Sumerian History in the Context of the Founder Hypothesis

The Sumerian myths served the Founders as a central medium to make their complex activities comprehensible to the people of that time. The participating Founders systematically developed these myths and transmitted them repeatedly to selected humans over long periods. These carefully crafted narratives enable us today to gain a deeper understanding of the Founders’ activities, but require analysis on two different levels:

The First Level: The Mythological Narrative

The first level of analysis reconstructs the mythological story itself—what the texts explicitly describe. For this reconstruction, it was essential to arrange the myths in chronological order. This was achieved through the analysis of various indicators:

• The genealogical relationships of the gods (who is whose child?)
• The mentioned cities and temples, whose founding dates are roughly known archaeologically
• The described developmental stage of society
• Major natural events like flood catastrophes that are archaeologically verifiable

This chronological analysis reveals a remarkable consistency of mythological tradition over almost 4000 years. This consistency is explained by the fact that each Founder repeatedly transmitted “their” specific myths telepathically over very long periods.

The Second Level: The Actual Activities of the Founders

The second level of analysis attempts to reconstruct what actual actions and intentions of the Founders are described through the mythological metaphors. This reconstruction relies on two central criteria:

• Technological plausibility: The events and abilities described in the myths must be compatible with the proven technological capabilities of the Founders. If a myth describes, for example, how a god creates a physical object or triggers a natural disaster, this cannot be understood literally but must be interpreted as a metaphorical representation.
• Strategic plausibility: The activities attributed to the Founders must be compatible with the goals that an advanced civilization would pursue on Earth. The better an interpretation can explain the long-term goals of the Founders, the more likely it is to be accurate.

This two-stage analysis makes it possible to look behind the mythological facade and reconstruct the real activities of the Founders. It shows how the Founders brought their complex interventions in human development into a form that was comprehensible to the people of that time.

The mythological gods referred to as Anunnaki represent specialized Founders who worked together in a hierarchical system. They can be assigned to two levels, with the Founders of the second level being recognizable in the myths through their birth as children of the first generation.

The Founders of the First Level

The Founders of the first level were already on Earth at the time of the founding of Sumerian civilization. These include Ninhursag, Enlil, Enki, and Ereshkigal. An is also often counted among them.

• An appears as the highest god of the Sumerian pantheon, but was probably not an actual Founder, but rather a theological construct of the other Founders, intended to symbolize the unity of the pantheon and give their hierarchy an overarching legitimation.
• Ninhursag was responsible as “Mother of all Life” for regulating life processes on Earth and systematically developed human consciousness through targeted interventions in human neurology.
• Enlil administered the country’s resources from Nippur and organized major infrastructure projects like the construction of the canal system, using the Igigi as executive forces.
• Enki directed the technological and intellectual development of humans from Eridu by systematically promoting handicraft and intellectual abilities through direct teaching and knowledge transmission.
• Ereshkigal led as “Ruler of the Underworld” a program for systematic analysis of human consciousness, where the “Underworld” probably represented an early form of virtual reality.

The Founders of the Second Level

The later-arriving Founders appear in the myths as children of the first generation. Their birth is described in specific myths, and their appearance correlates with new developmental phases of Sumerian civilization:

• Nanna, as son of Enlil and Ninlil, developed as “Moon God” methods for behavioral control through dream influence and synchronized human activities with lunar cycles.
• Inanna, daughter of Nanna, controlled the development of urban culture especially in Uruk through emotional and sexual manipulation of rulers via the ritual of “Sacred Marriage.”
• Utu, son of Nanna and brother of Inanna, developed as “Sun God” a legal system to protect humans and monitored its compliance through his “daily journey across the sky.”

Systematic Cooperation

The Founders worked together in a complex system, with their activities carefully coordinated. While Founders like Ninhursag worked on the neurological development of humans and Enlil managed resources, Founders like Enki and Inanna transformed these expanded capabilities into concrete cultural innovations. This systematic division of labor enabled the remarkably rapid development of Sumerian civilization.

The technological capabilities of the Founders were scientifically determined in the book “Rewiring the Human Brain” (Wellmann, 2023) through systematic analysis of various phenomena. The book develops its hypotheses in three building steps:

The Scientific Analysis

First, the existence of interstellar extraterrestrial civilizations was statistically proven. This considered both theoretical considerations (like the Drake Equation) and concrete observations (like the interstellar visitor Oumuamua and well-documented UFO sightings).

In a second step, it was proven through statistical analysis of parapsychological experiments that one of these civilizations possesses the ability to exchange information bidirectionally with human brains. Particularly significant here was the meta-analysis of Ganzfeld experiments by Cardeña (2018), which yielded a p-value smaller than 10^-16.

The third step proved through analysis of schizophrenia that this civilization is capable of controlling and restructuring neural activity in the human brain. The complexity of hallucinations in schizophrenia cannot be explained by natural brain processes, as the required neural circuits do not exist in the healthy brain.

The Proven Capabilities

Based on this analysis, the following technological capabilities of the Founders could be proven:

• Mind reading and information exchange: The Founders could record and decode neural activity from a distance. This is evidenced by experiments on unconscious information exchange between spatially separated humans.
• Generation of dreams and hallucinations: The Founders could generate specific patterns of neural activity that led to realistic visual and auditory experiences.
• Control and restructuring of neural activity: Analysis of schizophrenia shows that the Founders could selectively break down neural connections and build new ones.
• Incarnation in human bodies: The Founders could shut down a human’s consciousness and take over their body.

Technological Limitations

Equally important for understanding Sumerian myths is identifying what the Founders could NOT do:

• They could not trigger natural disasters
• They could not influence the weather
• They could not materialize physical objects

These limitations imply that the Founders used natural events described in the myths for their purposes by subsequently presenting them as intended interventions. The careful scientific analysis of these limitations is crucial for the correct interpretation of mythological tradition.

The Me were the central instrument with which the Founders controlled the cultural evolution of humans. Each Me corresponds to a license that a Founder must possess to introduce a specific cultural innovation. The Me are part of a complex system that enabled and legitimized the coordinated introduction of cultural innovations.

Basic Concept and Function of the Me

A Me embodied a Founder’s divine authority to implement a specific innovation in human society in their role as a god. This authority was tied to two prerequisites:

• Humans must have already developed the cognitive potential for this innovation, which was systematically prepared through Ninhursag’s neurological interventions
• A Founder must possess the corresponding Me, which ensured the coordinated introduction of innovations

The Me thus transform potential into reality. They activate latent human abilities newly created by the gods and enable the transition from cognitive possibilities to cultural realities. A Me for music, for example, presupposed that humans already possessed the ability to perceive sequences of tones as an ordered whole. The corresponding Me then allowed the Founders to integrate this ability into social life and systematically develop it further.

Different Types of Me

Analysis of the myths shows different types of Me that fulfilled different functions:

• The Huluppu Tree as original Me: Brought from the Underworld by Ereshkigal and planted by Enki, it was intended to eventually become a portal between the Underworld and Heaven. The tree as Me symbolizes Ereshkigal’s license to work on this project. The tree’s inhabitants—the eagle Anzu, the snake, and Lilith—enabled various other forms of interaction between divine and human spheres.
• Temple Me: Temples were usually built on Earth and received their function through divine activation. A Temple Me corresponds to a Founder’s license to interact with humans as a god through this temple.
• Transferable Me for cultural innovations: These Me, as described in the myth “Inanna and Enki,” legitimized the introduction of specific cultural achievements from metalworking to writing.

Coordination Between the Founders

The Me system enabled careful coordination between different Founders:

• Ninhursag developed cognitive prerequisites through neurological modifications.
• Enlil collected the Me and planned their deployment before passing them on to the executing Founders.
• Enki and other Founders like Inanna were responsible for practical implementation of innovations.

This division of labor ensured that innovations were only introduced when all necessary prerequisites had been created.

Significance for Cultural Evolution

The Me system enabled systematic and controlled cultural evolution: It activated latent mental abilities and transferred them into cultural reality, coordinated the introduction of related innovation complexes, created sustainable social structures and institutions, and legitimized new cultural practices through divine authority.

The Me were thus not just symbols of divine power, but practical tools for the systematic development of human civilization. They enabled the Founders to introduce complex cultural innovations in a way that could be understood and accepted by the people of that time.

The mythological history of Sumer shows a carefully planned and systematically implemented development of human civilization by the Founders. This development can be divided into clearly distinguishable phases, each marking specific advances in cultural evolution.

The Prehistory (before 5500 BCE)

The Founders did not begin their activities in Sumer itself, but in Dilmun (present-day Bahrain). This region served as a test area where Enki and Ninhursag conducted initial experiments in founding a human civilization under ideal conditions. The conditions were ideal because the population always had access to fresh water through underground springs. The geological peculiarities of Dilmun—especially its freshwater springs—permanently shaped the Sumerian concept of the Abzu, the underground freshwater realm. The successful experiments in Dilmun encouraged the Founders to extend their activities to later Sumer.

The Ubaid Period (5500-3500 BCE)

This period was characterized by the physical presence of the Founders on Earth. Some of the Anunnaki and Igigi lived in human form among humans and directly led the construction of the first cities. Important developments of this time were:

• The founding of Eridu by Enki as a center for crafts and wisdom
• The creation of the Underworld and planting of the Huluppu Tree
• The establishment of Nippur under Enlil as an administrative center
• The construction of a complex irrigation system by the Igigi
• The birth of the second generation of Founders (Nanna, later Inanna and Utu)

The period ended with a first great flood around 3500 BCE that devastated Eridu and Ur.

The Uruk Period (3500-2900 BCE)

This phase marks Uruk’s rise to the first metropolis under Inanna’s leadership. Central developments were:

• The invention of writing for managing a complex economy
• The establishment of the “Sacred Marriage” ritual for legitimizing rulership
• The development of monumental architecture in the Eanna district
• The expansion of long-distance trade and diplomatic relations

The period was ended by the great flood around 2900 BCE, which is also well documented archaeologically.

The Early Dynastic Period (2900-2350 BCE)

This phase marks the transition from direct rule by the Founders to indirect control of human kings:

• Reconstruction after the flood under Etana as King of Kish
• Development of new methods of population control
• Establishment of kingship as an institution
• Felling of the Huluppu Tree by Gilgamesh and end of direct rule by the gods

The End of the Mythical Time (until 1900 BCE)

The last phase is marked by the Anzu myth, which deals with the end of the old order. Although hardly any new myths of this type emerge afterward, many of the established structures remain and are transferred into new cultural contexts.

The Systematic Nature of Development

The mythological history shows remarkable systematicity in the development of civilization: Each phase builds on the achievements of the previous one and cultural innovations are introduced in a coordinated manner through the Me. There is a gradual transition from direct to indirect control of social development by the Founders. Remarkable is the frequent correspondence between mythological tradition and archaeological findings, especially regarding:

• The development of early cities
• The great flood catastrophes (3500 and 2900 BCE)
• The development of writing and administration
• The emergence of monumental architecture

These parallels suggest that the mythological traditions, despite all poetic elaboration, describe systematic development that was carefully planned by the Founders and implemented over millennia.

The systematic analysis of Sumerian myths within the framework of the Founder Hypothesis enables a fundamentally new understanding of the emergence of the first advanced civilization. It shows how a small group of highly developed extraterrestrials systematically promoted and guided human cultural evolution over millennia. Their strategy encompassed several levels:

• The neurological development of human consciousness through targeted interventions
• The coordinated introduction of cultural innovations through the Me system
• The gradual construction of complex social structures
• The controlled transition from direct to indirect control

The remarkable parallels between mythological tradition and archaeological findings suggest that the myths, despite all poetic elaboration, actually describe historical developments. The astonishing speed with which fundamental innovations—from complex irrigation systems to writing to sophisticated political and religious structures—were introduced becomes explicable through these systematic interventions by the Founders.

The lasting effects of their activities are shown by the fact that many of the structures they established outlasted the mythical time and were transferred into new cultural contexts. Particularly remarkable is the transformation of religious concepts: What began in Sumerian times as direct interaction with physically present gods developed into complex theological systems that survive to this day.

The Founder Hypothesis thus offers not only a new interpretation of Sumerian mythology, but also a model for how an advanced civilization can systematically and long-term promote the cultural evolution of another species. These insights could also be relevant for understanding other early advanced civilizations and their remarkably rapid development.