Arkaim a cu

Arkaim A Culture too Ancient
for our History Books?


In the last issue, we explored Arkaim, an
© By Yuri Smirnov

archeological site which was discovered on_,the_d challengedⁱscientists of various disciplines, still in-

creasing rather than decreasing after all this
time?
After we learned about the fascinating story of Arkaim's discovery in Part I of this amazing report, let's go "inside" this culture now and find out what it might have been like to live as part of this highly developed settlement so many thousands of years ago.
Arkaim is located south of the river Uy, and mostly oc-cupies the watersheds of the rivers Ural and Tobol. The “Land of Cities” as we describe the archeological and cul-tural expanse of the larger Arkaim, covers the territory of about 400 km (250 miles) length by 120-150 km (75 - 93 miles) width. More than twenty cities are part of the map of this “Land”, and the villages are even more in number. Each city acted as the center of a district, with multiple neighborhood villages, just as we know it from modern times.
As we look around, the cities are surprisingly similar to each other. As a rule, they are walled and ditched, fea-

Arkaim archeological site and a section of reconstructed wall.
Ancient logs are sticking up from the ground.

Reconstruction of a furnace which ancient Aryans used to mould bronze.
tures which actually act as rather complicated, fortified structures. In their lay-out they form either an oval, a circle or a rectangle, which is close to a square. There are six oval-shaped cities and as many circle-shaped ones, includ-ing the circular city of Arkaim itself. The angular cities are in the majority.
But whatever shape each city displays, all appear to have been built in accordance with a master blueprint. As a rule, there is a square in each center. One or two streets had been surfaced with wooden logs, in circles, with a storm-water sewer-system beneath, as well as household water drains. In the houses (or better, apartments, because they had shared walls, like a single-story house with ten and up to thirty apartments) there were wells, storage rooms, kitchens with stoves, a dining area and bedrooms. It is amazing to discover the many conveniences available to these early settlers.
The apartment-type dwellings seem to have been very large, up to ten bedrooms, with the total area of each apartment about 100-180 sq.m. (Ed: 1000-2000 sq.ft) Ap-parently, they were meant for a whole extended family - a Kin. The bedrooms were constructed for a certain number of families. Attached to each apartment was also a court-yard and workshop. The sophisticated inhabitants moulded tableware and knew how to weave and sew their clothes. They used the process of joining in their wood-work and built chariots (-the most ancient in the world). They appar-ently had amongst themselves many metalworkers and blacksmiths, bronze founders and moulders. Being towns-

32 < SOL Mag > www.spaceoflovemagazine.com January 2009

people, they had no cattle. But the city was the center of a rural area where several villages bred cattle and grew ce-reals. Even traces of irrigation were found.
Authorities now agree with the most popular opinion about these settlements, namely that the cities were spiri-tual centers for priests in which they could live and practice sacred rites: fellow tribesmen from across the country gath-ered here for sacred festivals. The square in the center of the city served as an open-air temple. Fortresses were gar-risons for warriors of the tribe and the tribe took cover from the enemies under their protection. The cities were also in-dustrial centers. Craftsmen lived under such protection for a reason: they were valued for their skills, especially the mastery of metal and the tools to work it.