The Fidesz Era's False MagyarCentric Prehistory

                 .       hot water                              

Hungarian author TTom (@Pipogya4277) who describes themself as a "A good old seeker of truth" reckons:

"Old Europe was born from its own internal, ancient energies and became a force for creating culture and civilization. One of Europe's spiritual and technological centers was the Carpathian Basin, which served as a refuge during the Ice Age thanks to its geothermal heating. Many forward-looking inventions originated here, including, most likely, the development of writing, even during the time of the hybridization of Neanderthals and modern humans. Linguists would be well advised to study Hungarian runic writing in greater depth and compare it with other linear and runic scripts, as they would find the source of the first human writing system".

Hardly. The oldest undisputed archaeological finds of Hungarian runes (known as Szekler-Hungarian Rovás) are medieval and post-medieval/ethnographic in date.

                European man?      

Furthermore the writer is invested in arguments based on "ancient genetics":

"the oldest I1 hg was found in the Carpathian Basin, in Transdanubia [my hyperlink, no reference given in original - PMB] [...] It originates from the Neolithic "Lengyeli" culture. These findings are key evidence of the early spread of the haplogroup from Central Europe. According to geneticists [no reference given - PMB], "I" hg is the only one that originated in Europe during the Stone Age. A significant proportion of today's Hungarian population can be traced back to I1+I2a hg. So the so-called "Germanic" gene probably originated in the Carpathian Basin and spread throughout Europe after the ice melted."

Hmmmm. There's more:

"The Hungarians have been indigenous to the Carpathian Basin since at least the Neolithic Age, one of the oldest peoples in Europe, based on genetics (I2a+R1a+R1b=75%), anthropology, archaeological continuity, cemetery data (european skulls), and folk culture research. The Hungarian language and runic script emerged as a result of this long, local development.

The "Conquest" Elite tribes (AD 895) - who were a half European half Asian mixed group - made up only 15% of the total local, indigenous european proto-Hungarian population at the time. The Asian components have since been completely assimilated, with about 1% detectable today. This "Conquest" (or more likely a merging) event is only one episode in the history of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin. Although one of the most important in the consolidation and strengthening of the sacred Hungarian-Scythian rule and statehood in the Carpathian Basin.

Hungarians have a dual origin: the majority population is of local origin (descendants of Gravettian hunters, Neolithic farmers, and Bronze Age metalworkers), the military and ruling elite are partly of Asian origin. The royal elite of the Hungarian Árpád dynasty (Turul dynasty) almost certainly has Mesopotamian roots, with the family line dating back to Nimrod."

Ufff! Hungarian ancestors in the Bible. Just like in the Middle Ages.

Where do they get this stuff from?

Anyway, if you go to their website it turns out they have written a book

A Kárpát-medencei Nyelvi Központ: A magyar nyelv ősi gyökrendszere, belső logikai teljessége, földrajzi eredete és hullámterjedése [The Linguistic Centre of the Carpathian Basin: The Ancient Root System of the Hungarian Language, Its Internal Logical Completeness, Its Geographical Origin, and Its Wave-Spread].

Unfortunately, there are no clear authoritative library or bibliography entries for this book in major bibliographic databases that I could locate. It appears to be sold as an independent / self-published e-book (PDF) on Payhip, but the author’s name is not displayed on the product page itself. The author name is not accessible from the Payhip storefront page. Because of that, no precise bibliographic citation with author, ISBN, publisher, and year could be found in standard bibliographic sources.

AI translation of the book's blurb:

"The origin of the Hungarian language has been a subject of centuries-old debate, where the opinions of poets, writers and academic dogmas clash. This book now puts an end to speculation once and for all. The author presents the revolutionary Center Hypothesis, according to which the Hungarian language has a Carpathian Basin origin, and even a central nature. Using a unique, four-phase, AI-supported logical analysis method, the work not only establishes a theory, but also proves with rigorous evidence the incredibly high-level internal logical system and world-describing ability of the Hungarian language. This modern approach confirms the two-hundred-year-old intuitive recognition of Dániel Berzsenyi and others: the Hungarian language is a Hologram of Reason.

Discover the logical system that makes the Hungarian language unique:
The Completeness of the Root System: It is revealed that a few Hungarian roots (e.g. K-R, T-R, FOG, KÉP) can form thousands of basic words, which is the secret of the language's million-strong vocabulary.
The Integrity of the System: The research that forms the basis of this book sheds light on the source nature of the Hungarian language. While in other Eurasian languages the root system is fragmented and incomplete, in Hungarian this system is complete, alive and intact, showing a maximum system of connections. The veil is lifted from the shortcomings of academic etymology, which claims that almost every Hungarian word is a foreign word!
Cultural codes: We can learn at what ancient level the Hungarian language encodes the words of the Carpathian Basin Neolithic and Metal Age civilizations, as well as the expressions of the most ancient cultural traditions (names of the cardinal directions, numbers, time system, colors, tastes).
Archaic connections: The book presents the ancient connections of the most important words of the religious world (e.g. Él, Isten) with ancient high cultures (Sumerian, Hittite), and the duality of Hungarian prehistory becomes understandable through the logic of the linguistic Plinth and Superstructure.

The Carpathian Basin Language Center Hypothesis, also confirmed by the results of related sciences (archaeology, archaeogenetics, anthropology, folk art research), places the origin of the Hungarian people and language on a new, scientifically sound basis. This book is an indispensable read for all those who want to learn about the logical beauty and national cultural significance of the Hungarian language on a systemic level.

That Inca Stonework: Fantastic Technique and Execution, but Not Really a "Mystery"

 

This is well worth your time settling down with a cup or glass of something and spending some time to not only watch, listen and absorb the film presented here but also admire the excellent video production values - so unsual in YouTube productions on such theemes. Tony Trupp (@TonyTrupp 27/2/26) introduces it:

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been collaborating with one of my favorite YouTube channels, Ancient Americas,* on a video about The Secrets of Inca Masonry, which went live just a few hours ago. He did a brilliant job with it. It’s his longest video to date, but well worth the time if you’re interested in Andean cultures and Inca architecture! The video not only shares much of the research from my recent article Masonry Techniques of the Inca’s Master Builders, but also traces the evolution of Andean stonework across millennia, with examples from the Caral-Supe, Cerro Sechín, Chavín de Huántar, Pacara, Wari, and Tiwanaku cultures.

An additional discovery he highlighted is that the Quechua term for this stonework, Caninacukpirca (Qaninakuy Pirqa), derives from a word meaning “to nibble” or “to bite.” That linguistic connection further supports multiple lines of evidence indicating that Inca masonry was primarily accomplished using hammerstones, which is consistent with the tools recovered at these sites, the tool marks preserved on the stones themselves, and early Spanish eyewitness accounts.  

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Posted on You Tube by Ancient Ameriucas 26.02.2025

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* The YouTube channel Ancient Americas ('a channel dedicated to ancient American history') focusing on the pre-Columbian history of North, South, and Mesoamerica. It began Aug 15, 2019, has 289K subscribers and produced so far 59 videos. These are characterised by their generally high production values and information content, his videos are notable for being well-researched, featuring substantive bibliographies and credited visuals. The creator is an American educator and amateur historian who identifies himself simply as Pete (or Peter) online. While he is very active on YouTube and Patreon, he has intentionally maintained a degree of privacy regarding his full legal identity, with some online communities noting that he "hides his own identity" from the public. He says he is an "average guy" living in the Midwestern United States. The author explicitly states he is not a professional archaeologist or historian, but rather a passionate amateur researcher. In addition to his YouTube channel, Pete hosts group travel tours to archaeological sites (such as Zapotec sites in Mexico) through the platform TrovaTrip, where he is listed as Peter.

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Three Pages of Pyramid BS from Barcelona

In a text that looks very much like an AI compilation, the lowbrow Daily Mail's "US assistant Science Editor" writes that archaeologists have agreed in the existence of the Allerod Antecedent Civilization (Chris Melore 'Secrets of Egypt's Great Pyramids point to lost 'supercivilization' from 12,000 years ago' Daily Mail, 25 February 2026):

An Egyptologist is making the case that the Great Pyramids were built by an advanced civilization thousands of years earlier than previously thought. António Ambrósio, an independent researcher from the Autonomous University of Barcelona,* detailed the mysterious clues that point to the three main pyramids at Giza being up to 12,000 years old, predating the Egyptians by millennia. If Ambrósio's theory were to be proven correct, it would rewrite the history of modern humans and expose the existence of a still-unknown 'supercivilization' on Earth that constructed pyramids and other megastructures around the world. At the heart of the researcher's case are a set of key inconsistencies Ambrósio and other scholars have claimed as proof that the Egyptians only copied the original three pyramids after discovering the ancient structures at Giza. [...] The researcher added that the nearby statue of the Sphinx has shown signs of water erosion from heavy rain, which hasn't happened in Egypt since around 5000 to 3000 BC, suggesting that the entire site was already ancient and eroding at the dawn of the Egyptian civilization in 3100 BC.

His claims (published in a text Antonio Ambrosio, 'The Pyramids of Giza: Legacy of an Unknown Civilization' Academia.edu') are hardly original, all cribbed/regurgitated from the standard pseudoarchaeological texts

1. No royal mummies or burial items have ever been found inside the Giza pyramids, despite the ancient Egyptians claiming these were the tombs of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure ('The discovery of a supposed sarcophagus of Khufu, found empty, does not prove that he built the pyramid - only that he claimed it,' Ambrósio declared - ignoring the problems of getting it through the structures entrance).

2. The Giza pyramids displayed stunning engineering skill that aligned with star constellations, featured super-precise stone cuts and had a base that was almost perfectly level on all sides. Ambrósio explained that these incredible engineering feats were never matched by any of the smaller pyramids confirmed to have been built during the time of the Egyptians between 2500 and 2150 BC.

3. 'The pyramids of Giza were not built by the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty, but rather appropriated by them,' Ambrósio stated 'Subsequent pyramids (and earlier ones, according to the conventional timeline) would represent imperfect attempts to imitate preexisting structures.'

4. Ambrósio claimed that there are no definitive ancient writings from the time directly tying the pharaohs to the construction of the pyramids (He notes the Khufu cartouche inside one of the chambers above the King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza are claimed by "sceptics, including authors Scott Creighton and Zecharia Sitchin" to have been faked by Colonel Howard Vyse in 1837).

In his three-page (!) text, citing just three works as support (an article by Schoch, a book by Bauval and Hancock and the archaeology from Lehner's "The Complete Pyramids") Ambrósio pointed out that "mega structures similar to the Great Pyramids have been discovered across the globe, which point to the same civilization sharing their advanced building techniques with other early human cultures" (citing Sacsayhuamán and the big stones in the temple podium at Baalbek).

The researcher added that the ancient Egyptians had their own mythological concept known as Zep Tepi, or 'the First Time.' It referred to an initial golden age when the world was created, the gods emerged from chaos, established a cosmic order, and ruled directly on Earth before human kings took over. However, researchers such as Graham Hancock and Robert Schoch have championed the fringe theory that Zep Tepi was a real historical period where this lost civilization thrived approximately 12,000 years ago, in 10,500 BC.

This is nonsense of course. This whole highjacking of the term zeptepi has been repeatedly been debunked, yet it keeps coming back - see David Miano for a good summary of this issue (see my post on this here). Ambrosio then brings in the Lake Van fantasist:

"Independent researcher Matthew LaCroix told Daily Mail that this advanced culture may have hidden a sophisticated code through geometry, symbolism, and monument design across the globe to preserve its knowledge ahead of catastrophic events. Sparked by another recent find in Egypt, the discovery of recurring giant T-shapes, three-level indents and step pyramids carved into ancient stones worldwide, the symbols have been linked across continents to a time even older than Zep Tepi, dating back 38,000 to 40,000 years. According to LaCroix, this civilization tracked cosmic cycles and embedded teachings about the structure of the universe into monuments and sacred sites, just as the pyramids at Giza perfectly line up underneath Orion's Belt."

Yeah yeah, yeah.

* According to Academia: "Independent Scholar with an academic background in Ancient Studies. Degree in Egyptology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), through the Institut d’Estudis del Pròxim Orient Antic."

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Unserland Uber Alles: Germany "Invented Writing" 40000 years ago?

According to the media, "mysterious signs" engraved on objects reveal that "a form of proto-writing may have been used in Europe 40,000 years ago, tens of thousands of years before the emergence of a full writing system" (Alison George, ' Stone Age symbols may push back the earliest form of writing' New Scientish Magazine 23 February 2026)

Stone Age people 40,000 years ago used a simple form of writing comparable in complexity to the earliest stages of the world’s first writing system, cuneiform, according to a study of mysterious signs engraved on figurines and other artefacts found in Germany. If confirmed, this pushes back the emergence of a proto-writing system by more than 30,000 years.

The New York Post is buying it (Ben Cost, 'Scientists discover oldest form of writing in mysterious Stone Age engravings' NYP Feb. 24, 2026)

The origins of writing aren’t set in stone. The ancient cave peoples weren’t as illiterate as portrayed in popular media. Archaeologists have discovered Paleolithic glyphs in a German cave that could potentially push back the history of written communication by over 30,000 years, per a rock-solid study in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy of Sciences. According to the researchers, the symbols were engraved on artifacts that dated back some 40,000 years to the Stone Age, when early humans arrived in Europe from Africa and encountered the Neanderthals. Despite their age, these ancient etchings boasted a complexity comparable to the early stages of the world’s oldest writing system, cuneiform, which originated around 5,000 years ago, the New Scientist reported.

The research is a little more nuanced in its claims ('Humans 40,000 y ago developed a system of conventional signs', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [of the United States of America], 23 Feb 2026, NB published the same day as the popular New Scientist article was) by Christian Bentz (linguist, of Language Science and Technology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken) and Ewa Dutkiewicz (archaeologist Stone Age Department, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin). It is a really odd piece. 

The underlying assumption is that "As humans, we store and share information" well, my cat has information about the whole area that is his territory and if he had kittens, he'd be sharing that with them, as do the chickens in the yard. What a silly generalisation, it is a characteristic of many animals. Then: "Our hominin ancestors harnessed the surfaces of mobile artifacts and cave walls as information carriers since the Paleolithic time period" that is again an assumption that seems designed to lead to the conclusions the authors are heading to (a cat pees on a fencepost to 'mark' it, is the fencepost a 'tool' for "carrying information"? A bee wiggles its arse towards its hive-mates to tell them how far to fly to the rape field - is his backside a tool, a carrier, or is that the wiggle?). 

Anyway, for whatever reason, these two analysed a corpus of 260 mobile objects adorned with several thousand geometric signs from the Swabian Aurignacian (43,000 to 34,000 y old) from a cluster of cave sites in southwestern Germany ("the first modern humans to settle in Central Europe"). They were etched with a total of 22 different recurring symbols, including a V-shaped notch and lines, crosses and dots. They applied "classification algorithms and statistical models to capture their quantitative properties". They found that these showed that the statistical properties of these sign sequences "are comparable to sign sequences on the earliest protocuneiform tablets" and that there were (quelle surprise) more Paleolithic signs "on certain types of objects, e.g. ivory figurines compared to tools". We tend to have less ornament on hammers and screwdrivers even today too. They reckon these symbols on these signed objects "were systematically applied to yield higher information density". In conclusion:

"These results cannot be taken to strictly prove that Aurignacian sign sequences encoded numero-ideographic information as in the case of protocuneiform. However, they prove that the first hunter-gatherers arriving in Europe already applied sign sequences of comparable complexity in a deliberate, systematic, and conventional manner—several ten thousand years before the advent of genuine writing.

So, they are, or they are not some kind of precocious script or not?

Yet there is nothing much new in this idea. In 1970 Alexander Marshack (1918 – 2004), US independent scholar and Paleolithic archaeologist - research associate at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University - published his text 'Notation dans les gravures du Paléolithique Supérieur' in which he argued that tally marks on certain bones from French caves and also sites further afield represented a system of proto-writing, and proposed that notches and lines carved on certain Upper Paleolithic bone plaques were notation systems (specifically lunar calendars). Marshack showed that seemingly random or meaningless notches on bone were sometimes interpretable as structured series of numbers. He expanded upon these ideas in his book, The Roots of Civilization: The Cognitive Beginnings of Man's First Art, Symbol and Notation (1972, 1991 reprint) [selective list of other works by Marshack]. Marshack's work has been criticized as having over-interpreted many artifacts, finding numerical and calendrical patterns where none exist (Robinson 1992; see also review of 1991 reprint by Iain Davidson). Nonetheless, his work had a major impact on the study of Paleolithic art - though to judge from this text, apparently not so much in Germany.

Reference:
Robinson, Judy 1992, 'Not counting on Marshack: a reassessment of the work of Alexander Marshack on notation in the Upper Palaeolithic', Journal of Mediterranean Studies 2(1): 1-16'

The Doheny pictographs

The Doheny pictographs are a small but intriguing group of Native American rock paintings located in San Juan Capistrano, in southern California. They are sometimes referred to as the Doheny State Beach pictographs because of their proximity to Doheny State Beach. They are generally attributed to the Acjachemen (Juaneño) people, the Indigenous inhabitants of this region prior to Spanish colonization. The nearby Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776, was built within traditional Acjachemen territory.

The paintings are found on sandstone rock surfaces and include geometric motifs—lines, grids, and possibly anthropomorphic or symbolic forms. The pigments were probably made from mineral-based paints (such as red ochre/hematite). Their exact age is uncertain, but they are pre-contact (i.e., created before sustained Spanish presence in the late 18th century). Like many rock art sites in southern California, their purpose is debated. They may have had ceremonial or ritual use, be some kind of vision quest imagery, they presumably involve some kind of territorial or cosmological symbolism. Possibly they could have served as markers associated with trade routes or seasonal camps. So far, though, no definitive interpretation exists specifically for the Doheny site.

One of the Doheny pictographs is often described in popular accounts as looking like a “dinosaur”, it is a figure with an elongated body and projecting forms that some viewers interpret as resembling a long-necked reptile or even something like a brontosaurus. That resemblance has occasionally been used in fringe or creationist arguments to suggest humans and dinosaurs coexisted. The figure, however, fits within the broader southern California rock art tradition attributed to the Acjachemen (Juaneño) and neighboring groups. Many figures are abstract, zoomorphic, or composite forms that don’t map neatly onto modern biological categories. This rock art often uses stylization, exaggeration, or symbolic distortion. What looks like a long neck or tail to a modern viewer may represent something entirely different (e.g., a mythic being, a bird, a quadruped, or a geometric/ceremonial motif). It seems more likely that the figure was a stylized animal (possibly deer, coyote, or other local fauna), or a mythic or supernatural being, or some symbolic/ritual image whose meaning is now lost. There’s no professional archaeological support for a literal dinosaur interpretation.

Preservation aspects.
The pictographs are fragile and have already suffered from natural weathering (sandstone erosion), sadly - vandalism, and also urban development pressure. As a result, access is sometimes restricted, and their exact location is not widely publicized to protect them.
See: The Oakland Museum page: "The Doheny Scientific Expedition to the Hava Supai Canyon, Northern Arizona, October and November 1924". The expedition was led by Samuel Hubbard (Honorary Curator of Archaeology of the Oakland Museum) and Charles Gilmore (Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, United States Rational Museum).

The Granby Stone

the carved stone

The Granby Stone is a non-authenticated artefact, often associated with out-of-place artifact (OOPArt) collections. It features engraved images that appear to depict dinosaurs alongside human-like figures or elephants. Found in Granby, Colorado, it is sometimes cited in discussions questioning established timelines of human and dinosaur coexistence, though it is not recognized by mainstream archaeology. The discovery of a ‘stone idol’ found at Granby, Colorado is described on pp 36-7 of Hubbard’s 1925 report on The Doheny Scientific Expedition to the Hava Supai Canyon, Northern Arizona, October and November, 1924, published by the Oakland Museum, of Oakland, CA. Reportedly, a Mr. Jordan was excavating for a garage or a cellar and uncovered this stone at a depth of 12 feet. He found many utensils, etc., in the same place, thus giving the presumption of a settlement. The stone is said to be an exceedingly hard green material, and like nothing ever known of in the neighborhood, suggesting that it may have been brought from a distance. The stone features carvings that critics suggest represent Apatosaurus or Diplodocus, often with an accompanying elephant-like figure.

The Granby Stone is generally considered modern or a hoax by scientists, rather than an ancient artefact. The object is now lost, but the hunt for it is said to have recently turned up new leads, pointing amateur investigators north to Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota's Anthropology Department.

There is some confusion, the object is sometimes linked to another find a "Granby Runestone" in Sweden, which is a legitimate 11th-century Viking-era artifact, but this is distinct from the, often called, "Granby Stone".

You can buy a replica on eBay, and this is where the photo used here is from.

The Rise and Fall of the South/Central American Spoof Artefacts

(a) The Crespi Collection The Father Carlo Crespi collection in Cuenca, Ecuador, is unique because it involved a mix of genuine artefacts, modern brass items, and bizarre gold-plated sheets. The Collection Begins (1923–1960s): Father Crespi, a Salesian monk, began receiving objects from local indigenous people (the Shuar) as gifts or in exchange for charity starting in 1923.
The Main Period (1960s–1982): The collection reached its peak in the 60s and 70s, filling several rooms of the Maria Auxiliadora Church. It gained global fame after Erich von Däniken visited in the early 70s. Unlike the other hoaxes, many of these items were modern brass plumbing fixtures or copper sheets etched by locals who knew the priest would give them money for "relics."
Current Status: After Crespi’s death in 1982, the collection was largely dispersed. Most of the "precious" metal sheets vanished or were identified as modern scrap metal, though the Central Bank of Ecuador purchased the genuine archaeological ceramic pieces. Today, the collection no longer exists as a singular entity. No new "finds" are reported.

(b) The Acámbaro Figures
The Main Period (1944–1952): Unlike the Ica stones, which spanned decades, the Acámbaro figures had a very concentrated "production" window. Within just eight years, Waldemar Julsrud amassed his entire collection of 32,000 pieces.
Current Status: Production largely stopped after Julsrud died in 1964 and the financial incentive (the 1-peso reward) vanished. The collection is now housed in the Waldemar Julsrud Museum in Acámbaro. New "finds" are extremely rare because the archaeological community has long since dismissed the site.

(c) The Ica Stones
The Ica stones follow a timeline of gradual discovery followed by an explosion of "finds" once a wealthy market was established.
Early Origins (Pre-1960s): Small numbers of stones with simple geometric designs were found in the Ocucaje region. Architect Santiago Agurto Calvo collected several hundred in the early 1960s, but these did not feature the controversial dinosaur imagery.
The Main Collection Period (1966–1970s): The "modern" era began in 1966 when Dr. Javier Cabrera Darquea received his first stone. Between 1966 and the late 1970s, the collection grew exponentially to over 11,000 pieces. This was the "Golden Age" of the hoax, fueled by Cabrera's willingness to buy any stone brought to him by farmers like Basilio Uschuya.
The Decline and "Discovery" Today: Following the 1977 BBC exposé and Uschuya’s confession, the international scientific community has moved on. However, the stones are still being "found" or produced today. Tourists in Ica can still buy "authentic" stones in local markets, and Cabrera’s family continues to maintain a private museum, keeping the legend alive for alternative-history enthusiasts.

(d) The Jalisco Stones (Ojuelos de Jalisco)
The Ojuelos stones from Jalisco appeared later and often echo themes similar to Ica: dinosaurs, advanced civilizations, extraterrestrials.The Early Origins (1940s – 1960s). While many claim the stones were found centuries ago, the documented "modern" history begins roughly in the mid-20th century. Small, unusual carved stones began appearing in the hands of local farmers and residents in the municipality of Ojuelos, Jalisco. These early pieces were often described as small pendants or figurines. The initial "finds" were attributed to locals digging for various reasons or finding them washed out of hillsides after heavy rains.
The collection of these stones transitioned from a local hobby to an international phenomenon in the early 21st century. The rise of the internet and "Ancient Alien" theories brought global attention to Ojuelos. Between 2010 and 2017, thousands of pieces were "discovered." Families in the area began presenting massive collections, claiming they were found in secret caves or buried caches in the hills.
In 2012, a group of researchers and enthusiasts formed a foundation to promote the stones as genuine evidence of extraterrestrial contact with ancient Mexican cultures, which catalyzed a surge in both collecting and tourism.
More recently, the trade has evolved into a sophisticated cottage industry. Many of the carvers are highly skilled, using traditional stone-working techniques to create the "weathered" look that buyers expect. The trade has now moved from the dusty streets of Ojuelos to Facebook Groups, eBay, and Etsy. You can easily find "authentic" Ojuelos stones for sale today, ranging from $50 to several thousand dollars.
The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Mexico’s official archaeological body, does not recognize these stones as authentic antiquities.