Rock-pecked images from the northern Mongolian Altai attest to the presence of human communities within the high valleys of that region during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. The material provides evidence that is hitherto largely missing from the archaeological record of that region. This paper reviews the rock art, its find sites and larger physical contexts and uses evidence from paleoenvironmental studies to propose dating and cultural significance. The material is compared with other sites said to have Paleolithic imagery from Mongolia and the adjoining Russian Altai. The body of presented material offers a major resource for the study of early hunter-gatherer communities at the interface of Central and North Asia.
References
[1]
Tseveendorj, D.; Kubarev, V.D.; Yakobson (Jacobson), E. Aral Tolgoin Khadny Zurag (The Petroglyphic Complex of Aral Tolgoi); Mongolian Academy of Sciences: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2005.
[2]
Jacobson-Tepfer, E.; Kubarev, V.D.; Tseveendorj, D. Mongolie du Nord-Ouest: Haut Tsagaan Gol. Répertoire des Pétroglyphes d’Asie centrale. Fascicule No. 7. 2 Vols; De Boccard: Paris, France, 2006.
[3]
Jacobson, E.; Kubarev, V.D.; Tseevendorj, D. Mongolie du Nord-Ouest: Tsagaan Salaa/Baga Oigor. Répertoire des Pétroglyphes d’Asie centrale. Fascicule No. 6. 2 Vols; De Boccard: Paris, France, 2001.
[4]
Tseitlin, S.M. Geologiia Paleolita severnoi Azii (Geology of the Paleolithic Period in Northern Asia); Nauka: Moscow, Russia, 1979.
[5]
Michael, H.N. Absolute chronologies of late Pleistocene and early Holocene cultures of Northeastern Asia. Arct. Anthropol. 1984, 21, 1–68.
[6]
Vasil’ev, S.A.; Semenov, V.A. Prehistory of the upper Yenisei Area (Southern Siberia). J. World Prehist. 1993, 7, 213–242, doi:10.1007/BF00975451.
[7]
Janz, L. Chronology of Post-Glacial Settlement in the Gobi Desert and the Neolithization of Arid Mongolia and China. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ, USA, 10 Oct. 2011.
[8]
The Paleolithic of Siberia; Derev’anko, A.P., Shimkin, D.B., Powers, W.R., Eds.; 1998.
[9]
Dorn, R.I. Chronometric Techniques: Engravings. In Handbook of Rock Art Research; Whitley, D.S., Ed.; Altamira Press: New York, NY, USA, 2001.
[10]
Dorn, R.I. Rock varnish. Am. Sci. 1991, 79, 542–553.
[11]
MAIIC *. Available online: http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/maic,1496 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[12]
MAIIC. Available online: http://oregondigital.org/u?/maic,2512 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[13]
MAIIC. Available online: http://oregondigital.org/u?/maic,1724 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[14]
Herzschuh, U. Palaeo-moisture evolution in monsoonal Central Asia during the last 50,000 years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2006, 25, 163–178, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.02.006.
[15]
Serebryanny, L.R. Mountain Glaciation in the USSR in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. In Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union; Velichko, A., Ed.; University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, MN, USA, 1984; pp. 45–54.
[16]
Arkhipov, S.A. Stratigraphy and paleogeography of the sartan glaciation in West Siberia. Quat. Int. 1998, 45, 29–42, doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(97)00004-9.
[17]
Jacobson, E. Petroglyphs and natural history: Sources for the reconstruction of the ecology of culture. Archaeol. Ethnol. Anthropol. Eurasia 2000, 1, 57–65.
[18]
MAIIC, Available online: http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/maic,764 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
MAIIC, Available online: http://oregondigital.org/u?/maic,937 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[22]
Olivier, R.C.D. Ecology and Behavior of Living Elephants: Bases for Assumptions Concerning the Extinct Woolly Mammoths. In Paleoecology of Beringia; Hopkins, D.M., Mathews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Eds.; Academic Press: New York, NY, USA; London, UK, 1982; pp. 291–305.
[23]
Guthrie, R.D. Mammoths of the Mammoth Steppe as Paleoenvironmental Indicators. In Paleoecology of Beringia; Hopkins, D.M., Mathews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., Young, S.B., Eds.; Academic Press: New York, NY, USA; London, UK, 1982; pp. 307–326.
[24]
The Paleolithic of Siberia; Derev’anko, A.P., Shimkin, D.B., Powers, W.R., Eds.; 1998; p. 97. (Okladnikov Cave).
[25]
Tseitlin, S.M. Geologiia Paleolita severnoi Azii (Geology of the Paleolithic Period in Northern Asia); Nauka: Moscow, Russia, 1979; pp. 84–88. (Strashnaia Cave).
[26]
Jacobson-Tepfer, E.; Meacham, J.; Tepfer, G. Archaeology and Landscape in the Mongolian Altai; ESRI Press: Redlands, CA, USA, 2010; pp. 82–83.
[27]
MAIIC, Available online: http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/maic,2087 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[28]
MAIIC, Available online: http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/maic,2124 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[29]
MAIIC, Available online: http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/maic,600 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[30]
MAIIC: Gallery Search: boar.
[31]
MAIIC, Available online: http://oregondigital.org/u?/maic,2139 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[32]
MAIIC, Available online: http://oregondigital.org/u?/maic,2140 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[33]
MAIIC, Available online: http://oregondigital.org/u?/maic,1548 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[34]
MAIIC, Available online: http://oregondigital.org/u?/maic,2212 (accessed on 9 July 2013).
[35]
Dorofeyuk, N.I.; Tarasov, P.E. Vegetation and lake levels in northern Mongolia in the last 12500 years as indicated by data of pollen and diatom analyses. Stratigr. Geol. Correl. 1998, 6, 70–83.
[36]
Blyakharchuyk, T.A.; Wright, H.E.; Borodavko, P.S.; van der Knaap, W.O.; Ammann, B. Late Glacial and Holocene vegetational changes on the Ulagan high-mountain plateau, Altai Mountains, southern Siberia. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2004, 209, 259–279, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.02.011.
[37]
Tankersley, K.B.; Kuzmin, Y.V. Patterns of cultural change in eastern Siberia during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Quat. Int. 1998, 49, 129–139, doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(97)00058-X.
[38]
Blyakharchuyk, T.A.; Wright, H.E.; Borodavko, P.S.; van der Knaap, W.O.; Ammann, B. Late Glacial and Holocene vegetational changes on the Ulagan high-mountain plateau, Altai Mountains, southern Siberia. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2004, 209, 259–279, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.02.011.
[39]
Huang, W.-W.; Hou, Y.-M. A perspective on the archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in North China and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. INQUA Elsevier Sci. 1998, 49–50, 117–127.
[40]
Tarasov, P.E.; Jolly, D.; Kaplan, J.O. A continuous Late Glacial and Holocene record of vegetation changes in Kazakhstan. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 1997, 136, 281–292, doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(97)00072-2.
[41]
Tang, C.; Gai, P. Upper Paleolithic cultural traditions in north China. Adv. World Archaeol. 1986, 5, 339–364.
[42]
Kuzmin, Y.V. Extinction of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) in Eurasia: Review of chronological and environmental issues. Boreas 2010, 39, 247–261, doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2009.00122.x.
[43]
Guthrie, R.D. Origin and causes of the mammoth steppe: A story of cloud cover, woollymammal tooth pits, buckles, and inside-out Beringia. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2001, 20, 549–574, doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(00)00099-8.
[44]
Vartanyan, S.L.; Garutt, V.E.; Sher, A.V. Holocene dwarf mammoths from Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic. Nature 1993, 362, 337–340, doi:10.1038/362337a0.
[45]
MAIIC: Gallery search: moose.
[46]
Janz, L.; Elston, R.G.; Burr, G.S. Dating North Asian surface assemblages with ostrich eggshell: Implications for palaeolecology and extirpation. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2009, 36, 1–8, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.07.005.
[47]
Kurochkin, E.N.; Kuzmin, Y.V.; Antoshchenko-Olenev, I.V.; Zabelin, V.I.; Krivonogov, S.K.; Nohrina, T.I.; Lbova, L.V.; Burr, G.S.; Cruz, R.J. The timing of ostrich existence in Central Asia: AMS 14C age of eggshells from Mongolia and southern Siberia (a pilot study). Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. 2010, 268, 1091–1093, doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2009.10.106.
[48]
Tseitlin, S.M. Geologiia Paleolita severnoi Azii (Geology of the Paleolithic Period in Northern Asia); Nauka: Moscow, Russia, 1979; pp. 77–84.
[49]
Okladnikov, A.P. Tsentral’noasiatiskii ochag pervobytnogo iskusstva (The Central Asian Hearth of Earliest Art); Nauka: Novosibirsk, Russia, 1972.
[50]
Novgorodova, E.A. Mir petroglifov Mongolii (The World of Mongolian Petroglyphs); Nauka: Moscow, Russia, 1984; p. 36.
Jang Seogho; et al. Mongolyn baruun khoid aimgiin khadny zurag (Petroglyphs from northwestern Mongolia); 2009; pp. 388–389.
[53]
Jang Seogho; et al. Mongolyn Gov’-Altain khadny zurag (Petroglyphs from Gov’-Altai, Mongolia); 2008; pp. 366–379.
[54]
Molodin, B.I.; Cheremisin, D.V. Drevneishie naskal’nye izobrazheniia ploskogor’ia Ukok. (Oldest Rock Art from the Ukok Plateau); Nauka: Novosibirsk, Russia, 1999.
[55]
Molodin, B.I.; Cheremisin, D.V. Drevneishie naskal’nye izobrazheniia ploskogor’ia Ukok. (Oldest rock art from the Ukok Plateau); Nauka: Novosibirsk, Russia, 1999. Figures 23, 32 and 37.