In 2017, the above artifact was found on the shore of the lake in the vicinity of Kyshtym, Chelyabinsk region. It lay in the ground on a small bump under a layer of soil and red loam about 1.3 meters thick. Below, after 10 centimeters, there was a monolithic rock. Consequently, the loam stratum is not a weathering crust of rock. And the fact that this place was located on a small hillock excludes the version that these are deluvial deposits, which are usually harder and denser, and more red in color. There is no residential development there today and it is close, most likely, it was not here before. Therefore, the version about the cultural layer can also be excluded. Based on all this, it seems quite convincing version that this sample was covered with red loam of catastrophic origin, which probably happened,according to various sources, somewhere in the middle of the 19th century. And, therefore, this piece of stone was processed by someone no later than this period.
So what is it?
It is very clearly seen that this is a piece of natural granite or diorite, which has been subjected to some kind of processing using a large diameter cutting disc. The width of the disc is more than 1 cm. Longitudinal grooves from rather large abrasive inclusions, most likely diamonds, fixed along the edge of the disc, are clearly visible in the sawing places. Therefore, the assumption that someone just for fun made these cuts in the stone is unlikely. In any economy, the pleasure is too expensive. It is more likely that this is a split-off part from a larger product, a number of cuts inside which were made so that later it would be easier to split off this layer for subsequent grinding of its inner side.
Very noteworthy here is some kind of local high-temperature impact, which left a tarry-black spot only on a part of it on both sides of the stone, but not on the chipped edges. This means that this impact was made at a time when this workpiece was even larger, and only then it was split. The locality of such an impact is very strange! Only the effect of napalm comes to mind. In Vietnam, I saw exactly the same black spots on the stones, which since the time of their war with the Americans were not able to wash away either atmospheric precipitation or the water of the stream flowing between these stones.
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So what were we bombed with then in the 19th century, if these are traces of that bombing? And the version that this is so is very likely!
The assumption that this is already a modern product, and only buried in this place by someone, collapses with the following argument. I'm not sure that in the entire Chelyabinsk region there are many circular saws for stone of this diameter and this thickness, if any. I believe that in Kyshtym it is unlikely that such a person can be found today. But in the past they must have been here. After all, someone cut such huge stones here, making conical products from them for the foundation of this ancient temple?
Or for this modest factory bridge, vividly reminiscent of the St. Petersburg bridges.
Author: Andreev Nikolay