2023-06-25 15:59:18
Alejandro Millán ValenciaBBC News Mundo
June 25, 2023
image copyrightGetty Images
image caption,
The furrows running through the spheres have caught the attention of those who believe in extraterrestrial life.
The artifacts found were polished spheres, with perfectly sculpted lines, which looked a lot like a cricket ball.
At first glance, it seems that these objects, the diameter of which does not exceed 10 centimeters, were carved by human hands and are part of the archaeological heritage of an ancient civilization.
But what is surprising is that the balls were discovered inside a rock of pyrophyllite (a mineral used for Chinese carvings) formed around 2.8 billion years ago.
The spheres were transported to the town of Klerksdorp in northern South Africa for study and later displayed in the town’s main museum.
It is for this reason that they have been known as the Klerksdorp spheres.
However, in the early 1980s, articles began circulating in pseudo-scientific publications attributing the stones to an extraterrestrial origin and noting that they were “evidence of an extraterrestrial presence” on Earth before the appearance of the planet. ‘male.
One of these articles, signed by a researcher named Michael Cremo, was published on a news portal.
“These publications have come regarding due to the lack of geological studies explaining the true origin of these stones,” South African geologist Bruce Caircorne, from the University of Johannesburg, told BBC News Mundo, the language service. BBC Spanish.
image copyrightBRUCE CRAINCROSS
image caption,
The pressure and heat within the rocks produce these cricket ball-shaped spheres.
Cairncross points out that the spheres are far from being a mystery, and even less a possible trace of the passage of extraterrestrial beings on our planet.
“We thought there was no need to explain something that seemed obvious: that the stones had been extracted from rocks formed billions of years ago,” the geologist said.
“Although they can be understood to attract attention, this type of sphere is very common in pyrophyllite formations,” he explained.
As the IFLScience portal points out, during the 1980s several unscientific papers began claiming that the Klerksdorp spheres were made by “a higher civilization, a civilization prior to the great flood of which we know next to nothing”.
As noted by other publications, including Lapidary Magazine, some outlets went further and added that the spheres spin on their own inside the glass case where they were placed.
That’s why a society known as the Society for the Rational Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena sought Cairncross’s collaboration to refute the arguments that were gaining more and more followers.
“The basic explanation was not sufficient, namely that the spheres originated from a formation over 2.8 billion years old, but we had to go further: explain how they were formed”, explained the academic.
To do this, he says, the rocks were found in a formation known as the “dominant group”.
“The main feature is what forms this conglomerate, with several layers of volcanic lava that have settled on top of it and which, following a lot of pressure and heat, have turned into pyrophyllite, the material that covers the spheres,” said he declared.
The geologist himself believes that the peculiarity of the stones is due to the fact that they have remained for millions of years under the pressure and heat that form inside a larger rock, which “houses” them. “sort of, and that they’ve been exposed to water erosion.
image copyrightBRUCE CRAINCROSS
image caption,
Cairncross points out that the spheres are far from being a mystery, and even less a possible trace of the passage of extraterrestrial beings on our planet.
“Spheres are known as concretions: spherical, elliptical, or flattened objects formed by various minerals present in the host rock. They are quite common, having been found in the thousands worldwide,” notes the geologist.
These concretions, adds the expert, are found in fine-grained rocks, such as pyrophyllite which abounds in this region of South Africa.
Pseudo-scientific explanations are spreading
Cairncross points out that one of the reasons he decided to give a broader explanation of the spheres was that many people believed in the pseudo-scientific publications that were spreading.
The geologist refers to a magazine which reported that the spheres had been brought to the US Space Agency (NASA) and quoted a report which indicated the supposed production of the parts “in a place where gravity is zero”.
But the expert recognizes that the spheres of Klerksdorp have a particularity not found in all similar spheres found in the world: the parallel lines which cross them and which give them the appearance of a cricket ball.
“In fact, it is not lines, but layers”, explains the geologist.
“It’s the result of the traces left by the host rock, which built up in layers for a very long time, creating the effect that you can see now,” he explained.
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