Tourist travel to Petroglyphs in Kazakhstan.

 “If an ancient man saw planes two thousand years ago 
He would've thought they were birds 
Or angels from another world 
Or messengers from other planets” 

Dejan Stojanovic.

Trip on petroglyphs Tamgaly-tas on river Ili.

Research Status and Documentation. Tamgalytas rock art was first examined in 1856 by a Kazakh researcher, Valikhanov Ch.Ch., and in 1857 by a renowned Russian traveler, geographer Semyonov P.P. and an artist who accompanied him, Kosharov P.M.
They made a series of ink and watercolor sketches of individual inscriptions along with images from Tamgalytas, which reflect the appearance of the site at the moment of its discovery. In the second half of the XIXth century, Tamgalytas was repeatedly visited by different scientists and regional ethnographers.
The most valuable information about the site is contained in manuscripts by Larionov K.A. and specialist articles by Poyarkov F.V., Pantusov N.N., as well as the famous Russian Mongolian Studies specialist Pozdneev A.M. who first translated most of the inscriptions and gave an interpretation of the Buddha images.
A detailed exploration of Tamgalytas was carried out by Pantusov N.-N. in 1897 upon the instruction of the Imperial Archeological Commission. In 2008 - 2009, an expedition from KazSRI-Nomads (Yerofeeva I.V. Aurbekov B.Zh., Rogozhinskiy A.E.) completed a comprehensive study of Tamgalytas and made a recording of inscriptions and images (Yerofeeva 2010, Rogozhinskiy 2010).
Present-day interpretation of Tibetan and Oirat epigraphy was done by Yakhontova N.S. (Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS, St. Petersburg) and the iconographic analysis of images done by Yelikhina Yu.I. (State Hermitage, St. Petersburg).
Since 1981, Tamgaly-tas, as a site of sacred Tibetan art of the XVIIth - XVIIIth centuries, has been under the protection of the government. Since 2008, the area of the site has been improved for tourist visits in addition to carrying out conservation activities, but the protection zone of the site has not yet been established.

Authority:
“Rock Art Sites in Kazakhstan”.  Alexey E. Rogozhinskiy.

Photos
Alexander Petrov.