While the concept of “ancient aliens” has been entertained ad nauseam in contemporary pop culture, the concept is generally attributed to–of all people–Carl Sagan, who posited as early as 1966 that what he called paleo-contact might account for knowledge brought to Earth by extraterrestrials, in a book he co-authored with astrophysicist I.S. Shklovski called Intelligent Life in the Universe.
Earlier roots predating Sagan and Shklovski’s writing have been linked to H. P. Lovecraft and his mythos of “Elder Gods” who could fling themselves about the stars, and occasionally land here on Earth to wreak havoc.
More on the subject here.