Kigilyakh

Kigilyakh or kisiliyakh^[1] (Russian: кигиляхиcode: rus promoted to code: ru ; Yakut: киһилээх, romanized: kihilēx, lit. 'stone person', plural киһилээхлэрэ kihilēxlere) are pillar-like natural rock formations looking like tall monoliths standing more or less isolated. Usually they are composed of granite or sandstone shaped as a result of cryogenic weathering.^[2] Most kigilyakhs formed during the Early Cretaceous and are about 120 million years old.^[3]

Kigilyakhs in the Ulakhan-Sis Range

Kigilyakhs on Chetyryokhstolbovoy Island, East Siberian Sea

Cultural significance and etymology

These anthropomorphic rock pillars are an important feature in Yakut 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]

Locations

Bizzare Ulakhan-Sis Range kigilyakh rock formations. Yana-Indigirka Lowland, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Northern Siberia, Russia

Such stones are found in different places of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, mainly in the East Siberian Lowland:^[5]

• Alazeya Plateau
• Anabar Plateau
• Kigilyakh Peninsula, with Mount Kigilyakh and Cape Kigilyakh, Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, New Siberian Islands
• Kisilyakh Range, part of the Chersky Range^[2]
• Kisilyakh-Tas, an isolated mountain located in the Kolyma Lowland, roughly 160 kilometres (99 mi) from the coast of the East Siberian Sea, on the right bank of the Alazeya River at 69°40′N 155°0′E.^[3][8]
• Kyun-Tas
• Chetiryokhstolbovoy Island, Medvezhyi Islands, East Siberian Sea
• New Siberian Islands
• Oymyakon Highlands
• Polousny Range
• Stolbovoy Island, Laptev Sea
• Suor Uyata range^[9]
• Ulakhan Sis^[10]

Outside of Yakutia, similar formations are found in the island of Popova-Chukchina and the Putorana Plateau, in Krasnoyarsk Krai.^[11]

History

Ferdinand von Wrangel reported on the kigilyakhs on Chetyryokhstolbovoy, an island of the Medvezhyi Islands in the East 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 the Soviet Union on the Kigilyakh Peninsula at the western end of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, a New Siberian Islands named after Vladimir Voronin, then in charge of the polar station on the island, was shown a large standing rock which had been heavily eroded and which gave its name to the peninsula.^[12]

See also

• Monolith
• Pinnacle (geology)
• Baydzharakh
• Yardang