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mud hut culture. Then as now the masses lived under-nourished lives in grinding poverty. Technical skills were rare. Yet somehow they managed to quarry those gigantic stones, transport them, and put them into place with geometric precision. We know that the Egyptians did build the ninety odd pyramids (the village of Meroe on the Upper Nile contains dozens of pyramids alone), plus numerous great temples and tombs which are still standing. But why did they build the Great Pyramid? The Plain of Jars in Laos has been frequently mentioned in the war dispatches from Indochina. Did you ever wonder how it got its name? The answer is obvious: it is strewn with jars... huge stone jars. Some of them are over six feet high. Some are so large they can hold six men. There are over a thousand of these peculiar artifacts scattered around a high plateau surrounded by mountains. They were apparently carved out of limestone and granite boulders, and they've been there forever. No one seems to know who carved them, when and why. Why would anyone bother to spend weeks carving a giant stone jar in such a remote place? Mysterious stone masons have left the fruits of their labours all over our haunted planet. Many of these fruits make no sense at all. In Costa Rica giant stone balls have been found deep in the jungles. Some of these are as big as eight feet in diameter and weigh more than sixteen tons. They are amazingly round and smooth. Scores of smaller ones, some only a few inches in diameter, have also been found. Scientists have been unable to come up with an explanation for their purpose, although they are obviously man-made. Similar stones have been found in Mexico and Guatemala. "One thing the scientists agree on is that the spheres must have been very important to the communities of people that made them * Science Digest observed in June 1967. "Using the tools they had, it must have taken many years to make just one ball, even with many men working on it.’ The United States is covered with strange artifacts and stone ruins of unknown origin. Every state boasts of several mysterious sites. In West Virginia there are the remains of huge circular stone structures apparently predating the Indians. In many states there are rums which archaeologists have muttered about being of Roman origin. Some of these sites have become minor local tourist attractions. Others are marked only by brief highway signs. A random few. Mystery HUI features several chambers - or tombs - topped by a gigantic Sacrificial Table weighing over four tons. It is supported on stone legs and is carefully grooved. In 1969 the New England Antiquities Research Association conducted carbon 14 tests” around the site and concluded that it was probably built around 1000 B.c. Recent investigations have demonstrated that some of the huge stones on Mystery Hill are carefully aligned with certain stars. Each year Aside from the few major population centres, ancient Egypt was a like the jars of Laos, these balls are made of granite and limestone. such as Mystery Hill in North Salem, New Hampshire, have attained some celebrity.