Members of the expedition of the regional club "Wild North" first discovered an ancient dolmen in the mountains of the Subpolar Urals. Now specialists are planning to organize a new trip for additional research of the object, said Vladimir Anishchenko, a member of the Sverdlovsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society (RGO).
“This structure is very similar to those dolmens located in the Middle Urals, it was found by chance. There is no official mention of this kind of ritual structures in the Sub-Polar and Polar Urals anywhere. It is nevertheless necessary to organize an expedition to survey the adjacent territory in order to find, for example, places of sacrifice,”said Anishchenko.
He added that it is planned to hire a specialist for dolmen registration on the next expedition.
“According to the analogs that exist in the Middle Urals, it can be assumed that this is the late Neolithic (c. 3 thousand years BC), that is, before the time when the Khanty and Mansi appeared. It is interesting to lay tourist routes here, including for understanding the reality in which our direct ancestors lived,”said Anishchenko.
According to Evgeny Svitov, head of the Wild North Ural travelers' club, which organizes helicopter expeditions to the Northern and Polar Urals, the ritual structure resembles a small cave or grotto made of stones with obvious signs of an artificial structure.
“Dolmen was discovered by a new member Ivan Koval, an employee of the security department, who went on an expedition to get acquainted with the Subpolar Urals and train on the northern routes of the club as a guide and guide.
Before this event, there were no finds of dolmens on the territory of the Subpolar and Polar Urals, as well as other architectural structures of a ritual nature, Svitov said.