The Dogu Figurines
The account
Clay figures with enormous eyes supposedly wear space suits copied from ancient visitors.
What investigators found
Archaeologists see them as ritual figures, almost always female, linked to fertility and healing rituals.
The story
Dogu are clay figurines made by the Jomon people, who lived on the Japanese archipelago for thousands of years. The most famous, known as "snow goggle eyes" figures, come from northern Japan and have huge eyes with a horizontal slit, a rounded body and clothing covered in patterns. Many were found deliberately broken.
The ancient astronaut theory sees helmets, visors and space suits in them. Archaeologists explain that the Dogu follow an artistic style that evolved over centuries, that most of them depict women and that the eyes resemble the goggles Arctic peoples used against snow glare, which is where the nickname comes from. The intentional breaking suggests healing or fertility rituals, not visitors from space.