Rock Art Research

Petroglyphs from the early Middle Ages particularly stand out among monuments of Altai rock art. Petroglyphs dated to this period were executed using the technique of engraving, with great attention being paid to fine details. These petroglyphs are an important source in cultural studies of the Altai population of the second half of the 1st millennium CE. Drawing on historical and archaeological contexts, it is suggested that the battle and hunting scenes depicted in petroglyphs are associated with memorial rites and that such scenes depict the military and hunting exploits of deceased noble warriors. Hence the semantic content of battle and hunting scenes in Turkic rock art of this period can be described as resembling the genres of eulogy and panegyric.