Investigating the architectural development of the city of Soroca, Vitaly Yatsyuk discovered clearly visible geometric shapes similar to the geoglyphs of the Nazca desert in South American Peru. He presented his research at a conference held at the Academy of Sciences of Moldova.
Why Soroka Fortress was erected in a vulnerable place
“We have studied 500 space and aerial photographs with a resolution of up to 20 centimeters, superimposed one on top of another,” Vitaliy Yatsyuk said at the presentation. "The information is ambiguous, further research is needed."
Yatsyuk suggested that the city did not appear in this place for nothing. The Soroca fortress was erected in the 15th century by the Moldavian ruler Stefan the Great in order to protect his possessions from Poland and Hungary. The earliest depictions of the fortress still known are on a map from 1540 and on a 1781 painting by an artist-architect from Switzerland. But the study of ancient maps and documents made it possible to assume that in ancient times, approximately in the II-III centuries, this place was the settlement of Karsidava. This is evidenced by the works of Ptolemy of Alexandria and Dmitry Cantemir, as well as the latest research of the Ptolemey Workgroup.
“There is no doubt that there should have been a fortress in this place,” said the architect. - Since ancient times, the Dniester, along with the Dnieper, was the shortest trade route connecting the Baltic with the Mediterranean Sea. It brought Baltic amber to Greece and Egypt. The fortress on the border of Dacia and Sarmatia was an outpost of defense, controlled and protected an important trade route, played a military and economic role.
Why did the builders of the fortress choose such a strange place for it, vulnerable from the point of view of military science: in the lowlands? This is not typical for fortresses of that period, moreover, floods were observed here every year, and arrows flew from the nearest hill.
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Mystery of Bekirov Hill
In search of an answer to this question, Yatsko drew attention to Bekirov Hill. Until 2004, its main attraction was the rock cells of the legendary either monk or haiduk Bekir. Now there is a Thanksgiving Candle at the top of the hill. Back in the 70s, Moldovan historians suggested that there are remnants of very ancient defensive structures and settlements on the hill above the gorge. Research by the archaeologist V. Markevich in 1962-1970 revealed here traces of the Cucuteni-Tripoli culture of the period 3050-2250 BC.
“The shape of the hill and its location are ideal for building a defensive structure on its top,” says Vitaliy Yatsyuk. - It was possible to control the approach of enemy forces from the left bank, prepare for the defense. From the top of the hill, the garrison could control 12 kilometers of the Dniester channel and the crossing. On the "Detailed military map on the border of Russia with Turkey", issued under the leadership of Admiral Count GG Kushelev in 1800, a monastery and a ford are indicated at the point where the Zastynka stream flows into the Dniester. Until the very beginning of the twentieth century, opposite the hill in the river there were rock outcrops and rapids. They were then blown up to facilitate steamship traffic. At this point, the raft or boat slowed down and fell under the control of the garrison. No one could cross the river unnoticed."
Remains of an ancient fortress
Examining the upper part of the hill, Yatsyuk discovered specific landforms, uncharacteristic of the top, which is a watershed. At the top, perpendicular to the watershed line, two parallel ramparts and the remains of ditches are visible at a distance of 200 meters from each other.
“This combination of landforms can hardly be the result of erosion,” noted Vitaly Yatsyuk. - Rather, they are of artificial origin. If the ditches and ramparts are man-made, it can be assumed that it was a defensive structure in the form of a rectangular fortress with dimensions of 500x200 meters. The space of the fortress along the outer line of defense has an area of approximately 90 thousand square meters. The inner fortress behind the second line of defense had a protected area of about 40 thousand square meters. That is, it could accommodate not only a military garrison, but also a large number of civilians."
The area of ancient urban buildings with an area of approximately 6.5 x 2.3 kilometers, including the territory outside the fortress, has been explored. It turns out that the approximate area of the city was about 12 square kilometers - as much as Soroca (11.8 square kilometers). Its population could be approximately 20 thousand people.
Each spring, rings reappear on arable land
The hill maps presented by the architect show geometric structures. Curved figures have been found on both hillsides and further in the fields up to the fields behind the bypass road. Geometric figures of straight lines were found only on the hillsides. I had to study maps and photographs of the 19th-20th centuries in order to exclude coincidences with the fences of old gardens and vegetable gardens. Yatsyuk found that the structures are a series of pits and trenches with a minimum depth of about 20 centimeters and a maximum depth of up to 50.
In Romania, in the mysterious center of Sermisegetuza Regia, there are sacred ring structures, among which the largest has a diameter of 29.5 meters, the smallest -14 meters. On a hill in Moldova, such structures have a radius of 30 to 80 meters.
Structures have been preserved in forests and in the steppe zone. According to the researcher, he was shocked when he discovered ring structures and arable land that is plowed every year. Ring structures reappear every spring.
Pictures have been studied over the past ten years. Another type of ring structure is mounds. They are especially noticeable on arable land. The shapes are different. One type has a beneficial effect on greens: it is more saturated along the lines of figures, appears earlier in the spring and later turns yellow in the fall. Self-seed trees grow primarily along these lines. What is it in the earth that contributes to such a feature of vegetation? The second type of lines is unfavorable, along which plants grow poorly.
Circle, ellipse and infinity
After researching space images, Yatsyuk called for help from drones, which make it possible to see the image from a height of 200 meters. The lines of ellipses began to be seen.
“What is still inexplicable: the same structures were found behind the Soroka bypass road,” says the researcher. “Circles and ellipses can be seen throughout the city: between houses, in private plots, where there is no building.”
This has no analogues either in size or in shape: clear geometric shapes, either a circle or an ellipse, are not scattered, but represent combinations. If there is a circle, then an ellipse will almost certainly appear around it. And there is a third line that goes to infinity.
“Perhaps all this has a certain sacred meaning,” suggests Yatsyuk. - A circle and a line extending to infinity can symbolize an interrupted life. Further excavations will bring us closer to solving the mystery."
Who and how created the Soroca geoglyphs at a relief fracture?
The diameter of the largest visible circle is 375 meters. For comparison: the well-known circle at Stonehenge has a diameter of 33 meters, 110 meters is the diameter of the shaft around it.
“The peculiarity is that a giant circle is made at a fracture in the relief,” notes Vitaly Yatsyuk. - If you are in one point of the circle, then there is no chance of seeing the opposite point. Relief drops - 8-10 meters. The question is: how did you manage to create such a flat figure at a relief fracture? We started our research in a small area, then we saw circles and ellipses on all slopes. This makes the found structures related to other geoglyphs."
The geoglyphs of the Nazca Desert in Peru are also located on the slopes. They can be seen at a distance of 5-6 kilometers, they were not intended for close examination. There are only a few samples of geoglyphs in the world: in the Nazca desert they are figures of birds, animals, people. The only geometric geoglyph is a square inscribed in a circle. In Kazakhstan there are geoglyphs in the form of graphic figures. The famous geoglyph in England in the form of a white horse - a 110 m long chalk figure - is a deep trench filled with broken chalk on the slope of a 261-meter limestone hill in Oxfordshire. In the sacred center of Sermisegetus Regia, the large circle is interpreted as an astronomical calendar.
Euclidean geometry on a hill
“Returning to the study of the fortress, we got a certain regular rectangle - a large fence of the fortress - measuring 503 x 197 meters, - said the architect. - Inside the fortress, you can see residential buildings, houses 5x8 meters, tightly adjacent to each other. At the top of the hill there are several large structures up to 8x20 in size, probably public buildings: the area around is not built up, it could have been used for meetings.
In several places on the slopes, behind the fence of the fortress, geoglyphs of a new type appear: triangles, trapezoids and parallelograms, as well as three-dimensional images of the pyramid. They have clear geometric shapes and proportions associated with the classical geometry of Euclid. Some of them show constructions of well-known theorems. The sides of triangles-geoglyphs are 150-300 meters in size.
“The explored buildings of the Karsidava settlement have an area of about 12.5 square kilometers, with sides measuring 6.5 by 2 kilometers, which is about 19 times more than the old Orhei,” comments Vitaliy Yatsyuk. - Modern Magpies have the same area. The city of Karsidava-Soroki did not appear in vain in the II century on the map of Ptolemy of Alexandria."
Marina ABLISIMOVA
Photo: Clear geometric shapes are visible on the surface, either a circle or an ellipse. They are not scattered, but represent combinations. If there is a circle, then an ellipse will almost certainly appear around it. The diameter of the largest circle is 375 meters.
The earliest depictions of the Soroka Fortress are in the 1781 painting of an artist-architect from Switzerland.
Bekirov Hill - there is a Thanksgiving Candle at the top.