ABOUT TARCHATA IN ALTAI AND THE TERMS «MEGALITH», «MEGALITHIC COMPLEX», «DROPSTONE»
Abstract
This discussion article briefly reviews the history of the study of archaeological sites in Tarkhat and near the village of Tashanta, as well as different names for one site («Chuisky Tract», «Tashanta-1», «Zhylky-tas») proposed by three archaeologists. The first archaeologist to examine and photograph the structure in Tarkhat in 1964 during his work in the Hermitage expedition in Altai was S.S. Sorokin. G.V. Kubarev in his article proposed a new English term for archaeologists «dropstone», which is mainly used in glaciology and geology. Translated from English, this term consists of two words: «drop» and «stone». L.S. Marsadolov suggests that archaeologists use the universal international term «megalith» (translated from Greek - «huge stone»), which is used not only by archaeologists, but also by other specialists in many countries of the world. If G.V. Kubarev considers the petroglyphs from Tarkhata to be “inexpressive” and “unfinished,” while L.S. Marsadolov, on the contrary, considers these petroglyphs to be important and interesting, and two compositions in Tarkhata probably depict the constellations Orion and Taurus/Bull.
Downloads
References
Gorshkov V.L., Marsadolov L.S., Miller N.O., Stegantseva V.Ya. Paleoastronomical Data for Ancient Altai Shrines. In: Report on the Study of Ancient Altai Shrines in 2003–2005. Materials of the Sayano-Altai Archaeological Expedition the State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: Izd-vo Gos. Ermitazhа, 2007. Issue 5. Pp. 52–56. (In Russ.)
Kubarev V.D. Archaeological Sites of the Kosh-Agach Region (Gorny Altai). In: Archaeological Search (North Asia). Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1980. Pp. 69–91. (In Russ.)
Kubarev G.V. «Megaliths» — Dropstones of the Chui Steppe as a Type of Archaeological Sites (Southern Altai). In: Problems of Archaeology, Ethnography, Anthropology of Siberia and Neighboring Territories. Vol. XXIX. Novosibirsk : Izd-vo In-ta arheologii i etnografii SO RAN, 2023. Pp. 668–675. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. Complex of Sites in Semisart in Altai. Materials of the Sayano-Altai Archaeological expedition the State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg : Izd-vo Gos. Ermitazha, 2001. Issue 4. 65 p. + 118 ill. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. Works of the Sayano-Altai Expedition in 2003. In: Archaeological Expeditions for 2003. St. Petersburg : Izd-vo Gos. Ermitazha, 2004. Pp. 48–59. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. Tarhata — Altai «Stonehenge». In: Proceedings of State Astronomy Institute named after P.A. Sternberg. Moscow : Izd-vo gos. astronom. in-ta MGU, 2005. Vol. 78. P. 96. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. Ancient Sanctuary in Tarhata in Altai. In: Archaeological Materials and Research of North Asia in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Tomsk : Izd-vo Tomsk. un-ta, 2007a. Pp. 206–213. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. To the Question of Prototypes for «Deer» Stones. In: Altai-Sayan Mountain Country and the History of Its Development by Nomads. Barnaul : Izd-vo Alt. un-ta, 2007b. Pp. 113–117. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. Report on the Study of the Ancient Shrines of Altai in 2003-2005. Materials of the Sayano-Altai Archaeological Expedition the State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg : Izd-vo Gos. Ermitazha, 2007v. Issue 5. 278 p. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. The Big Salbyk Mound in Khakassia. Abakan : Hakas. kn. izd-vo, 2010. 128 p. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. Megalitics is a New Scientific Discipline with Ancient «roots». In: Steppe Eurasia in the Bronze Age: Cultures, Ideas, Technologies. Chelyabinsk : Izd-vo Chelyab. unta, 2018. Pp. 155–183. (In Russ.)
Marsadolov L.S. Images and Semantics of the Orion Constellation in Petroglyphs, on «Deer» Stones and Animal-Style Objects among the Nomads of Central Asia in the 2nd –1st Millennia BC. In: Ancient Art in the Context of the Cultural and Historical Processes of Eurasia: to the 300th Anniversary of the Scientific Discovery of the Tomsk Scripture. Kemerovo : Izd-vo Kemer. un-ta, 2021. Pp. 187–200. (In Russ.)
Matochkin E.P. Petroglyphs of the Tarhatinsky Megalithic Complex. In: Antiquities of Siberia and Central Asia. 2010. No. 3 (15). Pp. 34–42. (In Russ.)
Matochkin E.P., Gienko E.G. Tarkhatinsky Megalithic Complex: Petroglyphs, Observed Astronomical Phenomena and Shadows from Megaliths. Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies. 2014;2(1):90–106. (In Russ.)
Soyonov V.I., Shitov A.V., Cheremisin D.V., Ebel A.V. Tarkhatinsky Megalithic Complex. In: Antiquities of Altai. Proceedings of the Laboratory of Archaeology. 2000. No. 5. Pp. 7–15. (In Russ.)
Sorokin S.S. Materials for the Archeology of the Altai Mountains. In: Scientific Notes of the Gorno-Altai Research Institute of History, Language and Literature. Issue 8. Barnaul: Altajskoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo, 1969. Pp. 71–88. (In Russ.)
Tishkin A.A., Gorbunov V.V. Complex of Archaeological Sites in the valley of the Biike River (Altai Mountains). Barnaul : Izd-vo Alt. un-ta, 2005. 200 p. (In Russ.)
Copyright (c) 2025 Л.С. Марсадолов
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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).
2.jpg)
