Pyramids of dew

摘要

The Black Sea port of Feodosia, in what is now Ukraine, is a place of dark secrets. One of Europe's oldest towns, it has been home to Greeks and Genoese, Tartars and Armenians. In the Middle Ages, it housed one of Europe's biggest slave markets, selling Ukrainians to Egypt. The Black Death entered Europe when a ship docked there in 1347. But, perhaps most mysterious of all, the surroundingforests house strange pyramid-like piles of stones as big as houses. Most archaeologists say they are tombs but local people say the pyramids once supplied the town with water. A century ago, Russian engineer Frederich Zibold argued that these bizarre structures were abandoned chambers for condensing dew. Had the people of Crimea discovered - and lost - the art of catching water from the air?The idea has been dismissed for decades. But there are now new claims that Zibold was right after all.