Publications in the Traditions section

Karelian petroglyphs

The Arel petroglyphs are one of the most ancient rock paintings on Earth. And the most mysterious.

Karelian petroglyphs. The rock paintings are of venerable age - they are at least 5-6 thousand years old.

Igor Georgievsky.
Photographer, journalist, researcher.

Petroglyphs (in ancient Greek πέτρος - stone, γλυφή - carving) all over the world they refer to images carved on stones. They are in Asia and Europe, both Americas, Africa and Australia.

In Karelia, rock sanctuaries are always in the most beautiful places. Ancient artists lived on the White Sea, at the confluence of the Vyg River; on the capes and islands of the eastern shore of Lake Onega. It is here that archaeologists find quartz-carved images of people, animals, celestial bodies and unidentified (possibly flying) objects.

White Sea petroglyphs. The demon and strong business executives

White Sea petroglyphs are on the islands. Bolshoy Malinin, Erpin Pudas, Shoyrukshin. In ancient times, the drawings were located near the water, mostly small images: from 20 to 50 centimeters, but there are also giant moose - up to three and a half meters in length.

In general, the White Sea petroglyphs are realistic. Boats, with crews and empty. Detailed scenes of hunting moose, birds, seals. Battle compositions. A person always participates in them: walking, skiing, sailing in a boat. Fights, hunts, dances.

White Sea petroglyphs. Marking for future photography.

But there are also demons here. On the island of Shoyruksha, eight prints of either the right or left human foot are carved into a flat rock. They lead to the image of the Demon, the largest figure. The demon is about a meter high, depicted in profile. With a huge arm, leg, manhood.

For many years, residents of the neighboring village considered Besovy Sledki a sacred rock. When the Great Patriotic War began, they believed that the enemy would not reach here: the Demon would protect us.

Onega petroglyphs. Demon and aliens

Karelia. Cape Besov Nos. Onega petroglyphs. The famous Bes.

Eastern shore of Lake Onega. Demon's Nose, capes Kladovets, Gagazhiy, Peri Nos, Guriy Island. There are more than a thousand petroglyphs here, the sizes of the figures range from a few centimeters to four meters. And the swans are huge, with such disproportionately long necks that maybe they are not swans at all - dinosaurs!

Karelia. Onega petroglyphs. Images of swans.

There are many cosmic, “solar” and “lunar” signs: circles and semicircles with outgoing lines-rays. There is a version that these are traps. But a modern person will clearly see both the radar and the spacesuit. Moreover - TV.

The most famous of the Onega petroglyphs is Bes (some experts believe that Besikha). More than the White Sea devil: two and a half meters. The image is crossed by a deep crack, dividing it exactly into two halves. “Gap” into another, otherworldly world.

Within a kilometer radius of Bes, satellite navigation often fails. The captains have not been surprised by this for a long time; they focus on the lighthouse. The clock also behaves unpredictably: it can run forward, it can stop. Scientists can only guess what this anomaly is connected with. They say it's all about granites saturated with magnetic ore, which lie deep underground. But Bes knows better.

The ancient figure is cut by an Orthodox cross. Most likely, it was hollowed out on top of the demonic image by the monks of the Murom Monastery in the 15th–16th centuries. To neutralize the devil's power.

Natural museum without protection

Old Zalavruga. Volunteers at work.

In 1934, young Soviet museum experts decided that the Hermitage needed rock art. And they blew up a rock with petroglyphs at Cape Peri Nos-3. A large slab with drawings (“roof”) went to the Hermitage, a smaller fragment went to the local history museum. About a dozen drawings were destroyed in the explosion, including a birth scene unique to Karelian petroglyphs.

In Soviet times, the territory of the White Sea petroglyphs was damaged during the construction of the BBK and the Vygostrovskaya hydroelectric power station. One of the groups of drawings on Shoyrukshin Island is covered with a dam.

Today, no one seriously protects Karelian petroglyphs either. In Belomorsk, volunteers work in the summer to look after free tourists. A couple of years ago, bridges were made with Norwegian money so that the petroglyphs would not be trampled during inspection.

The eastern bank of Onega is far from protected areas. People come here in jeeps, set up tents, and light fires on stones with ancient drawings. They add their own, modern ones. “Osya and Kisa were here”...

Museum of Local Lore

Petrozavodsk. Karelian Museum of Local Lore. Wall with petroglyphs and rock fragments.

Three years ago, archaeologists added two more slabs with drawings to the fragment of rock that Karelian museum workers received from the Hermitage’s bounty.

This time there was no barbarism: the stones broke away from the rock themselves, many years ago (either due to temperature changes, or ice drift helped). With maximum precautions, finds weighing 460 and 280 kilograms were lifted and transported to the Karelian State Museum of Local Lore.

Karelia. Onega petroglyphs. Pike.

Now the artifacts can be seen (and touched) in the hall of petroglyphs. The children are happy: an interactive program “Visiting an Ancient Tribe” is organized for them. Of course, they won’t let you light a fire in the museum. But you can feel like an ancient person: make fire by friction, process a skin with a scraper, try on a shaman’s mask. Like the boy Llok from the book by archaeologist Linevsky “Sheets of the Stone Book” (read for every young local historian!).

And here, in the museum, there is a whole wall with petroglyphs. Stone. I want to stick my hand into the crack and run my finger along the outline of the Zaonezhsky Demon.

And only if you get very close, you can see that this is a photograph. More precisely, a panel (19.5 by 2.55 meters). And if the name of the artist who carved the first petroglyphs on the rocks will forever remain a mystery to us, then the name of the artist who “carved” the photograph on the museum rock is known: Igor Georgievsky.

Camera as a time machine

Karelia. Onega petroglyphs. The meaning of many images remains a mystery to scientists.

Photographer Georgievsky worked for eleven seasons on archaeological expeditions on the White Sea and Lake Onega. He recorded on film scenes of the hunt for a beluga whale, a round dance of “space aliens”, the ancient Karelian “Kama Sutra” (among the northern petroglyphs there is also casual group erotica).

“Catching” a good moment for shooting is not easy: many rocks are battered by time and water. The edges of the petroglyphs have worn off, and in daylight the drawings are almost invisible. For many years, spotlights, sunbeams of large mirrors, and many hours of observations in the sliding rays of the sun were used to identify images. Rubbing with graphite gave a reliable picture on paper - this is how children copy a coin with a pencil.

Karelia. Onega petroglyphs. Karelian Kama Sutra of the Neolithic era.

Five years ago, archaeologist Knut Helskog brought Karelian scientists a piece of black film: similar to ours, from the Garden-Vegetable Garden store. But only completely opaque. By covering with this film and opening one edge, it was possible to fire a beam of light along the surface of the stone. The microrelief and texture of the rock were clearly outlined.

A new approach - and a sensation. On Staraya Zalavruga in the Belomorsky region, archaeologists discover more than two hundred “new” images!

The photographer’s task is to visually display the find. But the question was no longer just a “photographic” one; an engineering solution was required - the petroglyphs were located in a group on a large surface.

Coloring pages and puzzles

White Sea petroglyphs. Old Zalavruga.

How to shoot a multi-meter horizontal rock formation with petroglyphs in one shot? Stand on stilts, climb on a stepladder? Photography from a helicopter is impossible: there are high-voltage lines of two hydroelectric power stations around the rock. In addition, a helicopter is dust at the very surface of the earth and vibrations.

You need to take a composite photo. Mark the rocks, remove hundreds of fragments separately and then combine them in the computer using corner markers.

There was another difficulty: the uniformity of lighting in the overall photo. The central part of the canvas of Staraya Zalavruga is a complex macro-relief and a physical size of 12 by 16 meters. Some of the drawings are visible only in the oblique rays of morning light. Another appears in the evening. And during the day, shallowly carved petroglyphs, especially large petroglyphs, are not visible at all.

Karelia. Onega petroglyphs.

We decided to paint the petroglyphs with watercolors and take photographs as soon as possible.

Diary, Zalavruga:
June 4–9, 2006: identifying petroglyphs under a black film with chalk outlines, tinting the embosses with watercolors in two colors
June 10: rain washes away watercolors
June 11: re-tinting with inspection
June 12–13: marking the rock into 40x60 cm fragments, securing the corner points with pieces of masking adhesive tape
June 14: photographing 523 fragments over 3 hours. The weather is cloudless and sunny. Compensatory adjustments to exposure and color balance were intentionally not made during shooting
June 15 - wind, rain. Final field work

After the expedition - sitting at the computer for many hours. Then, in 2006, Igor Georgievsky for the first time managed to capture a real rock surface with an area of ​​11 by 15 meters in one frame. And boats, and moose, and hunters.

Mysteries of petroglyphs

Karelia. Onega petroglyphs. Solar and lunar images.

Scientists continue to find new drawings, register them, and museumize some of the finds. But many images cannot be explained.

Swan, moose and beluga whale - understandable. Human. On Karelian rocks, as a rule, it is engraved in profile, with one arm and one leg. With a bow or a trap. On the boat. These hunters are similar to modern people.

But who is this two-legged creature with two huge balls instead of a head? Archaeologists affectionately call him Cheburashka, attributing the artist’s creative impulse to the action of fly agarics.

There is even less clarity with cosmic signs oriented strictly to the west or east. Researchers conventionally classify them as the solar-lunar type. It is possible that the first observatory in human history could have existed in Zaonezhye.

But if the signs are the Moon and the Sun, then why are they installed on two or three “legs”? Maybe ancient people saw flying objects?

Residents of Karelia, living not far from these places, are not at all surprised by such images. They, in their own words, observe similar “phenomena” in the sky almost every night.

PETROGLYPHS OF CAPE BESOV NOS

Besov Nos is a cape on the eastern coast of Lake Onega, 1.5 km north of the confluence of the Chernaya River into Lake Onega. The cape is famous for its petroglyphs, among which stands out an anthropomorphic image called a “demon”, about 2.30 m long, which is about 5 thousand years old. The name “demon” was given to the image by pioneering Christian monks in the 16th century. Petroglyphs are classified as archaeological Neolithic monuments. The collection of petroglyphs at Cape Besov Nos is considered the richest in Fennoscandia (Scandinavia and Finland).

In fact, in this place on the eastern shore of Lake Onega there are several capes and an island that contain petroglyphs on their rocks - Besov Nos, Peri Nos and Kladovets Nos. Why exactly Demon Nose? Probably because of the legendary drawing of a “demon”, to which the restless monks of the Murom Monastery in the 15th - 16th centuries painted a cross in order to reduce its “demonicity” and neutralize the devil’s power.

Ph.D. A.P. Zhuravlev, Petrozavodsk, “ABOUT THE NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE “DEMONS” ON THE ONEGA PETROGLYPHS”:

Cape Besov Nos is a unique natural and archaeological monument of the European North, where numerous rock carvings from the Chalcolithic era have been discovered. Among these images, a special place is occupied by the central image of the Demon - a colorful figure dissected by a deep crack into two proportional parts. The demon has a square head with a nose, mouth and two eyes. One eye is shown as a round spot, the other as a circle with a spot in the center. Bes has a thin neck and arms bent at the elbows. The legs are also widened downwards and bent at the knees (in the form of a “dancing man”). The right hand of the figure is covered by a Christian cross with monograms of Christ on both sides. It is believed that the cross was knocked out by the monks of the Murom Monastery, which is located 25 km south of the cape.

There are different interpretations of this image, and in particular, the deepening in the oral cavity is explained by the fact that the Demon was fed and watered while making sacrifices. The crack in the rock is associated with an earlier time than the appearance of the Bes here.

In connection with the discovery of the catastrophic earthquake in Pegrem (4200 plus or minus 50 years ago), a new interpretation of the Bes and the exact time of its creation is proposed. In particular, residents who left Pegrema due to the disaster noticed changes in the landscape: huge cracks appeared in the rocks. The appearance of these cracks before their eyes was accompanied by the roar of collapsing rocks, thunderous sounds, light effects, etc. All this created the idea that the evil spirits of the lower world, having destroyed the earth’s firmament, broke through cracks into the middle world and did their dark deeds.

Having left the “God-cursed place” - Pegrem in Unitskaya Bay of Lake Onega, people came to the eastern coast of the lake, where a crack was discovered in the rocks of Besov Nos, which in miniature repeated the cracks of the rocks of Unitskaya Bay that arose after a catastrophic earthquake that claimed the lives of fellow tribesmen. Impressed by the tragedy they suffered, they reflected their ideas about this event on the rock.

The demon, in their opinion, is the master of the lower world and the evil forces that he possessed. The asymmetrical location of his body relative to the cracks indicated the place in the earth's surface where evil spirits break out from the lower world into the middle. Sacrifices to the Demon could appease him and protect people.

There are three largest patterns on the Demon Nose. In addition to the demon himself, there is also an otter and a catfish.

Such places, despite their fame and accessibility, are naturally gradually destroyed and destroyed not only by the savagery of “tourists”, but even by the specialists themselves. For example, in order to preserve petroglyphs, part of the rock on Peri Nos was separated by explosion and transported to the Hermitage. At the same time, some of the petroglyphs were lost forever.

But, initially, these places were remote from settlements, which emphasizes their ritual nature. Those. These places were apparently used for religious ceremonies and were specially visited for these purposes. But for some reason they didn’t settle in the immediate vicinity. The abandoned village and cemetery that are now located near these capes are in no way connected with the settlements of a thousand years ago.

The mystery of the place, the unclear meaning of many of the drawings - all this has a stimulating effect and awakens an endless series of questions: starting with “where”, ending with “why”. Indeed, why are the petroglyphs not scattered evenly over all the rocks of Karelia, but concentrated in two places (Belomorsk and Cape Onega)? Why, despite the relatively short distance between these places, are the petroglyphs different in nature? Why are petroglyphs clustered in such dense groups?

Lovers of the otherworldly, mysterious and mystical attribute to this place abnormal forces that have a pathogenic effect on a person: at first they attract like a magnet, then they force them to return and even lead to various misfortunes. And scientists who are far from mystics ask more riddles than find answers. This is especially true for the so-called lunar patterns in the form of circles and crescents with outgoing rays. Some believe that this is an image of traps, others that this is an image of the sun and moon. Some believe that this is due to religious rituals, others - with the cosmic nature of the drawings, others assume astronomical knowledge from the ancients, others calculate the directions of the rays and reach the idea of ​​​​an ancient observatory. In a word, there are more questions than answers - and this only fuels the process of proliferation of speculation and legends.

Finding and discovering new drawings requires knowledge, skill and experience. The most distinct drawings, which are usually viewed by tourists, are quite large and clearly visible. But this is just the tip of the iceberg! It is clear that it is simply not possible to see “scratches” on the flat surface of a stone. Therefore, it is always recommended to view petroglyphs on a sunny day when the stones are dry. To see the small relief of “weak patterns”, it is best to do this at sunrise or sunset, when the rays of the sun illuminate them lengthwise and the shadows allow you to see what is almost impossible to see with “vertical” lighting. When there is no time to wait for favors from nature, experts use various tricks: they cover themselves with thick fabric, allowing light to pass onto the stones along the surface.

Be that as it may, this place really makes an indelible impression. You really feel the breath of millennia. Indeed, something mystical envelops you. It really attracts and makes you want to come back there again.

On this page:

Cape Besov Nose of Lake Onega is widely known in narrow circles as a place that every self-respecting jeeper should visit. Every summer, dozens of real men storm the Onega forests and swamps in one impulse. In other circles, Besov Nos is famous mainly for its Neolithic petroglyphs, which we went (or rather, swam) to see.

The trip to Besov Nos has become the talk of the town among fans of off-road shit climbing. The very first pictures for the query “demon nose on a jeep” on Google are beautiful:

No, it's not broken, it's the suspension it has.

Well, etc. and so on. No, this is not our car =))

This fascinating pastime is best characterized by a dialogue read in some report:

- Why do you need so much gasoline?

- Yes, our motorboat overturned and everything leaked out.

- How did you turn over?

— Yes, I collided with a UAZ and overturned.

We have no more questions.

Particularly gifted people travel right along the banks of the Onega to the Murom Monastery - this is new chic. It's even more interesting:

Although we quite by chance happened to have a jeep with us that was just right for all the jeeps, it was not at all prepared for such swims. So, like the last suckers, we had to sail on that same motorboat. In principle, you can get to Besov Nos on foot; along the jeep road it’s only 15 km to the place.

How to get to Besov Nos

All roads to Besov Nos begin in the village of Karshevo, which is about 40 kilometers south of Pudozh. Half of the population of this village makes a living by transporting everyone to Besovo Nos on motorboats.

It costs on average 1000 rubles. per person.

The journey along the river is quite far, about half an hour one way.

Finally, the river flows into Onega, and we shake ourselves out of the boat.

From the mouth of the river to Cape Besov Nos itself, you still need to walk about three kilometers along the sandy beaches of Onega.

On the high capes, the entire pine forest was destroyed by the 2010 hurricane. It left behind areas of literally mown forest throughout the North.

Demon Nose

Here, finally, is the Demon Nose.

It represents granite “foreheads” gently descending into Onega. It is on this granite that you need to look for petroglyphs.

The most famous of the local petroglyphs is the so-called “demon”: its legs are clearly visible in the photo below.

And the rest is difficult to see, because the weather was cloudy and unsuitable for viewing the petroglyphs.

It’s best to go to Besov Nos in sunny weather: in the light scattered by clouds, the petroglyphs are very poorly visible. And a local guide wouldn’t hurt either: some of the drawings are difficult to find without outside help.

This is what the Demon looks like if you draw its outlines with chalk.

It can be seen that the figure was carved on top of a large crack that split the granite boulder. Perhaps the ancient aborigines considered this crack to be something like an entrance to other worlds.

In general, despite the fact that Besov Nos is the largest “deposit” of petroglyphs in all of Fennoscandia (Scandinavia, Finland and Karelia), the Onega petroglyphs are very poorly studied, almost not deciphered at all, and it is not really known who and why carved all this into stone in the era Neolithic

To the right, an Orthodox cross is knocked out on top of the Bes. This is the work of the monks of the nearby Murom Monastery, who actually discovered the Onega petroglyphs a couple of hundred years ago.

Well, around Bes there are many other drawings of animals, fish and strange figures.

Previously, there was a lighthouse on the cape, but now in the era of GPS, no one needs it and is abandoned.

And all around there are untouched pine forests. The places are simply magical and of course you should go here for a week or two with a tent, and not for a couple of hours.

Peri Nose

There are petroglyphs not only on Cape Besov Nos itself, but also on neighboring ones. The closest of them is Cape Peri Nos, a kilometer away. We go there along the shore.

Along the way we refresh ourselves with pasture. What I like in the north is that all the “gifts of nature” grow there at once: in the forest there are raspberries, blueberries, lingonberries, blueberries, cloudberries, and mushrooms at the same time. Cranberry, though, later.

Peri Nos is several stone promontories protruding into the lake, which also have petroglyphs.

Here the plots and style are different and nothing is clear at all. Who is this? Some birds.

There are a lot of simple icons and geometric shapes.

Our boatman gave us 3 hours to do everything, and this turned out to be not enough. We haven’t seen everything yet, but we already have to go back.

In the middle of the 19th century, geologist Konstantin Grevingk, a professor at the University of Tartu, discovered many drawings carved into stones on the rocks on the eastern shore of Lake Onega. Since that time, people have become aware of the existence of the Onega petroglyphs - one of the main attractions of Karelia.

Rock paintings in Karelia can be found in several places, but the most famous are the White Sea and Onega petroglyphs. The first are located near Belomorsk near the sea coast, the others are on the eastern side of Lake Onega in the Pudozh region of Karelia. The Onega petroglyphs were carved approximately 5-6 thousand years ago, when the territory of modern Karelia was just being inhabited by primitive tribes. These petroglyphs are so unique that, along with the famous Kizhi, they are included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Unknown artists used stone chisels to carve images on coastal rocks for many years and even centuries. It is difficult even for modern people to carve such drawings on granite rock, which can only be taken with a diamond drill, not to mention our ancestors from the Stone Age. Scientists have established that the authors of the petroglyphs used a piece of quartz as a chisel, using a second piece of stone as a hammer. Today, more than a thousand images are known, ranging in size from a few centimeters to four meters. They are concentrated on a rocky section of the coast 20 km long.

Almost half of all known images were carved on the capes Besov Nos and Peri Nos. These places are remote from public roads and popular tourist routes, so not all tourists who come to Karelia on vacation can look at the petroglyphs.

Primitive artists on the shores of Lake Onega most often depicted birds and, slightly less often, animals. There are also images of people or supernatural creatures. Some of the Onega petroglyphs have not yet been deciphered and scientists can only assume what ancient people painted on the stones.

The most famous Onega petroglyph is the image of the “Demon” on the Demon’s Nose. A huge (more than 2 meters in height) disproportionate figure of a humanoid creature is carved into the rock, and there is a deep crack in the middle of the image. Next to the “Demon” there are images of a catfish or burbot and a lizard or otter. For several thousand years this petroglyph remained unchanged, and only in the 19th century the monks of the local monastery decided to “neutralize” it and carved an image of an Orthodox cross over its left hand. This is the form in which this petroglyph now appears before researchers and tourists coming to Karelia.

Why ancient people carved these images on stone, scientists can only speculate. Perhaps they were used in rituals. Some even believe that sacrifices could have been carried out on the Demon Nose. Other researchers consider our ancestors to be less bloodthirsty, and petroglyphs, according to their version, could serve as a kind of observatory with the help of which the movement of celestial bodies was calculated. By the way, it’s worth admiring the petroglyphs just before the stars appear. The images are best seen in the last rays of the setting sun. In this light, the relief of the rock appears along with the slightest cracks.

How to get to the Onega petroglyphs:

Petroglyphs on Lake Onega, unlike those on the White Sea, are located away from popular tourist routes. Therefore, few tourists can look at the unique stone writings with their own eyes. You can get to Cape Besov Nos both by water and by land. In the first case, the easiest way would be to rent a boat in the village of Shalsky. The village is located just a little over 10 kilometers from Besov Nos.

In order to get to the petroglyphs by land, you will need a prepared SUV. First you need to get to Pudozh - this is the regional center, then tourists have a 35-kilometer stretch, first to the village of Karashevo, and then along a forest dirt road to the cape. The journey will be quite exciting, because along the way there are abandoned villages, and the road itself can add adrenaline to the blood, so you need to go in a prepared jeep with a winch, several jacks and, preferably, experience in trophy raids. In general, there are many similar impassable roads in this region and jeep tours in Karelia are very popular. Such a vacation will allow you to get to know Karelia from a completely different side and look at such hidden places that the locals themselves sometimes do not know about.

If the path to the Onega petroglyphs seems too long, you can simply visit the National Museum, located in the very center of Petrozavodsk. Its collections contain a piece of rock with real petroglyphs brought from the eastern shore of Lake Onega.

What to see nearby

Onega petroglyphs are located in the Pudozh region of Karelia. For a long time it was considered a remote territory, located on the edge of the republic, and even reaching ships was quite difficult. Nowadays a federal highway passes through the territory of the district, connecting Karelia, Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions. Every year it will get better, so the flow of tourists here will only increase in the coming years.

This region is special. Traditionally, a predominantly Russian population settled here, whose life acquired its own special features. They can tell about all this at the local history museum of the region in Pudozh. Thanks to its position, the area has managed to preserve its unique nature, untouched by civilization. The largest wildlife park in Europe, Vedlozersky, is located here, and pilgrims will be interested in visiting the Murom Monastery, founded in the 14th century.

Dear readers, according to my dream vision, I was shown the following on this topic.

Dear readers, I am sure that many of you have heard the comic song about the “Cursed Island” from Leonid Gaidai’s film “The Diamond Arm. It contains these words:

“The crocodile is not caught, the coconut does not grow,

They cry to God and pray without sparing their tears,
The crocodile is not caught, the coconut does not grow!

Local residents lived in the same way on the eastern shore of Lake Onega, in the area of ​​Cape Besov Nos, which is located 1.5 km to the north, from the confluence of the Chernaya River into Lake Onega.
The cape is famous for its petroglyphs, among which stands out an image called a “demon”, about two meters and thirty centimeters long, and which is about 5 thousand years old.
The image of the “demon”, as well as other petroglyphs, is made on stones by notching and chipping the surface of the stones.
The name of the image “demon” was given by Christian pioneer monks in the 16th century. Petroglyphs are classified as archaeological Neolithic monuments.
The collection of petroglyphs at Cape Besov Nos is considered the richest in Karelia.
About 1 km north of Besov Nos, there is Cape Peri-Nos. At the same distance, but further south is Cape Kladovets. Cape Besov Nos itself and the adjacent capes are a common place for local fishermen and hunters to visit, as well as various archaeological expeditions and tourists.
For decades, Cape Besov Nos has been the target of constant archaeological expeditions, part of the divisions of the Karelian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as archaeological scientists from Scandinavia and other European countries. Cape Besov Nos is at the same time an important geodetic point in orienting water tourists and yachtsmen, including participants in the Onega Regatta.
Currently, the territory of Cape Besov Nos is a natural and historical reserve.
In recent years, auto tourists have also begun to visit Cape Besov Nos.
Dear readers, in this essay, I also invite you to visit Cape Besov Nos and plunge with me into those distant historical events of the past that happened to local residents about 5 thousand years ago! So….

In those distant, distant times, when the local residents of Cape Besov Nos were still savages, one winter two aliens flew here in a spherical flying machine.
It is this spherical flying machine that is depicted on separate petroglyphs, with two legs, behind which another pair of legs is hidden.
Looking ahead, I will say that the main alien forbade the local stone cutter to depict their balloon on the petroglyphs, and therefore he often examined new petroglyphs and spoiled them - connecting these two legs with a line. It is these “corrected” UFO legs that we can see on the petroglyphs damaged by the alien, which have become like some kind of mushrooms with round caps!
The alien hoped that people in the future would not be able to guess what the stone carver depicted when he painted these petroglyphs. Dear readers, we still managed to unravel the mystery of the damaged petroglyphs!
The alien also damaged other petroglyphs from the stone carver, which directly indicated the presence of aliens in this place. Today we see that some of the petroglyphs on the “space theme” still remain intact, which means that the alien did not have time to spoil them.
These petroglyphs served the ancient people, if we apply modern terminology to them: an album with drawings for transmitting visual information to their heirs! Also, conditionally, this album can be compared with the textbook from which the youth of a given tribe studied.
For example, a young man, going to bed, asked a question to his father or grandfather, and he told him the legend of their tribe. In the morning, the father or grandfather led the young man to the petroglyphs, and already looking at them, they explained what had been told to the young man in the evening: a legend, a true story, a legend….

However, let's go back to the moment the aliens landed on the top of the hill, when they saw from a balloon an elk running through the bushes and 2 hunters, who were from different tribes, hunting for it.
Since this elk was running close to the aliens’ balloon, the aliens decided to stop the whole hunt! The aliens in turn irradiated each of them with some kind of “Stop Energy” so that they all froze like statues and could not move!
The aliens came out of the balloon and approached each one individually: the first hunter, then the second, then the moose itself. The aliens carefully examined the hunters and seized their bow and arrows. Then they approached the elk and took out two arrows from its side, which only slightly pierced its skin, and therefore the elk remained completely healthy.
After going around all the participants in the hunt, the aliens removed the “Stop Energy” from the first hunter and entered into dialogue with him.
The hunter told the aliens his story about hunting an elk, his weapon, and began to claim that it was he who killed the elk, and therefore the killed elk belongs to him!
The aliens again immobilized the first hunter and removed the “Stop Energy” from the second hunter, who also told the aliens his hunting story, about his bow and arrows and the markings of the arrows. Then the hunter began to claim that it was he who killed the elk and that the elk he killed rightfully belonged to him!
Since the arrow shot by the first hunter pierced the elk’s side deeper than the arrow of the second hunter, and the elk itself ran towards the first hunter’s tribe, the aliens themselves decided that the elk should belong to the first hunter.
The second hunter was indignant, but could not do anything, because... two eccentrics from the balloon threatened him with death if he did not go to his tribe. The aliens threatened the hunter that they would simply immobilize him, and he would freeze to death in the forest by himself!
The second hunter was really shivering from the cold, and therefore, snarling and threatening the first hunter with his reprisals, he wandered towards his tribe.
Dear readers, indeed, hunters and fishermen from different tribes very often quarreled over prey! As a result, from time to time they had battles between the tribes! And now: the second hunter promised to return in a few days, with a group of fellow tribesmen who would get even with them for this elk!
The reason for the failures in hunting lay in the fact that in order to kill an elk, the hunter had to run after it through the forest until the elk got tired in order to come within shooting distance of a bow shot.
The second reason was that their bow and arrows were primitive; arrows fired from such a bow did not fly far and had weak penetrating power. In addition, there were no tips on the arrows.
The third reason was that often each hunter hunted alone and only for his family!
If the prey was small, then it all went to the hunter or fisherman.
If the prey was large, then they shared it with their relatives.
If the catch was especially large (elk, bear, deer, large fish), then it was shared with other families, especially with those families that were poor or did not have men in their family.
The same heated debates about fish occurred with fishermen on Lake Onega. The same technical backwardness: only two boats per tribe, which were passed from family to family every new day. Fishing gear included: a fishing rod, a stick, a stone, and a spear. So….

When the second hunter went to his tribe to agitate the men, the senior alien told the first hunter that he would now revive the elk!
The hunter immediately began to fuss and began to beg the alien to wait a little, because... he had to find an arrow and a bow so that he could use them to kill the elk!
The alien went inside the balloon and pressed the right button - the petrified elk came to life and ran away from them about 50 meters and stopped, thinking: What was wrong with him?
The hunter began to get excited about the loss of the elk, but the alien calmly answered the hunter that he would kill the elk from this distance!
The hunter did not believe the alien and continued to scold the alien for releasing the elk early.
The alien asked the hunter to go into the balloon and when he went inside the cabin of the balloon, he pointedly pressed the button with his thin finger - the elk immediately fell dead on the snow, as if cut down, causing the hunter to be in an ecstatic state of mind!
The joyful hunter asked the alien that how he killed this elk, because... There were no fatal wounds on the elk's body.
The alien simply told the hunter about the “miracle button”, with which he can kill every living creature on Earth! The alien allowed the hunter to use a “miracle button” to also kill a couple of birds.
The hunter really liked the miracle button, and the alien barely persuaded the hunter to get out of the balloon.
Having picked up a couple of birds, the hunter led the alien to his tribe.

Due to technical and mental retardation, savage people were starving and were ready to follow anyone who would feed them!
As one Russian saying goes: “Come in and you will be a guest!” If you bring a bottle of vodka, you’ll be the owner!”
The same thing happened here, when the people of the tribe found out that their guest did not come empty-handed, but got them an elk, they immediately fell in love with him and made him an honorary guest of the tribe!
Several people from the tribe brought the elk, cut it up and fried it on the fire. It was a real holiday for their entire tribe!

Sitting by the fire, the alien told the savages that he had been sent to them by God and now life in the tribe would improve qualitatively!
The savage people pointed to the wooden idol that they worshiped and told the alien that he was their God!
The alien was not taken aback and immediately answered the savages that he was sent by the Supreme God, who lives in heaven, to help their idol, who was already tired of helping people from their tribe! The alien gave a living example to the savage people that they are now starving due to the fault of the idol, who was tired and asked the God of heaven to send him a replacement!
Dear readers, you and I know that the alien simply lied “okay and smoothly” to the savages from Lake Onega, and therefore the savage people, who had gorged themselves on elk meat, began to show all sorts of honors to the alien and ask him for forgiveness for not immediately recognizing the messenger from heaven !
The savages, having drunk their chatter, climbed up to kiss the alien, while others began to bring him from their homes - stale amulets and rare bones from animals and fish that were once eaten by them or even by their ancient ancestors!
As a result, the “meat feast” ended, and the alien went with gifts and souvenirs to sleep in his balloon, and the savage people went to their homes, which were located right under the bushes, in the open air!

Just as a leaf of a birch broom sticks to the buttocks in a bathhouse, so the leader of the tribe stuck to the alien, demanding from him proof that he was a messenger of God!
The cunning alien decided to deceive the annoying leader of the tribe by asking him to build a certain tall log house, on top of which there would be their wooden idol! Further, the alien explained to the leader that when people from another tribe attack them, they will not be able to steal their idol, because... it will be on top of the log house. That daredevil who nevertheless climbs to the top of the log house, behind the idol, can be easily killed, still below!
The leader of the tribe liked this alien’s idea, and he gave the order to build a log tower for the idol.
The frame was not continuous, as is usually the case with a real well frame, but with one log missing. Conventionally, such a log house can be compared as if we were putting together such a log house from matches.
Finally, this wooden frame tower was built, and a wooden idol of this tribe was placed on top.
Every evening, the people of the tribe gathered at the idol and solved their problems: they prayed, complained, asked for a sign, asked for successful hunting and fishing, and made a sacrifice.
In the evenings, the alien began to climb onto this log tower and, standing next to the idol, loudly voiced in his voice what the idol said, answering people from the tribe to certain requests or their problems. No one else, except this messenger from heaven, had the right to climb the tower.
Thus, the alien seized power in the tribe and began to control the people from the tribe at his own discretion!
However, the leader began to suspect the alien that he was speaking from himself, and not from their idol!
Then the alien persuaded his compatriot on the planet to climb the tower with the idol in advance and, hiding, answer the aspirations of the people from the tribe!
The junior alien initially refused, but then was forced to agree in order to help out his alien commander.
As a result, in the evening, people from the tribe gathered near the idol for prayer, and each of them began to ask the idol something, and it began to answer them, giving this or that advice or answers.
On this “demonstration evening” at the bottom of the tower, next to the leader of the tribe, an alien stood and each time convinced the leader that it was the idol himself who was speaking, and not him!
The leader was personally convinced that the answers were given by the idol, and not by their new friend, because... he was standing next to the leader!
After this “trick” of the alien, the savage people began to trust the messenger of the Heavenly God more and give him all the honors due to his rank!
It must be said that the alien commander successfully ruled the savages, moreover, he supported this not only with words, but also with deeds. When savage people successfully pray to the idol, consider it to be that he rewarded the people with successful hunting or fishing.

Everything would have been fine, but people from a neighboring tribe decided to attack this lucky tribe and get even with them for the elk!
The defector informed the leader of the lucky tribe that tomorrow morning they would be attacked by people of a neighboring tribe, who invited men from other tribes to join their army.
The leader of the lucky tribe panicked because... he had fewer warriors than their neighbors. However, a messenger from heaven came to his aid, who ordered to make trenches in the cracks between the stones and store stones, wooden darts and sticks, bows and arrows in them. The alien himself spent the night in a stone dugout, outwardly similar to a modern observation pit.
It was the stone dugout that was shown in the video filmed by the scientific expedition. So….
When the warriors of the neighboring tribe approached the stone trenches, they were successfully attacked by the warriors of the lucky tribe under the command of the alien!
Since the warriors of the messenger of heaven were in the stone crevices, they suffered less from stones, sticks and arrows than the aggressors. In addition, for the first time in their lives, certain “fireballs” were thrown at the aggressors, consisting of dry branches of bushes and dry grass, which led the warriors of the aggressive tribe to flight.
The battle was fierce and dense, but the warriors of the heavenly messenger still defeated the warriors of the aggressive tribe and they fled to their place, saying that they would return again in a couple of months.
Warriors from an aggressive tribe made their way into the stone dugout to the two aliens, but they famously fought them off and could not be defeated in a duel.
It was in this fierce battle that the alien’s right eye was knocked out with a stone.
So, the victory took place, the battle was won, the people from the tribe thanked their messenger from heaven!

Everything would be fine with the savage people, but one day the time came for the second alien to return to his planet! No matter how much his commander begged him to stay: to stay on Earth a little longer, he stubbornly wanted to fly to his home!
The alien commander reported this to the leader of the tribe, who was also saddened, because... With the messenger from heaven, their lives became more satisfying and calmer.
The alien assured the leader that he would return back to Earth after some time!
The leader asked the “breadwinner”, how would he recognize him if they all looked the same there?
The alien replied to the leader of the tribe that a certain cast, an image, could be taken from him! The alien who is similar in size to this image will be recognized by the leader as a messenger from heaven!
Decided - done! The alien lay down on a stone slab, and the artist carved out his external characteristics in stone. This particular petroglyph is now called “The Demon”!
The alien demanded from the leader that the people of the tribe make a blood sacrifice to his image on the stone. With this they will feed their messenger from heaven!
When the stone cutter was gouging out the mouth of the messenger of heaven, he struck too hard, causing the stone to crack upward along the face of the alien image.
The stone cutter was scared because... the messenger of heaven will have to lie down on the stone again and do all the work all over again.
The stone cutter came up with the idea of ​​telling the alien that they would pour the blood of their victims into their mouths, and on top there was a certain funnel with a hole inside through which all other sacrificial offerings from heaven would flow!
The alien hardly liked such a vague interpretation of the stone cutter, and he did not demand from him a new image of his beloved!

Everything would have been fine with the savage people, but the alien, who was the balloon pilot, killed a man from a neighboring tribe! They promised to come in a crowd and kill him!
The alien messenger had no choice but to quickly leave the tribe he loved, in which he was revered as God! As a result, the balloon flew over the tribe and departed towards the Barents Sea!
When men from another tribe came to get even with the alien pilot, the leaders still managed to come to an agreement among themselves, due to the fact that the “offender” managed to leave them forever!

When the alien commander of the balloon, considered a messenger of heaven in this tribe, arrived for the second time, the savage people greeted him unfriendly! They grabbed him and took him to their tribe, where they tied him to a pole so that they could hang him in the morning! The savage people decided to do a favor to the foreigner in view of the fact that the alien told them the names of their long-dead ancestors!
When the leader of this tribe came to execution early in the morning, the alien cried out to his gods and began to remind him of the legend of their tribe, which said that a messenger from heaven would fly to their tribe!
The tribal leader remembered this legend because... About 135 years have passed since then! Let me remind the reader that at that time people lived on average 30 – 35 years! Then the alien reminded the leader that they would have to recognize the messenger of heaven by the imprint on the stone!
The leader remembered this condition of their legend, and agreed to take the messenger of heaven to the place where the image of the messenger of heaven, in modern terms “demon,” was carved on a stone.
The alien lay down with his back on his image on the stone, and the leader of the tribe began to compare its external contours with the contour on the stone. The contours coincided, then the leader suggested doing the same with the hand. When the alien placed his palm on the stone, the contours and dimensions of the palm coincided again! Thus, the alien was recognized as a messenger of heaven and began to be revered as a messenger of heaven who returned to their tribe for the second time!
Since the legend of this tribe said that at that time, under the messenger from heaven, people lived well, now they have hope that now they will all live just as “curly” - prosperously!

However, how wrong the savage people were when they trusted the messenger of heaven, who was offended by them and, in revenge, decided to destroy all the people from this tribe!
Everything happened in the tribe as before: people prayed, revered the alien, pinned their hopes on him, but who, secretly from the people, began to harm them by quarreling and pitting people against each other!
For example: if a hunt ended in failure, then the messenger of heaven began to blame the good hunter, who was immediately attacked by the wrath of the people of his tribe!
As a result, the sentence followed - to sacrifice this hunter to the idol!
It happened that the messenger of heaven accused women of treason, and then execution followed again, with sacrificial bloodletting, on the stone face of the messenger of heaven! If in ancient times the stone image of the messenger of heaven (the demon) was saturated with blood only with the blood of sacrificial animals, now the human blood of the murdered person was sacrificed!
Thus, pitting people from the tribe against each other, the messenger of heaven achieved the almost complete destruction of the people of the tribe!
In the end: some people fled from the tribe to other tribes; old people, children and women died of hunger!
When the messenger of heaven sentenced the leader's girl to death, it was only after her death that the leader of the tribe realized that this messenger of heaven was to blame for all their troubles! As a result, the leader and the messenger of heaven fought hand-to-hand! The leader of the tribe forcibly dragged the messenger of heaven to the sacrificial stone, where he wanted to sacrifice the messenger of heaven himself in his own image!
The messenger of the sky was helped to free himself by an alien pilot who came running to the telepathic call of his commander. He hit the leader on the head with a stone, after which the leader’s strong hands unclenched, and the messengers of heaven were able to go to their balloon!
Having urgently taken their seats on the balloon, the fake messengers of the sky flew towards their home! There was nothing else for them to do here on the lake! Almost all the tribes were destroyed by aliens like these! For the second time, not just one balloon flew to Earth, but several at once! It was these same aliens that quarreled all the tribes among themselves, who began to quarrel and fight among themselves, killing each other!
In the last battle between the tribes, the tower with the idol was set on fire, but the most valuable thing was that they saved an ancient stone with ancient petroglyphs! When the savage people saved this stone, sacred to them, carrying it on sticks, like on a stretcher, their enemies shot at them, threw stones and threw sharpened darts until they dropped the stone to the ground! It was this very stone that was found and turned over by members of the scientific expedition, who transferred the petroglyphs to paper, and the stone was placed in its old place. They don’t care that several brave savage people laid down their lives for this stone at the same time, trying to save their relic for new generations!
Since the savage people of this tribe most often ate catfish and water rats, which we call otters, it was they who were depicted on the petroglyphs.
The “Whale” petroglyph reminded them of an ancient legend that their ancient ancestors once hunted whales! But when the stupid leaders of the tribe came to power, their lives changed for the worse. They were ashamed of eating otters!
In those ancient times, the men of their tribe would go fishing and whaling to the Barents Sea for two months!
The petroglyph “demon” has one eye, which means that one of the alien’s eyes was knocked out with a stone in the battle for the elk!
The “demon” petroglyph has a through crack in the stone in the middle. However, initially, this crack was not there, there was a drain for blood! When the savage people wanted to destroy the petroglyph on the stone in revenge, they lit a large fire on the stone before the tide. When the water level in the lake rose, the stone simply cracked in half due to the temperature change!

When Orthodox monks and pioneers began to come here in the 16th century, they perceived the image on the stone as an image of a “demon” that the locals worshiped here! By this time, savage people no longer lived here!
Some walkers came and went further, but there was one persistent monk who decided to ruin the alien’s petroglyph by hollowing out an Orthodox cross next to it! He went to this place for several days in a row and hollowed out a cross in the stone, making it clear that the Orthodox cross suppresses the demon (evil)! That is, how would he neutralize the harmful effects of this demon!
Thus, this cape was nicknamed Cape Besov Nos. Dear readers, I thank you all for your active participation in my historical expedition through the ancient times of the Neolithic, and wish you new educational excursions on the pages of my “Dream Essays” - essays about dreams!

Dear readers, please note that this is just my dream, and therefore: Believe it or not! You never know what each of us might dream about.