Case file · Folklore / legend
The 'Bastón de Mando' of Uritorco
A carved stone staff said to have been found near Cerro Uritorco in 1934 was later claimed, by writer Guillermo Alfredo Terrera, to be the ancient 'staff of command' of a Comechingón chief named Voltán.
1934 CE · -30.84, -64.48 · status: claim
The account
Terrera said, without offering evidence, that the basalt staff was more than 8,000 years old and that it had a mystical role in the region's destiny. The staff became one of the founding objects of the esoteric lore around Capilla del Monte, later joined by the Erks myth and the UFO tourism of the 1980s.
The sceptical view
There is no archaeological study of the object, and the 8,000-year date and the chief Voltán come only from Terrera's own writings.