STONE BOTHERING

In the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a vast landscape of towering sandstone cliffs, rocky plateaus and hidden caves stretches towards southern Pará. Known as Serra do Roncador, this rugged mountain region rises from the surrounding Cerrado, its weathered rock sculpted into arches, overhangs, narrow passages and unusual silhouettes resembling animals, human figures or monumental structures. These extraordinary shapes are the result of a long geological history. The region contains ancient sedimentary rocks, including sandstone, whose layers preserve traces of environments that existed millions of years ago. Over immense periods, wind, rain and erosion have shaped the exposed rock into the cliffs, hollows and distinctive forms that define the landscape. Quartz is also present in the region's geology, including within quartz-rich sandstone, and has attracted particular interest from those who associate the mountains with unusual energies and spiritual significance. The name *Roncado...

For forty two years, a group of enormous granite stones stood on a hilltop in Elbert County, Georgia, carrying a message intended for humanity and incorporating a carefully designed system for observing the Sun, Moon and stars. The monument was unveiled on March 22, 1980, but almost everything about the people who commissioned it was deliberately kept out of public view. The man who arranged its construction called himself R. C. Christian and admitted that Christian was a pseudonym. He claimed to represent a small group of Americans who wanted to create a monument for future generations, but the identity of that group and Christian's real name have never been publicly established. The stones were destroyed on July 6, 2022, when an explosive device was detonated at the site at approximately four in the morning. Surveillance cameras recorded the explosion and a vehicle leaving the area shortly afterwards. A large part of the monument was destroyed, and the Georgia Bureau of Investiga...

Ancient monuments are usually approached through what we can see. We look at the stones, study their construction, learn about the people who built them and try to understand how the monuments fitted into the landscape. But there is another aspect of ancient places that has attracted attention for generations: what people feel and detect when they spend time among the stones. There is a long tradition of people believing that certain ancient sites possess particular energies or forces. Earth Mysteries investigators have spent decades exploring these ideas, sometimes using instruments in an attempt to identify measurable effects. We have experienced some of these phenomena ourselves, and those experiences have made us curious about what may be happening at ancient sites that we cannot yet fully explain. One of these phenomena occurred at the King’s Men Stone Circle at the Rollright Stones . We have already written about this in detail, including the reported spiral within the circle an...

The King’s Men is the largest and best known of the prehistoric monuments at the Rollright Stones, a prehistoric complex on the Oxfordshire and Warwickshire border. It is one of the most distinctive stone circles in southern England and has attracted visitors, researchers and people interested in the unexplained for generations. The monument has been approached from very different perspectives. Archaeologists have investigated its prehistoric remains and surrounding landscape, while other investigations have explored unusual physical phenomena and reports of experiences among the stones. Alongside these investigations is a long tradition of what is now described as Earth Mysteries, including accounts of energy patterns and other effects perceived at the site. This article looks at one particular aspect of that history: a reported spiral pattern within the King’s Men and the experience we had when we decided to follow it for ourselves. Before getting to that experience, however, it is w...

Most descriptions of Machu Picchu focus on its terraces, temples and finely fitted masonry. Those are undoubtedly impressive, but they can also distract from another aspect of the site that deserves equal attention. Throughout Machu Picchu are a series of stone monuments that differ from the surrounding architecture. Some were carved directly from the mountain itself. Others were created by leaving natural granite outcrops almost untouched while building carefully planned structures around them. Together they suggest that, at certain locations, the stone itself was just as important as the buildings constructed nearby. A wall is an architectural element. A monument is a focal point. Throughout Machu Picchu there are places where the natural granite appears to have been selected, modified or framed in ways that set it apart from ordinary construction. Whether these features served astronomical, ceremonial, symbolic or practical purposes remains open to discussion. What can be observed, ...

Most visitors who arrive at Sacsayhuamán are captivated by its immense zigzag walls, where limestone blocks weighing many tonnes fit together with astonishing precision. Yet one of the site's greatest mysteries does not stand above the ground at all. It lies beneath their feet. Among the limestone outcrops on the northern side of the archaeological complex are a series of underground passages known as the Chinkanas. Although they receive only a fraction of the attention given to the monumental walls nearby, these tunnels have fascinated explorers, historians and local residents for centuries. Some visitors see nothing more than a few dark openings cut into the rock, while others believe they are the surviving entrances to an extensive subterranean network extending beneath ancient Cusco. The word chinkana comes from the Quechua language and is generally translated as a place where one becomes lost, a labyrinth or a hidden passage. The name is remarkably appropriate because almost e...