The Dropa Stones
A story claimed that Chinese archaeologists found hundreds of stone discs in a mountain cave, carved with tiny writing about a crashed spacecraft.
What was reported
In the 1960s, articles in Western magazines described the 'Dropa stones': hundreds of stone discs said to have been found in caves in the Bayan Har Mountains in 1938, each with a spiral groove of tiny writing. A Chinese professor was said to have translated them as an account of beings, the Dropa, whose ship crashed in the mountains.
The story spread through books and documentaries, often with photographs of small stone discs.
Explanations offered
No reliable evidence exists that the discs were found or translated. The professor and the archaeologists named in the story can't be traced, and no Chinese scientific record of the find has been located. Researchers consider it a hoax built from earlier magazine stories.
- When
- Story spread from the 1960s
- Where
- Bayan Har Mountains, Qinghai, China
- Witnesses
- No verified witnesses
- Status
- Hoax
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