Caucasian dolmens: mysterious ancient megaliths that excite the minds of modern archaeologists

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

In the mountains of the Caucasus, somewhere between the cities of Gelendzhik, Tuapse, Novorossiysk and Sochi, there are hundreds of megalithic monuments, which are called dolmens here. The age of all these megalithic dolmens dates back to approximately 10,000 - 25,000 years, and for what they were intended, today both Russian and Western archaeologists argue.

There is no unanimous point of view regarding dolmens in the Caucasus - some archaeologists believe that the age of these megalithic structures is actually from 4000 to 6000 years. Thousands of prehistoric megalithic monuments are known all over the world, but those that are located on the territory of the former Soviet Union (including the Caucasus) are little known in the West.

Dolmens are mainly located in the Western Caucasus (in Russia and Abkhazia) on both sides of the mountain range, covering an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometers. Caucasian dolmens are a unique type of prehistoric architecture - structures created from perfectly fitted Cyclopean stone blocks. For example, there are stones in the shape of a bull "G", which were used at the corners of dolmens, or stones in the shape of a perfect circle.

Although such "fragments of an ancient era" are generally unknown in Western Europe, these Russian megaliths are no less significant for science than the megaliths found in Europe - both in terms of age and in terms of the quality of architecture. And the most amazing thing is that their origin is still unknown. Scientists note that despite the variety of Caucasian stone structures, they show striking similarities with megaliths from different parts of Europe and Asia (Iberian Peninsula, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Israel and India).

A number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain this similarity, as well as guesses about the purpose of the construction of the megaliths, but so far all this remains a mystery. At the moment, about 3000 such megalithic monuments are known in the Western Caucasus, but new megaliths are constantly being found. At the same time, unfortunately, many of the Caucasian monoliths are in an extremely neglected state and will be completely lost if they are not protected from vandals and natural destruction.

Most of the megaliths, dolmens and stone labyrinths that are found in the Caucasus mountains (but they are little studied) look like rectangular structures from stone slabs or carved into rocks with round holes as an entrance to the inside. However, not all dolmens look like this. In fact, you can find very diverse examples of architecture here: multi-storey stone buildings, square, trapezoidal, rectangular and round.

Remarkably, in all such buildings on the front there is a hole leading inside. Most often it is round, but occasionally square ones are also found. Also, stone "plugs" are often found in dolmens, which were used to close the inlet. Sometimes these stone plugs have a phallic shape. Inside the dolmen, there is most often a round platform, on which light fell through a round hole. Scientists believe that some kind of rituals may have been performed at such sites. Such a platform was surrounded by large stone walls, sometimes more than a meter high.

It was in this area that archaeologists found Bronze and Iron Age ceramics that helped date these burials, as well as human remains, bronze tools and jewelry made of silver, gold and semi-precious stones. Usually, the repertoire of decorations for such graves is not very diverse. The most common are vertical and horizontal zigzags, triangles and concentric circles carved on stone blocks.

One of the most interesting megalithic complexes is a group of three dolmens, which is located on a hill above the Zhane River on the Black Sea coast in the Krasnodar Territory near the Russian Gelendzhik. This area has perhaps the largest concentration of all types of megalithic objects, including settlements and dolmens.

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