Effigies of the Mokhovsky Log Rock Art Site and the Sites of the Okunev Culture in the Oglakhty Mountains
Abstract
The paper considers rock art sites, statuary and funerary sites of the Okunev culture (the Bronze Age in the Minusinsk Basin) which are known within the territory of the Oglakhty mountainous massif, one of the largest archaeological complexes in the Republic of Khakassia. Among the vast number of rock art images in Oglakhty, only a few are so far attributed to the Okunev culture, which is distinguished by its art. The author introduces into scholarly curculation and describes in detail the effigies on the rocks at Mokhovsky Log, a recently discovered rock art site; and considers the problems of their cultural and chronological attribution, as well as of some other relevant rock art images in the Oglakhty mountains. Statuary sites, which the Okunev culture is especially known for, are also not numerous in Oglakhty: one statue with a face-mask is now lost, and two others that have been recently discovered, were reused as tomb stones in the kurgan constructions of the later Tagar culture. Materials from the excavations of the Okunev burials in the Krasny Yar cemetery are also presented. Excavated by E.B. Vadeckaya in 1972 in the southern foothills of the Oglakhty mountains, the cemetery containedburials of the Okunev culture, both embedded in some barrows of the preceding Afanasievo culture (Krasny Yar I), and forming independent barrows (Krasny Yar II). They belong to different stages of the Okunev culture. Interesting and rare materials have been found in these graves; moreover, for the first time it was stratigraphically traced that at least 100 years passed between Afanasievo and embedded Okunev burials (so, the cultures did not coexist, as was previously thought). The materials obtained from the cemetery require further research by modern methods, as well as their complete publication. The author concludes that in the mountains and foothills of the Oglakhty there are evidences of the existence of Okunev culture at different stages of its development; their small (compare to the sites of other cultures) number is due to the insufficient investigation of the territory; and the prospects for new discoveries and replenishment the body of sources for the Okunev culture are associated with the application of modern methods of revealing and documenting archaeological heritage
Downloads
Metrics
References
Vadeckaya E.B. Afanasyev Сulture Сemetery of Krasny Yar. In: Problems of West Siberian Archaeology. Stone and Bronze Age. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1981. Pр. 33–62. (In Russ.)
Vadeckaya E.B. Weaponry from the Okunev Сulture Graves. In: Military Affairs of Ancient Tribes of Siberia and Central Asia. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1981a. Pp. 13–21. (In Russ.)
Vadeckaya E.B. Archaeological Complex Near the Oglakhty Mountain. In: Monuments of History and Culture of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. Vol. 1. Krasnoyarsk : Krasnoyarskoe kn. izd-vo, 1989. Pp. 272–279. (In Russ.)
Vadeckaya E.B. Decorated Stone Slabs from the Okunev Burial Ground at Lebyazhie Village on the Right Bank of the Yenisei. Vestnik Sibirskoj Associacii issledovatelej pervobytnogo iskusstva = Bulletin of Siberian Association of Prehistoric Art Researchers. 2003–2004;6–7:8–17. (In Russ.)
Vadeckaya E.B., Gryaznov M.P. Report on Prospecting and Excavation of the Krasnoyarsk Expedition of LBIA AS USSR in 1969. Archives of the Insitute of Archaeology RAS. R.-1, N4141. (In Russ.)
Vadeckaya E.B., Gryaznov M.P. Report on Excavation in 1972 near the Mount of Oglakhty (left bank of the Yenisei). Archives of Insitute of Archaeology RAS. R.-1, N5568. (In Russ.)
Vadeckaya E.B., Leont’ev N.V., Maksimenkov G.A. Monuments of the Okunev Culture. Leningrad : Nauka, 1980. 148 p. (In Russ.)
Vodyasov E.V., Pankova S.V., Zayceva O.V., Vavulin M.V. Oglakhty Burial Ground: the History of Discoveries, Planigraphy and the Present State. Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniya = Siberian Historical Studies. 2021;3:6–23. (In Russ.)
Esin Yu.N. The Secrets of the Gods of the Ancient Steppe. Krasnoyarsk : Polikor, 2009. 184 p. (In Russ.)
Esin Yu.N. Problems of the Attribution of the Afanasyev Culture Imagery in the Minusinsk Basin Rock Art. In: Collection of Papers on the Afanasyev Culture. Barnaul : Azbuka, 2010. Pp. 53–73. (In Russ.)
Esin Yu.N. Petroglyphs of the “Shaman-Stone” (Oglakhty Mountain, Khakassia). Nauchnoe obozrenie Sayano-Altaya = Sayan-Altai Scientific Review. 2013;1(5):66–81. (In Russ.)
Zaika A.L. Heart-shaped Face-Masks in Petroglyphs of South Siberia. Nauchnoe obozrenie Sayano-Altayja = Sayan-Altai Scientific Review. 2013;1(5):35–51. (In Russ.)
Zaika A.L. Face-masks of the “Tuim” Type in Rock Art of the Middle Yenisei. In: Proceedings of the IV (XX) All-Russian Archaeological Congress in Kazan. T. IV. Kazan : Otechestvo, 2014. Pp. 41–45. (In Russ.)
Kirginekov E.N. Okunev Barrow near Mokhov Ulus. In: Collective Papers on the Okunev Culture. Culture. Art. Anthropology. St. Petersburg : Petro-RIF, 1997. Pp. 128–133. (In Russ.)
Kovaleva O.V., Leont’ev N.V., Amzarakov P.B. Excavation of the Afanasievo Burial Ground next to the Moiseikha Mountain in 1959. In: Collection of Papers on the Afanasyev Culture. Barnaul : Azbuka, 2010. Pp. 108–121. (In Russ.)
Kovtun I.V. Chronology of the Main Panel of the Tutalskaya Pisanitsa. Uchenye zapiski muzeya-zapovednika “Tomskaya Pisanica” = Scientific Notes of the “Tomskaya Pisanitsa” Kuzbass museum-reserve. 2020;11:13–44. (In Russ.)
Lazaretov I.P. Chronology and Periodization of the Okunev Culture: Current State and Prospects. Teoriya i praktika arheologicheskih issledovanij = Theory and Practice of Archeological Research. 2019;4(28):15–50. (In Russ.)
Lazaretov I.P., Polyakov A.V. The Burial Ground of Krasny Kamen as a Funerary and Ritual Complex of the Early Bronze Age. Teoriya i praktika arheologicheskih issledovanij = Theory and Practice of Archaeological esearch. 2018;2(22):21–46. (In Russ.)
Levasheva V.P. Afanasiev Culture Cemetery of Krasny Yar in Khakassia. In: Collection of Papers on History and Archaeology. Moscow : MGU, 1962. Pp. 62–73. (In Russ.)
Leont’ev N.V. Anthropomorphic Images of the Okunev Vulture (problems of chronology and semantics). In: Siberia, Central and East Asia in Antiquity. Neolithic and Metal Age. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1978. Pp. 88–118. (In Russ.)
Leont’ev N.V., Kapel’ko V.F., Esin Yu.N. Statues and Steles of the Okunev Culture. Abakan: Hakasskoe kn. izd-vo, 2006. 236 p. (In Russ.)
Leont’ev S.N. To the Question on a Ceramic Tradition of the Okunev Culture of the Middle Yenisei. In: Collection of Papers on the Okunev Culture 2. Culture and Its Surroundings. St. Petersburg. : SPbGU, 2006. Pp. 260–272. (In Russ.)
Maksimenkov G.A. Embedded Graves of the Okunev Stage in the Afanasyev Culture Barrows. Sovetskaya arheologiya = Soviet Archaeology. 1965;4:204–208. (In Russ.)
Maksimenkov G.A. The Cemetery of the Okunev Culture near the Lebyazhye Village. In: Problems of West Siberian Arcaheology. Stone and Bronze Age. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1981. Pp. 91–110. (In Russ.)
Miklashevich E.A. To the Study of the Technique of Rendering the Tomskaya Pisanitsa Rock Art. In: Historical and Cultural Heritage of Kuzbass (actual problems of studying and protection of archaeological sites). Vol. III. Kemerovo : Kuzbassvuzizdat, 2011. Pp. 132–155. (In Russ.)
Miklashevich E.A. The Complex of Oglakhty Rock Art Sites: Information Potential and Research Prospects. Nauchnoe obozrenie Sajano-Altaja. Arheologija = Sayan-Altai Scientific Review. Archaeology. 2015;1(9):54–77. (In Russ.)
Miklashevich E.A. New Rock Art Locations in the Oglakhty Mountainous Massif in Khakassia. In: Problems of Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Siberia and Adjacent Territories. Vol. XXI. Novosibirsk : IAET SO RAN, 2015a. Pp. 303–307. (In Russ.)
Miklashevich E.A. Rock Art Sites of the Oglakhty Ridge: Prospects for Nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List. In: Archaeological Heritage of Siberia and Central Asia (Problems of interpretation and preservation). Kemerovo : Kuzbassvuzizdat, 2016. Pp. 268–273. (In Russ.)
Miklashevich E.A. Effigies on a Rock in the Kamenka Ravine on the Middle Yenisei. Uchenye zapiski muzeya-zapovednika «Tomskaya Pisanica» = Scientific Notes of the “Tomskaya Pisanitsa” Kuzbass Museum-Reserve. 2020;12:54–66. (In Russ.)
Miklashevich E.A. Rock Art Images of the Okunev Culture on the Moiseikha Mountain (Middle Yenisei). Problemy istorii, filologii i kul’tury = Problems of History, Philology and Culture. 2021;2(72):165–187. (In Russ.)
Rock art of the Oglakhty. Album. Abakan : Gosudarstvennyj prirodnyj zapovednik «Hakasskij», 2017. 160 p. (In Russ.)
Polyakov A.V. Chronology and Cultural Genesis of the Paleometall Epoch Monuments in the Minusinsk Basin. St. Petersburg : IIMK RAN, 2022. 364 p. (In Russ.)
Pyatkin B.N., Martynov A.I. Shalabolino Petroglyphs. Krasnoyarsk : Izd-vo Krasnoyarskogo gos. un-ta, 1985. 192 p. (In Russ.)
Savinov D.G. On the Attribution of Stylistic and Iconographic Groups in the Okunev Culture Art. In: Collection of Papers on the Okunev Culture 2. Culture and its Surroundings. St. Petersburg : SPbGU, 2006. Pp. 157–190. (In Russ.)
Sovetova O. S., Miklashevich E.A. Chronological and Stylistic Features of the Middle Yenisei Petroglyphs. In: Archaeology, Ethnography and Museum Studies. Kemerovo : KemGU, 1999. Pp. 47–74. (In Russ.)
Solodeynikov A.K. Methods of Work with Poorly Discernible Colour Images. Universum Humanitarium. 2020;1:214–231. (In Russ.)
Sher Ya.A. Petroglyphs of Middle and Central Asia. Moscow : Nauka, 1980. 328 p. (In Russ.)
Blednova N., Francfort H.-P., Legtchilo N., Sacchi D., Sher J.A., Smirnov D., Soleilhavoup F., Vidal P. Tepsej I–III, Ust’-Tuba I–VI (Russie, Khakassie). Répertoire des pétroglyphes d’Asie Centrale. Fascicule 2: Sibérie du Sud 2. Paris : Diffusion de Boccard, 1995. 153 p. (In French)
Sher Ja., Blednova N., Legchilo N., Smirnov D. Oglakhty I–III (Russie, Khakassie). Répertoire des pétroglyphes d’Asie Centrale. Fascicule 1: Siberie du Sud 1. Paris : Diffusion de Boccard,1994. 156 p. (In French)
Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research is a golden publisher, as we allow self-archiving, but most importantly we are fully transparent about your rights.
Authors may present and discuss their findings ahead of publication: at biological or scientific conferences, on preprint servers, in public databases, and in blogs, wikis, tweets, and other informal communication channels.
Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research allows authors to deposit manuscripts (currently under review or those for intended submission to ABS) in non-commercial, pre-print servers such as ArXiv.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).