NASA
has uploaded satellite images of ancient earthworks that were
discovered by a Kazakh archaeologist.
Ancient
geoglyphs discovered by Kazakh archaeologist Dmitriy Dei have
sparked the interest of NASA, which published satellite images of the
earthworks on its website earlier this month.
Dei
uncovered the geoglyphs, which can only be seen from the air, by
studying images from Google Maps of the historical Turgay region of
Kazakhstan. The north of the region is now part of Kazakhstan's
Kostanay administrative region, where Dei concentrated his search for
the geoglyphs.
The
researcher found the first geoglyph in 2007. In an interview, he
modestly characterized his achievement as a bringing together of
earlier research.
"I
just put together the pieces of previous discoveries, which were made
by different researchers and scientific groups," said Dei.
"In
February 2007 I found the first objects: the Ushtogaysky Square and
Turgay Swastika. Immediately I was struck by the phenomenal scale of
the constructions: the side of the square is 287 meters, one quarter
larger than the area of the base of the great pyramid of Giza. It is
made from exactly 101 mounds."
Approximately
50 earthworks similar to the Ushtogaysky Square have been found, said
the researcher, as well as other shapes, such as crosses and
swastikas.
Dei's
hypothesis is that the geoglyphs were a kind of ancient solar
calendar, used by settlers who had traveled from western Siberia to
make observations of the horizon.
The
researcher, who was inspired to search for the geoglyphs after
watching a documentary about the pyramids of ancient Egypt, sees
similarities to the Chankillo complex of ancient monuments in the
coastal desert of Peru, which dates back more than 2,300 years.
Some
preliminary studies of the site in Kazakhstan date the earliest of
its constructions to around 8,000 years ago, pre-dating even the
pyramids.
"I
think everything began in Altay, 13-20 thousand years ago,"
says Dei, whose research project on the earthworks has been published
online by the University of Pittsburgh. His intriguing theory is that
the earthworks were made by tribes who were some of the earliest
settlers to the Middle East and Europe.
"In
Turgay, faced with particular conditions, a part of the Altaiy tribe
laid the foundations of a new civilization around eight thousand year
ago."
"A
flow of salt water from the Aral Sea around 6,400 years ago rushed
north into the Turgay hollow, and practically destroyed the oasis in
the Turgay basin. Neolithic Mahandzhar tribes made their way west.
Some crossed the Caucasus and invaded the Middle East, 6,000 years
ago, coinciding with the appearance of the ancient Sumerian
civilization."
"Some
of these tribes moved further to the west, and 5,000 years ago the
Egyptian civilization suddenly appeared."
"Then
tribes moved further across the territory of northern Africa to the
Strait of Gibraltar, overcame it, and began to settle in Europe,"
said Die, who is now working on a nascent five-year $1.5 million
project to unravel the mystery of the earthworks.
Source
0 comments:
Post a Comment