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A crop circle is a sizable pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, or rapeseed. Crop circles are also referred to as crop formations, because they are not always circular in shape. While the exact date crop circles began to appear is unknown, the documented cases have substantially increased from the 1970s to current times. Twenty-six countries reportedapproximately ten thousand crop circles in the last third of the 20th century. Ninety percent of those were located in southern England.[1] Many of the formations appearing in that area are positioned near ancient monuments, such as Stonehenge. According to one study, nearly half of all circles found in the UK in 2003 were located within a 15 km (9.3 miles) radius of Avebury.[2]
The earliest recordedimage resembling a crop circle is depicted in a 17th century English woodcut called the Mowing-Devil. The image depicts the Devil with a scythe mowing (cutting)[3] a circular design in a field of oats. The pamphlet containing the image states that the farmer, disgusted at the wage his mower was demanding for his work, insisted that he would rather have "the devil himself" perform the task.[edit] Explanations
Formations usually are made overnight, but have also been made during the day. While it is not known how all crop circles are formed, various theories have been put forth ranging from natural phenomenon and man-made hoaxes, to the paranormal and even animals.[28][29][30][31]
[edit] Man-made
The most widely known method for a person or group to construct a crop formation is totie one end of a rope to an anchor point, and the other end to a board which is used to crush the plants. Some crop formations are paid for by companies who use them as advertising.[32] As an explanation of some of the more complex formations, physicists have suggested the use of GPS, lasers, and portable microwave generators.[33][34]
[edit] Weather
Some have suggested crop circles are the resultof extraordinary meteorological phenomena ranging from freak tornadoes to ball lightning.[35] The first known published reference to the possibility of crop formations being the result of natural phenomena dates back to 1880 in which investigator and amateur scientist John Rand Capron theorized the formations may have been the product of "cyclonic wind action..." [6][7] Physicist Stephen Hawkingexpressed the opinion in 1992 that, "Corn circles are either hoaxes or formed by vortex movement of air".[7][36]
[edit] Paranormal
Sketch of a 'spaceship' creating crop circles, sent to UK Ministry of Defence circa 1998.
Since appearing in the media in the 1970s, crop circles have become the subject of speculation by various paranormal, ufological, and anomalistic investigators ranging fromproposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from extraterrestrial beings.[35][37][38][39]
Many crop circles have been found near ancient sites such as Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire. They have also been found near mounds of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, also known as tumuli barrows, or barrows andchalk horses, or trenches dug and filled with rubble made from brighter material than the natural bedrock, often chalk. There has also been speculation that crop circles have a relation to ley lines.[37][40][41] Many New Age groups incorporate crop circles into their belief systems.
Some have related crop circles to the Gaia hypothesis, alleging that "Gaia", the earth, is actually alive and thatcrop circles are messages or responses to stimuli such as global warming and human pollution. It asserts that the earth may be modeled as if a single super-organism, in that earthly components (e.g. biota, climate, temperature, sunlight, etc.) influence each other and are organized to function and develop as a whole.[42]
The main criticism of alleged non-human creation of crop circles is that...