After a glacial collapse sent huge waves of freezing water, rocks and debris down the Nepal-Tibet border region, social media posts falsely presented man-made sculptures as genuine ammonite fossils that were swept down from the mountains. But these sculptures were in fact created in April and May by Nepali artists to promote tourism in Jomsom, a town hundreds of kilometres away from the disaster-affected areas.
"A massive fossil swept down from Nepal's mountains," says part of a Korean-language X post shared on August 29, 2026. "I've never seen such a big ammonite fossil."
Images attached to the post appear to show two massive black ammonite fossils lying on a riverbank ( archived link). One of the images shows about 20 people gathered nearby, showing the scale of one of the purported fossils.
The images circulated after a tsunami-like wall of freezing water and mud crashed down on Nepal and Tibet's border region, burying homes, smashing bridges and sweeping away vehicles on August 26 ( archived link).
The floods -- which the US Geological Survey said were triggered by a glacial collapse -- have killed at least 939 people in Nepal and in Tibet, in China, with at least 17 bodies also pulled from rivers downstream in India ( archived link). The number of people missing has also soared to nearly 4,500.
Similar images of the purported fossils were shared elsewhere in Instagram, YouTube and X posts claiming they were "millions of years old" and "uncovered by the floods".
But the images in fact show man-made sculptures.
A reverse image search led to similar photos used to illustrate a June 30 article by Nepal's official news agency about the 6.7-metre (22-feet) "Shaligram Sheela" sculpture in Jomsom, a mountain town in the country's northwest (archived here, here and here).
Jomsom is hundreds of kilometres from the regions affected by the flash floods along the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi rivers (archived here, here and here).
The news article says Nepali sculptors carved the rocks during a workshop between April 20 to May 4, organised by the Nepal Academy of Fine Arts and Gharpjhoong Rural Municipality in the Gandaki province that oversees Jomsom (archived here and here).
"The Shaligram Sheela (fossilised ammonite stone) is considered as symbolising Lord Vishnu by the Hindus," it says, adding the sculptures have become an attractive spot for religious tourists.
An article and a video shared by local websites in May show religious figures blessing the larger sculpture (archived here and here).
A hotel near the Kali Gandaki River, seen in the background of one of the falsely shared images also appears in the background of the video showing the sculpture being blessed (archived here and here).
The Gharpjhoong Rural Municipality told AFP via email on August 31 that the images in the false posts show the Jomsom sculptures, calling the larger carving "one of the most important and historical sculptures" crafted in collaboration with the artists' group and the local government ( archived link).
The municipality also provided AFP with a photo of the larger carving, with a building in the background matching a Google Maps photo of a hotel located near to the tourist attraction (archived here and here).
The river next to the sculptures has not experienced floods beyond the usual seasonal levels, the municipality noted, adding it was not aware of any other Shaligram Sheela replicas of similar scale elsewhere.
AFP has debunked other false claims related to the disaster in Nepal and Tibet.