# Face on Mars -- Cydonia Region
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 2, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530 "2001-03-02T18:11:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@furnishesq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furnishesq)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/1 "2001-03-02T18:11:09Z")
I have always been fascinated about the “face on Mars” controversy. I always wanted to ask “true believers” the following question:
```
If the face is made by intelligent life, why would they make something that could only be seen from high in the sky? Obviously, if you where on the ground you would not be able to see the face. Why would you build something so massive that looks straight up! I doubt that those who built it would say "someday I hope a space probe goes by to photograph this face"
Simply based on the position of the face, doesn't it make sense that this is not manmade?
```
---
### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/2 "2001-03-02T18:17:28Z")
God is up in the sky, looking down on us. We built the big face so He could see it.
Duh.
😃
---
### Author:  [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/3 "2001-03-02T18:27:18Z")
_ **Assuming it was intelligent beings that built it…** _ (BIG assumption)
Would it be that big of a leap that they knew of air travel? Possibly orbit? Maybe they were a relatively advanced civilization. Maybe it was meant as something to grab attention of some future space capable race sending probes to visit the planet? Surely a massive sculpture big enough to see from orbit would get somebodys attention.
Although I like the god answer a bit better.
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/4 "2001-03-02T18:45:52Z")
If it was constructed, why was it made to look like Ted Kennedy? :D:D:D
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### Author:  [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/5 "2001-03-02T19:34:29Z")
That seems to be a poor argument that the face is not man made. Right here on earth we have things that were constructed which can only be seen from high in the sky (the Nazca lines in Peru, for example), so obviously it’s been done before.
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### Author:  [@furnishesq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furnishesq)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/6 "2001-03-02T19:40:42Z")
The lines found on Earth can be reasonably done by simply drawing a line in the sand. While this is no easy feat, it could be done by what we think of as a less advanced civilization. The face on Mars, if it was made by intelligent beings, would require an amazing amount of skill. Why would a civilization create something so massive that could not be seen by its own citizens? And why would they design something that you could only see by flying over it?
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/7 "2001-03-02T21:59:18Z")
Um, I’m afraid that I don’t see how the question is meaningful, unless it’s asked of a person who does believe the face was made by intelligent beings. You’ll find very few such people here, I’d wager.
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### Author:  [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/8 "2001-03-02T22:21:21Z")
It seems to me you’re missing an obvious hypothesis.
The face was made by an ancient civilization. Earth has had ancient civilizations, too, which built all sorts of statues which no longer exist. The Collossus at Rhodes springs to mind. Suppose a civilization built an enormous statue (or bust, to simplify things). Then, when the civilization vanished, as did all life on Mars, the base of the structure eroded, toppling it. Or a quake occured. Or a conquering civilization built on top of it, and it’s only now been uncovered.
At any rate, what was once standing, looking at the horizon, is now lying, looking at the sky. Toppled ruins are nothing new.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/9 "2001-03-02T22:29:44Z")
Or, an even better hypothesis is that the “face” in Cydonia is a [rather unremarkable area of the Martian surface](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/atlas/theface.html).
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/10 "2001-03-03T00:36:52Z")
This has already been dealt with as a SD column here: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmarsface.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmarsface.html)
Conclusion: it’s a bunch of hooey. I couldn’t agree more.
Best refutation is the attached image, also from Mars:
[http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/3\_11\_99\_happy/](http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/3_11_99_happy/)
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/11 "2001-03-03T00:42:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by DAVEW0071 \*
> \*\*At any rate, what was once standing, looking at the horizon, is now lying, looking at the sky. Toppled ruins are nothing new. \*\*
Except that when standing this ‘face’ would have been _nine thousand feet_ tall. Come now.
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/12 "2001-03-03T13:38:06Z")
The Mars Global Surveyor has since returned some
[high resolution pictures](http://www.solarviews.com/cap/face/face3.htm) of the face and it should be clear that the image of a face is only seen when the photographs are low resolution.
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### Author:  [@Alonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonist)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/13 "2001-03-03T14:24:12Z")
But what about [this one](http://home.earthlink.net/~bartonmg/mars.html)?
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### Author:  [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/14 "2001-03-03T16:33:43Z")
Even though the face is probably a trick of light and shadow let’s assume it was built by intelligent beings.
To quote you, furnishesq, “The lines found on Earth can be reasonably done by simply drawing a line in the sand. While this is no easy feat, it could be done by what we think of as a less advanced civilization.” The same passions that drive low functioning civilizations drive upper ones also. Many advanced civilizations such as the Egyptians and the people of city of Tiaujanaco had structures aligned with the stars. Why is it such a stretch to think that a group of advanced beings would build something that could only be seen from above or verified by mathematics?
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### Author:  [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/15 "2001-03-08T02:39:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Except that when standing this ‘face’ would have been nine thousand feet tall. Come now.
I hope you didn’t think that because I offered that hypothesis that I actually think the “face” was engineered by intelligent beings. I only offered it as some sort of explanation. I’ve always considered it an interesting trick of light and shadow.
As Wayne Campbell once said, “Do you think I’m a gulli-bull? Or even a gulli-calf?!”
---
### Author:  [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2001, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/face-on-mars-cydonia-region/56530/16 "2001-03-09T13:11:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by alonicist \*
> \*\*But what about [this one](http://home.earthlink.net/~bartonmg/mars.html)? \*\*
better picture…
[http://apod.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990315.html](http://apod.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990315.html)