Kigilyakh
{{short description|Natural tall rock pillars in Yakutia}}
File:Kigilyakhs in the Ulakhan-Sis (3).jpg]]
Image:Chetyrokhstolbovoy 3 2014-08-22.jpg]]
Kigilyakh or kisiliyakh{{Cite web |url=https://visityakutia.com/verkhoyansky-kisilyakh-stone-pillars-siberian-shambala/ |title=Verkhoyansk & Kisilyakh |access-date=2019-07-18 |archive-date=2021-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730094942/https://visityakutia.com/verkhoyansky-kisilyakh-stone-pillars-siberian-shambala/ |url-status=dead }} ({{langx|rus|кигиляхи}}; {{langx|sah|киһилээх|kihilēx|stone person}}, plural {{lang|sah|киһилээхлэрэ}} kihilēxlere) are pillar-like natural rock formations looking like tall monoliths standing more or less isolated. Usually they are composed of granite or sandstone shaped as a result of cryogenic weathering.{{ВТ-ЭСБЕ|Медвежьи острова}} Most kigilyakhs formed during the Early Cretaceous and are about 120 million years old.[https://farbitis.ru/en/physical-geography/types-of-weathering/ Types of weathering]
Cultural significance and etymology
These anthropomorphic rock pillars are an important feature in Yakut culture.[https://www.rgo.ru/en/photo/kigilyakhi-new-siberian-islands Kigilyakhi of the New Siberian Islands - Russian Geographical Society]{{Cite web |url=http://st-yak.narod.ru/index4-22-1.html |title=Kigilyakhi of Yakutia |access-date=2019-07-18 |archive-date=2020-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508141019/http://st-yak.narod.ru/index4-22-1.html |url-status=dead }} Often they are slightly scattered, protruding from the surface of smooth mountains and giving the impression of a standing crowd of people. According to Yakut legends kigilyakhs originated in very ancient people.
The Yakut word "kisiliy" means "a place where there are people". Kisilyakh means "mountain having a man" or "mountain married".[https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/landshafty-kak-otrazhenie-toponimov-yakutii Ландшафты как отражение топонимов Якутии (Landscapes as a Reflection of the Toponyms of Yakutia)] The term "kigilyakh" is a distorted form of the original Yakut "kisilyakh".[https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/toponimiya-regionalnyh-kulturnyh-landshaftov-na-primere-verhoyanskogo-rayona-respubliki-saha-yakutiya Toponymy of Regional Cultural Landscapes – Verkhoyansk District, Sakha (Yakutia)]
Locations
Such stones are found in different places of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, mainly in the East Siberian Lowland:
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
- Alazeya Plateau
- Anabar Plateau
- Kigilyakh Peninsula, with Mount Kigilyakh and Cape Kigilyakh, Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, New Siberian Islands
- Kisilyakh Range, part of the Chersky Range
- Kisilyakh-Tas, an isolated mountain located in the Kolyma Lowland, roughly {{convert|160|km|}} from the coast of the East Siberian Sea, on the right bank of the Alazeya River at {{coord|69|40|N|155|0|E|}}.[https://igorpodgorny.livejournal.com/187501.html Село Андрюшкино и его обитатели (Andryushkino village and its inhabitants)]
- Kyun-Tas
- Chetiryokhstolbovoy Island, Medvezhyi Islands, East Siberian Sea
- New Siberian Islands
- Oymyakon Highlands
- Polousny Range
- Stolbovoy Island, Laptev Sea
- Suor Uyata range[https://dnevniki.ykt.ru/dersu/501484 Кисиляхи хребта Суор-Уйята]
- Ulakhan Sis[https://dnevniki.ykt.ru/%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2/1142722 Ykt - Вернулись из Гранитных Городов Улахан Сис]
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Outside of Yakutia, similar formations are found in the island of Popova-Chukchina and the Putorana Plateau, in Krasnoyarsk Krai.[http://www.dopotopa.com/a_grigoriev_megality_kak_indikatory_osvoenija_arktiki.html A. Grigoriev, Megaliths in the Arctic]
History
Ferdinand von Wrangel reported on the kigilyakhs on Chetyryokhstolbovoy, an island of the Medvezhyi Islands in the East Siberian Sea. He visited the island during his 1821-1823 expedition and named it after them (Chetyryokhstolbovoy meaning "four pillars"). The kigilyakhs on Chetyryokhstolbovoy Island are about {{convert|15|m|abbr=on}} high.
In the Soviet Union on the Kigilyakh Peninsula at the western end of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, a New Siberian Islands named after Vladimir Voronin, then in charge of the polar station on the island, was shown a large standing rock which had been heavily eroded and which gave its name to the peninsula.[https://web.archive.org/web/20170122090617/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00809A000700240034-6.pdf Soviets gather geographic data in Arctic - CIA]
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
Further reading
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=VIddBAAAQBAJ Vladimir Gorbatovsky, Сакральные места России (Sacred places of Russia)]
- [https://www.litres.ru/r-a-ageeva/kamen-i-gory-v-narodnoy-kulture/chitat-onlayn/ R. Ageeva, Камень и горы в народной культуре (Stones and mountains in folk culture)]
External links
- {{commonscat inline}}
- [https://twitter.com/NinaByzantina/status/803805568418910208 Russian propaganda: Sacred anthropomorphic kigilyakh megaliths in northern Yakutia]
- [https://wanderlord.com/yakutia-russian-easter-island/ Yakutia – Russian Easter Island]
- [https://wwf.ru/upload/iblock/46e/arctic_gap_eng.pdf Protected Areas in the Russian Arctic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730094937/https://wwf.ru/upload/iblock/46e/arctic_gap_eng.pdf |date=2021-07-30 }}
- [https://karpukhins.livejournal.com/208098.html Unknown landscapes of the planet. New photo expedition project. Yakutia.]
- [http://yakutiaphoto.com/?p=156 Якутия.Фото - Священные Киhиляхи в Верхоянском районе. Зимой / Ancient Siberian stones in Verkhoyansk Mountains. Winter (27 фотографий / 27 photos)]