Petroglyphs are primitive cave paintings, carved or painted on a stone base. Their age is different - from the Paleolithic era (forty, twenty thousand years ago) to the Middle Ages.
Petroglyphs are found in India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Spain, Karelia, France.
On the territory of Russia, petroglyphs were found in Khakassia and the White Sea, on the coast of Lake Onega and on the Kola Peninsula. Especially many petroglyphs were found in Altai. The most famous are the petroglyphs of the Kalbak-Tash tract. The study of these drawings has been going on for more than a century, but even now no researcher can determine with complete certainty the exact number of petroglyphic monuments and their origin.
The fact is that Altai is located in the center of Eurasia and is the ancestral home of many peoples. These are the Turks, Mongols, Tunguses and many more peoples, the traces of which were lost in ancient times. Apparently, their ancestors many thousands of years ago, whiling away the time between hunts, painted drawings on the rocks, which were part of mystical rituals. Perhaps the ancient people wanted to talk about what they saw around them. And also tell about the extraordinary events that they witnessed.
Kalbak-Tash
At a distance of 385 km from Biysk, on the right bank of the Chuya River, 12 km from its confluence with the Katunya, there is the ancient sanctuary Kalbak-Tash. This is the most famous writings of the Altai Mountains 5,000 years old, its ancient pearl. The name of the monument is translated as “flat hanging stone”. Indeed, the rock with the images near the Chuya River is sheer, it is not visible from the old road.
Although the Kalbak-Tash historical monument was first opened in 1912, its study began much later. This is due, firstly, to the fact that the old path of the Chuisky tract passed above the modern highway, from where the famous rock with petroglyphs is visible. Secondly, the early studies by Kalbak-Tash scientists introduced confusion with the description of the location, and in all scientific works the monument was incorrectly named. Thirdly, the initial descriptions of the tract were rather scarce, and scientists did not realize the true significance of this monument in world archeology. After research in the 80-90s, the Kalbak-Tash monument has deservedly become one of the main centers of ancient Altai petroglyphs.
In the sanctuary, 5,000 rock paintings of various eras were found, some of which are very amazing.
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The Neolithic era (6-4 thousand years BC) - large figures of animals: deer and goats, camels. The Bronze Age (3-1 thousand years BC) - stylized male and female figures, chariots and carts drawn by pack bulls, drivers and warriors, fantastic predators. The Scythian era (8th-3rd centuries BC) - petroglyphs with scenes of hunting deer, images of animals - goats, wolves, dogs, marals. Ancient Turkic era (7-10 centuries BC) - hunting scenes, images of wild bulls, bears.
A feature of the images of animals is the extraordinary elongation of the body and the tightness of the abdomen. And all the horses on the Kalbak-Tash petroglyphs have short, cropped tails and short-cropped manes.
Some images of Kalbak-Tash are made rather schematically, without elaboration of details.
If you carefully examine the rock paintings, you can see images of objects resembling spaceships, people in spacesuits, as if "aliens from outer space" with an unusual body structure, fantastic animals. Interestingly, similar drawings were found throughout Central Asia, Pakistan, Mongolia. The mysteries of these images still dominate the minds of scientists, and there are many hypotheses for their origin.
One of the most interesting compositions is a painting with “tailed” people with semicircular formations on their heads. A giant with a square drawn on his chest stands out among them. Above the tailed people - a huge beast opened its toothy mouth. According to one version, this monster was a devourer of souls, which cleansed them of impurity before entering the upper world. According to another version, the drawing of the procession of people under the mythical beast depicts the rite of initiation of young men into male warriors.
Of course, the ritual interpretation of these drawings has a right to exist. But surprisingly, in addition to the symbolic drawings of animals and people, many of the drawings depict objects in the form of modern spaceships with a capsule attached to the hull at the top and large flames at the bottom. Did the distant ancestors of the Altaians really witness space flights?
Some scholars believe that the "sun-headed" and "bull-headed" images on the Kalbak-Tash rocks bear some resemblance to the Karakol culture. Let us recall that in 1985, images of amazingly preserved and artistic expressiveness were discovered on gravestones in the village of Karakol in Altai. It is with them that the "aliens" of Kalbak-Tash are associated.
Another fact is surprising - the small number of such images among the huge number of rock paintings of Gorny Altai.
It is possible that many petroglyphs were destroyed, since right on the ancient drawings, scientists repeatedly found later images knocked out on top and overlapping them. Who wanted to hide the primary petroglyphs? Another mystery.
True, recently modern digital technologies have nevertheless allowed scientists to examine images painted with pigments.
Now everyone can visit the ancient sanctuary. First, an inspection of the Sanctuary of the goddess Umai-Ene, the patroness of mothers and babies, is carried out. Then - Runic inscriptions of the 9-10th centuries, then there is a visit to the Sanctuary of Heavenly Ibex, a panel of the Warrior-Magician, an inspection of the sundial, the Altar of Death is carried out.
How to get to Karbak-Tash
It is easy to get to Karbak-Tash along the Chuysky tract. In Biysk, after the bridge over Biya, the Chuisky tract begins. The road is of excellent quality. Having driven 150 km before the village of Ust-Sema, you must leave to the right and move along the M-52 highway to Tashantu. Then - across the Katun on a new bridge. Then the ascent to the Seminsky pass follows. From it there is a very beautiful road to the village of Ongudai, after which one of the most beautiful passes of Altai begins - Chike-Taman. After the pass Kupchegen, Maly Yaloman, Inya follow. Beyond the Hoarfrost there will be the confluence of the Chuya and Katun, and on the 723th km of the Chuisky tract, to the left of the road, there will be the Kalbak-Tash tract. Landmark - there is a small house and a gazebo on the hill.
Marina Ten