The Dropa stones are said to be a set of 716 granite discs covered in unknown symbols. These objects, which are not widely accepted as real archaeological finds, are claimed to be 12,000-year-old records of an alien spaceship landing on Earth.

Many searches have not found any records of the stones being shown in museums or of people who discovered or translated them. A French scientist named Jacques Vallée believes the story is a fake. Over time, more made-up details were added to the tale, which appear in newer versions of the story.

The tale

In July 1962, a version of a story appeared in the German magazine Das vegetarische Universum. It described an archaeological expedition in 1937 led by Chi Pu Tei in the Bayan Har mountains. The team discovered 716 granite discs with small markings that resembled ancient symbols. These discs were dated to 12,000 years ago. At the same site, researchers also found star maps and remains of bodies with unusually large heads.

Over 20 years later, Chinese archaeologists and linguists at the "Academy of Prehistory" in Beijing claimed they translated the markings. They concluded the discs were carved by extraterrestrials after their spacecraft crashed in the Sino-Tibetan border region. These findings were published by Tsum Um Nui in an academic journal but were criticized by others. Tsum later moved to Japan in self-exile and died soon after.

The discs are sometimes described as up to 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter. They have two grooves shaped like a double spiral, starting from a hole in the center. Hieroglyphs inside the grooves can be seen with a magnifying glass.

In 1966, the story was republished in the Soviet magazine Sputnik by Vyacheslav Zaitsev. He added that some discs were sent to Moscow, where Soviet researchers found they contained cobalt and other metals. The discs acted as electrical conductors and made a humming sound when placed on a special turntable.

In 1974, Austrian engineer Ernst Wegerer (or Wegener) visited the Banpo Museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi. He reportedly saw two of the discs but was not given details about them. He was allowed to hold one and take close-up photographs. By 1994, the discs were no longer present at the museum.

Controversy

The first version of the story, as published in Das vegetarische Universum, was credited to Reinhardt Wegemann. However, no German writer with this name exists. The article references a DINA news agency in Tokyo, but no records of this agency remain.

Later retellings of the story about the Dropa stones do not mention Chu Pu Tei or Tsum Um Nui, nor their academic work. It has also been noted that these names may not be real Chinese names. Beginning in the 2000s, they are sometimes written as Qu Futai and Chen Wenming, respectively.

The 1978 book Sungods in Exile, written by David Agamon (whose real name was David A. Gamon), claimed to describe a 1947 expedition by scientist Karyl Robin-Evans in the Bayan Har region. The book added more details to the story, including Robin-Evans meeting the Dropa, a small group of indigenous people. According to the book, the Dropa's ancestors came from a planet in the "Sirius constellation" and settled in the region after experiencing technical difficulties. Gamon later admitted the book was a hoax and a satire. However, some retellings of the story still present details from Sungods in Exile as true.

Photos of two stones attributed to Wegerer are of low quality and do not show the hieroglyphs clearly. The images appear to show bì discs. Bì are round jade discs with holes in the center. When buried in the earth, minerals in the soil change their color, making them multi-colored. Bì have been dated to around 3000 BCE and were commonly found in what is now Shaanxi. Some bì have parallel grooves or other markings on their surfaces.