Adam's Calendar
On a South African escarpment, a ring of standing stones was claimed to be a calendar 75,000 years old.
What was reported
On the edge of an escarpment in Mpumalanga is a circle of stones, some standing upright. In the 2000s, a former pilot named Johan Heine and author Michael Tellinger claimed it was an ancient calendar aligned to the sun, around 75,000 years old, which would make it the oldest human-made structure on Earth.
The claim spread widely online, and the site is visited by tour groups. The surrounding region is covered with thousands of old stone-walled ruins.
Explanations offered
Archaeologists say the stone circles of Mpumalanga were built by Bokoni farming communities, mostly between about 1500 and 1800, as homesteads, cattle enclosures and terraces. There is no scientific evidence that the site is anywhere near 75,000 years old.
- When
- Claimed since 2003
- Where
- Near Kaapschehoop, Mpumalanga, South Africa
- Witnesses
- Visitors, researchers and archaeologists
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.