These magnificent colorful drawings were found in the Altai mountains and dated back 5 thousand years. Archaeologists attribute them to the Karakol culture after the name of the village of Karakol, where they were found.
The drawings were found back in 1985, but only recently were they on display in the museum. And scientists continue to study them, discovering new and new secrets.
The drawings depict people in strange costumes with feathers or unidentified mythical creatures. Some of them are similar to the drawings of American Indian shamans, and one, which depicts two walking human figures with an oval object on their head, is completely difficult to recognize.
Is this a headdress? Horns? Alien spacesuit helmet?
Stone slabs with vivid drawings were found in burials along with skeletons. Why they were buried is a separate mystery, but scientists were most struck by the colorfulness of the drawings. They are made of white, red and black paint and similar patterns on stones in Siberia have never been found before or since.
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The remains of bones in burials also keep traces of the same paint on themselves, which means they were painted in the same colors. Traces of red ocher were found under the eye sockets, and on the forehead there was black and white-silver paint.
Why this was done, scientists do not yet know, it was probably some kind of cult ritual. Some of the drawings were drawn with paints, but stones were also found there, on which the drawings were knocked out. In addition to the figures of people, various animals were depicted on the stones.
Recently, researchers from the Kurchatov Institute have determined how ancient people 5 thousand years ago prepared paints for these drawings.
The full results of the study of these drawings will be presented at the 43rd International Symposium on Archeometry in Lisbon in May 2020.