by: Sean Casteel
The following message is posted on the www.sitchin.com website: We regret to inform you that Zecharia Sitchin passed away on the morning of October 9th. A small, private family funeral was held the next day.
The family asks that you respect its privacy during this difficult time and refrain from contacting family members directly. Instead, to offer tributes to Mr. Sitchin or to contact those handling his affairs, please email tributes@sitchin.com or send a letter to P.O. Box 577, New York, NY 10185.
We appreciate the support that you have given over the years. Please continue to monitor this website for further updates.
AT NINETY, THIS BESTSELLING AUTHOR STILL EXPLORED THE DAY THE SUN STOOD STILL AND THE MYSTERY OF THE ANUNNAKI
By Sean Casteel
(My publisher, Timothy Green Beckley, and myself, have just learned of the October 9, 2010, passing of Zecharia Sitchin, perhaps the greatest scholar of ancient astronauts theory ever. The following article was written several months prior to Sitchin’s death but is still relevant as a chronicle of his ideas as well as touching on one of the last books he published, “The Earth Chronicles Handbook.”)
Zecharia Sitchin will be turning 90 in 2010, an important milestone in a life spent explaining human existence in ways that are controversial to say the least. While Sitchin’s work at times flows along lines similar to the ancient astronaut theories of Erich Van Daniken, Sitchin stands alone in his understanding of mankind’s origins and our relationship with the alien race who created us.
The general working structure of Sitchin’s theories are well known in the UFO and paranormal communities. Based largely on his own translation of ancient Sumerian texts, the storyline goes like this: There is an undiscovered planet which follows a long, elliptical orbit, reaching our inner solar system roughly every 3,600 years. This planet is called Nibiru, and is associated with the god Marduk in Bablyonian cosmology. According to Sitchin, Nibiru collided catastrophically with Tiamet, another planet located between Mars and Jupiter. The collision resulted in the formation of the planet Earth, the asteroid belt, and the comets.
Nibiru was occupied by a race of technologically advanced, human-like extraterrestrials called the Anunnaki in Sumerian myth, who are called the Nephilim in the Book of Genesis. The Nephilim first arrived on Earth 450,000 years ago, seeking gold and other precious metals. They began their mining operation in Africa, and along the way created mankind through a method of genetic engineering – crossing their own genes with that of the Homo erectus species already evolving independently on Earth. The resulting hybrid was first used as a race of slave laborers, and according to the ancient Sumerian scripture of the time, the Annunnaki next began to establish the first recorded civilization on Earth, teaching mankind social organization and even intermarrying with the fairer daughters of their own creation. Sitchin believes that the original Sumerian beliefs were handed down to the authors of the Old Testament as well, who told a similar story, for example, of the Earth being destroyed by a flood save for a remnant group of people that included Noah and his family on the Ark.