9 most puzzling ancient artifacts

9 most puzzling ancient artifacts

1.The Groved Spheres Klerksdorp sphere

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.

2.The Dropa Stones The Dropa Stone Discs

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.

3.The Ica Stones Ica stones

In the 1930s, Dr. Javier Cabrera, a medical doctor, received a gift of a strange stone from a local farmer. Dr. Cabrera was so intrigued that he 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.

4.The Antikythera Mechanism Antikythera Mechanism

A perplexing artifact was recovered by sponge-divers from a shipwreck in 1900 off the coast of Antikythera, a small island that lies northwest of Crete. The divers brought up from the wreck a great many marble and and bronze statues that had apparently been the ship's cargo. Among the findings was a hunk of corroded bronze that contained some kind of mechanism composed of many gears and wheels. Writing on the case indicated that it was made in 80 B.C., and many experts at first thought it was an astrolabe, an astronomer's tool. An x-ray of the mechanism, however, revealed it to be far more complex, containing a sophisticated system of differential gears. Gearing of this complexity was not known to exist until 1575! It is still unknown who constructed this amazing instrument 2,000 years ago or how the technology was lost.

5. The Baghdad Battery Baghdad Battery

Today batteries can be found in any grocery, drug, convenience and department store you come across. Well, here's a battery that's 2,000 years old! Known as the Baghdad Battery, this curiosity was found in the ruins of a Parthian village believed to date back to between 248 B.C. and 226 A.D. The device consists of a 5-1/2-inch high clay vessel inside of which was a copper cylinder held in place by asphalt, and inside of that was an oxidized iron rod. Experts who examined it concluded that the device needed only to be filled with an acid or alkaline liquid to produce an electric charge. It is believed that this ancient battery might have been used for electroplating objects with gold. If so, how was this technology lost... and the battery not rediscovered for another 1,800 years?

6. The Coso Artifact Coso Artifact

While mineral hunting in the mountains of California near Olancha during the winter of 1961, Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell found a rock, among many others, that they thought was a geode - a good addition for their gem shop. Upon cutting it open, however, Mikesell found an object inside that seemed to be made of white porcelain. In the center was a shaft of shiny metal. Experts estimated that, if this was a geode, it should have taken about 500,000 years for this fossil-encrusted nodule to form, yet the object inside was obviously of sophisticated human manufacture. Further investigation revealed that the porcelain was surround by a hexagonal casing, and an x-ray revealed a tiny spring at one end, like a spark plug. There's a bit of controversy around this artifact, as you can imagine. Some contend that the artifact was not inside a geode at all, but encased in hardened clay. 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. Is there a natural explanation for it? Or was it found, as the discoverer claimed, inside a geode? If so, how could a 1920s sparkplug get inside a 500,000-year-old rock?

7. Ancient Model Aircraft Ancient Model Aircraft

There are artifacts belonging to ancient Egyptian and Central American cultures that look amazingly like modern-day aircraft. The Egyptian artifact, found in a tomb at Saqquara, Egypt in 1898, is a six-inch wooden object that strongly resembles a model airplane, with fuselage, wings and tail. Experts believe the object is so aerodynamic that it is actually able to glide. 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.

8. Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica

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.

9. Impossible Fossils Impossible Fossils

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 handprint, 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.

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.
In any case, these examples - and there are many more - should prompt any curious and open-minded scientist to reexamine and rethink the true history of life on earth.


[edit on 5/18/2010 by DarkStormCrow]

You forgot rocks that have live animals in them. That is sooo crazy! Frogs and such. Love these artifacts...they are awesome.
-FCL

Star and flag for a great thread. This was most infomative, and interesting. The one with the most evidence is the bronze balls found in South Africa.

i thought the most amazing one was the aircraft made of gold which i have seen the piicture of it,it is so detail i could not believe it,i think the anicents knew more than we give them credit for

I'm pretty sure 2 and 3 have been proven to be hoaxes. No one has actually seen the Dropa stones and there is a person who has claimed to have made the other ones.

Isn't there a post from a couple days ago that has ten mysteries in it??

Many of the ones that you used....

Originally posted by pavil
No one has actually seen the Dropa stones and there is a person who has claimed to have made the other ones.

Dang, that sucks. That was the one I found most interesting. Too good to be true I suppose.

reply to post by Chamberf=6


Can you direct me to the thread I can not seem to find it.

Great post especially the one about impossible fossils. Star and flag.

I bet that one drive's the new earth creationist and the evolution guys nuts.

#1 Naturally formed concretions

#2 A hoax with connections to Von Daniken iirc Still posted on Creationist sites

#3 A hoax still posted on creationist sites and others seeking to underinform and/or mislead their readers.

#4 Genuine mystery as to who created it and precursors that led to it. The actual mechanism has been recreated and works as a rough calendar.

#5 Misidentified clay containers. Often cited as batteries, but their original form with bitumen plug would render the 'battery' explanation unlikely. They will generate 1.5v using lemon juice and a piece of foil.

#6 An early combustion generator spark plug...made by Champion iirc. Still posted on Creationist sites.

#7 Saqqarra bird. Recreated and unsuccessfully flown in a wind tunnel. Modifications made and still no flying. Counterbalance added, still no flying. Claims usually used to buttress ancient astronaut ideas.

#8 Interesting! Although it's likely they were created between the 10th and 15th centuries. Why they were created is still unknown.

#9 Mostly hoaxes seeded by Creationist agendas. The few artifacts that actually exist (as opposed to 18th century news) have been shown to be modern.

These 'mysteries' have been recycled since the mid-50s in their current form. Charles Fort was possibly the first, but his reasons seemed to stem from genuine curiosity and willingness to share.

reply to post by DarkStormCrow



The Antikythera Mechanism along with the Baghdad battery has always held my attention. We have had discussions over the months on this site about ancient civilizations and also on Ancient Astronauts series about if machines where used to cut stones or levitate etc., where are they. Well I'm not saying that these are the machines, but it does show that advanced machinery and tooling (like the Antikythera Mechanism) was possible way back then. They type of mathmatics needed for the design and tooling of this devices wasn't something you just thought up one sunday. Even if you did, you still need the tools that make the tools to do whatever it is needed for. There may be devices at the bottom of oceans and/or rusted away from time. We are a people that forgot alot, what I would like to know was it because of shame we forgot, horror or religious zealotry. Or maybe all three, but as the device point out we had advance tools back then.

Meh, the Antikythera Mechanism is the only really important one. Most of the other ones are too dubious

I am surprised more people are not aware of the Keystone cuts that Childress talks about.

THEY are the smoking gun that everyone has been looking for, especially for an ancient worldwide civilization(I'm not sure they point to Aliens...)

It is just too much of a coincidence for cultures in Egypt to do the same thing as cultures in South America.

Nicely laid out thread, though.

Originally posted by DarkStormCrow
9 most puzzling ancient artifacts

1.The Groved Spheres Klerksdorp sphere

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.

These are naturally formed concretions but how they are formed perhaps isn't explained very well and there is some controversy here. They are similar to the blueberries found on Mars and they are also found on Earth. They are called "Klerksdrop spheres" here but they are also known as Moqui Marbles where they are found in Utah.

Earth Has 'Blueberries' Like Mars: Moqui Marbles Formed In Groundwater In Utah's National Parks

Moqui Marbles (also known as Shaman Stones or Thunderballs)

Notice how these 'Moqui Marbles' resemble 'Martian Blueberries', and also notice the similarities between these and other concretions found in California.

Concretions and Nodules in North Dakota

The Borrego Badlands Pumpkin Patch Scroll down to see images of these concretions.

CONCRETIONS FROM IMPERIAL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

What is a concretion?

A concretion is a compact mass of mineral matter, usually spherical or disk-shaped, embedded in a host rock of a different composition. This hard, round mass of sedimentary rock cement is carried into place by ground water.

Concretions


How are concretions made?

A concretion is a volume of sedimentary rock in which a mineral cement fills the porosity (i.e. the spaces between the sediment grains).

More information on Wiki
Particularly interesting are the Moqui Marbles on Wiki.


Possible electric nature of concretions.

Plasma physicist uses electric arcs to replicate the mysterious spherules on the Red Planet.

The conventional theories, we noted, are based exclusively on chemistry and mechanics. But there is another phenomenon that produces spheres—electric discharge. In the plasma lab, electric arcs create tiny spheres that are often hollow, such as the hematite concretions seen above. Electric discharge tends to produce spherical layering and a distinct equator and pole, because the electromagnetic force "squeezes" perpendicular to the current that creates it. These characteristics are also found in the "natural" spherules.

Martian "Blueberries" in the Lab


I believe many of these concretions are formed by electrical phenomena. Look at the similarities between Septarian Concretions and the form lightning takes in acrylic lightning blocks

Interesting all the effort online to debunk the Dropa. There are photos from the 50's of the stones; and they were translated; what is the question about them again? As they were found in China information was less 'forthcoming' than it would have been from other government/cultures, not surprising. The assumption of hoax is what again?

RC

I was just looking at this when I spotted this thread.
creationtruthministries.org...
Too bad this cooking pot was not unearthed by a trained scientist. Science goes well with religion, but so many creationists try and try to disprove evolution creating such controversy.

As Kandinsky has pointed out...

The quote below is from the article the OP has used as a reference.

Wikipedia Link

The various claims[1][2][4][6] that these objects are either "perfectly round" or perfect spheres is now known to be incorrect as directly observed by Heinrich[8][9][10]. These specimens vary widely in shape, from noticeably flattened spheres to distinct disks. As illustrated by Heinrich[9][10], 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[9][10], 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[4] are definitely false as discovered by Cairncross[7] and Heinrich[9][10]. 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 has silver ever been mined in them in the decades in which they have been in operation[11][13].

Still I think it's a valid OP and does make good reading Starred.

Edit to add:

reply to post by DarkStormCrow


www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 19/5/1010 by jokei]

I love these types of threads thank you for posting!

reply to post by DarkStormCrow


There are some true mysteries out there, but there are also hoaxes and natural explanations for some of these. Thank you for bringing up this interesting thread.


Mod Note: Excessive Quoting – Please Review This Link

[edit on Wed May 19 2010 by Jbird]

Originally posted by RedCairo
Interesting all the effort online to debunk the Dropa. There are photos from the 50's of the stones; and they were translated; what is the question about them again? As they were found in China information was less 'forthcoming' than it would have been from other government/cultures, not surprising. The assumption of hoax is what again?

RC

It takes no effort to debunk something the author has already debunked.
The writer of sungods in exile has already said openly that they are a hoax, why is it you can't simply believe that?

Originally posted by hippomchippo

Originally posted by RedCairo
Interesting all the effort online to debunk the Dropa. There are photos from the 50's of the stones; and they were translated; what is the question about them again? As they were found in China information was less 'forthcoming' than it would have been from other government/cultures, not surprising. The assumption of hoax is what again?

RC

It takes no effort to debunk something the author has already debunked.
The writer of sungods in exile has already said openly that they are a hoax, why is it you can't simply believe that?

ummm let's see, because you or someone else simply stating that it is a hoax or has been debunked doesn't tell us anything other than that you are inclined to believe it to be a hoax.

I mean the earth is flat, it was shown to be flat 600 years ago, why can't you just accept that the earth is flat???

see the point??

Give some valid evidence that it is a hoax other than "It flies in the face of what we are told is true" and then maybe we'll consider accepting it as a hoax, but speaking for myself, without evidence I'll let my own reason decide whether or not to believe it, but I won't be stupid enough to out and out say it is a hoax just because it is counter to accepted chronologies.

Jaden

Jaden