[ahayes]

They don't look like any artifacts that I've seen pictures of or seen in museums, either. They look rather modern and kind of cartoonish. Most clay figures I've seen are very I guess symbolic? The limbs are straight and blunt, details are cut into the clay and not contoured. These have little fingers, curly tails, and contoured teeth. I would be curious to see how they compare to other artifacts of this time period.

[Fred Nerks]

"They look rather modern and kind of cartoonish..."

Interesting comment. That's how I have always viewed them, as caricatures. It strikes me that an artist needs to be very familiar with his subject to create a cartoon representation of a subject. If in fact, the people who created the stones and the figurines lived at close quarters with the creatures depicted, the cartoonish representation may simply tell us how familiar they were with their antics and behaviour.

I am not interested in entering into the Creationism vs Intelligent Design discussion - I just would like to leave the door open to the possibility that these are ancient artifacts...perhaps.

[Fred Nerks]

Controversy has raged over the authenticity of the Ica Stones (above) since their discovery in South America. Skeptics have claimed, though without proof, that they are modern forgeries, based on the premise that it is impossible for humans to have seen a living dinosaur. The stones remain a mystery, and reinforce the intriguing possibility that the ancient Amerindians knew of such creatures