Kamyana Mohyla ( uk, Кам'яна Могила; literally: "stone grave") is an archaeological site in the
Molochna River
The Molochna (, russian: Моло́чная ''Molochnaya''), is a river in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of south Ukraine. Literally the name of the river translates as Milky. The river is connected with the Russian Mennonite culture, once based in th ...
(literally: "Milk river") valley, about a mile from the village of Terpinnia,
Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Zaporizhzhia Oblast ( uk, Запорі́зька о́бласть, translit=Zaporizka oblast), also referred to as Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запорі́жжя, links=no), is an oblast (province) of southeast Ukraine. Its capital is Zaporizhzhia. The ...
, Ukraine. Petroglyphs of Kamyana Mohyla are dated from Upper Paleolithic (Kukrek culture) to Medieval, with Stone Age depictions subjected to most archaeological interest.
The site encompasses a group of isolated blocks of
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
, up to twelve meters in height, scattered around an area of some 3,000 square meters. As
Noghai
The Nogais ( Nogai: Ногай, , Ногайлар, ) are a Turkic ethnic group who live in the North Caucasus region. Most are found in Northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and Astrakhan Oblast; some ...
legend has it, it resulted from a scuffle of two
baghatur
Baghatur ( otk, 𐰉𐰍𐰀, Baga; mn, ''Baγatur'', Khalkha Mongolian: Баатар ''Bātar''; tr, Bağatur, Batur, Bahadır; russian: Богатырь Bogatyr; bg, Багатур Bagatur; fa, بهادر; pa, ਬਹਾਦੁਰ , بہا ...
s who took turns throwing rocks at each other. In truth, the site had its origins in a
sandbank of the
Tethys Ocean. For a long time it was an island in the Molochna River, which has since been silted up and now flows a short distance to the west. It is thought to represent the only sandstone outcrop in the
Azov-Kuban Depression. The shape of this sand hill is similar to that of
kurgans that dot the
Pontic–Caspian steppe
The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea. It extends ...
.
Petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s are found only inside the caves and grottoes of Kamyana Mohyla, many of them still filled up with sand. No adequate protection from the elements has been provided to this day. Few traces of ancient human settlement have been discovered in the vicinity, leading many scholars to believe that the hill might have served as a remote
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...
. Faint traces of red paint remain on parts of the surface. Scholars have been unable to agree whether the petroglyphs date from
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
or
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
. The latter dating is more popular, although the presumed depiction of a
mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...
in one of the caves seems to favour the former date.
History
In 1889, the Russian archaeologist
Nikolay Veselovsky
Nikolai Ivanovich Veselovsky (, November 1848 - 30 March 1918) was a Russian archaeologist and orientalist.
Born in Moscow, Veselovsky went to school in Vologda, and then studied at Saint Petersburg State University. Reader in 1877, extraordinar ...
was called upon to explore the enigmatic site and started excavations the following year. As soon as he concluded that the site was a burial mound, excavations were terminated. There was very little scientific exploration of the site during the first third of the 20th century.
In the 1930s, the site was investigated by a team of scholars from
Melitopol
Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Zaporizhz ...
under
Valentin Danylenko
Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule, terco". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Latin America ...
(1913–82). The young archaeologist claimed to have discovered thirty caves with petroglyph inscriptions which he dated from the 20th century BC to the 17th century AD. Danylenko resumed his work on the site after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and claimed to have discovered thirteen additional caves with petroglyphs.
The site was designated an archaeological preserve in 1954. The move was intended to prevent the area from being flooded after construction of a
water reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
. During the following decades, the condition of petroglyphs visibly deteriorated.
In 2006, the government of Ukraine nominated the site for inscription on the
World Heritage List
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...
. On the whole, the Stone Tomb images represent traces of religious exercises of the hunters and cattle-breeders of this steppe zone of southeast Europe from the 20th century BC to the 17th century AD. Some caves are of artificial origin; their cultural strata have been fixed as the Neolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Ages as well as of Middle Age
Engravings inside the Bull Grotto (the drawing have sometimes been considered to be a mammoth) at Kamyana Mohyla have been studied in the 21st Century using digital tools.
Gallery
File:Kamenna2.jpg, A stone with petroglyphs
File:KM-Gallery01.jpg,
File:KM-Gallery03.jpg,
File:KM-Gallery04.jpg,
File:KM-Gallery05.jpg,
File:KM-Gallery06.jpg,
File:KM-Gallery07.jpg,
File:KM-Gallery08.jpg,
File:Музей (Каменная могила).jpg, Museum
File:Музей, экспозиции (Каменная могила).jpg, Museum
Further reading
* Рудинський М. Я. Кам’яна Могила (корпус наскельних рисунків), видавництво АН УССР, Київ, 1961.
* Даниленко В. М. Кам’яна Могила, «Наукова Думка», Київ, 1986.
* Михайлов Б. Д. Петроглифы Каменной Могилы в Украине, Запорожье, 1994.
* Кифишин А. Г., Древнее святилище Каменная Могила. Опыт дешифровки протошумерского архива XII-III тысячелетий до н.э., «Аратта», Киев, 2001.
See also
*
Ural characters
The Ural pictograms (russian: уральские писаницы) are prehistoric pictograms in Ural dated to 3,000–2,000 years BC'' Khimiya i Zhizn'', 9, 1974, p. 80 and located along the coasts of Tagil River, Neyva River, Rezh River, Yur ...
*
Vinča signs
References
External links
Official site
{{Authority control
IUCN Category III
Megalithic monuments in Europe
Upper Paleolithic sites in Europe
Mesolithic Europe
Neolithic Ukraine
Archaeological sites in Ukraine
Historic sites in Ukraine
Protected areas of Ukraine
Populated places established in the 2nd millennium BC
Rock art in Europe
Geography of Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Landmarks in Zaporizhzhia Oblast
History of Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Tourist attractions in Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Protected areas of the Pontic–Caspian steppe
Protected areas established in 1954
Prehistoric art