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DOI: 10.1134/S1563011006020101

E.P. MatochkinA.V. Anokhin National Museum of the Altai Republic,

Choros-Gurkina 46, Gorno-Altaisk, 649000, RussiaE-mail: pallady@ngs.ru

PETROGLYPHS AT GREEN LAKE: AN ALTAI BRONZE AGE MONUMENT*

Introduction

Despite the fact that quite a number of analytical studies have been conducted in the area of petroglyphs recently, the signifi cance of petroglyphs as works of art that convey specifi c information through artistic imagery is generally underestimated. Many rock art images possess an aesthetic merit that cannot always be fully expressed in words. Also, the creative thinking of ancient artists was still syncretic, largely emotional, and based on sensuous imagery.

In examining the technique of rock art, we may come to understand something of the essence of the image context and the harmony between the image and the technology of its execution. Through our attempts to understand symbols and artistic images together with the general composition and representation of particular features we may come to a closer understanding of the ideas expressed there.

The analysis of petroglyphs in situ rather than relying on traces and reproductions gives the scholar a sense of the “magic” power of rock art. Petroglyphs were not of course painted on an easel; they were created within a natural landscape and should be interpreted within that particular landscape, taking into account particular times and the position of the stars in the sky. There are many impressive examples of rock art and those at the Okunevo cliffs are no exception. The images found there are extremely rich in their symbolism. The mysterious polychrome drawings of the Karakol cist

* My thanks are due to V.I. Molodin and V.D. Kubarev for their valuable comments and for having taken part in discussions.

serve as another fi ne example. The petroglyphs at Green Lake have a similar effect. This effect is signifi cant and should be mentioned if only briefl y, because the enigmatic meaning of these images is closely related to the emotional and spiritual spheres of the ancient population inhabiting these specifi c landscapes and whose material culture is one of the major topics of archaeology.

The history of discovery

About ten years ago, representatives of the local population brought a stone slab bearing petroglyphs to the Museum of the Young Tourist Station in Ust-Koksa, the Altai Republic (Matochkin, 2002). The slab was discovered at a rock art site (49° 30′ N, 85° E) in the upper reaches of the Krasnoyarka River in the environs of Green (Zelyenoye) Lake situated in the southwestern part of the Ust-Koksa Region of the Altai Republic (Fig. 1).

The sanctuary at Green Lake represents a unique site in the Altai Mountains (Matochkin 2004a, b, c; 2005). The site is located within a high elevation zone, standing higher than the forest zone, which means that some of the slabs are covered in snow even in mid-summer. Two lakes are situated on the northern slope of a mountain ridge. The lakes have no offi cial names. The lake to the west is referred to by the local population as Green (Zelyenoye), Nameless or Dead. Both lakes are supplied with water from melting snow from winter fl urries. The narrow isthmus between the lakes and the mountain pass in the vicinity make this place strategically important, and it seems to have been populated since the distant past.

Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 2 (26) 2006 E-mail: eurasia@archaeology.nsc.ru© 2006, E.P. Matochkin

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DISCUSSION

ISSUES IN THE STUDY OF PREHISTORIC ART

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Initial attempts made to approach the site in 2002 failed; the expedition of 2003 was more successful however, and in that year the site was discovered by academics for the fi rst time. Studies were carried out between 2003 and 2005; the expedition of 2004 was executed with the support of the V.V. Bianki Local Studies Museum in Byisk.

Description of the petroglyphs

Twenty stone slabs bearing petroglyphs have been discovered in the area between the snow patch and the lake. All except three specimens (slabs 16, 19 and 20) are situated within an area of 22 × 7 m (Fig. 2). The slabs are blocks of light gray, dense and carbonaceous sandstone of fi ne-grained texture; most of them are located on the right bank of the brook. The length of the slabs does not exceed 1.5 m; their width is no wider than 1.2 m; their thickness ranges from several centimeters to half a meter and even larger. Most of the slabs have smooth surfaces. The petroglyphs were executed using the pecking technique varying from small, dense pecks to random and amorphous scars. The images are clear and most vivid at sunset.

The slabs are enumerated upstream.Slab 1 is a sub-triangular piece of rock approximately

1.5 × 1.5 m; it bears the image of a tailed anthropomorphic fi gure with tall headwear. Peculiar, crescent-shaped objects hang from the elbows; thick tassels hang from the hands. Six animal images surround the central fi gure. (Fig. 3).

Slab 2 is located 5.2 m to the east of slab 1. This rectangular piece of rock, 1.2 ×0.9 m, shows male and female elk moving in an eastward direction. Beneath the legs of the male a slanting line is depicted. Its body shows relatively large pits up to 1 cm long and 0.5 cm wide.

Slab 3 is located 2.9 m to the southwest of slab 2. Its maximum dimensions reach 0.9 × 0.8 m. The slab shows an anthropomorphic image in tall, narrow headwear. The arms are outstretched and bent at the elbows. There are long and thick tassels in the hands (Fig. 4).

Slab 4 is situated 6.3 m upstream of slab 1. This sub-rectangular piece, 1.1 × 0.5 m, shows an isolated animal image.

Slab 5 is situated 0.3 m upstream of slab 4. This slab, 2.3 ×1 m bears two deer images with large antlers and one horse image.

Slab 6 is located 0.3 m upstream of slab 3 and stands 1.7 m from slab 5. The rock is sub-rectangular in form, 1.5 × 0.9 m; it bears two anthropomorphic images similar

to the human-bird image on slab 3 (Fig. 5). The upper image is damaged by the fi ssure on the slab.

Slab 7 is located next to slab 6 and slightly upstream, its dimensions are 1 × 0.75 m. The slab shows two animal images.

Slab 8, 0.5 × 0.7 m, is located 0.2 m upstream of slab 7 and bears an anthropomorphic image resembling the human-bird image on slab 3 (Fig. 6).

Slab 9, 1.2 × 1.0 m, is located 0.3 m upstream of slab 8. It shows fi ve animal images executed in two different techniques: silhouette and silhouette-outline (Fig. 7).

Slab 10, 1.3 × 0.5 m, is situated 0.3 m upstream of slab 9. This rectangular block has been separated into two parts. The images closest to the fi ssure edges are now illegible. The rock shows eight animal images and three anthropomorphic fi gures; one of the anthropomorphic fi gures overlaps the image of an ungulate (Fig. 8).

Slab 11, 11.1 × 0.8 m, is located next to slab 10 and slightly upstream. It bears six animal images; one image is incomplete showing only the head and neck.

Slab 12, 0.5 × 1.3 m, is located 1 m from slab 11. It shows a Siberian deer (maral) and a woman in labor (Fig. 9). The surface of the upper right portion of the slab is damaged.

Slab 13, 1.0 × 0.8 m, is situated 1 m from the brook. Its surface is damaged. The slab bears one complete silhouette image of a Siberian deer; other images have been preserved in fragments only.

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Fig. 1. Map of the Altai Republic. The Green Lake rock art site is marked by a circle and an arrow.

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Fig. 2. Landscape at the site Fig. 3. Slab 1. Composition with anthropomorphic fi gure and animal images.

Fig. 4. Slab 3. Bird-human image. Fig. 5. Slab 6. Bird-human images. Fig. 6. Slab 8. Bird-human image.

Fig. 7. Slab 9. Animal images. Fig. 8. Slab 10. Combination of images.

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Fig. 9. Slab 12. Images of a woman in labor and a female Siberian deer.

Fig. 10. Slab 18. Composition with four anthropomorphic images.

Fig. 11. Slab 19. Images of an anthropomorphic creature, elk and other animals.

Fig. 12. Slab 21. Combination of images with an anthropomorphic fi gure.

Fig. 13. Slab 2. Images of male and female elk.

Slab 14, 1.1 × 1.0 m, is located 0.3 m from the brook. This slab shows four images of Siberian deer, two of which are fragments only.

Slab 15, 1.8 × 0.9 m, is located 5.6 m westward of slab 14 immediately on the brook bank. It shows three images of ungulates.

Slab 16, 1.5 × 0.5 m, is situated 5 m upstream of slab 14 and 7.3 m to the right of the brook. It bears an image of Siberian deer.

Slab 17 is situated next to slab 15. The slab is mostly covered with silty soil from the brook. It bears a fragment of an indistinct image.

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Slab 18, 1.4 × 0.4 m, is situated 5.4 m from slab 14 and 2.1 m from slab 15 upstream. Rectangular in form, the right edge is missing. The image shows a line of four anthropomorphic figures holding hands (Fig. 10). One end of the slab with a damaged surface shows the image of a woman with her legs apart (the pose of a woman in labor) and a she-deer by her side.

Slab 19, 1.2 × 1 m, is situated 40 m north of the brook. The slab shows images of elk, bear (?), and an anthropomorphic fi gure, six smaller animals and a few small pits (Fig. 11).

Slab 20, 2 × 0.8 m, is situated on the opposite bank, 24 m south of slab 18 at the elevation of 4 m further up the slope. It bears a goat image.

Slab 21, 0.9 × 0.2 m, is now deposited at the Ust-Koksa Museum. Its original location among the other slabs at the site is unknown. This rectangular piece of rock shows the palimpsest of an anthropomorphic image and two images of Siberian deer. Fragmented images at the edges are indistinct (Fig. 12).

Rock art images: Style and semantics

The repertoire of rock art images from Green Lake is rather homogenous. The share of special signs is minor; these are pits and lines representing separate images or parts of compositions. Ancient artists paid their attention mostly to zoo- and anthropomorphic representations. Of 74 separate images, anthropomorphic fi gures constitute approximately 22 %.

The majority of zoomorphic images can be interpreted as Siberian deer; there are also goat, elk, horse and fox. Peculiar animal images with large circular bodies (slabs 1 and 11) have also been noted.

Some slabs (e.g., slabs 2, 7, 9, 10, 14, 19, and 20) show male and female animals standing together (41 % of the animal images). These paired representations of animals of both sexes suggest the cult-genealogical signifi cance of the images and the ancient dream of fertility and regeneration among animals.

Isolated fi gures (41 %) are mostly static. Other animals are shown in compound compositions together

with anthropomorphic images (slabs 1, 12, 18, and 19). These compositions will be discussed separately.

The images of male and female elk from slab 2 demonstrate high artistic values (Fig. 12, 13). The images show thin and clearly-formed legs, the bodies are slightly trapezoid-shaped, and the long muzzles are parabola-shaped. The forelegs are set apart as if indicating movement; the hind legs are static and shown in front view.

The ungulate images from slab 1 also demonstrate sophisticated manufacturing skills. These beautiful animal images show long legs, thin necks and the proportions of head and body are accurately depicted. The specifi c stylistic manner of the discontinuous outlines of the animal jaws shows their mouths to be open. Some images are linked with lines. The high aesthetic and artistic qualities of this composition make this scene a real masterpiece of Bronze Age rock art. Exquisite animal images form a single composition with a geometrically shaped and tailed anthropomorphic fi gure, a diamond-shaped head and trapezoid body wearing some kind of attire with an angled design and pointed hat. The anthropomorphic fi gure is shown bending slightly forward. Parts of the body are shown in

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Fig. 14. Slab 1. Composition with anthropomorphic fi gure and animal images (trace).

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different views: the head is in front view, while the legs and arms are in side view (Fig. 14). This fi gure seems to be walking swinging the arms with thick tassels attached to his hands. Six animals are shown running in the same direction as the anthropomorphic fi gure. The animals seem to be falling down from the sky (from upstream) and having made a turn, then run in the direction indicated by the human hands. The whole composition appears to show the heroine performing some form of ritual dance.

Two images from Okunevo steles are shown in a similar pose, leaning forwards (Vadetskaya, Leontiev, Maksimenkov, 1980: 144). These human fi gures hold some long object in their hands (Fig. 15). The crescent-shaped pendants hanging from the elbows of the anthropomorphic image from Green Lake are also noteworthy. A similar image has been identifi ed at the Karatag petroglyphic site (Semenov et al., 2000: fi g. 23, 5; pl. 32, 10, 13). Implements of similar crescent shape have been also reported from the grave goods at the Chernovaya VIII (Ibid.: pl. XXIII, 3) and Ust-Byur (Kyzlasov, 1986: fi g. 184, 188) burial grounds of the Okunevo culture. Such an implement was recovered in situ on the head of a skeleton from a tomb dated to the Krotovo culture at Sopka-2 on the Baraba steppe (Molodin, 1985: fi g. 18, 6 – 9, 11 – 13); one more similar object has been reported from the Samus IV settlement (Matyuschenko, 1973).

A. Nagler interpreted these crescent-shaped objects as knives for cutting millet, common to some regions in China and Korea (Nagler, 2002: 154). In contrast, G.A. Maksimenkov (1980: 24) considers them cult objects. V.I. Molodin (1985: 43 – 44) considers such objects to be elements of cult headgear. Yu.N. Esin (2004: 15) believes that such objects played an important role in the ritual practice of the Samus and other Siberian cultures. The images under discussion would seem to support the last inference.

Half-discs, half-rings, rings and discs of milky white and greenish jade attributed to the Glazkovo culture in the Cis-Baikal region have been interpreted as Moon symbols (Khlobystina, 1978: 156 – 160). It is likely that crescent-shaped pendants linked the composition under discussion with the cult of the fecundating Moon, widespread in Eurasia and the concept of the new moon as an epitome of masculine features, that was formed as early as in the Paleolithic. The bull served as an ancient zoomorphic symbol of the God of the Moon which is possibly why the anthropomorphic images from Green Lake are shown holding what could be interpreted as bull’s tails in their hands. This interpretation of thick tassels relating to the Karakol images has been put forward by V.D. Kubarev (1988: 101).

The rock art composition from Tsagaan-Salaa IV in the Mongolian Altai (Jacobson, Kubarev, Tseveendorj, 2001: fi g. 331) can be regarded as a close iconographic analogue to the petroglyphs from slab 1. The Tsagaan-Salaa composition also shows a female fi gure with her hands stretching out to the sides with pendants of some kind hanging from the elbows and in high headgear. The central fi gure is surrounded by animal images. To the side of this composition there is an image of an archer with a hypertrophied phallus. These images illustrate traditional concepts of successful hunting, suggesting that the female image personifi es a mythological animal spirit woman. It cannot be excluded that the Green Lake composition illustrates the same topic and the strange syncretic image from slab 1 is one of the early portraits of a female-shaman or animal spirit woman.

Anthropomorphic images of human-birds with a vertical line designating heads from the Green Lake petroglyphs (slabs 3, 6 and 8) represent original images. These heroes resemble cranes during their nuptial dance period. The straight legs with the feet turned outwards and the geometrically shaped body is characteristic of images

Fig. 15. Ritual images from Green Lake (1) and Okunevo steles (2, 3).2, 3 – after (Vadetskaya, Leontiev, Maksimenkov, 1980: pl. LIII, 135).

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from slabs forming cists of the Ozernoe (Pogozheva, Kadikov, 1979: 84) and the Karakol (Kubarev, 1988: 59) burials attributed to the Bronze Age.

In our analysis of the human images with ornitomorphic features, some correlations can be established with the crane beaked masks recovered from ancient graves in the Yenisei region (Vadetskaya, 1996: 48) as well as bird crania in association with objects clearly of cult function recovered from various Okunevo tombs (Vadetskaya, Leontiev, Maksimenkov, 1980: 68 – 69). These fi ndings suggest that the Okunevo population practiced shamanism (Ibid.: 76).

Images in ritual poses with the arms stretched out to the sides and bent at the elbows and with pendants have been also reported from ornamental patterning on Samus ceramics and petroglyphs in the Cis-Baikal region (Fig. 16). Many images show pendants symbolizing stars hanging from the elbows. M.F. Kosarev argues that such Samus representations were closely related to the solar cult (Kosarev, 1981: 97 – 99). A.N. Lipsky (1961: 274) regarded anthropomorphic images with bird heads from the cist slabs of Tas-Hazaa as “deity” portraits.

It should be noted that the tails in the hands of bird-humans do not hang straight down as on the Karakol cist, but are lifted upwards slightly as during hand movement or as if the fi gure were turning itself around. The second possibility is more likely, because the feet of these bird-humans are turned outwards. For instance, the images from slab 6 can be interpreted as a depiction of one person moving along a circle counter clock wise (see Fig. 5). In this context, compositions from the three slabs can be regarded as a continued depiction of a single performance. The lower slab 3 shows the initial position of the hero lifting his “wings” up and beginning movement to the right, i.e. upstream in this case. Slab 6 shows the hero rotating at the two outermost positions; the feet are turned outwards. Slab 8 depicts the end of the ritual dance. It is interesting that the “tail” in the right

hand is turned up towards the sky, while that in the left hand faces downwards with something falling from it (see Fig. 6). Whatever this might be, it is shown through random dots. The object is not shown as falling straight down as would be the case if the hero were in a static pose, but in the form of an extended cloud suggesting rotation. However, in this case we can suppose that the hero is making his rotating movement standing in one spot rather than moving in a circle because his feet are not placed apart and turned outwards.

The only analogue to the Green Lake images with “wings” can be found at Tsagaan-Salaa II (Jacobson, Kubarev, Tseveendorj, 2001: fi g. 133). However, the Tsagaan-Salaa image represents an anthropomorphic fi gure with circular head and circular body, yet the wings – “tails” are the same and even longer. It is curious that this image is surrounded by a “hive” of small dots; the animal images from this composition are also surrounded by such dots. It cannot be excluded that these dots symbolize animal embryos that were delivered by a cult hero. In such a case, the Tsagaan-Salaa II composition from the Mongolian Altai can be interpreted as the emergence of animals as a result of some shaman performance.

A similar interpretation can be suggested for the Green Lake anthropo-ornitomorphic images. Animals bearing similar dots on their bodies from the surrounding slabs can be taken as the depiction of offsprings. Thus, semantically this series of petroglyphs correlates with the composition on slab 1, which seems to have been executed earlier. All the cult heroes discussed here share many features, one being the depiction of “tails” in the hands. Differences have been noted in the iconography only: the Green Lake images are shown upright in front view, while the Okunevo images are slightly bent forward and are shown in various views. These bird-humans can be interpreted as spirits assisting the animal spirit woman, while their ritual dance is linked with the cult of animal fertility.

Fig. 16. Bronze Age anthropomorphic images from Southern Siberia.1 – Green Lake; 2 – Karakol (after (Kubarev, 1988: fi g. 19)); 3 – Sagan-Zaba (after (Okladnikov, 1974: pl. 9));

4 – Samus VI (after (Matyuschenko, 1973: fi g. 63)); 5 – Manzya (after (Okladnikov, 1966: pl. 168, 2)).

1 2 3 4 5

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A similar topic is illustrated on slab 19 located at some distance from the brook. The images are pecked out on the rock surface in silhouette; the outlines of the images are not as clear as on other slabs and the size of the anthropomorphic image is smaller than on the slabs located closer to the brook. The image is shown in a static pose. Signs resembling a serrated crown can be traced around its head. The anthropomorphic fi gure is holding long, thin objects similar to those held by human-birds from slabs 3, 6 and 8. Animals surrounding the central image are moving in different directions from the central image.

The petroglyphs in the upper part of slab 10 represent a palimpsest: the silhouette of an ungulate with a long neck and small head is partially overlapped by an anthropomorphic image. Short attire with an apron and two transverse belts leaves the legs bare. There is a strange image at the feet of the anthropomorphic fi gure. The main hero holds a long, thin object in his left hand (the damaged surface of the rock prevents us from detecting any features that might have been depicted in the right hand). This anthropomorphic image is iconographically close to the images from the Karakol cist (Fig. 17) (Kubarev, 1988: fi g. 46). Similar to the Karakol images, the Green Lake anthropomorphic fi gure is shown with long, thin legs, its body has a rectangular shape narrowed at the bottom; the hands are extended out to the sides and bent at the elbows forming a zigzag line. The conic-shaped headgear with a high top is reminiscent of high caps on human images from the Tas-Khazaa slabs and those on the mummies from the Early Bronze Age tombs at the Gumugou cemetery in Xinjiang (Mallory, Mair, 2000: 212 – 213).

To the right of the main hero, stands another anthropomorphic image. No features of any attire are shown on this fi gure, depicted in side view. The legs are bent; the left hand holds a staff with a short transverse part, similar to those of the staff-like images from Onega petroglyphs. The right hand, holding some kind of object, is raised up above the shoulder as if ringing a bell. It should be noted that bells are used in shaman practice; shamans use bells to protect themselves from evil spirits (Anokhin, 1994: 39). The image shows a person climbing a mountain. The fi gure is likely that of an old man, and can be correlated to the image of a human leaning forwards from Mugur-Sargol (Devlet, 1980: 180) and with the images from Kalbak-Tash (Kubarev, Jacobson, 1996: N 155, 159). All these images are shown with staffs. A staff or a stick might occur among the belongings of cult leaders, e.g., shamans (Devlet, 1999: 228).

Slab 18 shows a peculiar composition, the like of which has not been recorded to date from any other petroglyphic site. It shows anthropomorphic images wearing strange masks and attire with crescent pendants at the elbows and at the bottom of their attire, and with long objects in their hands, holding one another by the hand (Fig. 18). Currently, the semantics of this composition are not clear. Apparently, four heroes are represented in certain mythological ideas. The number 4 is perceived as an idea of static unity and an ideal, stable structure. Hence, four gods and four cardinal points occur in the creation of the Universe and the establishment of the cardinal axes (Toporov, 1982: 630). Keys to the temporal orientation of the Universe have been suggested elsewhere by the current author on the basis of phases of the Moon recorded

Fig. 17. Composition from the upper portion of slab 10 (1) and an image from the Karakol cist (2) (after (Kubarev, 1988: fi g. 46)).

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with the help of the moons on the elbows and attire of the rock art heroes. These records correspond to a three-year, lunar–solar calendar (Matochkin, 2004a: fi g. 3). The myth of creation can be decoded on the basis of two other images partially preserved on the same slab: a female Siberian deer and a woman in labor. This composition is a canonic scene; similar images have been recorded at the Okunevo petroglyphs (Vadetskaya, 1970: 262, fi g. 1). It would seem that a ritual performed by the four gods secured successful childbirth. Such an interpretation is supported by the calendar of pregnancy of 9.5 lunar months encoded in lunar signs in the form of the crescent shaped pendants on the heroes’ attire (Matochkin, 2004a: fi g. 4).

The scene with Siberian deer and woman giving birth is also shown on slab 12; its declining surface overlooks slab 18 (see Fig. 9). These two images are linked by the single idea descending from a Paleolithic myth about an ungulate and a woman giving birth. The noted stylistic differences in the female images in these two slabs can be explained by stylistic requirements rather than chronology. Both images have their analogues. For instance, the image of the woman giving birth on slab 12 is close to the image of a woman with child from Ozernoe, attributed to the Karakol culture (Kubarev, 1998: 282, fi g. 3, 2).

Slab 12 seems to show the result of the ritual performed by the four gods: the woman has given birth to a child. Childbirth might have a whole range of meanings including the most elevated one: birth of the Universe. These observations together with calendar signs on slab 18 support the idea of the solar-astral concept of a female image (Kubarev, 2002: 91).

It can be hypothesized that the ritual images at Green Lake were made with respect to the sacred power of nature. The slabs with petroglyphs are situated on the banks of the brook set in snow blowing throughout the winter and fl owing into the lake. Water was perceived by the

ancients as “the milieu, agent and principle of universal conception and procreation.” This place on the stones washed by water under the blue sky is the ideal place for an alliance between the Sky and the Earth through water. The sky symbolized the male element, while the earth and the water were perceived as analogues of the womb (Averintsev, 1982: 240).

By all appearances, the matrimonial alliance of the Sky with the Earth and Water is depicted by the two central images holding each other’s hands. The right image looks like a male; his legs are placed wide apart, and his large head is covered with a mask. The image to the left resembles a female. In Oriental ancient mythology, the Earth and the Sky were personifi ed by the opposition of two great spirits representing the feminine (Mother) and masculine (Father) essence in nature. The image of the Earth, the great and fructiferous fore-Mother, is likely represented by the anthropomorphous image with a small head wearing rectangular-shaped attire in the petroglyphs of Green Lake.

Bronze Age representations of foremothers sharing some features with the one at Green Lake have been recorded from many rock art sites including Kalbak-Tash (Kubarev, Jacobson, 1996: fi g. 194, 331), the Mongolian Altai (Jacobson, Kubarev, Tseveendorj, 2001: fi g. 587, 664, 891), and Xinjiang (Gai Shanlin, 1986: 423) (Fig. 19). Chinese archaeologists interpret the Xinjiang image on the basis of its similarity to a turtle (Ibid.). On the contrary, Kubarev in his analyses of such compositions argues that all such images, despite certain local differences, share principal characteristic features attributable to the general image of a female deity, a woman-shaman and animal spirit woman (2002: 90). Kubarev has also pointed to the specifi c semantic relationship between a woman shaman and sacred birds as citizens of the Sky, especially the eagle (Jacobson, Kubarev, Tseveendorj, 2001: 67). (The Green Lake

Fig. 18. Trace of images from slab 18.

0 10 cm

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composition shows the female deity in association with two ornithomorphic images.)

Slabs 12 and 18 show images of female Siberian deer associated with the female image. The image of the she-deer serves as a specifi c zoomorphic marker of the initial period of pregnancy. During the autumnal equinox, when nature has ripened all its fruit and is preparing to die, new life is conceived. The conception is announced in a trump-like voice resounding everywhere in the quiet and gold of the fall. These are the days when Siberian deer are in rut. September 21 can be regarded as the beginning of “a new year” for Siberian deer.

The time of birth after conception on September 21 is around the day of the summer solstice. During this period, high elevated plains become free from snow and are quickly covered by rampant herbs and fl owers celebrating the Sun. The ancients could not but not have noticed the correlation between these two signifi cant astronomic phenomena, the autumnal equinox and the summer solstice, with the gestation period. The renewal of Nature was perceived as a repeated birth of the world that occurred due to the alliance between Mother-Earth and the male god of the Sky.

Chronological attribution

All the rock art images that have been recorded in various regions and reported in the present paper as analogues to the Green Lake anthropomorphic images date to the Bronze Age. The rock art site at Green Lake did not yield any images in the Scythian-Siberian style or in Ancient Turkic graffi ti; this allows us to establish a more precise chronological estimation for the Green Lake petroglyphs. Apparently, the closest similarity to the Karakol and Ozernoe images suggests attribution of the Green Lake

representations to the Karakol culture in the fi rst half of the 2nd millennium BC. In some earlier publications, we have argued that the anthropomorphic representations which overlap animal images on slab 21 should be attributed to the Early Iron Age. At the current time, however, we are certain of the older age of this image (Matochkin, 2002: 113). It is commonly acknowledged that images in palimpsest were often executed during a short chronological period and can be attributed to a single period (Molodin, 1993: 13 – 16).

Animal images also demonstrate defi nite features allowing for their attribution to the Metal Ages. For instance, the elk image from slab 19 is well correlated with the iconographic pattern established by Molodin for Bronze Age rock art in Siberia (Ibid.: 19, fi g. 2). Some animal images from slab 11 and the elk image from slab 2 are shown with static hind legs. Such a pattern has been recognized at the second Turochak rock art site (Matochkin, 1986; Molodin, Matochkin, 1992). Molodin believes that this style of depicting the rear part of the body in front view is characteristic exclusively of the Bronze Age Okunevo culture from the Minusinsk Basin (Molodin, 1993: 10 – 11). The repertoire of the Green Lake petroglyphs does not contain any images of bulls typical of Bronze Age art. However, bulls could hardly inhabit this high elevated plateau covered with snow for most of the year. Instead, Siberian deer became the major hero in this landscape. The Okunevo and Karakol cultures share many important characteristic features. This fact suggests their relatively synchronous existence and possible relationships between relevant populations. Certain analogous features can be established with other Bronze Age cultures of Western Siberia, in particular with the Samus culture from the Tomsk Province, and the Cis-Baikal region. It is generally believed that schematic manner is characteristic of younger periods in

Fig. 19. Images of fore-mothers from the Bronze Age.1 – Xinjiang (after (Gai Shanlin, 1986: 423)); 2 – Baga-Oigur II (after (Jacobson, Kubarev, Tseveendorj, 2001: fi g. 891));

3 – Kalbak-Tash (after (Kubarev, Jacobson, 1996: fi g. 311)); 4 – Green Lake.

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the development of art, hence the realistic manner of the Green Lake images suggest their attribution to some of the older periods of this culture.

Conclusion

The discovery of the petroglyphic site at Green Lake has provided additional information on the Karakol culture known for its unique cist murals. A considerable body of isolated and paired animal fi gures has been recorded. These new images demonstrate a diversity of styles and techniques. A few of the animal images at Green Lake demonstrate a certain similarity with images from other petroglyphic sites in the Altai and the reverse is also true: Bronze Age animal images fi nd their analogues in petroglyphs from Green Lake. In the light of this, the Karakol culture loses some of its exclusivity in stylistic originality. However, the most typical Karakol compositions with anthropomorphic images are still unique. Thus, images of human-birds and ritual scenes from paired slabs 1 and 19, the isolated slab 10 and paired slabs 12 and 18 can be considered unique. The spatial distribution of slabs according to the composition context provides grounds for the recognition of this site as a sanctuary at Green Lake. The possible spatial arrangement of the sanctuary is as follows: the area of slabs 1, 3, 6 and 8 may have been the place where rituals associated with fertility cults took place. The leading fi gure of these rituals was the animal spirit woman with her supernatural assistants personifi ed by bird-humans. The middle portion of the area close to slab 10 might have served as a boundary separating the domain of great mountain spirits. Still upstream between slabs 12 and 18, there was a special sacred place where four gods performed the myth of creation.

The specifi c role of the environment in the creation of the petroglyphs at Green Lake should be stressed. The features of exceptional beauty in the locality including a wide panorama of surrounding landscapes, an astonishing wealth of blossoming alpine meadows following a long winter combined with the special psycho-physical condition of a person who had climbed the high-elevated Altai plateau, accentuated one’s sensual perception and created the emotional impact that infl uenced the mastery of rock artists. These rock images, amazingly perfect in their artistic features and spiritual context, can be undoubtedly listed among other masterpieces of rock art worldwide.

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Received 8 December, 2005.