The underground building is part of the ancient fortress Narin-Kala, which is included in the UNESCO cultural heritage list, located in the city of Derbent in the south of the Russian Republic of Dagestan.
A new study has shown that a mysterious structure underground, located in southern Russia, could become one of the oldest Christian churches in the world and the oldest Christian temple in this country.
The study was carried out by Russian researchers from the National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) in collaboration with the State University of Dagestan, the Physics Institute. Lebedev, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Nuclear Physics in Moscow.
The study was carried out by Russian researchers from the National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) in collaboration with the State University of Dagestan, the Physics Institute. Lebedev, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Nuclear Physics in Moscow.
The study was carried out by Russian researchers from the National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) in collaboration with the State University of Dagestan, the Physics Institute. Lebedev, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the University of Nuclear Physics in Moscow.
Scientists used X-ray to scan a structure at a depth of 12 meters located in the northwestern part of the Narin-Kala fortress, built around 300 BC. The fort is located in the southern part of the Russian republic of Dagestan.
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In a statement on the MISIS official website, the purpose of the scan was to help scientists determine the three-dimensional configuration of this structure, since "it was not yet understood what the function of this building was: was it a reservoir (storage), a Christian or a Zoroastrian fire temple."
It took the researchers at least two months to complete the scan after they installed detectors about ten meters deep into the interior of the structure and made an accurate measurement of what is now UNESCO's cultural heritage. Even after the scanning was over, Natalya Polukhina, the leading specialist of MISIS, does not know what the main functions of this facility were.
“In the same fortress, Narin-Kala, there is a similar underground building, at a depth of ten meters, and this is, in fact, a reservoir, a rectangular structure, but this is an unusual structure in which we installed our detectors in the shape of a cross, its orientation is strictly four main lines, and one side is two meters longer than the others. According to the archaeologists who began excavations, during the construction the building was completely above the surface, and lies at the highest point of Narin-Kala. “What is the point of putting a tank on the surface and on the highest mountain?” Polukhina said, adding that there are more questions than answers.
Scientists agreed that more detailed analysis should be carried out in the future in order to obtain a full 3D image of the mysterious building, which will finally clarify all the details related to the mystery - how people used this building.