EXPLAINEDBEINGS · ROCK ART
The Teymareh 'Mantis Man'
4,000–40,000 years old · Khomein County · Iran
WHAT IT IS
A six-limbed figure with a triangular head and hooked forelegs, pecked into rock in central Iran. Shared online as a 'Sumerian mantis alien'.
THE ALIEN READING
Reposted across r/HighStrangeness, r/aliens and r/UFOs as a 'half mantis, half man' being, an ancient record of the insectoid entities in modern abduction accounts.
WHAT THE RECORD SAYS
The entomologists and archaeologists who published it (Journal of Orthoptera Research, 2020) identify a praying mantis of the genus Empusa drawn with human traits. It is in central Iran, not Sumer.
WHERE IT STANDS
Explained. Historians and archaeologists account for what it shows. The alien reading is a modern one.
STATUS IS OUR CURRENT ASSESSMENT, NOT A VERDICT · REVIEWED 3 OCT 2026
THE RECORD
- DATE
- 4,000–40,000 years old
- PLACE
- Khomein County · Iran
- MADE BY
- Unknown prehistoric carvers
- MEDIUM
- Rock art
- TECHNICAL
- Petroglyph · Teymareh rock art site, Markazi Province · age estimated broadly, not directly dated
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