Akhunovo village
Akhunovo is a Bashkir village located 25 km from the district center Uchaly and is famous among tourists and scientists for its unique megalithic complex. Akhunovo is often called “the Bashkir Stonehenge” for its stone menhirs, which experts believe to be an ancient observatory.”
General information
The settlement appeared on geographical maps in 1780. However, people in these places lived many thousands of years ago. The name “Akhunovo” came from the Tatar word “ahun”, which denotes the Islamic title of mullah. Today the village is home to about 2,500 people.
About a kilometer from Akhunovo there are 13 vertically standing stones – menhirs. They began to be explored relatively recently. Only in 1996 local enthusiast Zhavdat Aitov brought scientists to these places, and they described the unique find. It turned out that the megaliths in Akhunovo are older than the famous Stonehenge and were put in the third millennium BC, that is, in the Bronze Age.
.Nowadays, the ancient megalithic complex is very popular with travelers, historians and even psychics. People go here independently and as part of excursion tours. The surroundings of Akhunovo are very picturesque, and local authorities plan to attract investment and build a tourist center in the village, as was done in Arkaim.
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In the summertime, archaeologists work around the menhirs. They found here a settlement dating back to the Late Bronze Age and named it Novo-Bairamgulovsky. In addition, near the megaliths dug up products from jasper, made during the Upper Paleolithic, fragments of pottery, as well as bones of horses, cattle and small horned cattle.
.History of the village of Akhunovo
In the second half of the 18th century, a native of Iset province, Tatar Abdulla Muslimovich Daushev was in government service. He was intelligent, energetic and made an excellent career as a diplomat. For his services, Empress Catherine II rewarded Daushev with 40 tithes of land, and he became the head of the Spiritual Assembly, i.e. akhun.
Daushev settled in Bashkiria and brought his Tatar relatives to his new possessions. To this day, Akhunovo is considered the only Tatar village in the Uchalinsky district, although statistics show that the number of Bashkir residents is increasing every year.
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In Bashkiria it is customary to know one’s own genealogy (shezhezhere) up to the eighth knee, and villagers like to visit the local history museum created in Akhunovo. It has a rich collection of documents, photographs and biographies of famous villagers.
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Ancient megaliths
The menhirs complex near Akhunovo is located on the right bank of the Kidysh River. It became known to specialists in 1996, and the first excavations on this territory were organized in 2003. Scientists agreed that in ancient times people used menhirs to determine the date, time, days of the solar equinox and to observe the stars, i.e. the vertical stones served them as an observatory. And in later times the megalithic complex in Akhunovo could be used for shamanic rites.
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According to locals, there used to be more stones in the field. But many of them were dragged away by tractors and destroyed by vandals. There was little concern about this, as no one suspected the ancient age of the menhirs. Now the situation has changed. The megalithic complex was fenced with a neat hedge, and the residents of Akhunovo took it under their care. Near the menhirs organized a small tourist parking lot and put a shelter for travelers, where they can rest and drink tea.
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Today in Akhunovo there are 10 menhirs of regular quadrangular shape, which have a height from 0.7 to 2 meters. The two largest megaliths are located 15 meters apart. The stones stand on a circle, and on the main menhir the image of a crescent moon is noticeable. Three more stones are located slightly to the side, 80-170 meters away from the main complex.
.The researchers found that the installation of the stones did not take place at the same time. The three oldest menhirs appeared here 14-15 thousand years ago, two more – in the Bronze Age, and the rest – in the XIX-XVII centuries BC. It is also curious that the technology of construction of the complex is identical to that used in the construction of the English Stonehenge.
.How to get there
It is convenient to get to Akhunovo from the town of Beloretsk, where you can arrive by train. In Beloretsk, for example, the train “Moscow – Magnitogorsk” stops. The distance from the city to Akhunovo is about 80 km. Some travelers go to the village by cab, but a cheaper way – shuttle buses with a transfer in Uchaly. In this case, the road to Akhunovo takes about 3 hours.
.Another option: come to the village from the capital of the republic, the city of Ufa. From the Southern bus station to Akhunovo in 5 hours can be reached by shuttle bus. From Ufa to the village, buses run twice a day, they leave early in the morning and in the afternoon.
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