While the Lilliputs are just a fantasy, a village inhabited by dwarfs actually exists in the easternmost part of Iran.
About 500 years ago, the inhabitants of the village of Makhunik were thought to be only half the height of the average Iranian. This information came when people discovered a tiny village in the East of Iran.
Many people who have read the novel by author Jonathan Swift entitled “The Adventures of Gulliver” will know that the novel tells the story of Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, the sole survivor of the shipwreck. crashed in the middle of the sea and then accidentally drifted to the island of Lilliput – the kingdom of the elves with a height of only 15cm.
The Dwarven Village of Makhunik.
It can be seen that the tiny island of Lilliput is only in the imagination of the author Swift, but there is a “tiny village” that actually exists and is located in the East of Iran. Known about more than a century ago, Makhunik is an ancient Iranian city located inside the city of Shahdad, Kerman province, about 75km from the Afghan border, where the dwarves lived 5,000 years ago with average height. only about 50cm. It was called Shahr-e Kotouleha (City of Dwarves).
In 2005, a 25cm long mummy was found in the city of Makhunik. Smugglers wanted to sell it for 80 billion Iranian Rials (approximately .5 million) in Germany. News of the arrest of two smugglers and the discovery of a strange mummy spread quickly. throughout the province of Kerman and caused an international uproar when researchers reported that the mummy belonged to a juvenile dwarf and excavations of the ancient city reminded us of the city’s architecture. Tiny.
There are also many archaeologists who have determined that this mummy is just an infant who died 400 years ago and was mummified through a natural process. The Kerman Provincial Cultural Heritage Board and police jointly determined the condition of the mummy, and the autopsy revealed that the mummy belonged to a 17-year-old person at the time of death.
The controversial mummy discovery in 2005.
Some other experts do not deny that this is the mummy of a dwarf, but they say that the mummy is not enough to prove that Makhunik is “a city of dwarves”. And for locals, they still assume that previous generations of residents in Makhunik are actually shorter than usual.
According to Dr. Susan Martinez, author of “The History of the Little People: Civilizations of Their Spiritual Advancement Around the World”, says an ancient race of people of great stature. children who once lived on Earth.
Susan Martinez also cites legends and stories from many cultures to support this, such as the gnomes of Mexico and Peru, the Menhune workers of Hawaii, the Nunnehi of the Cherokee, as well as the Menhune workers of Hawaii. like the African dwarves and the Semang of Malaysia…
At the same time, concluding the discoveries of small tunnel networks, small coffins, low doors in the mounds and wooden houses of dwarf size are considered as evidence of this ancient race.
While Dr. Martinez’s work has been met with both criticism and skepticism, there are many who have expanded on the idea. Short stories and legends about dwarves, or elves, abound in the world. There is always sensational news about this race. Even through her extensive research into the issue, Dr. Susan Martinez believes that the elves are the ancestors of civilization and one of the ancestors of people today.
This discovery has led many to believe that in a remote part of Iran, there are 13 villages, including Makhunik village, once inhabited by an ancient “dwarf city” .
According to experts, there are many reasons for the “dwarf” phenomenon in Makhunik. The first is the prevalence of same-sex marriage . Next, the lack of protein and vitamins in the daily diet, mercury residue in drinking water leading to malnutrition is a significant part of the influence that makes the height of the Makhuniks so low.
Stone and clay houses.
It is known that raising cattle is very difficult because it is surrounded by dry, deserted land. The villagers of Makhunik only grow root crops such as radishes, cereals, barley and tea-like fruits (called jujube). And they live on simple vegetarian dishes such as kashk-beneh (made from milk and a type of mountain pistachio) and pokhteek (mixture of milk and dried radish).
In addition, the most unusual dietary anomaly is that the Makhuniks never drink tea, even hate drinking tea, while tea is one of the culinary features and shows the hospitality of the people. Iranians. “When I was a child, no one drank tea. If someone drinks tea, the villagers will say that he is an addict,” recounted Ahmad Rahnama, saying that the truth that opium addicts always drink a lot of tea is deeply rooted in their subconscious. The 61-year-old Makhunik resident runs a museum about the historic architecture and traditional lifestyle of Makhunik village.
It is known that in the mid-20th century, the construction of roads and the increase of vehicles gave the inhabitants of Makhunik access to foods in other neighboring regions of Iran, such as rice and chicken, pigs, cows… “When the vehicles arrived, the people got another source of food from the nearby towns, the quality of the diets increased, thereby improving the height of the Makhuniks somewhat,” Rahnam said.
Now, most of Makhunik’s 700 inhabitants are of average Iranian height, but memories of their ancestors’ short stature persist. Because of the about 200 stone and clay houses that make up this ancient village, 70 or 80 are especially low, only 1.5-2m high, many ceilings are even 1.4m high.
When delving into these “tiny houses” one can see that the Makhuniks built their houses according to the architectural style popular in the Neolithic Era. Materials are mainly made from wood, mud, clay and straw. The entrance is also built at a height of 80-200cm. In addition, tunnels are also dug around to protect themselves from wild animals.
The area of the house is usually only 10-14 square meters , and includes a “kandik” (where nuts and wheat are stored), a ‘karshak’ (clay oven for cooking) and a bedroom. Inside the house, the wooden door on the south side was built to let in more light and to protect the only room of the house from strong northerly winds. The special feature of the house is the “sitting room” , because the ceiling is so low that people entering the room cannot stand upright.
The area of the house is usually only 10-14 square meters .
According to Rahnam, to build a small house like this is not a simple and easy thing. And it is not because of their short stature that the Makhuniks build low houses. It is known that domestic animals large enough to pull carts are scarce, so locals have to transport construction materials by themselves every kilometer.
Small houses require less materials, and therefore less effort. Also, despite being crowded, these cottages are easier to heat and cool than larger ones, and easier to blend into the landscape, making invaders, if any, harder to detect.
Life in Makhunik village is still not easy; once agriculture has declined in recent years due to drought, forcing young residents to look for work elsewhere. “Today, young people go to neighboring cities to work and bring in money and food. The women do some weaving, but other than that there is no work,” Rahnama said. Meanwhile, the elderly have to rely heavily on government subsidies.
Although life is difficult, Rahnama hopes that interest in the unique architecture of the village will attract tourists and archaeologists and historical researchers, thereby creating jobs to help help people. Makhuniks have a better life.