Archaeologists discover 2000-year-old 'Great Wall of Siberia'
by Mihai Andrei January 6, 2025
Edited and reviewed by Tibi Puiu
The findings are comparable to Hadrian’s Wall, which separated Roman England from the ‘wild’ Scotland. However, unlike Hadrian’s wall, we don’t really know who built this one.
Views around Souzga village; the Great Wall of China and Hadrian Wall. Pictures: The Siberian Times.
The “Big Wall” club
Walls seem to come and go out of fashion but their purpose hasn’t really changed much across the centuries: keep people out. People built walls around their huts, their churches, their towns, and even their countries; some would even like to build walls now to keep immigrants up. Hundreds of years ago, it wasn’t so much about stopping people who wanted to move country but rather about defending against pillaging invaders.
The Romans famously built a massive wall in northern England. Hadrian’s Wall has inspired countless myths and legends, including the Great Wall from Game of Thrones. But for the Romans, the wall was a very practical investment that served to protect the edge of their empire from Scottish pillaging raids and invasions.
Even Hadrian’s Wall pales in comparison to the Great Wall of China. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC in China, for defense and to serve as border control. Those bits and pieces were maintained, enhanced, and ultimately connected. The Great Wall reached its greatest form during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).
Well, the select club of epic walls might get another addition: the Siberia Wall in the Altai Mountains.
Ramparts and walls
Today, the wall system is barely visible, but it must have been truly humbling in its time. Professor Andrey Borodovsky, an archaeologist working in the Altai Mountains in eastern Russia, says that it may have measured eight meters high, and had a width of ten meters. This was a giant rampart that took a lot of time and effort to construct, and was largely part of a greater defense system.
More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/repubz-wall-siberia-archaeology/