The Case for Hobbits

[zorgon]

The Case for Hobbits

Yes those big footed little creatures from the Lord of the Rings...

I want to make this thread as a resource for anything related to Hoobits...

I strated this some time ago based on a discover in Russia, more precisely the Caucasian Mountains

There are literally HUNDREDS of Hobbit Houses dotting the country side. Not much information available and very little scientific research can be found. Who built them? When were they built? We do have a lot of photos from tourist that have made the hike into the deep woods to find them...

So...

On theTrail of the Shire


The Hobbit's house by by Georg K. in gorodskoy okrug gorod Lytkarino, Moscow Oblast, Russia
55° 35' 59.74" N  37° 52' 41.36" E

[zorgon]

Hobbit Homes
Caucasian Dolmens



he map above shows locations of known Dolmen structures. The original source for the following images came via a Russian Website... which has little text on these, but a fantastic photo gallery in public domain.

Other sources used:
http://menhir.ru , http://divnomorsk.ru , http://megalith.ru (the most complete information on the dolmens)




Menhir

[zorgon]

This one is particularly interesting because it is one of the few that have markings on it. By the looks of it they are very intricate carvings and this one has the added wall. Maybe a community center or Mayor's House













This one shows sone children around it so you get the scale.

[zorgon]

Another interesting fact is that these are not close together but scattered far apart over a large area. These people didn't like neighbors it would seem




These little houses are also unique individual styles  From very simple almost cave like to fancy pyramid shapes. It appears the builders had their own designs for each house

[zorgon]

Some of the stones on these are HUGE so how did little people that can fit into those round doors manage such huge stomes?

[zorgon]

[zorgon]

[zorgon]

This is one of the few that doesn't have a round doorway

[zorgon]

Caucasian Dolmens



Concentrations of megaliths, dolmens and stone labyrinths have been found (but little studied) throughout the Caucasus Mountains, including the Abkhazia. Most of them are represented by rectangular structures made of stone slabs or cut in rocks with holes in their facade. These dolmens cover the Western Caucasus on both sides of the mountain ridge, in an area of approximately 12.000 square kilometres of Russia and Abkhazia.

The Caucasian dolmens represent a unique type of prehistoric architecture, built with precisely dressed large stone blocks. The stones were, for example, shaped into 90-degree angles, to be used as corners or were curved to make a circle. The monuments date between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C.

While generally unknown in the rest of Europe, these Russian megaliths are equal to the great megaliths of Europe in terms of age and quality of architecture, but are still of an unknown origin. In spite of the variety of Caucasian monuments, they show strong similarities with megaliths from different parts of Europe and Asia, like the Iberian Peninsula, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Israel and India. A range of hypotheses has been put forward to explain these similarities and the building of megaliths on the whole, but still it remains unclear.

Approximately 3,000 of these megalithic monuments are known in the Western Caucasus, but more are constantly being found, while more and more are also being destroyed. Today, many are in great disrepair and will be completely lost if they are not protected from vandals and general neglect.



Architecture of Russian dolmens
The dolmens have a limited variety in their architecture. The floor plans are square, trapezoidal, rectangular and round. All of the dolmens are punctuated with a portal in the centre of the facade. While round portholes are the most common, square ones are also found. In front of the facade is a court that usually splays out, creating an area where rituals possibly took place. The court is usually outlined by large stone walls, sometimes over a meter high, which enclose the court. It is in this area that Bronze and Iron Age pottery has been found - which helped date these tombs -, along with human remains, bronze tools and silver, gold and semi-precious stone ornaments.

The repertoire of decoration for these tombs is not great. Vertical and horizontal zigzags, hanging triangles and concentric circles are the most common motifs. One decorative motif that is quite common is found across the top of the porthole slab. It can best be described as a lintel held up by two columns. Pairs of breasts, done in relief, have also been found on a few tombs. These breasts usually appear above the two columns of the porthole decoration. Perhaps related to these are the stone plugs, which were used to block the porthole, and are found with almost every tomb. They are sometimes phallic-shaped.

Some unusual items associated with dolmens are big round stone balls, double balls and animal sculptures.

One of the most interesting megalithic complexes – group of three dolmens - stands in a row on a hill above Zhane River on the Black Sea coast in the Krasnodar area near Gelendzhik, Russia. In this area there is a great concentration of all types of megalithic sites including settlements and dolmen cemeteries. Large stone mounds surrounded the two monuments.

The central dolmen is rectangular in plan, 4 x 4 meters, while the two flanking dolmens are circular, 4 and 5 meters in diameter. The two round dolmens had been bulldozed - probably in the 1950s - in order to harvest the surrounding trees, but the main structure of the central dolmen had not been damaged.

Another (fourth) dolmen near Zhane River have a secret entrance at the back of the chamber, and a façade, dummy entrance and courtyard on the front of the dolmen. There in addition to these pristine dolmens were some ruined dolmens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmens_of_North_Caucasus

[zorgon]

Caucasian Menhirs

Scattered randomly between the Dolmens are pieces of carved rocks and menhirs (A menhir (French, from Middle Breton: men, "stone" and hir, "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright standing stone. Menhirs may be found singly as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. )

Some of the ones strewn on the ground look like column sections but no sign of where they belonged



Nikolaev - New Sinegorsk region
Cylindrical blocks of stone, with traces of manual processing. In quantities of 5 pieces (if you walk around, I think more can be found). On one of the blocks straight grooves with a depth of approximately 10 cm

[zorgon]

Caucasian Dolmen and Menhirs
Neighborhood pos.Novy (rocks, dolmens, etc.) (Summer 2002-2003)



Literally in the garden of a local resident we can see the first dolmen. To the left of the dolmen along the sheds, is a path leading up the hill to the rocky ridge.

The path to the summit is steep. Before a small unobtrusive typhus it turns to the right. However, it is a small height - ca. 300m, therefore can be achieved without problems. The path leads out to the foot of the cliffs on the right. You can walk along the cliffs along the ground or immediately go upstairs, directly to the repeater, and go on top.



Going further, we reach the most interesting natural formations - stone mushrooms. Going down the hill a bit, you can watch on a flat rock, "The Mirror", which completes the beam going down (the point of mirrors).



Original Site: http://journey.by.ru/new/new.htm

[zorgon]

Prehistoric Megaliths in the Western Caucasus
RUSSIA'S MEGALITHS:
UNEARTHING THE LOST PREHISTORIC TOMBS OF CAUCASIAN WARLORDS IN THE ZHANE VALLEY

This long-term project is sponsored and administered by the Institute for Study of Material Culture History,

Russian Academy of Sciences, St.Petersburg, since 1997

The Project was supported by  Russian Ministry of Culture (1998-2006); the State Committee for Protection of Cultural Heritage (Krasnodar area, Russia) (1998-2006); Russian Fund for Humanities (1999-2002, 2006); The Fund of the President of Russia (2001); National Geographic, Committee for Research and Exploration (2001, 2003).




Searching for artifacts




Taking measurements


Copying pictograms on the interior walls

This was one of the few reports I found of actual study but even that I hade to retrieve from the Internet Archives  http://web.archive.org/web/20060710172304/http://www.admiral.ru/hp/wacfund/

[zorgon]

Archeologists find ancient writings on Sochi's dolmens
Russia, Sochi News March 24th, 2007

The monuments date between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. — that's older that Pyramids of Egypt!

Members of Sochi geographical Society had discovered ancient writings on Dolmens located in Sochi area. During their expedition scientists saw images on some of the stones and noticed that they closely resemble Asian petroglyphs. They also believe that these petroglyphs are not just pictures, but have a meaning.Russian Academy of Sciences, St.Petersburg, since 1997


Writings on dolmen in Sochi. (c) Max Media Group.

Historians from Moscow will help their colleagues from Sochi to prove or disprove this theory. After that Russian "Culture" TV channel will record a film about dolmens in Sochi.

Additional resources on Dolmens in Caucasus:

Prehistoric Megaliths in the Western Caucasus
http://web.archive.org/web/20060710172304/http://www.admiral.ru/hp/wacfund/

Dolmens of Russia on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmens_of_Russia

Photos of Dolmens in Sochi:







Source: Sochi News March 24th, 2007
http://www.sochi-travel.info/articles/archeologists-find-ancient-writings-on-sochi%E2%80%99s-dolmens/

[zorgon]

Okay that is all I have from the original page I did on the Hobbit Houses

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/The_Case_for_Hobbits_Caucasian_Dolmens.html

I have not returned to the subject to check for updates or more info on who lived there and whether or not they found and artifacts or bones etc...

[space otter]

I have seen studies on similar stone structures in nova scotia and new England area
suppose to go back to the Vikings  who were thur there very early on..
some of it was also before  the web..i'll see it I can track it down











real quick on line search.. sorry to just do links but my eyes are crossed..have been doing genealogy 
will look on my shelves for more tomorrow

this is some of what I have seen before
http://www.examiner.com/article/sacred-sites-of-northeast-usa-new-york-north-salem-dolmen-or-balanced-rock-north-salem-ny

connected to Indian God Rock - Rock Art in United States in Mid Atlantic
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17944


barry fell
http://www.badarchaeology.com/?page_id=954



you can take a dolman tour in russia
http://www.spaceoflove.com/dolm_report.htm
For upcoming 2014 tours itinerary click here.
Build Sacred Relations with dolmens through your photo! (Video)
(Please click on the pictures below to see details)


http://www.britam.org/dolmenpics.html

http://www.nativestones.com/prop.htm