Pseudo-Archaeology · The Archaeology Podcast Network

Monolith: 2001, 2010, Today and Forever! - Ep 157

·38 min·2 clips

In 2001, the monolith appears with early humans, then on the Moon, then near Jupiter.

1. Pseudo-Archaeology episode 157 centers on monoliths, from the Utah object in 2020 to 2001: A Space Odyssey. 2. Host Dr. Andrew Kinkella frames the topic and connects it to his past work on Strange and Suspicious and Sisters Who Kill. 3. The episode asks what monoliths mean in archaeology, art, and pop culture, and why the image keeps returning. 4. Andrew says the Utah monolith was found in the middle of nowhere in Utah in 2020. 5. He describes it as a shiny metal prism, about 10 feet tall, with three sides rather than a stone block. 6. He says similar monoliths appeared in England, India, and California, and a tracker site listed well over 200 of them. 7. Andrew notes that the Utah piece may have been made and placed in 2016, then sat there for four years before discovery. 8. He says the Bureau of Land Management handled it because the monolith was on BLM land, not private land or a national park. 9. He describes the removal as happening quickly and under vaguely secret circumstances after the discovery. 10. Andrew compares the modern pieces to crop circles and says he sees them as art installations more than stone monoliths. 11. He shifts to Stonehenge, calling it megalithic rather than monolithic because it is made of multiple large stones. 12. He also names Göbekli Tepe, Easter Island moai, Maya stelae, and Egyptian obelisks as related forms. 13. Andrew treats the Sphinx as a monolith because it is carved from a single piece of bedrock. 14. He contrasts those examples with the natural formation Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, which he says is a monolith without human construction. 15. The Baalbek stones in Lebanon become his biggest archaeological example, especially the “Forgotten Stone.” 16. He gives the Forgotten Stone dimensions as 64 feet long and roughly 1,500 to 1,800 tons, with the “Stone of the South” and “Stone of the Pregnant Woman” nearby. 17. Andrew then turns to 2001: A Space Odyssey and says the monolith appears three times, each time signaling a major shift. 18. He briefly compares 2001 with 2010: The Year We Make Contact, mentioning Keir Dullea’s lines “My God, it’s full of stars” and “something wonderful.” 19. The tone is conversational, speculative, and joke-driven, with Andrew interrupting himself, revising claims, and jumping between archaeology and film. 20. Fans of archaeology, Kubrick, and odd landscape objects will get the most from it, while listeners wanting a tightly structured lecture may skip it.

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