Ruins of ancient Jericho. Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal. Ancient Mayan cities - photo

image from the site 1zoom.ru

Ruins, abandoned castles and ancient labyrinths - each of us, or rather, our game characters, has visited such places more than once. It is especially interesting to explore places whose traces of builders have long been lost in people's memory and on the pages. They spoke a different language, they worshiped other gods, they thought differently and ... of course, they left a lot of secrets and mysteries.

They are the inhabitants of an ancient powerful civilization.

If you like not only climbing such ruins, but also designing them yourself for tabletop role-playing games and similar hobbies, the following 4 tips will not interfere with you at all.

In fact, the ruins themselves

In fact, if we imagine that some other, possibly highly developed civilization flourished in these places earlier, then it is difficult to find a better monument to it than some picturesque ruins.

But adventurers should understand at first glance that they are not dealing with ordinary ruins, but with something “foreign”, inaccessible to understand at first sight. And therefore, even more intriguing and mysterious.

So many years have passed since the time of ancient civilization that only the most significant and monumental buildings have survived to our time, over which time is powerless. They amaze the imagination and seem out of place in our world:

... A surviving piece of an incredibly large fortress wall, which seems to be higher and stronger than anything you have seen in the world.

... An obelisk made of black stone, with symbols carved on it, some of which seem to have been deliberately knocked down by an unknown person. It is so heavy that you understand - a considerable part of this block has long been sunk into the ground under its own weight.

... An incomprehensible structure of complex geometry from incredibly large and evenly hewn blocks. It seems that some giant carefully arranged these stones in one understandable order, but you cannot think of a single reasonable explanation for why someone needed to drag these huge blocks here.

Remember that players see exactly what they see: "part of the fortress wall", "obelisk", "tomb", etc. What this place was originally, what it was built for and what tasks it performed - the initial inspection will not give answers to these questions, however, it should become clear to the players that the thing in front of them is most likely not what it seems.

natural features

What do people say?

It is clear that the ancient civilization has long since disappeared, and books about it are not remembered. Surprisingly, but better than books can remember what is called . Some long-forgotten concepts, names, "special" words can be hints or allow you to create special atmosphere around the ruins.

Such concepts sometimes do not disappear for centuries, and sometimes they only seem old, in fact being yesterday's notion.

… “Let's go to the mill,” people say, meaning going to a very specific place, despite the fact that the mill has not been there for two hundred years. A stranger will not understand this.

... “No one has ever walked past the Obelisk at night,” the innkeeper whispers confidentially, but does not mention that this rule has been working “by inertia” since last year, when a tipsy carpenter was killed by wolves in those places.

… “Old Forge” – people call this place, but not at all because a forge really operated at one time not far from the ruins, but because from time to time a noise comes from the ground, similar to the measured blows of a hammer on an anvil.

It may be a good idea to use obsolete words indicating "the traditions of the old days" (tinderbox, slash, gold, etc.).

Cultural Features

The ruins of an ancient civilization can contain quite a few interesting surprises based on cultural differences.

The simplest example: for Hindus, a cow is a sacred animal, Europeans eat cows without a twinge of conscience, in many places in Africa these animals are considered symbols of wealth. Now suppose that in your ruins, you come across an incomprehensible inscription accompanied by an image of a cow. What will this mean in the context of our example - what is ahead of the temple, the treasury or the slaughterhouse?

A structure built by elves or dwarves is likely subject to a different concept of "right/wrong" than a human one. The value, purpose, the very meaning of individual things and concepts for “those others” may differ from ours.

All these simple tricks can simply change the picture familiar to adventurers beyond recognition, creating a complex and intricate plot.

The prospect of going to the "treasure tomb" ( Well, really, what else could this hefty crap be? Only a tomb. What is customary to put in tombs? Of course, treasures), and on the way to be in a spaceship with a yaut inappropriately released from suspended animation ( whose main treasure, most likely, will not be gold, but scalps) - this, you know, significantly changes the idea of ​​​​plot goals!

Drawings of these destroyed structures are given. True, they can be called ancient conditionally. Since the construction of these structures dates back to the 2nd half of the 18th century. And they are located in the area of ​​the Siberian lines of border fortifications.

There are, however, several oddities in these lines. The first is that together they add up to an almost continuous shaft, stretching from West to East almost across the entire continent - from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean, i.e. about 18,000 km. The second oddity is that the beginning of this rampart (the territory of Europe) dates back to the 2nd century AD. Its end (in China) is also attributed to ancient times. The youngest section of this line or wall, rampart, dam (it is called differently in different sections) passes through the territory of Russia and dates back to the 18th-19th century. Although the construction techniques and appearance echoes the more ancient sections of this building, amazing in its scale.

Drawings from the album G.I. Spassky:

View of the Bukhtarma fortress in Siberia

This fortress belongs to the Siberian line of fortifications, built according to official version to protect against the invasion of Xing (Chinese) troops:

“In the 1760s. from the Ust-Kamenogorsk fortress through the rivers Charysh (Upper-Charysh fortress) and Katun (Katun fortress) to the Biysk fortress and Kuznetsk, a new fortified line is being built, which received the name Kolyvano-Kuznetskaya. She rounded from the north Altai mountains, thus completing the creation of a single Siberian line of fortifications, designed to protect Southern Siberia from a possible invasion of Qing troops.

For military cover Gorny Altai in 1793, at the confluence of the Bukhtarma River with the Irtysh, the Bukhtarma fortress was built, and upstream from it along the Irtysh - several guards, which are called the Bukhtarma fortified line. By the end of the XVIII century. All Altai was annexed to Russia.

China at the beginning of the 18th century was not independent state. It was part of Tartaria, like Siberia, and some other Asian territories. About this in the article "The Tartar Emperors of China". And the series of articles "Unknown Tartaria", which tells about the earlier period of Tartaria.

Perhaps these fortifications were built precisely in the 18th century, but is it possible that they reconstructed and adapted for military purposes the ancient structures already located in this area? Ablaikit monastery or fortress, located near the Bukhtarma fortress:

View of the ruins of Ablaikid

The Ablaikit fortress, founded according to the official version in 1654 by the Oirat leader Ablai, was located 85 kilometers from the Ust-Kamenogorsk fortress, but, nevertheless, was not part of the fortified line, since it belonged to the Dzungars. There was such a state in the 17th century - the Dzungar Khanate.

“The Dzungar Khanate-Oirat-Mongolian state that existed in the 17th-18th centuries on the territory that now belongs to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Mongolia and occupied lands from Tibet and China in the south, to Siberia in the north, from the Urals and Khiva, as well as the Bukhara khanates in the west to Khalkha-Mongolia in the east, including Lake Balkhash, Semirechye, Lake Kukunor, the Tien Shan mountains, Altai, the Ili river valley, the upper reaches of the Ob, Irtysh and Yenisei, etc. Until now, In this territory, the ruins of Oirat (Zungar, Kalmyk) Buddhist monasteries and fortresses (Semipalatinsk, Zaisan), rock images of the Buddha (near Alma-Ata, near Issyk-Kul), etc. have been preserved. Collection of historical and ethnographic works of N. Ya. Bichurin

True, it existed on the territory of Tartaria. And in the sources of that time, in particular in the book of Nikolaas Witsen "Northern and Eastern Tartaria" is not mentioned in any way. Oirats are called Kalmyks here, or Kalmaks, as they were called in the 17th century. I have described them in detail in the article “Who are the Kalmaks?”. Ablaikit has survived to this day in this form:

Ablaikit. Current state

Not far from this place, downstream of the Irtysh, were the ruins of the Seven Chambers:

View of the ruins of the seven chambers on the banks of the Irtysh

“The so-called “Seven-Chambers” lie on the eastern bank of the Irtysh... The Kalmyks call them Darkhan-Zordzhin-Kit, saying that these buildings were built by a certain priest Darkhan-Zorji, who lived in them. When that was, they don't know. In Tyumen, I found in the archive a letter of tsar Mikhail Fedorovich dated October 25 7125 (1616), in which these buildings are mentioned under the name of "stone mosques". By this time, they may be. Judging by the material from which they are made, they can hardly be older. I would not even give them such antiquity, if the mentioned charter did not speak in favor of it ” G. F. Miller "History of Siberia"

Another description of these buildings by the traveler assistant doctor Bardanes who visited Semipalatinsk in 1771:

“The ruins of seven stone Tatar or Mongolian houses, called Semipalates and giving the fortress its name, stand 2 versts above the fortress, on the mountain shore opposite the exchange yard. One of these houses is quadrangular, 6 fathoms (12.8m) wide, the walls are 10 (3m) high and 5 feet (1.5m) thick, it has one door and two windows. One wall has collapsed a lot, but the rest are all intact and built of hard gray brick with strong mortar. Another building is similar to the first one and is 4 fathoms wide. The third is 8 sazhens from the second, 7 sazhens long and 4 sazhens wide. The walls are built of black flagstone, 1.5 sazhens (3.2m) high and 3 feet (1m) thick. From the fourth building there is only a brick wall with a door and a window. From the fifth, only the foundation is visible, proving that the building was 5½ long and 2½ fathoms wide with 3 compartments; also, only the foundation remained from the sixth, 15 sazhens long and 34 sazhens wide; all are nearby. The seventh building stands 242 sazhens, or half a verst, from the others. It is much newer, 3 fathoms long and wide, and 7 feet high; the walls are made of new and not strong bricks, the roof is wooden and rotten and collapsed. For several years they were in better condition, but after that the Cossacks took bricks from them for perverse furnaces. There were Tangut inscriptions on them, which were also erased. I leave the history of these ruins to the testers of antiquity. (Source: The Complete Collection travel scientists in Russia, published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, at the suggestion of its president .. - St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1825. - T. seventh.)

This description, indeed, is more suitable for describing ordinary residential buildings, rather than mosques. Unless, earlier, residential buildings were also called mosques, by analogy, with temples - mansions? For some, it was once just a residential building, which later became a place of worship for someone. The thickness of the walls is impressive. But in those days it was customary to build thick walls. This is an increase in both the strength of the building and the comfort of being inside it. And the black flagstone - probably like this?

Flagstone - black slate, Kazakhstan

The dimensions only amaze him: 3.2x1m. And how much did these tiles weigh? Tangut manuscripts were also found in Ablaikit. The Tangut kingdom is the Great State of the White and High, according to the official version. By white and tall, obviously, it means Presbyter John or priest Ivan, about whom I wrote in the article “Unknown Tartaria. Part 2".

In the same area:

Ruins of Jalin-Obo

In another way, this building was also called the Kalbasinskaya tower:

“In 1717, by order of Prince Gagarin, they were sent from Tara to build fortresses: the son of the boyar Pavel Sviersky, with a party of Cossacks, and the nobleman Vasily Cheredov; the first of them built Zhelezinskaya, and the other Kalbasinskaya fortress, which was located between the present Krivozersk and Podpusknaya villages, about 165 miles below Semipalatinsk. There was a Kalmyk building in the form of a tower, in which there was a Lamai shrine. The Kalmyks called this building Jalin-obo, because, between 1689 and 1700, the Kalmyk tayja Jalin roamed there, expelled from there in 1702 by the Bashkirs. The Russians called that building the Kalbazin tower. It was built of baked bricks, the base was quadrangular, and the top consisted of twenty corners. Its walls stretched up to four sazhens in height, with a thickness of about one and a half arshins. In the upper part below the vault there were two opposite windows, and at the very top of the vault there was one opening. On one side was a door. N. A. Abramov. Regional city of Semipalatinsk // Notes of the Imperial Russian geographical society, 1861, book. 1.

The ruins of the temple, which was in the city of Tatagan

Ruins of two buildings on the right bank of the Nura River

The ruins of two buildings on the right bank of the Yakshikun River

Description of these and other ruins, taken from A. I. Levshin's "Description of the Kirghiz-Cossack or Kirghiz-Kaisak hordes and steppes":

"In the steppes of the Kirghiz-Cossacks is found so many ruins of ancient buildings that we cannot remain silent about them in our description.

It is difficult and even hardly possible to determine which people built these buildings, for they are of different kinds. Some, having retained signs of temples dedicated to the Lamai service, obviously belong to the Mungals or Zungars, others are similar to Mohammedan mosques, others are the remains of ordinary Asian dwellings, and finally, the fourth have reached such a degree of destruction that they cannot give rise to any conclusions. The materials from which these buildings were built are also not the same; some left big stones, from others bricks, the third were clay. The current Kirghiz Cossacks do not say anything plausible about them at all, except that they do not belong to their ancestors, but must be attributed to the peoples who occupied this country before them. Only a few of the ruins, as well as all the ancient graves in general, they call Nogai (Kyrgyz-Cossacks otherwise do not call the Tatars living in Russia as legs. The word "Tatars" is completely uncommon among them and, in their opinion, belongs to some vile people cursed by one Mohammedan prophet... The Bukhara and Khiva people think the same, and also call the Tatars of Russian Nogai)

In the Ken-Kozlan mountains, on the Kyzylsu River (Kazakhstan), which flows into Talda, stands in a charming location two-storey stone structure, cruciform, built of wild stone on lime; the ceilings in it collapsed, but it is noticeable that they were covered with red paint, and the walls were plastered. On the upper floor, around the whole building, there was a gallery and a pediment, supported by four wooden columns, painted with mastic, which protected them from decay. There were others near this building, but they collapsed to the ground, the walls were overgrown with wild rose and meadowsweet trees of deliberate size. Under the Karkala order itself, in a narrow gorge where the Dzhirymsu River flows, a wall was erected blocking the passage to a vast valley surrounded by very high mountains, along the crests of which a wall of wild slab stone was drawn, in other places at 7, and in others at 5 arshins high, and 3 arshins thick.

The remains of a stone mosque located 95 versts from the Trinity fortress across the river Toguzak ( Chelyabinsk region), are known from the travels of Pallas. Not far from these ruins there are others, but not remarkable ones.

On the bank of the Ayaguz River, which flows into Lake Balkhash (Kazakhstan), there is a pointed building, very carefully built of smooth stone slabs. It contains three stone statues., of which two, according to the Kirghiz Cossacks, depict the lovers of Bayan Khan and Kuz-Kur-pyach glorified in fairy tales, and the third - their maid. Those who believe in the authenticity of their images make sacrifices to them.

On the banks of the Kara-Kingir there are ruins of chambers and mosques called Jan-Ana. They say that there was palace of one of the descendants of Genghis.

Belyan-Ana - the ruins of the city. They lie at the Sarasu River for one day's drive from Lake Telekul ( Southern Urals) into which she fell. The length of these ruins is 6 versts, the width is about one verst.

On the left side of the Nura, which flows into Kurgal-dzhin Lake (Kazakhstan), 27 versts from its mouth, there was once a city called Totagai, or Botagai, of which many remnants still exist. G. Shangin saw them and described them (See: Siberian Bulletin, 1820). They stretch for ten miles. One of the collapsed buildings, according to this traveler, served as a temple, was built of brick, had pillars and plastered walls inside. Near this temple stood another, similar to it, and from the ruins, located a little further, some were up to 300 sazhens in length.

The surroundings of the Nura River are generally rich in similar remains of antiquity.. On its right bank, 55 versts from Lake Kurgaldzhina, significant ruins are still visible, also described by Mr. Shangin (see the same herald of 1818), as well as two fortifications lying near Mount Kart, and a ruined tower in the upper reaches of the Nura, near an ancient mine of copper ore.

The same traveler examined two buildings, lying on the river Yakshi-Kun- one from the other in 30 versts. One of them is brick, the other stone, both with domes and two openings, one facing south, the other facing north. The Kirghiz attribute the construction of these buildings to the Kalmyks or the Mongols. and revering them as saints, they perform prayers and sacrifices in them.

Very curious are the remains of ancient field fortifications lying near the Ak-Koyrak river. There are only six of them. G. Shangin says that four are 100 sazhens from one another, the fifth is opposite their middle near the river, and the sixth is 2.5 versts from one of the extreme fortifications. All of them have the appearance of ellipses, but not closed: on the eastern side, the sides are separated from one another by a space of 60 sazhens, and from the western side, 25 sazhens. These spaces were protected by quadrangular towers.

The peninsula of Lake Yakshi-Yangiz is fortified with a rampart, simple but properly arranged, and for the most part of porphyry quadrangular stones.

On the banks of the Turgai (Kazakhstan) there are several ancient graves with stone and brick structures. One of them is especially remarkable in size. It consists of an embankment, more than 15 fathoms high (32m) and up to 135 fathoms (288m) in circumference. The Kirghiz venerate her as a saint and told Captain Rychkov, who saw her in 1771, that she hides in itself the ashes of one hero of extraordinary growth.

A little further on, one could see (on Turgai) a quadrangular settlement with ruined ramparts, gates and a building, whose walls were up to 9 fathoms high(19m - approximately 6 modern floors - my note). Around his grave.

At the Baitak tract, at the river Bolshoy Hobda (Kazakhstan), according to the assurances of the Kyrgyz, was once a city. Now you can see the ruins of buildings, half-smoothed canals and signs of arable land.. In 1750, not all of the buildings were destroyed: Lieutenant Rigilman saw them and copied some of them. The Kirghiz highly respect this place and consider it a blessing to be buried here.

The same city was on the river Uila, at the tract Mavli-Berdi (or Mavlyum-Berdi - Kazakhstan). Rychkov, in his "Orenburg Topography" writes that in the middle of the last century on In this place, from 30 to 40 brick buildings, canals for arable land and vegetable gardens were still visible..»

From this and other descriptions, we can conclude that the vast expanse of the Urals, Siberia, Altai, and Kazakhstan was once completely built up with cities, with all the accompanying infrastructure: roads, canals, arable land, forges, brick factories. Then it all collapsed for some reason. What could be the reason? Walls with a thickness of 1-1.5 meters can safely withstand quite powerful earthquakes. Moreover, earthquakes occur, as a rule, locally: the radius of the area covered by the destructive impact reaches 80-160 km, but not thousands of kilometers. And usually, after earthquakes, people restore what was destroyed and continue to live on in this place, but do not become nomads. So, in this case, something more powerful than an earthquake happened.

Nikolaas Witsen on destroyed Siberian cities

Many descriptions of destroyed cities and structures are found in Nikolaas Witsen (Northern and Eastern Tartaria, 1705). Here are some of them:

“At the mouth of the Ob River, Russians have long built a city Ob city but now he destroyed and [stands] in ruins.

Siberian kingdom, bearing its name from the river Siber, or Siberian, or from the city of Siber, which is now destroyed. Actually, this is an area mapped under this name, near the well-known Ob River. Main city hers is Tobol. But taken broadly, it also embraces many other areas, most of which lie outside of Russia, to the north and east, under the rule of Their Royal Majesties. So, under the name of Tartary in Europe, all countries east of the Ob and the Caspian Lake are known, then I also cover them under this name, although, in fact, Siberia is not in Tartaria. However, due to its proximity, and for the reasons given, we thought it should be included here. It lies approximately between 60° and 65° north latitude.

In addition, in Mugalia and on the road between the source of the Amur River and the Sinskaya wall ruined cities are(as seen in some of my drawings) where fragments of idols are found. The same as still today are found in Sin. This region now has no cities, fortresses, or stone buildings. There's nothing but empty lands from which you can see how everything in the world is changing.

They say that in Siberia, in a number of places, ruins of ancient walls and piles of debris are visible, where, obviously, cities stood in antiquity. They sometimes, they say, meet monuments, from which one could conclude that earlier peoples with better customs lived in these countries than now, but now such buildings are not visible there. It is reported that modern Siberians say that the peoples who used to build such cities and buildings have completely left here to the southeast.

The village of Narym, located on the Ob River, is very small. Rybny is a small fortress or prison, now mostly destroyed.

…. Narym, located not far from the coast, is also a small, sparsely populated and rather ruined fortification. On both sides of the river there is barren and uninhabited land. There you can not get food anywhere, except for the monastery, where you can stock up on food.

The Narym fortress, located above Surgut, on the Ob River, was built in 1600. Now, however, it has been destroyed and neglected.

In Kalbazin, in Siberia, located a little below 60°, on a lake that flows into the Itik River (which, in turn, flows into the Irtysh) there is a remarkable ancient, now ruined, stone house, big size and strength. They don’t know who made it, because now they don’t build such houses there.”(This, obviously, is about the Kalbasinskaya tower, see the picture above - my note)

Mountain ranges: Alanus, Vorossus, Imaus, Sichius, Belgian, Ripheus, Alkhas and others, known in antiquity, are now difficult to identify due to the frequent change of names that takes place here. The same with the names of the rivers, for example: Tahmin, Ukhardes, Margus, Koskar, Kossin, Sossa, and many others that were known in antiquity, can now only be recognized presumably. There was a delusion when the ancients believed that the Caspian Sea through the Ob is connected to the Ice Sea. Many of the cities that the ancients spoke of cannot be found there. Either they are destroyed, or there has been a name change. For example, Arbam, Sema, Aibair, Sianfur, Naiman, Kantkorakur, etc. Yes, entire regions and peoples known from ancient descriptions lands are no longer found under their old names. Ung or Gog, Siorza, Kavona, Bayda, Bargu and countless others can be seen on old maps and in descriptions. I don't point them out because I was trying to show the contemporary, not the past.

Many of the ancient Siberian cities and villages were destroyed, they retained, however, their names, although there are almost no houses in them.

Between Tobol and Astrakan and between Astrakan and Sina there are many rivers, lakes, roads and deserts, and many more ruined cities and fortresses, near the road. The names of these places are hard to recognize when passing by.

If you go by boat up the Indiga River, opposite Kolguev Island, near the Samoyeds living by the ocean, then you will come to the town of Gorodishche, where in former times several peoples called Chuds lived, who fought with the Russians and no longer exist. Only the walls remain ancient city.

Since in modern country Kalmaks, to the north, to the east or in the center of the country there are no permanent cities at all, then probably the Kalmak kings, who are spoken of, supposedly they lived in cities, lived in the southern part of Kalmakia, because there, they say, there are the remains of villages and cities.

In view of the fact that the writer, in addition to the listed cities, mentions many more states, regions, cities, rivers and waters of those countries. near or between the Caspian Sea and Sin or Sin, which are now neither known nor remembered, there is no doubt that amazing changes took place there, that cities and peoples were destroyed and the names of the remaining ones changed.

He calls the northern part of the Imai mountains Alkay. It might be small now the ruined state of Altyn.

Tartary, he assures, got its name from the Tartar River, which, having come from the country of Mughal, allegedly flows into the Arctic Ocean.

The region of Tyumen, he says, is under the Great Khan of Tartaria. The peoples living to the north were called Mekrits, Molgomsau, Badai and Samoyeds, they worship the sun and red cloth (he says). The well-known merchant town of Grustina stands on the Ob. They can't find him now either..»

Peter Simon Pallas on ancient structures and mines

Witsen wrote this at the end of the 17th century. He himself was not in Siberia, so this information is excerpts from various reports sent to him from Russia. In the 18th century, the number of "travelers" personally exploring the regions of the Urals, Siberia, the Russian North and the Far East increased. All of them made their reports describing these places. And above all, of course, minerals and what else you can profit from - wealth, indeed, innumerable, in the view of Europeans. Countless in the sense that no matter how much they tried to mark them, even more remained unmarked. One of these travelers-explorers was Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811) - a German scientist and encyclopedist. For 6 years, from 1768 to 1774. he traveled through central regions Russia, Crimea, Caucasus, Ural and Siberia. The result of this journey was the book "Journey through different provinces Russian state”, set out in 8 volumes, each of which contains approximately 400 pages. Volume 3 is almost entirely devoted to the description of the Ural and Siberian metallurgical plants and mines. In the rest of the volumes, with a quick glance, I found a description of the peoples inhabiting these places (mostly exotic, because it makes sense to describe those that everyone already knows?), Plant and animal life, primarily from the standpoint of its use for production and profit , as well as minerals, mines, mines and smelters, ancient destroyed, modern working and planned to be built in the future. I will give some excerpts from the 3rd volume of this book, regarding those found in Siberia old buildings and mines:

“I know that many minerals were found in the neighboring mountains, which had a silver sheen; but the owners, who considered them very harmful to themselves, took great care to cover up the excavations. Near the mine, which is currently being exploited, we see that the ancient excavations are completely ignored. Storozhev, the current miner, gave me a list of rocks containing silver ore, which he found there. I was happy to visit these places to see in person.

10. On a hill, a verst from the mine, there are ancient excavations called the excavations of Chud or Scythians.. There is a copper ore, containing silver, passing in a rather thick layer along the eastern slope.

"In the Gumeshchevskaya mine (District of Kosoy Brod, Sverdlovsk region - my note) requires a lot of carpentry work and frequent repairs. The nature of the mountain does not allow this mine to be made more convenient; because you have to squeeze in and move through the galleries. At the time of the discovery of this mine, a nest of the highest quality ore was allegedly found on the surface of the earth; and in this place there is still a significant pit. I assume that these are ancient ore excavations made by the Chud, since it is certain that this nation, which is unknown to us, searched these mineral-rich mountains. The countless excavations carried out throughout the southern part of the Urals, and the collapsed, littered mines, are a definite proof of this painstaking man's knowledge of the exploitation of mines, as I already proved in the first part of these Travels. There are also several excavations even further, in the direction of the Severskaya plant. These are traces of the same excavations that resulted in the founding of mines that have been in operation here since 1738. There are still signs of old exploitation, at a depth of 10 to 12 fathoms (25m). Passages and galleries have been found in the past that have not yet been completely filled in, with pine chips driven into the mud walls. Ancient Miners Chudi lit them to illuminate the place of work. M. Turchaninov keeps a glove and a torn leather bag, found in May last year in the western part of the mine, at a depth of 10 fathoms. They are made from elk leather. The glove is about 6 inches (26.7 cm) in size; made from the skin of an animal's head, the ears serve as fingers for the thumbs. Both ends of the gloves are open so they can be used with both hands. Despite the humidity of the place where they were, the pile was in a natural state; the bag, measuring 12 inches long and 9 inches wide (53.3x40 cm), is not so well preserved. These ancient excavations that still exist in the east right up to Lake Severskaya, they prove that the ores extend there and, possibly, under the entire lake. Therefore, it will be very profitable for the owner of the Gumeshchevskaya mine to move the forges of Severskaya here; they are not very important. If the lake were dried up, the mines would not be subject to flooding, and it would be possible to work at a much greater depth; it would also be possible to carry out excavations in the very soil of the lake. The savings in hydraulic equipment largely offset the cost of this work.”

“In the evening, I left the forge of Bogoslovskaya, taking a direction to the Turin mine to inspect several objects. I slept again at the Vasilievskaya mine. The next day I went down to several wells of these mines, and then to Frolovskaya, after which I left these mineralogical regions. Here I noticed that I did not find traces of the ancient excavations of Chudi, which are often found in southern parts Ural, near the Altai mountains and in southern mountains Siberia. Thanks to these excavations, we have discovered most of the deposits. It must be concluded that this people exploited deposits throughout Siberia, but they did not reach the forests of the north, but chose more open mountains and a milder climate for housing.

It is now clear how the minerals of Siberia were discovered so quickly and on such a vast territory: these places have long been known and developed local residents. So, they were the most settled. And perhaps there were also those who could be asked about this. He calls the Chud an unknown people, apparently, does not identify them with the Scythians. And he really doesn’t know if these developments belonged to the Scythians or Chuds? It is now generally accepted that all the ancient mines found in Siberia belonged to the mysterious and famous Chudi people, and the Scythians are wild nomads who ordered all their equipment and all their jewelry from the Greeks. While the Scythians, who have been living in these territories for thousands of years, left a large number of burial mounds and various objects, including metal, and including gold, made using high technologies, in greater numbers than all other European-Asian peoples combined. I consider it illogical to assume that they did not have their own mines and a developed metallurgical industry. But we read further:

“I should note that the first project was to build Verkhoturye on Lobva. Then choose another place on the left bank of the Tura; he looked more fit to build fortifications there. This place was located a few miles from the present city, above the mouth of the mouth of the Neromka (the river basin of the Irtysh River - my note); there was old fortress Tatars or Chuds. The ruins of which still exist, and consist of a significant moat dug partly in the rock. This fortress is similar to the fortress near Salda(a tributary of the Tura - my note), thirty miles from Verkhoturye.

Pallas does not know whether the fortresses were built by the Tartars or the Chud. Perhaps in his time it was not known for certain what exactly was built by whom? Or he pretends that it was not known. Or censorship did not pass more precise wording.

Earth upheavals

Mammoth Pallas calls elephants:

“Among the objects of interest, I have some elephant bones; they were found with fossilized belemnites (extinct cephalopods - approx. mine) and glossopters (petrified shark teeth - my note) on the banks of the Tura, at a considerable distance from Verkhoturye, down the river. It was recently discovered, twenty miles south of the city, not far from the village of Jurian and the river Iuria. (or perhaps Yuria? - my note), there is a lot of refractory white clay, which is suitable for use in factories, and even more preferable than Saldinskaya; good also for making porcelain."

“At some distance from Kamenskaya, in a forest located on the side of the Iset (left tributary of the Tobol River - my note), excellent refractory clay is found; it is used for foundry molds, crucibles and other test vessels for furnaces of the plant in Yekaterinburg. I couldn't know if there was anything worthy of my curiosity. I will bring short description underground discoveries recently made near the Iset. Colonel Bibikov, CEO Yekaterinburg office, kindly provided me detailed information. As a result of excavations in search of minerals, near the Kolchedanka stream, 20 versts from the forge at a depth of several toises (1 toise \u003d about 2m - my note) under the bottom of the Iset, in clay black-lush earth, and above a layer of white clay, many pieces of scattered wood were found, almost turned into coal, and abundantly mixed with sulphurous pyrites. This wood breaks easily; its fragments are like burnt coal; it has a strong effervescence in air with a crust of vitriol. They say in during excavations, roofs of houses that once existed in these places were discovered. Elephant bones were found in two different parts of this area, about fifty miles east of Kamenskaya and in the village of Tamakulskaya, on the banks of the Iset. One of these places is a wide swampy moat called Vinokurena or Vinokurka. It is a little lower than Tamakulskaya. This ditch cuts into the Atuch stream, which flows into the Suvarish a little further. The latter flows into the Iset, below the Dolmatov monastery. The peasants of the area found many wells in this moat. preserved ivory bones and tusks. The person who was sent there this year still met a lot. I saw in the house of M. Bibikov several parts of this collection, consisting of a piece of a very large tooth, a molar, with a part of the jaw, half of the shoulder blade, some bones of the front leg and some vertebrae. All of these remains belonged to elephants. There were also other, smaller bones and vertebrae, which, as it turned out, belonged to large buffaloes. Several of these bones were found elsewhere, which I will talk about. They were scattered at some distance from each other. Surface layer The soil consists of black earth, and under it is reddish clay. Spring rains erode the soil, exposing these bones that are not connected to each other. And they are not easy to spot because of the dirt. Another place is even more remarkable: we found there amazing remains ancient upheavals of our the globe while excavating an iron deposit, not very far from Tamakulskaya; we see there the crossroads of a dry canal, with the Atuch stream, which flows out into a small lake. Excavations carried out at a depth of two fathoms on the edge of this ditch revealed the nature of the soil layers:

1. from the surface up to 22 inches (1m) - dark yellow clay mixed with sand;
2. the next layer is river sand, yellow and slightly clayey, and it has the same depth;
3. a layer of chernozem, 8 inches thick (35 cm), then it mixes with fine sand and small coarse gravel;
4. mixture of the same earth with ocher, 4cm,
5. marl ocher, a little mica and mixed with salt, 6 inches (26cm),
6. yellow iron ore, compact and slightly micaceous, with fine black flakes, 5 inches (22cm)
7. grayish-white marl clay, mixed with a little ocher and more mica than the upper layers, 12 inches (53cm),
8. micaceous clay, bluish-gray, with small buds of specially shaped pyrites, some of which contain small nuclei of natural sulfur, and some of which have the impressions of sea shells. This clay forms a layer of 24 inches (1m); it seems to extend quite deep with slight variations.

In the lower part of the steep bank of the ditch, which is dry, several toises higher than the excavations, we see blue clay, sandy and hard, in which we find pieces of wood turned into coals, cut through by veins of pyrite, with elephant bones, rotten and blackened on the outside. It is very remarkable that there are also shark teeth of all kinds of shapes and sizes, having a bluish-black color. Similar teeth and bones were found in the ditch, which serves as a channel in the spring to get to Atuch. It is clear that the layers in which the bones were found were the bottom of the clay sea and that the upper layers that cover them may be formed by lands carried away from the mountains: their mica nature proves this.

The roofs of the houses were found along with the bones of mammoths. This suggests that they were covered at the same time. But it is unlikely that the roofs could have been preserved for a long period of time. Therefore, we can conclude that a catastrophe occurred in the relatively recent past. Perhaps in the 17th century, given that the finds were made in the 60s of the 18th century. Pallas himself, apparently, sees the cause of the catastrophe in the upheaval of the Earth. I don't know if he means the pole shift? But he calls it a coup. There is also a mention of the coup by Nikolaas Witsen:

“There are also small shells there, somewhat similar to the shells of St. James, but more crooked and with a convex ribbed hump, whitish in color. All of them are now not found here, but are common in the East and West Indies. One can only guess how this marine life and elephants got so deep underground, during the Flood or during another flood, upheaval of the earth or the growth of its layers, one can only guess. It should be noted that if these animals drowned, then they would probably go to the bottom and then they would not swim so far.

“Experience has shown me that in Friesland, in some places, especially in northern Volden, at a depth of 5-6 feet under peat, whole forests were found, including one in which whole areas were found where trees were burned down to half a person’s height, which clearly visible in the charcoal and surrounding ash. In these regions many subterranean walnut and other trees are visible, over which there are many feet of peat earth. But by what chance this happened many centuries ago, is unknown. We can only guess about this. I remember that in Suriname and other places in America, the same things occur. Let the scientists study all this in detail. This indicates that the surface of the earth has undergone many changes and upheavals..»

Here Witsen describes Holland, but recalls that the same thing occurs in America. Those. it was a catastrophe on a planetary scale. drastically changed the climate. Because, elephants, like mammoths, are still herbivores. I don't associate well with snow.

V. Ivanov "Exodus of the Hyperboreans"

One adult elephant needs 250 kg of plant food per day. And all year round, not just in summer. And I think, not hard needles, but juicy grass and foliage. In addition, it is difficult to imagine an elephant wading through a windbreak, and even through a swampy area. Dimensions are not the same. This means that the vegetation of Siberia Before ... was completely different. And not only vegetation.

Here is another interesting description of Pallas:

“I have not been able to fully study their old religion, because they try very hard to deny and hide their prejudices: they all call themselves Christians. However, it is certain that they have a large number of idols that they worship in secret, especially when they go hunting. They kept most his old idolatry. When they go hunting for elk, sable, etc., they invoke specific deities and kill figurines of these animals in front of their idols or ligurs. There is a roughly carved stone figure near Sosva, not far from the yurt of a rich Vogul named Detishkin, which represents a young elk. Voguls come to her from afar to make sacrifices and pray for a successful hunt. I was sure that they had similar figures carved in wood; they mark their eyes with two grains of lead or coral. The miners, engaged in the search for deposits, found a year ago, passing through the forest, consumed by fire, between Sosva and Lobva, a copper statue near a very tall pine tree; she represented a man holding a spear; it was probably a Vogulov idol. These people, before being converted (to another faith - approx. mine), usually kept their idols in stone caves or on the tops of steep rocks, or near tall pines, to excite oneself to greater reverence. Near Lobva, above the Shaitanka stream, there is a cave in a limestone mountain, which is still looked at today as the temple of the Voguls. It is filled with the bones of the victims, and sometimes there are small images, copper rings with engraved figures and other items that the Voguls buy from the Russians, to whom they return the secret cult. In this part of Siberia there are many streams and places that bear the name Shaitanka or Shaitanskaya, because the Russians living in this area call the Vogul idols shaitans (shaitan in Islam is an evil spirit, a demon - my note).

We are talking about the Verkhoturye region. The Voguls are the Mansi, the closest relatives of the Khanty, who now live in the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous region- Yugra. It is hard to imagine that you are walking through the forest like this, picking mushrooms, and suddenly you meet a copper statue standing near a tree…. And not even because you wonder who brought it there and put it there, but because no one has yet taken it away from there, and it still stands there ... Yes, it’s hard to imagine even such a stone sculpture in the taiga now, which , it turns out that earlier in the taiga there were a lot:

Idol who changed race

“Archaeologists believe that the 2,400-year-old Siberian stone idol underwent a “race change” during the early Middle Ages. The Ust-Taseevsky idol once had large protruding nostrils, a large open mouth, a mustache and a thick beard. Experts believe that around 1,500 years ago, someone gave him "plastic surgery" to make the idol look less European and more Asian. He was made narrower eyes, and his beard and mustache were "shaved off."

Archaeologists believe that the Ust-Taseevsky idol was originally carved during the Scythian period, when the inhabitants this region were Europeans. But during the early Middle Ages, the population of the Angara River region was "squeezed out" by the Mongols who came with the invasion.

Of course, no Mongols "squeezed" the Scythians from Siberia. And they subjected the idol to “plastic surgery” not at all during the Middle Ages, but around the 19th or even at the beginning of the 20th century. But most of the "idols" were not "remade", but simply destroyed. Precisely in order to fit the facts to the invented version of the "Golden Horde" and the Tatar-Mongol yoke.

Ancient Jericho has preserved many architectural monuments of one of the most ancient civilizations, which left behind such a legacy.

The ruins of ancient Jericho extend over about 40 acres. Among the ruins of the city, the remains of the city walls and a unique tower stand out. It probably served as a post of protection and observation of the territory of the city, as well as its environs. For its age, the tower is a very powerful structure. Given the fact that the city walls and the tower were built around the 8th millennium BC, the very fact of their existence is striking. After all, in those days people lived in nomadic tribes, and their main occupation was hunting and picking wild fruits. At the time of the founding of Jericho, cities were not built of stone and bricks at all.

For its contemporaries, Jericho was a developed city, with a good defensive system, which can be observed to this day. In addition to the walls, the city was surrounded by a moat, 2.1 meters deep and 8.5 meters wide. It is necessary to take into account the fact that the work was carried out only with primitive hand tools. The soil in the local pits is a solid rock, which is not so easy to break even with modern means.

Jericho was founded on the site of the then oases. In ancient times, Jericho was sometimes called the city of palm trees. The inhabitants grew cereals on their own, which explains the prosperity of their city. On the territory of the ancient ruins, an ancient temple was discovered - a primitive temple. Wooden columns were installed in the temple, supporting the primitive ceiling. The houses of those times could not be preserved, as they were built mainly of wood. The dwelling of the inhabitants of Jericho was a small hut. main feature of those buildings is the floor, which was slightly lower than the ground level. Door jambs were necessarily made of wood, and the floor was carefully leveled. Sometimes it was even polished with the help of improvised means.

During its history, the city was repeatedly destroyed. However, oddly enough, it was always rebuilt and remained quite densely populated for its time. At first, the population of the city numbered about two thousand people, scientists were able to draw such a conclusion after a thorough study of the area and the remains of ancient buildings.

The massive tower originally housed a guard post, and the lower floors served as a grain warehouse and housing for the population. Later, over the course of centuries, the tower ceased to be used and the dead began to be buried in the lower floors. Thanks to this, many remains of human bones and skulls were found. After a thorough study of the remains, scientists came to the conclusion that then the city was inhabited by small people. Average height was 150 cm. At the same time, the shape of the skull of those residents differed markedly from modern ones, their heads were slightly elongated.

Of course, visiting the ruins of an ancient city is usually more interesting for specialists than ordinary tourists. However, if there is a desire to get to know the history and culture of the East, then no one can do it better than ancient Jericho. Being here, you literally plunge into the rhythm of life and traditions of ancient times.

Original taken from geogen_mir in MYSTERIES OF CIVILIZATION. Ancient ruins in paintings and engravings by Sebastian and Marco Riccia

Original taken from by_enigma in The ruins of an ancient civilization in the paintings and engravings of Sebastiano Ricci and Marco Ricci

Hubert Robert, Panini Giovanni Paolo and, of course, Piranesi Giovanni are recognized masters of painting. However, there were painters little known to us who also painted the ruined legacy of previous civilizations. It was with such artists that I wanted to introduce you. Meet Sebastiano Ricci and Marco Ricci.

My remarks: People very often post collections like this without understanding their hidden meaning. As far as I understand, the artists who painted these paintings lived at the end of the 17th century. And Italy is depicted in the paintings of their time. And what do we see? And we see "ancient" Rome. Just this one" ancient world"No more than 100 years old. If not less. Pay attention to the statues, they are painted almost intact in the paintings. With rare exceptions. Only the heads are torn off. the statues have been preserved. The material from which they are made is stronger than the one from which the houses were built? But one way or another, we can safely date "ancient" Rome to the 16th century. By the way, in the next picture and the last one, the pyramids are very clearly visible. But the current archaeologists will dig up such ruins and, how to drink, they will attribute them to the time before the birth of Christ.
In general, all this converges with my research on this matter. The history known to us began in Europe somewhere in the 15th century. And all the antiquities from there, from the Middle Ages. Although what kind of Middle Ages is it?
I wrote a comment here:We have an abandoned building from 1986. it was not completed. Bushes and trees like those sprouted on it. what's in the pictures. And thicker birch trees grow nearby than here. This is despite the fact that Belarus is not Italy. Our trees grow slowly. The ruins according to the structure of damage to buildings are not destroyed by time and not by local marauders. There is no "cultural layer" on the ground under the buildings. I believe that the artists painted the destruction that occurred during their lifetime..

Capriccio (Italian capriccio, literally “caprice”) is a genre of landscape painting, popular in the 17th-18th centuries. The paintings of this genre depicted architectural fantasies, mostly the ruins of fictitious ancient buildings.

Robert Hubert, French painter (1733-1808). Known for pictorial fantasies, whose main motifs are parks and real majestic ruins, many sketches for which he made during his stay in Italy. Robert's paintings were highly valued by his contemporaries. His paintings are presented in the Louvre, the Carnival Museum, the St. Petersburg Hermitage and other palaces and estates in Russia, in many major museums in Europe, the USA, Canada, and Australia. The fact that the painter depicted on his canvases raises many questions, but historians did not bother, summarizing that this is only the "imagination" of the author and considered the topic closed.

"Capriccio with Pyramids"

"Architectural landscape with a canal"

The artist traveled extensively in Europe and left us very interesting paintings, from which we can get some idea of ​​the past.

"Ruins of a Doric Temple"

"Terrace ruins in Marley Park"

This palace and park complex Sanssouci in Potsdam, built in 1745-1747 according to the design of King Frederick the Great himself. The construction, it turns out, is completely new at that time, but for some reason the artist is drawn to draw its imaginary ruins.

"Ancient ruins serving as a public bath"

"Villa Madama near Rome"

From Wikipedia: "The later name of the country villa of Cardinal Giulio de Medici, the future Pope Clement VII, unfinished in the 16th century. Built on the slope of Monte Mario on west bank the Tiber River north of the Vatican". But in my opinion these are the ruins of a structure that is much older.

"Washerwomen among the ruins"

It is clearly seen in his paintings that the people depicted in them live among the ruins. past civilizations and absolutely cannot at least bring them into a decent form, not to mention some kind of restoration.

"Forgotten Statue"

"Stable in the ruins of the Villa Giulia"

The people depicted appearance do not match at all grandiose structures and look among these ruins of former grandeur like swarming mice.

"A hermit prays among the ruins of an ancient temple"

"Staircase with columns"

"Old Bridge"

"Portico of a country mansion"

"Tomb of Caecilia Metella in Rome"

"Interior of the Temple of Diana in Nimes"

"Pont du Gard"

"View of the Port of Ripetta in Rome"

"Coliseum"

"Landscape at the obelisk"

"Landscape with arch and dome of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome"

"Ruin"

"Italian park"

Guardi Francesco Lazzaro(1712-1793) - Italian painter, representative of the Venetian school of painting. Also a big dreamer, otherwise how to explain such absolutely fantastic views of Venice?

"Capriccio with Pyramid"

"Arcade in front of the city with towers"

"Capriccio"

"Capriccio"

"Capriccio with bridge, ruins and lagoon"

"Venice"

Giovanni Paolo Panini(1691 - 1765) - one of the founders of the architectural ruin landscape. The artist inhabited his architectural views and interiors with small human figures, playing on the favorite theme of the 18th century - a comparison of the grandeur of the ancient past and the triviality of the present. As an artist, Panini is best known for his paintings of the sights of Rome, in which he paid great attention to its antiquity.

Rome lay in ruins, living among the grandiose remnants of its history. The ruins were the Colosseum, temples, baths, which were part of everyday life, they were settled. Attaching to the stone walls of the hut, clogging the palace windows with boards, attaching wooden ladders to marble, covering the ancient vaults with thatch. And among those ruins, artists and architects swarm with their albums and tape measures, again and again trying to extract from them the secrets of eternal beauty...

"Architectural Capriccio"

"Pantheon"

"Interior of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome"

"Capriccio of Classical Ruins"

"Interior view of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome"

Giovanni Antonio Canaletto(1697 - 1768) Italian artist, head of the Venetian school of vedutists, master of urban landscapes in the style of academicism, also painted canvases in the style of architectural romanticism. Big influence Giovanni Paolo Panini rendered his work.

"Architectural Capriccio"

"Arch of Constantine in Rome"

"Piazza Navona in Rome"

"Capriccio with ruins and gates of Portello in Padua"

Alessandro Magnasco(1667-1749). Italian painter, representative of the romantic trend in baroque art. Born in Genoa. Alessandro Magnasco painted genre scenes from the life of gypsies, soldiers, monks, marked with “demonic” sarcasm, in many of which human figures are lost among the grandiose ancient ruins.

"Bacchanalia"

"Halt of the bandits"

"Architectural capriccio with a musician and peasants at the small altar of St. Anthony of Padua"

Nicholas Peters Berchem(1620-1683) - Dutch painter, graphic artist and engraver. This master traveled a lot in Italy and also painted a lot of landscapes, in which the main characters are undoubtedly picturesque ruins, as well as peasants with their cattle against their background.

"Landscape with the ruins of an aqueduct"

"Shepherds with a flock among the ruins"

"Italian landscape with ruins"

"Italian Landscape"

"Peasants with livestock at the ancient Roman source"

"Return from the hunt"

"Landscape with a waterfall and the Temple of the Sibyl in Tivoli"