Devil's Wall
Photo Kiril Simeonovski · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Devil’s Wall (Дяволски зид in Bulgarian, Ѓаволски Ѕид in Macedonian) is a rock formation in North Macedonia, about 15 km south of the town of Sveti Nikole, on the southern slopes of the Bogslovets mountain (Богсловец) and the right bank of the Bregalnica river. Its origin is disputed.
The wall is 500 m long, and traces of the rock formation can be followed for 5 km to the west. The most widespread view is that it is a natural rock phenomenon; some opinions hold that it is an ancient megalithic construction.
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Article
Devil's Wall
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
The wall has an average height of 10 to 12 m and a width of up to 2 m. Some of the blocks that form it weigh up to 4 tonnes. The catalogue record gives an elevation of 250 m.
In 1970 the Yugoslav archaeologist Milutin Garašanin recorded a red binding material between some of the blocks.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
There is a scientific dispute over the origin of the wall. In 1970 the Yugoslav archaeologist Milutin Garašanin recorded a red binding material between some of the blocks. If the structure is artificial, it remains unexplained how it was built, since the ground on which it stands is sloping and difficult to reach.
FolkloreSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
Residents of the surrounding villages tell that the devil wagered with God that he would dam the Bregalnica and flood the Ovče Pole plain. The devil built the wall, but shortly before he finished it and carried out his plan, God sent a cock to prevent its completion; the cock crowed and stopped the devil.
The site is also a popular destination for Macedonian treasure hunters, whom local people call “wild diggers”. They believe that tunnels many kilometres long run beneath the wall, hiding a great treasure, and that the entrance is closed by a large stone slab somewhere near the wall. These legends are reinforced by the presence nearby of the geoglyph of Ovče Pole, also known as the Macedonian geoglyph.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
A megalith is a large stone used to build a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified in Europe. Among the main kinds are single stones, such as menhirs and monoliths; multiple stones, such as stone circles (cromlechs) and alignments; dolmens; cists; and megalithic walls, also called cyclopean walls.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Megalith (type not specified)
A megalith is a large stone used to build a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified in Europe, from Sweden in the north to the Mediterranean in the south, and megaliths are found worldwide. The word was first used in 1849 by the British antiquarian Algernon Herbert for Stonehenge, and comes from the Greek for "great stone". Most extant megaliths were erected between the Neolithic, with some earlier Mesolithic examples, and the Bronze Age. The oldest known ceremonial structures in the world, Göbekli Tepe and Nevalı Çori in Turkey, are dated to about 9000 BCE.
The most widely known megaliths are not tombs. The main kinds are single stones, such as menhirs and monoliths; multiple stones, such as stone circles (cromlechs) and alignments; dolmens; cists; and megalithic walls, also called cyclopean walls. Megalithic art, painted or carved on kerbstones, orthostats or capstones, is found in many parts of Western Europe, with the main concentrations in England, Malta, Ireland, Brittany and Iberia, and it is highly abstract.
Megaliths were used for a variety of purposes, from boundary markers of territory to reminders of past events, to being part of the religion of a society. Contemporary megalith-building cultures exist in Indonesia, among the Toraja and in the Marapu tradition. In the Atlas, a record marked only "megalith" lacks a more specific type, usually because the source did not say, and it receives a broad date range.
Dating relies on associated finds when a monument is excavated; otherwise it depends on shape and comparison.
When visiting, look first at the setting, and at whether the stone looks worked or natural.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Megalith, Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Megalithic art · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
6 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Where it stands
North Macedonia
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 41°45′03″ N, 22°01′15″ EFor a GPS or map app: 41.75083, 22.02078
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q20499020wikidata.org
Image files
- Ѓаволски Ѕид 11.jpgKiril SimeonovskiCC BY-SA 4.0
- Долина на Брегалница крај Ѓаволскиот Ѕид.jpgKiril SimeonovskiCC BY-SA 4.0
- Ѓаволски Ѕид 12.jpgKiril SimeonovskiCC BY-SA 4.0
- Околината на Ѓаволскиот Ѕид.jpgKiril SimeonovskiCC BY-SA 4.0
- Devils Wall FYROM.jpgFilipov IvoCC BY-SA 4.0
- DWall FYROM.jpgFilipov IvoCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Дяволски зид" (Bulgarian), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (Bulgarian): Дяволски зидCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q20499020CC0