Ica Stone - with DinosaursIn this installment we will turn our attention south to Peru. In and near the Peru province of Ica a large number of smoothly carved stones have been discovered. These stones have come to be known as the Ica Stones and have been debated since their first appeared. The stones, varying greatly in size and design, have images carved into them. While there are all types of images depicted, we will focus on the images of dinosaurs which are prevalent on a large number of the stones.
The stones are claimed to be ancient and like the other items discussed in this series, these stones do not conform to the current scientific theories involving the time line for dinosaurs and humans. Many creationist claim these stones as proof man and dinosaurs co-existed. It must also be noted the stones are also used to confirm ancient man was visited by an aliens, or had some other contact with an advanced civilization. While not confirmed, there appears to be two very different sets of stones which must be considered.The General Facts: In all as many as 15,000 Ica stones have been collected. The primary collector of the Ica Stones was Doctor Javier Cabrera who alone collected almost 11,000 stones. There is no debate regarding what the images on many of the stones represent. They are clearly dinosaurs. The debate revolves around the age of the stones. Cabrera began collecting the stones in the 1960’s but there are reports of similar stones being removed from the region far earlier. In fact, it is reported Spanish Explorers sent some similar stones back to Spain in the year 1562. It is also reported a large number of the Ica stones were discovered when the Ica River flooded and revealed the stones. Others have been collected by local farmers and found in gravesites. Some of the stones are small, approximately the size of a small orange, while others are much larger, weighing as much as 1,000 pounds. At one point two Peruvian farmers who had previously claimed to discover a number of the stones admitted to having made the stones in order to sell them. This admission of guilt is seen by some as proof of the fraud, but others insist the two were simply trying to avoid a jail sentence as it is illegal to sell artifacts in Peru. For the more objective observer, there appears to be a third possibility.
Many people who have researched the Ica stones believe there are likely two distinct sets of stones. There are the original stones Doctor Cabrera collected, and a later set of fake stones. Doctor Cabrera seemed to be aware of these fakes and went so far as to have a number of his stones checked to be certain they were not modern forgeries. It is unclear how many fake stones may have been made, but it seems highly unlikely two famers could have carved 15,000 stones without everyone in the region being aware of it. There are estimates it would have taken 375,000 hours to carve all of the stones, or approximately 85 years of working 12 hours a day 7 days a week. It also seems unlikely these two farmers could have moved and carved stones weighing thousands of pounds in secret. Aside from this, there is the question of how they moved the stones and where they got the raw materials to work with. It must be realized, 15,000 stones would have left a very large hole.
Key Evidence Supporting Authenticity: Reports of the stones being found well before the admitted forgers were born is a strong indication all of the stones were not faked, at least not by these two individuals. Doctor Cabrera also had some of the stones tested and it was reported they were covered with a fine layer of patina. It should be noted that in some dry western regions it is not unusually for artifacts not to have patina even after several hundred years. This would indicate the stones tested had not been carved in modern times. The fact there are so many stones, found over a rather large area could be considered suspicious, but in this case it can be a supporting piece of evidence. The carvings on most of the stones were done by someone with skill and artistic ability. Unlike the crude clay figurines discussed in Part 1 of this series, these carvings could not have been completed by just anyone looking to make a quick dollar. Key Evidence Against Authenticity: There are several very damning pieces of evidence against these stones being authentic. The first is the fact you have two people who claimed to have found the stones then admitting to making them. The second is the sheer number of stones found and the fact there is no confirmed age associated with any of them. Many of the stones also show items such as telescopes, magnifying glasses and complex surgeries taking place. This goes well beyond the idea that ancient man knew what dinosaurs looked like because they had lived at the same time. This takes on an entirely new atmosphere of earth either being visited by advanced aliens, or the other possibility being the stones are fakes. If earth was visited by an advanced civilization and that is where these people saw telescopes and complex surgery, why would they include dinosaurs on the stones? How do the items relate to one another? There is very little if any supporting evidence in the way of scientific testing or age verification which supports the Ica stones being anything but modern day fakes.
Conclusions: While it is scientifically wrong to condemn all of the Ica stones as fakes simply because some of them were falsified, it certainly cast a cloud of doubt over all the stones. Reportedly some of the stones were sent to Spain in 1562. If these stones could be found today and confirmed to have come from Peru in 1562 it would give new life to this story, but at the moment there is no proof any stones were exported to Spain. The only thing which keeps authenticity as a possibility for me is the amount of work required to produce these stones. Just to collect 15,000 stones would be a huge task. Then to engrave intricate designs on the stones, apply fake patina to some, then hide the stones and later collect them is a staggering amount of work. Add to this the fact this all had to be done in complete secrecy and it is a stretch even for a conspiracy theorist. Even given the amount of work it would have taken to create a fraud of this size, without additional evidence, the Ica Stones appear to be quite simply, a fraud.
