dropa

The Dropa are the subject of a controversial and widely disputed set of claims about an ancient people said to have inhabited the Bayan Kara Ula mountains on the Tibetan plateau in western China. Central to the story are the so-called Dropa stones, circular stone discs said to bear inscriptions or carvings and sometimes images of humanoid figures. Proponents allege that these discs date back thousands of years and tell of contact between the Dropa and extraterrestrial visitors, a premise associated with ancient astronaut theories.

The core narrative holds that in 1938 explorers or archaeologists uncovered caves in the Bayan Kara Ula region containing thousands of these discs. According to popular accounts, a Chinese or German expedition removed or concealed many artifacts, and the material has circulated in later publications and speeches. The most influential modern exposition came from the German writer Hartwig Hausdorf in the 1990s, who claimed to have seen photographs and described the discs and inscriptions as evidence of ancient astronauts. These claims, however, depend on disputed or unverified sources and have not been corroborated by credible field research.

Authenticity and reception: mainstream archaeologists and historians regard the Dropa stones as a hoax or urban legend. There is no independently verifiable archaeological report supporting the existence of such discs, their inscriptions, or the supposed dating. The Chinese authorities have offered no credible corroboration, and many of the photographs and specimen claims circulated in popular media have been contested or identified as forgeries or misinterpretations.

Cultural impact: despite the lack of scholarly support, the Dropa stones remain a fixture in conspiracy and pseudoscientific discussions about ancient astronauts and hidden histories, and they are frequently cited in popular books and media on the subject.