Trip to the Pamir Mountains

 “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.

Tajikistan section of the Silk Road.

The petroglyphs in Mount Mogoltau are north-east of Hodjikent near the pass of Badalek where an old route to Tashkent used to pass. The images are pecked on sharply pointed rocks and include an open palm, a cross-like figure, goats, horses, people, various items, a hunting scene with an archer wearing a belted short fur coat with a roe deer and lamb.
A scene of the hunting of goats by a rider with a small bow is the most interesting. The rider is shown wearing wide boots and a head-dress resembling a scull-cap and holding a Sogdian bow in his hands. The most interesting image is that of a rider with a big bow and arrows; the stirrup is shown under the animal’s abdomen.
The upper part also has images of a man with wide boots and his hair tied in a large bunch. The drawings are different in time; the earliest (a man with a bow, a woman, a dog, and a snake) date to the Bronze Age. The latest images are depictions of a rider with a small bow.
The most ancient drawings are pecked silhouettes; later ones are drawn without being filled with lines and dots. The site was discovered by Madzhi A.E. (Madzhi 1957: 79 - 86).

Authority:
Bobomullo S. Bobomulloev.

Photos by
Surat Toymasov.