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The book "Secrets of the Ica Stones" is devoted to the description of one of the most paradoxical historical phenomena, testifying to how much our current understanding of the ancient history of mankind can be limited and schematic.
Latin American researcher Dr. Javier Cabrera from the small Peruvian city of Ica collected in the 60-70s of the last century a huge collection of unusual ancient artifacts. These were granite stones with images engraved on them. The scenes presented on these stones revealed the life of an unknown and, if I may say so, impossible civilization. It turned out to be a kind of "encyclopedia" of the distant past of mankind, which cannot even be dated today. The plots depicted on the Ica stones absolutely contradict not only modern concepts of the development of the ancient Indian civilizations of South America, but also come into conflict with the whole complex of ideas about the evolution of mankind.
Images of ancient animals that became extinct more than 300 million years ago. People who hunt dinosaurs or use ancient reptiles as pets. Aircraft of a completely incomprehensible external appearance. Maps of unknown continents and maps of the starry sky. Ancient surgeons who, using the simplest instruments, carry out operations for the transplantation of various internal organs, including the heart and brain.
The author of the book is a candidate of historical sciences and for many years has been studying the problems of the ancient history of mankind. The book is based on materials collected by the author during an expedition to Peru in 2004 and 2007. About 200 author's photographs, most of which have not been published before.
From the author
Promotional video:
When studying history at school or at the institute, one gets the impression that the past of mankind has been well studied and our ideas about the life of ancient people in different parts of the world are not a particular mystery. In any case, for historians. The confident progressive development of human civilization over the past ten thousand years is clearly demonstrated in hundreds of thousands of popular books and textbooks. As a result, in the mass consciousness, a rather simple in nature scheme of the evolution of human society from simple to complex is being formed. The mastery of fire and the emergence of tools of labor, the emergence of a productive economy, the invention of the wheel and the calendar, the slave system and the era of great geographical discoveries, the industrial revolution and the development of the capitalist economy. Already the atomic bomb and flew into space.
True, if you puzzle yourself with simple questions in relation to such a general concept of human development, a paradoxical situation immediately arises: the simpler the question, the more difficult it is to find attempts to solve it in the scientific literature. According to current ideas, the human species has existed for several million years. Every decade, new discoveries by anthropologists are gradually making this age old. Homo sapiens, according to scientists, appeared about a hundred thousand years ago and only six - seven thousand years as a man entered the era of civilization. It would seem a simple question that immediately comes to mind: why did man exist for millions of years in a semi-animal state, and why did he live for tens of thousands of years without being able to form the foundations of a civilized society? And then suddenly the first civilizations appear in different parts of the planet. And why did these first civilizations arise already in a “ready-made form”: with a developed manufacturing economy and numerous types of domestic plants, with an accurate calendar and a formed writing system, etc.?
In fact, such questions are simple only in terms of their posing. The child also often asks a “why” to which an adult does not even know how to answer. On the other hand, more often than not, this is the simplest "why?" is the most global and difficult issue. Indeed, the main goal of human cognition could be formulated by the question “Who are we? Where are we from? Where are we going?". And who can say with confidence that the answer to this question will ever be found? But it is precisely the search for this answer that, in the final analysis, is devoted to the activity of the historian.
Our knowledge about the past of mankind can exist only in the form of a certain diagram describing the emergence, the main stages and patterns of development of human society. Naturally, with the accumulation of historical data, one scheme is replaced by another, more fully explaining the existing facts. And also, which is very important, more adequately meeting the social and political needs of the society, within which such a worldview scheme functions.
But it should always be remembered that current ideas about human history are only a possible version, framed in a certain scheme based on a number of concepts and theories. Moreover, history, like any other science, operates with a limited set of facts. When constructing any theory, no researcher is able to take into account the entire set of factual data available in the field of science he is studying. This is a purely physical limitation that cannot be overcome even in our age of global communications. This limitation causes a "congenital defect" of any scientific concept or theory, which will always be based on a certain limited set of facts. Moreover, such a set of facts will be a subjective sample, carried out due to the capabilities and on the basis of the scientific conscientiousness of a particular researcher. Therefore, it should always be remembered that history, like science in general, is by no means "the ultimate truth", but a set of speculative concepts supported by a certain circle of people. Those. the story is conventional. And this is another "congenital defect" that determines the main disadvantages of the modern way of knowing.
I believe that any researcher will agree with the obvious general scientific methodological principle: "if the available facts do not fit into the existing theory, such a theory should be revised or rejected." But in reality, unfortunately, few people follow this principle. In most cases, the most common way is the opposite principle: if the facts do not fit into the generally accepted theory, they are rejected. Those. they are ignored or discredited by declaring such facts unreliable. In history, this takes place all the time, be it recent history (where political interests come first) or ancient history.
The reader who is interested in the ancient history of mankind, I believe, one way or another came across a set of facts that in no way fit into the generally accepted concept of the most ancient past of human civilization today. In recent years, a large number of publications have appeared on this topic. These facts are numerous, but at the same time, rather scattered. Many archaeological finds are of an isolated nature. Naturally, it is easier to hush up unique facts. But at the same time, there is a number of evidences of the most ancient past of mankind, which are complex in nature, and it is quite difficult not to pay attention to them.
This category of evidence includes a collection of engraved stones from the Peruvian city of Ica, collected in the 60-70s of the last century by Dr. Javier Cabrera. Indeed, the scenes depicting a human hunting for dinosaurs do not in any way fit into modern ideas about the evolution of life on Earth. Science simply cannot take into consideration the assumption of the very possibility of the coexistence of man and dinosaur. Or assume that in ancient times there was another advanced civilization capable of building, for example, aircraft heavier than air. All this can only relate to the genre of "fantasy" and cannot be the subject of research by "serious science". And if there are any alternative facts, then it is more convenient not to notice their existence, or immediately refer to the category of falsifications. In the collection,Collected by Dr. Cabrera, thousands (not units) of stones depict scenes that undermine the very foundations of the modern evolutionary paradigm. And thanks to the active work of Javier Cabrera, his collection was able to make enough noise in the mid-70s. However, the stones of his collection were officially declared a forgery, the noise quickly died down and the sensation was "crushed". The foundations of historical science were not shaken.
I first learned about the Ica stones more than thirty years ago after reading a selection of articles in the journal Science and Life. In the perception of a ten-year-old schoolboy, this was one of the most exciting mysteries of ancient human history. But the fact is that in those years there were only one or two books in the Russian language even on the official history of ancient America. What can we say about paradoxical materials. Nevertheless, such rare scraps of information that slipped through the popular Soviet press determined the nature of the author's future interests.
Having dealt with the mysteries of the ancient history of mankind over the past ten years, I tried to collect available information about the engraved stones of Ica. It turned out that even on the Internet, not to mention published works, there is very little information on this issue. Moreover, half of the materials found were based on data from the mid-1970s, i.e. those that were made public during the "hype" around this discovery. In 2003, I got acquainted via the Internet with the American researcher of the mysteries of ancient history Dennis Swift. He has been to Peru on several occasions and was personally acquainted with Dr. Javier Cabrera. Dennis organized our first visit to the Ica Stone Museum, which was closed to the public after Cabrera's death. In the spring of 2004, having agreed on the date and route,we met in Lima and went along the coast to the center of Peru. We spent two days in Ika. Circumstances did not allow us to thoroughly examine the collection of Dr. Cabrera. However, even for a superficial study of the museum collection, containing more than ten thousand exhibits, two months would not be enough. However, we managed to take over a thousand photographs of engraved stones. In 2007, as part of a group of Russian researchers, I visited Peru for the second time, including the Cabrera Museum. We filmed video material for the documentary "Secrets of the Ica Stones", which was released at the end of the same year. Of course, all this cannot be called real scientific research, and I do not pretend to be. However, the amount of information about Ica stones available in the literature and on the Internet is so limited thatthat it is extremely difficult to form a full-fledged picture of this cultural and historical phenomenon from them.
I want to emphasize in advance that in this book the reader will not find beautiful verified hypotheses and well-founded assumptions. The material itself is so unusual for our modern worldview that it is too early to set the task of its scientific comprehension. And first of all, because this material simply contradicts the scientific paradigm that has been established over the past two hundred years. It contradicts the modern concept of the evolution of life on Earth, comes into conflict with the entire complex of the humanities and may cause genuine bewilderment among specialists in various fields of knowledge.
Therefore, in writing this book, I have three main goals. First, to provide the reader with the maximum possible amount of illustrative material. Unfortunately, most of the books and publications devoted to this topic suffer from an insufficient number of accompanying photographs. And as folk wisdom says, "it's better to see once …". Secondly, using all the argumentation available to me, clearly show that the phenomenon of Ica stones cannot be a fake, "cooked up" by semi-literate Peruvian peasants for sale to tourists. Just as it cannot be a hoax made for the sake of a sensation or in order to mislead "gullible" humanity. Ica stones are an archaeological fact, and it is from this point of view that this phenomenon must be considered. I want to make a reservation right away,that the position of the author of the book is biased. I am convinced of the deep antiquity of Ica stones and my main task is to convey this belief to the reader. And, finally, the third goal is to outline in the first approximation the circle of riddles and paradoxical questions that arise even with a preliminary acquaintance with the complex of Ica stones using the available material.
The city of Ica is located in the coastal part of Peru, 325 km south of Lima (Fig. 1). Ica is the capital of the department of the same name, which includes four provinces: Ica, Nazca, Pisco and Palpa (or Chincha). The Ica Department is a single area, both in natural-geographical and cultural-historical terms. From the point of view of modern archeology, it is also a single cultural area, designated as the zone of the Central Coast of Peru, united by a succession of archaeological cultures close to each other.
Figure: 1
The city of Ica itself was founded in 1563. Its founder was the conquistador, a native of the noble Spanish family, Don Jeronimo Luis de Cabrera and Toledo. He named the new settlement "Villa de Valverde" (Green Valley Village) because it was located in a fertile and vegetated river valley. From their very appearance in this area, the Spaniards began to grow grapes here imported from the Canary Islands. And today the main sector of the local economy is viticulture and winemaking. The pisco grape liqueur is known throughout Latin America. It was named after the port of Pisco, through which it is exported to this day.
Currently, the population of the city of Ica is about 270 thousand people. In addition to the wine industry and some other agricultural sectors, tourism is one of the main sources of income, since Ica, like other centers of the coastal provinces of Peru, is located on the Pan American Highway.
Today the area of the Ica department is a coastal desert several kilometers wide, bounded from the east by the first, still low, spurs of the Andes. The climate here is extremely dry, which, by the way, led to the presence of unique soil conditions that contributed to the excellent conservation of archaeological remains in ancient burial complexes. Modern agriculture exists thanks to the tireless care of local farmers for cultivated land. Although the territory in the Ica department became a scorched desert only quite recently - literally in the twentieth century. Until that time, to the south of Ica, the forests of the Huarango tree stretched about 60 km. This plant, related to acacia, had a hard trunk and thorny branches. In colonial times, this woodland supplied even other provinces of Peru with timber. In the XIX century.its wood was used to make sleepers on the Ica-Pisco section of the railway, as fuel for steam locomotives, as well as in the coal industry and in vineyards. This led to the disappearance of forests. But in the distant past, there apparently were also vast forests, since the number of perfectly preserved wooden products extracted from the burials of ancient Indian cultures number hundreds of thousands.
More recently, a group of British archaeologists led by D. Beresford-Jones of the University of Cambridge hypothesized that the Nazca culture, which flourished here in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. destroyed itself as a result of the massive cutting down of the ouarango groves. Based on the analysis of pollen samples found in ancient burials, scientists concluded that in the last centuries of the Nazca culture, there were no thickets of Huarango left in this area. All of them were cut down to clear land for corn and cotton plantations. This led to a sharp dehydration of the land and, as a result, to the decline of the Nazca culture. Even if this hypothesis is correct, historical data from more recent times indicate that the forestlands of the Huarango subsequently recovered naturally.
The archaeological heritage of this region is so abundant and varied that a hundred years ago, one of the founders of Peruvian archeology, Max Ole, called the area “a paradise for archaeologists”. By the way, this factor, in my opinion, played its own, albeit not decisive, role in the whole story with the Ica stones.
Dr. Javier Cabrera Darkea (photo 1) was born in Ica in 1924. His whole life was spent in his hometown. And he died here in December 2001, having died after a long illness from a cancer. Javier Cabrera was a direct descendant of the founder of Ica and was one of the city's honorary citizens. His family lived in the city center from generation to generation. And now here, on the main square of Plaza del Armas, there is a mansion of the Cabrera family, in which the collection of Ica stones is actually located (photo 2).
Photo 1
Photo 2
The personality of a researcher always plays a decisive role in the formation of his scientific worldview and accordingly affects the nature of his work. Therefore, I think it is necessary to mention briefly the fate of Dr. Cabrera. After graduating from high school in his hometown, Javier Cabrera entered the National University of San Marcos in Lima, where he specialized in the Department of Surgery. After graduating with a professor's degree, Cabrera worked for four years in a public clinic, after which he returned to Ica. Here in 1961 he became one of the founders of the National University of Ica, where he headed the Department of Surgery. Carried away by collecting engraved stones, he was subsequently forced to leave the pulpit. Nevertheless, Dr. Cabrera, for a long time, while his strength and health allowed, led a private medical practice. According to thosewho knew him, Javier Cabrera was a very enthusiastic and even eccentric person. But these are the people who usually become true pioneers and outstanding researchers. Beginning in 1966, Cabrera became interested in collecting engraved stones and devoted the remaining forty years of his life to them. He was completely absorbed in collecting and researching stones, spent all the free funds at his disposal and, despite the complete rejection of the official science, continued his work for decades. It is not surprising, therefore, that most people who knew Javier Cabrera, including his friends, considered him an eccentric or even crazy. At the same time, in the press during the period of an active campaign against the recognition of the authenticity of Cabrera's collection, he was almost directly accused of falsification or,at least in gullibility and naivety. But here the following fact should be noted: despite all the background, the municipal authorities in 1988 awarded Dr. Cabrera with the honorary title "Favorite son of the city of Ica." And in October 2001, two months before his death, Cabrera was awarded a gold medal and another title "Outstanding Son of the City."
The history of Dr. Cabrera's Ica stone collection began in 1966, when his childhood friend and constant patient Felix Llosa Romero presented him with a small oval stone engraved with a strange fish. At first, Cabrera did not attach much importance to it and used the stone as papier-mâché for papers on his desk. A little later, drawing on the oddities of the fish depicted on the stone, Cabrera found out that the drawing most of all resembles an ancient cross-finned fish. By this time, the coelacanth was already known to science and its images were available in popular literature. Dr. Cabrera became interested in the stone and asked his friend Felix about its origin. He replied that he received the stone from his brother, who had already collected a whole collection of similar items. Felix also said,that stones with strange engraved images have been found by local peasants in their fields for many years, or they have been mined by grave robbers in ancient Indian burials. Dr. Cabrera, as he himself wrote later, recalled that thirteen years earlier he had seen a similar stone. His father's workers found him while plowing a field. A strange bird was depicted on the stone, and the workers said that it was made by the Incas. However, illiterate peasants in the middle of the last century could not know anything about Indian antiquities except that they belonged to the Incas. As a matter of fact, in American archeology only at the end of the 60s was the general chronology and periodization of the archaeological cultures of Peru formed. Dr. Cabrera himself, until 1966, was not interested in archeology at all. Familiarization with the collection of Brother Romero and prompted Cabrera to study stones.
True, twenty years later, in a private conversation with one of the researchers, Cabrera claimed that his father in the early 30s found many engraved stones in ancient burials. This inconsistency of information is explained, first of all, by the character traits of Javier Cabrera. It should be noted that he was characterized by a certain mystery. Moreover, he admitted that modern humanity, in his opinion, is not yet ready to accept the message encrypted by another civilization in the images on the stones of Ica. However, such details are of little importance for the problems of this book.
Although the details of the formation of Dr. Cabrera's collection are not known to me, the main events took place actively in the late 60s. As a man with an academic background, Javier Cabrera, after seeing Romero's collection, went to the Regional Museum of Ica and asked to be shown the collection of stones from the museum. The fact is that it was in this museum that the Ica stones were officially exhibited for the first time. They came to the museum from the private collection of the Soldi brothers, but this exposition existed here for only a few years. In 1970, after a visit by art experts from Lima, it was hidden in storerooms. Currently, the museum has 121 engraved stones within the so-called "Kolka collection". All of them are hidden in basements, and access to them is strictly prohibited. The American researcher of Iki stones Dennis Swift has repeatedly tried to get acquainted with this collection over the past years. But the museum categorically refused him. Finally, in 2002, he obtained permission from the Ica Provincial Department of Culture. He saw the collection, was able to count the number of stones in it and conduct a superficial study of them. He was allowed to take only three photographs. After reviewing this collection, Dennis concluded that the stones in the Ica Museum are similar in all their parameters to those that were collected by Dr. Cabrera. He was allowed to take only three photographs. After reviewing this collection, Dennis concluded that the stones in the Ica Museum are similar in all their parameters to those that were collected by Dr. Cabrera. He was allowed to take only three photographs. After reviewing this collection, Dennis concluded that the stones in the Ica Museum are similar in all their parameters to those that were collected by Dr. Cabrera.
Javier Cabrera himself made an attempt to interest the museum in the study of stones in the late 60s, but the director told him that, according to his friend, the stones were made by the grave robbers themselves, so they were of no historical interest. All this is very significant. Initially, the stones were exhibited in the museum as genuine artifacts found in the burials of ancient cultures, and a little later, after aroused interest in them, they were declared fake and hidden. However, in the history of the Ica stones, there are enough such cases.
The first major gamblers in Ica were the brothers Carlos and Pablo Soldi. In the mid-50s of the last century, they acquired a vast territory in the Okukahe region for grape plantations, since they were engaged in winemaking. A huge number of ancient burial grounds were found on the acquired lands. Therefore, since 1955, the workers serving these fields, every year brought the owners of the vineyards various ancient artifacts from the excavated burials extracted during the plowing of the land. The Soldi brothers had a large home collection of Peruvian antiquities, including engraved stones. They were the first to recognize the enormous scientific value of these ancient stones. Therefore, the Soldi brothers began to actively buy them from the grave robbers, who in Peru are called "huqueros" (more about them will be described below). Waqueros engraved stones were not given much importance. After all, these were just stones with drawings, not jewelry made of gold and silver, not polychrome ceramics and not painted fabrics, which are so abundant in the land of Ica, literally stuffed with antiquities. The Soldi brothers tried to attract the attention of professional archaeologists to this phenomenon, but to no avail. They also wanted the stones to be displayed in museums in Peru. In 1967, after the death of Carlos Soldi, his brother Pablo donated part of his collection of 114 engraved stones to the Regional Museum of Ica. Some of them even got into the exposition of the museum, but not for long. Dr. Cabrera also knew about the Soldi brothers' collection, but only after he became interested in engraved stones, he got to know her closely in 1967. After all, these were just stones with drawings, not jewelry made of gold and silver, not polychrome ceramics and not painted fabrics, which are so abundant in the land of Ica, literally stuffed with antiquities. The Soldi brothers tried to attract the attention of professional archaeologists to this phenomenon, but to no avail. They also wanted the stones to be displayed in museums in Peru. In 1967, after the death of Carlos Soldi, his brother Pablo donated part of his collection of 114 engraved stones to the Regional Museum of Ica. Some of them even got into the exposition of the museum, but not for long. Dr. Cabrera also knew about the Soldi brothers' collection, but only after he became interested in engraved stones, he got to know her closely in 1967. After all, these were just stones with drawings, not jewelry made of gold and silver, not polychrome ceramics and not painted fabrics, which are so abundant in the land of Ica, literally stuffed with antiquities. The Soldi brothers tried to attract the attention of professional archaeologists to this phenomenon, but to no avail. They also wanted the stones to be displayed in museums in Peru. In 1967, after the death of Carlos Soldi, his brother Pablo donated part of his collection of 114 engraved stones to the Regional Museum of Ica. Some of them even got into the exposition of the museum, but not for long. Dr. Cabrera also knew about the Soldi brothers' collection, but only after he became interested in engraved stones, he got to know her closely in 1967.with which the land of Ica, literally stuffed with antiquities, is so abundant. The Soldi brothers tried to attract the attention of professional archaeologists to this phenomenon, but to no avail. They also wanted the stones to be displayed in museums in Peru. In 1967, after the death of Carlos Soldi, his brother Pablo donated part of his collection of 114 engraved stones to the Regional Museum of Ica. Some of them even got into the exposition of the museum, but not for long. Dr. Cabrera also knew about the Soldi brothers' collection, but only after he became interested in engraved stones, he got to know her closely in 1967.with which the land of Ica, literally stuffed with antiquities, is so abundant. The Soldi brothers tried to attract the attention of professional archaeologists to this phenomenon, but to no avail. They also wanted the stones to be displayed in museums in Peru. In 1967, after the death of Carlos Soldi, his brother Pablo donated part of his collection of 114 engraved stones to the Regional Museum of Ica. Some of them even got into the exposition of the museum, but not for long. Dr. Cabrera also knew about the Soldi brothers' collection, but only after he became interested in engraved stones, he got to know her closely in 1967. In 1967, after the death of Carlos Soldi, his brother Pablo donated part of his collection of 114 engraved stones to the Regional Museum of Ica. Some of them even got into the exposition of the museum, but not for long. Dr. Cabrera also knew about the Soldi brothers' collection, but only after he became interested in engraved stones, he got to know her closely in 1967. In 1967, after the death of Carlos Soldi, his brother Pablo donated part of his collection of 114 engraved stones to the Regional Museum of Ica. Some of them even got into the exposition of the museum, but not for long. Dr. Cabrera also knew about the Soldi brothers' collection, but only after he became interested in engraved stones, he got to know her closely in 1967.
Erich von Daniken, a well-known researcher of antiquities and popularizer of the ancient history of mankind, was quite familiar with Javier Cabrera and visited him several times during his visits to Peru. In one of his books (“Signs turned to eternity”, M., “EKSMO”, 2004) he cites the following fact. Having learned about Cabrera's interest in engraved stones, the Soldi brothers offered him to buy part of the collection, since there was no more storage space in their house and they had to stack stones in the open air. Dr. Cabrera agreed and bought 341 stones from Soldi for the amount of 7000 old salts. According to Daniken, this amount in those years corresponded to approximately 140 German marks or 45 US dollars. The money was really not big even for a provincial Peruvian city. It was this first batch of stones that became the basis for the future collection of Dr. Cabrera. The fact is that it contained several samples depicting complex surgical operations. And Javier Cabrera, being a professional surgeon, could not help but pay close attention to them. Since that time, he himself began to actively collect information about engraved stones and collect them.
As a medical practitioner, Dr. Cabrera often treated poor peasants and Indians, who sometimes had nothing to pay for his services. Having learned about the doctor's hobby, many patients began to bring him engraved stones, ceramics and wood as payment. This was also facilitated by the fact that Cabrera actively asked local peasants about the subject of his interest. In addition, as Cabrera himself admitted in his book, his friends actively helped him in collecting stones.
It should be noted here that predatory excavations are a widespread trade among the population of the central coast of Peru, providing a fairly stable income for a significant number of families. This is not surprising. Peruvian law naturally provides for criminal penalties for this type of activity. But the black market demand for the region's antiquity is extremely high. The main flow of ancient products goes to the USA. These are, first of all, the painted ceramics of the ancient cultures of Ica, Nazca, Paracas, Tiahuanaco, Inca (photo 3), metal products (gold, silver, bronze) and, perfectly preserved in the local sandy soils, ornamented fabric products (photo 4). The number of ancient burials in this region is estimated at tens of thousands. Hardly more than 1-2% of them are excavated by professional archaeologists. Against the background of such an abundance of antiques, stones with engraved drawings are simply lost. The huqueros themselves sold them to collectors for mere pennies. Dr. Cabrera was also involved in the targeted purchase of stones. Thanks to his vigorous activity for a couple of years, he collected about 6,000 copies. In addition to medical practice, in the second half of the 60s, Cabrera founded the House of Culture in Ica and became its director. And in 1968 he exhibited part of his collection there. But back in 1967, Cabrera developed a vigorous activity to promote the collection of Ica stones, trying to interest representatives of official science in this phenomenon. He gave lectures, gave interviews, published articles in the press, which led to the fact that in a short time the Ica stones became known not only in Peru, but also abroad.
Photo 3
Photo 4
In addition, at the very beginning of the 70s, Dr. Cabrera donated about 50 stones from his collection to the representatives of the Peruvian BBC TV company for the newly created National Museum of Aeronautics in Lima. All stones had similar subjects: they depicted man's flights on strange flying machines, as well as riding birds and lizard-like flying creatures. These stones are kept in the museum to this day. True, not all of them are on display for visitors to see, most are stored in the storeroom. By the way, Colonel Omar Karraza, who was the first director of this museum, did not doubt the authenticity and great scientific importance of the engraved stones. He also actively collected them and by 1974 the museum's collection consisted of about 400 stones, originating from various parts of Peru. Only a few specimens have been found in burials in the Okukakhe Valley (20 km south of Ika).
Starting to collect the collection, Cabrera came across a book by Herman Baze "Acquaintance with Peru" (1965), in which he described engraved stones with strange images and stated that in 1961 the flood of the Ica River in the Okukahe region washed out a huge number of such stones, most which fell into the collection of the Soldi brothers. The brothers repeatedly tried to interest scientists in their collection, but to no avail. Baze also wrote that the huqueros were ready to show the sites of the finds to professional archaeologists in order to prove the authenticity of their origin, but the latter simply refused. When the stones first became known to the general public, they were called "Okukahe engraved stones", after the place where they were originally discovered. But as a result of the active work of Javier Cabrera, they were renamed "Cabrera stones". This had its negative aspect, hinting thatthat the stones did not seem to exist until Dr. Cabrera took care of them. Only in the early 70s, thanks to the popularization of the Cabrera collection in other countries of the world, the name "Ica stones" was assigned to it, which I also use in this book.
The reaction of the authorities and representatives of academic science to the active popularizing activities of Javier Cabrera, as expected, turned out to be restrained and negative. Restrained, most likely because Dr. Cabrera was considered an authoritative person and came from an ancient noble family, which in Peru is still an extremely significant social factor. In December 1968, Cabrera realized that he would hardly be able to achieve the support of officials from culture and academic scientists, and therefore he moved the collection "out of harm's way" to his home in Plaza del Armas, where it is still located. However, Cabrera did not stop his active work through official channels. So, in April 1970, he sent an official request to the National Board of Trustees for Archeology for permission for archaeological work in the Okukahe zone. It is this institution in Peru that issues official permits for archaeological excavations. But already in July, Cabrera received an official refusal without explanation.
In January 1972, during the First Congress of Andean Archeology in Lima, the aforementioned Herman Baze published an article in the capital's newspaper El Comercio on the Ica stones and the collection of Dr. Cabrera in order to attract the attention of the congress participants. In his article, Bazet cited both the views of skeptics about the Cabrera collection and those who believed in the authenticity of the stones. He appealed to the congress participants, urging them to understand this phenomenon. However, there was no reaction from the specialists.
As mentioned above, Dr. Cabrera was not the first collector of Ica stones, nor was he the only popularizer of them. Back in the late 1950s, Commander Elias, who was the curator of the Callao Maritime Museum, became interested in engraved stones. He also bought stones from the huqueros, and managed to collect about 300 copies, which were on display in the museum until 1973, when Elias resigned from his post. The stones he collected came from the Okukakhe region and from the Ika river valley. According to the huqueros, they found these stones both in ground burials and in cave burials. Both types of burials were typical of local archaeological cultures of the 1st millennium AD.
In addition to Commander Elias and the Soldi brothers, one of the earliest known collectors and explorers of engraved stones was the architect Santiago Agurto Calvo. Back in December 1965, Calvo published an article in the newspaper El Comercio about the engraved stones he found in pre-Inca burials. Together with archaeologist Alejandro Assereto of the Peruvian National Board of Trustees for Archeology, he excavated several burials and found two stones. One depicted a flying bird, the other a stylized star. In 1968 Assereto published a book on the archeology of the province of Ica, in which he clarified where these stones were found. The first he and Calvo discovered in a burial in the Tom Luz sector in Hacienda Calyango (Ica Valley) on August 20, 1966. Later,On September 11, together with Calvo, they excavated a Paracas burial on a hill in the La Banda sector (Okukahe district) and found a second stone with an engraved image in it. These stones were transferred to the Regional Museum of the city of Ica. Thus, at the very beginning of the active study of this phenomenon, a professional archaeologist and a representative of official science confirmed in practice the authenticity of engraved stones as archaeological artifacts. And these facts were published in the official publications.already at the very beginning of the active research of this phenomenon, the authenticity of engraved stones as archaeological artifacts was confirmed in practice by a professional archaeologist and a representative of official science. And these facts were published in the official publications.already at the very beginning of the active study of this phenomenon by a professional archaeologist and a representative of official science, the authenticity of the engraved stones as archaeological artifacts was confirmed in practice. And these facts were published in the official publications.
Moreover, in recent years, references to the Ica stones have been found in written sources. Thus, the Jesuit missionary Father Simon, who accompanied Francisco Pissaro in his 1535 campaign, mentioned in his notes about engraved stones in the Ica Valley. There is information that in 1562, several stones with engraved drawings were sent to Spain along with other objects of Indian cultures to Peru. But their further fate, of course, is unknown. The Indian chronicler Juan de Santa Cruz noted in his chronicle "Report on the Antiquities of the Kingdom of Peru" (1613) that during the reign of the Inca Pachacuti, many engraved stones were found on the territory of the Chincha kingdom in the Chinchayunga province (corresponding to the central coast of Peru). Interesting fact: it would seem, why would a chronicler,who described the greatness of the lost empire, mention some stones with drawings?
The famous French researcher of the ancient history of mankind Robert Charroux visited Javier Cabrera twice (in 1973 and 1974) and got acquainted with the collection of his stones. In 1974, Sharru's book "The Mysteries of the Andes" was published in Paris, in which he devoted considerable space to describing the collection of Ica stones. Sharru expressed in his book the idea that humanity is many millions of years older than it is commonly believed. And he considered the stones of Ica as one of the decisive proofs of this. Thanks to the author's authority and fame, the book instantly became a bestseller. In December of the same year, one of the largest newspapers in Lima, Expresso, published a review of this book. And the next day, the same newspaper began publishing a series of six articles under the general title "A Message from Another Great Humanity."The articles were written by journalists of the newspaper based on extensive interviews with Javier Cabrera, in which he outlined his concept on the phenomenon of Ica stones. And it was then that there was a powerful response.
Three weeks later, in January 1975, the metropolitan magazine Mundial published an article entitled "Made by Basilio Uchuya". The article did not have the author's signature, as well as the photographs given in it. Thirteen (!) Pages proved that the Ica stones are a modern fake and that they were all made by two peasants from the town of Okukahe: Basilio Uchuya and Irma Gutierras. The article stated that a group of journalists traveled to Okukaha (already knowing the manufacturers' names) to interview them. They found Uchuya's wife, and she told reporters that her husband and Irma were taken to the police to take evidence of the engraved stones. At the police station, Uchuya said that he cut all the stones himself, and Irma confirmed this. (photo 5). This is quite natural. A confession that they were huqueros threatened them with up to two years in prison. And each of them had large families of eight children. They also said, the article said, that they sold most of their products to Dr. Cabrera and the rest to tourists.
Photo 5
Further, according to the article, Irma Gutierras showed reporters where she found stones for her crafts. The story looks ridiculous enough. Irma took the journalists a couple of kilometers from her house and showed two pits up to 1 m deep, stating that she had taken rough stones from such pits. "Meticulous" journalists asked to conduct a control experiment. Irma, after an hour and a half of work, dug a hole half a meter deep and finally found a pebble the size of a tangerine and weighing half a kilo. And, making excuses, she said that she had previously told reporters that it was very difficult to find such pebble stones. Where Uchuya got stones for his handicrafts, the article did not say.
The next point of the article is also noteworthy. Irma claimed that in a week she made 20-25 small (orange-sized) stones with drawings. And Dr. Cabrera paid her 20-25 salts for each stone. Basilio stated that he started making stones in 1965, but in the last two years he has not made any due to lack of time. In addition, according to Uchuya, he used newspapers and textbooks depicting ancient animals as patterns for his crafts. The article even includes a photograph of Basilio showing a spread of a magazine with images of dinosaurs.
The article also contains the text of a written statement by Basilio Uchuya, which journalists asked him to make. Basilio admitted in writing that "all the engraved stones in Cabrera's collection were made by himself." He also described the manufacturing technology, which looked very simple: Basilio cut out images with a knife, then coated the stones with clay to give them an ancient look, then cleaned them and polished them with shoe wax. And so for ten years he made stones and sold them to Dr. Cabrera, whom he knew under the name of Dr. Sotil. Although for an unbiased view it becomes immediately obvious how far-fetched the material is. Thus, in the same article, there is a direct dialogue between the reporter and Basilio, in which the journalist asks if Dr. Cabrera knew that the stones were made by Basilio. To which he answered in the affirmative. And here further, when asked why Cabrera bought such crafts, Basilio replied that the doctor was doing some research and asked him to get more stones for him.
And there are many such absurdities in the article. In his written statement, Uchuya indicated that all the stones in Cabrera's collection were made by him. Earlier, the authors of the article themselves quoted Irma Gutierras as saying that she also made stones for Cabrera. The journalists who prepared the material ignored the presence of engraved stones in the collection of the Soldi brothers. As well as they could simply not know about the book by Hermann Baze, who wrote that the mass appearance of engraved stones occurred in Okukakha in 1961, i.e. four years before the "heroes" of the article began to make them. However, the journalists dedicated a separate chapter to the collection of engraved stones collected by Agurto Calvo. According to them, these stones, which have images of flowers, local animals, etc., are genuine. Unlike stones from the Cabrera collection.
Thus, it is quite clear that this ordered material was aimed at discrediting Javier Cabrera and his collection. Another fact confirms this. Two days after the publication of the article in Mundial, another metropolitan newspaper, Correo, published an interview with the director of the Regional Museum of Ica, Adolfo Genkis, in which he stated that the engraved stones were made by Basilio Uchuya. This publication also used several photos from the Mundial article (and not a single new one). In addition, the director said that he saw no point in conducting their scientific expertise, since his North American friend, archaeologist John Rowe, stated that the stones were a modern fake. John Howland Row (1918 - 2004) was once a recognized authority on the pre-Columbian cultures of ancient Peru. The main object of his research was the Inca civilization, although Rowe himself discovered several settlements of the Nazca culture. But here it should be emphasized that he finished active field work in Peru in 1943. He spent the rest of his life teaching and publishing his materials in various scientific and popular publications. In addition, Rowe is one of the compilers of the chronology of the ancient Andean civilizations. Could such a stronghold of academic science recognize the Ica stones as genuine and, thereby, simply cross out their own scientific work and career?He spent the rest of his life teaching and publishing his materials in various scientific and popular publications. In addition, Rowe is one of the compilers of the chronology of the ancient Andean civilizations. Could such a stronghold of academic science recognize the Ica stones as genuine and, thereby, simply cross out their own scientific work and career?He spent the rest of his life teaching and publishing his materials in various scientific and popular publications. In addition, Rowe is one of the compilers of the chronology of the ancient Andean civilizations. Could such a stronghold of academic science recognize the Ica stones as genuine and, thereby, simply cross out their own scientific work and career?
I specifically dwelled on these materials in such detail. Two articles published in central publications, in fact, put an official "stigma" on the phenomenon of Ica stones, declaring them a modern forgery. Even today, thirty years later, in small notes devoted to this issue, I sometimes come across references like "back in 1975, experts found that Ica stones were made by local Peruvian peasants for sale to tourists …". Although, I'm not afraid to repeat myself, none of the specialists (be they archaeologists or art historians) at that time did not conduct any examination of the stones from the collection of Dr. Cabrera.
An article from Mundial clearly states that before going to Okukakha, the journalists consulted in Ika about who to talk to. They were given the names Uchuya and Gutierras. The article also includes a noteworthy interview with Enrique Eguaguirre, Prefect of the Ica Department. Regarding Uchuya and Gutierras, he says that these are "ordinary people who live on small sales." The prefect says that after the investigation, the authorities accepted their statement, and on this the issue was closed. But, the official says further, “there are people interested in this matter, who sometimes even call him from Lima and say what to do” …
And the final touch. At the end of the article in "Mundial" it is written that in 1968, when Dr. Cabrera was director of the House of Culture in Ica, he already possessed a collection of 15,000 (!) Engraved stones. Those. the authors of the article did not bother to make elementary calculations. If Uchuya and Gutierraz were tirelessly engaged in neither the household nor the children, if only they made engraved stones for Dr. Cabrera, then in two years (from 1966 to 1968) they could have made no more than 5,000 stones. As they say, comments are unnecessary.
Erich von Daniken wrote that he himself was personally acquainted with Basilio Uchuya and that he admitted that he made engraved stones and some of them are in the Cabrera collection. But at the same time, Uchuya claimed that he had made no more than a couple of hundred forgeries for sale, imitating genuine samples of engraved stones. At the same time, according to him, Uchuya warned when selling that his stones are imitations.
Dennis Swift also knew Basilio Uchuya intimately. Dennis visited Peru eight times for the sole purpose of studying the phenomenon of Ica stones. According to him, Basilio was illiterate. In this whole story with the Cabrera collection, he was violently involved. Faced with a choice - a prison for the trade in ancient artifacts or a confession that he was the author of the Ica stones, Uchuya, naturally, preferred the latter. After meeting Dennis Swift for several years, he became more outspoken. Uchuya admitted that he was involved in the trade in Ica stones, but after the incident with Dr. Cabrera in 1975, he was given a kind of "indulgence". Moreover, he took Swift to the Tom Luz necropolis, the same one where Assereto discovered stones in ancient burials. It is a huge necropolis containing thousands of ancient tombs. Huakeros have been excavating it for a century. Swift and Uchuya examined recently robbed graves and in one of them they found an engraved stone embedded in the wall of the burial chamber. The Waqueros simply ignored him. Uchuya confessed to Dennis that he made stones for sale as souvenirs, but not more than 5-6 pieces per month, since the work is very laborious. The imitations he made differed significantly from the genuine stones, both in engraving technique and in images. For example, Uchuya could depict a plane or a bus next to a dinosaur and often carved his initials on the stone. In addition, Basilio Uchuya admitted that he had offered the engraved stones to Dr. Cabrera, but all of them were of genuine origin, i.e. were found by him in pre-Spanish burials. Swift and Uchuya examined recently robbed graves and in one of them they found an engraved stone embedded in the wall of the burial chamber. The Waqueros simply ignored him. Uchuya confessed to Dennis that he made stones for sale as souvenirs, but not more than 5-6 pieces per month, since the work is very laborious. The imitations he made differed significantly from the genuine stones, both in engraving technique and in images. For example, Uchuya could depict a plane or a bus next to a dinosaur and often carved his initials on the stone. In addition, Basilio Uchuya admitted that he had offered the engraved stones to Dr. Cabrera, but all of them were of genuine origin, i.e. were found by him in pre-Spanish burials. Swift and Uchuya examined recently robbed graves and in one of them they found an engraved stone embedded in the wall of the burial chamber. The Waqueros simply ignored him. Uchuya confessed to Dennis that he made stones for sale as souvenirs, but not more than 5-6 pieces per month, since the work is very laborious. The imitations he made differed significantly from the genuine stones, both in engraving technique and in images. For example, Uchuya could depict a plane or a bus next to a dinosaur and often carved his initials on the stone. In addition, Basilio Uchuya admitted that he had offered the engraved stones to Dr. Cabrera, but all of them were of genuine origin, i.e. were found by him in pre-Spanish burials. The Waqueros simply ignored him. Uchuya confessed to Dennis that he made stones for sale as souvenirs, but not more than 5-6 pieces per month, since the work is very laborious. The imitations he made differed significantly from the genuine stones, both in engraving technique and in images. For example, Uchuya could depict a plane or a bus next to a dinosaur and often carved his initials on the stone. In addition, Basilio Uchuya admitted that he had offered the engraved stones to Dr. Cabrera, but all of them were of genuine origin, i.e. were found by him in pre-Spanish burials. The Waqueros simply ignored him. Uchuya confessed to Dennis that he made stones for sale as souvenirs, but not more than 5-6 pieces per month, since the work is very laborious. The imitations he made differed significantly from the genuine stones, both in engraving technique and in images. For example, Uchuya could depict a plane or a bus next to a dinosaur and often carved his initials on the stone. In addition, Basilio Uchuya admitted that he had offered the engraved stones to Dr. Cabrera, but all of them were of genuine origin, i.e. were found by him in pre-Spanish burials.and by images. For example, Uchuya could depict a plane or a bus next to a dinosaur and often carved his initials on the stone. In addition, Basilio Uchuya admitted that he had offered the engraved stones to Dr. Cabrera, but all of them were of genuine origin, i.e. were found by him in pre-Spanish burials.and by images. For example, Uchuya could depict a plane or a bus next to a dinosaur and often carved his initials on the stone. In addition, Basilio Uchuya admitted that he had offered the engraved stones to Dr. Cabrera, but all of them were of genuine origin, i.e. were found by him in pre-Spanish burials.
However, neither Dr. Cabrera himself, nor other researchers denied the presence of fake Ica stones. But imitations appeared on the market only at the very end of the 60s, when the hype began around Ica stones, and they became known to the general public. I believe that after the official "closure of the problem" of Ica stones, counterfeiting ceased (I will return to this issue later).
On the question of "falsifiers". I will use this phrase as a key one throughout the book in order to draw the reader's attention to those details or facts that in no way fit into the official version about the modern origin of Ica stones. So, the journalists from "Mundial", describing in detail the process of making forgeries, completely missed such a striking fact as the presence in Cabrera's collection of several hundred stones, whose dimensions are dozens of times larger than the small stones described in the article. And any stone carver, I believe, will say that even with the help of modern technology to cover a meter-diameter granite boulder with artistic engraving is by no means an ordinary work, especially for an amateur artist. But the aforementioned manufacturers of forgeries were simple Peruvian peasants, not professional stone carvers.
Thus, in 1975, the Ica stones were sentenced. And this was not done by experts in the ancient history of America and not by art critics. The specialists simply moved away from this problem. The verdict was passed by the media using standard methods and according to the principle "this can not be, because it can never be." A revolutionary discovery in the field of earth sciences and living life on it did not take place. Our understanding of the evolution of humanity has not changed. However, the suppression of the "revolutionary situation" in various branches of scientific knowledge can be called an absolutely typical phenomenon for the history of our civilization over the past century and a half. Questions about why this happens, what methods are achieved and who benefits from it are beyond the scope of this book and are beyond my competence.therefore, I will not dwell on them.
The official non-recognition of the Ica stones did not stop Javier Cabrera. A year later, in April 1976, he published his book "The Message of the Engraved Stones of Ica", in which he gave a general description of the collection on the main topics and briefly told about the history of its formation. He devoted most of the book to the development of his concept of prehistoric humanity, which I will dwell on below. Later, his book was reprinted 11 more times in Spanish, Portuguese and English. Unfortunately, all reprints were issued in small editions and were accompanied by the same old photographs of unsatisfactory quality. And for twenty years, as far as I know, other researchers have hardly published any work on this topic. The only exception was the book by the Spanish researcher and popularizer of the mysteries of ancient history, Juan Benitz. In 1975, he published the results of his acquaintance with the collection of Ica stones called “There was another humanity”.
In the 90s of the last century, Erich von Daniken published the book "Messages and Signals from the Universe". In it, he devoted a significant part to describing the collection of Dr. Cabrera. In 2003, a Japanese author published his book on Iki stones. In 2006 Denis Swift at his own expense published the book "The Secret of Ica Stones and the Nazca Lines", in which he summed up the results of his many years of research into the mysteries of ancient Peru. Unfortunately, his book is also scanty with illustrative material (less than 50 photographs, of which only half depict the Ica stones), which does not give an adequate idea of the scale of Dr. Cabrera's phenomenal collection. However, the following fact is remarkable. In his book, Denis Swift cites a photograph of a Nazca culture burial, in which a stone with an engraved image was found next to the mummy (photo 6). The subject of the image is a man with a dinosaur (probably a cub) of the sauropod suborder. Similar stories are quite common in the collection of Dr. Cabrera. This burial was accidentally stumbled by a local peasant in 2001, when he was digging his field on the very border of the Nazca plateau (25 km south of the city of the same name). The local archaeologists invited to the burial dated this complex to the period 400 - 700 AD, referring it to the Nazca culture. Of fundamental importance is the fact that this stone was found in situ, in an undisturbed burial. The local archaeologists invited to the burial dated this complex to the period 400 - 700 AD, referring it to the Nazca culture. Of fundamental importance is the fact that this stone was found in situ, in an undisturbed burial. The local archaeologists invited to the burial dated this complex to the period 400 - 700 AD, referring it to the Nazca culture. Of fundamental importance is the fact that this stone was found in situ, in an undisturbed burial.
Photo 6
Beginning in the 80s and 90s, separate articles on the Ica stones began to appear in various periodicals around the world. Several documentaries have been filmed about the collection of Dr. Cabrera by American, British, Japanese television companies. So one of the American companies in the series "The Mysterious Origins of Humanity" released in 1997 two films under the general title "Art of the Jurassic". One part was devoted to the Ica stones, the other - the collection from Acambaro (which will also be discussed in this book). Despite the intriguing title, the essence of the film boiled down to the fact that both collections are artfully contemporary crafts.
There were publications dedicated to the Ica stones in our country. One of the most complete articles was published in the Soviet academic journal Latin America (No. 1, 1976). A few months later, a series of articles appeared in the journal "Science and Life", in which the leading experts in the ancient history and archeology of Peru and Latin America, Yu. A. Zubritsky, V. A. Bashilov, V. I. Gulyaev, expressed their opinions. Most of the specialists, with the exception of Yu. A. Zubritsky, were skeptical. These publications followed in the footsteps of the "hype" of 1975, and after that the Ica stones were practically forgotten for a long time. Only in the 90s, in some Russian books dedicated to the mysteries of the ancient history of mankind, brief mentions of the mysterious stones of Ica again flashed. In 1991, a small edition of the book by Yu. A. Zubritsky "Neanderthal Civilization". Based on the fact that the proportions of the human body in the iconographic complex of Ica stones differ from the modern ones (in particular, in the large size of the head), the author put forward a hypothesis that these stones were created by the ancient civilization of the Neanderthals. In any case, Yu. A. Zubritsky considered the complex of Ica stones to be genuine and attributed it to a very deep antiquity.
The last book devoted to this problem was published in 2007 in Barcelona (Spain) under the title “The Truth About Ica Stones”. I would like to dwell on it in more detail. The book was written by two Spanish researchers, Maria del Carmen and Felix Mariscal. During their third trip to Peru in September 2002, they met the same Basilio Uchuya. He was already about seventy years old and still lived in the village of Okukahe. As already mentioned, the village itself and the so-called Okukahe archaeological zone are located south of Ica, almost halfway between the cities of Ica and Nazca. The Uchuya family is the largest in the village and has lived there for many decades. And although the book does not directly talk about this, from a number of hints it is safe to assume that the Uchuya are a clan of hereditary huqueros. Maria and Felix were introduced to Basilio by their Peruvian friend, thanks to which the Spaniards were able to quickly establish contact, which led to fruitful results. After a week of close fellowship (backed by the local pisco liqueur), Uchuya told a story similar to the one he told Denis Swift. Basilio did indeed make engraved stones and even had an artist's diploma. But at the same time, he was engaged in unauthorized excavations for decades and found many engraved stones, including images of dinosaurs, medical and astronomical scenes, etc. Basilio himself, according to him, is sure that in ancient times people and dinosaurs coexisted in this territory. After a week of close fellowship (backed by the local pisco liqueur), Uchuya told a story similar to the one he told Denis Swift. Basilio did indeed make engraved stones and even had an artist's diploma. But at the same time, he was engaged in unauthorized excavations for decades and found many engraved stones, including images of dinosaurs, medical and astronomical scenes, etc. Basilio himself, according to him, is sure that in ancient times people and dinosaurs coexisted in this territory. After a week of close fellowship (backed by the local pisco liqueur), Uchuya told a story similar to the one he told Denis Swift. Basilio did indeed make engraved stones and even had an artist's diploma. But at the same time, he was engaged in unauthorized excavations for decades and found many engraved stones, including images of dinosaurs, medical and astronomical scenes, etc. Basilio himself, according to him, is sure that in ancient times people and dinosaurs coexisted in this territory. But at the same time, he was engaged in unauthorized excavations for decades and found many engraved stones, including images of dinosaurs, medical and astronomical scenes, etc. Basilio himself, according to him, is sure that in ancient times people and dinosaurs coexisted in this territory. But at the same time, he was engaged in unauthorized excavations for decades and found many engraved stones, including images of dinosaurs, medical and astronomical scenes, etc. Basilio himself, according to him, is sure that in ancient times people and dinosaurs coexisted in this territory.
Moreover, after contact was established, Uchuya organized excavations for the Spanish guests near the Okukahe settlement. It can be assumed that the place he chose at the foot of the La Peña hill was well explored by him. During several days of excavations, which were carried out by two sons of Basilio and two other young assistants, they found five engraved stones. Unfortunately, all finds took place on the territory of the burial ground, which, apparently, had long been plundered. Therefore, the stones were found not in burials, but in disturbed layers, possibly in the dumps of previous excavations. But one of the stones was found in the destroyed wall of the burial. And it was wrapped in a piece of ancient fabric, partly even preserved the drawing. This stone featured a very stylized image of an aircraft (photo 7). In the collection of Dr. Cabrera, there are dozens of stones with similar images (they will be discussed below). Another stone depicted a scene of a surgical operation (photo 8).
Photo 7
Photo 8
The fabric in which the engraved stone was wrapped Maria del Carmen and Mariscal was brought to Spain and sent for examination to the laboratory of geochronology of the Institute of Physical Chemistry "Rocasolano" in Madrid. By the method of radiocarbon analysis for a tissue sample, the dates 617 - 775 AD were obtained, i.e. by the time of the decline of the Nazca culture.
There is one more noteworthy fact given in this book. Maria and Felix turned to the management of the Ica Regional Museum with a request to show them the engraved stones that are kept in the museum's storeroom. To which they received a naive answer that at the moment this is impossible, since the directorate (!) Does not have the keys to the museum's storerooms …
Dr. Cabrera practically ceased to fill his collection after 1975. He devoted himself to studying the stones that had already accumulated in his house. Cabrera welcomed researchers and journalists who came to him to get acquainted with the collection in every possible way; Dr. Cabrera has never sold a single stone from his collection in his entire life, which clearly testifies to his lack of any commercial interests in this area.
In 1980, the Queen of Spain Sophia de Bourbon, having familiarized herself with the book by H. Benits "There was another humanity", turned to its author with a request to get her such a stone. H. Benits contacted Dr. Cabrera and presented him with the queen's request. Naturally, Cabrera presented Her Majesty with one of the finest pieces from his collection. It was a huge rock (more than 1 meter in diameter and weighing about 500 kg), which depicted people, humanoid monsters and dinosaurs. In May 1980, it was transported to Madrid and installed in the royal palace (photo 9).
In addition, Dr. Cabrera repeatedly donated his stones to different people who were ready to conduct their examination. Dr. Cabrera gave Denis Swift about a dozen stones for study in various independent laboratories. I also know that Cabrera has been working on a new book on the Ica stones for many years, but he never had time to publish it. After the death of Javier Cabrera, the collection was inherited by his daughters, the youngest of whom, Eugenia, became the head of the museum. However, she did not continue her father's research work. But together with her friends and several relatives, Evgenia Cabrera founded the Ica Stones Association. The main task of the Association was to raise funds for the construction of a new museum building for the collection of Dr. Cabrera. The Cabrera family owns a plot of land for the construction of a museum, located about 10 km from Ica. The architectural design of the new museum has been developed. But, unfortunately, to this day the main task has not been realized, there are still no funds for the construction of the museum. However, I believe that such a development of the situation will hardly surprise anyone.
Continued: Part 2.
Author: ANDREY ZHUKOV