Found in Kazakhstan: Mystery stone monument larger than Stonehenge

Archaeologists have discovered a 1,500-year-old stone complex built by nomad tribes in Kazakhstan near the Caspian Sea, according to the LiveScience.

It’s sort of like Stonehenge, but even bigger.

The slabs of stone may date back 1,500 years and are 13-79 feet tall. Many of them appear with carvings of weapons or creatures.

The slabs are strewn on about 300 acres in Kazakhstan along the Caspian Sea. Archaeologists reported the findings in the journal Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia.

“When the area was examined in detail, several types of stone structures were identified,” archaeologists Andrey Astafiev, of the Mangistaus State Historical and Cultural Reserve and Evgeniï Bogdanov of the Russian Academy of Sciences Siberian Department’s Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, write in the journal.

Where did the mystery stone in Kazakhstan come from? No one knows for sure, but it is incredible.

LiveScience writes: “One of the most spectacular finds is the remains of a saddle made partly of silver and covered with images of wild boars, deer and “beasts of prey” that may be lions, Astafiev and Bogdanov wrote in their article. The images were etched in relief, sticking out from the silver background.”

RELATED VIDEO:

“The relief decoration was impressed on the front surface,” Astafiev and Bogdanov wrote. The two researchers think ancient artisans designed the images out of leather and glued them onto wooden boards. “Finally, silver plates would have been laid over the shapes and fixed in place,” they said.

In the article, the archaeologists say a lot more work needs to be done regarding the study of the find. But they think nomad tribes are responsible for creating them.

“Certain features of the construction and formal details of the [stone] enclosures at Altÿnkazgan allow us to assume that they had been left there by nomad tribes,” Astafiev and Bogdanov write.