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Ķintu Aka

Ķintu Aka, Latvia
Ķintu Aka / Gatis Pāvils / CC BY 3.0

WorldBlue  In short

Although little known internationally, there are megalithic monuments in Latvia. One of the most mysterious and unusual ones is Ķintu Aka – Kinti Well.

3.9 out of 10 stars 39.4%

GPS coordinates
56.7435 N 21.4175 E
Location, address
Europe, Latvia, Kurzeme, Aizpute municipality, Cīrava parish, 1 km south-east from Dzērve manor house (school)
Megaliths, Sites of legends
Age
Unknown

Map of the site

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WorldYellow In detail

Well made of stones

Ķintu Aka represents a sunken well made of large, rectangular stone slabs. Stone slabs are processed with great precision and they form an exact square where each side is 1.25 m long. Volume of each of these stones is 0.4 – 0.7 m3. The largest stones are located above and are visible – their size is 1.93 x 0.74 x 0.47 m and 1.55 x 1 x 0.27 m and each weighs approximately one ton. Deeper the stones become smaller but at the base, at several meters depth they are enormous again.

Well is filled with stagnant water – it certainly does not serve its purpose now.

Information about megalithic village

Enthusiast of local history, pastor Karl Friedrich Vatson (1777 – 1826), based on the narrative of Cirava pastor Johann Kristian Wolter (1773 – 1858), gave an exciting report in 1819:

Earlier (in the 19th century?) the Ķinti farmstead and subsidiary buildings were built of giant stone slabs. Especially impressive was the enclosure around the field – it was a wall of upright stone slabs, up to 2.4 m tall and 387 steps long.

Ķintu Aka, Latvia
Ķintu Aka / Gatis Pāvils / CC BY 3.0

Locals told stories about mythical muscleman – wizard Ķinte – living in this farmstead with his white mare.

Unfortunately this unique house was demolished in the 19th century and stone slabs were used for construction elsewhere.

Excavations

Research at the site in 1975 (Juris Urtāns) did not provide much information. With the crane there were lifted six fallen slabs from the well, well was cleaned but there was not found anything of importance. There were found processed stone slabs in vicinities, also alignments of smaller stones.

Ķintu aka with stones rised from the well, Latvia
Ķintu aka with stones rised from the well / Gatis Pāvils / CC BY 3.0

Ķinti farmstead certainly has been inhabited for centuries – there were found artifacts from the 17th – 19th century, indications of metal processing – a layer of slag.

It is not known when Ķintu Aka was made and who made it. Experience from Western Europe shows that local stories about fairly recent construction of megalithic structures often have been erroneous and megaliths are older than the locals were thinking.

References

  1. Urtāns, Juris. Ķintu aka. Dabas un vēstures kalendārs’1978, 299.lpp.

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