TV: Egyptologist pulls together threads woven through ancient civilizations

In 2560 BC, the ancient Egyptians built the Giza Pyramid. Nearly 2,700 years later and some 7,700 miles away, the Aztecs erected a similarly imposing pyramid.

A coincidence? Or the result of secret contact between two disparate cultures? Evidence, perhaps, of the intervention of aliens?

Kara-Cooney-b and w-portrait.si“Believe me, I’ve heard it all,” said Kara Cooney, laughing. Formerly with the Getty Research Institute, she recently joined the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Culture and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

But where others may break into the theme song for “The Twilight Zone,” the Egyptologist goes one step beyond and offers a more rational viewpoint. In a new six-part series scheduled to air this summer on the Discovery Channel, Cooney lays out reasonable explanations for parallels in religious and burial traditions and settlement patterns across a range of cultures with no documented previous contact with each other.

In "Out of Egypt," she expertly traces themes and variations on six traditions across 12 cultures and 10 countries. In addition to the proliferation of pyramids, Cooney looks at the prevalence of the belief in the devil, intermixing of religion and violence, burial traditions, use of religious relics and certain social repercussions of city life.