SHATYRTAS: NEW DISCOVERIES OF THE ROCK PAINTINGS IN SOUTH-EAST KAZAKHSTAN (preliminary publication)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52967/akz2020.3.9.30.49Keywords:
archaeology, Kindyktas Mountains, rock paintings, grotto, rock shelters, Eneolithic, Early Bronze Age, painted potteryAbstract
In 2019, the author discovered a previously unknown group of monuments in the Kindyktas Mountains (South-East Kazakhstan) – paintings under rock shelters and in grottoes. Currently, 14 shelters and grottoes with paintings have been discovered; they are concentrated within a short section of the Sarybulak valley, and were designated as Shatyrtas according to the local name for such rocky cavities. The paintings of many grottoes and shelters are characterized by the similarities of technique for the execution of images as well as repertoire including ornamental geometric figures, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images. Based on the analogies with ornamentation of the painted pottery of the Anau culture (Turkmenistan) and Sarazm settlement (Tajikistan), the dating of the oldest paintings is justified: the end of the Middle period – the beginning of the Late Eneolithic (later Namazga II – early Namazga III) and Early Bronze Age (Namazga IV). A small number of paintings shows a different repertoire (horsemen and deer, etc.) and dates from the Medieval period.
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