UDC 903.27

Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS 17 Akademika Lavrentieva Ave., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

E-mail: vdkubarev@gmail.com

The article is devoted to the results of an expedition to study petroglyphs in one of the remote regions of Western Mongolia. For the first time, information is provided (in a very concise form) about the unique ancient rock art complex of the Mongolian Altai - Khar-Chuluu, discovered in 2004 in the estuary of the Khar-Salaa River. An attempt is made to date the petroglyphs of the monument. The most characteristic plots that are clearly related to archaic mythologies and are intended for some ritual actions are considered.

Keywords: petroglyphs, Bronze Age, drawings, weapons, archaeological site, semantics.

Introduction

In recent years, scientists from different countries have been conducting intensive research of archaeological sites on the territory of Mongolia. International projects are devoted to studying the rich cultural and historical heritage of the MNR and the ancient history of the Mongols. However, until now, the efforts of many archaeologists working in the Mongolian Altai have not been properly coordinated and have been sporadic. The situation has changed dramatically with the establishment of the Mongolian Altai Research Institute in Ulaanbaatar, headed by Professor Kh. The publication of an album with ethnographic materials (author B. A. Baasankhuu) in 2006, as well as the publication of two issues of the popular science magazine "Mongol Altai", can be considered a definite result of the new institute's staff. In addition to Mongolian authors, Russian researchers also published their articles in them.

It is well known that several years pass from the discovery to the full publication of the object of research, and often the same archaeological site is "discovered" by other scientists and often appears in the literature under different names. Therefore, the main purpose of this report is to inform scientists from different countries about another recently discovered rock art monument in the Mongolian Altai*.

In 2004, a Russian-Mongolian-American expedition (project "Altai") conducted research on the territory of the Mongolian Altai. The object of the study was petroglyphs of different times, which were mostly applied on individual blocks and rocks of Mount Shivet-Khairkhan (Somon Tsengel, Bayan-Ulegey aimag). The tasks of the expedition participants included not only mapping and refining previously processed rock images, but also searching for new ones. So, in particular, it was possible to find and copy a complex of original petroglyphs, concentrated mainly on the rock remains of Khar-Chuluu (Fig. 1). A sanctuary with ancient drawings unknown to archaeologists is located in

The author has already published brief information on two unique locations of petroglyphs in this region of Central Asia on the pages of our journal [Kubarev V. D., 2007a, b].

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Figure 1. Location of rock art monuments in the Bayan-Ulegei aimag of Mongolia.

2. View from the south of the Har-Chuluu petroglyph complex (arrow indicates the main cluster of rock carvings).

Figure 3. Copying petroglyphs onto plastic wrap.

5 km east of Mount Shivet-Khairkhan, almost at the mouth of the Khar-Salaa River, on its right bank [Kuba-rev G. V., Tseveendorzh, Kubarev V. D., 2004]. Coordinates of the monument: 49° 05 ' 03 "N, 88° 19' 01 " E; height above sea level 2,320 m. According to preliminary estimates, there are at least 250 drawings (scenes and individual images). They are mainly located on the planes of rocks oriented to the south (Fig. 2). Petroglyphs were copied on special micro - tape paper, polyethylene film using permanent markers (Fig.3), and also recorded by photo and video cameras.

Around the complex with rock carvings there are mounds of the Pazyryk culture, several memorial stelae installed inside fences, and a number of memorial structures of ancient Turks (Kubarev G. V., Kubarev V. D., 2004).

Plot description, chronology, and interpretation of petroglyphs

In Har Chuluu, the most common scenes are deer hunting (Figure 4), wild bulls and goats. One of them conveys the moment when a wild goat is attracted to a domestic goat, which a person keeps on a leash (Fig. 5). Stylistically, images of wild horses with a mane cut into teeth are interesting. In the general mass of drawings depicting people, characteristic figures of "tailed" warriors are distinguished (Fig. 6), armed with spears, bows and clubs. To determine the time of their application, images of clubs or maces are of great importance, which are confidently dated to the advanced Bronze Age [Kubarev V. D., 2004, pp. 71-73]. Drawings of spears and javelins can also be attributed to the same period. They are quite detailed: they are shown with diamond-shaped, triangular, and laurel-leaved tips. Flags or bunchooks in the form of balls (bull tails?) on the shafts of spears (Fig. 6), they also find more late-

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4. Deer and goat hunting scene.

5. Scene of wild goat hunting with the help of domestic goats.

6. Fragment of an ancient myth: "A giant and two heroes..."

7. Images of a dagger in a scabbard with a sword belt (7) and a complex bow (2).

Figure 8. Scene of individual hunting with a dog on a goat.

There is an analogy in the images on individual deer stones of Mongolia dating from the 7th-5th centuries BC (Volkov, 2002, Tables 36, 2). A single drawing of a dagger in a scabbard with a rounded tip and a belt belt is particularly interesting (Fig. 7, 1). The total length of the weapon is 42 cm. Its broad blade and hilt with a mushroom-shaped pommel resemble daggers depicted on the deer stones of Mongolia [Ibid., Tables 26, 2; 94, etc.] and Altai [Kubarev V. D., 1979, tab. I; II, 2, etc.]. However, the shape of the dagger is much closer to the Karasuk samples, and the drawing can be dated to the late Bronze Age. Similar daggers are known from random finds in the Altai (Chlenova, 1976, Tables 6, 7). It is also natural that another small stone with the image of a compound bow was found next to this drawing (Figs. 7, 2).

Very expressive and dynamic is the figure of a running hunter shooting arrows at a goat, with a large dog on a short leash tied to the archer's belt (Fig. 8). This method of hunting along the trail or even rut of large cloven-hoofed dogs by a pack of dogs was widely used in the Altai in the Bronze Age. This is described in numerous visual materials.-

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9. Scene of a dog attack on wild bulls.

Figure 10. Images of bull, elk (?), deer, goats, and dogs connected by a single line.

Rials from Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oygur (Kubarev V. D., Tseveendorzh, Yakobson, 2005, Fig. 101).

An interesting scene is the confrontation between wild bulls and dogs, located in the central part of the ancient sanctuary: three bulls depicted on top of each other are attacked by seven (in this case, it is appropriate to pay attention to the numerical symbolism) dogs (Fig. 9). The horns and tails of bulls have different shapes, and the average animal has short dashes on the neck additionally, a hanging coat is shown. With its stylistic features, as well as its tiered construction, the composition resembles a similar plot on the Kalbak-Tash petroglyphic monument [Kubarev and Jacobson, 1996, fig. 513] and a well-known drawing on a broken stele in the Tengi River valley in the Russian Altai [Kubarev V. D., 1988, Fig. 69; 2000, fig. 2, d; Molodin and Pogozheva, 1989, fig. 2]. According to the above pictorial analogs, this composition can be dated to the Bronze Age and attributed to the hunting epic, despite the fact that there are no figures of hunters. The latter pattern is noted for many hunting scenes in the petroglyphs of the Altai Mountains.

The story of the pack oxen in Har Chuluu is repeated three times. The torso of one of the largest bulls is made in a decorative style that was very widely used in the depictions of various animals on many Bronze Age rock art monuments in Mongolia. It has four sinuous lines drawn diagonally. The figure is made with a combination of contour (torso and legs) and silhouette (head) techniques. The proportions of the figure, the shape of the horns, two legs and lines on the body-all this is strikingly out of harmony with the rest of the images of bulls in Har Chuluu.

A recurring theme is unusual scenes where all images of people and animals are connected by one or more lines. In the composition of the figures of a bull, three goats, an elk (?), a deer and dogs (Fig. 10), their connection with a broken line probably symbolized the interconnection and unity of all living things in nature, the so-called line of life, death and rebirth. Perhaps the same idea is reflected in the second small scene on a vertical plane, where six figures (three warriors, a dog and two goats) are adjacent to each other. The third similar composition is located next to the two above-mentioned ones. On it, about 25 figures of goats and dogs are fancifully intertwined, gathered in one tangle with the help of sinuous lines. The plot is also duplicated in miniature with two archers, two goats and a dog. But the most unusual and picturesque "picture" is located in the central part of the ancient sanctuary of Har Chuluu. On the vertical rock plane oriented to the west, there are more than 60 carefully carved images of various animals and people armed with bows, clubs and javelins (Figure 11). Original-

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Figure 11. Multi-figure composition (animals and hunters).

The peculiarity of the composition lies in the fact that all animal figures, regardless of their different species composition (bulls, horses, deer, goats, sheep, dogs-wolves - all males), are connected to each other by "life lines" drawn from the phallus of one to the back or head of the other and form bizarre mosaic chains. Figures of hunters or shepherds are organically interwoven into the line of the ancient pictorial text - "the endless reproduction of the animal world", embodied in such an unusual but extremely visual perspective. They are connected to images of animals in the same way (by embossed sinuous lines). Judging by the completeness of the drawings, the smooth dark brown patina that covers the entire plane, and the absence of palimpsests, the composition is made in one step. Individual images (a bull in a decorative style, horses," tailed "anthropomorphs with clubs, archers in "horned" headdresses) allow us to date this unique work of rock art to the beginning or even the middle of the II millennium BC, i.e. the era of the early or developed Bronze Age. On the Koibagar monument (Kazakhstan), "more than 20 intertwined figures of a goat, a man, and a dog are executed in a similar manner; below and in the center is a man harnessing two horses to a chariot. This is the only such scene known to us among the petroglyphs of the USSR" [Kadyrbaev and Maryashev, 1977, p. 33, Fig. 40]. At the same location there is another composition that resembles an ornament. Images of animals (camels, tours, goats) and humans are connected by a single line. In general, they also form a peculiar pattern. Researchers considered these two compositions very rare, dating them to the Bronze Age [Ibid.]. Currently, the uniqueness of Kazakhstan's petroglyphs has been lost due to the discovery of even more original, and perhaps even more ancient drawings in Khar-Chuluu.

Among the most frequently found images of the so-called Mongol-Trans-Baikal type deer at this locality. In terms of style and iconography, they are similar to the drawings on the deer stones of Mongolia, but in some cases they are larger and look less stylized.-

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private bathrooms. They probably retain some features (tree-shaped horns, stripes on the body, four legs) typical of Bronze Age deer images.

Drawings of the Arjan-Mayemir period of the early Scythian era are also found in the eastern part of the monument. These include paired figurines of goats and deer made in a decorative style, and one hunting story with two pairs of deer and goats. Elegant and miniature figure of a rider on a thoroughbred horse. It is not yet clear what time the images of rams with horns in the form of a solid disk belong to. The inclusion of one such figure in a composition dating back to the Bronze Age (Figure 12) seems to give grounds for determining the date of the others, but a single image of a ram with its legs bent under its belly can be attributed to the petroglyph layer of the Early Scythian era. However, determining the chronology of some drawings, usually single figures of animals, in Har-Chuluu also remains problematic.

Subjects of hunting archers on goats, deer, wild boars and in the Scythian era were the most popular at this location. One drawing shows a corral hunt, in which two dogs with their tails curled up characteristically drive a goat or a wild ram at the rider (Fig. 13, 1). Attention is drawn to the carefully carved composite bow of an M-shaped shape, loaded with an arrow, and hung from the rider's belt is lit or quiver. They can be dated to the Early Iron Age. This is also confirmed by the stylistic features in the image of animals. Especially pretentious is the horse, captured, obviously, at the moment of rapid movement, as evidenced by the characteristically bent legs. One dog is shown with a round eye and an open mouth. A number of other petroglyphs in Khar Chuluu date back to the same time. For example, images of two elegant goats, the head of one of which is turned back, and the horns are inscribed under the head of the other. In general, the miniature is close to the ornamental motifs often used to decorate various objects in the cultures of the Scythian appearance of the Sayan-Altai. No less expressive is the composition of goat figures carved on a separate stone (Fig. 13, 2). They are shown in a characteristic pose: with the head tilted forward, the backside raised up, the long legs thrown forward "on tiptoe". The simultaneous execution of drawings is determined not only by stylistic features, but also by a well-thought-out symmetrical arrangement on the stone and the same orientation of the figures (to the right). Two of them have an unselected background stone showing a round eye-a technique widely known in the decorative and rock art of the early nomads of Central Asia. Several drawings in the upper part of the stone (a man with a club (?), a horse, a goat, a dog, or a fox) are rather carelessly knocked out and are disharmonious with the described figures of goats. By its construction, the composition is subordinated to the shape of the stone and again very napo-

12. Images of rams with horns in the form of rounded disks.

13. A scene of hunting a goat with dogs (1) and a composition of goat figures made in the early Scythian style (2).

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mints the plots embodied on individual deer stones of Central Asia.

Recently, 15 fragments of deer stones and stone slabs were found in the eastern part of the mound of the tsar's mound Arzhan-2 in Tuva (Čugunov, Parzinger, Nagler, 2003, Abb. 40, 41; Chugunov, 2004, pp. 33-35) with carved images of deer, wild boars, camels, horses, chariots, and a man armed with a dagger. They date back to the time of the mound's construction - the seventh century BC or even within the second half of the seventh century BC (Chugunov, 2004, p. 34). But this is the latest date determined by the analysis of objects found in the burials. It is quite obvious that the deer stones and their fragments were reused in the construction of the mound and may be several centuries older than the mound itself. A broken deer stone with engraved images of weapons, deer and wild boars was also found in the mound of the Arzhan mound, studied by M. P. Gryaznov [1980, Fig. 29, 2] and dated by him within the IX century BC [Ibid., pp. 55,61]. A. P. Okladnikov, using this stone to analyze images of deer on Mount Tebsh in Mongolia, came to the conclusion that its secondary use. He also noted that deer stones were used as a building material and for the construction of tile graves in Transbaikalia [1980, p. 91]. Based on his observations and the presence of images of daggers of typical Karasuk forms on the deer stones, A. P. Okladnikov suggested dating these monuments to the second half of the second millennium BC [Ibid.]. Deer stones and boulders with figures of argali, marals and horses, made in the Arjan-Mayemir style, are also included in the central structure of the kereksur Ulug-Khorum in Tuva (Grach, 1980, pp. 120-121, Fig. 73). From the above facts, it follows that the drawings on the deer stones may be much older than the researchers assume. This also applies to some Early Scythian petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai, the date of creation of which can be revised and dated to about the middle of the II millennium BC. Probably, the image of a standing bird with long legs and neck, rare for Khar-Chuluu, also belongs to the same era. The round eye is performed by the already mentioned technique. Several other single images of birds and one composition in the form of a herd of five birds were also found on the monument. All of them are shown in profile, and despite the stylization, they can be recognized as walking geese and sitting eagles.

Small figures of camels (two) and an elk can be considered rare in Har Chuluu. Many of the drawings (obviously unfinished) in the petroglyphs are indeterminable; some of the images clearly relate to fantastic animals related to archaic mythologies.

A number of signs and obscure figures can probably be called magical, intended for some ritual actions. Among them:: 1) six embossed spots arranged in a semicircle in front of the goat figure; 2) a contour oval (resembling the shape of a human foot) and four holes (one of them is enclosed in a circle of nine embossed rounded spots); 3) a T-shaped symbol resembling a coinage - a striking weapon of ancient nomads. The most ancient of these signs are considered cup depressions, or, as they are also called, holes, pits, etc. They are already found in Paleolithic petroglyphs and are interpreted by researchers as symbols of fertility. In Har-Chuluu, there are not many hollowed-out depressions. They are included in the context of individual images and compositions. But natural holes on rock surfaces have always attracted the attention of performers of ancient drawings. Conscious inclusion of them in plots and compositions can be traced by processing the edges and giving rounded outlines to these depressions. The tradition of using natural wells, for example, was known and popular in Kalbak-Tash in the Russian Altai [Kubarev and Jacobson, 1996, fig. 59, 206, etc.as well as in the synchronous Mongolian petroglyphs Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oygur [Jacobson, Kubarev, Tseveendorj, 2001, fig. 942, 1146, etc.]. In the semantic aspect, such wells are undoubtedly close in meaning to artificial cup depressions. This is also confirmed by the multi-time drawings of Har-Chuluu, applied around a large deep hole.

In later epochs, only the ancient Turks left one goat-hunting scene and a miniature image of a horseman on the rocks of the Khar-Chuluu sanctuary.

Conclusion

Thus, the petroglyphs of Khar-Chuluu, like most others in the Altai, belong mainly to the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. Images of the Early Scythian period and the early nomad era are distinguished by stylistically identical drawings on deer stones [Kubarev V. D., 1979; Volkov, 2002; Frankfort, 2002; Cugunov, Parzinger, Nagler, 2003] and by subject analogues made in the Altai animal style [Kubarev V. D., 1999, 2004, 2006]. A similar comparative analysis of petroglyphs of Central Asia and art objects from Iron Age burials in Xinjiang and ancient Bactria was conducted by A.-P. Frankfort. He came to the conclusion that numerous rock carvings contain information about the close cultural contacts of farmers with the inhabitants of the steppe regions of Central Asia [2002, p.62].

The specifics of publishing new petroglyphs are always associated with a large amount of illustrative material. This message contains only the most popular ones.

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typical plots and individual drawings. A number of interesting compositions and scenes remained unseen, which, we hope, will serve as a reason for further scientific study of the Har-Chuluu petroglyphs. Nevertheless, the main goal of field research has been achieved - the map of archaeological sites in Mongolia can now be mapped to another ancient rock art complex that is valuable for historical science.

We have not touched upon the problems of modern petroglyphology, but they can be briefly formulated. This is the study of the material side of production activities; the establishment of traditional types, methods and techniques of hunting and military tactics of ancient nomads; the definition of the semantics of weapons images and the interpretation of the most popular images of rock art in Central Asia.

Petroglyphs discovered at the mouth of the Khar-Salaa River can be put on a par with other rock art monuments of Mongolia, which have already become classic, in terms of the variety of subjects and artistic expressiveness of visual materials. They are of considerable interest to archaeologists, art historians, as well as researchers involved in the reconstruction of socio-economic structures of ancient societies and ideological representations of the ancient population of Altai.

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Grach A.D. Ancient nomads in the center of Asia, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1980, 256 p.
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Kadyrbaev M. K., Maryashev A. N. Rock images of the Karatau ridge. - Alma-Ata: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR 1977. - 230 p.

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Kubarev V. D., Tseveendorzh D., Yakobson E. Petroglyphs of Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oygur (Mongolian Altai). Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAET SB RAS, 2005, 640 p. (in Russian)

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Chlenova N. L. Karasukskiye kinzhaly [Karasuk daggers], Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1976, 104 p.

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Jacobson E., Kubarev V., Tseveendorj D. Mongolie du Nord-Ouest: Tsagaan Salaa/Baga Oigor. - P.: De Boccard, 2001. - 481 p., 15 map., 399 pi. - (Memoires de la Mssion Archeologique Francaise en Asie Centrale / eds. H.-P Francfort, Ja. A. Sher; t. V. 6). - (Repertoire des petroglyphes d'Asie Centrale; N 6).

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Cugunov K.V., Parzinger H., Nagler A. Der skythische Furstengrabhugel von Arzan 2 in Tuva: (Vorbericht der russisch-deutschen Ausgrabungen 2000 - 2002) // Eurasia Antiqua. - 2003. - Bd. 9. - S. 113 - 162.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 27.12.07.

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