Modern methods in archaeology are increasingly leading to unexpected discoveries. In Russia, three ancient settlements on the bottom of Lake Chebarkul in Bashkortostan have been found using drone photography.
These settlements are round in shape and plan, very similar to Arkaim and other ancient settlement towns of the Southern Urals.
There was a mysterious culture in the Southern Urals during the Bronze Age, which built remarkable circular settlements. In popular literature, they are referred to as the "Land of Cities" and the most famous among them is Arkaim in the Chelyabinsk Region.
This culture is called Sintashta culture after the name of the river, but it is still unknown what kind of people it was, where they came from and where they then left the territory of the Urals.
There are many unscientific hypotheses that this was a culture of the so-called Aryans (Slavs and Aryans), or that it was the descendants of those whom the Greeks called Hyperboreans. Science, on the other hand, tends to suggest that the "Land of Cities" was built by some Indo-Iranian tribes.
One way or another, it was a fairly advanced culture that may have been the first to invent chariots, be able to work metals to a very high standard, and build storm drains and other complex hydraulic structures.
That culture was quite different from other cultures of the Eurasian steppes of that era.
Little remains of the majority of Sintashta settlement cities, they were heavily damaged by agriculture, the remains of ancient settlements were literally ploughed away during the conquest of virgin lands, only Arkaim was miraculously saved by the efforts of archaeologists. But even of Arkaim, the remains of its walls have reached us mostly (after excavations they were backfilled, so that they were not destroyed by wind erosion).
So it is not surprising that the new Arkaim-like cities were found on the lake bed only with the help of modern apparatus installed on drones.
The site is in the Abzelilovsky district of Bashkiria and is part of Lake Chebarkul. The site looks shallow and swampy, heavily overgrown with grass. It is completely impossible to see the ancient settlements there from the ground.
In 2020, during the photography of the area with a drone during the study of the ancient necropolis near Lake Chebarkul, the remains of two ancient cities-settlements, which were named Sibarkul-1 and Sibarkul-2 by archaeologists, were discovered in this place.
And in 2022 re-processing of the obtained materials revealed a third circle next to them. Unofficially, this settlement was named Sibarkul-3.
"It is surprising that the monument was found in the deep floodplain of a lake where it is impossible to live. Probably, the ancient population settled on the lake shore, but as the water level rose, they had to retreat and build Sibarkul-1 and Sibarkul-2. But this is speculation so far, - says Ramil Nasretdinov, specialist of the "Heritage of Bashkortostan" Centre.
Two clear round formations and one less clear-cut can be discerned on the photographs obtained.
Samples were also taken from the bottom at the site of the settlements, in which many bone fragments and ceramic fragments were found. These really are the places where people lived in ancient times. The dating of the pottery suggests the Bronze Age.
The first two settlements are situated only 150 metres from each other, which scientists claim is a rarity. The sites range in diameter from 85 to 140 metres.
A survey of these settlement cities using airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) is scheduled for next year. It was using LIDAR technology that pyramid cities were found in the Amazon region.
It is possible that LIDAR scanning will provide clearer photos of these submerged cities.