Erich von Daniken - Return To The Stars-pages

Page 101 of 138

Page 101 of 138
Erich von Daniken - Return To The Stars-pages

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find prehistoric tools with which—presumably—the 233 geometrically shaped stone blocks, each weighing 20,000 Ib, were supposed to have been dressed. In a story dated 25.8.68 the newspaper Concepcion, El Sur, Chile, calls the plateau of El Enladrillado ‘a mysterious place’. The site is indeed mysterious—as all sites with prehistoric traditions still are today. One's gaze turns westward over vast abysses, above which condors and eagles circle and behind which volcanoes soar up like dumb sentinels. Over towards the western hills there is a 300- foot-deep natural cave in which traces of work done by human hands are still discernible. At present scholars toy with the idea that stone-age men excavated a vein of obsidian (a glasslike formation of various recent lava deposits) in order to leave behind a sample of their industrial abilities in the form of tools containing metal. I cannot quite go along with this. Stone-age men would hardly have had tools containing metal. I think that the present theory cannot be correct. During archaeological and geological investigations scholars found a fallen monolith, which even on its side rose 6ft from the ground. When they had turned it over with great effort, they found several faces on the other side. A puzzle worthy of inclusion in the forest of questions surrounding Easter Island. One other remarkable find deserves to be mentioned. In the middle of the plateau stand three boulders with a diameter of 3 ft to 4 ft 6 ins. When taking measurements at the beginning of last year, it was discovered that two of these boulders are in accurate compass line from north to south. With a minimal deviation the line that runs from the first two boulders to the third cuts the horizon at the point where the sun is at its zenith in summer. Here again we must ask whether an extinct race left behind traces of astonishing astronomical knowledge or whether our ancestors were working on a ‘higher task’. In El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile, for 28.8.68, the leader of the scientific expedition, Humberto Sarnataro Bounaud, supported the point of view that an ancient unknown culture must have been at work here, because natives of the region would never have been capable of such an achievement. But, said Bounaud, somebody already knew that the plateau would make a first-class landing ground for all kinds of flying bodies. That would explain the 233 symmetrically arranged stone blocks which could have been visual signs directed skywards. I have gone into the most recent finds on the plateau of El Enladrillado in such detail for two reasons. Firstly, because they are only known in Europe to a comparatively small circle of specialists and secondly because they fit so splendidly into my theory that the markings in the Bay of Pisco were the beginning of a straight line along which landing grounds for the cosmonauts were laid out right up to the far north of Chile. Such exact evidence of the past cannot be just brushed off as coincidence. Bounaud also writes: 'Or the explanation may quite simply be that unknown beings used this place for their own ends.’ We should always bear in mind that although the creators of ancient cultures have disappeared, the