Archeologists of the Chelyabinsk State University have unearthed an ancient ritual complex in the Kartalinsky District of the Chelyabinsk Region.
According to researchers, it is the first find of its kind in South Ural steppes. Altogether in the course of the prospecting trip they managed to locate about 30 hitherto unknown archeological sites.
Among the discoveries are burial grounds, settlements, avenues of menhirs, and ritual complexes. All the sites will be registered and placed under state protection.
Specifically, a burial ground consisting of barrows from different epochs was discovered near the town of Snezhny and a Bronze Age settlement, from which archaeologists recovered stone tools and ceramics, was located nearby. The expedition also managed to find two avenues lined with menhirs.
Not far from the town of Annensky archaeologists found a menhir complex of an obviously ritual character; it consists of a central upright stone over two meters in height, surrounded by recumbent granite plates and several large stones at some distance, oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass. Concerns were expressed that a nearby railway line might have an adverse affect on the condition of the monument.
Source: Russia IC [October 20, 2010]