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By NASA
Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
Origins Uncertain: ‘Skull Hill’ Rock
Written by Margaret Deahn, Ph.D. Student at Purdue University
Last week, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover continued its journey down lower ‘Witch Hazel Hill’ on the Jezero crater rim. The rover stopped along a boundary visible from orbit dividing light and dark rock outcrop (also known as a contact) at a site the team has called ‘Port Anson’. In addition to this contact, the rover has encountered a variety of neat rocks that may have originated from elsewhere and transported to their current location, also known as float.
This image from NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover, taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument’s right eye, shows the ‘Skull Hill’ target, a dark-toned float rock. The rover acquired this image while driving west downslope towards lower ‘Witch Hazel Hill’. Perseverance acquired this image on April 11, 2025, or sol 1472 of the Mars 2020 mission NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU Pictured above is an observation named ‘Skull Hill’ taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument. This float rock uniquely contrasts the surrounding light-toned outcrop with its dark tone and angular surface, and it features a few pits in the rock. If you look closely, you might even spot spherules within the surrounding regolith! See Alex Jones’ recent blog post for more information on these neat features: https://science.nasa.gov/blog/shocking-spherules/. The pits on Skull Hill may have formed via the erosion of clasts from the rock or scouring by wind. We’ve found a few of these dark-toned floats in the Port Anson region, and the team is working to better understand where these rocks came from and how they got here.
Skull Hill’s dark color is reminiscent of meteorites found in Gale crater by the Curiosity rover: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/curiosity-mars-rover-checks-odd-looking-iron-meteorite/. Chemical composition is an important factor in identifying a meteorite, and Gale’s meteorites contain significant amounts of iron and nickel. However, recent analysis of SuperCam data from nearby similar rocks suggests a composition inconsistent with a meteorite origin.
Alternatively, ‘Skull Hill’ could be an igneous rock eroded from a nearby outcrop or ejected from an impact crater. On Earth and Mars, iron and magnesium are some of the main contributors to igneous rocks, which form from the cooling of magma or lava. These rocks can include dark-colored minerals such as olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Luckily for us, the rover has instruments that can measure the chemical composition of rocks on Mars. Understanding the composition of these darker-toned floats will help the team to interpret the origin of this unique rock!
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Some days ago we wrote about recent satellite scans which have revealed massive structures buried up to two kilometers beneath the Giza Plateau, particularly beneath the Pyramid of Khafre. Researchers speculate that these hidden formations may not only contain undiscovered chambers, possibly linked to the legendary Hall of Records but that these subterranean structures could also function similarly to Nikola Tesla's coil, suggesting that they may have once served as colossal power plants, generating and distributing energy on a grand scale.
This revelation has reignited interest in the prophecies of Edgar Cayce, often called the "Sleeping Prophet." Cayce predicted the existence of an underground chamber, known as the Hall of Records, containing lost knowledge from Atlantis, hidden beneath the Sphinx. He also spoke of a powerful energy grid, which he believed once existed in the region.
In the 1930s, Cayce’s psychic readings described Atlantis as a technologically advanced civilization, (Could it be that the Atlanteans were the previous civilization that was on Earth?) that collapsed around 10,500 BC due to corruption and the misuse of power. According to him, survivors of this catastrophe fled to Egypt, where they shared knowledge of engineering, spirituality, and civilization-building. Cayce suggested that these Atlantean refugees played a pivotal role in constructing the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx shortly after their arrival.
Suppose that the Atlanteans indeed contributed to these monumental structures, could they have collaborated not only with the local inhabitants but also with giant humanoids who once roamed the Earth? Cayce described the Hall of Records as an underground chamber situated between the Sphinx and the Nile River, with its entrance concealed near the Sphinx’s right paw. He claimed the hall contained inscriptions in both Atlantean and Egyptian scripts and was designed in a pyramid-like shape. He further prophesied that its discovery would coincide with a period of global upheaval and transformation.
Despite extensive archaeological investigations, definitive proof of the Hall of Records remains elusive. However, as early as the 1990s, ground-penetrating radar detected anomalies and hollow spaces beneath the Sphinx. With advancements in technology and the recent satellite scans, could Cayce's predictions, regarding a powerful energy grid and the Hall of Records containing lost Atlantean knowledge, prove to be true?
As scientific inquiry continues, we may be on the verge of uncovering secrets buried deep beneath the pyramids, potentially reshaping our understanding of history. View the full article
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