Arkaim: Russia’s Stonehenge and its untold secrets

Who has never heard of Stonehenge in their life? An enigmatic prehistoric monument located north of the city of Salisbury, England, more than 5,000 years old, today it is a place that continues to create speculation and theories beyond rationality. The terrain has been excavated, radiographed, measured and studied. But despite all that has been learned about its age and construction, its purpose remains one of the world’s greatest mysteries.

At ground level, the ruins of Stonehenge appear somewhat random and chaotic, but a view from the air reveals the monument's circular order. The site started out modestly around 3100 B.C. as a wide ring of wood posts surrounded by a ditch and bank. The familiar enormous rock slabs, some brought from hundreds of miles away, were added to the interior over a period of about 1,500 years. © Photographed by Joe McNally Sygma
At ground level, the ruins of Stonehenge appear somewhat random and chaotic, but a view from the air reveals the monument’s circular order. The site started out modestly around 3100 B.C. as a wide ring of wood posts surrounded by a ditch and bank. The familiar enormous rock slabs, some brought from hundreds of miles away, were added to the interior over a period of about 1,500 years. © Photographed by Joe McNally Sygma

Although, it is no mystery that Stonehenge is not the only megalithic stone circle in the world. Some exist as collections of circles, such as the Senegambian circles in Gambia, Senegal, which are counted as one circle on the world list, but which are actually made up of more than 1,000 individual monuments covering an area of ​​15,000 square kilometres. Britain has a large number of these Neolithic sites, but they do not have a monopoly on the henges. Some of the most interesting Neolithic monuments stand out within the borders of the former Soviet Union. Arkaim is one of those forgotten sites, but they are an important part of the mysterious constructions.

Arkaim, beyond the history books

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Reconstruction of Arkaim archaeological site. © Ancient Origins

Arkaim is considered by some to be the most important and enigmatic archaeological site in Northern Europe. The site is mired in controversy and is sometimes referred to as the Stonehenge of Russia. It is located on the outskirts of the Chelyabinsk Oblast, south of the Urals, just north of the border with Kazakhstan.

According to experts, Arkaim is the remains of an ancient settlement, which is basically a village that was fortified by two large circular stone walls. The enigmatic place covers an area of ​​about 20,000 square meters and consists of two circles of houses separated by a street, with a central square. The site was discovered in 1987 by a team of Russian archaeologists, sparking a wave of excitement throughout the archaeological community. The site and associated artifacts have been dated to the 17th century BC and it is believed to have been built 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, which curiously places it in the same age group as Stonehenge.

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The archaeological site of Arkaim as it exists today. © Curiosm

Arkaim has another name, it is called the swastika in the city or alternatively the Mandala city. It has this name for a couple of reasons, firstly, if you use your imagination, the layout of the dwellings around the central square almost looks like a swastika. As we all know, the swastika is a sign of misappropriation by the Nazis and the so-called Aryan race, and it has been adopted by modern white supremacist groups. The second reason is that they came from the Sintashta culture, which is an Indo-Iranian race from the ancient Eurasian steppe, or in common terms, the Aryan race. So there are those who claim that Arkaim is indeed the birthplace of the superior white race of humans. Although few in mainstream science see any value in that line of reasoning, for a change.

Arkaim’s secrets

The site houses more interesting secrets such as its association with a politically incorrect aspect of our culture. It has been of great interest to archaeoastronomers, and therein lies the reason for its association with Stonehenge. Some experts have suggested that Stonehenge was built for astronomical observation. In fact, it is technically known as an observatory. This is because Stonehenge allowed, and possibly still may allow, the observations of 10 astronomical phenomena using 22 elements, while some claim that Arkaim allows the observation of 18 phenomena using 30 elements.

This essentially means that certain events in the sky could be observed and tracked by the site in particular ways and from different positions, and that Arkaim offers more observable events than Stonehenge itself. In other words, it would seem that Arkaim is an even better astronomical observatory than its namesake. According to the Russian archaeologist KK Bystrushkin, Stonehenge offers an observation precision of 10 minutes of arc in one degree, while Arkaim offers a precision of 1 minute of arc. This precision is unheard of in the allowed time frame, second only to the Ancient Greek Almagest built 2,000 years later.

So it may seem obvious to some, but the fact that these sites were built, apparently, deliberately to act as astronomical observatories and even as a kind of calendars, before the same experience was achieved in the great founding empires of antiquity, like the Egyptians and the Greeks, is apparently strong evidence to attribute further development and sophistication to these prehistoric cultures.

The mysteries of Arkaim

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Arkaim settlement and its in detail reconstructions.

But apart from their history, curiously, both the Stonehenge and Arkaim are in the same geographical latitude. But Arkaim has also become a point of reference for the UFO community, it is already common to observe a large number of UFOs, strange flashes of light in the sky, or even a kind of mysterious fog moving as if it were an intelligent object…

But apart from the known area, Arkaim also has a much more mysterious area, where excavations are still underway and visitors are not allowed. Even conspiracy theorists warn that the mysterious area is not even accessed by the locals themselves. Experts believe that the theory to this is because of the energy that flows throughout the area, with an unimaginable power with the ability to make anyone lose their minds.

There was a case of an archaeology student who claimed to hear a voice calling her from the center of the structure. She approached, what happened next only she knows. As time passed, she said she met the ghosts of the former residents of Arkaim. Apparently, she accessed another dimension, and could not bear it, she had to be admitted to a psychiatric center. If we recall preciously, surprisingly, similar incidents took place in the discovery of the Egyptian pyramids.

Due to all these mysterious phenomena, over the ages the locals have always believed that it is a sacred place. An example can be found in that pilgrims travel throughout the year to get the healing water from the nearby river, the Bolshaya, in addition to using clay in summer to treat various diseases.

Are our true origins hidden from us?

Mysterious structures like Arkaim offer clues to the existence of an unknown or lost civilization in our distant past. Arkaim is just one example of the rich archaeological bounty hidden deep within Russia. Similar sites have been lost with industrial progress of the country, such as Sarkel, a limestone and brick fortress built by the Khazar culture in the 830s or 840s that was flooded by the Russian government for the construction of Tsimlyansk Reservoir in 1952.

Tsimlyansk Reservoir or Tsimlyanskoye Reservoir is an artificial lake on the Don River in the territories of Rostov and Volgograd Oblasts at 47°50′N 42°50′E.
Tsimlyansk Reservoir or Tsimlyanskoye Reservoir is an artificial lake on the Don River in the territories of Rostov and Volgograd Oblasts at 47°50′N 42°50′E. © WM

Similar aspect could be observed all around the globe, but due to secrecy and lack of cooperation between governments, or even to erase our origins, they have not yet been explored, analyzed, and even more so, no places have been discovered that could decode our true origins.

Ancient Aliens: Arkaim, the Russian Stonehenge