Kigilyakh

Kigilyakh or kisiliyakh[1] (Russian: кигиляхи; Yakut: киһилээх, meaning "stone person") are tall, 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.[2] Most kigilyakhs formed during the Cretaceous period and are about 120 million years old.[3]

Kigilyakhs on Chetyryokhstolbovoy Island, East Siberian Sea.

Cultural significance

These anthropomorphic rock pillars are an important feature in Yakut culture.[4][5] Often they are slightly scattered, protruding from the surface of smooth mountains and giving the impression of a standing crowd of people.[6] According to Yakut legends kigilyakhs originated in very ancient people.[5]

The Yakut word "kisiliy" means "a place where there are people".[3] Kisilyakh means "mountain having a man" or "mountain married".[6] The term "kigilyakh" is a distorted form of the original Yakut "kisilyakh".[7]

Locations

Such stones are found in different places of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, mainly in the East Siberian Lowland:[5]

Outside of Yakutia, similar formations are found in the island of Popova-Chukchina and the Putorana Plateau, in Krasnoyarsk Krai.[11]

History

Ferdinand 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 15 m (49 ft) high.[2]

In Soviet times on the Kigilyakh Peninsula at the western end of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, one of the New Siberian Islands, 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 name to the peninsula.[12]

See also

References
  1. Verkhoyansk & Kisilyakh
  2. "Медвежьи острова". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional Volumes). St. Petersburg. 1890–1907.
  3. Types of weathering
  4. Kigilyakhi of the New Siberian Islands - Russian Geographical Society
  5. Kigilyakhi of Yakutia
  6. Ландшафты как отражение топонимов Якутии (Landscapes as a Reflection of the Toponyms of Yakutia)
  7. Toponimy of Regional Cultural Landscapes – Verkhoyansk District, Sakha (Yakutia)
  8. Село Андрюшкино и его обитатели (Andryushkino village and its inhabitants)
  9. Кисиляхи хребта Суор-Уйята
  10. Ykt - Вернулись из Гранитных Городов Улахан Сис
  11. A. Grigoriev, Megaliths in the Arctic
  12. Soviets gather geographic data in Arctic - CIA

Further reading
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