Russia is still strongly underrepresented. Some proposals:
Site: ArkaimCountry: Russia
TWHS: no
Description: Arkaim is an archaeological site of an ancient fortified settlement, situated in the steppe of the Southern Ural. Arkaim is attributed to the early Proto-Indo-Iranian of the Sintashta culture, which some scholars believe represents the proto-Indo-Iranians before their split into different groups and migration to Central Asia and from there to Persia and India and other parts of Eurasia. Arkaim was a circular stronghold consisting of two concentric bastions made of adobe with timber frames, and covered with unfired clay bricks. Within the circles, close to the bastions, sixty dwellings stood, The dwellings had hearths, cellars, wells and metallurgical furnaces. They opened towards an inner circular street paved with wood. The street was lined by a covered drainage gutter with pits for water collection. At the centre of the complex was a rectangular open space. The complex had four entrances, consisting of intricately constructed passages and oriented towards the cardinal points. Evidence suggests that the complex was built according to a plan, which indicates that the society had a developed structure of roles and had leaders with great authority.
Criteria: cultural
Site: Pazyryk burial sitesCountry: Russia
TWHS: yes (6283)
Description: The "Treasures of the Pazyryk Culture" of the Early Scythian Epoch includes the unique and world famous burial mounds (kurgans) and petroglyphs of the Pazyryk Culture.On the large area of the Altai Mountains it existed from the 6th to the 2nd centuries BCE. This culture has left clear evidences which are presented by unique burial complexes. The archaeological sites presenting cultural heritage of Pazyryk time include burial mounds (the frozen tombs of tribal nobility) and petroglyphs made in an "animal style".
Criteria: cutural
Site: Vainakh towers Country: Russia
TWHS: yes (569)
Description: The Vainakh tower architecture is a characteristic feature of medieval architecture of Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Some towers were used as dwellings, others had a military purpose; some combined both functions. The oldest remains of buildings with the characteristics of Vainakh towers date from the 1st century AD, and can already be distinguished into residential and military types. Construction greatly increased in the 12th and 13th centuries. Vainakh tower architecture and construction techniques reached their peak in the 15th–17th centuries. The Vainakh towers are comparable to the Svan towers of nearby Georgia, although they are significantly older and their architecture is distinct.
Criteria: cultural
Comparative analysis: Svaneti, San Geminiano, Kaiping Daolou
Site: Dolmens of North Caucasus Countries: Russia, Georgia
TWHS: no
Description: Concentrations of megaliths, dolmens (Adyghe: иÑп-унÑ) and stone labyrinths dating between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. have been found (but little studied) throughout the Caucasus Mountains. While generally unknown in the rest of Europe, these structures are equal to the great megaliths of Europe in terms of age and quality of architecture, but are still of an unknown origin. The dolmens have a limited variety in their architecture. The floor plans are square, trapezoidal, rectangular and round. All of the dolmens are punctuated with a portal in the centre of the facade. While round portholes are the most common, square ones are also found. In front of the facade is a court that usually splays out, creating an area where rituals possibly took place. The court is usually outlined by large stone walls, sometimes over a meter high, which enclose the court. It is in this area that Bronze and Iron Age pottery has been found - which helped date these sites -, along with human remains, bronze tools and silver, gold and semi-precious stone ornaments.
Criteria: cultural
Comparative analysis: Antequera, Bru na Boinne, Korean dolmens, megalithic temple of Malta, Hal Saflieni, Orkney
Site: Vera Island Country: Russia
TWHS: no
Description: The small Vera Island is home to a large cultic complex from the chalcolithic period. It features dolmens as well as an artificially levelled platform with a system of menhirs.
Criteria: cultural
Comparative analysis: Antequera, Bru na Boinne, Korean dolmens, megalithic temple of Malta, Hal Saflieni, Orkney
Site: Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash) Country: Russia
TWHS: yes (5666)
Description: The cave Shulgan-Tash (Kapova) belongs to the unique phenomena - more than 150 Paleolithic cave drawings of global importance having been discovered (drawings of mammoths, horses, rhinoceroses, bulls and abstract characters in red ochre). The radiochemical analysis testifies that Shulgan-Tash drawings are not less than 13-14 thousands years old. Such antique cave art can be found only in France and Spain. Discovery of the Paleolithic art in the Southern Urals within the distance of 4 thousand kilometers from Pyrenees gives evidence to the existence of the Ural center of the Paleolithic culture (the second after the South-Western Europe).
A dwelling site of Paleolithic people with plenty of bonfires, charcoal and different objects have been found in the vegetable soils of Shulgan-Tash cave during the recent years. As much as 193 objects were found, with the tools made of the local cryptalline limestone, calci-spar and green and brown jasper prevailing. Green serpentinite ornamentals, discovered in the soil, are purely unique. There are also pendants made of bones or, possibly, mammoth tusks. Discovery of a clay lamp fragment was unique, since earthenware is very rarely found in the cultural Paleolithic soils.
Criteria: cultural
Comparative analysis: Altamira, Coa Valley, Pont d'Arc, Vezere
Site: Seven Sisters Country: Russia
TWHS: no
Description: The Seven Sisters a group of seven skyscrapers in Moscow designed in the Stalinist style. They were built from 1947 to 1953. At the time of construction they were the tallest buildings in Europe, and the main building of Moscow State University remained the tallest building in Europe until 1997. The are good representatives of Communist architecture which was influential throughout the Eastern Block. Communist architecture constitutes a gap as it is not represented on the WH list.
Criteria: cultural
Comparative analysis: Chicago skyscrapers
Site: Moscow metro stations Country: Russia
TWHS: no
Description: The metro stations of Moscow, constructed under Stalin's regime in the style of socialist classicism, were meant as underground "palaces of the people". Stations such as Komsomolskaya, Kiyevskaya or Mayakovskaya and others built after 1935 in the second phase of the evolution of the network are tourist landmarks, their photogenic architecture, large chandeliers and detailed decoration unusual for an urban transport system.
Criteria: cultural
Site: TobolskCountry: Russia
TWHS: no
Description: Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement in Asian Russia, and is a historic capital of the Siberia region. Tobolsk is the only town in Siberia and one of the few in Russia which has a standing stone kremlin (Tobolsk Kremlin): an elaborate city-fortress from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Its white walls and towers with an ensemble of churches and palatial buildings spectacularly sited on a high river bank were proclaimed a national historical and architectural treasure in 1870. Tobolsk represents early Russian colonialism in Asia (Siberia), an expansion that culminated in the Cold War.
Criteria: cultural
Site: Trans-Siberian RailwayCountry: Russia
TWHS: no
Description: The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East. With a length of 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles), from Moscow to Vladivostok, it is the longest railway line in the world. The railway was built between 1891 and 1916 under the supervision of Russian government ministers. Between 1906 and 1914, the peak migration years, about 4 million peasants arrived in Siberia. Despite the low speed and low possible weights of trains, the railway fulfilled its promised role as a transit route between Europe and East Asia.
Criteria: cultural
Site: Kolyma Highway (Road of Bones) and related settlementsCountry: Russia
TWHS: no
Description: The Kolyma Highway is a road in the Russian Far East. The Dalstroy construction directorate built the Kolyma Highway during the Soviet Union's Stalinist era. Inmates of the Sevvostlag labour camp started the first stretch in 1932, and construction continued with the use of gulag labour until 1953.
The road is treated as a memorial, as the bones of the people who died while constructing it were laid beneath or around the road. As the road is built on permafrost, interment into the fabric of the road was deemed more practical than digging new holes to bury the bodies of the dead. The region of Kolymá, which gives its name to this road, was a territory known for its abundance of Gulags. Hundreds of th