The team then made what was called "the most incredible discovery of all." Half buried in the dirt floor of each cave they found unusual disks, originally referred to as "odd stone disks" and described as "obviously fashioned by the hand of an intelligent creature." These disks were approximately nine inches in diameter and three-quarters of an inch thick. In the exact center was a perfectly round 3/4 inch hole, and etched into its face was a fine groove spiraling out from the center to the rim, making the disk look like some kind of "primitive phonograph record."

One of the best preserved disks was dated to between 10,000 and 12,000 years BC old, older by far than even the oldest estimates of the age of the great pyramids of Egypt. This was incredible news, but what was to come would be even more remarkable. A final total of 716 such plates were found, and each held its own mystery. The grooves, upon closer inspection, were not grooves at all, but a continuous line of an unknown writing! full story