Nazca, why did they need landing strips like modern passenger jets or propeller planes? Planes need landing strips. If UFO occupants were the ancient astronauts, wouldn’t they land in their saucers, which seem to come straight down? Certainly they don’t need landing strips!

Also, if ancient astronauts actually visited the Mayans, why did they need to ride high octane, primitive-looking rockets into the sky like NASA astronauts? Why did they need enclosed helmets, insulated space suits and breathing apparatus? Of course there are many examples around the world of ancient artifacts with images which look like astronauts with helmets and even breathing apparatus. Modern UFO occupants don’t seem to be dressed like NASA astronauts according to most reports.

A related area of confusion: We modern folk just can’t understand why or how our ancient ancestors would move gigantic stones which weighed many tons; they were, in some cases, perfectly-tuned stellar observatories which we are just now figuring out.

Did their monuments like Stonehenge, have to be that big and heavy? Since our ancestors had that amazing astronomical knowledge, they could have constructed smaller stellar observatories, made of stones which four strong men could put into place. However, all over the planet, there are huge, mind-boggling stone monuments which often have to do with astronomy. This is a nagging puzzle despite many diverse attempts to explain why and how gigantic stones were transported and used, from the pyramids of Egypt to the standing stones of County Cork.

The answer might be: Our ancestors or someone, wanted these monoliths to stand throughout time, so that we would scratch our heads about them. Maybe these monuments are meant to be a catalyst to our own curiosity and eventual evolution?

On the other hand, maybe our descendants will scratch their heads and wonder, why oh why, did we 2011 humans spend all that time pecking away at our computer keyboards. However, to forge on, the stone monuments are similar to the landing strips because they were really huge projects which don’t disclose to us why in the world our ancestors bothered to create them.

Yes, this is all very confusing. So then I thought, maybe the UFO occupants’ technology was back a few centuries, too, when they visited our ancestors; maybe the aliens had airplanes then instead of saucers, and those planes needed landing strips? But, no, how did they get to Earth, then, from far distant planets? Or if they are dimensional travelers, how did they come through dimensions in an airplane? It seems that the aliens’ technology must have been about as advanced as it is today.

Could it be that aliens and/or human "time travelers" showed the next stage of human evolution to our ancestors, telling them to make landing strips for flying machines (airplanes), appearing as NASA-like astronauts, and instructing them to make astronomical observatories from of the only material available (stone), which could span the cosmos? Maybe they even manifested a few 21st Century fighter jets and enjoyed piloting them.

In other words, our ancestors were shown by the aliens, our current stage of 20th and 21st Century evolution, which includes airplanes, rocket-propelled astronauts, and observatories which scan the sky to discover cosmic mysteries.

And today, we are shown flying saucers which are "scout craft," large orbs and triangles which are "mother ships," and an array of incredible flying phenomena which don’t quite make sense. Our experience with aliens seems to have evolved past propeller airplanes and astronauts riding a rocket to break the surly bonds of Earth.

The aliens who are perceived in the modern era, usually do not have breathing apparatus or bulky astronaut suits like many ancient astronaut artifacts. Our sightings have evolved, past the NASA-type astronauts with whom the Incans and Mayans might have seen and interacted.