The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts

Over the last few hundred years, many perplexing artifacts have been unearthed that do not fit the currently excepted theories of geology and the history of man.

The Bible tells us that God created Adam and Eve just a few thousand years ago, by some fundamentalist interpretations. Science informs us that this is mere fiction and that man is a few million years old, and that civilization just tens of thousands of years old. Could it be, however, that conventional science is just as mistaken as the Bible stories? There is a great deal of archeological evidence that the history of life on earth might be far different than what current geological and anthropological texts tell us. Consider these astonishing finds:

The Grooved Spheres
Over the last few decades, miners in South Africa have been digging up mysterious metal spheres. Origin unknown, these spheres measure approximately an inch or so in diameter, and some are etched with three parallel grooves running around the equator. Two types of spheres have been found: one is composed of a solid bluish metal with flecks of white; the other is hollowed out and filled with a spongy white substance. The kicker is that the rock in which they where found is Precambrian - and dated to 2.8 billion years old! Who made them and for what purpose is unknown.

The Dropa Stones
In 1938, an archeological expedition led by Dr. Chi Pu Tei into the Baian-Kara-Ula mountains of China made an astonishing discovery in some caves that had apparently been occupied by some ancient culture. Buried in the dust of ages on the cave floor were hundreds of stone disks. Measuring about nine inches in diameter, each had a circle cut into the center and was etched with a spiral groove, making it look for all the world like some ancient phonograph record some 10,000 to 12,000 years old. The spiral groove, it turns out, is actually composed of tiny hieroglyphics that tell the incredible story of spaceships from some distant world that crash-landed in the mountains. The ships were piloted by people who called themselves the Dropa, and the remains of whose descendents, possibly, were found in the cave.


The Ica Stones
Beginning in the 1930s, the father of Dr. Javier Cabrera, Cultural Anthropologist for Ica, Peru, discovered many hundreds of ceremonial burial stones in the tombs of the ancient Incas. Dr. Cabrera, carrying on his father's work, has collected more than 1,100 of these andesite stones, which are estimated to be between 500 and 1,500 years old and have become known collectively as the Ica Stones. The stones bear etchings, many of which are sexually graphic (which was common to the culture), some picture idols and others depict such practices as open-heart surgery and brain transplants. The most astonishing etchings, however, clearly represent dinosaurs - brontosaurs, triceratops (see photo), stegosaurus and pterosaurs. While skeptics consider the Ica Stones a hoax, their authenticity has neither been proved or disproved.

MORE:
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa011402a.htm?1

who survived a nasty war of some sort.

looks like ancient pre-Etruscan-era artefact...

Anyone remember a very short lived show a couple of years ago, it was called Veritas, I think? It was based on this premise.

I've read some interesting things related to this subject.

thanks for posting, I'm bookmarking this for later perusal.

things simply defy conventional "historical" time lines. Our being descended from aliens is as good an explanation as any...

...wait.







Well, shit. There's that brilliant concept knackered.

Knackered?

:eyes:

C'mon. Unless you're going to claim that all life on earth was planted here as-is at the dawn of civilization or some damn thing, a panspermia argument does not - that's N-O-T, not - back up your original statement.

the idea behind my original statement. Knackered??

No, the original idea behind your statement was "we don't know everything about our past, therefore we might be descended from aliens." A total non sequitur, and one that's pretty easily disproven - see ref: evolution. When called on it, you tried to bluff with a panspermia reference, which also didn't work.

As for me, I have a pretty good idea where I came from: Colorado. My parents came from Michigan & Pennsylvania, their parents did much the same, my more distant relations came from the British Isles, their ancestors came from the Continent (Scandinavia, etc.) and so on down until you get to our common ancestors in h. habilis and their ancestors, who came from the general region of the Horn of Africa. From there it gets a little murkier, since the continents start moving out of their recognizable positions, but we've got a pretty good idea of how the whole thing worked in general, if not exact dates/times/etc.

(Is is just me, or does that need Elton John crooning "Circle of Life" in the background? Onward.)

So, to sum up, if you wanna think that we were created by aliens, get yourself a better argument or go talk to the Raelians.

And yes, knackered. Cope.

There are soooo many gaps in your argument..talk about non-sequiturs. You have your obviously well-thought out, yet still somehow lacking, theories and I have mine. Cope.
Oh, and never assume, little man, that you know what someone else believes... completely non-scientific, clairvoyance.

I am arguing with a creationist on Democratic Underground. This place is a waystation and breeding ground for all sorts of strange things, but I never thought...

Okay. I'm hip. Let's play ball. Point out the gaps in my argument. Or are you just going to be hung up on the word "knackered" for the rest of the day? :eyes:

a Creationist, of all things, is just plain WRONG (that's as nicely as I can state it). Now, go read your comic books..

If it talks like a duck and walks like a duck...

A creationist is a creationist is a creationist, whether they like Jesus or Space Brothers or a guy with a typewriter as the primal force, it's all the same balderdash. (Oo! Balderdash! Another big word you don't know! Maybe you should repeat it quizzically a couple of times just to be sure!)

So, you wanna try to be a little more snide? I don't think I quite got it last time. :eyes:

is as likely a possibility as any other explanation.
You obviously have another OPINION, to which you are entitled.
As for being snide,if someone were communicating as though they were a first-year, sixth-grade science teacher, and erroneously called you a 'Creationist', wouldn't YOU be snide? Fin.

You're not a creationist. Oh no. It's just that your mind is so open it's oozed out your ears.

And as for being snide, well... frankly you're not very good at it. Ta.

I am constantly surprised at the lengths this 'civilization' goes to keep unchanged it's current back-story.

I don't know if this is BS, but....

I would give my eye teeth for to see the deep penetrating radar scans of the Nile river valley which were supposedly done during one of the first space shuttle flights.

Rumour has it that they show layer upon layer of large and complex building remains, predating in 10's of 1000's of years any possible egyptian origins, and in complexity and size any other 'archaic" human architecture.

Rumour has it the Egyptian Govt. asked to have this suppressed due to the damage it might cause to their "egypt as civilization" tourism show and and the western civilization world-view framing.

Flavin

tourism trumps science?

geeez, so everything now is so strictly commercial?

-85%

trying to figure out what all those bakelite telephone bodies from the 30s through the 50s were used for? Remember, all the guts will be long gone, but that bakelite will still be there.

I'm sure they'll conclude they're some sort of pervasive religious icon.

Particularly since the linked article offers no scientific explanation for any of these phenomena. However, since I think it would be more instructive to offer reasonable explanations for some of these allegedly "shocking" finds, here it is:

1. The grooved spheres

These can actually be created through natural processes, and are actually common in some areas. A geologist's explanation: "these are merely stratiform dendulosities that form anaerobically in the presence of silver/argon ligodendrites. they are quite common in many areas." In layman's terms, that means grooves form in a circular fashion in soft rock faced with a harder material on one side.


2. The dropa stones.

From wikipedia:
"Photos claiming to show Dropa Disks are in fact Bi Disks, thousands of which have been found throughout China, mostly in the Southeastern Provinces. Bi Disks range in size of a few inches to several feet, and are most commonly made of jade or nephrite, with a round or square small central hole. Most Bi Disks date to the Neolithic Period (c. 3000 BCE), but are found up to the Shang Dynasty Period. Bi Disks beyond the Shang Period are usually more ornate, carved with dragons, snakes and sometimes fish, and used in ritual ceremonies. Most Neolithic Bi Disks were found in gravesites, buried beneath the head or feet of the deceased. It is theorised that this was to assist the deceased's spirit. No Bi Disks have been found to contain writing or spiral grooves as described in the Dropa story by authors such as Hartwig Hausdorf.

The Dropa Disks are said to be only 12 inches in diameter. However, one black and white photograph claimed by Hausdorf and others to display a Dropa Disk clearly shows the disk resting on a seat, and it is clearly several feet in diameter and has no markings whatsoever."

Until an actual photo of these "dropa disks" can be produced that does not fit with the more-common Chinese archaeological discover of Bi Disks, this has to be considered a hoax, and a rather obvious one at that.


3. The Ica Stones

From paranormal.about.com, the same site as this claptrap:
"The cave where the stones were allegedly discovered has never been identified, much less examined by scientists. Skeptics consider the stones to be a pathetic hoax, created for a gullible tourist trade. Nevertheless, three groups in particular have endeavored to support the authenticity of the stones: (a) those who believe that extraterrestrials are an intimate part of Earth's "real" history; (b) fundamentalist creationists who drool at the thought of any possible error made by anthropologists, archaeologists, evolutionary biologists, etc.; and (c) the mytho-historians who claim that ancient myths are accurate historical records to be understood literally.

The Ica stone craze began in 1996 with Dr. Javier Cabrera Darquea, a Peruvian physician who allegedly abandoned a career in medicine in Lima to open up the Museo de Piedras Grabadas  (Engraved Stones Museum) in Ica. There he displays his collection of several thousand stones. Dr. Cabrera claims that a farmer found the stones in a cave. The farmer was arrested for selling the stones to tourists. He told the police that he didn't really find them in a cave, but that he made them himself. Other modern Ica artists, however, continue to carve stones and sell forgeries of the farmer's forgeries. In 1975, Basilio Uchuya and Irma Gutierrez de Aparcana claimed that they sold Cabrera stones they'd graved themselves and that they'd chosen their subject matter by copying from "comic books, school books, and magazines" (Polidoro 2002).

Dr. Cabrera's museum is listed as a tourist site by the Peruvian National Chamber of Tourism, though the authenticity of the stones is left open. According to the Chamber of Tourism, the museum has an

exhibition of engraved stones depicting -supposedly - thousand of years of human activities. Based upon the found pieces, collection owner doctor Javier Cabrera, holds a theory according to which Ica was the seat of the first Peruvian culture.

Dr. Cabrera's authority in the matter of the stones seems to have originated from his declaration that a particular stone (shown above) depicts an extinct fish. The depiction is stylized, as are most of the drawings of ancient Peruvian cultures. It must be admitted that knowledge of extinct fish is rare among physicians, even those who have studied biology. Those who are impressed with this knowledge of extinct fish don't seem to be interested in exactly what fish this is supposed to be, when it became extinct, or what the telltale marks are that allow for this identification."


4. The Antikythera Mechanism
A legitimate find, but it was then perverted to match an agenda. The idea that the mechanism is anything more than a primitive astrolabe is absurd.


5. The Baghdad Battery
I'm not opposed to the idea that ancient people's could create a primitive battery with alkaloids and iron. I fail to see how this changes human history.


6. The Coso Artifact
How can one possibly take this seriously? Even the credulous article cited in the OP acknowledges "The artifact itself has been identified by experts as a 1920s-era Champion spark plug. Unfortunately, the Coso Artifact has gone missing and cannot be thoroughly examined."


7. Ancient Model Aircraft
You say tom-a-to, I say tom-ah-to. You say this is a model of an aircraft, I say it's not. Without real scientific evidence of 1,000-year-old flying machines, why should we assume this to be anything other than the graven image of some god/monster/etc. of Egyptian mythology. Maybe it's a model of a squid. Seems just as likely, if not more so.


8. Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica.
Again, I don't see how the presence of stone balls in Costa Rica changes the course of human history. The peoples of Central America were quite advanced for their time, and certainly could have fashioned something like this. It's interesting, but certainly not earth-shattering.


I'm afraid I don't know enough about No. 9 and 10 to comment effectively. But, like everything else on the list, I'm willing to bet that their either hoaxes or else fit into the commonly understood model of human history.

Whilst I don't know about these specific items, They usually turn out to be either mis-identified or total rubbish - Lots of them turn up in Creationist circles, which I keep an eye on :). A simple sanity check is to ask who spends thier spare time breaking open rocks and coal to see what's inside: No one with all thier marbles, certainly.

Foisted upon the public by the Bilderburgers to discredit the chapeliers de feuille d'étain who KNOW the REAL truth! ;)

The Bilderbergers have NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

It's the Trilateral Commission, you fool! And they're covering for the Illuminati. Shit, everyone knows that, Bubba! :eyes:

Ce n'est pas un chapeau de feuille!

I've always wondered why it took humanity so long to come up with the concept of an airplane (besides ol' Leonardo of course). I mean the glider isn't a concept that takes a huge amount of imagination or a big breakthrough. They've had PAPER for thousands of years, and I'm sure someone at some point made what we would consider a paper airplane, something an 5 year old can build.

I wouldn't be surprised if several people thoughout history, someone on the planet, built gliders. It doesn't take a huge leap to believe that such a thing might have not caught on. Perhaps the devices didn't work very well, they did but were regarded as a novelty, or the inventors were burned at the stake/stoned for witchery (most likely to me).

Never would have guessed it. :eyes: :puke:

All of these items are considered associated with pseudo-science and inappropriate for this forum.

Lithos
DU Moderator