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Everyone even remotely interested in extraterrestrials is searching for definitive proof, something tangible and real. So far, the concrete evidence remains elusive. Crop circle formations seem to be one example, yet mainstream scientists have yet to confirm their creation by otherworldly visitors.

Another example of real evidence could come from the remains of an ancient Sumerian woman, Queen Puabi. Could her DNA reveal that she was not entirely human? We’ll have to wait for the answer, as no test results are forthcoming.

A third example of evidence of otherworldly visitors could come from a beautiful sky-blue stone called Sky Stones. The matte-finish blue stone with white veins has been the subject of lore since the 90s. The story tells of a mysterious figure, a geologist named Angelo Pitoni who visited Sierra Leone in West Africa.

The unverified short version of the tale goes like this:

In 1990, Italian geologist, Angelo Pitoni purchased strange blue stones from a Fula Chief in Sierra Leone in West Africa. The tribe claimed the stones came from extraterrestrial visitors from the sky.

Pitoni returned home to Europe and brought the mysterious rocks to a university for testing. The results showed the stones didn’t match any known mineral.

The researchers couldn’t explain why the stones retained a blue color. When a small piece was pulverized and viewed under a microscope, there was no blue color visible. Heating the stone to high temperatures would not alter the mineral. Acids would not break it down.

Further analysis showed that 77.17% of the stone was Oxygen. The remaining composition was Carbon, Calcium, and an unknown organic compound. The age of the Sky Stones may be as much as 55,000 years old.

Pitoni certainly existed, seen with his Sky Stones in photographs, but obtaining hard evidence of his life is all but impossible. Online stories could not be more bizarre, suggesting he was decorated with the American Silver Star, somehow involved with the CIA, a secret agent, an explorer in the Amazon jungles, and discoverer of a Mayan city.

See this version of the story from Mystery History:

Today, the story is regaining interest because of the History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” series and another man, American artist, and designer, Jared Collins. In “The Star Gods of Sirius,” Collins appears with a briefcase holding numerous samples of the Sky Stones. Finally, the mystery seems about to end, as reputable institutions test the stones.

Collins tried to obtain a sample of the blue material ever since he first saw it in 2013 in possession of a gem dealer in Hong Kong. The dealer told a strange story that the stones came from the sky and that he had a sample tested at GRS Swisslabs by a Dr. Preeti. After 15 months of waiting for the results, the doctor “couldn’t determine its composition and ended up returning it as ‘unidentifiable.’”

Intrigued, Collins tried to buy a sample, but the dealer refused. The American left empty-handed, but the story remained on his mind. He researched online and found out all about the strange tale of Angelo Pitoni and his stone made of oxygen. Collins couldn’t track down information on the man. Instead, he focused on getting his hands on a Sky Stone and obtaining real proof.

At Erich Von Daniken’s museum, the Mystery Park, in Interlaken, Switzerland, a sample remained on display, along with the statues representing the strange beings from the sky, the Nomoli. Unfortunately, the museum would not part with a sample of the stone.

As a last resort, Collins inquired with the same gem dealer in Hong Kong again. To his surprise, the dealer was receptive after a year had passed. The same sample tested at GRS Swisslabs was available if he wanted it. It arrived with a letter explaining the story of how it came to Hong Kong.

The gem dealer met an Italian man who sold gems in Auroville, India named Vijay. Later at a seminar in Italy, Vijay showed him a sample of a Sky Stone he had obtained from his friend, the same Angelo Pitoni.

In correspondence with Collins, Vijay explained what happened and that he believed the stone came from the star Sirius B.

“The piece of sky stone which you now have in your possession was discovered by a geologist and adventurer named Angelo Pitoni when he was in Sierra Leone. There, the indigenous population have a legend saying that “diamonds are stars which fell from the sky.” Joking with them one day, Pitoni said: but if the stars fell, then so too must the sky have fallen!” Their reply was: “yes, and we know where it fell…”

A local shaman then brought him to a place where there were some pieces of this blue Material on the ground. Digging into the ground, he found over 200 kg of it which was not in a natural formation, but rather set in a pyramid shape. I was later shown photocopies of a report from geologist stating that the Material could not be identified.”

Collins found the story fascinating, but it was time to get the real proof he craved. He took the Sky Stone sample to the University of Washington Earth and Space Sciences division for testing on March 6, 2019. According to the story online:

“To ensure that the testing was done impartially, he never told the University specifically what they were examining. Only that the material was purported to have fallen from the sky and was recovered under the ground.”

After years of travel and research, Collins verified that the Sky Stones are unlike anything on Earth.

“More than 5 years of study and research has brought me around the world and back to try to understand just what this blue, stone-like Material is. While I’ve managed to compile a mountain of scientific reports from more than 16 sources, to date, no one – not one academic, or University, or independent scientist, or laboratory, can identify or understand the origin or the creation mechanism of the Material.”

It appears the Sky Stones are one of a kind. While not proof that extraterrestrial brought the stones to Earth, it’s still compelling hard evidence and food for thought. It’s also just one component of a much larger story about the African tribe and their beliefs about beings from the sky. Watch the full episode of the Star Gods of Sirus from the History Channel for more amazing details.

https://www.facebook.com/skystoneresearch/posts/413597859232295

Featured image: Screenshot via Facebook/Sky Stone

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While we know a great deal about the Vikings thanks to books, documentaries, and other sources of information, what do we really know about how these ancient people lived when they weren’t out conquering other lands?

Sadly, the answer is that we don’t know much at all regarding the home life of Vikings.

But that’s changing thanks to a groundbreaking new book from Marianne Hem Eriksen entitled Architecture, Society and Ritual in the Viking Age. Doors, Dwellings, and Domestic Space.

First of all, it should be noted that the “average” Viking household was a far cry from what we think of when we think of how people live now, Eriksen writes in an article she penned for The Conversation:

“The Viking household, while varied, did not conform to the idealized nuclear family of Western modernity. The largest households could be composed of a couple, concubines, subordinates, farmhands and warriors, animals, itinerant workers, guests, and a range of ‘mine, yours, and our’ children. Although they lived under one roof, everyday tasks and the architecture itself created thresholds between groups and made people different from each other.”

And it wasn’t just the living who inhabited a Viking house.

Archaeological finds suggest that the dead also had an important place and role in the Viking home. At times, human bones were even embedded into the house. That included dead infants who were buried in hearths and postholes:

“It must have been meaningful for people to place body parts of their dead under the threshold or in the postholes of the longhouse, or to inter the dead in the house when they abandoned the settlement.

“There is a clear ambiguity to dwelling with the dead. On the one hand, people sometimes kept the dead close, embedding them in the living space. Infants and ancestors may have helped protect the house, anchor it in local histories, or empower its residents.

“If they became malevolent, they could threaten the household – and so the threshold to their world needed to be controlled.”

Some Viking homes even contained what can best be called portals between the living and the dead. The most frequent location for such a portal was the threshold of the home.

“Two written sources tell the narrative of a woman being lifted over a door to see into a different realm. One is an  eyewitness account of a ship burial on the Volga River, where a slave woman is lifted above a freestanding portal (much like a doorframe). This allows her to speak with the dead chieftain.

“The other is an obscure text about a ritual gone wrong, where the lady of the house asks to be lifted “over hinges and door-beams, to see if she can save the sacrifice” — perhaps to see into another realm or into the future. The door could thus be a portal to other powers and beings . Perhaps for this reason, freestanding portals were sometimes erected at Viking burial grounds.”

Archaeologists also found many objects that must have held some special significance to the Viking residents: Pots, knives, and iron rings.

The objects were usually buried in or near doorways, suggesting that they may have been used as talismans or artifacts imbued with magical powers that were believed to protect the house from powers on the outside.

Eriksen concludes her article with a reminder that while we do indeed have much knowledge about Vikings, there remains much we still need to learn:

“When the Vikings engaged with the wider world through raids, trade, and settlement, their understanding of the world was anchored in their everyday experience in the home from childhood onwards. The time is ripe to broaden the topics we associate with the Viking Age, and to discuss the unfamiliarity and strangeness, as well as the role of inequality, in this pivotal period of European history.”

Tour a Viking turf house by watching this incredible video

Featured Image Via Joxean Koret/Flickr