Archaeological studies of early medieval rock art monuments in the Altai

From July 29 to August 30, the Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences continued as a part of the state program of the Republic of Tatarstan “Preservation of the national identity of the Tatar people” long-term archaeological field survey to search for new and clarify known rock art paintings of the Turkic khaganates period in the Altai.

This season new images with hunting and fighting scenes were discovered on monuments in the Chaganka River basin in the Kosh-Agach district of the Altai Republic. The location of the paintings, discovered in the late 1980s nearby the village of Ust-Kan, was clarified. According to archival materials there was a stele with an engraved hunting scene in the northern outskirts of the village of Ulagan. Unfortunately, it could not be found. The area with the stele, described by the researchers, is currently ploughed up. Probably, the images have already been lost as a result of preparation of the territory for arable land or during the extraction of stones for construction works in the 1980s. The Institute has also conducted works to clarify petroglyphs at sites as Kurgak in the Kosh-Agach district, Kalbak-Tash II and Torgun in the Onguday district.