The stone town Kuklica is an area consisting of over 120 naturally formed stone pillars, located in the village of Kuklica, near Kratovo in Macedonia. Kuklica is located 8 km northwest of Kratovo. The stone formations are situated on the right bank of the Kriva River valley. The area has an altitude of 415-420 m and extends over an area of 0.3 square km.
Legends:There are two main legends surrounding the formation .The most famous legend is that of a man who could not decide which of two women he should marry. So, the man planned to marry each woman on the same day at different times. When the first wedding was in progress, the woman to marry the man second went to see who was getting married on the same day as she. When she saw her future husband marrying another woman, she cursed all in attendance at the wedding and turned them into stone.
In geomorphological view, the north valley side of Kriva River between villages Ketenovo and Sopsko Rudari (north-west from Kratovo) is characterized by severe denudation and soil erosion processes. That is result of appropriate geologic and soil structure, south-sided steep slope of the terrain, precipitation regime with high surface runoff and lack of permanent vegetation cover. As a consequence, landscape in this area has numerous forms of denudation, soil erosion (sheet, rill and gully erosion), as well as areas with dominant deposition of the eroded material. Most interesting landforms created with denudation are earth pyramids (pillars). They appear fragmentary in one wide belt of the right (north) valley side of Kratovska River, in the Kuklica village (Lower Kuklica). The pillars are best expressed in the locality Kukle, 6 km downstream from the Ketenovo village (the village is on the road Stracin-Kratovo). Here, more than 150 pillars were registered, covering area of 0.3 km2. Formation of the earth pyramids is result of number of factors – from local natural-geographic, to the anthropogenic influence in the landscape which reinforces denudation and soil erosion.
Thus, dominant place in the geologic structure of the Kuklica area have andezitic tuffs who like volcanoclastic material are hardly liable of erosion processes, and which thickness enable creation of typical landforms.Earth pyramids itself are built in the lower right (north) river terrace (30 m) of the Kriva River valley, i.e. on the south side of Dubica mount. They are 300 m apart from the riverbed of Kriva River, located on 415-420 meters above sea level. Because south sides of Dubica mount has steep slopes and weak vegetation, overland flow waters occurred during the rainstorms has great erosion potential. With severe surface erosion, they heaved and still have significant role in earth pyramids formation.
The stone town Kuklica is an area consisting of over 120 naturally formed stone pillars, located in the village of Kuklica, near Kratovo in Macedonia. Kuklica is located 8 km northwest of Kratovo. The stone formations are situated on the right bank of the Kriva River valley. The area has an altitude of 415-420 m and extends over an area of 0.3 square km.
Legends:There are two main legends surrounding the formation .The most famous legend is that of a man who could not decide which of two women he should marry. So, the man planned to marry each woman on the same day at different times. When the first wedding was in progress, the woman to marry the man second went to see who was getting married on the same day as she. When she saw her future husband marrying another woman, she cursed all in attendance at the wedding and turned them into stone.
In geomorphological view, the north valley side of Kriva River between villages Ketenovo and Sopsko Rudari (north-west from Kratovo) is characterized by severe denudation and soil erosion processes. That is result of appropriate geologic and soil structure, south-sided steep slope of the terrain, precipitation regime with high surface runoff and lack of permanent vegetation cover. As a consequence, landscape in this area has numerous forms of denudation, soil erosion (sheet, rill and gully erosion), as well as areas with dominant deposition of the eroded material. Most interesting landforms created with denudation are earth pyramids (pillars). They appear fragmentary in one wide belt of the right (north) valley side of Kratovska River, in the Kuklica village (Lower Kuklica). The pillars are best expressed in the locality Kukle, 6 km downstream from the Ketenovo village (the village is on the road Stracin-Kratovo). Here, more than 150 pillars were registered, covering area of 0.3 km2. Formation of the earth pyramids is result of number of factors – from local natural-geographic, to the anthropogenic influence in the landscape which reinforces denudation and soil erosion.
Thus, dominant place in the geologic structure of the Kuklica area have andezitic tuffs who like volcanoclastic material are hardly liable of erosion processes, and which thickness enable creation of typical landforms.Earth pyramids itself are built in the lower right (north) river terrace (30 m) of the Kriva River valley, i.e. on the south side of Dubica mount. They are 300 m apart from the riverbed of Kriva River, located on 415-420 meters above sea level. Because south sides of Dubica mount has steep slopes and weak vegetation, overland flow waters occurred during the rainstorms has great erosion potential. With severe surface erosion, they heaved and still have significant role in earth pyramids formation.