1) An American army patrol investigating an ancient Sumerian temple uncovered by a sandstorm in Iraq becomes trapped inside. 2) They take refuge in a hidden burial chamber after an enemy attack, where they discover something that threatens modern beliefs about humanity's origins. 3) The plot was inspired by ancient astronaut theories proposing extraterrestrials helped develop early human civilization, like the idea they genetically engineered humans for mining colonies and later attempted to wipe them out in a flood.

1. How Myth and History
Inspired the Plot to
Martin Roy Hill’s
Military Sci-Fi Novel,
EDEN

2. A sandstorm uncovers a long buried secret in the Iraqi
desert, an ancient Sumerian temple dating back at least
6,000 years to the beginning of civilization. An
American army patrol sent to investigate the ruins is
trapped inside the temple's eroded walls, first by an
insurgent ambush then by another, even more powerful
sandstorm. When an enemy mortar shell blasts an
opening into a hidden burial chamber, Captain Adam
Cadman and his soldiers take refuge deep in the ruins.
What they find hidden inside threatens to destroy every
belief about the beginnings of mankind―as well as
modern society as we know it.
―The plot for EDEN: A Sci-Fi Novella

3. In the beginning . . .
In 1968, Swiss author Erich von Däniken published Chariots
of the Gods in which he theorized that "ancient astronauts"—
that is, extraterrestrial space travelers—influenced
mankind's earliest development. In 2010, the History
Channel began airing the program "Ancient Aliens" which
further explores von Däniken's belief that some
otherworldly race or races helped humans develop their
civilization, perhaps even created the human race. At the
beginning of each show, a narrator asks, "What if it were
true?"
Ancient Aliens?

4. Ancient Alien theorists point to several facts to make their
point:
• Similarities, such as pyramid construction, among ancient
civilizations that supposedly had no contact with each
other.
• Evidence of stone work done with a precision that can not
be replicated even with today’s technology.
• Discovery of out-of-place artifacts (OOPARTS), or
evidence found at archeological sites of technology that
should not have existed at the time the ancient society
existed.
Ancient Aliens?

5. Zecharia Sitchin was a Russian-born writer and, along
with Erich Von Däniken, was an early proponent of the
ancient alien theory.
While Däniken's research focused largely on known
archeological sites, Sitchin's research focused on the
ancient Sumerian civilization.
Ancient Aliens?

6. The Sumerian civilization sprang up in Mesopotamia (now
Iraq) between 5500 and 4000 BC, and is considered one of
the earliest, if not the first, human civilizations.
In his 1976 book, The 12th Planet, Sitchin proposed
extraterrestrials called the Annunaki visited earth and
influenced the development of human culture as described
in the basic Sumerian creation myth, which claims "sky
gods" called the Annunaki came to earth and created man
to mine riches for them.
The same basic Sumerian mythology inspired part of the
plot for EDEN.
Ancient Aliens?

7. But Sitchin went far beyond the known Sumerian
mythology.
Based on his reading of the Sumerian texts, Sitchin
proposed the Annunaki came from Nibiru, an undiscovered
planet in our own solar system orbiting just beyond
Neptune.
Sitchin maintained Nibiru was unknown to astronomers
because its large elliptical orbit meant the planet took
thousands of years to complete one trip around the sun.
Sitchin also claimed Nibiru's orbital plane was at an acute
angle to the plane on which the known planets orbit the sun.
Ancient Aliens?

8. This theory was not generally accepted by mainstream
science.
Then . . .
Ancient Aliens?

9. On January 20, 2016, two years after EDEN’s publication,
Caltech astronomers Michael E. Brown and Konstantin
Batygin announced they found gravitation indications of
a new planet orbiting the sun in an elongated orbit that
takes the planet 10 to 20 thousand years to complete.
Based on mathematical calculations and not direct
observation, the astronomers believe the planet to be at
least as large as earth and probably much larger, and
orbiting at an acute angle from the normal orbital plane.
Moreover, they theorized the planet's orbit would place
it just beyond Neptune's orbit—right where Sitchin said
Nibiru's orbit lay.
A New Planet?

10. Could it be?
A New Planet?

11. Ancient Sumeria, today Iraq, has long been thought as the
location of the Biblical Garden of Eden.
Biblical scholars claim the Bible places Eden between the
Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, both of which now flow
through modern-day Iraq, and two ancient rivers that no
longer exist, the Pison and the Gihon.
No one knew where the Pison and Gihon were located.
Until . . .
Eden Found?

12. Early in the second decade of the 21st Century, satellite
imagery revealed two dead river beds that once flowed
through Iraq.
The two river beds intersected with the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers.
Researchers believe these are the remnants of the Pison and
Gihon rivers.
If true, the Garden of Eden may have sat in what is today the
Iraqi desert.
And this is where Captain Adam Cadman and his soldiers
make their discovery.
Eden Found?

13. According to the Old Testament, God became angry at
mankind’s sins and made it rain for 40 days and 40 nights,
creating a great flood that wiped humans off the face of the
earth.
Similar mythology about great floods existed in ancient
societies across the globe.
These similarities can be explained by the fact most ancient
cultures grew up along the banks of rivers and the shores of
oceans, areas often plagued by flooding.
Or . . .
The Great Flood?

14. What if aliens visited the earth eons ago, manipulated
the genes of human ancestors to create a race of slaves
to work in mining colonies across the globe?
What if, when the aliens decided to leave, they tried to
flush away all evidence of their stay on earth by creating
massive floods?
What if some evidence of their existence remained
behind, including one of their own, buried right where
the Bible says the Garden of Eden was located?
What if that evidence was discovered by American GIs on
a combat patrol in Iraq?
The Great Flood?

15. EDEN: A Sci-Fi Novella

16. EDEN: A Sci-Fi Novella
Available in print and Kindle
formats fromAmazon.com,
and in paperback from
BarnesandNoble.com.

17. Discover more about
Martin Roy Hill’s
mysteries and thrillers at
www.martinroyhill.com