Kamyana Mohyla (; ) is an archaeological site in the Molochna River () valley, about a mile from the village of Terpinnia,

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Zaporizhzhia Oblast (), commonly referred to as Zaporizhzhia (), is an oblast (region) in south-east Ukraine. Its administrative centre is the city of Zaporizhzhia. The oblast covers an area of , and has a population of The oblast is an import ...

, Ukraine. Petroglyphs of Kamyana Mohyla are dated from

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

(Kukrek culture) to Medieval, with

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

depictions subjected to most archaeological interest. The site is listed on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in Ukraine. The site encompasses a group of isolated blocks of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, up to twelve meters in height, scattered around an area of some 3,000 sq m. As Noghai legend has it, it resulted from a scuffle of two

baghatur Baghatur is a historical Turkic and Mongolic honorific title, in origin a term for "hero" or "valiant warrior". The Papal envoy Plano Carpini ( 1185–1252) compared the title with the equivalent of European Knighthood. The word was common am ...

s who took turns throwing rocks at each other. In truth, the site had its origins in a sandbank of the

Tethys Ocean The Tethys Ocean ( ; ), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era. It was the predecessor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eurasia ...

. 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

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

s that dot the

Pontic–Caspian steppe The Pontic–Caspian Steppe is a steppe extending across Eastern Europe to Central Asia, formed by the Caspian and Pontic steppes. It stretches from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the ''Pontus Euxinus'' of antiquity) to the northern a ...

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 space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

. 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 (Ancient Greek language, 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 i ...

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

History

In 1889, the Russian archaeologist Nikolay Veselovsky 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 is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...

under Valentin Danylenko (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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. 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 World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

. 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

References

External links

Official site

Б. Д. Михайлов. Кам'яна могила. Stone Tomb. Дніпропетровськ, Промінь, 1976.
{{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 Historic reserves in Ukraine

History

Gallery

Further reading

See also

References

External links