NEW INVESTIGATIONS OF ROCK ART ON THE WEST OF THE TSAGAN-DABAN RIDGE (WESTERN TRANSBAIKALIA)
Abstract
The western spurs of the Tsagan-Daban mountain range (Western Transbaikalia), fringing the right bank of the Selenga river valley from the mouth of the Khilka to the mouth of the small river Zhirimka, are poorly studied in archaeological terms. Only in the last decade, objects of ancient rock art have become known here, most of which are difficult to access — removed from the Selenga coast, and located high above the river level, which makes it difficult to find them. All currently discovered rock carvings in this area and the immediate vicinity are painted with ocher of various shades. Many of the rock paintings are poorly preserved and are visible on the reddish surface of syenite and granite rocks in the form of indistinguishable spots, which makes their simple visual examination impossible. To study such rock carvings, the method of digital processing of their photographs was used, which makes it possible to reveal the contours of ancient drawings. One of these objects is an archaeological site, called Kamennaya Baba, after the name of the rocky peak located nearby. More than half of the drawings of this locality are not visually distinguishable, and the general layout of the entire rock panel, without special research methods, cannot be traced. While studying the archaeological object, an opinion was proposed about the appearance of individual drawings on the surface of the rock at different times. This opinion is confirmed by various stylistic features of the drawings, as well as their varying degrees of preservation. The drawings found on the surface of the rock belong to the Selenga type of ancient images, among which anthropomorphic and ornithomorphic images form the basis.
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