.jpg)
Kigilyakh orkisiliyakh[1] (Russian:кигиляхиcode: rus promoted to code: ru;Yakut:киһилээх,romanized: kihilēx,lit. 'stone person', pluralкиһилээхлэрэkihilēxlere) are pillar-like naturalrock formations looking like tall monoliths standing more or less isolated. Usually they are composed ofgranite orsandstone shaped as a result ofcryogenic weathering.[2] Most kigilyakhs formed during theEarly Cretaceous and are about 120 million years old.[3]
Theseanthropomorphic rock pillars are an important feature inYakut culture.[4][5] Often they are slightly scattered, protruding from the surface of smooth mountains and giving the impression of a standing crowd of people.[6] According to Yakut legends kigilyakhs originated in very ancient people.[5]
The Yakut word"kisiliy" means "a place where there are people".[3]Kisilyakh means "mountain having a man" or "mountain married".[6] The term "kigilyakh" is a distorted form of the original Yakut"kisilyakh".[7]
Such stones are found in different places ofSakha (Yakutia),Russia, mainly in theEast Siberian Lowland:[5]
Outside of Yakutia, similar formations are found in the island ofPopova-Chukchina and thePutorana Plateau, inKrasnoyarsk Krai.[11]
Ferdinand von Wrangel reported on the kigilyakhs on Chetyryokhstolbovoy, an island of theMedvezhyi Islands in theEast Siberian Sea. He visited the island during his 1821-1823 expedition and named it after them (Chetyryokhstolbovoy meaning "four pillars"). The kigilyakhs on Chetyryokhstolbovoy Island are about 15 m (49 ft) high.[2]
In theSoviet Union on theKigilyakh Peninsula at the western end ofBolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, a New Siberian Islands named afterVladimir Voronin, then in charge of thepolar station on the island, was shown a large standing rock which had been heavily eroded and which gave its name to the peninsula.[12]
Media related toKigilyakh at Wikimedia Commons