1. Mike's general research critique of Zecharia Sitchin can be found here.
2. NIBIRU: Here is Mike's screen-capture video where he searches the in the leading dictionary for Akkadian and Sumerian for the word "Nibiru." You can pause the video and read the entries. Nibiru is never identified as a planet beyond Pluto. Better still, the video shows you where to access this dictionary for free in PDF, so you can look up all the material yourself. There are also a number of critiques of Sitchin's astronomy by astronomers.
3. ANUNNAKI: Here is Mike's screen capture video where he searches the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) for the word "Anunnaki." The ETCSL is an online repository of hundreds of Sumerian texts (in Sumerian and English), including all the mythological epics Sitchin uses. The search yields over 100 instances of the word. The search results are posted here, but you'd have to watch the video and then re-run the search yourself to click through each hit for the English translation. Doing so shows that Sitchin's main ideas about the Anunnaki -- such as that they are from a 12th planet called Nibiru and that they use rocket technology -- are not in the Sumerian texts.
* Mike knows of only three scholarly articles on the Anunnaki. All three of these articles are in German. Mike has had one translated into English (the others will follow at some point). NOTE: I cannot post the German originals since they are subject to copyright. The English translation of the one article is not.
Falkenstein, "Die Anunna in der Sumerischen Überlieferung" (The Anunna
[Anunnaki] in Sumerian
Tradition);
English translation
* If someone wants to inter-library loan the three original German
articles, here are the titles of
the remaining two:
W. von Soden, "Babylonische Göttergruppen: Igigu
und Anunnaku, Zum Bedeutungswandel
theologischer
Begriffe" (Babylonian God-Groups: Igigu and Anunnaku: Changes in the
Meanings
of
Theological Terms)
A. Kienast, "Igigu und Anunnaku: Nach Den Akkadischen Quellen" (Igigu
and Anunnaki
According to
the Akkadian Sources)
4. ELOHIM: Mike has several screen capture videos where he searches in Hebrew databases (through an English translation) for the word "elohim". They are located here, as well as free PDF files of all the results. The videos show Mike's searches look for things like all occurrences of elohim in the Hebrew Bible, all places where elohim is singular since it is the subject of a grammatically singular verb, all the places where elohim is identified as Yahweh, the singular God of Israel, and all the places where elohim might be construed as plural since it is the subject of a grammatically plural verb.
4. 12 PLANETS? Here is a link to Mike's analysis of cylinder seal VA243, which Sitchin asserts shows the sun surrounded by twelve planets. You have to also wonder how it is that people who supposedly were given advanced knowledge of astronomy could link astronomy with divination techniques like reading sheep livers.
5. NEPHILIM: Here is a link to Mike's discussion of Zecharia Sitchin's mistaken understanding of the word "nephilim."
6. SUMERIAN ROCKETS? Here is a link to the page on Mike's website that includes pages from the most recent scholarly work in Akkadian and Sumerian studies on the terms "shamu" and SHU.MU.
7. EZEKIEL'S SPACESHIP: It wasn't a spaceship. We actually know what Ezekiel saw since we have the polaroid pictures of the day -- ancient sculptures and iconography -- from Babylon, where Ezekiel had his vision (Ezekiel 1, 10). Here are two discussions from Mike's blog on Ezekiel's vision (one, two).
8. PYRAMID BUILDING: Did the Egyptians need alien help to build the pyramids? No. Engineers have proposed a number of methods that explain how the pyramids were built -- methods that could be applied to other sites in the ancient world. My opinion is that these methods were probably used in combination, or other methods very much like them. In some respects, this technology has indeed been lost to us, but it's absolutely human. Click here for a sample journal article that discusses pyramid building technology known to the Egyptians. Here's another link that leads to scholarly articles on the stone masonry of Macchu Picchu and Tiahuanaco. My favorite resource on this subject is the work of Wally Wallington, the Michigan contractor who shows us on home video how he moves and erects 25,000 lb. blocks himself using principles of leverage and counter-weights (his DVD is a must have - but here's a YouTube sample). Lastly, I recommend watching this DVD for the best current model of how the Great Pyramid was built. The architect who came up with theory (Jean Pierre Houdin) includes leverage and counter-weight technology in his larger thesis).
9. ANCIENT DNA, King TUT, King AKHENATEN: The recent Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) article on the DNA testing for King Tut and his relatives is not in the public domain. It has to be ordered via subscription or obtained at a library that (a) has the journal or (b) has a subscription to medical databases that provide PDF access to the journal. However, there has been interaction with the JAMA article on the web of high quality. Here are some links discussing what can and cannot be said about Tut, Akhenaten, and other individuals whose DNA was included in the study:
Early leak of the DNA testing in JAMA (link goes to my blog, which has other links in it)
Are the "Akhenaten remains" really Akhanaten? (this link argues YES; this one argues NO)
Commentary on one of the fetuses in Tut's tomb included in the
study. It should be noted that
there was no alien DNA discovered, and that
these fetuses are *not* a secret - Egyptologists have
known about them for years and they were
included in the study. (please be patient with the
second link - lots of graphics).
Here is the
most recent peer-reviewed medical journal discussion (Annals of
Internal Medicine)
of his unusual physical features.
10. SUMERIAN DNA TESTING: Here is Alan Boyle's MSNBC article / interview with Zecharia Sitchin in which Sitchin calls for genetic testing of the remains of Puabi, a Sumerian queen. Dr. Heiser was quoted a few times in this article explaining why the demand for such tests is a pointless exercise. (See Mike's blog post on this issue as well).
11. NEANDERTHAL GENOME: The recent sequencing of the Neanderthal genome is another example of ancient DNA research. The results show that modern humans (Europeans and Asians) have 1-4% of the genetic material of Neanderthals within their own genomes. Does the Neanderthal-modern human interbreeding undermine a creationist view of origins? No (see below). Mike rejects the explanation of Reasons to Believe on this matter (Hugh Ross, Fazale Rana). The reasons are evident in these three blog posts by Dr. Todd Wood, a biochemist who specializes in genomics (click here, here, and here). NOTE: Wood is a young earth creationist but these posts come recommended by a "normal" atheistic, materialist evolutionist scientist as good reading (see the note at the bottom of this link). Mike is a creationist, but he doesn't side with either Old- or Young-Earthers since he doesn't believe Genesis 1-2 was written to articulate any scientific explanation about creation. Mike recommends this book since it approximates his own views on Genesis 1.
12. ANOMALOUS ARTIFACTS: Ancient astronaut theorists often point to certain artifacts as proof of ancient alien visitation or alien technological influence. Examples are the so-called "helicopter hieroglyphs" of the temple of Seti I at Abydos, an alleged "rocket" shown on a coin from Byblos, another alleged Mesopotamian "rocket" shown on the stela of Naram Sin, and a model of an airplane in the Egyptian museum at Cairo. Click here for some links explaining all of these items.
13. GNOSTIC TEXTS AND ET ARCHONS: Gnostic researcher John Lamb Lash has postulated what he calls his "theory of alien intrusion" based on the Gnostic texts from Nag Hammadi (made famous by the DaVinci Code). He asserts that the Gnostic texts describe extraterrestrials (called archons) that appear reptilian or "neonatal" in form. Here are three posts from Mike's blog on this. Part 1 introduces the subject; Part 2 features a screen-capture video of Mike searching for Lash's ideas (using his own terminology) in a digital version of the official English translation of the Nag Hammadi texts. Part 3 features another screen capture video of Mike doing more searches for proof of what Lash says.
14. MESOPOTAMIA AND THE BIBLE: Zecharia Sitchin's defenders sometimes make the argument that the Bible borrows its material from Mesopotamian tablets. Is it true that Old Testament stories are borrowed from these sources? Well, 150 years ago that was a common idea among scholars in the wake of the new decipherment of cuneiform. But scholars in all fields -- Assyriology, Sumerian studies, and biblical studies -- really have learned new things about all these languages and texts in the last century and a half. Here are some examples of how and why this idea is now considered backward and naive by scholars. Yes, there is a relationship between works like Enuma Elish and the book of Genesis -- because they both come from the ancient Near East, not because of literary dependence. Since all these cultures come from the same geographical region, it is expected that each language will have hundreds of words from the others in their vocabulary and literature. That's what happens when you have things like trade and immigration. Consider American English the textbook example.
15. CREDENTIALS: Here is Mike's resume/CV (try not to yawn!)
16. STUDY ONLINE WITH MIKE: To study the ancient world, ancient languages, biblical theology, and ancient religions with Mike beginning this October, check out his online institute, MEMRA. To study paranormal topics with Mike (and Dr. Judd Burton), such as ancient astronaut mythologies, check out his other online institute, IPPPS. It's also starting in October.