MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS Correspondent Eduard Tur/. In the 60s, a Karelian expedition went to the Kuzova Archipelago (the White Sea) to search for stone mazes. The original goal failed, but the group encountered another mysterious phenomenon - stone installations, which now we know as seids. This story is about what seids are like and what secrets they keep.

Petrified Germans

In lower halls of Karelia's National Museum a glass showcase keeps a mysterious exhibit, which looks like ordinary stones. They were discovered on the Kuzova Archipelago in the White Sea a few decades ago (the Kuzova Archipelago, where 'kuzova' is plural of 'kuzov,' consists of 16 small islands, two of which are the biggest - the Russian Kuzov and the German Kuzov), researcher Artyom Liskov said. Since then, the stones have been exhibited permanently.

It all started with the expedition of the Karelian State Museum of Local History (the National Museum's old name) in 1966. A group of scientists led by local historian Ivan Mullo, who had spent six field seasons to study archaeology of the Southern White Sea region, went there hoping to find mysterious stone mazes. He discovered such an object back in the mid-50s in the Chupinsky Bay.

A year before that, the historian heard from a local woman a legend of "petrified Germans." She said, in ancient times, foreigners came to the island. From there, they planned to start a mission to the Solovki, but faced several days of bad weather. When the storm calmed down and the sky cleared, all the warriors turned to stone in an instant, remaining in sitting positions. But for their command - he was the only one to face eternity standing up.

Mullo referred that story to the Swedish campaign of Andres Stewart in 1611, and looked forward to seeing the stone army with his own eyes.

A surprising find

However, when on the islands, the expedition could not find the mazes. Instead, they found numerous stones stacked on top of each other in most diverse and weird combinations. At that time, Mullo was under impression from works by Russian ethnographer, historian and archaeologist Nikolay Kharuzin on the Sami's culture, rituals and beliefs. The scientist wrote about some seids - boulders that the Sami used to set up on mountains and in other places for worship. So, Ivan Mullo dubbed his breakthrough discovery with the same name.

All the finds were photographed later on. The museum is keeping drawings by the expedition participant, artist Georgy Stronk, an author of illustrations for the Kalevala Karelo-Finnish epic.

Further on, scientists found more than 300 seids on the Russian Kuzov Island, and more than 170 on the German Kuzov. One of them, numbered 156, was brought to Petrozavodsk. This seid has an anthropomorphic (human-shaped) appearance and resembles a Sami deity. The composition consists of a "body", "head" and "legs".

Mullo classified seids into ten groups. The classic version is large boulders, stone slabs and rock fragments placed on two or, more often, on three stones. Five or more stones are in their upper plane. There are also seids depicting totemic animals, phallic signs, and deities.

The museum's expeditions have discovered 540 stone structures on the archipelago's seven islands. The sieds were mostly of granite and breccia (a rock formed in cementation of loose elements that form during rock weathering or from mudflows) of magmatic origin. The seids had no traces of processing. The stones had been only stacked on top of each other in the right places.

Maze hunting

As time went on, the first expedition was lucky to find mazes. The museum's taxidermist (specialist who creates stuffed animals and birds) Vasily Ignatenko discovered them while exploring the Oleshin Island: one object was well preserved, while the other two were destroyed. Upon detailed studies, scientists concluded that only two of those were mazes.

Mullo thought the mazes were traps for catching fish. Indeed, in most cases they used to be near active fishing locations, including in other countries. However, the design was too complicated for such a task.

"As far as I can remember, Ivan Mullo tried to fish this way. That is, it was an experiment. I don't think he has managed to catch anything," the researcher said.

Most experts still believe those are cult objects related to fishing and hunting magic. They are found also near burial grounds.

Why more seids

Almost 40 years later, the museum organized another expedition to the archipelago. Many seids had signs of destruction even when they were discovered first, and over the years those signs got even bigger. After news about the mystic find was published, tourists flooded onto the Kuzova. They partially dismantled existing compositions, and even created "new models".

Nowadays, seids are popular throughout Karelia. They are often created as tourist attractions on various trails or during road construction. Modern stone installations look more complicated than their ancestors, and, of course, seids are still veiled with mystery. Some scientists say they are created by people. Others claim the compositions were formed as a glacier was moving across Karelia.

"We may suppose that nature has done this. We may explain with glacial activity the stone structures on the legs, but the deity is more likely man-made," the researcher added.

There is no final opinion regarding dating. Scientists believe that most recent seids and mazes were created in the 17th century. This is not the Sami's culture, it is the Pomors' culture already. Neighboring Finland was using mazes even in the 1920s. First seids could have appeared before our era.