Pictographs in Barrier Canyon, otherwise known as Horseshoe Canyon, in the desert of central Utah

Pictographs in Barrier Canyon, otherwise known as Horseshoe Canyon, in the desert of central Utah. The little figures, in some respects resembling people, in others insects, in others your common-or-garden extraterrestrials, have given their name to an entire style of rock art: similar petroglyphs are said to be in the Barrier Canyon style.

They date from somewhere between 2000 BC and AD 500. Naturally, the interpretation of the images is hypothetical: it is written that they may depict a spirit, a deity or a human being during a special ritual or in a liminal state.

In reality, of course, this is a sketch of an encounter with representatives of a foreign civilisation, for it has been known since ancient times that if you do not document the extraordinary properly, who will believe you afterwards?

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Pictographs in Barrier Canyon, otherwise known as Horseshoe Canyon, in the desert of central Utah

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s