Why sawed huge boulders in antiquity?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

All over the world, huge stones are found with smooth edges, as if sawn by some giant tool. Geologists argue that these are all quirks of nature and the result of natural fracturing. But is it really so?

Devil stones to Karl-Karl

Tayma Oasis is located in the Tabuk province, 220 km southeast of the city of Tabuk (Saudi Arabia). Tayma occupies a relatively flat plain at the western edge of the Al Nafud Desert, east of the Western Shield region, which includes a volcanic ridge known as Harrat Al 'Uwayrid.

And this is the famous "sawn" stone of Al Nasalaa. Scientists say that the stone cracked for natural reasons, but many think that it was not without the high technologies of the ancients.

One way or another, there are many places on our planet where you can find similar stones.

The Devil Stones, or Karlu Karlu as they are known to the local Varumung Aborigines, are a group of large granite boulders that cover a small valley 100 kilometers south of Tennant Creek in Northern Australia. It is one of the most widespread symbols of the Australian outback.

Let's take a closer look at them …

Formed by erosion more than a million years ago, the granite Devil Stones range in diameter from 50 centimeters to six meters. Some boulders are surprisingly balanced on top of each other, while others are spread across the valley. And although it may seem that the boulders were intentionally placed by someone, or brought here by floods from distant places, in fact they formed naturally as a result of erosion of the rock.

Boulders began to form when molten lava seeped through cracks in the earth's crust and covered the topsoil. After some time, under the influence of tectonic processes, the granite began to collapse, splitting into large, square blocks. Here water and wind have already connected, gradually rounding the edges and turning them into the smooth boulders that we see today.

The extreme temperature difference between day and night in the arid desert region puts tremendous pressure on the rocks, causing them to expand and contract many times over. Some stones eventually split into two halves.

Karl Karl are very important to the Aboriginal people and are protected under the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act. In primordial mythology, the Devil Stones are the eggs of the rainbow serpent, which are associated with many stories and traditions.

According to legend, once a devil passed through this area, who scattered these huge red boulders throughout the valley - hence the name. Locals still believe that the devil lives in the Karlu-Karlu valley and magically controls his stones.

Here's how the legend sounds in more detail:

It was a long time ago … From the primordial chaos, the Rainbow Serpent Wonambi was born. He was endowed with the ability to spew out quartz crystals, then they were overgrown with small particles and turned into planets and stars. This is how the universe came into being. When the Serpent crawled over the land of the Earth, the water filled the traces left by his heavy body. This is how the rivers came into being. Wonambi gave laws to animals. And those who obeyed became people, and those who broke the rules of the Serpent turned to stone. This is how the hills and mountains appeared.

The myths of the aborigines of Australia are curious. Those who live in the Northern Territory are called red boulders, which are scattered across a vast valley about a hundred kilometers from the town of Tennant Creek, by the guttural name Karl Karl. Europeans, accustomed to seeing Satanic intrigues in everything unusual, when they first saw the wonderful stones, called them "Devil's marble". And some joker recalled the legend of the Rainbow Snake and suspected the eggs of this mythical reptile in strange balls.

Scientists also did not stand aside, and explained the appearance of boulders by geological processes, when for millions of years the granite formed inside the earth's mantle was gradually squeezed out to the surface, then it was subjected to air and water erosion for a long time, as a result it looks quite bizarre today. Scientists have not explained how geological processes lead to the formation of seids. Probably, while science is not aware of this. But some of the compositions from "The Devil's Balls" are real seids.

What the stones really are is known only to those who have lived on these lands since the creation of the world - the aborigines. They treat the opinion of whites about eggs, the devil and the planetary mantle … if not squeamishly, then indifferently. In their community, there are other legends about Karl Karl (by the way, this deliberately double name sounds the same in four local dialects, which speaks of the importance and antiquity of the object).

But Aboriginal tribes do not want to share with outsiders their knowledge of the "predawn time". It's good that the white-skinned aliens returned the Northern Territories to their rightful owners. After they used them without any rights for many years, only in 2008. Now the reserve is again owned by four original local tribes, and is rented out.

Aboriginal people consider the "Devil's marble" sacred. While in these places, you should behave in the same way as if you entered the temple of any other religious concession. In 1953, one of the boulders was taken to Alice Springs without permission from the elders to become part of the memorial to John Flynn, the founder of the air ambulance service.

The aborigines were so annoyed that a violent discussion began in society, and in the late nineties the stone was removed from the grave, cleaned and returned to its place. Since then, there have been no cases of vandalism in the Karl Karl reserve. And that after all … that with the devil, that with the Rainbow Serpent it is hardly reasonable to communicate - is fraught with consequences.

The reserve is located in the northern territory, near the town of Vouchop, Barkley County. From the nearest town of Tennant Creek - 114 km.

Karl Karl is a sandy low-lying valley with an area of 18 km2. The whole valley is strewn with round granite boulders. This view is almost frightening, which is why they got the name "devil marble" (Devils Marbles).

The Karlu Karlu Nature Reserve was established in 1961. It is now considered one of the top attractions in Barkley County. In 2007 alone, more than 96 thousand tourists visited the reserve. We can say that this is one of the most visited nature reserves in the Northern Territory.

The valley has long been of great religious importance for tourists, and many of the primitive tales of the "Time of Dreams" relate to this picturesque area. Karl Karl was one of the sacred places of the Aborigines. Although these stories are still alive among the aboriginal people living in the land, they are rarely told to the uninitiated and idle tourists.

Scientifically, these boulders are the result of the solidification of magma in the earth's crust. Initially, they were covered with super-thick layers of sandstone crushing the granite. But when, as a result of a long process of erosion, the granite was on the surface, the pressure eased. Expanding, the granite cracked as a result and, coming to the surface, disintegrated into separate large blocks.

This geological process was extremely slow and took about 1.7 billion years. Due to the extremely long-term influence of nature, the rounding of the blocks went on, in fact, it continues to the present day. Due to the sharp temperature drop in Karl Karl, boulders are imperceptibly compressed and unclenched every day, day and night. On some of them, therefore, cracks form. It happens that stones are split into pieces.

Broken heart of the South Urals

From the last building of the sanatorium "Kisegach" (South Urals) it is separated by 400 meters of forest trail. Lyubov Alekseevna from Chelyabinsk showed me the way to the strange stone. A broken stone in the vicinity of a health resort called "Broken Heart" causes her bewilderment, coupled with excitement, which is categorically contraindicated for the heart.

But, oddly enough, it is in this “heart”, as my guide admitted, that she feels much more comfortable than at the cardiologist's appointment. Bushes and trees close to the boulder are hung with hundreds of rags, cellophane bags and everything that can be tied to branches - signs of either gratitude to the power of the stone, or pagan marks about their acquaintance with the miracle of nature.

The boulder, three meters long and two meters high, was perfectly spread to the very sole. And not some kind of slate to split along a crack, but a granite rock. Only at the very bottom (this is noticeable in the picture) did a spall occur, as happens when one heavy mass moves away from its half. There is another cut, but a much smaller part of the stone. Only its conditional cut is rougher than the first.

Looking for an answer, I went to the museum of the sanatorium. But even here, in a series of glorious accomplishments, not a word about the stone neighbor. Only the head of the club, Nadezhda Petrovna Koltsova, told the legend. Purely sanatorium. Two vacationers opened their feelings to each other. But there, outside the gates of the health resort, families were waiting for them, to which they were obliged to return. On the last day, they climbed a boulder and sobbed so synchronously that the stone underneath them parted.

The legend seemed dull to me, and I offered a replacement. It contained an evil khan, his moon-faced daughter Aigul, a handsome shepherd. They fell in love and fled. Khan follows them. Just about to grab it. The young people embraced so tightly that their hearts merged and turned to stone. The khan's conscience pierced, he climbed onto the still hot stone and began to cry. The result is the same.

Vladimir Popov, a geophysicist with 35 years of experience, an excellent student in the exploration of the subsoil of the Russian Federation, was not impressed by any of the legends. He looked closely at the picture and was puzzled.

- This is the first time I've seen such a thing. The impression was as if they had gone through a diamond wire saw or a diamond large disc - Stolyarov's stone-cutting machine. If the sun and water worked, the cut would be winding. And the rock is not shale, but granite or granodiorite. Such an ideal surface, taking into account natural phenomena, can only form after a perfect lightning strike. In any case, I have not heard of anything like it. I can not say anything about the healing properties of the stone: not a specialist.

There is such a riddle in the vicinity of the Kisegach sanatorium. Maybe someone has already solved it. We will be glad to hear it.

Huge wild boulders sawn by someone for some reason in antiquity

I have ceased to be amazed at the high-tech megalithic buildings of antiquity. It is not clear how the stones were sawn there, but at least we will understand it - in order to build something out of them.

But recently I accidentally ran into another phenomenon - all over the world in wild places scattered wild stone boulders sawn without any sense and far from any structures. It would be fine if the piece was cut off and carried away somewhere. But the Boulders are simply sawn to pieces and thrown.

Here are the photos of the sawn stones Here are the products:

taken from the album of Alexander Ryzhy in VK

One of the seids: a large boulder lies on 3 small stones, which, in turn, lie on another large boulder. At the bottom left, you can see a person for size matching

In August 2011, by the decree of the government of the Republic of Karelia, the Vottovaara mountain complex was declared a landscape natural monument. The protected area covers an area of more than one and a half thousand hectares: it includes the mountain itself and the surrounding area.

The name of Vottovaara mountain can be translated as "Victory Mountain".

Archaeological monuments of central Karelia are 5-6 thousand years old.

Here is an interesting stepped 2-meter cut of a stone in Khakassia on Lake Itkul:

Taken from Sergey Izofatov's album

There is also a cruciform cut (s):