Russian geoglyph
Eneolithic | |
| Site notes | |
|---|---|
| Excavation dates | 2011-2012 |
| Archaeologists | Stanislav Grigoriev |
| Public access | Yes |
The Russian geoglyph refers to a geoglyph on slopes of the Zyuratkul Mountains in the Chelyabinsk region in Russia.[1]
Description and discovery
The geoglyph depicts accurate contours of an animal similar to an
Excavation
Excavations have unearthed stones laying 4.5 metres (15 ft) wide, precisely under the contour at a depth of 30 centimetres (12 in) to 40 centimetres (16 in). The borders consist of large stones with a center filled with smaller ones. Builders of the object cut off a soil layer down to virgin clay and placed stones into this trench.[1]
The stones are now covered by a layer of patina with a dark shade. Earlier they were lighter and were perfectly visible from the ridge because the huge size of the drawing. It has a width of 195 metres (640 ft), length of 218 metres (715 ft), and a diagonal of 275 metres (902 ft). Excavations in the summer of 2012 have revealed small walls and remains of what are thought to be passageways on the areas around the hoof and snout of the animal. Grigoriev remarked that "the hoof is made of small crushed stones and clay. It seems to me there were very low walls and narrow passages among them. The same situation in the area of a muzzle: crushed stones and clay, four small broad walls and three passages." The geolyph is thought to have been created by a "megalithic culture" operating in the area during the past and connected with other Megaliths in the Urals and on Vera Island. In the period of its creation the soil layer was only 10 centimetres (3.9 in), and today it is 40 centimetres (16 in) to 50 centimetres (20 in).[1]
Dating
Grigoriev has found over forty stone tools resembling
References
- ^ a b c d e Janus, Owen., Mysterious elk-shaped structure discovered in Russia Huge geoglyph may predate Peru's famous Nazca Lines by thousands of years, Live Science on NBC News, 2012-10-12. ([1])
- ^ Grigoriev, Stanislav, A. & Menshenin, Nikolai M., Discovery of a geoglyph on the Zjuratkul Ridge in the southern Urals, Antiquity, Volume 086, Issue 331, March, 2012. (Archived October 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ Sky News Australia, Russian geoglyph may be older than 500BC, 2012-10-13. ( Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine)