WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The Tartarian Empire left a sacred bell in outback Australia.
OUR VERDICT
False. The bell pictured is in a temple in Sri Lanka.
AAP FACTCHECK - An ancient civilisation known as Tartaria did not leave behind a bell in the Australian outback, despite claims reverberating on social media.
The Tartarian empire is a debunked conspiracy theory suggesting that old-world architecture in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne is evidence of a former civilisation that was wiped out in a catastrophic mud flood.
The myth has resurfaced in social media posts featuring a video of a large bell chiming, which they claim was left behind in the Australian outback.
While not being explicit, the posts falsely imply that a population occupied Australia's landmass before Indigenous peoples.
One Facebook post shows the footage of the chiming bell, with overlay text that reads: "Why did they remove the Bells. Tartarian bell found in outback Australia!"
Another post shows the same bell with the caption: "The only bells that resonate the frequency necessary to dispel the enemy is the Tartarian bells!! They are enchanted! They have scribes and spells on them! We can not just make one of these!! You are looking at a magical enchanted bell!! Notice we don't make bells anymore!! And when we do they have no resonance!!"
The bell in the videos, however, was not discovered in the outback.
It's located in Sri Lanka on Adam's Peak, which contains the Sri Pada or "sacred footprint," a hollow revered by several religions as a holy site.
The bell can be seen in Getty Images' iStock photo archive, with the caption revealing its location to be in Sri Lanka, and in traveller photos on Instagram.
A travel blog featuring a photo of the same bell places it at a temple near Nallathanniya, a village close to Adam's Peak.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked claims about certain buildings in Australian cities and the Tartaria myth.
Brian Dunning, host of the Skeptoid podcast, said in a 2021 episode that the first Tartaria videos appeared on YouTube in August 2016.
"[The claim] revolves around an alleged worldwide cataclysm believed by adherents to have taken place sometime in the 1800s, a disaster that wiped out a worldwide advanced civilization and allowed the nations as we know them today to rise up," he said.
Bloomberg reported that the Tartaria conspiracy has been largely confined to YouTube and Reddit.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked false claims about populations in Australia before Indigenous peoples.
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