Ancient Stones Are Still Enigmatic for Scientists

No one knows, what ancient stone mazes were built for

Ancient stone mazes can be found in various parts of the world - in the west of England, in the Kola Peninsula and in the Baltic region. They all come from one culture, there are no doubts about it, although it is not known, which culture in particular. Archeologists say that stone mazes were built in the second or the third millennium B.C. Some of them are even older than Egyptian pyramids. However, it is impossible to assume that a human civilization existed in the north of Europe so many years ago. Moreover, it is not clear, why all stone mazes are situated on the sea shore. They can not be found anywhere inland. Finally, there is a major question about ancient mazes - what were they built for?

Records of ancient stone mazes first appeared at the end of the 15th century. Founders of the Church pronounced them "evil signs." Back in those years, it was believed that approaching a stone maze was a great sin. If someone dared to do that, the Church would order either to put their eyes out or to burn them alive. At the end of the 20th century, English ethnologists published research works, in which the origin of mazes was connected with ancient cults and rituals. Researchers believed that people used mazes for their ritual dancing. According to another version, stone mazes are not actually mazes, but constructions to catch fish that were built in late Stone Age. However, the majority of scientists believe that the two versions can not stand any criticism nowadays.

There are several types of such constructions. The most common one of them is a spiral-like maze with one entrance and one exit. Anatoly Verba, a professor of the Arkhangelsk University, said that hundreds of such stones had been found in northern areas of Russia. Stones have been lying on one and same place in open areas for thousands of years, but time has not caused any damage to them.

Stone mazes are up to 300 meters in diameter. Largest stones weigh up to 50 tons. Most famous stones in the world are located in Stonehedge in England. Some researchers believe that stones are actually huge generators to accept and transmit signals of the Universe. They think that the network of stones works like a giant computer, which informs someone in space of what is happening on planet Earth. However, Lyudmila Orekhova from the Russian State Historical Museum, believes that such a hypothesis is nothing but a fairytale for serious scientists: "I think that the origin of giant stones might be connected with the migration of ancient tribes from the Kola Peninsula to the British Isles." One may also suppose that there used to be trade relations between the Mediterranean Island of Crete and north-western Europe. This is a daring hypothesis, but it allows to explain a lot: the mazes of the White Sea and Greece look so much alike.

There is a story in the Greek mythology about a king named Minos, who ruled in Crete long time ago. Daedalus built an inescapable Labyrinth to imprison the fearsome beast, the Minotaur there. The king's daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with hero Theseus, who was supposed to be a victim for the beast. Ariadne gave him a ball of thread, Theseus killed Minotaur and escaped from the Labyrinth. It goes without saying that one can not consider a myth a true historical fact. However, it is not ruled out that myths are based on true events. Yet, real mazes are not that inescapable and it is possible to find a way out without a ball of thread.

Lyudmila Orekhova also said that a maze was the symbol of Crete. Archeologists found an ivory seal on the island, the seal was 5,000 years old. As it turned out, the seal depicted the image of a maze. A spiral maze can sometimes be found on ancient Crete coins too. Did ancient people manage to reach northern territories that were rich with fur, amber and honey? It may seem rather surprising, but Homer's Odyssey proves that. A French historian proved that Ulysses had traveled far beyond the Mediterranean Sea - he reached Scandinavia and the Northern Sea.

Ufologists and others that go for space sensations believe that ancient stones are magic. They say that mystical things are quite natural in the area of stone mazes: electronic devices come out of order, people feel something strange, when they step into a maze. They also say that a view of stone mazes from above shows certain images - it is possible to see an alien or a giant tentacle, if you fly above a maze in a helicopter. An English researcher even saw a whole sentence in one of the mazes: "We are not alone." As a matter of fact, one is supposed to have a very vivid imagination in order to see and decode such words in a dull silhouette of stones. If it was really a message from space, why didn't they write it as "You are not alone?"

Yevgenia Ivanova
On the Edge of the Impossible