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ee |\ N ANCIENT RELIEF MAP FOUND ON STONE SLAB IN THE URALS civil engineering and irrigation works including two 500-metre-wide channel sys- tems, with a total length of about 12,000 kilometres, and 12 dams, each 300-500 metres wide, approx. 10 km long and 3 km deep, which would have required the shift- ANCIENT RELIEF MAP FOUND civil engineering and irrigation works might be about 3,000 years old, but then ON STONE SLAB IN THE URALS including two 500-metre-wide channel sys- _ they discovered two shells embedded in the ccording to the Russian news tems, with a total length of about 12,000 slab, from shellfish species that existed 500 Az: Pravda, scientists at Bashkir kilometres, and 12 dams, each 300-500 and 120 million years ago—though this is State University in the southern metres wide, approx. 10 km long and 3 km__ no confirmation that the map is actually Ural Mountains are discussing their find- deep, which would have required the shift- _ that ancient. ings concerning a mysterious stone slab The slab also contains inscriptions writ- which has a detailed relief map etched ten in an unknown hieroglyphic-syllabic into it. They have been studying the slab language. The scientists originally since they carted it away from the village thought the script might be some form of of Chandar, near Ufa, in July 1999. The slab also contains Old Chinese, because in 1995 Prof. Prof. Alexandr Chuvyrov, who heads 9 ond o 9 Chuvyrov was investigating the writings the specialist team of cartographers, geol- Inscriptions written iy an left by ancient Chinese people during ogists, physicists and chemists, believes unknown hieroglyphic- ossible migrations to Siberia and the they have found proof of the existence of . Urals, but their archival searches dis- an ancient, highly developed civilisa- syllabic language. roved this notion and the script remains tion—evidence that defies conventional undeciphered. notions of human history. The scientists are speculating that the For a start, the relief map was not made slab is only a fragment of a much larger manually by an ancient stonecutting tool; map that they estimate to have been 340 x as X-ray analysis revealed, it was machined ing of over a quadrillion cubic metres of 340 metres in size and that might possibly with precision tools. It also shows a view earth to construct. The slab consists of have depicted the entire planet's surface. that could only have been plotted by aerial three layers: a 14-cm-thick base made of They hypothesise that it was most likely survey. hard dolomite, a second layer of diopside _ situated in the Sokolinaya Mountain gorge The dimensions of the slab were deter- glass of a composition unknown to modern _ but was broken up in the last glacial epoch, mined once it was dug out of the backyard science, and a 2-mm-thick top layer of cal- the slabs eventually being deposited in of a village house: 148 cm x 106 cmx 16 cium porcelain to protect the map from Chandar and elsewhere in the Ufa region. cm. Once they cleaned it back at the lab, impact. The scientists are continuing their search the scientists realised they had uncovered a To try to determine the age of the map, for more slabs and fragments, which could 3D relief map (or plan) of the Ufa region _ the scientists carried out radiocarbon analy- _ well number in their hundreds. on a scale of 1:1.1 kilometres. sis and scanned the layers with a uranium (Source: Pravda website, April 30, 2002, Apart from showing identifiable features chronometer, but the results were inconclu- _ http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/ such as rivers and canyons, it also depicts sive. At first the scientists thought the find 30/28149.html) inscriptions written in an unknown hieroglyphic- syllabic language. survey. The dimensions of the slab were deter- mined once it was dug out of the backyard of a village house: 148 cm x 106 cm x 16 cm. Once they cleaned it back at the lab, the scientists realised they had uncovered a 3D relief map (or plan) of the Ufa region ona scale of 1:1.1 kilometres. Apart from showing identifiable features such as rivers and canyons, it also depicts JUNE - JULY 2002 NEXUS ¢ 67 The slab also contains www.nexusmagazine.com