My cousin posted this to my newsfeed, and my attempts to get some hardheaded information on these things via Google has unearthed mostly seeping ponds of woo. What do the geologically/anthropologically inclined dopers think? Are these megaliths misinterpreted natural phenomena like the Bimini Road or Baigong Pipes, unnecessarily mystified ancient creations like Stonehenge or the pyramids (or the Baalbek site, mentioned below), or are they the work of aliens/the Illuminati?
There is no wikipedia page on these, which is not a good sign. It’s too hard to tell from the pictures if they are natural or man made. All the google hits are to alternative science websites, which is also not a good sign.
Internet pro-tip: you can pretty much disregard anything that uses “Russian news sources” as its primary source. For whatever reason, Russian media, at least the part of it that ends up feeding english web-articles, seems to be fairly saturated with urban legends and woo.
I’m reminded of a line from The Goodies episode “Rome Antics” (set in Roman Britannia):
BILL: And what have we Britons got to be proud of?!
TIM: Well . . . Stonehenge!
BILL: Oh, yeah, we built that thing! It’s been sittin’ out there for two thousand years!
Still doesn’t fly . . .
Just looking at what I can see on image search, it looks like pretty normal block weathered granite to me. The outcrop itself is a little unusual looking in its prominence and the cracks are perhaps a bit unusually rectangular, but that kind of box jointing is very common.
The outcrop actually reminds me a bit of the “before” pictures of Mount Rushmore, which was also a weirdly prominent outcrop of block weathered granite. Maybe they should learn from the South Dakotans and try using dynamite and jackhammers to make it really look like whatever they think it looks like when you squint at it.
Weathered granite was my first impression too. It reminds me of the strata around Canon city, though I don’t think the blocks are that big. Someone could easily have cut them *in situ *as well.
Looks like normal rocks to me. Compare this lovely [del]Roman Road[/del] block-jointed granite surface at Yosemite NP.
![this lovely [del]Roman Road[/del] block-jointed granite surface](http://www.scienceviews.com/photo/browse/SIA0969.jpg){kind=link}
There’s a nice overview ofhow it happenslower down onthis page. Note how washing away the interstitial material will leave you with precisely the gaps between blocks you see in the Russian example.
Here’s a tip. If you have a discovery which would make gigantic waves in science and the only place you can find it is second-rate websites with a poor reputation, it’s almost certainly fake or a hoax. Hell, even given the photos I’d be entirely willing to believe that this website was not telling the truth - that these photos were taken of a man-made structure. I mean, seriously, look at the other stories on the site. “The Man Who Invented AIDS”, “New Wonder Drug Matches And Kills All Kinds Of Cancer”, “Car Runs 1 Million Miles on 8 Grams of Thorium”… Man, it’s like a comedy gold mine for people who like laughing at bad science. What were you even doing on that site? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with rejecting a source because other things it’s said are demonstrably insane.
Off to IMHO with you. It’s a better place for well, soliciting opinions.
They look natural, but there look to be like some cultural (human) interference and modification. Some slabs may have been pried out and gaps placed in between for whatever convenient use.
I’m sure Lloyd Pie can explain about these monoliths.
See the Yosemite page I linked to for why there’s no need to invoke humans to explain gaps.
Yep. When I saw the first picture, I assumed it was just building up to the interesting bit. That’s completely normal geology there. Anyone who’s grown up around mountains has seen stuff like that.
Next thing you know, they’ll be finding pyramids in Bosnia.
I’ve seen demonstrations on TV showing that even a beginner, whacking a big rock with a smaller rock, can make flat surfaces, right angles, and even spheres. An experienced rock-whacker could probably even do it without continually injuring his fingers.
The ancient mystery mongers usually ignore the possibility of many workers, each one taking a long time to make one perfect block.
There does seem to be a passing similarity to Saksaywaman in Peru.
Any other archaeological evidence of human occupation in the area?
The guy considers Baalbek to be a great archeological mystery…I won’t be trusting his take on anything, frankly.
That’s not even the situation here. It’s natural. Yes, Virginia, nature can make right angles!
Maybe, but Lloyd Pye can’t . . . 'cause he be dead! (And I’m certain his cancer was caused by aliens*! *Or Bigfoots!)
CMC fnord!
I can’t get these links to work, I’m afraid. Here’s a decent example, though. Thanks, Mr. Dibble.