Is there any person who has never heard about the Egyptian pyramids? I suppose not. British Stonehenge holds no less secrets and mysteries. Then there are magnificent ancient Mayan ruins in the northern Central America region. Now we can all postulate in whose honour a tremendous construction was erected some 5000 years ago in Ukraine.

     It seems incredible, however, that archaeologists have unearthed there the remains of a huge ancient religious complex that pre-dates the Egyptian pyramids at Giza by 300 years or more (early Yamna culture). The findings were officially announced on the 7th of September 2006, though much of the information was released on the 11th of August 2006. The stone foundations of the structure, which probably resembled Aztec and Mayan ziggurats in South America, were discovered near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk.
     It is thought they were laid about five millennia ago during the early Bronze Age by animists who practiced a solar religion. “People lived in the surrounding valleys and climbed up the sanctuary to carry out their ceremonies,” said Viktor Klochko, the deputy Minister of Science of the Tourism and Protection of Cultural Heritage Department of the Lugansk regional administration, the member of the Brussels commission of protection of archaeological monuments and the Professor of several European Universities (i.e. Professor of the Archaeology Department of Gdansk University, Poland). “They had a pagan cult that bowed down to the sun, as did the ancestors of the Slavs.” This is the first sanctuary of the solar worship found in Eastern Europe.

Thirteenth Wonder of Lugansk region

     In Lugansk area there are 12 archaeological sights of National significance. The most popular of them are the tumulus “Mechetnaya Mogila” and the Petrovo-Donetskoe Settlement-Fortress. Recently, the prestigious Academy of Sciences has dispatched experts to investigate the excavation in Lugansk region, near Pereval’sk, 4 km to the south from Stepanivka village. According to the BBC, “they believe that this site could very well be the Ukrainian version of the Stonehenge”. The official name of the sanctuary is “Mergeleva Gryada” (Mergeleva Ridge). “This is the discovery of international significance! “It is the first monument of its age and kind found in Eastern Europe,” said Professor Klochko, head of the excavation. Former theories about the early ancestors of White Europeans will need to be reviewed. “It changes our whole conception of the social structure and the level of development of the cattle breeders and farmers who were the direct ancestors of most European nations.”

The History of Discovery

     It is really strange, however the Mergeleva Gryada was found just two years ago - in 2004 - by school-children from an archaeology camp of Alchevsk city. The chief of this camp is Vladimir Paramonov, the school teacher of history who has been taking his charges to the fields for 30 years. He says that their eyes are wide open and are not dimmed by the everyday routine. In 1976, Vladimir fixed the barrows on Mergeleva Gryada but at that time there were doubts whether they were natural or human made. Generally speaking, the rise of the stone is not unusual not only for the Donetsk range but for flat countries. The camp leader noticed that the blocks protrude out the earth with the suspicious regularity and have a perfect rectangular form. Since 1995, Vladimir was organising expeditions of school-children on the hill range.
     “Judging by the way the blocks are bedded, they are each made separately,” do not have any doubt Vladimir Paramonov, - “We found slabs that stand upright, forming a wall up to 300 metres long. The height of the slabs reach 2 metres. It is also revealed that they have been laid in two rows. Between them at 3 metres apart, there are slabs some 25-30 centimeters thick that are laid down in few layers. We passed the information to the official channels and addressed to Professor Klochko. In 2004, the first bore pit was made”.
     In 2005, the active excavationsbegan and the exploration of the site started. The digs have continued into the second season. On the top of the hill, the same children from the archaeological camp, but under the supervision of qualified specialists, have cleaned up the limestone slabs which form concentric circles. They also have uncovered a small fragment of an outside wall, 100 metres down the western side of the hill. According to Viktor Klochko the computer reconstruction of the initial aerial view of the sanctuary has just been started. There are the questions of course, however, in front of us is without doubt an archaeological sensation. There is nothing similar found in the vast expanses of Eastern Europe.
     For two years the financial base of these explorations were the funds of the aforesaid camp as a matter of course. From this year, after the officials made certain that the Mergeleva gryada is not just a natural formation, the excavation will be financed by the State. So far, only the top sections of the huge constructions have been uncovered and scientists say that it will take a whole decade to fully clean the soil off the whole complex to uncover the hidden truth.

Mergeleva Gryada

     The discovery is in fact a complex of stone and ground barrows (tumuli), temples, roads, walls, clay plates rays and sacrificial altars topping a sculpted hillside with steps on its sides. The foundation of the monument is a stone chine which stretches from south-west to north-east. On the chine there is a highest point of this area 242 metres above the sealevel.
     Three-quarters of a square mile (1,3 sq. kms) of the complex, which was an estimated 60 metres (192ft) high, was probably used for about 2,000 years. “What surprised me most is the scale of this enormous complex,” says Stanislav Mogilny, a student working on the excavation, told Russian television. “It’s just incredible - a titanic feat!”
     At the moment, the archaeologists have unearthed only a small part of the ridge where they found four mounds and a sanctuary laying with the giant clay plates, each weighing at least two tones. The clay plates circles could also be observed there. The sanctuary is limited by the wall of slabs sitting upright down the hill. Its length is about 300 metres. The height of the mounds varies from 1,3 metres to 2 metres..
     Involuntarily, I became lost in thought as to what organization of local society had been there 5 thousands years before, if the unknown masters cut out such a huge blocks, cut them into the right shape, heaven knows how, dragged them up the hill for 1,5 km and laid them right in these places? What were the engineering achievements of the tribes who lived in the territory of the present Lugansk region?
     They have also confirmed that there is evidence of graves at the Lugansk site, which they believe to have been the result of human sacrifice, rather than due to its use as a burial ground. Remains of sacrificial victims, dating back thousands of years have been found at the site, along with ashes and ceramics, but no jewellery or treasure. Therefore, the archeologists are not afraid of vandals. However, the monument it self is extremely valuable, and it is believed that a detailed investigation into these constructions may radically change our historical understanding of ancient Eastern Europe.
     The archaeologists have completely researched the mound #4 (see the plan of the archaeological dig). During the excavations, they discovered 3 graves of Berezhnovsko-Maevskaya culture (late Bronze Age) with the vessels and 3 graves of Donetsk catacomb’s culture (early Bronze Age) and some others. There are 13 graves and sacrifice pits in total. According to analysis, one of the found human skulls is dated circa 2.900 - 3.100 years BC. Between the plates of these mounds they found four stone statues, two on the mound and one in the stone fence of the mound and one two meters from the wall. All sculptures are located ‘abreast’ (in a line). The researchers surmise that most of the skeletons belong to children and adolescents/teeenagers.