Are photographs of an ancient statue with a QR code instead of a face reliable?

A photo with a very unusual statue is being circulated on social networks - according to users, the Mayan Indians invented QR codes several thousand years ago. We have verified the authenticity of this photo.

In November 2021, images were shared by users Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal and other social networks. A photo of a statue with a face in the form of a QR code has appeared on the Internet before: for example, in 2020 in Instagram, and in 2018 - in Russian And Ukrainian regional media. It gained particular popularity on resources dedicated to otherworldly phenomena And aliens.

Judging by Google search results, the viral photo first appeared on the Internet in 2015. At the same time, among the sites where it was presented, there were no museums or sites about recent archaeological finds - the image was mainly mentioned by users of blogging platforms like Pikabu or 9gag. None of the resources with this photo say who, where or when it was taken.

Also in 2015, users began to figure out where the strange statue came from. QR code was invented only in the mid-1990s, so there is no way he could have appeared on a statue that is supposedly several hundred or even thousands of years old. Other details also attracted attention: for example, the square head of the statue for some reason cast a round shadow.

Activist Mike West translated code from the statue into a machine-readable format. It turned out that it leads to the website of the Alteco Mexico store, where electronic components and parts are sold. West speculated that the statue was either part of an unusual exhibition sponsored by Alteco, or that the artist simply picked a random QR code to create his work. The activist is sure that this statue has nothing to do with the Indians or history, but neither he nor we, unfortunately, have yet been able to identify the author of the work.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Metabunk. Decoded: Statue with a QR code head
2. Is it true that the photograph depicts a god from Mayan mythology?
3. Is it true that the photo shows the skeleton of a giant titanoboa snake?