Experts are still divided over a mysterious 1,300-year-old fortress-like structure located on an island in the middle of a Siberian lake.
From The Siberian Times: With its island location and towering square walls that were once impenetrable, it looks at first glance to be an ancient fortress or kremlin to keep out enemies. Others believe the 1,300-year-old structure in rural Siberia has more mystical properties and might have been a summer palace, monastery, or even an astronomical observatory.
Whatever it is, more than a century after it was first explored, archaeologists are no further forward in discovering the secrets of Por-Bajin.
Most likely constructed in 757 A.D., the complex has fascinated and frustrated experts in equal measure since it was found in the middle of Tere-Khol, a high-altitude lake in Tuva, in the late 19th century. First explored in 1891, with small-scale excavation work later carried out between 1957 and 1963, it was not until 2007 that in-depth research took place at the site.
Archaeologists found clay tablets of human feet and faded, colored drawings on the plaster of the walls. They found giant gates and fragments of burnt wood. But nothing yet has provided a definitive answer as to why the structure was built, and excavation work continues.
“Por-Bajin is legally treated as one of the most mysterious archaeological monuments of Russia,” says the official website for the complex.
“Apparently it was built at the period of the Uighur Khagante nomadic empire (744-840 A.D.), but it’s not clear what they built a fortress for in such a solitary place, far from big settlements and trade routes. The architecture also raises many questions and it is reminiscent of a model of an ideal Chinese city-palace,” the website continues.
