Excursion tour Altyn-Emel park.

“They stand. like idols, menhirs.
Aliens from another world.
Tribes of unknown idols.
Gods of the lost birth"

Michael Matz.

Natural Wonders Adventure in Altyn-Emel.

Menhirs of Besshatyr are located at an altitude of 686.8 meters above sea level, 4 kilometers south of the Degeres mountains, 4.2 kilometers north and slightly west of the right (northern) bank of the Kapshagai reservoir, on the territory of the Altyn-Emel natural park, in the central part of the Almaty region in the Panfilov district.
The mounds at the Besshatyr burial ground are haphazard, but two groups stand out - northern and southern. The sizes of the burial mounds reflected the division of the Saka society into estates. The largest, majestic of them more than seventeen meters high belonged to an unknown leader. In the scientific community, the monument was called the "Great Barrow".
Its diameter is 104 meters, the average height is 15 meters. It is surrounded by smaller graves of noble Saks and close personalities of the military leader. The embankment has the shape of a truncated cone with a flat top, with a diameter of 32 meters.
The stone mound of the mound at the base is laid in several dense rows, which gives the impression of a basement, on which lies the entire bulk of the mound. Archaeologists also learned that the mounds were interconnected by underground passages.
Labyrinths were built on a grand scale and ingenuity, even today they are among the unsolved discoveries. Around the mound is a rampart. Near the embankment are ring structures composed of large stone pillars (menhirs) and large boulders, called "fences".
There are 94 such fences and in plan they resemble a spiral twisted around a mound. The fences had a ritual purpose and, apparently, were associated with the cult of fire. Around large mounds, regular circles are menhirs - structures of vertically placed oblong stone blocks.
They are the most mysterious and attractive objects of the ancient complex. Particularly reverent attitude to these guardians of eternity becomes at the moment of the realization that menhirs have been met since ancient times not only here, but also in many countries of Europe and the world.
Standing stones of Brittany and the British Isles are best studied and well known. They are also found throughout the Mediterranean coast from Libya to Morocco and further south, up to Senegal and the Gambia. They are in Syria and in Palestine.
The weight of one such hewn boulder can reach several tons. The most surprising thing is that for a very long time, archaeologists did not have enough data on the origin of the menhirs, except for knowledge about their attitude to the cultures of the Neolithic, Copper and Bronze Ages.
They could be used for a variety of purposes that are currently unknown and may not be defined anymore. Among the possible assignments are religious (ritual enclosure of structures, symbolism of the center, determination of the boundaries of possessions), memorial, solar-astronomical.
Now the hypothesis is very popular that menhirs were placed on faults of the earth's crust, where the Earth’s energy was concentrated and exited to the surface. According to legend, stone pillars stand on the border of two worlds - the world where people lived, and the world where the gods lived.
Geographic coordinates of menhirs Besshatyr near the mounds of the same name: N43 ° 55'23.45 "E78 ° 12'34.23"

Authority:
https://studbooks.net/533106/istoriya/opisanie_kurganov

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.