Museo de Piedras Grabadas de Ica

In 1961 the Río Ica flooded and exposed a strange phenomenon in the Ocucaje desert, 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Ica. Locals found engraved stones and began selling them to tourists. Dr. Javier Cabrera Darquea received one as a birthday gift in 1966. This began his obsession collecting more than 11,000 of the rocks that depict ceremonies, flora, fauna and mysterious scenes of humans hunting dinosaurs. Some detractors claim these stone carvings are recent works by the locals. Others argue that they are pre-historic creations. Dr. Cabrera wrote a thesis on his theory of the rocks’ origins and Dennis Swift did microscopic analyses. To add fuel to the controversy, two Spaniards in 2002 found six such stones in the Occucaje Desert. The Universidad Autónoma de Madrid has tested two and found them to be 61,000 and 99,000 years old.

Location:
Bolívar 170, Plaza de Armas
Ica, Peru

Museum

Travel Tips: Dr. Cabrera’s work, The Message of the Engraved Stones of Ica, is for sale at the museum in English and other languages ($17). Dennis Swift is a proponent of the theory that populations of dinosaurs survived the cataclycism that wiped out their species and existed into human times (www.dinosaursandman.com / www.dinosaursandhumans.org). The two Spaniards, María del Carmen Olázar Benguría and Félix Arenas Mariscal penned a book about their 2002 find, which contains the lab report of the dating of the stones: La verdad sobre las piedras de Ica (Madrid: Editorial Sirio, 2008).

Price Description: Adults $3.35, children free.

Relative price: Mid-Range

Open Hours from:Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m.

Open Hours to:Monday-Friday 1 p.m., 7 p.m.

Days Closed:Saturday, Sunday

Travel Skills: None

You could organize an expedition into the Ocucaje desert yourself and see what you come across buried in those sands. As well, the Museo Regional de Ica holds some marvelous pre-Columbian artefacts, which are more accepted by the established scientific community.

Currencies accepted
Peruvian nuevo sol

Contact Information:
Phone: 23-1933 / 21-3026 / (Lima) 01-9965-24106
E-mail: eugeniacabrerac(at)remove-this.gmail.com / bibliotecadepiedra(at)remove-this.viabcp.com

By Lorraine Caputo

Upon re-declaring her independence at age 29, Lorraine Caputo packed her trusty Rocinante (so her knapsack's called) and began traipsing throughout...

Created: 29 Sep 2008

Updated: 16 Jun 2009

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Reviews

Traveler Reviews of Museo de Piedras Grabadas de Ica

Incredible

The mere scope of this collection just has to make you wonder: surely, they can't all be fakes. If not, then? And the artistry is quite good on a number of them. Well worth it to check this place out.

Traveler from United States on Dec 26, 2008