In Siberia and Mongolia, at different times, strange stone slabs with drawings carved on them were discovered. Scientists have long puzzled over what it is and why they are scattered all over the world, if they were created in the Bronze Age and partially in the Iron Age. We are talking about deer stones, of which about 900 pieces have survived in the world.
What is
Deer stones are rather large and processed slabs of stone, on the surface of which various kinds of patterns were applied. Often, ancient peoples used the image of a deer. That is why now they are called "deer stones". It is interesting that the drawings could not only be embossed, but also simply drawn. For the latter, the most common ocher was used.
Deer stone, Mongolia.
Soviet archaeologist Alexei Okladnikov divided the discovered deer stones into three groups according to their shape:
- round or cylindrical;
- rectangular, whose width exceeded other types;
- with a slanting top.
Whereas another Soviet archaeologist Nikolai Dikov suggested grouping deer stones depending on the stylistic features of the images applied to them, namely, realistic ones and with deer with beak-like muzzles.
Deer stone, Mogolia.
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As it turned out later, there were some errors in the distribution system of Nikolai Dikov - not all of the discovered stones fell under this sorting. The thing is that some objects were painted not with deer, but, for example, horses, weapons, solar and tamga signs. From time to time there were deer stones with geometric patterns.
Value
Until now, the best minds of the scientific world are wondering over the meaning of creating deer stones. And until now they cannot come to a common point of view. According to a number of experts, objects found in Central Asia are similar to stone vishapoids found in the Caucasus.
Deer stone, Altai.
There is also a version that the deer stones were nevertheless created from magical thoughts, like the corner stones of the Tagar mounds of the Minusinsk depression. But this idea did not find support from the majority of scientists.
Nevertheless, most of the experts are still inclined to believe that the deer stones were monuments erected after the death of certain people. That is, these are simple gravestones.
Deer stone, Altai.
It is interesting that the famous Soviet ethnographer Sevyan Weinstein found evidence that some deer stones could have been used more than once, namely the ancient Turks erased part of the image and applied a new one to the surface.
Location
Currently, there are four known points on the map of planet Earth where you can see deer stones live.
On the territory of the Russian Federation, their location is designated as the 728th kilometer of the Chuisky tract. According to scientists, the Chuisky deer stone is included in the Altai sanctuary Adyr-Kan.
Chuisky deer stone.
Another point of the location of the stone is in Buryatia, in the Gusinoozersky datsan. It received the name "Altan-Serge", which means "Golden hitching post".
Deer stone * Altan-Serge *.
Relatively recently, namely in the 19th century, another stone was found by the Russian ethnographer Dmitry Davydov - Ivolginsky. It can be found on the Ivolga River, at some distance from Verkhneudinsk.
Ivolginsky deer stone.
A deer stone of particular importance for historians, ethnographers and archeologists is located in the Ushkiyin-Uver tract in Mongolia. The uniqueness of this object lies in the fact that it depicted a human face.
Deer stone, Ushkin-Uver tract, Mongolia.
Despite the fact that the riddle of deer stones has not been fully solved, they are not of such significant interest to ethnographers and archaeologists, as, for example, the Wheel of Spirits in Israel. That is why in recent years no discoveries have been made in this field.
