• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

The Harakbut Head: Ancient Carving Or Natural Phenomenon?

Man-made or natural - what do you reckon?

  • Pah! Just more pareidolia like the face on Mars.

    Votes: 11 57.9%
  • Wow! Those ancient Peruvians sure captured that guy's face well.

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Hmmm... probably a vaguely face-shaped rock that human hand has modified a bit.

    Votes: 7 36.8%

  • Total voters
    19

blessmycottonsocks

Antediluvian
Joined
Dec 22, 2014
Messages
9,337
Location
Wessex and Mercia
There is a huge moss-covered rock resembling a stern, heavily brow-ridged human face in the remote Peruvian jungle.
The indigenous people call it the Rostro Harakbut (face of the Harakbut people) but the jury is still out as to whether it's a remarkable natural simulacrum, or an ancient man-made artefact.

Would be interested in what fellow forumists think about the Rostro Harakbut - please vote above.


Harakbut.png


https://www.theguardian.com/environ...tural-rockface-tribal-sculpture-hunt-oil-peru

https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/giant-stone-face-unveiled-in-the-amazon-rainforest-video/

https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/harakbut-face-0014509
 
There is a huge moss-covered rock resembling a stern, heavily brow-ridged human face in the remote Peruvian jungle.
The indigenous people call it the Rostro Harakbut (face of the Harakbut people) but the jury is still out as to whether it's a remarkable natural simulacrum, or an ancient man-made artefact.

Would be interested in what fellow forumists think about the Rostro Harakbut - please vote above.


View attachment 55989

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...tural-rockface-tribal-sculpture-hunt-oil-peru

https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/giant-stone-face-unveiled-in-the-amazon-rainforest-video/

https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/harakbut-face-0014509

Realise now I should have added a 4th voting option: "I'm not saying it was aliens, but..."
 
Thanks for finding me the view from another angle @EnolaGaia I was about to go looking for myself before making my mind up. Still as @hunck said it's still face like. I'm opting for the first option after flirting with the third.

All the same if it was in my neck of the woods I'd tell everyone my ancestors had carved it!
 
@EnolaGaia did well to find that other view.
That convinces me that my initial vote was correct - namely that it is a natural rocky formation, but may have undergone some touching-up and smoothing, especially around the nose and eyes, to accentuate the features.

The main thing is that it obviously has spiritual significance for the local indigenous people and, now that it's been declared part of Peru’s national cultural heritage, it will hopefully be protected for future generations to marvel at and speculate over - just as we have done today!
 
I finally located photos taken from the other (downstream) side. The stream flows through a flume-like narrowing at the El Rostro rock and down a circa 8m cascade into a pool. Here's a distant shot across the downstream pool looking back up toward El Rostro. From this angle and distance there's little to see except the tip of the nose.

This and the following photos are all found in a slideshow starting at:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure...-de-la-ubicacion-del-sitio-del_fig1_305934166

Rostro-Dwnstrm-Distant.jpg
 
Last edited:
The native guy with the moobs and denim shorts seems to be a permanent feature too!
 
I finally located photos taken from the other (downstream) side. The stream flows through a flume-like narrowing at the El Rostro rock and down a circa 8m cascade into a pool. Here's a distant shot across the downstream pool looking back up toward El Rostro. From this angle and distance there's little to see except the tip of the nose.

This and the following photos are all found in a slideshow starting at:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure...-de-la-ubicacion-del-sitio-del_fig1_305934166

This Picture of the 'Wall' seems to shout that it's been built in place, maybe not a natural feature?
Figura-20-Probable-muro-arqueologico-cerca-del-sitio-del-rostro-Foto-Gori-Tumi.png
 
This Picture of the 'Wall' seems to shout that it's been built in place, maybe not a natural feature? ...

The key word is "maybe". This structure was found circa 0.5 km downstream from "The Face", and neither it nor its surroundings have been investigated for evidence of human (as opposed to natural) activity. The photo caption says:
Probable archaeological wall near the site of the "face"

However ... The research report main text only notes that it resembles an Inca-style wall and it hasn't been investigated.
Finally, no private explorations or surveys were carried out in the riverbed or nearby banks, so the existence of stone tools or some other type of archaeological evidence in the surroundings of the site is still pending. The only additional discovery was a possible “Inca” style stone wall, found downstream approximately 500 m from the “face”, (Fig. 20), which unfortunately could not be examined due to lack of time. The area has high hills and high terraces that have not been explored, so the possibility of making cultural discoveries is tangible if systematic archaeological surveys and surveys are carried out.
SOURCE (Google-Translated):
https://www.researchgate.net/public..._lugar_sagrado_Harakbut_en_Madre_de_Dios_Peru
 
Recent article featuring the Harakbut Head, with a few more photos and linking it to the myth of El Dorado.
According to the article, legend has it that two other similar megalithic heads exist somewhere out in the remote rain forest, together with subterranean passages.
Apparently the indigenous name for it is "Incacok" which (no giggling now) means Inca Head.

https://mysteriesrunsolved.com/2022...rdian-of-the-forgotten-city-of-el-dorado.html
 
The key word is "maybe". This structure was found circa 0.5 km downstream from "The Face", and neither it nor its surroundings have been investigated for evidence of human (as opposed to natural) activity. The photo caption says:


However ... The research report main text only notes that it resembles an Inca-style wall and it hasn't been investigated.

SOURCE (Google-Translated):
https://www.researchgate.net/public..._lugar_sagrado_Harakbut_en_Madre_de_Dios_Peru
EL Dorado (City of Gold, with it's residents covered with powdered gold apparently) might well be a part-natural feature that they happened to stumble across, then developed, lived and supported it to be a very meaningful symbol to them? Wonder if the streams around that area have any deposits of alluvial, or 'mother-load' gold?
 
Back
Top