Recent news reports online of the discovery, via satellite pictures, of ancient earthworks, fully visible only from space set my little heart a-racing that bit faster. Memories of Erich von Däniken's book, Chariots of the Gods and old stories of the Nazca Lines bubbled to the surface once again.
Click on images for enlarged versions. The earthworks are from 300 to 1,300 feet across, so they can only be fully appreciated from a distant satellite's perspective.
What was their purpose? Some suggestions I've read so far include: a way to corral cattle(that doesn't seem at all likely to me); used in religious ceremony or relating to religion - but why so huge? Some kind of calendrical guide - this sounds most likely, if we discount any alien-related fantasy (or is it fantasy?) I suppose someone standing at certain points in the square or circle, during the year (or the year as we now count it) might note the pattern the stars and planets were forming - that kind of thing. It must have taken much effort and time to construct these things, they were obviously of great importance.
Any ideas? Wilder the better!
High in the skies over Kazakhstan, space-age technology has revealed an ancient mystery on the ground.
Satellite pictures of a remote and treeless northern steppe reveal colossal earthworks — geometric figures of squares, crosses, lines and rings the size of several football fields, recognizable only from the air and the oldest estimated at 8,000 years old.
NASA Adds to Evidence of Mysterious Ancient Earthworks............
Click on images for enlarged versions. The earthworks are from 300 to 1,300 feet across, so they can only be fully appreciated from a distant satellite's perspective.
What was their purpose? Some suggestions I've read so far include: a way to corral cattle(that doesn't seem at all likely to me); used in religious ceremony or relating to religion - but why so huge? Some kind of calendrical guide - this sounds most likely, if we discount any alien-related fantasy (or is it fantasy?) I suppose someone standing at certain points in the square or circle, during the year (or the year as we now count it) might note the pattern the stars and planets were forming - that kind of thing. It must have taken much effort and time to construct these things, they were obviously of great importance.
Any ideas? Wilder the better!
