The newly discovered underground structure in Russia may be part of the ancient fortress of Naryn-Kala, a UNESCO cultural heritage site located in the town of Derbent in the Republic of Dagestan, southern Russia.
It is said to be one of the oldest Christian churches in the world and Russia’s oldest Christian temple .
The study was carried out by Russian researchers from the National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) in cooperation with Dagestan State University, Lebedev Institute of Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences and Institute of Nuclear Physics Skobeltsyn of Moscow University.
Pictures of mysterious structures in Russia.
Scientists used radiography to scan the 12-meter-deep structure northwest of the Naryn-Kala fortress that dates back to around 300 AD.
The goal of conducting the scans will be to help scientists determine the 3D configuration of the structure. To date, the function of the building is still poorly understood. It could be a reservoir, a Christian temple or a Zoroastrian fire temple, according to information published on the MISIS website.
The researchers expect it to take at least two months to complete the scan after they placed the detector about 10 meters inside the structure and made meticulous measurements of what is now a UNESCO cultural heritage site.
MISIS’s leading expert, Natalia Polukhina, is now quite optimistic about the theory that this is a reservoir to explain the function of this structure.
“It seems very strange to me to interpret this building as a cistern . In the same Naryn-Kala fortress, there is a similar underground structure, 10 meters deep. This unusual structure in which they are located. I have placed the detector, which has a cross shape, its orientation is completely consistent with the 4 directions, with one side being 2 meters longer than the other sides,” the archaeologists emphasized.
In the meantime, the scientists have agreed to do a more detailed analysis in the future, to get a full-size 3D image of the mysterious building, which they say will shed more light on its use. this building.