Cultural report by Malek Radad ALGIERS, Sept 9 (KUNA) -- The ancient city of Sifar situated in southeastern Algeria is a unique treasure for Algerians and the human race at large, featuring engravings and drawings dating back to 20,000 years ago.
The 89,342-square-kilometer site was placed by the UNESCO in 1982 on top of the list of the globe's rocky cities; older than the iconic pyramids of Egypt.
Sifar, as mysterious as the Bermuda Triangle, encompasses more than 15,000 murals, engravings and drawings of creatures, human beings and some tools dating back to pre-historic times. Some of the drawings and murals are puzzling, depicting flying humans, figures dragging cylindrical objects, ancient boats and, as some claim, space crafts and old-time aliens.
The site enriches man's imagination and boosts fictional theories for some of the drawings give the impression that aliens from outer space had been there, mingling with the people who had populated Sifar thousands of years back.
A few persons had dared to venture into the city due to predominant belief that death was the destiny for those who would enter the mysterious site. However, the British magician and explorer, Alester Crowley, born in 1875, embarked on the adventure and surveyed its alleys and caves.
A document at a British museum says that Crowley, accompanied by 30 men, survived the trek and quotes him as saying he had reached "the throne of the Satan," at a spot among the maze of the spooky caves.
Algerian Army troops guard the ancient location and only a few curious persons venture into the dreaded "old museum." (end) mr.rk