Mysterious drawings of the Nazca plateau have a competitor: giant geoglyphs discovered in Primorye

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Huge mysterious figures of unknown origin, called "geoglyphs", are found in different parts of our planet. Perhaps the most famous of them are the geoglyphs of the South American Nazca plateau depicted on the Earth's surface. However, recently Russian scientists have discovered no less impressive figures in our country, in Primorye. The giant drawings located near the village of Terikhovka are visible only from the air. And they found them by accident - during the construction of the Vladivostok-Ussuriisk highway.

Svetlana Shapovalova, a graduate student of the Far Eastern Federal University, made a detailed analysis of abstract drawings of similar type, not far from which the long extinct volcano Baranovsky is located.

There are only six figures. Like many other geoglyphs on our Earth, drawings in Primorye were created by removing the top layer of soil. If you look from above, you can see that they are all located near the banks of the Razdolnaya River on an area equal to about 40 sq. kilometers, while being at a great distance from each other. In addition, the figures are located at different heights. From all this, the author of the study concludes that the reasons for the creation of these geoglyphs (and they are clearly man-made, not natural) could have a sacred, ritual character.

According to Svetlana, for those who created them, neither the size of the figures, nor their location on the ground, nor the height above sea level played a role, but only the shape was important. It is unlikely that they served as a reference point for military action. Perhaps these were some ancient pagan symbols.

For the convenience of studying each of the discovered geoglyphs, Svetlana gave her number. It is interesting that unknown ancient artists placed the first three figures on the left bank of the river, and three more - on the right. The first, second and third geoglyphs have similar patterns and sizes. The drawings were made using the same excavation technique, but not all figures are equally well preserved. The researcher also notes that the top (patterned) part of each of these ancient figures is located higher than the cone.

The fact that the bottom of their contours (in fact, long ditches) is empty, although the lateral part of these ditches, as well as the space inside and between them, are covered with trees, speaks of the man-made geoglyphs of Terikhovka. But in these parts the nature is rich, shrubs and trees grow very quickly, and in theory all these lines should have been covered with green spaces a long time ago! Researcher Shapovalova suggests that the bottom of the ditches could have been lined with stone or covered with something like a park embankment.

A high-voltage highway runs along the central part of one of the giant images, and the space cleared from forest trees did not damage the geoglyph trenches: they can be seen both directly at a close distance and from above, from a satellite.

Svetlana is sure that these six geoglyphs are not the only ones in Primorye. It is difficult to find such figures simply due to the fact that in these parts the space is abundantly covered with vegetation. And even these six figures were found by chance: there is not a single high point on this territory from which an ordinary person could see them.

The researcher believes that the geoglyphs of Terikhovka should be seriously studied and they should be given the status of a cultural monument.

- The primary task is to study and attract public attention, because today geoglyphs are not protected by the state and are destroyed, - Svetlana notes in her work.

She notes with regret that the mysterious drawings unwittingly damage the locals too - in some places, giant images are pretty much pitted with wheels of technology. Nature also plays a role: over time, the figures are covered with water, they are hidden by the grass and trees growing around. According to the young researcher, geoglyphs should be taken under protection as soon as possible, otherwise the mysterious objects of our history will forever disappear from the face of the Earth.

Note that among local residents and some historians another, alternative version of the origin of the giant images is being put forward: skeptics argue that these are fortification redoubts during the Russian-Japanese war.

Continuing the topic, more about Nazca lines, moai statues and other mysterious archaeological discoveries that have left scientists puzzled