NASA News: New Ancient Earthworks Discovered in Kazakhstan
In what could be one of the most interesting finds in history, NASA has released satellite photos of a number of mysterious ancient earthworks captured above Kazakhstan.
The discovery was first unearthed by Dmitriy Dey, a Kazakh economist and archaeology enthusiast. It was initially called the Steppe Geoglyphs due to its puzzling and highly geographical view from the Google Earth photos. It was reportedly described in 2014 as "unique" by a group of archeaologists in a conference in Istanbul and remains today as a mystery to the people who have taken a look at the photos.
The New York Times describes the pictures as "colossal earthworks — geometric gigures of squares, crosses, lines, and rings the size of several football fields. The findings are estimated to be about 8,000 years old and became a topic of interest recently to many archaeology enthusiasts.
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The images released by NASA were taken from about 430 miles above the air, and Compton J. Tucker, a senior biospheric scientist for NASA said, "I've never seen anything like this; I found it remarkable."
Dey says he was watching "Pyramids, Mummies, and Tombs" on Discovery Channel when he became interested in looking for pyramids in Kazakhstan. As he looked around Google Earth for supposed pyramids in the region, he stumbled upon the mysterious figures and continued to research on what the figures could possibly mean and where they orginated.
The enthusiast first believed that what he first found was a remainder from the Soviet installation. However, he later found eight other figures before the day ended, and to date, he has a long list of 260 figures that include various shapes and mounds.
One of the scientists who helped publicize the images, Ronald E. LaPorte from the University of Pittsburgh, commended NASA's assistance in supporting the research that would further provide data for the amazing finds.
Astronauts in the International Space Station (ISS) have been tasked to further observe the Kazakh region to get more information about the mystery.
One of the more commonly looked at figures in the so-called Steppe Geoglyphs is the Bestamskoe Ring. It has at least 260 earthwork shapes that contain mounds, trenches, and ramparts that form a round-shaped geographical figure.
While many enthusiasts are now looking at the discoveries, Dey warns that time is crucial for the study of the figures as one figure called the Koga Cross has been destroyed by road builders just this year.
