Stonehenge in Russia?

I came across some interesting photographs.







more images & source

This is one of the most mysterious places of Russian North. Those stone idols attract tourists from all the Russia. They stand alone on the wide plateau with no any stones or mountains around. Who built them? What for? Those questions have no answers.

Heard the first time about it and I cannot find more information about the stones, even the location. Does anyone know more? They seem interesting, since they are very big.

Outliers or relics, formed as a result of deep erosion on intense fissured crystalline rocks?

more images & source

second source

edit: I can't find more information, google isn't giving me anything without the location, please if anyone knows more share it. Kinda reminds me on the "Easter Islands"



[edit on 28/7/08 by absente]

From the looks of them, they look like natural formations.

Could there have been volcanic activity here, but the ground that covered it be worn away over time, leaving the volcanic rock to protrude from the earth in such a fashion?

[edit on 28-7-2008 by Dr. Frank Spinelli]

Well, at least some information about the location:

At the upper part of the river Pechora, there are seven famous picturesque stone rocks – “idols” on the plateau Man-Pupu-Ner. The forests are abundant with berries and mushrooms while in the rivers there are many different species of fish. Tourists pass through this relatively uninhabited region in a condition of absolute autonomy.

source

Seems it's natural, still it looks quite men made

If those are man made, they are around 50 times the size of stonehenge rocks. They look almost natural because of the erosion but how can that happen?

reply to post by absente


They look natural and very breathtaking. I wonder if all of Siberia has all been explored? Thank you for posting the article.

Edited to add

[edit on 7/28/2008 by kidflash2008]

[edit on 7/28/2008 by kidflash2008]

Very nice, just shows what nature can do. They could become quite a tourist attraction. It would be interesting to do a survey there to see if the locals had built any altars or tombs in the area.

They look similar to the granite tors found in places like Dartmoor. IMO 100% natural.

Yeah, I'd like to see even the Romans or pre modern Russians try to get those monsters upright!

This was an answer on an "ask an expert" geology site..

Russian Stone Idols of Komi They look genuine, but are not man made. They are erosional remnants. You can see the dipping parallel bedding planes in the photos that appear in all the rock formations. They are not dissimilar to formations in the American west. Just on a smaller scale. They are obviously sedimentary rock, but I cannot know if they were sculpted in a subaqueous or subareal environment. They could be karst remnants as they look to be limestone.

thanks, at least the mystery is solved now

Since we are talking about the man made towers in western China. I thought we'd bring back some other towers, definitely NOT man made but most intersting, eh?

reply to post by Hanslune


Reminds me of the Weekly World News article where they talked about a fossilized tornado.
Cool pics.

They look very similar to the formations in the white desert in Egypt , which are natural formations. We went to Egypt a couple of years ago and that was the highlight of the trip.

Amazing what nature can do

reply to post by Hanslune


These formations remind me of the "Torus" from the movie "Epoch" and "Epoch -2 : Evolution" that were made for The Sci-Fi Channel.