There is no doubt that some of our most popular lists are ones which revolve around mystery and intrigue. Fortunately for us all, there is no end to the number of weird and wonderful mysteries in the world, so we are now able to present our fourth list of unsolved mysteries. So – onwards to the world of the mysterious!
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.
In 1938, an archaeological 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 descendants, possibly, were found in the cave.
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 sceptics consider the Ica Stones a hoax, their authenticity has neither been proved or disproved.
Workmen hacking and burning their way through the dense jungle of Costa Rica to clear an area for banana plantations in the 1930s stumbled upon some incredible objects: dozens of stone balls, many of which were perfectly spherical. They varied in size from as small as a tennis ball to an astonishing 8 feet in diameter and weighing 16 tons! Although the great stone balls are clearly man-made, it is unknown who made them, for what purpose and, most puzzling, how they achieved such spherical precision.
The Oera Linda Book is a controversial Frisian manuscript covering historical, mythological, and religious themes that first came to light in the 19th century. Themes running through the Oera Linda Book include catastrophism, nationalism, matriarchy, and mythology. The text alleges that Europe and other lands were, for most of their history, ruled by a succession of folk-mothers presiding over a hierarchical order of celibate priestesses dedicated to the goddess Frya, daughter of the supreme god Wr-alda and Irtha, the earth mother. The claim is also made that this Frisian civilization possessed an alphabet which was the ancestor of Greek and Phoenician alphabets. The current manuscript carries a date of 1256. Internal claims suggest that it is a copy of older manuscripts that, if genuine, would have been written by multiple people between 2194 BC and AD 803. [Source]
Fossils, as we learned in grade school, appear in rocks that were formed many thousands of years ago. Yet there are a number of fossils that just don’t make geological or historical sense. A fossil of a human hand print for example, was found in limestone estimated to be 110 million years old. What appears to be a fossilized human finger found in the Canadian Arctic also dates back 100 to 110 million years ago. And what appears to be the fossil of a human footprint, possibly wearing a sandal, was found near Delta, Utah in a shale deposit estimated to be 300 million to 600 million years old.
Humans were not even around 65 million years ago, never mind people who could work metal. So then how does science explain semi-ovoid metallic tubes dug out of 65-million-year-old Cretaceous chalk in France? In 1885, a block of coal was broken open to find a metal cube obviously worked by intelligent hands. In 1912, employees at an electric plant broke apart a large chunk of coal out of which fell an iron pot! A nail was found embedded in a sandstone block from the Mesozoic Era. And there are many, many more such anomalies.
The Ark is considered the greatest of all hidden treasures and its discovery would provide indisputable truth that the Old Testament is hard fact. Its recovery remains the goal of every modern archaeologist and adventurer. Its purpose was as a container for the ten commandments given on stone tablets by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. According to the book of Exodus, the Ark is made of shittim wood (similar to acacia) and gold-covered inside and out. It was topped by a mercy seat comprising two cherubs also made of gold. It was believed to have supernatural powers due to several events, including causing the death of a man, who attempted to steady the Ark as the oxen hauling it stumbled, bringing down the walls of Jericho in one battle, and showering misfortune on the Philistines after they captured it in another. There are several speculations around the final resting place of the Ark, and whilst it would take a shrewd operator to find it, it would need a brave or even foolhardy person to open it!
Angel Hair is a rare phenomenon that has so far defied explanation. It is made up of silken threads that rain down on to the earth, but reach out to touch it and it will almost certainly vanish before your eyes. It is a world wide phenomenon with the most regular occurrences from North America, New Zealand, Australia, and western Europe. There is no known proof for what causes this substance, or even what it is made up of. Speculations are that it has come from Spiders or another type of silk-spinning insect, and even UFO’s as it has often been associated with UFO sightings. Because of its sensitive nature, it has been difficult to collect, and to analyse as it is subject to contamination from car exhaust fumes, and even human contact, which could skew the chemical results.
The Piri Reis Map is a famous pre-modern world map created by 16th century Ottoman-Turkish admiral and cartographer Piri Reis. The map shows part of the western coasts of Europe and North Africa with reasonable accuracy, and the coast of Brazil is also easily recognizable. Various Atlantic islands including the Azores and Canary Islands are depicted, as is the mythical island of Antillia. The map is noteworthy for its depiction of a southern landmass that some controversially claim is evidence for early awareness of the existence of Antarctica. Some scholars claim this and other maps support a theory of global exploration by a pre-classical undiscovered civilization. [Source]
This article is licensed under the GFDL because it contains some quotations from Wikipedia.
Additional text for this article is courtesy of The Skeptical News.
Contributors: Rhyno, JFrater
jfrater and Hannah: From what I understand man and dinosaur (and all other life) originated from the same pool of sludge, but each form of life took different amounts of time to appear. At the time of the dinosaurs the ancestors of humans were little mammalian creatures that were probably hard-pressed to avoid becoming velociraptor food. As the age of the dinosaurs came to an end the mammalian creatures took the opportunity and thrived – diversifying into the various orders of the class Mammalia. The primate order, over time, gave rise to the hominid species.
That's my super basic explanation, which may not be totally correct and doesn't include any dates. Wikipedia has more detailed info, with dates that you can compare to the ones given in the list and your own knowledge of dinosaur history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_(genus)
I never said no to that. There was likely a tremendous amount of contact between the old and new world pre Columbus. Check this one out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-…
Most are unsubstantiated of course but this lists several dozen different contacts between the 2 hemispheres. Man became civilized and sophisticated enough for travel and exploration at least 10000 years ago who knows who was where when? We know only a tiny fraction of our world's history, so sure Atlantis may have existed (pre ice covered Antarctica or less likely a sunken island) and that bearded man has never been disproven.
Jtradke: Sorry, I missed your explanation before I posted mine. Humans and dinosaurs share a common vertebrate ancestor, sure, but all life still originated from the same source – probably the sea (which I was referring to when I said 'pool of sludge').
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life
but where did the sea originate from I ask?
so sorry-
I mean
pool of sludge.
I always confuse the two
-muttering I say to myself_
stupid stupid stupid!
I joke.
A combination of hydrogen and oxygen
YogiBarristor (63) "…finding out the truth is what living is all about."
A bit off topic, but it needs to be said again. The Hadron accelerator due to be fired up in a few weeks in Geneva and France, a few quotes from several physicists:
"We are now in a realm of energy that humans have never explored."
"We don't even know what to expect."
"Science is what we do when we don't know what we're doing."
They are talking black holes, extra-dimensions, cosmic plasma, time travel, etc.
People ask why. Because "finding the truth is what living is all about."
Perfectly worded. Thank you very much.
i couldnt see any triceratops on the Ica Stones, there were too many penis' in the way.
great list Rhyno and JFrater, now on to my own mystery, were did i loose that baggy, oh, found it, down the back of my lounge chair, Sherlock to the rescue.
(slow day)
And a fun list,BTW. So what if not all is true, fun to read. Most of what I read (novels, etc) is not true. That's what makes it fun. JMO
Vera Lynn – Its a bit like "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" answer to life = 42
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#129. Vera Lynn
So what if not all is true, fun to read. Most of what I read (novels, etc) is not true. That’s what makes it fun. JMO
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Vera Lynn, most of what I read *is* true, non-fiction, so lists like this one, hoaxes and all, are a pure delight to me!
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#130. CRSN
“Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” answer to life = 42
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CRSN, do you know *why* 42 is the answer to life? I'll tell you if you don't.
Segue – i vaguely remember, i read the series around 8 years ago, but also, with the amount of pot i smoke, my memory is a little rusty, but the upside to that is its like discovering somtething new each time, so i'll probably read the series again in the next few months, i dont like the recent movie, it brushed out a lot of the finer details that actually made the whole of the story relavent, i do like the series that the BBC did for TV.
The real, the scientific answer, is *NOT* revealed in “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”( a set of books I read years ago and loved very much).
At least, I don't remember the real answer being in the books…
g'nite
"The Ark [of the covenant] is considered the greatest of all hidden treasures and its discovery would provide indisputable truth that the Old Testament is hard fact."
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Let's not get carried away, shall we?
Finding the Ark would prove that there is a background of actual events to some parts of the Old Testament, but from there to say that it would prove the whole Old Testament to be "hard fact"?
Segue – ah! "i see" said the blind man, catchya later.
Segue (131) The book I recommended "Eric" is non-fiction so even more reason you'll like it. It came up in one of my young adult lit classes I had to take at univ.
One of the best hoaxes I read was a very long time ago about these sisters that would snap their toes under the table. People really thought they were communicating with the dead.
Too funny.
#8 the people who made these stones have unusually large penises. now that's mysterious..
138 emmstein – yeah, they probably used them on the triceratops that couldnt be seen in the picture and the stones are their fossilised testicals.
Sheesh, like I said, "I'll probably get ripped apart for this"…
JB and Jtradke, your bias is showing
The impossible fossils reminded me of the electronic device they thought was thousands of years old until they discovered it was a 1920's era spark plug that ancient dirt had accumulated and stuck or "concreted" onto it making it seem thousands of years old.
Maybe the giant stone balls were the result of ancient sculptors having a competition on who could make the most perfect sphere.
The Ica stones reminded me of a sculpture I visited years ago. Built in the early 1980's, it was large stones set up to resemble Stonehenge. On the stones were etchings of dinosaurs, and florae(sp?) of prehistoric times. I imagine it might confuse archeologists of the future if they would dig it up.
Readers Digest had a 'tongue in cheek' article on "What would future archeologists say if they dug up a motel from the 1970's" The archeologists thought a TV set was an altar to the gods, and the cars outside the building were metal sculptures dedicated to the gods; Thunderbird, Mustang, Buick, Chrysler, etc..
I love this kind of list! Thanks Ryno and Jamie. I already heard of a few on this list, but it's always fun to read the others. Along with the dropa stones they found approximately 32 crystal skulls, did you know that?
yay! wicked list mister Frater, once again.
you do such a good job of weeding through all the crap and leaving us with the most interesting stuff:)
this is why you're the dude who runs the site:)
ok, no more sucking up
# 101. Petemurrey – i think the greatest mystery is why fremantle can’t win a premiership
you know it makes sense
Im sam Kecovitch
———————-
LOL! freo are terrible… just hearing their song would turn anyone against them.
oh, and i love unsolved mystery lists, they're always fun
to #122. Clantargh- about the "Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact" link: Interesting pondering indeed… reading through it this morning. I've allways had one eyebrow raised with the Viking visit(s) to the pre "American" continent, but haven't looked into it much.
I was sorta kidding about the Atlantis thing-but the core mystery behind what it means to us, whether real or not- is still great hypothetical thinking or sleuthing–and for the oddball archeological discoveries, I always have as a rather dark joke in the back of my head, a view of the very distant future in which our great museums become bizarre mysteries of pulverized empires spead out under layers of passing eons of time.
hmm… maybe those fossilized people are the ones in the future who attempted to make a time machine that could travel back, but they forgot to make it travel to the future… ahhaha
Quoting: Great list btw. I guess some things just cannot be explained by Science.
This is missing a word: yet.
I also have to say finding the AoC wouldn't prove that all of the Old Testament was true… just that someone built a box that got described in a book.
Regarding nr 10:
The various claims, i.e. Jochmans (1995) and Cremo and Thompson (1993, 1999), that these objects are either “perfectly round” or perfect spheres is now known to be incorrect as directly observed by Heinrich (1997, 2007, 2008). These specimens vary widely in shape, from noticeably flattened spheres to distinct disks. As illustrated by Heinrich (2007), some of the Klerksdorp “spheres” are intergrown with each other, like a mass of soap bubbles. The observations and figure refute claims that these objects are either always spherical or isolated in their occurrence. As noted by Heinrich (2007, 2008), even grooved spheres are not perfect spheres and some consist of intergrown spheres.
Similarly, the claims that these objects consist of metal, i.e. “…a nickel-steel alloy which does not occur naturally…” according to Jochmans (1995), are definitely false as discovered by Cairncross (1988) and Heinrich (2007. 2008). The fact that many of the web pages that make this claim also incorrectly identify the pyrophyllite quarries, from which these objects came, as the “Wonderstone Silver Mine” is evidence that these authors have not bothered to verify the validity of, in this case, misinformation taken from other sources since these quarries are neither known as silver mines nor silver has ever been mined in them in the decades in which they have been in operation (Nel et al. 1937, Lanham 2004).
Heinrich (1996) notes that one of Cremo’s sources regarding the allegedly anomalous spheres was the Weekly World News which he described as “…a [sic] unreliable source of data for discussing the origins of the South African spheres described as used by Forbidden Archeology”. As noted by Cairncross (1988), it appears that the source of the Weekly World News article is Barritt (1982), an article that appeared in a 1982 issue of Scopes Magazine about these objects. Scopes Magazine was a South African tabloid that, like the Weekly World News, cannot be regarded in any way as credible.
Additionally, Roelf Marx, as quoted in Cairncross (1988) and Pope and Cairncross (1988), former curator of the Klerksdorp Museum, reports that he was misquoted in regards to these objects. Marx was quoted in popular articles as saying that the objects rotated by themselves in vibration-free display cases in the Klerksdorp Museum. Instead, Roelf Marx stated that they rotated because of the numerous earth tremors generated by underground blasting in local gold mining. Similarly, inquiries of scientists, who studied these objects, have found that the claims that NASA found these objects to be either perfectly balanced, unnatural, or puzzling are completely unsubstantiated (Heinrich 2008).
Finally, descriptions, i.e. Psybertronist (nd) and Barton (nd), of these spheres being harder than steel are meaningless in terms of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Such descriptions are meaningless because depending on either the type of heat treatment, the type of steel alloy, and whether it is case-hardened or not, the hardness of steel can vary quite dramatically. Given that the type of steel is unspecified in these accounts, it is impossible to assign a specific hardness in terms of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness from such an observation and determine whether it indicates them to be abnormally hard. There is a complete lack of any data published in any formal scientific paper, which substantiates that any of these spheres are abnormally hard as implied by such purely anecdotal accounts by non-geologists of these objects being harder than steel.
i think UFO's came for 10 and 9… 4 and 5 might probably some guy who came from the future to do research of the past and dropped something before he left for the future~~ hahaha.. too much hollywood for me..
Hey, I was thinking that maybe you could put all of the unsolved mystery lists into one list instead, and just call it "Unsolved Mysteries" and you could add more at anytime, not just when you have a full ten. Also you could put something that links to this whenever you update it instead of just a front page big view. You could have a side bar just for it.
WHOA BABY
GABBBLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEE
I think a few of these have been disproven.
Idreno:
"3)The Ica Stones have not been proven as a hoax…"
In fact is a hoax confessed by its author. Modern pigments have been found on them, as well as sandpaper usage.
The drawings show Dinosaurs that were the most famous on the time the hoax started. Most of them have anatomic mistakes and you can find unchronological spices in the same drawing.
Ok, cranks will now say that those dinosaurs could've lived in the same time, I know.
Unhopefully, those cranks have also sabotaged this english wikipedia entry, but you can still read it in spanish one: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedras_de_Ica
5) Piri Reis map is presumed to exist. But it was lost long time ago. There're ald rightings talking about it, and how it was made. The picture in the list claims to be a map "inspired" in it.
And yes. Alexandria fire (accidental, but in war circumstances) was maybe the worst lost in human history, maybe the symbological start of the dark ages. World could be really different with that great source of knowladgment during medieval.
I keep looking at those Ica Stones and I can't find a dinosaur of any kind. Whoever decided *that* must have had one active imagination!
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153. JB
…In fact is a hoax confessed by its author. Modern pigments have been found on them, as well as sandpaper usage…
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I have a vague recollection of that, so I'm glad you had a better one! Thank you…now I have a place to start researching (*not* wiki).
I made the most absurd tongue-in-cheek post (#62), re: #5, and no one picked up on it. I'm floored.
Well, maybe not. There is a lot too read, depending on when you came in, and scanning leaves a lot out.
Anyway, JB, thanks.
#130. CRSN – July 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Vera Lynn – Its a bit like “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” answer to life = 42
CSRN, sheesh….did you remember why the answer is always 42? Or do you want me to tell you?
Let’s see…some thoughts…
1) I have always questioned the accuracy of geologic and carbon dating…human calculations are not always 100% accurate and are only created to exemplify that which we DO know, rather than that which we don’t. Unless one of the readers was around 20 million years ago to give testament, all pre-historic dates (i.e. anything described as ‘millions’ of years ago) is purely theoretical and neither provable nor disprovable.
2) This is the first time I’ve ever heard of the Dropa Stones…interesting, but seemingly to be a hoax based on probably factual evidence of a one-time pygmie culture in central Asia, which may have died out some time ago.
3)The Ica Stones have not been proven as a hoax…and it’s obvious that any and all engraving on any natural stone is going to be younger than the stone itself. If these stones were preserved in a cave or cavern somewhere, they would not have experienced much erosion. I remember watching a documentary about them where it was said that they were discovered shortly after a small earthquake which opened up and revealed the sealed caves where they were stored. Furthermore, aside from alleging that humans co-existed with dinosaurs (not at all improbable from some points of view), many of the *****ual acts depicted are homo*****ual, as seen in the photograph here, as well as others on the internet. Unless the discoverer himself was a homo*****ual with intent to bring up an early case of supporting gay rights with ‘ancient’ homo*****ual depictions, of which I have found no evidence to support as of yet, there is still always the possibility of their authenticity.
4) Brontosaurus was renamed Apatosaurus…it was always considered to be it’s own species.
5) I have significant doubts regarding the Piri Reis map…for whatever reasons, people have spent the past 500 years trying to discredit Colombus for his contribution to WESTERN culture and for having enabled Europeans to colonize and expand culturally in the western hemisphere. No one ever said that he was the first human to step foot in the Americas, but he was the first person to open up exploration to Western societies. Obviously the Native Americans were there first and the Vikings certainly had explored some of the northern areas of the Americas beforehand, but either their information was not recorded or lost/destroyed before it could have been shared.
6) The Ark is said to be kept in Ethiopia under strict guard. I believe in the existence of the Ark, but I don’t necessarily believe that it is in Ethiopia.
7) We need to also remember that various powerful governments always know more about many of these things than they let on about…I’m not going to go into a whole gov’t conspiracy thing, but it’s always a strong and dependable possibility that a lot has been covered up or purposefully dispelled as a hoax for one reason or another.
8) Also keep in mind that the greatest human collection of knowledge and intelligence, the Library at Alexandria that was burned down several centuries ago. We don’t know the masses of information that were preserved in those walls, on those scrolls. Probably much more detailed accounts of human history than what we have available to us today. Currently, historians and archeologist rely on the great poets of the past for much Ancient history, but that isn’t to say that other authors had written prose giving further detail and logical sense into many of the things that we currently deem as ‘mythological’ or unreliable. Anything is possible when it comes to that which is unknown – but it is very important to be open-minded about these things and accept that there are many things which human science and history is unable to explain or delve into.
I was actually given an Ica stone by a friend years ago but I never knew anything about the origin of it (neither did he). As soon as I saw the picture in the list, I recognized it. Cool!
Petemurrey –
i think the greatest mystery is why fremantle can’t win a premiership
you know it makes sense
Im sam Kecovitch
*****************************************
Petemurrey – wtf is it with the Sam Kecovitch ***** and using peter murrey as your name, i mean if that is your name, cool, but stop using that annoying catch phrase from an aussie TV commercial.
and its no mystery why the Dockers cant win a premiership, they are *****, even if the Eagles traded half their team to Freo.
Seague – yes i do, i got home last night and cheated a little by reading the last couple of pages, now i'm going to have to wait for another 8 years until i can forget the story line.
CRSN – and its no mystery why the Dockers cant win a premiership, they are *****, even if the Eagles traded half their team to Freo.
hear, hear.
sarahenity – i'm realy more in to the rugby union but if i'm going to go watch an AFL game, it has to be the Eagles playing, their recent form slump is a bit of a shame, but a lot of my freinds have played for West Coast, so thats why i support the eagles
You forgot the Voynich Manuscript.
Francois: try Top 10 unsolved mysteries – Voynich is on it
Idreno:
"It is a shame that so many humans are only interested in wealth and fame that they would actually create fake history for personal gain and thereby set back or discredit very important historical discoveries."
But it is understandable, especially when the people involved (probably not having the education necessary to realise the dis-service they will be doing to human knowledge of ancient history) see the opportunity to escape from a life of labour as a peasant farmer and take that chance.
Hey CRSN. *I* know it makes sense. Chill
Growing up in Australia I remember seeing angel hair floating through the air many times as a child. I always thought it was spider webs but was never really sure. However as an adult I dont remember seeing this for at least the last 10 or 15 years, has anyone experienced this recently or is it something we may have lost with the change in climate?
On the topic of out of place metals- If all of these were found in ancient rocks, and were carbon dated/tested, maybe pieces of the rock were picked up on the metal and tested instead of the real metal itself.
One word- wow!
Based on some further investigation regarding the Ica Stones…I’d like to offer some light on them since there seem to be too many diverse opinions regarding their authenticity even here in the comments.
Firstly, to those who can’t see “dinosaurs” in the above image…the image is of several homo*****ual acts, but there are thousands of these stones which depict a wide array of images, including dinosaurs contemporaneous with humanoid figures. The stones were discovered by a farmer following some sort of disruption of the earths surface thereby revealing some underground caverns (there is always seismic activity in Peru)…the farmer had begun selling them to people to make money. Dr. Darquea was not the person who ‘discovered’ them and therefore probably never knew exactly where they came from himself. It is HIGHLY unlikely that a poor Peruvian farmer would have either the historical/archeological education or the time and tools to create thousands of these stones. The FARMER, NOT Dr. Darquea, told local police that the stones were a hoax AFTER he was arrested for illegally selling artifacts to tourists.
In most countries that contain preservations of ancient Mayan, Aztec and Incan ruins and artifacts, grave robbing and pilfering of archeological sites is forbidden and a heavily punished crime. Unfortunately, many of the archeologist who go on expeiditions to study many of the tombs and temples are left with little to study because most have been raided or destroyed by decades, possibly centuries, of thieves who sought to sell the ancient relics and artifacts on black markets. This farmer was probably accused of such a thing and therefore just told the police that it was all a hoax so that he would spend the rest of his life in jail. Yeah, it’s that serious of a crime.
Furthermore, not ALL of the stones have been proven as fakes…there are certainly several which, upon close examination, have shown themselves to be less than authentic, but there are many of these stones that are believed to be Pre-Columbian. Unfortunately, once the original stones became public knowledge, obviously plenty of people made forgeries just to make money off of them, knowing that the archeologists would eat them up. At this point, it would be a huge and expensive undertaking to separate the original stones from the forgeries and so will probably be left a mystery.
It is a shame that so many humans are only interested in wealth and fame that they would actually create fake history for personal gain and thereby set back or discredit very important historical discoveries.
Again, this is the 5th list.
Noting the precambrian layer and saying it is 2.8 million years old is rubbish. Radioisotope dating is a scam. It is impossible to reliably date anything by radioisotope dating.
Diamonds have been found in layers "dated from 1-2million years old. Yet when they were ground up there was carbon 14 C14 in them which means they could not be older than 50,000 years because all of the C14 would have decayed into C12 by then.
These evolutionary stories are just myth with no science behind them. Its time to let the myths go…….
I agree with Genesis105 – It's interesting to see how much we still have to learn in Archeology, Geology, etc.
Tempyra, I am not accusing of the farmer as having begun a hoax…as I said, he was probably not educated to the point of having extensive knowledge of Incan artwork and most likely would not have been so whimsical as to depict various extinct or unknown organisms as well as many explicit *****ual depictions on hundreds of polished stones…such a hoax would be extremely labor intensive and would require several individuals involved in the execution of such as plan as well as plenty of people to actually engrave the stones…I'm sure that cat would be out of it's bag by now.
The argument that I am making is that this farmer may very well have come across some ancient artifacts (i.e these stones), and knew enough that he could make money selling them to tourists…if he sells them to tourists and not to museums and persons of repute, he lessens his risk of getting caught pawning 'stolen artifacts' –a grave and serious crime in many Latin American countries. He was obviously accussed of such a thing and to protect himself claimed that it was all a hoax so that he wouldn't spend the rest of his life in prison!! Unfortunately, by that point, there was enough public knowledge of these stones that OTHER people around the world began to make forgeries and pawned them off as real discoveries for their own personal gain. Now all the original stones are intermingled with the fakes (and probably some original stones are in private collections somewhere and aren't being revealed) and it is proving to be too difficult and expensive for scientists to determine which ones are real and which aren't.
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#158. CRSN
Seague – yes i do, i got home last night and cheated a little by reading the last couple of pages…
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Ahhh, but I said the real *scientific* answer, CRSN! I'm fairly sure Douglas Adams knew this fact, and simply turned it into the book's answer…but the real answer is weirder, and funnier, and would have actually made the book better.
Maybe, though, it wasn't known then…
hmmmmm, now I'll have to find that out.
I can explain all of these from a creationist stand point…
What incredible BS. Starts out with something intriguing and then becomes STUPID.
Idreno: Oops, I didn't mean to imply that the hoax stones were the creation of that particular farmer, but probably by an equally desperate group of uneducated Peruvians, who were unlikely to realise the scientific implications of faking artifacts and disinclined to mention their business to any outsiders.
Who else thinks that the real stones (if any) are probably nowhere near as interesting as the created ones? Someone probably guessed tourist customers would like dinosaurs and *****ual acts engraved on their souvenirs
Awesome!
Love the term "*****tim wood" too.
So much for carbon dating.
I was just reading one of the older "Unsolved Mysteries" lists and a commenter mentioned the Antikythera mechanism. Basically it is an *****og computer built around 100 – 150 BC that was recovered from a ship wreck in the early 20th century. The level of miniaturization and complexity of its parts are comparable to that of 18th century clockwork.
Scientists have (I think) come to the conclusion that the mechanism is for calculating the motions of astronomical objects but the question of who exactly built it and what happened to the rest of their research/knowledge hasn't yet been answered.
I wrote about it ages ago but it'd be cool to see here on one of Listverse's mystery lists
interesting list