The 10 most puzzling ancient artifacts

[senorpogo]

http://www.ancientx.com/nm/anmviewer.asp?a=75&z=1

I have seen a show about the Costa Rica stones that showed how they can be made with just a little know how and elbow grease. Any rational explanations for the rest of these?

[qayak]

Any rational explanations for the rest of these?

The Antikythera Mechanism: In this month's (Oct. 2006) issue of Discover (pg.17), this mechanism was revealed to be an all-in-one astronomical device. An international team used a microfocus X-ray machine to perform 3 dimensional scans of the device and found ancient Greek inscriptions and complicated gear trains used to calculate the motions of the sun, moon and planets.

[senorpogo]

The Antikythera Mechanism: In this month's (Oct. 2006) issue of Discover (pg.17), this mechanism was revealed to be an all-in-one astronomical device. An international team used a microfocus X-ray machine to perform 3 dimensional scans of the device and found ancient Greek inscriptions and complicated gear trains used to calculate the motions of the sun, moon and planets.

Cool. The Discover article isn't online, but I found this (http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=838112006).

Truth is way cooler than fiction.

[The Mad Hatter]

I don't know much about most of those, but the Ica stones were almost certainly fakes. The Skeptic's Dictionary has a good article on them (http://www.skepdic.com/icastones.html).

[Elizabeth I]

I believe "Mythbusters" did a show on the Baghdad battery and decided it was plausible.

[Sanamas]

I believe "Mythbusters" did a show on the Baghdad battery and decided it was plausible.

The batteries they made were really weak; I think the electroplating kinda worked, but they weren't useful for anything else.



The Coso artifact was just an old sparkplug covered in hardened clay.

[RSLancastr]

This list was discussed here in 2004: http://206.225.95.123/forumlive/showthread.php?t=23811

...and in 2003:
http://206.225.95.123/forumlive/showthread.php?t=165

[joobz]

The coso artifact has been determined (rather convincingly) to be a 1920's era spark plug. It wasn't found in a "ancient rock" it was a ball of barnacles and shells.
http://www.ramtops.co.uk/coso.html

[sk3ptical]

Also see here -

xxx.kmatthews.org.uk/cult_archaeology/index.html

(Replace xxx with www - not allowed to put www in yet!!)

I think most of them are dealt with under the "Out-Of-Place Artefacts" section.

[Foster Zygote]

The coso artifact has been determined (rather convincingly) to be a 1920's era spark plug. It wasn't found in a "ancient rock" it was a ball of barnacles and shells.
http://www.ramtops.co.uk/coso.html

That reminds me of the "hammer encased in rock" that young-Earth creationists like to trot out now and then. It is indeed a wooden handled hammer encased in what appears to be limestone but it came out of a steam boiler. Mineral deposits would build up on the insides of boilers over the course of their operational lives. Any tools, bolts, rivets etc. that were dropped into the boiler during construction/servicing would be encased in these mineral deposits. When the boiler finally wore out and was scrapped and torn apart the deposits would fracture into many small pieces, some of which might contain obviously human artifacts.

Steve

[tube]

I believe "Mythbusters" did a show on the Baghdad battery and decided it was plausible.

Remember, the "Baghdad Battery" is really a cell, not a battery. As far as I know, there is no evidence they ever ganged the cells into a battery. A single cell does not produce enough voltage to be really useful. So what would a single cell be good for? I propose it might have been a toy of sorts. I wonder if they may have put it to their tongues, Beavis and Butthead style, to produce an anomalously mild tingle.

[Foster Zygote]

Remember, the "Baghdad Battery" is really a cell, not a battery. As far as I know, there is no evidence they ever ganged the cells into a battery. A single cell does not produce enough voltage to be really useful. So what would a single cell be good for? I propose it might have been a toy of sorts. I wonder if they may have put it to their tongues, Beavis and Butthead style, to produce an anomalously mild tingle.

Thanks for bringing up one of my favorite pedantic battery vs cell bits. :)

Steven

[geni]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropa_stones#Criticism

[Zygar]

I'll skip the ones that are already covered.

The grooved spheres are the Klerksdorp Spheres, which appear to be simple pyrite.

The most well known "ancient aircraft" is the Saqqara Bird.

I don't even know where to start with the "human footprint" fossils. These are just ludicrious.

And I can't even find any credible references to the "metal objects in coal".

[casebro]

And I can't even find any credible references to the "metal objects in coal".

I conject that, like the hammer in the lime scale deposit, the artifacts in the 'coal' are in carbon deposits from inside of some big 'burner'- a giant engine, or smokestack of some sort. I suspect that a microscopic inpection will show crystals of soot, whereas coal shows vegetation?

[ponderingturtle]

I believe "Mythbusters" did a show on the Baghdad battery and decided it was plausible.


ALso I thought that there have been other scroll cases found with scrolls in them that are made the same way as the bagdad battery.

[phildonnia]

They left out the "helicopter heiroglyph"!
http://www.catchpenny.org/abydos.html

[Zygar]

They left out the "helicopter heiroglyph"!
http://www.catchpenny.org/abydos.html

Oh, yeah! The Abydos hieroglyph is one of my favorites. Half a dozen glyphs which look like modern vehicles and a UFO unless you actually look at the whole thing in context.

That's really the trick to all these "puzzles". If we had the complete context of the discovery they'd probably never have been puzzling to anyone in the first place.

[c4ts]

The kicker is that the rock in which they where found is Precambrian - and dated to 2.8 billion years old!

Yes, I can only conclude that these ancient people created the rock 2.8 billion years ago! Or they could be bubbles.

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.
Kind of like how those Egyptian funerary texts told the story of Jesus coming to America in The Pearl of Great Price...

thers depict such practices as open-heart surgery and brain transplants.
You sure they put those organs back in after they took them out? (But seriously, there are older records of ancient surgery. I think trepanation goes all the way back to the stone age.)

he most astonishing etchings, however, clearly represent dinosaurs - brontosaurs, triceratops (see photo), stegosaurus and pterosaurs
Judging by the picture they provided, it's not very clear what that's supposed to be. And I wouldn't be surprised if an ancient culture encountered fossilized dinosaur bones and used their imagination for the rest.

The small object discovered in Central America (shown at right), and estimated to be 1,000 years old, is made of gold and could easily be mistaken for a model of a delta-wing aircraft - or even the Space Shuttle. It even features what looks like a pilot's seat.
Or a BIRD!

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 locals made them. With hammers, rope, wooden planks, and a lot of time on their hands. What's puzzling to me is the inept ancient humanity in the author's imagination, as opposed to the capable and ingenious people who show up in evidence that isn't so "puzzling."

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.
I saw the one in Utah on display at the craptacular Creation Museum in Dinosaur. I guess if you squint enough it looks kind of like a footprint. There was a lot more praise about how this proved Dino Riders or something. If the ground is wet, it has to be pouring outside, hurricanes and all!

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.

What are we to make of these finds? There are several possibilities:

* Intelligent humans date back much, much further than we realize.
* Other intelligent beings and civilizations existed on earth far beyond our recorded history.
* Our dating methods are completely inaccurate, and that stone, coal and fossils form much more rapidly than we now estimate.

Or maybe someone didn't have the story straight, combined several unrelated incidents, or someone leaped to the conclusion "only intelligent hands could have made" such-and-such without thinking.

[Foster Zygote]

The locals made them. With hammers, rope, wooden planks, and a lot of time on their hands. What's puzzling to me is the inept ancient humanity in the author's imagination, as opposed to the capable and ingenious people who show up in evidence that isn't so "puzzling."

I heard an Egyptologist talking about the same issue not long ago. (Sorry, I forget which one.) He said modern people too often underestimate our ancestors. They forget that ancient people had the same brains as us.

Steven

[SusanB-M1]

casebro #15

Would that explanation apply to the story about the gold chain supposedly found in a block of coal in about 1850? I read about it many years ago and it also appeared in the 'Forbidden Archaeology' although by that time the story did not contain all the details of the newspaper reports etc of that time.

[SusanB-M1]

casebro #15

Would that explanation apply to the story about the gold chain supposedly found in a block of coal in about 1850? I read about it many years ago and it also appeared in the 'Forbidden Archaeology' although by that time the story did not contain all the details of the newspaper reports.

[NiallM]

These things always break down at the level of proving the find. They're not like properly documented and witnessed fossil finds.

Given overhwelming dating evidence for the formation of rocks - evidence which has multiple corroborations - I will have to assume that someone who claims to have found a modern artifact embedded in ancient rock is lying about it.

[pmurray]

Any rational explanations for the rest of these?

Rational explanations for the "bahgdad battery"? Why would an explanation be needed - apart from that these guys were every bit as smart at 18th centrury white guys.

[CFLarsen]

I consider the claims of alien meddling with ancient cultures inherently racist.

No, these Egyptians were just too stupid to build something like the great pyramids. No, these Central Americans were just too stupid to build the pyramids.

But when we look at Stonehenge, it wasn't aliens. No, it was because the locals possessed fantastic powers.

It is an Appeal to Ignorance, with a twist of racism.

All of these people were industrious, clever and skilled. They worked for generations to create what we marvel at today. It is incredibly insulting to suggest that they had outside help.

[c4ts]

I consider the claims of alien meddling with ancient cultures inherently racist.

No, these Egyptians were just too stupid to build something like the great pyramids. No, these Central Americans were just too stupid to build the pyramids.

But when we look at Stonehenge, it wasn't aliens. No, it was because the locals possessed fantastic powers.

It is an Appeal to Ignorance, with a twist of racism.

All of these people were industrious, clever and skilled. They worked for generations to create what we marvel at today. It is incredibly insulting to suggest that they had outside help.

It's a combination of two biases, I think. One is the hate of the present, which says anything today is wholly inferior to even the simplest ancient dirt mounds, so it has to be from something more advanced. The other is that the past is full of stupid people because they didn't have industry, or some other refinement. If you insert aliens you can combine the two and hate everybody!

[Pyrrho]

The "metal in coal" items that weren't outright frauds or hoaxes were possibly pyrite inclusions in the coal. The "metal cube in the coal" item especially.

Example:

http://www.geologyadventures.com/assets/images/15.jpg

More info:

http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/mineral/pyrite.htm

http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/29/1/47-a

[Fronzel]

The only problem is a quick googling dismisses most of these puzzling artifacts, except that the boring answer isn't what these people want.

I've had this discussion before with somebody that I would have thought was reasonably smart.

It almost always goes something like:
"There are statues of people riding dinosaurs! Science is a lie"
Not quite. They are either modern creations or imaginative toys. This is like our decendents thinking Superman is real."
"What about this weird thing you can't explain to my satisfaction"
Not sure. Chances are it has a rational and simple explanation. People are creative
"Have you ever heard of Occam's Razor? Since science has trouble explaining it, it is clearly made by extraterrestrials"
I'm going to cry in the corner
"Have you ever heard of Occam's Razor?"

[Cuddles]

ancient people had the same brains as us.

So I have a second-hand brain? That would explain a lot actually...;)

[star.logic]

I just posted this thread:http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=69110, but found that this one already existed.

So what is the conclusion on the devices found?

Bad methods of dating?

[ChristineR]

I just posted this thread:http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=69110, but found that this one already existed.

So what is the conclusion on the devices found?

Bad methods of dating?

They each have their own plausible explanations. Some just don't exist, or don't exist as described. Some are misinterpreted, some are modern objects that got dropped into a pile of coal or rock formation somehow and were later found caked with mud.

[star.logic]

Interesting.

[ChristineR]

Was there one that you are intrigued by that you haven't seen explained above? Someone might be able to track down the details for you.

[Thanz]

I consider the claims of alien meddling with ancient cultures inherently racist.

No, these Egyptians were just too stupid to build something like the great pyramids. No, these Central Americans were just too stupid to build the pyramids.

But when we look at Stonehenge, it wasn't aliens. No, it was because the locals possessed fantastic powers.

It is an Appeal to Ignorance, with a twist of racism.
I don't think that there is anything racist about it - maybe "era-ist" but not racist. Certainly there are people who say that Stonehenge is built by aliens. A quick google search revealed this (http://library.thinkquest.org/C007461/stonehenge.htm), which posits that very theory.

Perhaps less people claim it for stonehenge than the pyramids (although I am not sure about that) simply because the pyramids are just that much more impressive than stonehenge.

All of these people were industrious, clever and skilled. They worked for generations to create what we marvel at today. It is incredibly insulting to suggest that they had outside help.
It probably also helped to have all those slaves to do the labour.

[Jorghnassen]

It probably also helped to have all those slaves to do the labour.

IIRC, latest scholarship shows that those who built the pyramids were not slaves.

[Marc L]

Remember, the "Baghdad Battery" is really a cell, not a battery. As far as I know, there is no evidence they ever ganged the cells into a battery. A single cell does not produce enough voltage to be really useful. So what would a single cell be good for? I propose it might have been a toy of sorts. I wonder if they may have put it to their tongues, Beavis and Butthead style, to produce an anomalously mild tingle.

I seem to recall on the Mythbuster's episode that they suggested it was used to deter people from touching sacred objects. If you touched it and got shocked, then the gods were probably giving you a warning.

Marc

[Strider1974]

If you haven't seen this site before I would highly recommend having a look. http://www.theforgottentechnology.com/Page1.htm

When Archimedes said
" Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. "
This is what I think he had in mind

[Hamradioguy]

And I can't even find any credible references to the "metal objects in coal".

Frank Edwards wrote about these "discoveries" (and a host of other "woo" type events) in a number of books. I have his "Strange World" here, and it's chock-a-block filled with anecdotal stories about ghosts, monsters. frozen animals being revived, precognition, past lives, and of course strange metal objects found in coal seams. Great reading, but don't look for any careful investigations of any of these events. Edwards was a very credulous guy who seemed to take at face value any story he came across. "Credible references"? Nope, you won't find them in Edwards' stuff.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Very interesting.
Thanks for the link.

[FramerDave]

I consider the claims of alien meddling with ancient cultures inherently racist.


Oh lighten up Frances. I'm sure a few minutes poking around the internets and using the Google will yield at least a few suggestions that aliens built Stonehenge.

Or are you just looking for a reason to cry racism?

[ktesibios]

I seem to recall on the Mythbuster's episode that they suggested it was used to deter people from touching sacred objects. If you touched it and got shocked, then the gods were probably giving you a warning.

Marc

Umm, the highest potential you can get from a single cell is about 3 VDC from a lithium cell. Lead-acid gives about 2V/cell, Ni-Cd 1.2 V/cell and so on. You would need a boatload of cells connected in series to give anyone a palpable shock.

Unless, of course, the Baghdad battery was hooked up to the Baghdad Model T ignition coil...

[Soapy Sam]

Strider 1974 posted a link to Wallace Wallington's site at
http://www.theforgottentechnology.com/Page1.htm

I recently received Mr.Wallington's DVD video. It's clever stuff- interesting viewing, even though Mr.Wallington's skill as a practical engineer is greater than his video editing abilities.

Anyone who has not seen this site, do go and have a look. Whether it illustrates how the ancients built megalithic monuments without power tools or not is unproven, but Wallington certainly suggests how they might have done so.

[Zygar]

Strider 1974 posted a link to Wallace Wallington's site at
http://www.theforgottentechnology.com/Page1.htm

I recently received Mr.Wallington's DVD video. It's clever stuff- interesting viewing, even though Mr.Wallington's skill as a practical engineer is greater than his video editing abilities.

Anyone who has not seen this site, do go and have a look. Whether it illustrates how the ancients built megalithic monuments without power tools or not is unproven, but Wallington certainly suggests how they might have done so.


He's a genius and has done some amazing stuff.

An important note. He never claims to have figured out how they did it. Just to have developed a potential solution to the question of how these ancient megaliths could have been built.

[D2011]

The most well known "ancient aircraft" is the Saqqara BirdWP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqqara%20Bird).


Yeah, Ive seen that image quite a few times. Not sure why they decided it looked more like a bird than a plane.

In ancient Indian Sanskrit they also had the Vimana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpaka_Vimana)

Mayans also had some similar term, but cannot find the name at the moment.

The Nazca (http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_1.htm) lines in Peru are also mysterious as why would an ancient culture make lines & designs that only make sense from the air?

D2011

[Indolent Wretch]

The Nazca (http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_1.htm) lines in Peru are also mysterious as why would an ancient culture make lines & designs that only make sense from the air?

D2011

Is that really mysterious?

Most societies feel their Gods are above them and in the sky, and people waste an awful lot of time building things to honour their Gods. Seems pretty rational to me.

[Dr Adequate]

The cruciform shape of traditionally-built European churches can also only be seen from above.

[D2011]

Most societies feel their Gods are above them and in the sky, and people waste an awful lot of time building things to honour their Gods. Seems pretty rational to me.

Fair enough, so that covers the monkey, hummingbird, spider etc.

So why design lines like this?

http://www.peru-explorer.com/PERU-EXPLORER.2002/images/nazca_lines.jpg

http://www.ster.kuleuven.be/~janv/CHILE_AND_PERU/slides/SIMG6521.JPG

Did they think their God/s was into lines?

D2011

[Marc L]

Fair enough, so that covers the monkey, hummingbird, spider etc.

So why design lines like this?


Did they think their God/s was into lines?

D2011

BILC.

Because It Looks Cool.

Marc

[ChristineR]

Why do some people erect giant crosses on their property? If an anthropologist digs up one of those in 6000 years, he might be puzzled.

[skullerello]

Because I enjoy wasting my hours with goofy stupid pursuits, I once was developing a board game based on all the oddities mentioned in this very thread.
I had all this junk culled from some old Reader's Digest compendium of the strange that would serve as the questions on a board that was a map of The Bermuda Triangle. I made up a set of Ley Line coordinates, and there were Warp Spaces which would teleport players to other realms (catagories) faster than having to traverse the board naturally.
I wonder where I put all that stuff?

[Quixote]

Fair enough, so that covers the monkey, hummingbird, spider etc.

So why design lines like this?

http://www.peru-explorer.com/PERU-EXPLORER.2002/images/nazca_lines.jpg

http://www.ster.kuleuven.be/~janv/CHILE_AND_PERU/slides/SIMG6521.JPG

Did they think their God/s was into lines?

D2011

Quite likely. Stretches of paved road-like structures leading apparently nowhere are found in the forests of Belize close to Mayan ceremonial centers. They can't be seen from the air due to the trees, but can be followed on the ground easily enough once someone with a trained eye has pointed them out.

Stonehenge has, iirc, two ceremonial "roads" associated with it.

[Learning Phase]

Quite a while back, I saw a TV presentation that gave a very reasonable use for such a battery. They remade the battery in the same materials, filled it with grape juice (as a weak acid to activate it), and used it for simple electroplating.

Look, ye peasants, we show you that the priests of (insert favorite god's name here) can change silver into gold. Or, at least, we can make it LOOK gold.

[D2011]

BILC.

Because It Looks Cool.


Haha, nice ;)

*Takes the forum on a trip a few hundred years back in time*

Worker : "Why are we toiling out here in the desert in the blazing Sun for months on end master?"

Overseer: "How dare you question our Kings instructions?.....Besides, Ive told you....Its a tribute to our God/s"

Worker: "But thats what statues & temples are for. My Grandfather & Great Grandfathers built the Temple of Kulkakan & Chitchen Itza...Hell, the mexicans even built Quetzacoatl & theyre on drugs, so why are we drawing lines 5 kilometers long in the desert again?"

Overseer: "Because it looks cool"

Worker to another worker : "Ok, boys, its time for civil war, these dudes are on hard, hard drugs".

Why do some people erect giant crosses on their property?

I can understand a cross & going back thousands of years we have an explanation of why crosses were used. So Hummingbirds, monkeys & symbols yes, but lines kilometers long?

In all the plane trips Ive had , I dont think Ive eveer spotted a church built in the shape of a cross. I know they are, Ive just never seen them. You pass to quickly. But even 26000 ft in the air & traveling at 600Mph you can see lines kilometers long.

If an anthropologist digs up one of those in 6000 years, he might be puzzled.

Hey, dont let the creationists see that. Adam & Eve were just starting to look for something to wear (and so were the people who Cain went off to find a partner with after he murdered his brother,haha) let alone someone else being alive on another continent. Unthinkable.

D2011

[delphi_ote]

I don't even know where to start with the "human footprint" fossils. These are just ludicrious.
Indeed. (http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CC/CC101.html)

[BillC]

You don't have to go far to find impressive ancient monuments that are best seen from the air: the Uffington White Horse (http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/uff/uffing.htm), for example. Nor is the practice confined to ancient times: The Fovant Regimental Badges (http://www.fovantbadges.com/), (which just post-date the arrival of the aircraft).

[ChristineR]

Hmmm, they might be astrological measuring devices. The longer the device, the less error involved in the calculation. I wonder if someone could show that the lines track the sun on the equinox or something like that. It's probably nothing simple, because it would have been figured out by now.

[D2011]

You don't have to go far to find impressive ancient monuments that are best seen from the air: the Uffington White Horse (http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/uff/uffing.htm), for example. Nor is the practice confined to ancient times: The Fovant Regimental Badges (http://www.fovantbadges.com/), (which just post-date the arrival of the aircraft).

Again, the Uffington horse & Regimental badges resemble something & similar to the Monkey, Hummingbird, Spider etc, we can imagine what they were trying to convey.

The Skeptic (http://skepdic.com/nazca.html) Dictionary has a good article on it, but they are not willing to say for sure what they think it is.

They point out that Maria Reich thought the Nazca lines were a giant astronomical (http://www.morien-institute.org/mariareiche.html) calendar & that they believe its easy to say that when so many lines criss cross all over the place that some are bound to line up with astronomical bodies.

They also point out Erik Von Danikens (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/alienactivity/nazca3a.html)explanation was an airport for aliens & seem to misquote him & take out of context the things he said in his books Chariots of the Gods & Arrival of the Gods. Both of which Ive read. Nowhere does he say thats what they definately are, but it "looks like that". He also never said the natives were too primitive to build such a thing. Skeptic dictionary points out that if it was indeed an "airport for aliens or 'Gods' " then why make it so confusing with birds & spiders & other drawings all over it?

Dont know about you, but from a plane, I have no problem distinguishing the difference between what looks like a runway & other images.

http://www.world-mysteries.com/nazca_sat_colibri.jpg

Check out the other images (http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_1.htm).

They also point out that if we are to believe Erik Von Danikens theory about airports, then wouldnt the drawings be blasted away? Not that I want to help ol Erick out, as I think he's a little dodgy, but if it "WAS" some sort of airport, who says they used the same propulsion systems we do today? Even if I go down that road of belief that it was an alien airpot I doubt they needed huge markers on the ground. Heck, even at our technologiocal level we have GPS.

Going by our own religous & archeological texts its more believable that it was our own aircraft from the past, as suggested by the Vimana.

Im not saying thats what they are, just since no archeologist,historian,scientist or skeptic has nailed any concrete theory, that ones as good as any.

D2011

[Beady]

IIRC, latest scholarship shows that those who built the pyramids were not slaves.

I believe they were farmers who were, essentially, working on a Civic Project while waiting out the annual inundation.

[MetalPig]

Erik Von Danikens (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/alienactivity/nazca3a.html)explanation was an airport for aliens [...] Nowhere does he say thats what they definately are, but it "looks like that".
'Looks like that'? To make such a statement, shouldn't he know what an actual alien airport looks like? Does he?

[Correa Neto]

Yeah...

Aliens needed airports... Dumb aliens never heard about VERTOL craft... No wonder they needed help from the humans...

[D2011]

'Looks like that'? To make such a statement, shouldn't he know what an actual alien airport looks like? Does he?

Well, he did need to sell his books & the theme was "Gods" visiting earth & primitive humans perceiving them to be "Gods" because they didnt know any different & something coming out of the sky HAD to be a "God". etc etc blah blah blah. Maybe the makers of the movie/t.v series "Stargate" ripped his idea?

I dont think he put much effort into it. He had a hobby/interest in archeology & saw an opening for a book on theme of "Gods". Then probably went to the library looking for myths/relics/artifacts/monuments from every continent to tie in with his story.

D2011

[RebeccaBradley]

...aka the Enigmalith - my very very very favouritest OOPart. I just wish I had a spare half a million bucks lying around, so I could buy it on ebay - unless, of course, somebody else has already snapped it up. (Sigh) Check out http://www.tsc-global.com/rock.htm and enjoy; and then follow the links around to Mr. Williams' electronics firm, his hydraulic-elevator theory for the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid, and his books on such useful topics as how to set up your own religion and get lots of power and money...

[Correa Neto]

An inspiration source for Daniken?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatermass_and_the_Pit

Were the Demons astronauts?

[ChristineR]

Someone was arguing that Lovecraft was at the root of all this "alien astronaut" stuff, but I can't remember where I read this. I believe it was a magazine article in a mainstream magazine. If I remember, I'll post something.

[Miss Whiplash]

Someone was arguing that Lovecraft was at the root of all this "alien astronaut" stuff, but I can't remember where I read this. I believe it was a magazine article in a mainstream magazine. If I remember, I'll post something.

Unless someone has beat me to it:

The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft And Extraterrestial Pop Culture by Jason Colavito (http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Alien-Gods-Lovecraft-Extraterrestial/dp/1591023521)

[D2011]

An inspiration source for Daniken?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatermass_and_the_Pit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatermass_and_the_Pit)

Were the Demons astronauts?


Lol, quite possibly. Erik & Zecharia Zitchin were probably old college friends who watched Quartermass & read Lovecraft stuff together.

Its amazing Zecharia hasnt come out after the recent disclosing to the public about the extra planets in our solar system & said "See I told you!"...although they didnt name any of them after his planet Nibiru.

Why wont Nasa release its pictures of Orion & Sirius or Dogon?. I want to see the lizard people, hehe.

Someone was arguing that Lovecraft was at the root of all this "alien astronaut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronaut_theory)" stuff,

It just goes on & on doesnt it? I wonder who preceded their works?

D2011

[petre]

There may well be evidence to squash my suggestion, but if some grandiose project like this doesn't appear to have meaning, who says it was done?

How many large-scale government projects have been scrapped from lack of funding or other reasons?

So until I see more evidence, I'll contend that instead of an airport, they were just setting up for the ultimate game of tic-tac-toe :)

[JimTheBrit]

More on that Antikythera Mechanism from a BBC report today (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6191462.stm)

"The delicate workings at the heart of a 2000-year-old analogue computer have been revealed by scientists.

The Antikythera Mechanism, discovered more than 100 years ago in a Roman shipwreck, was used by ancient Greeks to display astronomical cycles.

Using advanced imaging techniques, an Anglo-Greek team probed the remaining fragments of the complex geared device.

The results, published in the journal Nature, show it could have been used to predict solar and lunar eclipses."

[ChristineR]

At 11:00 PM EST Discovery will be showing the "ancient battery" episode. Apparently they are showing it several times over the next few hours.

[LordoftheLeftHand]

Unless someone has beat me to it:

The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft And Extraterrestial Pop Culture by Jason Colavito (http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Alien-Gods-Lovecraft-Extraterrestial/dp/1591023521)

Must get copy!

LLH

[Correa Neto]

Someone was arguing that Lovecraft was at the root of all this "alien astronaut" stuff, but I can't remember where I read this. I believe it was a magazine article in a mainstream magazine. If I remember, I'll post something.
It might as well have been.

I tend to think in "Quatermass and the Pit" as a more likely source of inspiration for Von Daniken because Lovecraft's aliens, IIRC, did not used spacecrafts. But since the film's inspiration may well have been Lovecraft...

[Indolent Wretch]

Dont know about you, but from a plane, I have no problem distinguishing the difference between what looks like a runway & other images.

It's been said before, and it's gonna be said again. Why would aliens who have mastered the massive complications of interstellar travel need a [RULE8] runway.

WE have vehicles that don't need a runway and have had for years, why on earth do you think they would need them!

[blutoski]

Fair enough, so that covers the monkey, hummingbird, spider etc.

So why design lines like this?

http://www.peru-explorer.com/PERU-EXPLORER.2002/images/nazca_lines.jpg

http://www.ster.kuleuven.be/~janv/CHILE_AND_PERU/slides/SIMG6521.JPG

Did they think their God/s was into lines?

D2011

Two comments about these pictures:

1. this closeup is part of a complete image where this line is a musical instrument. You can see how it intersects with the head outline in the first picture.

2. Regardless, the lines have two functions: they were also used as ceremonial processions. This is why they are continuous lines. Some of the areas are designated for purposes other than the procession, such as a final ceremony.

Joe Nickell has spent years working on these, in conjunction with anthropologists. His hands-on approach has given us a lot of insight into alternative techniques that could have been used to construct them. Of value is the tentative conclusion that different drawings have different purposes, and that they were probably built with different techniques by different cultures. Sort of re-inventing the wheel over a few hundred years.

[blutoski]

Worker : "Why are we toiling out here in the desert in the blazing Sun for months on end master?"

One quibble: Nickell's reconstruction of the Hummingbird in 100% scale took two people one day. Well, two days, really: he spent the first day reviewing the site and coming up with a strategy.

The other thing people forget: not only are these formations viewable "from the air," but they're also viewable "from a chair."

The film crew that accompanied his demonstration monitored his progress by standing on the cab of their truck. They used a 20' cherry-picker to get the final shot.

[Ignignokt]

Along the lines of central and south American culture being visited by aliens. I remember reading about and seeing a Aztec or Mayan picture where you looked at it one way the person in it appeared to be flying a space ship, and the other way the guy seemed be held in the arms of a monster. I mean that just shows how smart they were, they were created advanced magic eye photos. And recently all we could do was make a picture where you held it one way the woman was old, and the other she was young. But on a serious note did anyone read or see what I'm talking about? I think it was on a history channel series ancient ufo's or something.

[Beerina]

That reminds me of the "hammer encased in rock" that young-Earth creationists like to trot out now and then. It is indeed a wooden handled hammer encased in what appears to be limestone but it came out of a steam boiler. Mineral deposits would build up on the insides of boilers over the course of their operational lives. Any tools, bolts, rivets etc. that were dropped into the boiler during construction/servicing would be encased in these mineral deposits. When the boiler finally wore out and was scrapped and torn apart the deposits would fracture into many small pieces, some of which might contain obviously human artifacts.

Steve

While that may be the case, there's an even simpler solution.

Link with pictures (http://paleo.cc/paluxy/hammer.htm)

Here's a direct link to the picture (hope it works:)

http://www.paleo.cc/paluxy/hamm0606m.jpg

A hammer of this kind is easy to disassemble -- typically the handle is pushed through the head, then a little metal wedge would be driven into the end, fattening it so it is now jammed in there.

To fake this, one could get an ancient hammer, disassemble it, carve out the requisite groove for the head, and the hole for the handle, then put the head into the grove, and push the handle through the hole and into the head.

Had minerals formed around this directly, one would expect a much better "match" of the head to the surrounding rock. For this reason, I would discount even this limestone steam boiler formation theory.

And even a close match, if it were the case, would not necessarily be impossible for a skilled chisler.