stone grave
Kam'yana graveUkraine, Melitopol
stone grave
Kam'yana graveUkraine, Melitopol
Stone Grave (Ukrainian: Kam'yana Mogila) is an isolated mass of sandstone, apparently surviving from the destruction of the Sarmatian Sea shallows, located in the valley of the Molochnaya River in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine. The stone grave was used as a sanctuary for a long time, it contains ancient petroglyphs and, possibly, the oldest writings, it is the only monument of its kind in the world.
The stone grave is located 2 km from the village of Terpenye, Melitopol district, Zaporozhye region, and is a heap of stones with an area of about 3,000 square meters. meters, up to 12 meters high. The heap in shape resembles a mound (in Ukrainian, a grave), hence its name comes from. At first, the stone grave was probably a sandstone shoal of the Sarmatian Sea, the only sandstone outcrop in the entire Azov-Black Sea basin, which makes it a unique geological formation. After the departure of the waters of the Sarmatian Sea, the former shoal remained a sandy massif, the top of which turned into hard sandstone. This sandstone massif measuring 240 by 160 meters on top of fine-grained sand turned out to be on the path of the old channel of the Molochnaya River and for a long time (until the river became shallow and the channel shifted to the west) remained an island in the river channel. As a result of water and air erosion, the sandstone massif strongly subsided and gradually split into many pieces. Among the heaps of stones there are many natural voids - grottoes, passages and the like.
The first researcher to mention the Stone Grave was N.I. Veselovsky. In 1889, while digging a burial mound near the Stone Grave, the archaeologist went to the village of Terpenye "to check the rumors". Veselovsky discovered a “stone mound”, suggested that it was an artificial structure, in 1890 he excavated several caves, but, not finding any treasures or burials, he was disappointed and stopped working, leaving only a short, insignificant note about the Stone Grave.
Since 1932, the employees of the Melitopol Museum of Local History became interested in the monument. They paid due attention to the many rock carvings inside the grottoes and caves of the Stone Grave. In 1934, V.N. Danilenko, who led the excavations at the Stone Grave, wrote several letters to the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, seeking to carry out more extensive archaeological work. In 1936, the Stone Grave was finally included in the research area of the Azov-Black Sea expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and in 1938 it already became the main object of this expedition. The expedition was led by the famous archaeologist O.N. Bader. The researchers, mainly thanks to the efforts of Danilenko, discovered more than 30 new items with images.
Work continued only until 1941, as they were interrupted by World War II. Moreover, the leader of the expedition, O.N. Bader (originally from the Poltava region of Ukraine) was a German by origin, which was the reason for his exile to Nizhny Tagil. After the war, O.N. Bader was no longer able to return to work in the western regions of the USSR and worked in Perm, and research on the Stone Grave was resumed without him only in the fifties. To V.N. Danilenko joined B.D. Mikhailov and M.Ya. Rudinsky, who opened 13 more points with images. In the early fifties, there were plans to create the South Ukrainian (Northern Crimean) reservoir on the territory of the Zaporozhye region, which would flood the Stone Grave, but the researchers managed to achieve the status of a reserve for it. On July 7, 1954, the government of the Ukrainian SSR made a corresponding decision and allocated 30 hectares for the reserve from the lands of the collective farm named after. Stalin. He headed the B.D. Mikhailov. In the early seventies, V.N. Danilenko discovered two more interesting grottoes, and in the late eighties, several more grottoes were discovered by B.D. Mikhailov.
Since the 1940s, a discussion has not subsided among researchers about the dating of the images of the monument. Adhering to extreme points of view V.N. Danilenko and M.Ya. Rudinsky died, each remaining with his own opinion. Their main monographs with the same titles "Kam'yana Mogila" were published only posthumously. In 1994, the orientalist A.G. Kifishin, who suggested that there are traces of proto-Sumerian writing in the petroglyphs of the Stone Grave.
The stone grave contains over 60 grottoes and caves, in which thousands of petroglyphs, drawings and symbols, have been preserved. The exact number of grottoes is unknown, there may be more scribbled areas, but, despite the research conducted since the thirties of the XX century, many grottoes and caves can still remain covered with sand. In the current state of the monument, the removal of sand could lead to further collapses of the sandstone blocks. Neither in the Stone Grave itself, nor in the immediate vicinity of it, human settlements have been found that can be associated with the monument. Based on this, the researchers conclude that the stone grave was used exclusively for religious purposes, as a sanctuary. In addition, almost all images of the Stone Grave are applied to the inner surfaces of stone blocks, and they can only be observed by penetrating inside the grottoes, manholes and caves, which also indicates their supposed sacredness.
Some of the images have traces of red paint, which they were painted in antiquity. The petroglyphs were made with small hard rocks that easily left marks on the soft sandstone. Several of these quartz stones have been discovered during research. The absence of any additional archaeological material and the uniqueness of many images of the Stone Grave forced researchers to try to date the monument based on various interpretations of the petroglyphs themselves. In the fifties and seventies of the 20th century, a heated discussion arose about the dating of images by the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and even Eneolithic.
Along with this, some researchers noted the possibility of using the sanctuary during the Paleolithic, and then during the Neolithic, and some rejected this possibility. The unceasing discussion about the dating of the monument prompted some reference books and encyclopedias to call the Stone Grave, "a Mesolithic monument", i.e. dating its petroglyphs to the period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, which is most likely erroneous. Modern researchers generally adhere to the Neolithic dating, although the question is probably not completely clarified. If the conclusions of A.G. Kifishin about the proto-Sumerian writing prove to be true, then this will also speak rather in favor of the Neolithic dating of the images of the Stone Grave.
The stone grave is located 2 km from the village of Terpenye, Melitopol district, Zaporozhye region, and is a heap of stones with an area of about 3,000 square meters. meters, up to 12 meters high. The heap in shape resembles a mound (in Ukrainian, a grave), hence its name comes from. At first, the stone grave was probably a sandstone shoal of the Sarmatian Sea, the only sandstone outcrop in the entire Azov-Black Sea basin, which makes it a unique geological formation. After the departure of the waters of the Sarmatian Sea, the former shoal remained a sandy massif, the top of which turned into hard sandstone. This sandstone massif measuring 240 by 160 meters on top of fine-grained sand turned out to be on the path of the old channel of the Molochnaya River and for a long time (until the river became shallow and the channel shifted to the west) remained an island in the river channel. As a result of water and air erosion, the sandstone massif strongly subsided and gradually split into many pieces. Among the heaps of stones there are many natural voids - grottoes, passages and the like.
The first researcher to mention the Stone Grave was N.I. Veselovsky. In 1889, while digging a burial mound near the Stone Grave, the archaeologist went to the village of Terpenye "to check the rumors". Veselovsky discovered a “stone mound”, suggested that it was an artificial structure, in 1890 he excavated several caves, but, not finding any treasures or burials, he was disappointed and stopped working, leaving only a short, insignificant note about the Stone Grave.
Since 1932, the employees of the Melitopol Museum of Local History became interested in the monument. They paid due attention to the many rock carvings inside the grottoes and caves of the Stone Grave. In 1934, V.N. Danilenko, who led the excavations at the Stone Grave, wrote several letters to the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, seeking to carry out more extensive archaeological work. In 1936, the Stone Grave was finally included in the research area of the Azov-Black Sea expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and in 1938 it already became the main object of this expedition. The expedition was led by the famous archaeologist O.N. Bader. The researchers, mainly thanks to the efforts of Danilenko, discovered more than 30 new items with images.
Work continued only until 1941, as they were interrupted by World War II. Moreover, the leader of the expedition, O.N. Bader (originally from the Poltava region of Ukraine) was a German by origin, which was the reason for his exile to Nizhny Tagil. After the war, O.N. Bader was no longer able to return to work in the western regions of the USSR and worked in Perm, and research on the Stone Grave was resumed without him only in the fifties. To V.N. Danilenko joined B.D. Mikhailov and M.Ya. Rudinsky, who opened 13 more points with images. In the early fifties, there were plans to create the South Ukrainian (Northern Crimean) reservoir on the territory of the Zaporozhye region, which would flood the Stone Grave, but the researchers managed to achieve the status of a reserve for it. On July 7, 1954, the government of the Ukrainian SSR made a corresponding decision and allocated 30 hectares for the reserve from the lands of the collective farm named after. Stalin. He headed the B.D. Mikhailov. In the early seventies, V.N. Danilenko discovered two more interesting grottoes, and in the late eighties, several more grottoes were discovered by B.D. Mikhailov.
Since the 1940s, a discussion has not subsided among researchers about the dating of the images of the monument. Adhering to extreme points of view V.N. Danilenko and M.Ya. Rudinsky died, each remaining with his own opinion. Their main monographs with the same titles "Kam'yana Mogila" were published only posthumously. In 1994, the orientalist A.G. Kifishin, who suggested that there are traces of proto-Sumerian writing in the petroglyphs of the Stone Grave.
The stone grave contains over 60 grottoes and caves, in which thousands of petroglyphs, drawings and symbols, have been preserved. The exact number of grottoes is unknown, there may be more scribbled areas, but, despite the research conducted since the thirties of the XX century, many grottoes and caves can still remain covered with sand. In the current state of the monument, the removal of sand could lead to further collapses of the sandstone blocks. Neither in the Stone Grave itself, nor in the immediate vicinity of it, human settlements have been found that can be associated with the monument. Based on this, the researchers conclude that the stone grave was used exclusively for religious purposes, as a sanctuary. In addition, almost all images of the Stone Grave are applied to the inner surfaces of stone blocks, and they can only be observed by penetrating inside the grottoes, manholes and caves, which also indicates their supposed sacredness.
Some of the images have traces of red paint, which they were painted in antiquity. The petroglyphs were made with small hard rocks that easily left marks on the soft sandstone. Several of these quartz stones have been discovered during research. The absence of any additional archaeological material and the uniqueness of many images of the Stone Grave forced researchers to try to date the monument based on various interpretations of the petroglyphs themselves. In the fifties and seventies of the 20th century, a heated discussion arose about the dating of images by the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and even Eneolithic.
Along with this, some researchers noted the possibility of using the sanctuary during the Paleolithic, and then during the Neolithic, and some rejected this possibility. The unceasing discussion about the dating of the monument prompted some reference books and encyclopedias to call the Stone Grave, "a Mesolithic monument", i.e. dating its petroglyphs to the period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, which is most likely erroneous. Modern researchers generally adhere to the Neolithic dating, although the question is probably not completely clarified. If the conclusions of A.G. Kifishin about the proto-Sumerian writing prove to be true, then this will also speak rather in favor of the Neolithic dating of the images of the Stone Grave.
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