A complex of petroglyphs in the Mongolian Altai. The art of ancient nomads of Central Asia in the petroglyphs of Altai
Altai, with its high ridges, a network of difficult rivers and remote tracts, is an ideal place for the emergence and development of historical and cultural zones. Conditioned by natural, landscape and climatic conditions, and the same types of farming, they retained traditional features of material and spiritual culture for many centuries. This, on the one hand, facilitates the development of the chronology of ancient monuments that have an evolutionary-progressive nature, and on the other, makes it difficult to determine the time boundaries of individual cultures due to their continuity and tradition.
Among the ancient cultures of the Scythian appearance, widespread in Central Asia, the Pazyryk culture occupies a special place. One of the components of the Scythian triad, the “animal style,” is presented in it most fully and vividly. Unique burial structures in the Pazyryk tract, filled with ancient ice, revealed to the world all the diversity of the art of ancient nomads. The originality of various images of animals found in the mounds of Altai allows us to speak of the “Altai animal style”. A prominent researcher of Altai antiquities, M.P. Gryaznov, believed that “in the process of forming the culture and art of the Scythian-Siberian type, the contribution of the Sayan-Altai tribes was more significant than the Scythians themselves” (1980, p. 58).
By the middle of the 1st millennium BC. the aristocratic layer of the ancient nomads of Sayan-Altai stood out from the bulk of the ordinary army. Property and social inequality during this period was reflected in the construction of grandiose burial tombs for representatives of the nomadic nobility. Dozens of huge stone mounds in Altai and Tuva contained the richest burial goods, while in the contemporaneous burials of ordinary community members, under small and medium-sized mounds, archaeologists find an incomparably more modest and limited set of traditional objects. Examples of ancient art are very rare there.
Many scientists are unanimous that the “animal style,” along with other regalia and symbols, was intended to highlight the social elite and emphasize its unlimited power. Therefore, the finds of sacred attributes in ordinary burial mounds of the Chui steppe in Altai were somewhat unexpected. Made in the Altai animal style, they basically coincide with the sacred attributes of the ceremonial attire of leaders from the large mounds of Altai, Tuva, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan. This extremely curious phenomenon still awaits explanation.
A certain stage in the study of “animal style” was the interpretation by K.A. Akishev (1984), E.A. Novgorodova (1989), V.D. Kubarev (1991; 2006) and other researchers of stable images of nomadic art, representing a kind of ideograms. The formation of such canonical images is a process determined both by archaic phenomena characteristic of a given culture (remnants of totemism, magic, animal cult), and cultural contacts with neighbors (in particular, for the Pazyryk population of Altai - the possibility of borrowing Iranian and Assyrian images, Median, Bactrian , Scythian and Xiongnu influence). All of the above is also typical for multi-time and multi-cultural drawings carved on rocks and individual stones of Altai.
Until now, one of the pressing problems in Siberian archeology remains determining the date of many rock art monuments. It must be recognized that one of the most common and reliable methods of chronological reference is still the method of comparing petroglyphs with dated object collections from synchronous burial complexes. At the same time, for complete reliability and credibility of the correlations, it is important to use those materials that originate from the same region or at least from a separate geographic province. Comparison of these data with rare pictorial “texts” from funerary monuments leads to even greater information content of the sources used. Such research should be carried out comprehensively, i.e. Along with the study of petroglyphs in the same area, excavations of burial and religious structures of different periods are necessarily carried out.
It was precisely this kind of comprehensive study of various archaeological sites that was followed by the employees of the East Altai detachment of the North Asian Expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS. At the same time, a particularly successful situation arose for us when studying the antiquities of two regions of the Altai Republic: Kosh-Agachsky and Ongudaysky. There are hundreds of archaeological sites known here, the study of which began almost two centuries ago by Russian scientists and continues to this day. But the excavations of elite mounds of the Pazyryk culture, studied by M.P. Gryaznov and S.I. Rudenko, became especially famous in the world. Ordinary burial grounds of early nomads located in the border zone with Mongolia and Tuva were also studied.
In parallel with the main work in Altai, a search was carried out for new locations with rock paintings. Now in the Russian part of Altai alone, more than 200 points with petroglyphs are known (Kubarev, Matochkin, 1992). The most scientifically interesting rock art monuments were published in Russia and in foreign countries. A logical continuation of work in this direction was research on the international project “Altai” in Mongolia. Scientists from Russia, Mongolia, the USA and South Korea took part in its implementation (Kubarev, Tseveendorzh, Yakobson, 2006).
Over the past 15 field seasons, dozens of unique rock art monuments have been examined and processed. Of these, perhaps the most informative were the petroglyphs discovered near Mount Shiveet-Khairkhan (Jacobson-Tepfer, Kubarev, Tseveendorj, 2007). The cult of the sacred mountains, which has survived to this day, originated in the depths of primitive times, has come down to us in the formidable name “Shiveet Khairkhan”, literally translated as “Fortress of the Lord” - the ruler of life and death of people and animals. The rocks and individual blocks at the foot of this mountain are covered with thousands of ancient drawings.
The era of early nomads is reflected on this unique monument by drawings of deer with S-shaped antlers (also typical of deer stones in Central Asia), riders on horses, often in scenes of driven hunting, as well as numerous characters of the “Altai animal style”: goats, horses, wild boars , feline predators, birds, etc. Let us consider them in descending order by the number of images, which will allow us to identify the most popular animals in the rock art of ancient nomads. The largest number of images in the Altai mountains belong to the Siberian ibex and bighorn sheep, followed by images of the cosmic deer and the celestial horse.
The defining sign that some rock paintings belong to early nomads is the characteristic pose of the animals. Some of them are shown with their legs tucked under their bellies, others - standing on the tips of their hooves. Another characteristic feature in Pazyryk antiquities is one of the most common methods of modeling the body of ungulates, that is, the traditional image of an animal with bent or straight legs, a head forward or backward, and a body “twisted” by 180°. Identical images, of course, more schematic, are now known in the petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai (Kubarev, 1999). The pose when the animal’s legs are spread out horizontally, as if in flight, can be conventionally called flying. It is typical for drawings of goats and predators in the Late Scythian era and the Xiongnu era.
Rice. 1. Periodization of petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai
Even more objects with various visual motifs appear at the final stage of the Pazyryk era. The tradition of applying or gluing various figures of animals and beasts on the funeral vessels of early nomads is extremely interesting (Rudenko, 1953; Novgorodova, 1989; Kubarev, 1992, 1987; Polosmak, 1994; Derevianko, Molodin, Savinov et al., 1994). This tradition may have originated in Central Asia already in the Bronze Age, judging by the find in the Aimyrlyg burial ground. On a stone vessel from Tuva, two figures of horses are engraved (Mandelshtam, 1971; Chugunov, Stambulnik, 2006), in style and technique of execution very close to numerous petroglyphs, both in Altai and in other regions of Southern Siberia. Drawings and even leather appliqués of popular animal-style characters on ceramic vessels from burial grounds in Mongolia and Altai can also be compared with similar images in petroglyphs of the same regions. Based on these analogies, they date back to the Scythian era.
In terms of significance, the image of a horse undoubtedly stood on a par with the solar deer, but was inferior to it in the number of drawings in Altai petroglyphs. A very interesting image of a horse was discovered on a plane (20x10 m), on which about 800 individual drawings were applied. From this rock, located at the eastern foot of Shiveet-Khairkhan, an amazingly picturesque panorama opens up, and the slightly inclined surface of the rock outcrop is very convenient for making drawings. In the southern part of the stone plane, a large and elegant image of a horse is carved with a contour groove. His pose (straight legs thrown forward on the tips of his hooves, a large head with an open mouth) creates the illusion of rapid flight and at the same time conveys the moment of a sudden stop. The horse, judging by its large head, is obviously shown wearing a horned mask, as, for example, horses wearing masks with ibex and deer horns in the large mounds of the Pazyryk culture of Altai and Kazakhstan. A wooden horse protoma from the famous Issyk mound and numerous sculptural images of horses from the mounds of the Chui steppe and the Ukok plateau are decorated with golden goat horns.
With further study of Altai petroglyphs, which have a wide chronological range, a wider use of archaeological materials is necessary. The creation of a periodization (Fig. 1) and the identification of dating blocks of petroglyphs will make it possible to clarify the purpose of many rock compositions, the origin and meaning of which, unfortunately, still remains mysterious to us.
V.D.Kubarev, Novosibirsk, Russia
Literature
- Akishev A.K. Art and mythology of the Sakas. Alma-Ata, 1984.
- Gryaznov M.P. Arzhan. Royal mound of Scythian times. L., 1980.
- Derevianko A.P., Molodin V.I., Savinov D.G. and others. Ancient cultures of the Bertek Valley (Altai Mountains, Ukok Plateau). Novosibirsk, 1994.
- Kubarev V.D. Mounds of Ulandryk. - Novosibirsk, 1987.
- Kubarev V.D. Dating of petroglyphs based on finds from burial monuments of Altai // Modern problems of studying petroglyphs. 1993.
- Kubarev V.D. Mounds of Yustyd. Novosibirsk, 1991.
- Kubarev V.D. Pazyryk subjects in the petroglyphs of Altai // Results of the study of the Scythian era of Altai and adjacent territories. Barnaul, 1999. pp. 84-92.
- Kubarev V.D. Myths and rituals captured in the petroglyphs of Altai // Archeology, ethnography and anthropology of Eurasia. 2006. No. 3.
- Kubarev V.D., Matochkin E.P. Petroglyphs of Altai. Novosibirsk, 1992.
- Kubarev V.D., Tseveendorzh D., Yakobson E. Petroglyphs of Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oigur (Mongolian Altai). Novosibirsk, 2005.
- Mandelstam A.M. Aimyrlyg burial ground // Scientists. Zap. TNIIIYALI. Issue 15. Kyzyl, 1971. V.D. Kubarev
- Novgorodova E.A. Ancient Mongolia. M. 1989.
- Rudenko S.I. Culture of the population of Gorny Altai in Scythian times. M-L., 1953.
- Polosmak N.V. “Vultures guarding gold” (Ak-Alakha burial mounds). - Novosibirsk, 1994.
- Istanbulnik E.U., Chugunov K.V. Bronze Age burials on the Aimyrlyg burial field // Okunevsky collection 2. Culture and its surroundings. St. Petersburg 2006.
- Jacobson-Tepfer E., Kubarev V.D. , Tseveendorj D. Repertoire des petroglyphes d"Asie centrale, fascicule N°7. Mongolie du nord-ouest: Haut Tsagaan Gol. Memoires de la Mission Archeologique Francaise en Asie Centrale. - Paris, Diff usion de Boccard, 2006.- Vol. 2. - Texte et fi gures 444 p., 1303 pictogrammes, Planches 380 p., 12 cartes, 706 photos.
Materials of the International Conference “Culture of the Nomads of Central Asia”.
Petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai
Complex of petroglyphs in the Mongolian Altai (Mong. Mongol Altain Nuruuny Hadny Zurgiin Tsogtsolbor listen)) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Northern Mongolia, on the Chulut River.
It is located at an altitude of approximately 2000 meters above sea level and stretches entirely over rocks and mountains for more than 40 kilometers. Among the images, images of deer harnessed to chariots predominate. Even the spokes on the wheels of the chariots can be counted, and these “pictures” were made 4000 - 3000 BC.
Thousands of rock paintings, now declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were created here during the Neolithic period (3rd millennium BC).
In total, in the valley of the Chulut River, drawings were created at different times over an area of more than 25 square kilometers on the rocks. Basically, these are images of deer harnessed to chariots. The most ancient of them appeared 5,000 years ago, and the last about 3,000.
Since nomadic peoples (the ancestors of modern Mongols) were primarily engaged in hunting and gathering, many of the drawings are dedicated to hunting. Hunters are depicted with bows and arrows. There are also images of dragons, fish and snakes. It is assumed that the images of deer were created in the Karasuk era. The closest parallels to Mongolian drawings are images of chariots from the high-mountainous Chuya basin in the Russian part of Altai.
Petroglyphs were discovered in 1963. The existence of ancient civilizations on the territory of modern Mongolia was not assumed. However, already during the Stone Age in Mongolia there were domesticated animals and “transport” for movement (moving from place to place). It turns out that steppe civilization arose much longer ago than scientists expected. After the discovery of these images, for some time scientists believed that life originated precisely on the territory of the modern Mongolian Republic. This claim was later refuted.
In 1995-2001, scientists explored the Tsagan-akhui and Chigen agui caves. Reconnaissance work was carried out in the Altai Gobi region and sites of ancient people were discovered. Moreover, the Tsakhuirtyn Khundin (Silicon Valley) site covers an area of 25 square kilometers. In 1994-2005, the expedition examined the petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai and discovered a number of monuments, including Tsagan Salaa and Baga Oigory - more than 10,000 scenes.
In 2005, the grave of the Xiongnu nobility was discovered, silver buckles with the image of a one-horned goat and a round buckle with ancient subjects were found.
Also, not far from the gallery in the Altai mountains, rock signs dating back about 5,000 years were found. As a result of the study, it was discovered that these petroglyphs are similar (almost identical) to the runes of ancient Iceland. Russian scientist V. Shcherbakov reports: “ In 1963, signs were found in Altai (their age is about 3000 years), similar to the runes of Iceland.»
It was also reported that burials of ancient people more than 2 meters (2.5 m) tall and their images were found in these places. The finds are about 6,000 years old and have Caucasian facial features. However, these data have not been confirmed.
Hello everyone, friends! In addition to its incredible natural beauty, Altai is known as a territory with a strong energy field. Hundreds of legends and real stories, confirmed by historical facts about lakes, caves, rivers and other places of nature. Altai shamanism, Shambhala. In Altai, not only Mount Belukha and Lake Teletskoye are considered sacred places. This is confirmed by Altai petroglyphs - the oldest rock paintings that were created in places of ritual sanctuaries. A great many petroglyphs have been preserved, all of them from different time periods, starting from the Mesolithic era (9-7 thousand years BC), ending with the era of the ancient Turks (6-10 centuries AD).
Their largest concentration can be found on the right bank of the Chuya River, in the Kalbak-Tash tract.
The Kalbak Tash tract is located at 723 km of the Chuysky tract, between the villages of Inya and Iodro. The exit to the tract will be on the left side
Petroglyphs are found almost continuously on the rocks for 10 km along the road. It is here that you can find petroglyphs from the most ancient to the era of the ancient Turks.
And from the tract there is a wonderful view of the valley of the Chuya River.
In the Kalbak-Tash tract you can walk and see the petroglyphs on your own, or you can listen to a guide who will tell you many interesting facts about each of the drawings.
The rock paintings of each time era differ from each other in their themes. For example, drawings depicting large figures of deer, elk, and bulls, embossed with a fairly wide groove, date back to the Neolithic era (6-4 thousand years BC). There are such drawings in the Kalbak-Tash tract.
The Chalcolithic era (4-3 thousand years BC) also includes images of animals - deer (deer), elk, mountain goats, horses, bulls. Only now they are in the company of fantastic beasts or monsters.
In the photo below, above the man on top, there is a fantastic beast - the Kalbaktash chimera, which is preparing to take a person to the underworld, or to cleanse a person’s soul of filth - there are different versions. A person was most often depicted with a semicircular formation on his head, a square drawn on his chest - nothing more than a container for the soul.
Petroglyphs depicting sacred bulls saddled by a woman date back to the Bronze Age (2-1 thousand years BC). The contour of the animal’s body is filled with various geometric shapes. The photo below shows just such a bull.
And opposite this sacred bull is a woman giving birth - the theme of fertility, like the theme of animals, is also often found in petroglyphs.
Drawings from the era of the ancient Turks include drawings depicting hunting scenes.
Drawings depicting flying saucers and spaceships remain a mystery. What did the Altai ancestors want to say with these drawings? Still unknown.
You can look at Altai petroglyphs endlessly; it is not always possible to read and understand their meaning the first time, but unraveling their history and meaning is very interesting!
Travel with meaning, friends!
The complex of petroglyphs in the Mongolian Altai (Mongolian Altain nuruuny khadny zurgiin tsogtsolbor) is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site located in Northern Mongolia, on the Chuluut River. “Chuluut” means “rocky.” The complex is located at an altitude of approximately 2000 meters above sea level and stretches along rocks and mountains for more than 40 kilometers. The predominant images are of deer harnessed to chariots. The drawings are so clear that you can count the spokes on the wheels of the chariots, and these “pictures” were made 4000 - 3000 BC.
Currently, 22 images of chariots are known in the mountains of the Mongolian and Gobi Altai (south and southwest of the country) and 20 along the banks of the middle reaches of the river. Chuluut (Northern Mongolia).
Drawings of wheels cut into sectors and circles, as well as figures vaguely reminiscent in structure of two-wheeled carts, have been repeatedly recorded.
Thousands of rock paintings, now declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were created here during the Neolithic period (3rd millennium BC).
Numerous rock paintings and funerary monuments found at the three sites testify to the development of culture in Mongolia over a period of 12,000 years.
The earliest of these date back to the period 11000-6000 BC, when the area was partially forested, allowing local tribes to hunt large game.
Later images date back to the time when the Altai landscape acquired its current character of a mountainous steppe, and reflect the transition to cattle breeding, which became the main occupation of the people.
During this era, the horse occupied an important place in rock art. Altai rock paintings are a valuable source of information necessary for understanding the way of life of prehistoric communities in northern Asia. In total, in the valley of the Chuluut River, more than 25 square kilometers of rocks were covered with drawings at different times. Most often there are images of deer harnessed to chariots.
The most ancient of them appeared 5,000 years ago, and the “youngest” are about 3,000 years old.
Since nomadic peoples (the ancestors of modern Mongols) were primarily engaged in hunting and gathering, many of the drawings are dedicated to hunting. Hunters are depicted with bows and arrows.
There are also images of dragons, fish and snakes. It is assumed that the images of deer were created in the Karasuk era. The closest parallels to Mongolian drawings are images of chariots from the high-mountainous Chuya basin in the Russian part of Altai.
In 1995-2001, scientists explored the Tsagaan-Agui and Chigeen-Agui caves. Reconnaissance work was carried out in the Gobi Altai region and sites of ancient people were discovered.
Moreover, the Tsakhiurtyn-Khondiy (Silicon Valley) site covers an area of 25 square kilometers. In 1994-2005, the expedition examined the petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai and discovered a number of monuments, including Tsagan Salaa and Baga Oigory, numbering more than 10 thousand scenes.
In 2005, the grave of the Hunnic nobility was discovered, silver buckles with the image of a one-horned goat and a round buckle with ancient subjects were found.
Also known is the Bichigt Had cave, where Bronze Age paintings were discovered. The White Cave is considered the oldest human habitation in Mongolia; people lived here 700,000 years ago. The archaeological wealth is also evidenced by fossils found throughout the Khovd aimag.
The Khoid-Tsenkheri cave with paintings from the Paleolithic era (Mongolian: Khoid Tsenkheriin aguy) is located on the Khoid-Tsenkheriin river (Mongolian: Khoid Tsenkheriin gol).
Images of birds are a common, although rare, subject in rock paintings of the Altai Mountains. Nevertheless, the discovery of a small group of original drawings of birds in the Aral Tolgoi area (an area of the biosphere reserve, Bayan-Ulgii aimag of Mongolia) is of undoubted interest for researchers of ancient art of Central Asia. Large drawings of birds (Fig. 1.-1-7) and various game animals (elk, deer, bull, wild boar, etc.) were made mainly on horizontal planes of a low mountain range, using an archaic contour technique, heavily weathered and patinated ( Kubarev V.D., Tseveendorzh D., Yakobson E., 1998, p. 262). It is they who give originality and novelty to the open complex. The compact cluster of drawings, even judging by the preliminary comparative typological analysis of the images (Kubarev V.D., Tsevendorzh D., 2000, pp. 50-51, Fig. 4), has a short chronological range. It can be dated within the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (individual drawings - even the Early Iron Age) because for earlier dates (Mesolithic, Paleolithic) there is no serious and convincing data yet. However, individual petroglyphs of the unique monument, with their pictorial style and composition of characters, find parallels in the paintings of the Hoyt-Tsenker cave, dated by A.P. Okladnikov (1972, p. 47) Upper Paleolithic. But a comparison of the Aral Tolgoi drawings, made by beating, “in the open air” and the paintings painted in the Hoyt-Tsenker cave, shows that this relationship is not as obvious as it seems at first glance. First of all, this concerns drawings of birds. Despite the formal similarity, the differences are still noticeable: the moderately stylized figures of Hoyt-Zenker’s birds are more realistic than the schematic images of the Aral-Tolgoi birds (cf. Fig. 1.-13, 14 and 1.-1-5). At present it is difficult to say which of them are more ancient. If we follow the hypothesis of the staged development of rock art images - from realistic images to schematic ones, then clear preference should be given to the drawings from the Hoyt-Tsenker cave, which look more “natural” in relation to the drawings of birds from Aral Tolgoi. A certain cultural-historical (possibly semantic) connection can be traced with images of birds similar in style in the Karakol-Okunev art (Fig. 1.-15-17), and in the visual arts of the cultures of the Samus community of Western Siberia (Fig. 1.-18). Firstly, this is the same interpretation of the bodies of birds from Aral Tolgoi in the form of an ovoid oval, as well as the presence next to them or even inside the outlines of figures, specially carved indentations, round or oval in shape (egg symbols? ). Two round spots connected by a bridge (also associated with bird eggs) are also knocked out inside the round body of a bird of prey with a hypertrophied beak (Fig. 1.-7). Secondly, the presence of an ornament on one of the Aral Tolgoi birds. Such detail, as is known, was dictated by the ancient solar cult and cosmogonic ideas about the world egg (Ivanov V.V., Toporov V.N., 1992, p. 349; Kosarev M.F., 1981, p. 254; Esin Yu .N., 2001, pp. 52-53). It is typical, for example, for images of birds on Samus ceramic dishes (see Fig. 1.-18), the time of existence of which is determined by the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. (Kosarev M.F., 1981, p. 86, fig. 80.-6, 10).
Thus, according to the given analogies of birds from the petroglyphs of Aral Tolgoi, as well as other images of animals from the same location, it is logical to date them to the Bronze Age. To the question: “What type of birds are depicted in the drawings of the birds of Hoyt-Tsenker and Aral-Tolgoi?”, there is no clear answer yet. Some researchers believe that they resemble ostriches, others see them as cranes, bustards or waterfowl: swans and geese.
Images of birds in the Aral Tolgoi petroglyphs are concentrated at the highest point of the mountain range, stretching from east to west. It offers a magnificent panorama of the surrounding mountain-lake landscape. The topography and natural context of the ancient “sanctuary” monument can probably be identified with a universal model of the world, the central element of which is the world mountain. The mountain range is washed from the north and south by numerous channels of two small rivers, flowing in the east into the huge Lake Khoton-Nuur, the water surface of which is lost beyond the horizon. The topography of the hill, with a gradual rise along stepped rock outcrops to the top of the mountain on the eastern and western sides, steeper and bare rocks on the southern side and a forested northern slope, suggests the similarity of the rock mass with the legendary world Mount Sumeru.
Rice. 1. Images of birds: 1-7 - Aral Tolgoi; 8-12 - Tsagaan-Salaa; 13, 14 — Hoyt-Zenker; 15 - Karakol; 16 - Kalbak-Tash; 17 - Tas-Khazaa; 18 – Samus-IV
In Buddhist mythology, it “... sometimes has the shape of a four-sided pyramid of 3, 4, 7 steps, symmetrical to the layers of the sky” (Neklyudov S.Yu., 1992, p. 172). The location of bird drawings at the very top of Aral Tolgoi, associated with the world mountain, also seems quite logical. As is known, among many peoples, in the cosmogonic myths about the creation of the world, the image of a bird diving into the depths of the world’s waters for earth and building a primeval hill often appears. The plot of the action “...is built in accordance with the principle: one bird dives into the sea and remains there for one day. Then two birds dive and stay there for two days... Finally, seven birds dive and stay there for seven days, as a result of which the world was created” (Toporov V.N., 1992, p. 9). It should be noted that the total number (seven) of images of birds in the Aral-Tolgoi is in full accordance with the content of the myth. They are grouped on a small area of rocky outcrops, with a total area of no more than 20 sq.m.
In the drawings of birds of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the Mongolian Altai, images of eagles, swans, ducks and geese predominate (Fig. 1.-8-12). Some drawings are characterized by a realistic direction (birds, as if soaring in the sky in a flock), while others are characterized by a mythological direction (the inclusion of birds in compositions with drawings of chariots, horses, deer, pack oxen and people). Some images inherited the ancient tradition of conveying the body of a bird in the form of an egg (see Fig. 1.-11).
In the early Iron Age, the image of a bird in the petroglyphs of Altai was somewhat schematized, but two main iconographic types were preserved: 1) full-face, spread out - “soaring in the sky.” Their wings, unlike birds of the Bronze Age, are not separated by individual feathers, but are shown in continuous (silhouette) embossing (Fig. 1.-9-10); 2) profile - standing or walking birds (Fig. 1.-8). A similar division into two groups is also acceptable for sculptural and bas-relief figurines of birds found in the mounds of ancient nomads of the Russian Altai. The first type most closely corresponds to the silhouette images of birds carved on gold sheets, sewn onto the headdresses of nomads (Kubarev V.D., 1991, p. 120, fig. 31), the second - realistic wooden figurines of eagles with spread or folded wings, found in Tuekta, Bashadar, Pazyryk, Ulandryk and Yustyd (Rudenko S.I., 1961, Fig. 134.-e-l; Kubarev V.D., 1999, Table V.-1-5). Highly stylized images (type 1) convey a generalized image of a bird and resemble drawings of eagles similar in style in ancient petroglyphs of Transbaikalia, Khakassia, Tuva and Altai (Kubarev V.D., Cheremisin D.V., 1984, Fig. 2; Kubarev V. D., 1999, table V.-10-16). But the wooden figurines of eagles from Altai burial mounds (type 2) are especially organic and realistic. The sacred essence of miniature eagle figurines is emphasized by carved spirals on the wings and covering them with gold leaf. Particularly interesting is the connection between sacred birds - inhabitants of the celestial sphere and humans, specifically with the shaman. In this aspect, the most interesting is the Mongolian drawing of a “shaman” with three-fingered bird claws on her feet (Kubarev V.D., 2001, Fig. 7.-5) which has a direct and indisputable analogy in the art of the Karakol culture of Altai (Kubarev V.D., 1988 , Fig. 33; 2001, Fig. 6.-3). But in direct connection with these ancient drawings are also the ideas about the first female shaman preserved in the myths of the Mongols, Altaians and Tuvans. Ethnographers, obviously, should pay attention to the prospects of a comparative study of the clothing of ancient “shamans” in petroglyphs with the ritual costumes of Siberian shamans. After all, there was a special type of shamanic costume among the peoples of Sayan-Altai, distinguished by its cut and ritual design. He personified a bird (Prokofieva E.D., 1971, p. 62), with the help of which the shaman (shaman) climbed to the tops of the mountains and traveled in the Universe (Potapov L.P., 1991, p. 210-215). Perhaps it is precisely this costume or its likeness that is conveyed by the Bronze Age drawing at the Tsagaan-Salaa point. It shows in front projection the horns of a bull on the crossbar and the wings of a bird lowered down (Kubarev V.D., 2001, Fig. 7.-1). Even more realistic images of women in “bird-like” attire were found on the rocks at the mouth of Karagem in the Russian Altai (Matochkin E.P., 1997, Fig. 1.-5, 6).
In a small composition from Tsagaan-Salaa, a large bird of prey with outstretched wings attacks a fish (Fig. 1.-12). This is the first time such a plot has been found in the petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai. But in the Scythian art of Eurasia, the scene of a fish being tormented by a bird of prey is quite widely known on objects for various purposes dating back to the 6th-4th centuries. BC. (Korolkova E.F., 1998, Fig. 1.-18). In our petroglyph, this theme is read differently - the bird is shown at the moment of rapid flight-picketing, preceding the act of torment. In the Scythian analogues, the iconography is also different: the bird holds a fish in its claws and pecks at its head. The difference in the content of the scenes can be explained not by direct and formal copying of the Scythian motif, but by a more free, realistic interpretation of the plot on the stone surface of rocky outcrops. The similarity lies in the fact that in the petroglyph the bird is directed with its beak towards the head of the fish, i.e. in the same position as in the Scythian images of birds tearing fish from the head. The attribution of the considered subject to the Scythian time should for now be considered preliminary, because in the petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai there are a number of stylistically similar images of birds of prey included in the compositions of the Bronze Age. The question of the dating and origin of the plot of “a bird tormenting a fish” cannot be resolved unambiguously, due to its uniqueness in the petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai. In addition, there are earlier parallels to the Altai “bird and fish” motif in Chinese antiquities dating from the late Shang era - the end of the 2nd millennium BC. (Korolkova E.F., 1998, Fig. 1.-18). Another analogy from Xinjiang is quite interesting. In a laconic scene executed on a small stone, a crane or pelican pecks at a fish (Liu Qingyan, 2000, fig. 95). Judging by the third drawing (a figurine of a goat in the Altai animal style) carved above them, the scene can be dated to the “Argens” period.
So, we can summarize that determining the chronology and interpreting bird drawings is quite possible, using identical examples of ancient art of ancient nomads, fairly reliably dated to the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. In the myths of the peoples of the world, birds are indispensable participants in performances, and often the main characters. They serve as symbols of the sky, the sun, thunder, fertility, life and death, and also perform a variety of functions in the ritual sphere and funerary practice. Images of birds in the petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai are no exception. They act as a kind of classifiers in the universal symbolic system of zoomorphic images, allowing one to decipher the ideological content of the myth.
