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  Mike, 17 May 2002 @ 3:41am

  
  

  Addt'l article on "120M-year-old stone stabs"

  http://www.therussianissues.com/topics/55/02/04/02/14403.html

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  eman, 17 May 2002 @ 4:07am

  
  

  Hmmm

  I bet they were made by the entity who has the big sculpture on mars.....

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  bbay, 17 May 2002 @ 4:34am

  
  

  No Subject Given

  This is highly suspect, yet intriguing.
  
  They will have to prove several things before this can be taken seriously.
  
  First, that this is actually a map. Looks like a big rock with cracks in it to me. I am obviously not an expert. I would like to see a comparison between current 3 dimensional map, an estimate by geologists of the topography of the region 120M years ago and the slab itself.
  
  Second, that they have dated it correctly. Again, I'm not an expert, but I have some familiarity with the subject. It must first be established that the particular shell they used to date the slab was not part of the material from which the slab was carved. There are other problems as well, the dating of artifacts benifits from correlative analysis of multiple dating techniques. When the techniques all return wildly conflicting answers this is usually a sign that the object in question cannot be accuratly dated. There are a number of legitimate reasons that something carved from rock cannot be correctly dated including composition, environment and encounters with other, differently aged, materials.
  
  Third, that the manufacture of the slab employed precision technology. They don't mention what evidence they have for this. I presume that it has to do with the smoothness of the glass layer. The main assumptions made here are that the slab is artificial and that primitive peoples would be unable to reproduce it. The scientific inadvisability of underestimating the abilities of a primitive people has been demonstrated many times. As for artificiality, see above.
  
  They should find more slabs. The larger the map the more sure we can be that the objects represent geography.
  
  I personally will believe (assuming the thing is actually a map, and not just a big chunk of igneous rock) that they have made a really profound error in dating and that it was in fact carved by ancient people, highly skilled in their craft, by the application of simple techniques.

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  Sofa King Stoned, 17 May 2002 @ 6:02am

  
  

  Use Your Brain

  The article states that the stones "clearly marked Ufa Height and Ufa Canyon. Further investigation by a group of Chinese and Russian specialists determined that the map was of the Ural region including the Belya, Ufimka and Sutolka rivers." The dinosaurs died out only 65 million years ago, and that was long enough for seafloors to become high plains deserts. What on earth could make anyone think for even a second that the same valleys and rivers would hang around for 120 million years. If you think this story has any veracity at all I have several nice investment opportunities for you.

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    Hasher J. Brown, 17 May 2002 @ 6:35am

    
    

    Re: Use Your Own Brain

    The second article states:
    
    "Happily, relief of today’s Bashkiria has not changed so much within millions of years. We could identify Ufa Height, while Ufa Canyon is the main point of our proofs, because we carried out geological studies and found its track where it must be according to the ancient map. Displacement of the canyon happened because of tectonic stabs which moved from East. The group of Russian and Chinese specialists in the field of cartography, physics, mathematics, geology, chemistry, and Old Chinese language managed to precisely find out that the slab contains the map of Ural region, with rivers Belya, Ufimka, Sutolka,” – Alexander Chuvyrov said while showing the lines on the stone to the journalists. – You can see Ufa Canyon – the break of the earth’s crust, stretched out from the city of Ufa to the city of Sterlitimak. At the moment, Urshak River runs over the former canyon.”

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      Anonymous Coward, 17 May 2002 @ 7:01am

      
      

      Re: Use Your Own Brain

      120M years is way too long a period of time to allow for canyons or rivers to remain in one place, let alone remain detectable. It's a hoax.

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  no name given, 17 May 2002 @ 2:42pm

  
  

  No Subject Given

  The story is newswothry but the pictures aren't? Are they waiting until they can remove the MapQuest logo? :)

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