The Odd Mystery of The Ica Stones
The Odd Mystery of The Ica Stones
In a small private museum created by Peruvian physician Dr. Javier Cabrera in 1966, more than 10,000 stones of various sizes are carved with intriguing images of a lost civilization. In an astonishing variety of images covering a vast array of subjects, the stones show dinosaurs frolicking, assorted extinct animals, maps, and depictions of advanced surgical methods.
The stones first turned up from the property of local farmer Basilo Uschuya, who brought them to the attention of the good doctor, claiming that he had tried repeatedly to get the attention of the archaeological authorities without avail. Over the years Uschuya produced hundreds of carved stones and Cabrera became their greatest promoter, attracting the attention both of scholars as well as fringe theory enthusiasts, who saw the stones as evidence of visitations from remote planets or creationist proof of the coexistence of dinosaur and man. Or possibly both.
But then, following a BBC special critical of the stones, in 1973 Uschuya admitted to carving the stones himself, and artificially aging them to pass them off as ancient artifacts.
The stones are nothing more than an interesting hoax, but then, what may be most mysterious about the entire story is:
How does one man – or even many men – manage to produce so many carved stones in such a relatively short time?
No one has solved that part of the mystery.
The museum remains open to those who would like to investigate the mysteries for themselves.
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