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Mounds of Șona, Brasov

The oddities sprung from the ground

Where are they, when do they visit?

The Shona Mounds are located near the village of Șona, Brasov county. From the town of Fagaras there are 10 km by road to them, with a traveling time of 20 minutes. 20 minutes for 10 kilometers? Is there an unpaved county road? We follow the DJ104D, which passes by the entrance to the Fagaras Citadel, crosses the city belt, then the Olt river, passes through the very poor Fagarasan neighborhood of Olt, where it turns right on DC66, which runs parallel to the Olt river. We cross the village of Șona and .... the asphalt ends. From here the road is called DC21A and it would be about 1,5 km and 8 minutes, says waze! It is indeed a dirt road, but it seems approachable with care. But why! Suddenly it becomes a winding road full of protruding dry pieces of rock-hard dry earth and I decide to stop the car somewhere near the road, a maneuver that was not easy. From the city of Brațov there are 80 km to drive in 1,5 hours via DN1, then as described above. Access is free and possible anytime.

About the Șona mounds

Basically, it is not known what these pyramids in the ground, grown out of nothing on a lightly wavurit terrain. I've read from sources on the net, from an article in Adevarul, a couple of guesses.

The villagers call these mounds guruiețiwhich means earthworks. I met a cart driver on the way back and asked him what he knew about mounds? The man reckoned that they would be at least pre-world wars and that there would be treasure hidden in their foundations. Tam-tam! Who knows? He also said that there are other gurus in the area, taller than the ones from Sona, but nobody knows about them, only the locals. Some would be in the village where the cart road apparently led to, the village of Halmeag. The quite detailed terrain map I'm documenting doesn't show there some "peaks" as it looks at Sona in the mounds visited.

Another hypothesis is that there would be some tumuli, which hide the tombs of Scythian or Celtic chieftains, from the time when these peoples crossed these places. Archaeologists have found in the open site around the tombs ceramic fragments from the Late Bronze Age and the Hallstatt period.

A legend, which I believe has a grain of truth, says that these mounds come from from Dacian times. They would hide treasure. That's why no one but treasure hunters have haunted here. On the side, the gills of a mound, you can see scavengers' marks covered in vegetation. For the triangles, there's also the theory that these mounds are part of Dacian magic triangles, including the Dacian capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, the Dacian fortress Piatra Rosie, the sanctuary of Racos, the temple of Sinca Veche and the summit of Omu in Bucegi.

Other legends talk about the yellow earth in the body of the mounds, others that they were built by giants and hide their graves.

1. Șona - the mounds of Șona

At the end of the short slope, where we parked, you have to pay attention to your orientation, because a secondary road splits to the right at a wooden sign that reads "movile - 500 m", which must be followed. After the signpost, i.e. after that short slope, the road becomes accessible again, even if it is a dirt road crossing a wide meadow, slightly uphill. To be fair, I was unlucky with the impassable road on the day of my visit, as I heard other acquaintances who were able to drive up to the objective.

I did some walking, admired the flowers in the meadows and approached the mounds. You can't go wrong from the moment these formations appear on the horizon.

branduse mov

indicator to mound

2. The pyramids (mounds) of Shona

There are seven of them. They have altitudes between 496 and 528 meters. I climbed the one that seemed to me the highest, then seeing on the map that it was 527 meters high and the one next to it was 1 meter higher! It doesn't matter!

Access to the mounds is allowed and possible. The actual highest climb on the vertical axis measures 16 meters from the saddle between them, i.e. from where you climb almost vertically. Not to exaggerate, the slope is 45-60 degrees. Climb it carefully, it's the made path. Then see how you come down!

From the mounds there is a wide perspective with the Olt meanders and especially with the unmistakable and imperial crest of the Fagaras Mountains.

the mounds of Șona

the pyramids of Șona

steep path

one mound is 10 m high

Invitation

If you like oddities like these, and you are in the Brasov - Fagaras area, come and see the mounds of Șona. I liked this deviation around Shona, but it's part of my way of finding curious natural or artificial forms. This tourist attraction is a destination that may disappoint, unless you have a calling to see some strange land moving.

Visit also city of Brasov , town of Codlea and Făgăraș Fortress.

All the best!

Steps:

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