Return to the Stars: Evidence for the Impossible by Erich von Däniken
Authors: Erich von Däniken
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have been broken out or cut out of the rock. My conclusion is that many workers were engaged on the task for a long time and that they possessed tools which made possible such perfect stone dressing.
Even if all this is accepted, it still does not explain why the finished balls were rolled to a particular site, e.g. the top of a mountain. What an absurd idea and what a tremendous expenditure of labour! However, an explanation is given, though it only seems suitable for the most superficial kind of guide-book. The gigantic balls were rolled down riverbeds. I should laugh at such naivety if the problem involved were not so serious to me. The massive heavy balls would simply have stuck in the muddy, and in parts gravelly, riverbeds.
One irritating fact which cannot have altered in the course of the ages confronts the holders of the riverbed theory. Between the granite mountains in which the material for the majority of the balls must have been quarried and the sites where the balls were found in the Diquis delta the steaming jungle extends far and wide, and the three small rivers that exist are considerable obstacles to transporting material on such a scale without deeploading lorries, cranes and special freight ships. And as if these barriers were not enough, when seen from the granite cliffs most of the balls lie on the far side of the Rio Diquis! In other words, the forwarding agents would have had to 'conjure' the material over this barrier, too. I have noticed that whenever archaeologists cannot explain gigantic feats of transport, they have recourse to the so-called 'rolling theory'. But this is pitifully inadequate when one sees the giant balls on the tops of mountains. An expert has told me that at least twenty-four tons of raw material are needed to make a stone ball weighing sixteen tons. In view of the large numbers of balls, one can guess roughly what masses of raw material must have been moved about here in the past.
I had seen the miraculous world of the stone balls and convinced myself of their disturbing existence. Now I wanted to try to find the solution of this puzzle as well, but when I asked the Costa Ricans about the origin and meaning of the stone balls, I met silence and suspicion. Although visited by missionaries and 'enlightened' by continuous economic contacts with the west, the natives remained superstitious in their heart of hearts. Two archaeologists whom I questioned in the Museo Nacional of San Jose explained that the creation of the balls was connected with a star cult, perhaps too with calendar representations, and possibly with religious or magic signs. I needled away patiently, because these explanations did not satisfy me, but finally had to realise that the mystery of the balls was taboo to them, for some reason incomprehensible to me.
As the archaeologists could not or would not help any further, I tried asking some of the Indians. Trained by my acquaintance with natives in many countries, I soon sensed that they were afraid of something as soon as die conversation came round to the balls.
Nevertheless, it is extremely surprising that these poor creatures, who haggle over every centimo, would not guide me to a 1,800 foot-high cliff with three balls on top, no matter how much I offered them. Bubu was an exception.
A German, who has owned the Pension Anna in San Jose for over forty years, is considered to be the man who possesses most material about the balls. He pulled out many impressive pictures, but behaved as if he had to keep the secret of some buried treasure. He showed me sketches of formations and groupings of balls, but refused to give their exact location. I was not even allowed to copy his sketches. 'No, it's out of the question,' was his inevitable reply.
Even if I had not known it beforehand, I should have realised during my stay in Costa Rica that there is a mystery about the stone balls. I could not solve it, but my suspicion increased that the
Even if all this is accepted, it still does not explain why the finished balls were rolled to a particular site, e.g. the top of a mountain. What an absurd idea and what a tremendous expenditure of labour! However, an explanation is given, though it only seems suitable for the most superficial kind of guide-book. The gigantic balls were rolled down riverbeds. I should laugh at such naivety if the problem involved were not so serious to me. The massive heavy balls would simply have stuck in the muddy, and in parts gravelly, riverbeds.
One irritating fact which cannot have altered in the course of the ages confronts the holders of the riverbed theory. Between the granite mountains in which the material for the majority of the balls must have been quarried and the sites where the balls were found in the Diquis delta the steaming jungle extends far and wide, and the three small rivers that exist are considerable obstacles to transporting material on such a scale without deeploading lorries, cranes and special freight ships. And as if these barriers were not enough, when seen from the granite cliffs most of the balls lie on the far side of the Rio Diquis! In other words, the forwarding agents would have had to 'conjure' the material over this barrier, too. I have noticed that whenever archaeologists cannot explain gigantic feats of transport, they have recourse to the so-called 'rolling theory'. But this is pitifully inadequate when one sees the giant balls on the tops of mountains. An expert has told me that at least twenty-four tons of raw material are needed to make a stone ball weighing sixteen tons. In view of the large numbers of balls, one can guess roughly what masses of raw material must have been moved about here in the past.
I had seen the miraculous world of the stone balls and convinced myself of their disturbing existence. Now I wanted to try to find the solution of this puzzle as well, but when I asked the Costa Ricans about the origin and meaning of the stone balls, I met silence and suspicion. Although visited by missionaries and 'enlightened' by continuous economic contacts with the west, the natives remained superstitious in their heart of hearts. Two archaeologists whom I questioned in the Museo Nacional of San Jose explained that the creation of the balls was connected with a star cult, perhaps too with calendar representations, and possibly with religious or magic signs. I needled away patiently, because these explanations did not satisfy me, but finally had to realise that the mystery of the balls was taboo to them, for some reason incomprehensible to me.
As the archaeologists could not or would not help any further, I tried asking some of the Indians. Trained by my acquaintance with natives in many countries, I soon sensed that they were afraid of something as soon as die conversation came round to the balls.
Nevertheless, it is extremely surprising that these poor creatures, who haggle over every centimo, would not guide me to a 1,800 foot-high cliff with three balls on top, no matter how much I offered them. Bubu was an exception.
A German, who has owned the Pension Anna in San Jose for over forty years, is considered to be the man who possesses most material about the balls. He pulled out many impressive pictures, but behaved as if he had to keep the secret of some buried treasure. He showed me sketches of formations and groupings of balls, but refused to give their exact location. I was not even allowed to copy his sketches. 'No, it's out of the question,' was his inevitable reply.
Even if I had not known it beforehand, I should have realised during my stay in Costa Rica that there is a mystery about the stone balls. I could not solve it, but my suspicion increased that the
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