The Goggle-Eyed Dogū
Ancient clay figures with huge goggle eyes look to some people like visitors in spacesuits.
What was reported
Dogū are clay figurines made in Japan during the Jōmon period, thousands of years ago. The best-known kind, the shakōki-dogū or 'goggle-eyed dogū', has huge eyes with horizontal slits, a body that looks padded and a decorated head. A fine example was found at Kamegaoka in Aomori.
Since the 1960s, ancient-astronaut writers have described them as visitors in spacesuits and helmets.
Explanations offered
Archaeologists say the eyes resemble the snow goggles used by Arctic peoples, and that the figures are stylised human forms, often female, perhaps made for rituals of healing or fertility; many were deliberately broken. The 'spacesuit' look comes from the Jōmon style of decoration.
- When
- Made around 1000–400 BC
- Where
- Kamegaoka, Tsugaru, Aomori, Japan
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.