The oldest cave paintings of primitive people were amazing images that were mainly painted on stone walls. It is worth noting that in general, cave painting is unique. Today, perhaps, every person has identified from a video or photo that rock carvings are deer, people with arrows, mammoths and much more. At that time, artists did not know such a thing as composition. Experts say that the animals that are depicted on the rocks or other grounds are sacred animals, the ancestors of the clan, or one of the objects of veneration of one or another tribe.
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There is an opinion that the cave paintings of primitive people are animals hunted by people of that time. In this case, these drawings served as magical rites, with the help of which hunters wanted to attract real animals during the hunt.
The main part of such murals is located in the depths of caves - places that were considered a kind of sanctuary. If we talk about the Madeleine era, then this period became quite bright in the development of Paleolithic art. Most of these finds are located in the southwestern part of France, in the Pyrenees, as well as in the northwestern part of Spain.
Changes in the life of primitive people
After the disappearance of certain animal species, as well as due to climate change, the nature of the activities of people of that time has changed significantly. For example, people 
they stopped hunting and gathering food in the area less, they began to pay more attention to agriculture and cattle breeding. Changes also affected magical images, that is, the cave paintings of primitive people became different. People began to make rock paintings not in the depths of the caves, but on the contrary, closer to the exits and in some cases outside.
If we talk about the Paleolithic era, then it was almost impossible to meet images of people here. Now the person is the main character in the depicted space. The domestication of animals led to the fact that they began to be depicted next to people. For example, they were used to depict hunting scenes. In addition, people began to use a completely different technique of painting on the rocks.
Basically, the figures were depicted schematically using triangles, as well as straight lines. In addition, the images were monochrome. For example, artists of that time used black, red, orange, or white mineral paint. In addition to hunting scenes, scenes of various ritual dances and battles began to appear on the rocks. As well as scenes of grazing. Paintings of this type can be seen in Spain.
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The first examples of sculpture
If we talk about the first samples of Neolithic sculpture, they were associated with the funeral cult: skulls, both people and animals, and much more. Images of nude women with large breasts and hips also became common. Rarely, pregnant women were also depicted.
The first monumental sculptures appeared in the southern part of Europe. Ceramics also appeared at that time. The first products were wicker bottles, as well as baskets, which were decorated with various ornaments.
It should be noted that historians, as well as archaeologists, are still actively searching for rock carvings, which, according to experts, are still numerous. The most common rock carvings are images of deer, tigers, mammoths, and horses. It is no secret that today the cave paintings of primitive people cause a large number of controversial issues among a large number historians and archaeologists.
Video: Rock paintings of ancient people
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Rock paintings in Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, USA.
Such ancient historical monuments are not concentrated somewhere in one place, but are scattered all over the planet. Petroglyphs were not found at the same time, sometimes the discoveries of various drawings are separated by significant periods of time.
At times, on the same rocks, scientists find drawings from different millennia. Similarities can be traced among various rock paintings, so that it seems that in ancient times there was a single pra-culture and universal knowledge associated with it. So, many figures in the drawings have the same features, although their authors did not know anything about each other - they were separated by a huge distance and time. However, the similarity in the images is systematic: in particular, the heads of the gods always radiate light. Despite the fact that the rock paintings have been studied for about 200 years, they still remain a mystery.
It is believed that the first images of mysterious creatures were rock paintings on Mount Hunan, China (picture above). They are about 47,000 years old. These drawings supposedly depict early contacts with unknown beings, possibly visitors from extraterrestrial civilizations.
These drawings were found in the National Park called Sera da Capivara in Brazil. Experts say that the paintings were created about twenty-nine thousand years ago:
Interesting rock carvings over 10,000 years old were recently discovered in the state of Chhattisgarh, India:
This rock art dates back to around 10,000 BC and is located in Val Camonica, Italy. The painted figures look like two creatures wearing protective suits and their heads emitting light. In their hands they hold strange devices:
The next example is the rock carving of a luminous man, which is located 18 km west of the city of Navoi (Uzbekistan). At the same time, a shining figure sits on a throne, and the figures standing near it have something similar to protective masks on their faces. The kneeling person in the lower part of the drawing does not have such a device - he is at a considerable distance from the luminous figure and, apparently, does not need such protection.
Tassilin Adjer (Plateau of Rivers) is the largest monument of rock art in the Sahara. The plateau is located in the southeastern part of Algeria. The most ancient petroglyphs of Tassilin-Adjer date back to the 7th millennium BC. And the latest - the 7th century AD. For the first time, drawings on the plateau were seen in 1909:
Depiction dated circa 600 BC, from Tassilin Adjer. The picture shows a creature with different eyes, a strange “petal” hairstyle and a shapeless figure. More than a hundred similar "gods" were found in the caves:
These frescoes, found in the Sahara desert, depict a humanoid creature in a space suit. Frescoes - 5 thousand years:
Australia is isolated from other continents. However, on the Kimberley Plateau (northwest Australia) there are entire galleries of petroglyphs. And here all the same motifs are present: gods with similar faces and with a halo of rays around their heads. The drawings were first discovered in 1891:
These are images of Vandina, the goddess of the sky, in a halo of shining rays.
Rock art in Puerta del Canyon, Argentina:
Sego Canyon, Utah, USA. The most ancient petroglyphs appeared here more than 8,000 years ago:
"Rock-newspaper" in the same place, in Utah:
"Alien", Arizona, USA:
California, USA:
An image of an "alien". Kalbak-Tash, Altai, Russia:
"Sun Man" from the Karakol Valley, Altai:
Another of the many petroglyphs of the Italian Val Camonica valley in the Southern Alps:
Rock paintings of Gobustan, Azerbaijan. Scientists date the most ancient drawings to the Mesolithic era (about 10 thousand years ago:
Ancient rock paintings in Niger:
Onega petroglyphs at Cape Besov Nos, Russia. The most famous of the Onega petroglyphs is Bes, its length is two and a half meters. The image is crossed by a deep crack, dividing it exactly into two halves. A “gap” into another, otherworldly world. In a kilometer radius from Bes, satellite navigation often fails. The clock also behaves unpredictably: it can run forward, it can stop. What is the reason for such an anomaly, scientists only speculate. The ancient figure is cut with an Orthodox cross. Most likely, it was hollowed out over the demonic image by the monks of the Murom Monastery in the 15th-16th centuries. In order to neutralize the devil's power:
Petroglyphs of Tamgaly, Kazakhstan. Rock paintings abound in a variety of subjects, and the most common of them depict divine sun-headed creatures:
White Shaman Rock in Lower Canyon, Texas. The age of this seven-meter image, according to experts, is more than four thousand years. It is believed that the White Shaman hides the secrets of an ancient vanished cult:
Rock carvings of giant people from South Africa:
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Rock paintings in the Pegtymel river valley, Chukotka, Russia:
The twin gods fight with battle axes. One of the petroglyphs found in Tanumshead, western Sweden (drawings painted in red already in the modern period):
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Sarmysh-say gorge, Uzbekistan. Numerous ancient rock paintings of people in strange clothes were found in the gorge, some of which can be interpreted as images of "ancient astronauts":
Rock paintings of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, USA, depicting certain creatures - kachina. The Hopi considered these mysterious kachinas to be their celestial teachers:
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Cave paintings in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
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Something like a rocket taking off. Kalbysh Tash, Altai.
Petroglyph depicting a UFO. Bolivia.
UFO from a cave in Chhattisgarh, India
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Rock art, Arizona, USA
Petroglyphs of Panama
California, USA
Guanche rock paintings, Canary Islands
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Prehistoric rock art is the most abundant evidence available of how mankind took the first steps in the field of art, knowledge and culture. It is found in most countries of the world, from the tropics to the Arctic, and in a wide variety of places - from deep caves to mountain heights.
Several tens of millions of rock paintings and artistic motifs have already been discovered, and more and more are being discovered every year. This solid, durable, cumulative monument of the past is clear evidence that our distant ancestors developed complex social systems.
Some common false claims about the origins of art should have been rejected at their very source. Art, as such, did not appear suddenly, it developed gradually with the enrichment of human experience. By the time the famous cave art appeared in France and Spain, it is believed that artistic traditions were already well developed, at least in South Africa, Lebanon, Eastern Europe, India and Australia, and no doubt in many other regions that are still should be investigated accordingly.
When did people first decide to generalize reality? This is an interesting question for art historians and archaeologists, but it is also of broad interest, given that the idea of cultural primacy has an impact on the formation of ideas about racial, ethnic and national value, even fantasy. For example, the claim that art originated in the caves of Western Europe becomes an incentive to create myths about European cultural superiority. Secondly, the origins of art should be considered closely related to the emergence of other purely human qualities: the ability to create abstract ideas and symbols, to communicate at the highest level, to develop an idea of \u200b\u200bthemselves. Apart from prehistoric art, we have no real evidence from which to infer the existence of such abilities.
THE BEGINNINGS OF ART
Artistic creativity was considered a model of "impractical" behavior, that is, behavior that seemed to be devoid of a practical goal. The oldest clear archaeological evidence of this is the use of ocher or red iron ore (hematite), a red mineral dye removed and used by people several hundred thousand years ago. These ancient people also collected crystals and patterned fossils, colorful and oddly shaped gravel. They began to distinguish between ordinary, everyday objects and unusual, exotic ones. Obviously, they developed ideas about a world in which objects could be distributed into different classes. Evidence first appears in South Africa, then in Asia, and finally in Europe.
The oldest known rock painting was made in India two or three hundred thousand years ago. It consists of bowl-shaped depressions and a sinuous line chiselled into the sandstone of the cave. Around the same time, simple linear signs were made on various kinds of portable objects (bones, teeth, tusks and stones) found at the sites of the sites of primitive man. Sets of carved lines collected in a bundle first appear in central and eastern Europe, they acquire a certain improvement, which makes it possible to recognize individual motifs: scribbles, crosses, arcs and sets of parallel lines.
This period, which archaeologists call the Middle Paleolithic (somewhere between 35,000 and 150,000 years ago), was decisive for the development of human mental and cognitive abilities. It was also the time when people acquired seafaring skills and detachments of colonists could make transitions up to 180 km. Regular maritime navigation, obviously, required the improvement of the communication system, that is, the language.
People of this era also mined ocher and flint in several world regions. They began to build large joint houses out of bones and put up stone walls inside the caves. And most importantly, they created art. In Australia, some samples of rock art appeared 60,000 years ago, that is, in the era of the settlement of the continent by people. In hundreds of places there are objects that are believed to be of more ancient origin than the art of Western Europe. But during this era, rock art also appears in Europe. Its oldest example of those that are known to us - a system of nineteen cup-like signs in a cave in France, carved on a stone rock slab, covered the place of a child's burial.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this era is the cultural unanimity that prevailed in the then world in all regions of settlement. Despite the differences in tools, no doubt due to differences in the environment, cultural behavior was surprisingly stable. The use of ocher and an expressively uniform set of geometric markings testify to the existence of a universal artistic language between archaic Homo sapiens, including European Neanderthals and others known to us from fossils.
Figured images (sculptures) arranged in a circle first appear in Israel (about 250-300 thousand years ago), in the form of modified natural forms, then in Siberia and central Europe (about 30-35 thousand years ago), and only later in Western Europe. About 30,000 years ago, rock art was enriched by intricate finger-cuts on the soft surface of caves in Australia and Europe, and stencil images of palms in France. Two-dimensional images of objects began to appear. The oldest examples, created approximately 32,000 years ago, come from France, followed by South African drawings (Namibia).
About 20,000 years ago (very recently in terms of human history), significant differences begin to form between cultures. Late Paleolithic people in Western Europe began fine traditions, both in the sculptural and graphic arts of ritual and decorative consumption. About 15,000 years ago, this tradition led to such famous masterpieces as the painting in the caves of Altamira (Spain) and Lescaut (France), as well as the appearance of thousands of elaborately carved figures from stone, tusks, bone, clay and other materials. It was a time of the finest multi-colored works of cave art, drawn or minted by a certain hand of master craftsmen. However, the development of graphic traditions in other regions was not easy.
In Asia the forms of geometrical art developed into very perfect systems, some resembling official records, others mnemonic emblems, peculiar texts intended to refresh the memory.
Starting around the end of the ice age, about 10,000 years ago, rock art has gradually moved beyond the caves. This was dictated not so much by the search for new better places, but (there is almost no doubt here) by the survival of rock art through selection. Rock art is well preserved in the permanent conditions of deep limestone caves, but not on rock surfaces more open to destruction. So, the unquestioning spread of rock art at the end of the Ice Age does not indicate the growth of artistic production, but the overcoming of the threshold of what ensured good preservation.
On all continents, bypassing Antarctica, rock art now shows the diversity of artistic styles and cultures, the progressive growth of the ethnic diversity of mankind on all continents, as well as the development of major religions. Even the last historical stage in the development of mass migrations, colonizations and religious expansion is thoroughly reflected in rock art.
DATING
There are two main forms of rock art, petroglyphs (carvings) and pictors (drawings). Petroglyphic motifs were created by carving, gouging, chasing or polishing rock surfaces. In pictograms, additional substances, usually paint, were superimposed on the rocky surface. This difference is very important, it determines the approaches to dating.
The methodology of scientific dating of rock art has been developed only during the last fifteen years. Therefore, it is still at the stage of its "childhood", and the dating of almost all world rock art remains in poor condition. This, however, does not mean that we have no idea of his age: often there are all kinds of landmarks that allow us to determine the approximate or at least probable age. Sometimes it is lucky to determine the age of a rock carving quite accurately, especially when the paint contains organic substances or microscopic inclusions that allow dating due to the radioactive isotope of carbon they contain. A careful evaluation of the results of such an analysis can determine the date quite accurately. On the other hand, the dating of petroglyphs remains extremely difficult.
Modern methods are based on determining the age of mineral deposits that could be deposited on rock art. But they allow you to determine only the minimum age. One way is to analyze the microscopic organic matter embedded in such mineral layers; laser technology can be successfully used here. Today, only one method is suitable for determining the age of the petroglyphs themselves. It is based on the fact that the mineral crystals, which were chipped during the gouging of petroglyphs, initially had sharp edges, which eventually became blunt and rounded. By determining the rate of such processes on nearby surfaces, the age of which is known, it is possible to calculate the age of petroglyphs.
Several archaeological methods can also help a little in the matter of dating. If, for example, a rock surface is covered with archaeological layers of mud whose age can be determined, they can be used to determine the minimum age of petroglyphs. Comparisons of stylistic manners are often resorted to in order to determine the chronological framework of rock art, though not very successfully.
Much more reliable methods of studying rock art, which often resemble the methods of forensic science. For example, the ingredients of a paint can tell how it was made, what tools and additives were used, where the dyes came from, and the like. Human blood, which was used as a binder during the Ice Age, has been found in Australian rock art. The Australian researchers also found up to forty layers of paint superimposed on each other in different places, indicating the constant redrawing of the same surface over a long time. Like the pages of a book, these layers tell us the history of the use of surfaces by artists over generations. The study of such layers is just beginning and can lead to a real revolution in views.
The pollen of plants found on the fibers of brushes in the paint of rock paintings indicates what crops were grown by contemporaries of ancient artists. In some French caves, characteristic paint recipes were found out by their chemical composition. By charcoal dyes, often used for drawings, even the type of wood burned to charcoal was determined.
Rock art research has evolved into a separate scientific discipline, and is already used by many other disciplines, from geology to semiotics, from ethnology to cybernetics. His methodology provides for expressiveness through the electronic display of colors of very spoiled, almost completely faded drawings; a wide range of specialized description methods; microscopic studies of traces left by tools and scanty sediments.
VULNERABLE MONUMENTS
Methods for the preservation of prehistoric monuments are also being developed and increasingly applied. Copies of rock art pieces (fragments of the object or even the entire object) have been made to prevent damage to the originals. Yet many of the world's prehistoric monuments are in constant danger. Acid rain dissolves the protective mineral layers that cover many petroglyphs. All the turbulent flows of tourists, urban sprawl, industrial and mountain development, even unqualified research contribute to the dirty work of shortening the age of inestimable artistic treasures.
Paintings and engravings on the rocks began to be painted tens of thousands of years before the birth of such civilizations as Greece and Mesopotamia. While most of these writings remain a mystery, they scold modern scholars to understand the daily lives of prehistoric people, to understand their religious beliefs and culture. It is a real miracle that these ancient drawings have survived for such a long time in the face of natural erosion, wars and destructive human activities.
1. El Castillo
Spain
Some of the oldest known rock paintings in the world, depicting horses, bison and warriors, are located in the El Castillo Cave, in Cantabria in northern Spain. Inside the cave there is a hole so narrow that you need to crawl through it. In the cave itself, you can find many drawings that are at least 40,800 years old.
They were made shortly after humans began migrating from Africa to Europe, where they met the Neanderthals. In fact, the age of the rock paintings suggests the possibility that they were made by Neanderthals living in the region at the time, although the evidence for this is not at all conclusive.
2.Sulawesi
Indonesia
For a long time, El Castillo cave was believed to contain the oldest known rock art. But in 2014, archaeologists made a stunning discovery. In seven caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, handprints and primitive drawings of local pigs were found on the walls.
These images were already known to the locals, but no one even guessed how old they were. Scientists have estimated the age of the rock paintings at 40,000 years. Such a discovery called into question the long-standing belief that human art first appeared in Europe.
3. Arnhem Land Plateau
Australia
Recent studies have shown that some places in Australia may well compete in age with the world's oldest art. A 28,000-year-old rock painting has been found at the Navarla Gabarnmang rock shelter in the north of the country. However, scientists believe that some of the drawings may be much older, as one of them depicts a giant bird that became extinct about 40,000 years ago.
Therefore, either the rock art is older than expected, or the bird lived longer than modern science suggests. At Nawarla Gabarnmang, you can also find drawings of fish, crocodiles, wallabies, lizards, turtles and other animals made tens of thousands of years ago.
4. Apollo 11
Namibia
This cave got such an unusual name because it was discovered by a German archaeologist in 1969, when the first spacecraft (Apollo 11) landed on the moon. Drawings made with charcoal, ocher and white paint have been found on the stone slabs of a cave in southwestern Namibia.
The creatures, which resemble cats, zebras, ostriches and giraffes, are between 26,000 and 28,000 years old and are the oldest fine art found in Africa.
5. Pech-Merle cave
France
Scholars believed that the paintings of two spotted horses on the walls of the Peche Merle cave in south-central France, which were made 25,000 years ago, were the product of an ancient artist's imagination. But recent DNA studies have shown that a similar spotted horse did exist in the region at that time. Also in the cave you can find 5000-year-old images of bison, mammoths, horses and other animals, painted with black manganese oxide and red ocher.
6. Tadrart-Acacus
Libya
Deep in the Sahara desert in southwest Libya, in the Tadrart Acacus mountain range, thousands of paintings and rock paintings have been found that show that once there was water and lush vegetation in these arid lands. Also on the territory of the present Sahara lived giraffes, rhinos, and crocodiles. The oldest drawing here was made 12,000 years ago. But, after Tadrart-Acacus began to be swallowed up by the desert, people finally left this place around 100 AD.
7. Bhimbetka
India
In the state of Madhya Pradesh, there are about 600 caves and rock dwellings in which rock paintings have been found, made between 1,000 and 12,000 years ago.
These prehistoric images are painted with red and white paint. In the paintings you can find hunting scenes for buffaloes, tigers, giraffes, elks, lions, leopards, elephants and rhinos. Other drawings show fruit and honey gathering and animal domestication. You can also find images of animals that have long since become extinct in India.
8. Laas Gaal
Somalia
The complex of eight caves in Somaliland contains some of the oldest and best preserved rock paintings in Africa. Their age is estimated between 5,000 and 11,000 years, and these drawings of cows, humans, dogs, and giraffes are done in red, orange, and cream. Almost nothing is known about the people who lived here at that time, but many locals still consider the caves to be sacred.
9. Cueva de las Manos
Argentina
This unusual cave in Patagonia is literally overflowing with 9,000-year-old red and black handprints on the walls. Since there are mainly images of the left hands of teenage boys, scientists have suggested that drawing the image of one's hand was part of the rite of initiation for young men. In addition, hunting scenes of guanacos and flightless rhea birds can also be found in the cave.
10 Swimmers Cave
Egypt
In the Libyan desert in 1933, they found a cave with cave paintings from the Neolithic era. The images of floating people (from which the cave got its name), as well as the handprints that adorn the walls, were made between 6000 and 8000 years ago.
However, the unique murals are closed to the public in order to save the fragile "paintings" from damage, which can be caused by the slightest changes in temperature and humidity, as well as the penetration of light. Even archaeologists are allowed to stay in the cave for only a few hours. One of the lucky ones who managed to admire the oldest example of cave art was the German director Werner Herzog. Together with four assistants, he filmed a 3D documentary called The Cave of Forgotten Dreams. By the way, the film crew had to get permission from the French Minister of Culture himself and shoot in a limited time using equipment that does not radiate heat. This film is perhaps the only way to look into the Chauvet cave.
2. Newspaper Rock, USA
40 km northwest of the city of Monticello in the US state of Utah, there is an amazing rock that contains one of the most impressive collections of petroglyphs per square meter. Due to the abundance of drawings, the stone art panel resembles a strip of a newspaper that can be read.
Presumably the ancient Indians of the pre-Columbian culture, Fremont and Anasazi, "printed" it. Scientists believe that the story told on the "Newspaper Rock" (from the English Newspaper Rock) was "carved" both in the prehistoric period and after meeting Europeans. Judging by the numerous images of animals such as bison, wild boars and mammoths, the history of the stone "newspaper" tells of hunting, domestication of horses and bulls, as well as the invention of the wheel and tools.
In total, there are about 650 different images of animals, people and symbols on Newspaper Rock. However, the ancient “newspaper” failed to find an answer why a relatively small site was chosen for such a large number of petroglyphs.
3. Cueva de las Manos, Argentina
Literally, the “Cave of the Hands” (from the Spanish Cueva de las Manos) has preserved on its stone walls the prints of hundreds of hands, mostly left ones. It is located in the south of Argentina in the province of Santa Cruz (163 km from the city of Perito Moreno) in the Pinturas river valley.
Of the approximately 800 rock paintings, more than 90% depict the left hand. Author of the photo: Marianocecowski.
At first glance, palms with spread fingers look very modern, as if someone had sprayed a spray can of paint on a stencil. In fact, the rock paintings were supposedly created between 13,000 and 9,000 years ago. By the way, scientists suggest that this rock "autograph" was left by spraying paint around the palm attached to the wall.
Probably, in his right hand, the artist held bone tubes for spraying the dye. The left, respectively, served as kind. Most of the hands are on the entrance stone - as if they greet the one who entered the Patagonian cave. There is an opinion that the image of hands meant the transition to adulthood, so the palms of teenage boys are printed on the walls of this place revered by the ancestors of the Indians.
In addition to the images of hands in the cave, there are drawings of animals such as the ostrich-nandu and guanaco (a kind of llamas), as well as hieroglyphic inscriptions. Photo credit: Joanbanjo.
4. Altamira, Spain
Many call the cave, located in northern Spain, the "Sistine Chapel of Primitive Art." Its walls are painted with unique rock "paintings" of the Paleolithic era. The age of the drawings depicted on the walls and ceiling of Altamira (from Spanish “La cueva de Altamira”) is about 20 thousand years old.
Due to the large flow of tourists, the drawings began to collapse. To preserve the rock art, Altamira was closed to the public. In 2001in the museum complex, located next to the cave, copies of the panels of the Large ceiling were discovered, which can be admired without harming the fragile petroglyphs.
Located 30 km from the city of Santander (Cantabria), it was discovered in 1879 by the Spanish lawyer and amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola. Rather, it is he who is credited with the discovery of rock paintings. Marcelino explored Altamira before (in 1875), and before him, a local shepherd informed about unusual ancient finds (tools, bones, horns) found in the cave. One fine day, when Sautuola took his 6-year-old daughter Maria with him to excavations, he was lucky. The girl was extremely inquisitive and was the first to see the cave drawing of a bison. So the world learned about the 270-meter cave, the vaults of which are full of polychrome images of animals and human palms.
It is noteworthy that ancient artists used charcoal and ocher to add color, and wall relief to add volume. The authenticity of primitive painting, many scientists have questioned and accused Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola of forging. And only after the death of the discoverer, in 1902, the world recognized the uniqueness of Altamira.
5. Alta, Norway
Petroglyphs found near the Arctic Circle in the city of Alta in the 1970s prove that presumably in the period 4200-500 BC, this area was inhabited by people. They left about five thousand amazing rock paintings at 45 archaeological sites.
The largest and only open to the public is located 4 km from the city of Alta. About 3,000 open-air images have been included in the World Heritage List. By the way, this is the only UNESCO monument of the prehistoric period in Norway. Petroglyphs tell how the ancient ancestors of the Scandinavians fished (the image of a fisherman holding a large fish in his hands), hunted (scenes showing how hunters drove herds of deer into the water, where they were more vulnerable, and overtook them with spears) and rested (dance scenes). In addition, many petroglyphs depict religious rituals such as shamanic rituals with a tambourine.
6. Kalbak-Tash, Russia
The complex of rock compositions Kalbak-Tash (Tyalbak-Tash) is located on the right bank of the Chuya River on the 723rd kilometer of the Chui tract between the villages of Inya and Iodro. This tract is the largest accumulation of petroglyphs in the Altai Mountains, its length is about 10 km. There are over 5,000 drawings and runic inscriptions in the Altai gallery.
Animal motifs - the most popular in Kalbak-Tash. Most often in the tract there are images of bulls, deer, wolves, leopards and other animals common in Altai. Photo credit: Zouave M.
Kalbak-Tash was an ancient sanctuary for people of different ages: from the Neolithic (VI-IV thousand years BC) to the ancient Turkic era (VII-X centuries BC). In addition to the Scythian images of animals, people and hunting scenes, in the Kalbaktash sanctuary there are also tribal family signs of tamgas dating back to the ancient Turkic era, as well as ritual plots depicting shamans with their animal companions ker-tyutpas, transferring their owners to the underworld.
The Kalbak-Tash tract is part of the Chui-Oozy natural and economic park, a specially protected natural area of the Altai Republic. Photo credit: Zouave M.
