Dropa stones

The Dropa stones, otherwise known as the Dzopa stones, Dropas stones or Drop-ka stones, are said by
some ufologists and pseudoarchaeologists to be a series of at least 716 circular stone discs, dating back
12,000 years, on which tiny hieroglyph-like markings may be found.[1][2] Each disc is claimed to
measure up to 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter and carry two grooves, originating from a hole in their center,
in the form of a double spiral.[3] The hieroglyph-like markings are said to be found in these grooves. No
record has been found of the stones being displayed in any of the world's museums, and their current
whereabouts are unknown.

Contents
Tsum Um Nui
Russian examination
Ernst Wegerer
Publications
Controversies
References
Notes

Tsum Um Nui
In 1962 Tsum Um Nui (Chinese: 楚聞明; pinyin: Chǔ Wénmíng) was reported to have concluded that the
grooves on the discs were actually very tiny hieroglyphs, none of which were of a pattern that had been
seen before, and which can only be seen with the use of a magnifying glass. He announced that he had
deciphered them into a story that told of a spacecraft that crash landed in the area of the cave, the Bayan
Har Mountains, and that the ship contained the Dropa people who could not fix it and therefore had to
adapt to Earth. Further, his research claims that the Dropa people were hunted down and killed by the
local Han Chinese for a period.[3] Tsum Um Nui noted specifically that one glyph apparently said: "The
Dropa came down from the clouds in their aircraft. Our men, women and children hid in the caves ten
times before sunrise. When at last we understood the sign language of the Dropas, we realized that the
newcomers had peaceful intentions".[4]

Tsum Um Nui is said to have published his findings in 1962 in a professional journal, and was
subsequently ridiculed and met with disbelief. Shortly afterwards he is said to have gone to Japan in a
self-imposed exile, where he died not long after he completed the manuscript of his work.[3]

Russian examination
Russian researchers requested the discs for studying, and allegedly several were shipped to Moscow.
Once there, it is said that they were scraped for loose particles and put through a chemical analysis which
revealed that they contained large amounts of cobalt and other metallic substances. As recorded in the
Soviet magazine Sputnik, Dr. Vyatcheslav Saizev describes an experiment where the discs were
supposedly placed on a special turntable whereby they were shown to 'vibrate' or 'hum' in an unusual
rhythm as though an electric charge was passing through them.[1]

Ernst Wegerer
Supposedly, Ernst Wegerer (Wegener) was an Austrian engineer who, in 1974, visited the Banpo
Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, where he saw two of the Dropa stones.[3] It is said that when he
inquired about the discs the manager could tell him nothing, but permitted him to take one in his hand
and photograph them up close. He claims that in his photos the hieroglyphs cannot be seen as they have
been hidden by the flash from the camera and have also deteriorated. By 1994, the discs and the manager
had disappeared from the museum.[4]

Publications
A reference to the Dropa and Dropa stones is found in the July 1962 edition of the German vegetarian
magazine Das vegetarische Universum.[5]

They are mentioned in the 1980 book Sungods in Exile by David Agamon (real name David A. Gamon).
This book is written as if it were a documentary of a 1947 expedition with the scientist Karyl Robin-
Evans. It follows his supposed travels into the secluded region of the Bayan Har mountain range where
he finds dwarfish people called the Dropa. According to his book, the Dropa population consisted of a
few hundred members all of which were approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) tall. Robin-Evans allegedly lived
among the Dropa for half a year and during that time he learned their language and history, and also
impregnated one of the Dropa women. He was told that they had crashed there long ago and that their
ancestor had come from a planet in the Sirius constellation.[6] Gamon later revealed in the British
publication Fortean Times that his book was his "favorite hoax" and a satire.[7]

In Japan, they were mentioned in 1996 when a translated version of Hartwig Hausdorf and Peter Krassa's
Satelliten der Götter (Satellites of the Gods) was released.[4]

Controversies
It has been claimed that Tsum Um Nui is not a real Chinese
name. There is no mention of him in China outside his
connection to the Dropa stones. According to Dropa enthusiast
Hartwig Hausdorf, Tsum Um Nui is a "former Japanese name,
but adapted to Chinese language".[8] Nor is there any mention in
any records about Chi Pu Tei's expedition in 1938.

Sungods in Exile, with its account of Karyl Robin-Evans in all

appearances gave credibility to Dropa stones until 1988, when
David A. Gamon told Fortean Times magazine that the book was
fiction and Karyl Robin-Evans imaginary. A Han-era bì (璧), 16 centimetres
(6.3 in) in diameter.
The stone discs were supposedly stored in various museums
across China. However, none of these museums have any records
or traces of Dropa stones ever being there.
According to the Gould-Parkinson system of transliteration, "Drop-ka" is Tibetan for "solitude" or
"inhabitant of pasture lands". It is said to be the name of a tribe of Tibetan nomadic herders on the eastern
Tibetan plateau.[3]

With Wegerer's photos lacking concrete evidence of the hieroglyphs, they display similarity to bì discs.
Bì are round jade discs with holes in their centers. When buried in the earth, the minerals change them to
be multi-colored. Bì have been dated to 3000 BCE and were common in what is now Shaanxi. Some bì
are decorated with parallel grooves and other markings.[9]

References

Notes
1. R. Lionel Fanthorpe; Patricia Fanthorpe; P. A. Fanthorpe (2006). Mysteries and Secrets of
the Masons: The Story Behind the Masonic Order (https://books.google.com/books?id=MXII
DlFKgcEC&pg=PA40&dq=dropa+stones). Toronto, Canada: Dundurn Press. pp. 39–41.
ISBN 978-1-55002-622-1.
2. J. C. Vintner (2 September 2011). Ancient Earth Mysteries (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=BzhZ_C3ccbwC&pg=PA23). AEM Publishing. p. 23. GGKEY:ZQW9ASDT4H3.
3. Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews (7 May 2007). "The Dropa (or Dzopa) stones" (http://www.badarc
haeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/mysterious-objects/the-dropa-or-dzopa-stones/). Bad
Archaeology. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
4. Hausdorf, Hartwig (1998). The Chinese Roswell: UFO encounters in the Far East from
ancient times to the present. New Paradigm Books. ISBN 978-1-892138-00-2.
5. Vallée, Jacques; Aubeck, Chris (2010). Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects
from Antiquity to Modern Times. Penguin/Putnam. pp. 359–362. ISBN 978-1585428205.
6. Agamon, David (1980). Sungods in Exile: Secrets of the Dzopa of Tibet. Sphere. ISBN 978-
0-7221-7417-3.
7. http://ufologie.patrickgross.org/htm/dropasagamon.htm
8. Hausdorf, Hartwig. "The Dropa- The Chinese Pyramids" (http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/
arqueologia/esp_dropa_6.htm). Retrieved 17 February 2012.
9. Jinsha Site: A 21st Century Discovery of Chinese Archaeology (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=v7KgEdSjidoC&pg=PA37). 五洲传播出版社. 2006. p. 37. ISBN 978-7-5085-0854-2.

Dunning, Brian (February 25, 2014). "Skeptoid #403: Out of Place Artifacts" (https://skeptoi
d.com/episodes/4403). Skeptoid.

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