Desert Ruins

*For puzzle hints and solutions, see Desert Ruins (Walkthrough).*

The **Desert Ruins** are an area in The Witness. This area revolves around reflections. They are located in the sandy beach area between the **Quarry** and **Symmetry Island**. Its central point is a crumbling white structure that features uniquely shaped puzzles resembling ship wheels, which are different from the typical grid-based puzzles you'll find in most parts of The Witness.

The puzzles here are among the earliest that introduce the role of the environment in solving panels.

## Before you begin, you should know...

### Puzzle types present

* Environmental clues

Head over to our **Puzzle Types** page for everything you need to know about the various puzzle rules in The Witness.

### What areas should you do first?

* N/A

You can easily complete the **Desert Ruins** with no prior knowledge of other areas in The Witness.

## Desert Ruins

### Exterior

Completing the exterior of the ruins grants access to the interior.

### Interior

Completing the interior of the ruins activates the area's laser.

## Desert Coast

Some stairs in the cliff allow a walk around the nearby beach.

## Discarded Panels

### Coast

There is a discarded panel at the very end of the Desert beach you can reach beyond the ruins, where a stair path will take you down to the water's edge. Keep following the beach as it loops back around towards Symmetry Island to find the panel.

## Briefcase Vault

If you walk past the **Desert Ruins** towards the ocean you'll find a stone staircase which leads to a small beach. There you will find the second vault door. On the door there is a Tetris & negative block puzzle. Solve the puzzle and go on inside for the briefcase.

## Audio Logs

### Ruined Wall

Head past the main ruins to a small ruined wall on the far side by the coast (if you've completing the Desert Obelisk, that's where the environmental puzzles 7 and 8 of side 4 are located). Climb to its top, past the big circle that reflects solar light, and look down to see the tape.

#### Transcript

> I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling
> is the strongest and the noblest motive for scientific research.
>
> Only those who realize the immense efforts
> and, above all, the devotion
>
> without which pioneer work in theoretical science
> cannot be achieved
>
> are able to grasp the strength of the emotion
> out of which alone such work,
> remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue.
>
> What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe
> and what a yearning to understand,
>
> were it but a feeble reflection
> of the mind revealed in this world,
>
> Kepler and Newton must have had
> to enable them to spend years of solitary labor
> in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics!
>
> Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results
>
> easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality
> of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world,
>
> have shown the way to kindred spirits scattered wide
> through the world and through the centuries.
>
> Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends
> can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men
>
> and given them strength to remain true to their purpose
> in spite of countless failures.
>
> It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength.
>
> A contemporary has said, not unjustly
> that in this materialistic age of ours
>
> the serious scientific workers
> are the only profoundly religious people.
>
> Albert Einstein, 1930
>
>