This year, a new international project "Geoglyphs of Turgai" will start. Recall that 10 years ago, Kostanay researcher Dmitry Dey discovered the first of 344 mysterious mounds in the steppe, analyzing satellite images.
After publication in NewYorkTimes and a report at the annual scientific forum in Istanbul, the Kazakh miracle became the main sensation in the European Association of Archaeologists.
This is the so-called "Ushtogay square". The area is about eight football fields. At first, Dmitry and his fellow researchers wondered why the Neolithic nomads needed such huge cult structures in the form of rings, lines and crosses? The answer was suggested by similar structures in Peru - this is a calendar. On the days of the solstices and equinoxes, the luminary helps to calculate the days of arrival of nomadic herds of saigas.
Dmitry Dey, researcher
- We tested this theory, hypothesis at our facilities, it works. She showed that our geoglyphs can also be used as a near-horizon solar observatory.
Here is an example: if you stand in the center of this figure exactly on June 21st, the sun will rise in the direction of one ray, will be at its zenith on the second, and set on the third. The project for the study of these geoglyphs from Kazakhstan has become international, in Kazakhstan studies of the structures of the Mahanjar culture with a seven thousand-year history, for some reason, were not supported, unlike foreign connoisseurs of history.
Dmitry Dey, researcher
- The international community has great interest. This is the discovery of new unknown moments in our history. And for Kazakhstan, this is more of a propaganda PR project, because the recognition of Kazakhstan, I believe, will be at the level of Egypt approximately.
Promotional video:
This year, the researcher says, the expeditions should be continued. The goal is to measure and date monuments that are older than the Egyptian pyramids. Any inhabitant of the planet can become a participant in the project.
Authors: Igor Niderer and Sergey Trakhtenberg