The riddle of the Solovetsky labyrinths

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

The problem of the "northern labyrinths" is expressed in three questions: who, when and why built them in this area?

"Northern labyrinths" are spiral figures that represent various systems of passages made of small boulder stones. The sizes of boulders vary in diameter from 3, 40 to 24, 40 m, their height does not exceed 50 cm.

The most notable among the "northern labyrinths" is the Solovetsky cluster of labyrinths, which includes 35 currently known labyrinths, almost a thousand stone embankments, as well as "symbolic" stone displays, which are numbered in dozens.

The Solovetsky accumulation of labyrinths is scattered across the islands of the archipelago, but the most significant part is concentrated on the island called Bolshoi Zayatsky, which is located in the southwest of the archipelago, its area is only 1.5 square kilometers.

On a small territory of the island, called Bolshoy Zayatsky, there is a large number of stone structures of the Solovetsky archipelago. There are 13 labyrinths here, more than 850 boulder mounds. The labyrinths date back to the 1st-2nd century BC. Similar megalithic structures are found in Ireland, Scandinavia, France, as well as in other countries of the world. And perhaps this is evidence that a single civilization lived in these territories for a very long time.

There are a large number of scientists hypotheses about the purpose of these structures in the form of stone spirals on the ground. Locals call the labyrinths "Babylon". There is an assumption that the labyrinths are associated with long-standing cult dances and round dances of the peoples who have inhabited these lands for a long time. There is a hypothesis that these are ancient burials.

During excavations, which were organized in some labyrinths of the Big Zayatsky Island, in the center of several of them the remains of ritual bonfires were found, but not in all. The next hypothesis is that labyrinths are "fish traps." It was suggested that during low tides the fish could not keep up to find a way out of the labyrinths and, to the delight of local fishermen, remained lying on the ground.

Nevertheless, a considerable number of labyrinths were built far from water and are not filled with water at all. There are also hypotheses that the labyrinths are, in fact, "magic fishing nets", which served to carry out magical rituals related to sea fishing. The labyrinth is supposed to be the magic tool of the shamans. Also, some researchers believe that the labyrinths are "protective nets", the main purpose of which was to intimidate the souls of dead people so that they could not return to the living.

Labyrinths have one entrance, which is also an exit. If you enter the labyrinth and do not cross the borders, that is, walk strictly along the grooves, then after some time (for some labyrinths this time is 5-10 minutes, for the second - more than half an hour) you will leave the same place where you entered.

The question of the purpose of the ancient Solovetsky labyrinths has not been finally resolved. A number of scientists consider the labyrinths to be places of entertainment and round dance of a cult character or grounds for military sports games. Some archaeologists ascribe to them a practical purpose - models of fishing traps or the fishing structures themselves. Most researchers consider labyrinths to be objects of cult and religious purposes.

N. Vinogradov associated them with the cult of the dead (N. Vinogradov Solovetsky labyrinths. Their origin and place among homogeneous prehistoric monuments. Materials SOK. Issue 4. Solovki, 1927). Babylon is associated with the initiation rite and the "lower world" (Kabo V. Origin and early history of the aborigines of Australia. M., pp. 309–304. 1969), with cult-fishing magic (N. Gurina Stone labyrinths of the White Sea. M., C. 125-142. 1948), with a visit to the Solovetsky Islands by the inhabitants of the White Sea region to perform primitive religious rites of burial of the dead (Kuratov A. Ancient labyrinths of the Arkhangelsk White Sea. Historical and local history collection. Vologda, pp. 63-76. 1973).

These were rites “… burials and sacrifices (calcified bones of humans, funeral animals, birds and fish), rituals associated with totemism and cult-fishing magic (figurines of sea animals), worship of the Sun (“solar rosette”and circular spiral labyrinths), initiation and, possibly, others, not yet understood, but connected with the beliefs of the aborigines of the White Sea region."

… built, according to the ideas of the ancients, on the border of two worlds - "middle" and "lower" - labyrinths, most likely, symbolized either the lower itself - the other world - inhabited by dead and hostile spirits, or a tangled path to it. One function of the labyrinth was, therefore, to ensure the movement of the souls of the dead and buried into the lower world according to the rite of corpse burning.

… on the other hand, labyrinths were, apparently, the instrument with which ritual actions were performed. (Martynov Alexander. Archaeological past of the Solovetsky archipelago: mainland - sea - islands. Almanac "Solovetsky Sea". No. 1. 2002)

“Most scientists are inclined to think that the labyrinths are associated with the religious beliefs of an ancient person (perhaps with an astral cult), others see them as a ritual, ceremonial purpose (for example, for testing a person) or grave signs over burials … N. Gurina suggested counting labyrinths with plans for complex fishing tools, which the ancient inhabitant of these lands first depicted on the ground, for clarity (along the way, endowing these images with magical power), and then transferred them "to nature" - into the sea. The question of labyrinths has not yet received a final scientific solution. However, the presence of these mysterious ancient structures on the Solovetsky Islands indicates a close connection even in antiquity of these islands with the surrounding coastal regions and the unity of their ancient historical destinies. (Boguslavsky Gustav. Solovetsky Islands: Essays. 3rd ed. Arkhangelsk; Sev.-Zap. Kn. Publishing house, 1978. - 173 p.: ill.)

Scientific researchers have suggested that these places also had pagan temples.

The question of the ethnicity of the peoples who visited the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago in those ancient times turned out to be no less difficult for science. Only recently, after the discovery of a flint seal figurine on Maly Zayatsky Island, it was possible to confirm the belonging of this culture to the Proto-Sami tribes who lived on the coast of the White Sea. Apparently, at the time when they sailed to the islands, the climatic and geological conditions were different: the climate was much warmer and the sea level was much higher.

In 2003, I was lucky to visit Alexander Martynov, who has lived and worked in Solovki since 1978, and this year I bought his book "The Ancient Trails of the Solovetsky Islands", published this year and dedicated to the problems of ancient and medieval archaeological sites Solovkov - sites of the feudal Mesolithic, Neolithic, and early metal eras, sanctuaries and stone labyrinths, Sami seids and burial grounds. Russian North Publishing House, 2006. I highly recommend it. " (Alexey Budovsky. Report on a trip to Solovki in September 2006. Part 8. "Big Zayatsky Island" Chapter 2. "Labyrinths." "A brief historical background and story about a visit to the island in 1999." As manuscript. LiveJournal. New York, USA. 2006)

“To answer the questions of what inner meaning the stone labyrinths conceal in themselves, are they really connected with the cult of the dead, what the stone piles in their center and the surrounding ribbons of stone displays mean, it is important to once again turn to both the structure of the labyrinths themselves and mythology of the peoples of the North. First of all, it is important to analyze the slightest nuances of the masonry of the most common so-called double-spiral horseshoe-shaped round labyrinths of the classical type, and then raise the question: what kind of figurative row could be behind all this?"

Five main features of the shape of the laying of labyrinths

one. The main element of the labyrinth is a spiral, most often folded from single boulder stones in a long row.

2. Throughout its entire length, the spiral in some areas has an expansion and thickening in the form of a round-oval stone heap. At the ends of the spirals, thickenings are also noticeable, structurally indicated by heaps of stones or larger stones.

3. A single spiral was laid in the form of a line unwinding from the center.

4. Laying of two spirals inscribed into one another looks like an intertwined ball.

5. In the center of the labyrinths there is an accumulation of stones in the form of a slide (the slide in the center of the Big Solovetsky labyrinth was destroyed and is not indicated in the picture given in the work of NN Vinogradov).

Leaving aside the traditional dry “constructivist” approach and looking at the labyrinths from an artistic point of view, the first thing we can see in the maze diagram is a tangle of two coiled snakes. The images of snakes with longitudinally elongated heads and rounded tails are especially clearly and expressively presented in the Great Solovetsky labyrinth, which we have taken as an example.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the reptile appears frozen in stone, because in the primitive consciousness of man, who deified and spiritualized the world around him, there was no clear boundary between living and inanimate nature. The stone was perceived by him as an integral part of this world, the stone exposing could be accepted by people, animals. As an example, it is enough to cite the Seids, who were an integral part of the Sami culture. According to the mythology of many northern peoples, epic characters, including people and animals, were turned into stone.

Unlike the Great Solovetsky labyrinth, in other similar structures the image of a snake can be expressed more schematically and less plastically. Sometimes a single large stone or a pile of stones at the end of a stone spiral tape is enough to indicate a head, while a thickening at the opposite end indicated the tail of a snake. There are also quite conventional images of a snake in the form of a ribbon.

A single spiral is a single snake represented in the masonry; a labyrinth, including two spirals, denoted a tangle of two coiled snakes, whose heads are located in the very center of the labyrinth almost opposite each other. In this case, the ball could have two different forms:

1) the correct horseshoe, when between two lying non-contacting snakes there was a passage along the entire labyrinth;

2) horseshoes with a cruciform intersection of the "bodies" of snakes, when the path through the labyrinth led to a dead end.

The thickening of the ribbon of stones in one of the sections of the labyrinth now receives a fairly clear interpretation - it is a swallowed victim. It is noteworthy that in the indicated Solovetsky labyrinth, the extension of the serpentine body is placed directly opposite the entrance. The person entering the maze was threatenedly reminded of the real danger. The artistic expressiveness of the image of snakes in the labyrinths, despite the primitiveness of the means used (ordinary boulder stones), is beyond doubt. We have the right to conclude that the northern stone labyrinths can be ranked not only as monuments of archeology, as it was believed until now, but also as works of primitive art, since they are a very distant prototype of modern installations - compositions of individual objects. (Burov Vladimir. On the semantics of the stone labyrinths of the north. Ethnographic review, No. 1, 2001)

In addition to the Solovetsky Islands, similar monuments are found in Karelia and the Murmansk region, in the Nordic countries - Finland, Sweden and Norway. There is still no consensus among scientists about the purpose of these structures.

Here is what the famous philosopher, scientist, inventor and clergyman Pavel Florensky wrote about the Solovetsky labyrinths in 1935:

“Here, on the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago, there are wonderful structures called labyrinths in archeology, and Babylonians in the popular language. These are patterned paths made of stones, mostly boulders, the size of a head, sometimes smaller, up to a fist; in some cases, the gaps between the stone bands go directly to the center, in other cases they branch out and lead to a dead end. Once in the center, it is usually not immediately possible to get out of there, and after passing a certain path, you come to the old place … They think that the arrangement of the labyrinths is connected with the cult of the dead and is intended to prevent the soul of the deceased buried in the center from going outside, at least initially …"

Ancient labyrinths - resonators of a living cell of nature and man

Vyacheslav Tokarev

Labyrinths are one of the most ancient creations of Man, in which the power and power of living Nature is fully used. Their origin is shrouded in speculation, conjectures, they have always fascinated and fascinated the minds of people. The first of the famous labyrinths that comes to mind is the Daedalus labyrinth, the image of which is carved on the southern wall of the porch in the cathedral of the city of Lucca. According to legend, it was built by the king of Crete, Minos, to imprison the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Sacrificed to him - seven young men and seven girls from Athens. No one could get out of this labyrinth - except Theseus, who killed the bloody Minotaur. He got out only with the help of a thread given to him as a sign of love by the beautiful Ariadne.

In the Far North, among the vastness of the White Sea, there are the amazing and mysterious Solovetsky Islands. One of their innermost secrets is precisely the stone labyrinths built there in ancient times. With great love and great care, people here laid out strange drawings of circles and semicircles on the ground from rounded cobblestones. In different places, according to the developed Single Plan, they put stone spiral ridges to honor their Gods. Such patterns were called the Power or Purgatory of the Family, in the modern sense - these were prayer houses-Temples. Among the local Sami people, there are references to the fact that, having received a blessing from the dedicated Noid shamans, trained members of the ancient clans, even the Dosaam Chudi, went through the labyrinths created from stones, the Path of gaining inner strength, cleansing themselves and the tribe of filth and sins. They spent tens of years in complete isolation on islands secluded among the sea, practicing special practices that develop Spirit, Soul and Body. Having entered the paths-passages between the ridges of stones, seeking the attention of the Gods, they circled in them for a long time or danced in round dances.

The movement along the patterns of the paths of the labyrinths goes in some kind of arc spirals, while twisting those who entered it by right-hand rotation clockwise, then left-handed - counterclockwise. The circles have a definite and given length of their moves, the arising flows of energies affect walking people with a force - which has its own internal logic. They, like a sea wave, then with pressure roll up onto the shore - the human body, then go down into the depths. Such a wave alternating sign (up and down according to the "gimbal rule") structure of vortices-rotations, created in labyrinths, is similar to sinusoidal waves traveling with a certain rhythm - positive and negative values of energy flows. The vortex flows are twisted and resonate in nested rings-loops of stone patterns. Each circle of labyrinths is unique, it has only one inherent frequency characteristic of an energy pulse. And, at the same time, it has harmony with the rhythm of the entire single man-made body of structures. Among the surrounding space-terrain, as if consistently in the cult pantheon, the rhythm-resonant structures of living Nature unfold. Separate labyrinths have their own structure of moves and their own order of passage. All this amazes the imagination with the incredible predestination of their construction, the deep involvement of these structures in the depths of the most ancient knowledge about the Cosmos and about the place of Man in it.

For the ancients, labyrinths are a model of the universe. They were also called the "Storage of Time". They used labyrinths to carry out cult rituals and healing rituals. Each clan or tribe built its own labyrinth. They put their consecrated prayer stones in them. And in the center, they buried the charmed ashes from the ritual fire from burnt sacrifices - treasures: medicinal herbs and roots, cereals, fish and hunting. Labyrinths, or another name "Babylon", meant - winding, confused, or otherwise - the Gate of the Lord, the Way of God … In the classical labyrinths of 12 spirals, they are oriented with their ends to the cardinal points, but not to the magnetic pole, but to the natural pole of the Earth, which was calculated from the Sun. In their center, stone pyramids were installed - a kind of Axis of the World, the Polar Pole, the Navel of the Earth or the legendary Mount Meru. The internal structure of the labyrinths had a certain logic of construction - a Cross unfolding in time-space with bent ends of parabolic tails, the processes of the beginning and end of the development of all things in the Universe. Their spirals were twisted, like the Signs of the Yargi-Swastika for the Solar and Lunar cycles. The labyrinths also tuned the matrix of the cells of Nature and Man, then to a set of the Power of the Spirit, then to cleansing from Evil, Filth. As we can see, in the structure of the labyrinths, a three-tier "picture" of the Universe was clearly traced - with the division of the worlds along the vertical, in which, as it were, between " the upper and lower worlds was the world of people. Hence, it is clear that the center is important - as a container containing embryos (souls). He was credited with the responsibility for all births and the connection of souls with the divine - when the Soul spoke with God … This threefold structure of the model of the world is characteristic of the Arctic with enchantingly impressive aurora borealis. It differs from the binary “picture” of the “world of the dead-living” typical of Ancient Egypt and Hellas.

In his book "Mysterious Petersburg" Vadim Burlak has a story about the blessed wanderer Nikita. He assured that the Northern capital stands on "knots" - labyrinths connecting "earth with sky, fire with water, light with darkness, living with the dead." That is why the energy of the city, the good one explained, is so complicated. The passage of labyrinths-spirals with multi-act right and left rotation, vortex flows of energies deep into the Earth and to the Light-Space, possibly meant the cyclical nature of dying-birth and strengthening the strength of the living structure of the personality. In the North, with long polar days and nights, the solar image of the struggle between life and death seemed to intensify, it was here that the sun wandering near the horizon could give an idea of semicircles of labyrinths. The similarity of solar-circle ornaments in the cultures of many peoples testifies to the origins of a single world pracivilization, and it could be the legendary Arctida, from where the ancestors of modern ethnic groups settled on the Earth. So one sees through the veil of millennia, solemn processions and sacred festivities that took place near the labyrinths and dedicated to the sacraments - the birth and fulfillment of life. Spinning in these cult pantheons is the Goddess or the Virgin of Fate - the thread of life, unwinds balls of passions and desires, disposes of the fate of people, giving them a pre-arranged lot. The voice of the polar ancestral home, the former attitude is expressed in the unified tradition of labyrinths existing here. They were some kind of machines for transforming a person - from one state to another, like a stream through which thoughts, aspirations, lives and souls passed …

The spirals of labyrinths are like a thread of life, twisted in a ball of comprehensive knowledge of the secrets of the universe. It was believed that the Goddess of Fate predetermined human life from the very moment of conception and was personified by the female life-giving principle. Then it is understandable why the entrance-exit of the labyrinths resembled the mother's womb with the opening of the conditional "womb". The spiral is also a symbol of the Space Dragon, the steward of the movement of stars and planets, chasing through the sky, swallowing and releasing them. The dragon in the mythological consciousness - the bearer of the universal chaos, darkness and long polar night - is in constant struggle with Indra - the solar God of the long-awaited summer. Labyrinths were revered as a symbol of magical power and the transition of the worlds of the living and the dead, and often as a gateway to another world. The Guardian of the Labyrinth, the Minotaur, - the keeper of this Path of Cognition of the Secrets of Existence, has also become recognizable.

The labyrinths with their sacred stones - landscape sacral cathedrals of ancient peoples - were destroyed and are being destroyed. To understand and study them means to preserve to the descendants the secret messages of the past about the greatness of the Deeds and the Spirit of Man. Stone labyrinths are included by modern researchers in the composition of the monuments of the megalithic - "big stones" culture of antiquity, along with the pyramids of Ancient Egypt and South America, stone pillars of the Stonehenge circles and "flying" multi-ton slabs on the pedestal stones of Murman and Karelia. There is a scientific explanation for the influence of megaliths on the psyche, body and consciousness of people. This is due to the low-frequency bioelectromagnetic radiation waves reproduced by piezoelectric effects in quartz minerals. Infrasound influences are indistinguishable by ear, but biologically very active. These outgoing streams of energies are perceived by the living Nature, the brain and the cardiovascular system of the Human. They also cause in people exposed to such radiation, a variety of states of "altered consciousness", the transformation of the Spirit-Soul, the transformation of the personality, as well as other effects and phenomena. Labyrinths are a magical tool of antiquity that develops intuition and the true power of a person. To enter them or not - it remains for each of you, but as soon as you entered, there is only one way and forward, along its spiral bends and turns. Until you reach the goal - an invisible and vital treasure in the center - a new state of Soul and Body filled with Spirit and Light.