Stone labyrinths of the White Sea. Stone labyrinths - an ancient mystery of the Solovetsky Islands

I. S. Manyukhin.
Kizhi Bulletin No. 7 P. 2002

The labyrinth is a world symbol with a three-thousand-year history. The idea of a labyrinth has a variety of forms of manifestation: subject, verbal, ritual. These are ornaments and drawings, artificial passages and paths, the arrangement of underground and ground buildings, dances, games, religious and moral symbols, legends and stories like the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.

There are labyrinths in all parts of the world among peoples standing at various stages of historical development - from the Stone Age to the present. Special place stone labyrinths occupy this many-sided picture Northern Europe, known in England, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Northern Russia on the coasts of the Baltic, Barents and White Seas. Total number northern labyrinths exceeds 500, of which there are about 300 in Sweden, about 140 in Finland, about 50 in Russia, 20 in Norway, 10 in Estonia, and separate labyrinths in England.

About 40 labyrinths were found on the shores of the White Sea, more than 30 of them - on the Solovetsky Islands Arkhangelsk region, several monuments in the Murmansk region at the mouth of the river. Ponoy, near the city of Kandalaksha and the village of Umba. Three labyrinths were found on the territory of Karelia, one - in the Chupinsky Bay and two - on the Kuzov archipelago. There is also evidence that stone labyrinths once existed at the mouths of the Kem and Keret rivers.

All northern labyrinths are made of medium-sized stones, they look like an oval in plan, and inside there are intricate passages leading to the center of the structure. There are several types of labyrinth designs. It has been observed that labyrinths different types can coexist, and identical structures can be found in territories separated by hundreds of kilometers. There is no generalizing work on the northern labyrinths, but researchers different countries engaged in these mysterious structures for more than 150 years. During this time, a rich folklore, ethnographic and archaeological material was accumulated.

The first of the Karelian labyrinths is located on a small sandy island near the Krasnaya Luda peninsula in the northern part of the Chupinsky Bay (discovered by I. M. Mullo, an employee of the KGKM). At low tide, the island is connected to the shore by a rocky bridge. The labyrinth itself is located at a height of 2-2.5 m above the sea. It is so densely turfed that the individual boulders that make it up cannot be traced. It has a suboval shape with diameters of 8.6 and 9.5 m. The length of the outer circumference of the labyrinth approaches 29 m, and of the inner passages - 160 m. There is a pile of stones in the center of the structure. The entrance to it is from the east - from the mainland.

The other two labyrinths of Oleshin Island in the Kuzov archipelago are located on a rocky surface about 25 m above sea level. The smaller labyrinth is poorly visible. Among the dense turf, only its outer walls with diameters of 6.3 and 5 m and the entrance itself can be traced. At 1.4 m from it, there is a second labyrinth of excellent preservation with clearly distinguishable outlines of the entire scheme and its constituent stones. The layout, oval in plan, has diameters of 9.4 and 11.6 m. The length of the outer wall approaches 34 m, the inner passages - 180 m. In the middle of the labyrinth there is a pile of stones with a vertically placed elongated boulder in the center. For the construction of the labyrinth, about 1000 small boulders and rock fragments were used.

Device big maze on Oleshin Island and the labyrinth on Krasnaya Luda are the same. It is based on two spirals, deployed into the inner and outer horseshoes. In this case, the radial and circular walls intersect, which deprives the structure of the exit. Labyrinths with exactly the same scheme on the White Sea are unknown to me, but they are in Finland (Uta), Sweden (Gotland, Visby), England (Isles of Scilly). However, it would be wrong to contrast the labyrinths of Karelia with the Solovetsky or Kola labyrinths. These are phenomena of the same cultural and chronological order.

In addition to scientists, the local population also tried to penetrate the secrets of the northern labyrinths. In the North of Russia, labyrinths were commonly called "Babylons", which reflected their intricate, intricate structure. There are several legends explaining the origin of labyrinths in certain places. The earliest of them was recorded by the princes Zvenigorodsky and Vasilchakov in anticipation of negotiations with the Swedes in 1552. According to legend, two large labyrinths near the city of Kola were built by King Valit or Valens, the settler of Veliky Novgorod, who defeated Murman and the Norwegians. "And in Varenga, at the battle of the German, Knocks, for his glory, having brought from the shore with his own hands, laid a stone, and near his hem a stone was laid out, as it were, a city salary of 12 walls, and that salary is called Babylon. The same salary was built by Valit on the site of the city of Kola, but it was “filled up when the prison was being made”, that is, at the end of the 16th century2. The population of Kandalaksha also has a legend about the emergence of a local labyrinth. It is attributed to the time of Pugachev. "But why do you have Babylon here? But for an example, so that it can be seen ... They put it down when the scarecrow was still there, to the will, - they fled here different people 3. The emergence of labyrinths on the Solovetsky Islands is associated with Peter the Great. The first mention of such an event is found in Archimandrite Dositheus, who compiled a description of the monastery: wooden church in the name of the holy Apostle Andrew ... Also, not far from this church, a Babylon, or a labyrinth, was laid out on the ground in two rows of cobblestones, which is still visible today "4. Later, the construction of all the Solovetsky labyrinths began to be attributed to Peter the Great.

Let us now turn to the folklore heritage of Scandinavia and Finland. Stone labyrinths often bear the names of cities or fortifications here - "Troy", "Babylon", "Nineveh", "Jerusalem". In Finland, in addition, there are the names "The Fence or the Road of the Giants", "The Game of St. Peter", "Girls' Dances", etc. Such names also do not reveal the essence of the labyrinths to us and are inspired by ancient Greek and biblical motifs, local legends. The labyrinths in these were used for folk games and festivities between Easter and midsummer. Usually the girl was put in a circle and danced towards her. Such customs are an example of reuse historical monuments. In science, several points of view have been expressed about the purpose and chronology of labyrinths. They see in them objects associated with fishing magic, the cult of the dead, they attribute calendar significance to them.

All researchers note the connection of labyrinths with the sea coast and islands, places of active fishing. For example, all 156 labyrinths in the province of Norrland in northern Sweden are located near fishing spots 6. A similar location is typical for labyrinths in Russia. Near the Kandalaksha labyrinth is Pitkul's tomb. Near the Krasnaya Luda Peninsula, near the labyrinth, there was also a place for fishing. Ponoi labyrinths are located at the mouth of the river, which is the most important place for salmon fishing, as well as the labyrinths that once existed at the mouths of the Kem and Keret rivers. The Solovetsky Islands and Kuzova are also known as places rich in fish. Thus, many labyrinths are connected not with the sea in general, but with places of active fishing. It is interesting that even on islands, for example, such large ones as Solovetsky and Gotland, labyrinths "huddle" to the edge of the sea and are absent far from it. There are no labyrinths on fresh water bodies, including such significant ones as Lake Ladoga and Onega, which in the minds of the ancient population could well be associated in their size with the seas. The Vepsians, for example, Lake Onega called the sea. Attempts to connect the labyrinths with the hunting of sea animals do not look convincing, since the location of the monuments does not always coincide with the places of accumulation and migration of sea animals. There is no reason to associate labyrinths with the culture of any one particular coastal people. On the contrary, the ancient cultures of the sea coast and the mainland are similar in many respects. The essential difference seas from freshwater reservoirs, in addition to the composition of water, flora and fauna, are tidal fluctuations in the water level, reaching, for example, in the mountains of the White Sea 6 m, and in the locations of most labyrinths - 1.5-2 m. Are labyrinths connected with these fluctuations of water?

The well-known Russian archaeologist N. N. Turina 7 and the Karelian local historian I. M. Mullo 8 tried to answer this question positively, pointing to the similarity of labyrinths and fishing traps. One of the primitive and ancient methods of ancient fishing was fishing with the help of the so-called runaways. It was one of the common types of autumn fishing for saffron cod in the southern part of the Soroca Bay from the villages of Virma to Nyukhcha. The runaway was a fence of a primitive design made of coniferous and birch branches stuck into the sea soil on the shallows near small sea bays. The height of the fence reached two, and the length - several hundred meters. At a distance of 20-30 m, a gate was made in such a wall, where the fences were installed. The fish, approaching the shore at high tide, tried to go back to the sea at low tide and, bypassing the fence, fell into the hemstitches. Fishermen - "refugees" spent a long time on the fishery. The traps were inspected every 6 hours "through the water". This method of fishing was used mainly by the poor, who did not have the funds for more efficient and modern means of fishing.

According to N. N. Gurina, labyrinths could symbolize exactly this or a very close way of fishing. This is supported by the orientation of the exits of the labyrinths to the shore, like merezha - "shelters". On the island of Bolshoy Solovetsky, a small peninsula with labyrinths is separated by a stone bridge. Two labyrinths on the island of Bolshoy Zayatsky are connected to each other by a stone bridge, which, according to H. H. Gurina, resembles the walls of "runaways". And finally, among the labyrinths of the Bolshoi Zayatsky Island, a stone figure was found, shaped like a fishing projectile of the "venter" or "muzzle" type. Ultimately, the labyrinths of the White Sea region are associated with fishing magic, the purpose of which was to ensure good luck in the sea industry. This conclusion is also confirmed in the ethnography of "backward" peoples, when labyrinths and labyrinth-shaped figures served as symbols of the multiplication of natural wealth9. According to I. M. Mullo, labyrinths are just plans for fishing traps. Such plans were necessary for the ancient fisherman, first of all, in order to facilitate the construction of traps, to indicate the place where the best catches of fish were obtained, and to indicate that the tony belonged to a certain genus. The presence of labyrinths of different design indicates that ancient population the region caught not only small fish - herring and navaga, but also larger - salmon. This is also evidenced by the location of some labyrinths at the mouths of the "salmon" rivers Ponoi, Kemi and Kereti 10.

In my opinion, labyrinths do bear some vague resemblance to fishing traps. Even at the first examination, it is difficult to compare such a fishing projectile as an "escape", which is a straight line in plan, with a complex spiral labyrinth device. Catching sea fish, whether sea coast or the banks of a spawning river, did not require such complex and ingenious devices.

The denial of the role of the labyrinth as a plan, layout or symbol of a fishing shell does not at all contradict its connection with fishing magic, i.e. rites, beliefs, ceremonies, the meaning of which was to ensure the well-being of ancient collectives in fishing, which could mean not only good catches, but also favorable weather, safety, etc.

A large group of scientists, mostly archaeologists, associate the labyrinths with the cult of the dead. Proof of this is the neighborhood of labyrinths with ancient burial grounds in Southern Sweden, Northern Norway and the Solovetsky Islands. In southern Sweden, labyrinths coexist with Bronze Age and Viking burial grounds. Northern Norway in the Finnmark area - with Saami cemeteries of the 12th-17th centuries.12 On the Bolshoy Zayatsky Island, archaeologists A.Ya. Martynov and A.A. Kuratov discovered burnt human bones and stone tools under three stone heaps13. There are also stone heaps near the labyrinths on Oleshin Island, although they have not been excavated. Labyrinths in similar ones could symbolize the difficult and winding transition from life to death, which is confirmed in the ethnography of some peoples of the world (photo). So, H. H. Vinogradov, the researcher of the Solovetsky labyrinths, suggested that they could be receptacles for the souls of the dead. So that the souls of the dead could not return to the living, the structure was made very intricate, consisting of narrow passages. Sometimes, next to one labyrinth, another was built with the aim that if the soul of the deceased still managed to go outside, then it would fall into it14.

B. Olsen suggests that the labyrinth could play a metaphorical role in the rituals associated with the transition from life to death. "One can imagine that the shaman entered the labyrinth, and this meant the separation of the individual's death from his life. The presence inside the labyrinth meant the beginning of separation from life on earth. The ceremony ended with the shaman leaving the labyrinth, as if symbolizing the transition of the deceased to a new stage"15.

Note that not everywhere labyrinths are accompanied by burials. For example, on Krasnaya Luda, the Terek coast of the White Sea and many other places, traces of burial grounds were not found.

Some scientists see in the labyrinths objects associated with the astral cult, give them a calendar significance. Such statements are unlikely to be true. The designs of the labyrinths are different, they are not connected with the countries of the world, they do not guess any cyclicity or general patterns that could be associated with movement heavenly bodies. In addition, deep knowledge in astronomy, the compilation of calendars in ancient times were more characteristic of the southern agricultural peoples (Egypt, Mesopotamia) and less characteristic of hunters and fishermen of the taiga and tundra zones.

According to some scientists, the first two main hypotheses linking labyrinths with fishing and the cult of the dead do not contradict, but complement each other. So, A. A. Kuratov suggests that the labyrinths were ancestral sanctuaries, where the ancients buried the dead, performed magical rites of multiplying prey, initiation, etc. Images of labyrinths on stones, trees, and earth were associated among the Australian Aborigines with ideas about the "lower world". Rites of multiplication of prey, initiations and other cult actions were performed around them17.

Indeed, the purpose of labyrinths is difficult to definitely associate with any one idea. Perhaps in different parts of Northern Europe their functions differed. The purpose of the monuments could change over time. Initially, they could be used for fishing magic, then associated with the cult of the dead and funeral ceremonies, and in modern times they were used for folk holidays. The magical figure of the labyrinth has evoked and still evokes a variety of associations and forms of comprehension.

When were the northern stone labyrinths built? Domestic science basically ascribes to labyrinths a rather early origin - BC. Foreign authors, as a rule, attribute these monuments to the Middle Ages and even later times up to the 19th century. Who is right? Or are the labyrinths of Northern Russia older than the Scandinavian ones?

Excavations of the labyrinths have not clarified anything on the issue of their chronology. K. P. Revo dismantled one of the Ponoi labyrinths and found between the stones only a layer of "empty" earth up to half an arshin thick18. The excavations by A. Ya. Bryusov of one of the labyrinths on Bolshoy Zayatsky Island19 were equally inconclusive. Excavations of stone heaps near the Solovetsky labyrinths were, as indicated, successful and contained material II-I thousand BC e. In the center of the labyrinth in the Pilskaya Bay on the Terek coast of the White Sea, during its clearing, a slab was discovered on which lay a scraper and a flake with traces of processing from quartz, calcined bones and a fragment of asbestos ceramics°. This material is synchronous with Solovetsky. Near three labyrinths of the Kola Peninsula - Kandalaksha, Kola and Kharlovsky - settlements with asbestos ceramics of the 2nd-1st millennium BC were found. e.21 All these data allow us to assume with certainty that the most ancient labyrinths of the White Sea region were built no later than the 1st millennium BC. e. As for the Karelian labyrinths themselves, they most likely belong to a later time. So, the labyrinth on Krasnaya Luda is located at the height of the first sea terrace, formed around the turn of our era. Near the labyrinths on Oleshin Island, several foundations of so-called dwellings were discovered. Saami Iron Age, dating in Fennoscandia from the 1st to the 17th centuries. n. e. Professor B. Olsen, a member of the expedition, believes that these nearby monuments can be connected and, by analogy with the labyrinths of the Norwegian Finnmark, date back to the 12th-16th centuries.

The earliest images of labyrinths in the form of petroglyphs in Scandinavia date back to Bronze Age- II millennium BC e. The images of labyrinths on the rocks in other parts of Europe also belong to this era: England, Spain, the Caucasus22. But it is difficult to say how far the tradition of building northern stone labyrinths goes into the depths. Most of the Scandinavian monuments cannot be dated by height levels earlier than the Middle Ages, although researchers admit more ancient age some of the labyrinths.

It remains unclear whether the idea of the labyrinth in Fennoscandia was borrowed from outside or originated in the environment. local population. It seems that labyrinths appear at certain times in different parts of Europe independently of each other. It is also possible that the idea itself spread from some one Near East or Mediterranean center. But it is impossible to trace this progress on archaeological materials. In any case, in Fennoscandia, the idea of a labyrinth received a very original and original embodiment in the form of the construction of many hundreds of stone labyrinths, which is not found anywhere else in the world.
Literature

2 Spitsin A. A. Northern labyrinths // Proceedings of the archaeological commission. Issue. 6. St. Petersburg, 1904. S. 108.
3 Durylin S. Behind the midnight sun. M., 1913. S. 47.
4 Dositheus (archimandrite). Geographical, statistical and historical description of the stauropegic first-class Solovetsky Monastery. M., 1836. S. 164.
5 Toivinen T. Op. cit. P. 80.
6 KraftJ. Labyrinth osh ryttarlek // Forvannen. No. 72. Oslo, 1977. P. 61-80.
7 Gurina N. N. Stone labyrinths of the White Sea // SA. T. X. M.; L., 1948. S. 125-142.
8 Mullo I. M. On the issue of stone labyrinths of the White Sea // New monuments of history ancient Karelia. M.; L., 1966. S. 185-193.
9 Gurina N. H Stone labyrinths of the White Sea // SA. T. X. M.; L., 1948. S.134-138.
10 Mullo I. M. Decree. op. pp. 185-193.
11 Talvinen T. Op. cit. P. 77-83.
12 Olsen B. Material metaphors and historical practice: A structural analysis of stone labirints in coastal Finnmark, Arctic Norway // FA. No. 8. Helsinki, 1991. P. 51-58.
13 Martynov A. Ya. On the problem of interpretation of the cult-burial complexes of the Solovetsky Islands // International conference on the 100th anniversary of V. I. Ravdonikas: Proceedings. report St. Petersburg, 1994. S. 88-90.
14 Vinogradov N. H. Solovetsky labyrinths. Their origin and place among homogeneous historical monuments // Solovetsky Society of Local Lore. Issue. IV. Solovki, 1927.
15 Olsen B. Op. cit. R. 51.16 Kuratov A. A. Ancient labyrinths of the Arkhangelsk White Sea // Historical and local history collection. Vologda, 1973. S. 63-76.
17 Kabo V.R. The motif of the labyrinth in Australian art and the problem of the ethnogenesis of Australians // Sat. MAE. Issue. 23. L., 1966. S. 254-267.
18 Gurina N. N. Stone labyrinths of the White Sea ... S. 133.
19 Bryusov A. Ya. History of ancient Karelia // Proceedings of the State Historical Museum. Issue. 9. M., 1940.
20 Titov Yu. V. Labyrinths and seids. Petrozavodsk, 1976, p. 6.
21 Gurina N. N. On the dating of the stone labyrinths of the White and Barents Seas // MIA. No. 39. M.; L., 1953. S. 419.
22 Toivinent. Op. cit. P. 81.

and others. Similar names also do not reveal to us the essence of labyrinths and are inspired by ancient Greek and biblical motifs, local legends. The labyrinths in these were used for folk games and festivities between Easter and midsummer. Usually the girl was put in a circle and danced towards her. Such customs are an example of the secondary use of historical monuments. In science, several points of view have been expressed about the purpose and chronology of labyrinths. They see in them objects associated with fishing magic, the cult of the dead, they attribute to them a calendar value., Representing a straight line in plan, with a complex spiral labyrinth device. Fishing for sea fish, whether it was the sea coast or the banks of a spawning river, did not require such complex and ingenious devices.21 Gurina N.N. On dating the stone labyrinths of the White and Barents Seas // MIA. No. 39. M.; L., 1953. S. 419.

The magic of stone labyrinths!

I shot this video while in Germany, Externstein, in front of one of the real stone labyrinths.

In the northern tradition, labyrinths made of stones of power are considered the key to the transition to other worlds . And also, the key to a special magic, when we can, being in another world, change what happens in our denser, coarser world.

To create such labyrinths were used special stones, special places.

But! It is absolutely not necessary to go somewhere, for example, to Karelia or Germany, in order to use the magic of the labyrinth. You can create such a maze at home from special power stones and use it as needed. It is believed that when a person is in a place in a special state, singing a special sound combination or playing a magic instrument, he changes not only itself, but also the world around.

You can apply the image of a stone labyrinth on clothes or interior items, thus creating magical protection for yourself and your home .

Gateway to another world

Stone labyrinths - very ancient creations. These labyrinths use all the strength and power of mother nature. And their origin is shrouded in speculation and conjecture to this day. labyrinths captivate and attract with their energy and beauty.

There are a lot of versions of creating labyrinths, one is more beautiful than the other, but one thing is indisputable - this is a special place, here performed magical rituals.

Labyrinths are found in different forms, but their main element is spiral, and the form in which the spirals are laid out, similar in structure to the human brain. In such labyrinths, there is only one entrance (the exit is in the same place as the entrance).

The labyrinth is place of transition to other worlds. They were used for religious rites and healing rituals. Special rituals were held here, after passing which, the initiates received magical power and ability communicate with this and other worlds.

maze it magical place, maximizing human potential, his intuition and ability. Whether or not to enter such a maze is up to you. But if you have entered, then you just have to obey the turns of the labyrinth, its bends, and go to the end - to the cherished goal - finding a new self.

We have the most famous labyrinths in Russia - Solovetsky congestion, Arkaim(maze of desires), labyrinths of the Kola Peninsula.

Write in the comments!

Friends, write in the comments under this article, what other topics of Shamanism and the Northern Runic Tradition do you want to know and study?

See you in class!

"The cosmic-mystical encoding of spiral symbols and labyrinths is beyond doubt."
Valery Demin, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor

An increasing number of serious scientists are inclined to think that numerous megalithic monuments, preserved on the territory of modern Karelia and created millennia ago - this is a coded ancient knowledge inherited from our distant ancestors. Traditions that arose in the depths of centuries and millennia were passed down from generation to generation, fixed in stone and ritual symbols, demonstrating the unity of man and higher cosmic forces.

Among the archaeological monuments of a cult nature located on the territory of the North of Russia, apparently, there are none that, like stone labyrinths, would have aroused the keen interest of many researchers for about two hundred years. Stone labyrinths are structures with a diameter of five to thirty meters, built of small natural stones in a repeatedly twisting line that forms a spiral figure. They are known on Kola Peninsula, the Solovetsky Islands, the White Sea coast of Karelia, as well as on a number of islands in the White Sea.

Many explanations have been offered regarding the functional purpose of the Solovetsky stone spirals: burial grounds, altars, mock-ups of fishing traps...

However, spiral images are found almost all over the world. It seems that the image of the spiral acts as a kind of code that was passed down from generation to generation, from people to people, regardless of cultural and religious differences. However, the knowledge contained in them was long ago - long lost, the key to deciphering is lost.

The spiral is one of the deepest symbols of the universe. The spiral acts as a single code of a single world, which is laid by Mother Nature in the foundation of all living and non-living things.

According to the views of the Moscow professor V.N. Volchenko and other Russian scientists, the basis of the universe is the so-called torsion (“twisted”) fields, which allow instantaneous distribution of any information. According to this theory, the Universe as a "Super-computer" forms a single biocomputer with the human brain, which works, saying plain language, according to the principles of the same twisted spiral.

But if we find out about this at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, then how did our distant ancestors know about this thousands of years ago, who folded stone spirals that resemble the modern classical shape of wide-band transceiver antennas and used them as a single communication channel with the universe? Stone labyrinths have been revered since ancient times as pointers to the proximity of other spaces and dimensions.

In Rus', the northern labyrinths were called "Babylons". But why "Babylons"? Generations of stone labyrinth explorers have tried to answer this question. Why did the city of Babylon, mentioned in the Bible and discovered by archaeologists only at the very end of the 19th century, give the name to these strange structures?

In Celtic mythology, the island city of Avallon is known, inhabited by fairies, the island of the blessed, which was opened only to the elect. Therefore, most likely, the Pomeranian name of the stone labyrinth - "Babylon" - is a distorted Celtic word, transferred, but not meaningful, to Russian soil.

This is all the more surprising that the traditions and legends of the northern peoples associated stone spirals with the existence of fairy-tale peoples: "divine people", elves, gnomes and similar inhabitants " underworld". Moreover, as the historian and archaeologist A.L. Nikitin, it is labyrinths in legends and tales that are indicated as “entrances” and “exits” to the underground, otherworldly kingdom, opening only to those who know the magic key to this, figuratively speaking, secret door.

The following fact is very interesting: there is a local Karelian-Finnish myth about the so-called "wild people". These creatures live in mountains and caves, have some kind of power, reminiscent of electricity. They are small in stature, very beautiful and with a pleasant voice. "Divya people" - predictors. Only the elect can hear and heed them - people with a pure soul and thoughts.

In other words, at first glance, the "Divya people" most of all resemble gnomes or dwarfs. Of course, the descriptions of appearance do not match, but many other features coincide: mountain talents, the gift of providence, some actions, etc.

Dwarfs are given amazing speed, for which there is no space: in one leap they can be transferred from one mountain to another, even if there were several hours between the peaks of these mountains - today they are here, and tomorrow in another part of the world. They have the gift of supernatural wisdom and foresight: they know the future and everything that is done in the world. They have knowledge of languages and understand the runes, they know the healing properties of plants and stones.

By the way, as well as mighty giants, dwarfs have occupied a worthy niche in the mythological tradition of both the Slavs and other peoples, in particular the Karelians and Finns. However, the thing is that in ancient Slavic mythology, dwarfs are creatures that live, rather, near a person. But in Finno-Ugric mythology, for example, dwarfs are more often residents of places that are hard to reach for a person.

The Scandinavian Eddas describe dwarfs as blacksmiths who transform into gods and personalities with titanic powers. These images are invariably characterized by arrogance, at times greed, often swagger and pride. According to the texts of the Edda, dwarfs are the flesh of the flesh of this world. They appeared immediately after the birth of the gods from the same original material as the earth, water and sky of the Universe - from the flesh of the god Ymir. When the young gods spread it with fertile lands, life was born there. Its first sprouts were dwarfs. They are the oldest population on earth. In the Edda, the first dwarfs are likened to larvae crawling out of decaying flesh into the light. Dwarfs, children of the earth, were at first absolutely faceless. However, the gods in the Upper World felt the birth of a new life and endowed the dwarfs with speech, wisdom and appearance. The gods left most of the dwarfs in the bowels of the young earth, crevices, caves and grottoes.

Then the time of people had not yet come, and the dwarfs reigned supreme in the vast expanses of the earth. Children of the earth - they gratefully accepted her gifts, kept her secrets, fed on her wisdom. Earth and wisdom are often identified in myths.

Ritual ceremonies held inside and near these stone sanctuaries allowed the ancient peoples to make experiments with altered states of consciousness and explore the other world of spirits - a source of enlightenment and strength.

“Labyrinths are nothing but Saivo, the sacred mountains where the souls of the dead live, enjoying bliss. The very appearance of the ridges of the labyrinths already gives an idea of the ridges of the stone mountains.

N.N. Vinogradov, Solovki. Late 1920s

The question of the purpose of the ancient Solovetsky labyrinths has not yet been finally resolved - and how to solve it?

A number of scientists consider labyrinths to be places of entertainment and round dances of a cult nature or grounds for military sports games. Some archaeologists attribute to them a practical purpose - models of fishing traps or fishing structures themselves.

Most researchers consider labyrinths to be objects of cult and religious purpose. N. Vinogradov associated them with the cult of the dead. Babylons - as stone labyrinths are also called - are associated with the rite of initiation and the "lower world", with the visit of the Solovetsky Islands by the inhabitants of the White Sea to perform primitive religious rites of burial of the dead.

These were rites of burial and sacrifice (calcified bones of a person, feast animals, birds and fish), sacred rites associated with totemism and cult magic (figurines of sea animals), worship of the Sun (“solar rosette” and round-spiral labyrinths), initiation and, perhaps, other, not yet understood, but associated with the beliefs of the natives of the White Sea. Built, according to the ideas of the ancients, on the border of two worlds - "middle" and "lower" - the labyrinths, most likely, symbolized either the lower - otherworldly - world itself, inhabited by spirits that are dead and hostile to man, or a confusing path to it.

Thus, one of the functions of the labyrinth was to ensure the transfer of the souls of the dead and buried to the lower world according to the rite, which included cremation.

On the other hand, labyrinths were, apparently, the instrument with which ritual actions were performed.

A number of progressive scientists tend to think that labyrinths are associated with religious beliefs. ancient man(maybe with an astral cult), others see them as a ritual, ceremonial purpose (for example, for testing a person) or grave signs over burials ...

Some consider the labyrinths to be 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 powers), and then transferred them “to nature” - to the sea. But this is really bullshit

The question of labyrinths has not yet received a final scientific resolution. However, the presence of these mysterious ancient structures on the Solovetsky Islands points to a close connection between these islands and the surrounding coastal areas in ancient times and to the unity of their ancient historical destinies.

In order to answer the questions of what inner meaning the stone labyrinths conceal in themselves, whether they are really connected with the cult of the dead, what the stone piles in their center and the bands of stone calculations around them mean, it is important to once again turn to both the structure of the labyrinths themselves and to the 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 bispiral horseshoe-shaped round labyrinths of the classical type, and then raise the question: what imagery can be behind all this?

Five main features of the ancient northern labyrinths

The main element of the labyrinth is a spiral, most often composed of single boulder stones in a long row.
Throughout its length, the spiral in some areas has an expansion and thickening in the form of a stone heap of a round-oval shape. Thickenings are also noticeable at the ends of the spirals, structurally indicated by heaps of stones or larger stones.
A single spiral was laid in the form of a line unwinding from the center.
The stacking of two spirals inscribed one into the other looks like an intertwined ball.
In the center of the labyrinths there is a cluster of stones in the form of a slide. If we leave aside the traditional dry “constructivist” approach and look at the labyrinths from an artistic point of view, the first thing we can see in the labyrinth scheme is a ball 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 took as an example.

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

Sources

Vinogradov N. Solovetsky labyrinths. Their origin and place in a number of homogeneous prehistoric monuments. SOK materials. Issue. 4. Solovki, 1927.

The sign of the labyrinth in Russia is more widely represented in two regions: Dagestan and the White Sea. On this moment in Russia, the most famous are the White Sea labyrinths or, as they are otherwise called, the “northern labyrinths”. The problems of the "northern labyrinths" are expressed in three questions: who, when and why built them in this area?
"Northern labyrinths" are spiral figures, which are various systems of passages made of small boulder stones. The sizes of the boulders vary in diameter from 3.40 to 24.40 m, their height does not exceed 50 cm.
The most noticeable among the "northern labyrinths" is the Solovetsky cluster of labyrinths. The composition of this cluster includes 35 labyrinths known at the moment, almost a thousand stone mounds, as well as "symbolic" stone calculations, which number in the tens.
Let's take a closer look at them...

The Solovetsky cluster of labyrinths is scattered over 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 area of the island, called Bolshoy Zayatsky, is located a large number of stone calculations Solovetsky archipelago. There are 13 labyrinths here, more than 850 boulder mounds. 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 hypotheses of scientists about the purpose of these structures in the form of stone spirals on the ground. locals called labyrinths "babylon". There is an assumption that the labyrinths are associated with ancient cult dances and round dances of the peoples who have long inhabited these lands. There is a hypothesis that these are ancient burials. During the excavations that were organized in some labyrinths of the Bolshoy Zayatsky Island, the remains of ritual fires were found in the center of several of them, but not in all of them. The next hypothesis states that labyrinths are "fish traps". It has been suggested that during low tide the fish did not keep up with finding a way out of the labyrinths and, to the delight of local fishermen, remained lying on the ground. However, a considerable number of labyrinths are built far from water and are not filled with water at all. There are also hypotheses that the labyrinths, in fact, are "magic fishing nets" that served to carry out magical rituals related to sea fishing. It is assumed that the labyrinth is a magical tool of shamans. Also, some researchers believe that 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, go 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 exit in 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 labyrinths to be places of entertainment and round dances of a cult nature or grounds for military sports games. Some archaeologists attribute to them a practical purpose - models of fishing traps or fishing structures themselves. Most researchers consider labyrinths to be objects of cult and religious purpose.

N. Vinogradov associated them with the cult of the dead ( Vinogradov N. Solovetsky labyrinths. Their origin and place in a number of homogeneous prehistoric monuments. SOK materials. Issue. 4. Solovki, 1927). Babylon is associated with the rite of initiation and the "lower world" ( Cabo W. Origin and early history aborigines of Australia. M., S. 309-304. 1969), with cult magic ( Gurina N. Stone labyrinths of the White Sea. M., S. 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, S. 63-76. 1973).
These were rituals of “... burial and sacrifice (calcined bones of a person, feast animals, birds and fish), sacred rites associated with totemism and cult-fishing magic (figures of sea animals), worship of the Sun (“solar rosette” and round-spiral labyrinths), initiation and, perhaps, other, not yet understood, but associated with the beliefs of the natives of the White Sea.”

... built, according to the ideas of the ancients, on the border of two worlds - "middle" and "lower" - the labyrinths most likely symbolized either the lower - otherworldly - world itself, inhabited by spirits that are dead and hostile to man, or a confusing path to it. One function of the labyrinth was, therefore, to ensure the transfer to the lower world of the souls of the dead and buried according to the rite, which included cremation.
… on the other hand, the labyrinths were, apparently, the instrument with which ritual actions were performed. ( Martynov Alexander. Archaeological past of the Solovetsky archipelago: mainland - sea - islands. Almanac "Solovki Sea". No. 1. 2002)
“Most scientists are inclined to think that labyrinths are associated with the religious beliefs of an ancient person (maybe 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 proposed to consider labyrinths as plans for complex fishing tools, which the ancient inhabitant of these lands first depicted on the ground, for clarity (along with endowing these images with magical powers), and then transferred them “to nature” - to the sea. The question of labyrinths has not yet received a final scientific resolution. However, the presence of these mysterious ancient structures on the Solovetsky Islands points to a close connection between these islands and the surrounding coastal areas in ancient times and to the unity of their ancient historical destinies. ( Boguslavsky Gustav. Solovetsky Islands: Essays. 3rd ed. Arkhangelsk; North-West book. publishing house, 1978. - 173 p.: ill.)

Scientific researchers suggested that there were also pagan temples in these places.
No less difficult for science was the question of the ethnicity of the peoples who visited the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago in those ancient times. Only recently, after the discovery of a flint figurine of a seal on Maly Zayatsky Island, was it possible to confirm that this culture belonged to the Proto-Sami tribes living on the coast. 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 enough to visit Alexander Martynov, who has been living and working on Solovki since 1978, and this year I bought his book “Ancient paths of the Solovetsky Islands”, published this year and dedicated to the problems of ancient and medieval archaeological sites of Solovki - sites of the feudal Mesolithic, Neolithic, and early metal, sanctuaries and stone la birinths, Sami seids and cemeteries. Publishing house "Russian North", 2006. I highly recommend it." (Alexey Budovsky. Report on a trip to Solovki in September 2006. Part 8. "Big Zayatsky Island" Chapter 2. "Labyrinths." "Short historical reference and a story about visiting the island in 1999. As a manuscript. livejournal. New York, USA. 2006)

“In order to answer the questions, what is the inner meaning of stone labyrinths, are they really connected with the cult of the dead, what do the stone piles in their center and the ribbons of stone calculations around them mean, it is important to once again turn to the structure of the labyrinths themselves, and to the 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 bispiral horseshoe-shaped round labyrinths of the classical type, and then raise the question: what imagery can be behind all this?

Five main features of the shape of masonry labyrinths

"1. The main element of the labyrinth is a spiral, most often composed of 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 stone heap of a round-oval shape. Thickenings are also noticeable at the ends of the spirals, 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. The stacking of two spirals inscribed one into the other looks like an intertwined ball.

5. In the center of the labyrinths there is an accumulation of stones in the form of a hill (the hill in the center of the Great Solovetsky labyrinth was destroyed and is not indicated in the figure in the work of N.N. Vinogradov).
If we leave aside the traditional dry “constructivist” approach and look at labyrinths from an artistic point of view, the first thing we can see in the scheme of the labyrinth is a ball 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 took as an example.

View of a large labyrinth near the village of Solovetsky. Color photo of Svetlana Konysheva. 2005.
In contrast to the Great Solovetsky labyrinth, in other similar structures, the image of a snake can be expressed more schematically and less plastically. To designate a head, sometimes one large stone or a pile of stones at the end of a stone spiral ribbon is enough. The thickening at the opposite end denoted the snake's tail. There are also quite conditional images of a snake in the form of a ribbon.
A single spiral is a single snake represented in the masonry; the labyrinth, including two spirals, meant a ball of two coiled snakes, whose heads are located in the very center of the labyrinth almost opposite each other. In this case, the coil could have two different forms:

1) a correct horseshoe, when between two lying non-contiguous snakes there was a passage through the entire maze;

2) horseshoes with a cross-shaped intersection of the “torsoes” of snakes, when the path through the labyrinth led to a dead end.
The thickening of a ribbon of stones in one of the sections of the labyrinth now receives a fairly clear interpretation - this is a swallowed victim. It is noteworthy that in the indicated Solovetsky labyrinth, the extension of the snake body is placed directly opposite the entrance. Entering the labyrinth menacingly reminded of the real danger. The artistic expressiveness of the image of snakes in labyrinths, despite the primitiveness of the means used (ordinary boulder stones), is undeniable. We have the right to conclude that the northern stone labyrinths can be attributed not only to archeological monuments, as was thought so far, but also to works of primitive art, since they are a very distant prototype of modern installations - compositions from individual objects. ( Burov Vladimir. On the semantics of the stone labyrinths of the north. Ethnographic Review, No. 1, 2001)

Similar monuments, in addition to the Solovetsky Islands, are found in Karelia and the Murmansk region, in the countries of Northern Europe - Finland, Sweden and Norway. Among scientists there is still no consensus on 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 “Babylons” in the folk language. These are patterned paths made of stones, mostly boulders, the size of a head, sometimes smaller, up to a fist, with an intricate course; 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’s usually not immediately possible to get out of there, and after going through some path you come to the old place ... They think that the device 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 - initially at least ... "
Mysterious labyrinths continue to beckon with their mystery, will it ever be revealed?