In 1969 Erik Von Daniken took the world by storm in his book Chariots of the Gods. His ideas were meant to explain the preponderance of evidence accumulating that suggests we came from a civilization of highly advanced people. The book’s manifesto is a combination of evolution and alien intervention but at least he attempts to explain, rather than ignoring, the sophistication of the remnants from the “primitive” civilizations that came before us.
There are just too many questions that archeologists and anthropologists do not have good answers for. For example, when did ape men begin to bury their dead and why? Why have we found a 2000-year-old lens when they weren’t created until the 1500’s? How about their achievements of moving huge stone megaliths, still standing today, such as the stones in the temple of Baalbek that weigh between 800 – 1000 tons and were lifted to a height of 15-20 feet. These ooparts (out of place artifacts) demand better explanations than we’ve had because they indicate that people were accomplishing things that shouldn’t have been possible at the stage of development they were supposedly at.
If you are an evolutionist and want to be fair with all the questions and all the current evidence of our ancient past then you have three options to deal with the data:
1.) Ignore data which does not fit your paradigm or at least minimize it and explain it away.
2.) Believe that our more modern civilization is much older than the 5,000-30,000 years we normally place on our recent advanced development from caves to homes.
3.) Believe that a higher intelligence from another galaxy “helped” our evolutionary process by leaving behind technology.
Van Daniken remained true to evolution but dealt with these troubling ooparts by bringing in aliens with advanced technology. The answer to Van Daniken’s challenges regarding our current explanation of world history were also addressed in another book Secrets of the Lost Races. 
In it author Rene Noorbergen explores a 4th option. It entails creation by design as outlined in the book of Genesis. It would mean that any remnants of ancient technology were created by us and that our ancestors were a race of highly intelligent people.
It’s humbling to allow ourselves to consider the possibility that they were smarter than us but they were. Were they physically different from us? Ouch that smarts too –Yes, taller stronger, more virile. Could this combination of characteristics of our ancient family begin to explain some of the evidence of great achievement that they left behind? I believe so.
With eighty-six million books sold and a hit movie from the 1970’s, Von Daniken has influenced a generation by giving us viable options. Rene Noorbergen has countered offering us another option. Who is right?