Kaali, the sacred lake
A crater lake on Saaremaa that may have been a holy place for thousands of years.
Key facts
- People and tradition
- Estonia and the Baltic region
- Region
- Europe
- When
- Bronze Age to today
The story
The round crater lake of Kaali, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, has long been a place of legend. Local stories link the lake with fire falling from the sky.
Archaeologists have found a stone wall built around the crater in the Bronze Age and many animal bones, which suggest that offerings were made there for centuries. Some scholars, including the writer and later Estonian president Lennart Meri, suggested that the impact may be remembered in Finnish and Baltic myths of the Sun falling from the sky and setting the land ablaze.
What science says
Kaali is real evidence of an impact witnessed by people: an iron meteorite that broke up in the air and made nine craters, the largest about 110 m across, during the Bronze Age, probably around 3,500 years ago. Whether particular myths remember it is impossible to prove. Stories of fire falling from the sky are found in many places, and they can grow from other events too, such as eclipses or forest fires.
Did you know?
Pieces of meteoritic iron were first found at Kaali in 1937, proving that the craters were made by an impact.
Small fragments of the iron meteorite are still occasionally found in the soil around the craters.