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Cave paintings Bayan-Zhurek Early Iron.
Petroglyph Tours in Kazahtsan.
“I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers”
Langston Hughes.
History and Petroglyphs Tours in Kazakhstan.
The same as on other monuments of Semirechie in Bayan-Zhurek are Sakae pictures of the Epoch of Early Iron, but they are less, than on situated rather not far monument in the monument Eshki-Olmes.
Essential quantity of Sakae and Usun burial mounds should be, as it seems, the evidence, that the valley Kaskarai in the south and surrounding from the north valley were inhabited most densely in the VIII c B.C. - IV с. А.D.
The main reason of absence of a big layer of pictures of Early Iron Age is in rock art reached its blossom in the Epoch of Bronze, and in the middle of the I millennium B.C. even large sanctuaries already lost their importance.
At the same time on many pictures are marked traces of renovations. Similar Restoration of them was continued also later. The essential part of them was renovated already in the Middle Ages, when on the earliest petroglyphs appeared new details: compound bows, stirrups.
These facts show, that cult centers were worshipped yet, but as later happened renovation, then it seen more clearly, how had been lost «connection of times», sense of many subjects became not clear.
Petroglyphs of this epoch are done in «animal style». Let's see some pictures of that time. Pictures of deer are met on rocks of Bayan-Zhurek not one time. Several variants in these pictures are defined, like following: deer with crossed legs and standing on edges of their hoots, and in some figures of deer and sheep legs are situated one under another, on other pictures front legs are going front or only front and one back leg are pictured.
There are figures of deer, which are rather schematic, when crossed legs are shown in a form of two straight lines. There are some variants in showing horns: they can be in a form of straight trunk, going upward and with horn branches of «S» - shaped form.
Pictures of deer can be done in another tradition: there are figures with two branches of horns. Some pictures of deer are small, but there are very big pictures of deer, reaching in length more than a meter.
Some such figures such figures are on the southern slopes of the mountains Bayan-Zhurek in the region of settlement Tasbas-1. Pictures of deer could be done in another tradition: there are figures with two trunks of horns.
Some pictures are part of a big and compound composition, renovated not one time. Picture of wild boar are referred to Sakae pictures. It is done in animal style. For similar pictures are characteristic big muzzle of animal, fang and row of mechanical methods, typical for art of that time.
Body in such pictures was marked by contour initially, muzzle of wild boar is marked by thorough cutting and back side of body inside contour is left not worked out. Such methods are known and presented in monuments of primitive art in the canyon Ush-Ozen, in the canyon Borolday in the mountains Karatau.
Scene of coupling two deer, apparently, is necessary to refer to the Epoch of Early Iron. To the same epoch is necessary to refer pictures of some predator and scene of running with dogs and following of animals by wolves.
Aurhority:
The book “Baya-Zhurek petroglyphs” K.M.Baipakov, A.N. Maryayshev. “Credos”, Almaty, 2008.
Photos
Alexander Petrov.