Join
co-organisers Andrew Collins and Hugh Newman on an adventure of a lifetime ...
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WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
Debbie Cartwright
| J J Ainsworth
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VISIT
SIBERIA
LAND
OF THE DENISOVANS AND HUMANITY'S CRADLE OF CIVILIZATON
See the Devisova cave, the 17,000-year-old astronomical observatory of Sunduki, the Gateway of the Gods at Ergaki, the pyramid-mound complex of Salbyk, the Tzar Gates monoliths, the megalithic monuments of Khakassia, and the sacred sites of Lake Baikal. See the Denisovan bracelet in Novosibirsk's Hermitage Museum.*
Experience shamanism in the land of its origin
with Megalithomania
IN
ASSOCIATION WITH
There
is a full tour of 16 days and a basic tour of 12 days -
The basic tour
of 12 days includes the Denisova Cave, Lake Baikal, Sunduki, Salbyk and many more
sites.
The
full tour of 16 days includes an additional 3-day trekking excursion to Ergaki,
the Gateway of the Gods and proposed Denisovan nerve centre in the Western Sayan
Mountains.
Prices are given below for both the 16-day and 12-day tours.
16-DAY
FULL TOUR
INCLUDES 3-DAY TREKKING EXCURSION TO ERGAKI
THE GATEWAY
OF THE GODS AND PROPOSED NERVE CENTRE OF THE DENISOVANS
Day 1 - July 16 - Arrival at Abakan
Guests
met at the airport. Airport or rail station pick up
There are two inbound
flights from Moscow, both arrive early morning. None from St Petersburg.
Evening orientation and lecture by one of the special guests.
Day 2 - July 17 - Abakan and Minussinsk
Visit
the Khakass National Museum of Local Lore, which contains carved standing stones
and stela from the Neolithic era through to the Iron Age Pazyryk culture.
12:00
Lunch.
After lunch travel to the old Russian town of Minussinsk located at the confluence of the Minusa and Yenisei rivers. The Minussinsk Basin was the focus of important Pazyryk settlements controlling the region during the Iron Age.
Visit
the Martyanov Natural History Museum (Museum of Local Lore). This features items
and displays of local traditions and culture, and is one of the oldest museums
in Siberia.
Journey
on to Shushenskoye village. Overnight in the guesthouses of the museum Shushenskoye,
which preserves the customs and traditions of a typical Siberian village of the
late 19th century. Guesthouses display the cultural style of the Angara river
area and south Krasnoyarsk territory. The realities of local life are combined
with modern comfort living. Stop for a rest in the new village, and enjoy traditional
local cuisine. Learn also basic crafts, and take part in local games, entertainments,
ceremonies and celebrations. Before dinner a visit to a Russian banya (steam sauna,
plunge pool, spa treatment, massage, etc.), which is highly recommended.
*Accommodation
in guesthouses of Shushenskoye village, breakfast, lunch, dinner Distances of
the day - 250 km by bus
Map
of Central Asia and southern Siberia showing location of the Denisova Cave.
Day
3 - July 18 - Shushenskoye-Ergaki
Breakfast.
After
the excursion around Shushenskoye reserve, transfer to Ergaki National Park.
After
early lunch, arrive at the starting point. Carry only the most necessary things
for the three-day hiking experience. A tent, sleeping bag and mat are provided.
Hike
8 km along a path in mountain taiga (ancient forest terrain) to Lake Svetloe.
Its name means "saint" as it resembles a church dome. Reach camp located
in a cedar forest on the shores of the lake. Tent accommodation is for 2 or 4
people. Evening meal. Night fire. The clean mountain air is filled with the aroma
of pine needles and grass. This is an untouched kingdom of peace and quiet.
The camp is equipped with a kitchen, dining room, wooden bath, tents, toilets,
a wooden house with a stove for drying clothes and shoes. There is also a volleyball
court, swing set, medical tent, and batteries recharging generator.
Overnight
in tents, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Distance of the day - 250 km by bus, 8 km
on foot
Svetloe
Lake, Ergaki National Park
Day
4 - July 19 - Ergaki National Park
After
breakfast the group climbs toward Ergaki's gigantic twin towers known as the Brothers
or Parabola. In legend they are associated with a population of gods who came
to assemble here at the centre of the world (perhaps a memory of the Denisovans).
No mortals were allowed to enter Ergaki, only gods, giants and shamans. The Brothers
are enormous granite horns, like those of an almighty lunar altar. They stand
together, one 250 metres high, the other 150 metres. Here they would have witnessed
the Milky Way and stars of Cygnus set between the Parabola's twin horns, or watched
the setting of the moon as it reached its most northerly maxim every 18.61 years.
We visit also Star Peak, which anciently linked the earth to the North Star, and
Bird Peak, named after a legandary eagle, the symbol of shamanic initiations here
since the beginning of time. By the side of the Brothers is the enigmatic Lake
of Mountain Spirits, which at night is said to emit a strange luminescence. Return
in the evening to Svetloe Lake camp site.
Dinner
by the campfire. Evening communication, exchange of experiences. Time also for
meditation and comptemplation.
Overnight
in tents, breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Distance of the day depends on chosen route - about 10-20 km on foot
Day
5 (Day 1 of basic tour) - July 20 - Ergaki National Park
After
early breakfast the group says goodbye to the Ergaki peaks and returns back to
base camp on foot (8 km, 2-3 hours). Back to Abakan by coach.
Check-in
to hotel in Abakan, dinner, rest.
12-DAY BASIC TOUR (joins tour on Day 6)
New
guests for basic tour are met at the airport. Airport or rail station pick up
There
are two inbound flights from Moscow, both arrive early morning. No flights from
St Petersburg.
Orientation for new guests in evening. Lecture from one of the special guest speakers.
Overnight at 3* hotel, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Distance of the day - 250 km by bus, 8 km on foot.
Day
6 (Day 2 of basic tour) - July 21 - Abakan-Kazanovka (all participants)
All participants travel from Abakan to Kazanovka. Full day tour of Kazanoka and Khurtuyakh Tas.
Visit the museum-reserve of Kazanovka, which is a shrine to the ancient civilizations of Khakassia. It is situated in the open air and includes mountains, canyons, caves, mixed forest, and rare plants. There are more than 2000 archaeological monuments within the reserve. The main purpose of this museum is to preserve natural and historical landscapes.
In Kazanovka tourists have the chance to see 3000-5000-year old rock art. Archaeologists make copies of these paintings on paper for further study. Copies of these can be taken as souvenirs.
Lunch is organized with the elements of Khakassian food.
In
the afternoon visit the ethnographical village of Khakassian aal, where the tourists
have a chance to get personally acquainted with everyday life of Khakassian people
from the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Meet local shamans.
On the route the group will stop at the megalithic complex of Ulug Khurtuyakh tas. Ulug Khurtuyakh tas means "a big stone of the old woman," a name gained from the megalith's rough face, round stomach and apparent breasts.
Khurtuyakh tas is a famous Khakassian historical and cultural complex, which includes the Askiz burial kurgan (stone mound or cairn). The standing stone at the centre of the mound pre-dates the mound, and is thought to be at least 4500 years old.
Khurtuyakh
tas is a place of pilgrimage for Khakassians. It is considered to be one of the
most respected stone settings in the republic. Local women who wish to conceive
come here to pay offerings to the spirits.
Back
to Abakan for evening meal.
*
Accommodation at 3* hotel with breakfast, lunch, dinner. Distance of the day -
250 km by bus
Khakassian
women in traditional dress at Kazanovka (pic: Avax
News)
Standing
stone inside the Khurtuyakh tas
complex.
Day
7 - (Day 3 of basic tour) - July 22 - Sunduki & Salbyk
The
group will travel south through the city of Divnogorsk. On the way see one of
the biggest dams in the world - the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric power station. Built
in 1972, it forms a water basin 400 km long.
During the journey the group visits the ice age observatory of Sunduki.
Sunduki has been a celestial observatory for at least 17,000 years. Sunduki is a series of wedge-shaped mountain-ridges set within a former inland salt sea. From each of the hills different stars were observed to rise and set, the theory of Russian archaeologist Professor Vitaly Larichev. Petroglyphs of a cosmological nature adorn rock surfaces, and strange legends are attached to the hilltops.
Lunch is organized in the open air. Afternoon visit Great Salbyk Mound.
The Great Salbyk Mound is the name given to a megalithic complex of the Iron Age Pazyryk culture situated in the Tsar Valley. It is Khakassia's own Valley of the Kings. The site contains more than 10 royal mound tombs, as well as over 100 smaller kurgans. The Great Salbyk Mound dates to the fourth century BC and was the tomb of the legendary leader Dinlin Tsar and his family. The monument was originally a pyramid structure over 11.5 metres in height with a perimeter of around 500 metres. Many standing stones, some up to 60 tonnes in weight, remain in situ. Even today local shamans visit the Great Salbyk Mound to draw magical power and energy.
Visit
also the twin monoliths that mark the entrance to the Great Salbyk mound cemetery.
These are known as the Tzar Gates or, simply, the Big Gates. They are around 2.5
to 3 metres in height and weigh many tonnes. Speculation abounds regarding their
antiquity, with most prehistorians accepting that they predate the Great Salbyk
Mound by many thousands of years.
Arrive
in the evening at Krasnoyarsk. Overnight stay at hotel.
* Accommodation 3* hotel. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Distance of the day - 350 km by bus, 8 km on foot
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The
Great Salbyk Mound Complex
Day
8 - (Day 4 of basic tour) - July 23 - Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk
After breakfast explore Krasnoyarsk with a city tour visiting the Regional Local Lore Museum. This contains artefacts found at a site on nearby Afontovo Mountain. These are accredited to the Afontovo culture dating to 17,000-20,000 years ago. The museum includes a reconstruction of a mammoth bone hut made of tusks and hides. The museum also contains copies of petroglyphs from Bolshaya Boyaiskaya, which date to the 2nd millinium BC, as well as cultural artefacts from the Stone Age through till the Iron Age Tagarsk culture, circa 700-600 BC. Visit also the Bobrovy Log fun park.
16:25
Departure from Krasnoyarsk by train 057 to Irkutsk.
* Accommodation on train board, breakfast, lunch, dinner (boxed)
Distance
of the day - 10 km by bus Distance of the day - 200 km by bus?
* Accommodation
on hotel 3*, -, lunch, dinner
Day 9 - (Day 5 of basic tour) - July 24 - Irkutsk to Mal'ta.
Travel to Irkutsk
Meet
guide. Go to hotel. Lunch. In afternoon depart for Mal'ta. Overnight in hotel
in Irkutsk.
Mal'ta is a 24,000-year-old site from the Upper Paleolithic era. Here a prehistoric settlement produced beautful mammoth ivory artefacts of swans, mother figures, batons, and the extraordinary mnenomic teaching device known as the Mal'ta plate. This displays a series of seven spirals made from peck marks that define very specific mathematical values relating to celestial time cycles including the 54-year triple saros eclipse cycle, and the canicular cycle of 1460/1 years. The site overlooks a former lake present in ice age times. Take in the atmosphere of the site before heading back to the hotel at Irkutsk.
*
Accommodation in hotel in Irkutsk.
Excavations
at Mal'ta during the 1930s
Bone
objects found at Mal'ta
24,000
year old swan pendants found at mal'ta, Siberia.
Day
10 (Day 6 of basic tour) - July 25 - Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal
In the morning depart for Lake Baikal, the largest and deepest inland sea in Siberia. Not only is it one of the cradles of advanced human thought, but the mysterious lake is renowned for its geomagnetic anomalies, UFOs and mysterious lights that haunt its waters. Visit Shaman's Rock on the magical Olkhon Island, one of the most sacred places in the region. Here we puase to remember the great Mongol leader Ghengis Khan, who is said to have been born on Olkhon Island. He might even have been buried there as well. Ghengis Khan is said to have been the offspring of a blue grey wolf known as the Ashina, this being the animistic symbol of certain Buryat tribes of the Lake Baikal region. Shamans believe Olkhon Island is the site of the oikony noyod, the "thirteen lords of Olkhon."
Visit
Buryat villages where shamans and locals still practice the old ways to this day.
Stay in the vicinity of Lake Baikal, where the arrival of nine swan maidens signalled
the foundation of the Buryat peoples sometime during the Palaeolithic age (foot
excursion).
*
Accommodation at touristic camp, breakfast, lunch, dinner Distance of the day
- 300 km by bus
Distance of the day - 300 km by bus
Map
showing Lake Baikal
Day
11 - (Day 7 of basic tour) - July 26 - Irkutsk
Part
two of the exploration of Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal. Transfer to Irkutsk. Accommodation
at hotel upon arrival. * Accommodation at hotel 3*, breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 12 - (Day 8 of basic tour) - July 27 - Irkutsk-Novosibirsk
Breakfast
boxed. Check-out. Transfer to the airport.
Depart
to Novosibirsk with S7 Airlines (S7 3276 07:15/08:45).
After
the excursion visit Novosibirsk's Museum of History and Culture of the Peoples
of Siberia and the Far East to see the Denisovan bracelet.** It is 60,000-70,000
years old and shows evidence of advance drilling techniques. Nothing similar would
exist until the rise of Anatolia's Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture around 11,000
years ago.
** Please note that the Denisovan bracelet is currently on
display, but the organisers cannot guarantee this will be the case on the day
of the visit. Items are occasionally removed for traveling exhibitions, research
studies and for cleaning.
Lunch.
Transfer to Gorno-Altaisk,
dinner. Accommodation at 2* hotel.
Day
13 (Day 9 of basic tour ) - July 28 - Soloneshnoye settlement
Breakfast,
transfer to Soloneshnoye settlement via Biisk. Lunch on way. Arrival about 16:00.
Visit Soloneshny Natural and Local Lore Museum, which contains artefacts found
at the Denisova Cave. Transfer to Denisova Cave. Accommodation at touristic camp
of archeologists. Dinner.
*
Accommodation at archaeologist touristic camp, breakfast, lunch, dinner Distance
of the day - 520 km by bus
Day 14 (Day 10 of basic tour) - July 29 - Denisova cave
After breakfast to the Denisova Cave, the home of humanity's ancestors since 280,000 years ago. Consisting of 22 occupational levels, it is Layer 11 that has taken the world's interest. Here evidence has been found of a previously unknown human type known today as the Denisovans. They achieved an advanced state of human behavior as much as 60-70 years ago, creating fabulous stone jewelry, bone needles to makes clothes, manufacturing the earliest known musical instrument, and perhaps even riding on horses.
Visit the caves. Speak with archaeologists working at the site.
Transfer to Gorno-Altaisk, dinner. Accommodation at hotel 2*.
*
Accommodation hotel 2*, breakfast, lunch, dinner Distance of the day - 250 km
by coach
Day
15 (Day 11 of basic tour) - July 30 - Gorno-Altaisk, Novosibirsk
Breakfast at hotel. Visit the museum of A. Anokhin and see the artefacts and remains of Siberia's famous Ice Maiden. She was an Altaian Iron Age warrior princess of the Pazyryk culture, whose body was found in a kurgan (tumuli mound). Her animistic totems were the swan and deer.
Transfer to Novosibirsk. Check-in to hotel. Farewell dinner (Siberia part).
2,500-year-old
Siberian Ice Maiden, showing also her tattooed body
*
Accommodation at hotel 3*, breakfast, lunch, dinner Distance of the day - 450
km by bus
Day
16 (Day 12) - July 31 - return home
Breakfast boxed. Transfer to the airport for flights to Moscow or St Petersburg. Guests can embark on an optional 3-day tour of St Petersburg booked via Travel the Unknown
Services
Included:
*
Accommodation for the itinerary: hotel "AZIA" 4* (Abakan), 3 nights
(2 nights on basic tour)
hotel "New village" (Shushenskoe) 1 night
hotel "IBIS" 3* (Krasnoyarsk), 1 night
hotel "IBIS"3* (Irkutsk),
2 nights in
touristic camping "Olkhon" (Olkhon), 1 night hotel "AZIMUT"
3* (Novosibirsk), 2 nights touristic camping (Soloneshnoe) 1 night touristic complex
in Gorno Altaisk, 1 night
Train
ticket Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk
* German/English-speaking guide during the excursions
*
Transfers by bus as per program
* Meals as per program
* Entrance tickets
and recreational fees as per program
* Banya 2 hours in "New village"
(Shushenskoe)
Not
included:
Flight to Novosibirsk from Irkutsk is from £265 pp
*
Souvenirs
* Performances in local theatres
* Travel insurance
* Tips
*
Alcoholic beverages, beverages between meals
*
Please note that items specified as housed in museums are correct as at the time
of organization of the tour. Some items can be removed at short notice. Thus we
cannot guarantee that items will be on display at the time of the tour.*
TOUR OF SIBERIA - CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION
Prices
per person (based on two people sharing a room, unless otherwise stated):
16-day
full tour (July 16 to July 31, 2019):
$
5600 (GBP 4175)
Earlybird:
$5150 (GBP 3845)
Single Supp - $ 675 (GBP 500)
12-day
tour (July 20 to July 31, 2019):
$
4500 US (GBP 3350)
Earlybird:
$ 3850 (GBP 2875)
Single
Supp - GBP 395 ($ 530)
.
Deposit
for either tour:
$ 500 (GBP 400)
Register
now with Travel the Unknown by clicking here
The payment of deposits will then be arranged.
This
tour of Siberia is fully ATOL bonded
Any
questions contact Travel
the Unknown, Hugh Newman at info@megalithomania.co.uk
or Andrew Collins at andrewcollins.author@gmail.com
IMPORTANT: Please read the Megalithomania terms and conditions prior to making your booking. These are available by clicking below:
Megalithomania tours are voyages of discovery, quests for the answers to the mysteries of the past, creating unforgettable moments in people's lives
IF
YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE DENISOVANS AND THE MYSTERIES OF SIBERIA AND CYGNUS READ
ANDREW NEW BOOK`
The
cover of Andrew Collins's new book The Cygnus Key: Göbekli
Tepe and the Birth of Egypt.
Cover artwork by Russell Hossain
In
the 2000s human fossil remains were unearthed in the Denisova Cave within the
Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. DNA testing showed that the bones - two molars
and a pinky bone - belonged to a previously unknown human population today known
as the Denisovans. They are now thought to have inhabited Eastern Eurasia from
around 400,000 years down to around 40,000 years ago. During their final years
the Denisovans achieved an advanced level of human behaviour, including the creation
of sophisticated symbolic or non-functional objects including an arm bracelet
in bottle-green chloritolite with a bored hole that can only have been made using
a high-speed drill; a bone needle with an eye for thread, suggesting the manufacture
of tailored clothing, as well as finely finished, pierced ostrich eggshell beads
no more than a centimetre in diameter. In addition to this, fragments of horse
bones found inside the Denisova Cave have suggested that Denisovans domesticated,
herded and maybe even rode horses long before it was thought humanly possible.
So who exactly were the Denisovans? What do we really know about them, and how
are they linked to Neanderthals and our own ancestors?
The
Cygnus Key presents compelling evidence showing that the earliest origins
of human culture, religion, and technology derive from the Denisovans, the true
creators of the lost civilization long known to exist but never before proved.
The
author explains how the stars of Cygnus coincided with the turning point of the
heavens at the moment the Denisovan legacy was handed to the first human societies
in southern Siberia some 45,000 years ago, catalyzing beliefs in swan ancestry
and an understanding of Cygnus as the source of cosmic creation. It also led to
powerful ideas involving the Milky Way’s Dark Rift, viewed as the Path of
Souls and the sky-road shamans travel to reach the sky-world. He explores how
their sound technology and ancient cosmologies were carried into the West, flowering
first at Gobekli Tepe and later in Egypt’s Nile Valley. Collins shows how
the ancient belief in Cygnus as the source of creation can also be found in many
other cultures around the world, further confirming the role played by the Denisovan
legacy in the genesis of human civilization.
Built at the end of
the last ice age around 9600 BCE, Gobekli Tepe in southeast Turkey was designed
to align with the constellation of Cygnus, the celestial swan, a fact confirmed
by the discovery at the site of a tiny bone plaque carved with the three key stars
of Cygnus. Remarkably, the three main pyramids at Giza in Egypt, including the
Great Pyramid, align with the same three stars. But where did this ancient veneration
of Cygnus come from?
Showing that Cygnus was once seen as a portal to the
sky-world, Andrew Collins reveals how, at both sites, the attention toward this
star group is linked with sound acoustics and the use of musical intervals “discovered”
thousands of years later by the Greek mathematician Pythagoras. Collins traces
these ideas as well as early advances in human technology and cosmology back to
the Altai-Sayan region of Russian Siberia, where the Denisovans gifted humanity
with the rudiments of civilization as much as 45,000 years ago.
Publication
Month: May 2018
Bear & Company. ISBN 978-1-59143-299-9 $24.00
Paper.
Also available as an ebook
Size: 464 pages, 6 5/8 x 9 1/2 inches
Includes
16-page color insert and 75 black-and-white illustrations
Pre-order
your copy now
