UDC 903.27

Kazakh Research Institute for Nomad Cultural Heritage Issues

21/23 Tolebi St., Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan

E-mail: alexeyro@hotmail.com

The article deals with some issues of studying the known locations of petroglyphs of Kazakhstan and Central Asia (Tamgaly, Saimaly-Tash, Zarautsai) in connection with the problem of their inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List and the future preparation of the cross-border serial nomination "Rock Art of Central Asia". The necessity of a comprehensive study of rock art monuments as a kind of cultural landscape is substantiated.

Introduction

Recently, a new object appeared on the World Heritage map - "Petroglyphs of the Tamgaly archaeological Landscape", the first rock art monument in Central Asia included in the UNESCO List. What preceded it and how did it happen? What will follow and what is necessary for this? It seems that many domestic specialists are interested in these issues. As part of the current discussion, I would like to present some thoughts on a number of outstanding monuments of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, in order to assess the possibilities of existing approaches to the study of rock art on their example.

Tamgaly and prospects of the cross-border serial UNESCO nomination "Rock Art of Central Asia"

In recent years, experience has been accumulated in combining the tasks of studying and preserving the rock art monuments of Kazakhstan and Central Asia as potential World Heritage sites. The strengths and weaknesses of this strategy have already been discussed [Rogozhinsky, 2005, pp. 206-207]; here we will focus on the available results.

In 2003 - 2004, the nomination "Petroglyphs of the Tamgaly archaeological landscape" presented by the Republic of Kazakhstan successfully passed the examination of ICOMOS and UNESCO, and by the decision of the 28th session of the World Heritage Committee, the monument was included in the UNESCO List. This was made possible by UNESCO's positive policies in the region and the full support of the State. This achievement is also based on the long-term work of a large team of specialists - archaeologists, geologists, architects and restorers - who consistently implemented a broad program of actions outlined back in 1998 [Rogozhinsky, Aubekerov, Sala, 2004, p.49]. The coordinating scientific and methodological center in the preparation of the nomination was the Research and Design Institute of Monuments of Material Culture of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter-NIPIPMK).

Until recently, the situation in Tamgaly, as well as on many other monuments of this kind, was critical: the lack of legal protection, physical protection, uncontrolled mass visits by tourists, etc.

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active economic use of this territory. But within a few years it was possible to achieve approval of the status of the complex (in 2001 it was included in the List of Monuments of national significance), then the organization of its protection and management (as a temporary measure was carried out in 2001 - 2003 NIPIPMK) and, finally, the creation in 2003 of the State Reserve-Museum "Tamgaly". In 2001-2006, within the framework of the UNESCO-Norwegian-Kazakh project "Management, conservation and presentation of Tamgaly" (coordinator A.-S. Higen (Norway), scientific supervisor A. E. Rogozhinsky), a large program of scientific research and conservation works aimed at preserving the monuments and landscape of Tamgaly was carried out. At the same time, documentation was being prepared for the inclusion of the complex in the UNESCO List. In 2002 - 2003, a dossier of the Tamgaly nomination was prepared - a package of documents exhaustively describing the monument, its outstanding significance, current state and conservation measures. By 2004. the development of a management plan defining the principles of sustainable conservation of the complex and including detailed practical programs for management, protection, research, conservation, monitoring and tourism for 2004-2008 was completed.

The procedure for submitting monuments to the UNESCO List is described in detail in the "Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention"; here we will focus on the content of the Tamgaly nomination. Already at the stage of preparing the application for inclusion in the UNESCO Preliminary List in 1998, the category and criteria for justifying the outstanding value of the object were determined: an archaeological landscape with petroglyphs as an exceptional evidence of a vanished cultural tradition [Convention..., art. II A, articles 45, 47; Sec. II D, article 77, criterion III].

According to the Convention and the Guidelines, petroglyph sites like Tamgaly can be classified as places of interest and classified as cultural landscapes-joint creations of man and nature that are of outstanding world value in terms of history, aesthetics or ethnology. Since we are talking about a complex of rock carvings and other monuments that indirectly record the way people live here and interact with the natural environment, we should talk about the archaeological landscape, in which petroglyphs play a certain significant role. Identifying this role is the main task of scientific research.

Rock carvings, as immovable monuments, do not exist outside the natural and cultural context, and if their spatial and temporal connection with other archaeological sites is not recorded, then it simply has not yet been revealed. The cultural context of petroglyphs can be formed by a living tradition (creating new drawings and / or updating ancient ones, honoring their locations), which becomes the object of ethnological study; the absence of such a tradition means its final disappearance, and the identification of such a tradition is the subject of historical and archaeological reconstruction. Rock carvings, along with other monuments (settlements, burial grounds, parking lots, etc.), reflect in the landscape the nature of the habitation of ancient collectives, their attitude to the environment, and the functional significance of its individual components, depending on the level of social and technical development in a particular historical period. Identifying and interpreting the spatial and temporal relationships between monuments and the natural landscape is the content of historical reconstruction.

Tamgaly is a large complex of archaeological sites, concentrated on a relatively small area (900 ha) and dating from the Bronze Age to the Modern era. There are more than 100 places with rock carvings, dozens of settlements, sites, burial grounds, etc. The total number of petroglyphs is close to 5,000, of which 3,000 are carved on the rocks of a small canyon. Not all types of monuments were studied equally: the goals, methods and scope of research conducted in Tamgaly since 1957 were different. The researchers focused on documenting and analyzing petroglyphs. The introduction of a systematic approach and the use of geoarchaeological methods since the early 1990s made it possible to solve the main research problems. A comprehensive study of monuments and natural landscapes (geology, geomorphology, neotectonics, hydrogeology, biology, and paleobotany) allowed us to synchronize the archaeological context and environmental changes over 3,200 years. Of fundamental importance for the reconstruction of the Tamgaly paleolandscape are the conclusions of experts on the state of the relief and climate of the area in various historical periods. Archaeological and geomorphological mapping revealed a stable relationship of monuments of different types and ages with certain landforms, as well as their grouping by functional and typological features. In the structure of the archaeological landscape, the area of concentration of petroglyphs and various burial grounds is clearly distinguished, around which a residential zone was formed. The natural features of the canyon not only made it the main attraction of Tamgaly, but also provided an environment transformed by the creators of the oldest petroglyphs into a rock gallery. Since the Bronze Age, it has played the role of the core of the complex, which among the indigenous population is still preserved as the core of the complex.

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sacred place - "Tanbali aulie". The connection of the traditional veneration of this place with the cult of ancestors, but not with the drawings on the rocks, is revealed.

Analysis of the spatial location of petroglyphs allowed us to identify three types of locations that differ in relation to certain landforms, the number, repertoire and quality of images: main (canyon), peripheral and associated with traditional communications. The typology of Tamgaly rock carvings is based on the analysis of style, iconography, repertoire, and technique, and is based on stratigraphic data from the series identified here and at other sites in Semirechye. Finally, there is a representative collection of building stones with drawings from three Bronze Age burial grounds and from the settlement. A series of calibrated dates of 14 S (11 measurements) and EPR were obtained for them. All this makes it possible to solve the issues of dating both the monuments themselves and the selected groups of images in a reasoned manner.

The time of creation of the oldest Tamgaly petroglyphs, which have the greatest aesthetic and cultural value, is determined in the interval of the second half of the XIV-XIII centuries BC. These drawings are localized within the canyon, differ in a number of specific features of the repertoire, iconography, style, technique and close connection with the "rock architecture", forming a single pictorial complex, which makes it possible to distinguish them as a type of Tamgaly petroglyphs. The geographical area of this cultural phenomenon is limited to the Southwestern Semirechye region, and its origin is associated with the migration impulse from Central Kazakhstan and synthesis with the local archaic pictorial tradition (Rogozhinsky, Aubekerov, Sala, 2004, pp. 54-55). The oldest drawings form the primary background, the visual series of the canyon-sanctuary of Tamgaly, which was transformed in subsequent times up to the present day, when rock art completely lost its social significance. The study of petroglyphs of different periods from the standpoint of qualitative changes in technique, repertoire, surface selection, attitude to the previously established visual series (addition of ancient compositions, renewal of drawings, palimpsests), as well as the location of relatively synchronous groups of other monuments, traditional communications and water sources made it possible to determine the main trends in the development of rock art in the context of the development of zoning of the cultural landscape. It should be noted that the evidence base for the significance of Tamgaly turned out to be much broader than the justification of the merits of individual series of petroglyphs. Accordingly, the documentation of the monument is structurally more developed than is traditionally envisaged in petroglyphology (Rogozhinsky, Khorosh, and Charlina, 2004, Fig. 1).

In general, the analysis of archaeological and ethnological data allowed us to create a historical reconstruction of Tamgaly, in which the evolution of visual activity is presented against the background of the identified paleoecological and cultural-historical changes from the Bronze Age to the present. This determined the content of the nomination and the justification of the exceptional significance of the Tamgaly archaeological landscape.

The inclusion of the monument in the UNESCO List should be considered as the first step towards establishing the world value of such a broad cultural phenomenon as the rock art of Central Asia. The archaeological landscape of Tamgaly, while having an independent significance, in historical, cultural, ethnological, geographical and temporal aspects is still only a part of the diversity that characterizes this phenomenon as a whole. It is possible to reveal its full content only on the example of a series of representative rock art monuments located today on the territory of different countries of the region (Figure 1). Therefore, the preparation of a cross-border serial nomination "Rock Art of Central Asia"becomes the nearest prospect for joint activities of UNESCO and interested states in this area. From a procedural point of view, this can be considered as an extension of the Tamgaly nomination and implemented in stages, as new complexes or groups (clusters) of monuments are being prepared for inclusion in the UNESCO List. Without touching upon the problems of management of transboundary World Heritage sites, we will focus on the issues of scientific justification of the future nomination.

The difficulty is seen primarily in the fact that in world practice there is no precedent for the serial nomination of rock art monuments. In addition, the currently known attempts to study them holistically within the region and individual territories [Formozov, 1969; Sher, 1980; Ksica, 2001; Tashbaevaetal., 2001; Kovtun, 2001] are based on a limited range of sources provided by traditional petroglyphology, and therefore do not fully reveal the exclusivity of the phenomenon, its global significance significance. Today, the problem of typology of rock art monuments remains unsolvable, which means determining the criteria for their evaluation [Rogozhinsky, 2002, p. 16-18]. This circumstance caused difficulties in conducting a comparative analysis of the archaeological landscape of Tamgaly with other well-known sites in the region, since most of them were studied in line with a different paradigm, which provides for the study and fixation of rock carvings themselves in isolation from natural and cultural contexts. Examples of a systematic approach to petroglyphs as a component of the cultural landscape in Russian archeology

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1. Petroglyphic (a) and other (b) monuments of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Petroglyphs: 1-Shakhty; 2-Zaraut-qamar; 3-Siipantash; 4-Sarmishsay; 5-Aksakalatasay and Sangizhumasay; 6-Aravan; 7-Sulaiman-Too; 8-Suuk-Debe; 9-Saimaly-Tash; 10-Khojakent; 11-Arpauzen; 12-Kuljabasy; 13-Tamgaly; 14-Yeshkiolmes.

Other monuments: 1 - Kara depe; 2-Geoxyur; 3 - Gonur; 4 - Sapallitepa; 5 - Jarkutan; 6 - Pashkhurt; 7 - Zamanbaba; 8 - Tugaynoye; 9-Sarazm; 10-Zardcha Khalifa; 11-Sokh; 12 - Osh settlement; 13-Shagym; 14 - Dalverzin; 15-Bazar-Kurgan; 16-Arpa; 17- "Kulsai type".

they are isolated. Among the latest attempts to implement it, we note the study of rock carvings in the Mongolian Altai (Jacobson, Kubarev, Tseevendorj, 2001, p. 7-39). In recent years, the study of petroglyphs as part of the archaeological and natural landscape has been carried out on a number of well - known sites in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: Kuldzhabasy, Arpauzen, Eshkiolmes [Rogozhinsky, Aubekerov, Sala, 2004, p.60-92] and Sarmishsai [Khuzhanazarov, Reutova, 2004], which are potential objects of serial nomination. But these bright monuments belong to the same type as Tamgaly; they do not cover all the stages of the evolution of rock art in the region, do not give an idea of its origins and modern manifestations, or about other forms of visual activity. Therefore, speaking about the prospect of a serial nomination, first of all it is necessary to give a clear definition of the cultural phenomenon itself, develop criteria for the typology of monuments and assess their significance in the history of ancient and modern peoples. In other words, we are talking about developing a scientific concept for the serial nomination of rock art in Central Asia. Is this possible with the current level of knowledge of the region's monuments?

Below are two studies devoted to some well-known locations of petroglyphs in Central Asia. Using these examples, you can imagine the range of problems that arise today when identifying them.

Central Asian colossus

Saimaly-Tash is the largest petroglyphic site in the region, located in permafrost conditions (3500 m above sea level), extremely inaccessible, exceptionally rich in unique drawings, discovered more than 100 years ago and experienced a series of "assaults" (there is no other way to call these heroic ascents!) three or four generations of explorers, but still remains an unknown colossus of rock art in Central Asia. Being a potential world Heritage site, it can be nominated as a vivid example of the interaction of different cultures and a specific type of high-altitude petroglyphic monuments. To evaluate this possibility, consider having-

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Today, data are collected from the point of view of their sufficiency to justify the significance of Saimala-Tash; familiarity with the location makes it easier to complete the task*.

The history of studying the monument is covered in a number of publications [Sher, 1980, p. 105-111; Martynov, Maryashev, Abetekov, 1992, p. 5-19; Tashbaeva, 2004, p. 96-97]. The results of the last" assault " undertaken in 1991-2002 by Kyrgyz archaeologists under the leadership of K. I. Tashbaeva with the participation of A.-P. Frankfort at the final stage (Tashbaeva, 2004, p.97) are still unpublished.

Experts of natural and geographical sciences were not involved by archaeologists in the joint study of the monument. Therefore, information about the natural environment and even the substrate of petroglyphs is extremely scarce. In fact, the entire volume of available data on this topic can be exhausted by a brief description of the location: the Ferghana Range, the upper reaches of the Kugart River, the glacial cirque, at the bottom of which there are moraine deposits and a small lake; the relief is hilly and steep, in the valley section with petroglyphs, the height difference is more than 500 m (2800-3440 m above sea level).. m.); the snow cover is 10-11 months a year; the vegetation is poor, represented by several species of herbaceous and shrubby plants; the area is occasionally used as a summer pasture from mid-July to mid-August; the main transit routes from the Ferghana Valley to the Tien Shan-modern and ancient-pass much to the north and south [Bernstam, 1997, p. 398; Voropaeva and Goryacheva, 1998, p. 35].

The situation is not much better with the study of monuments that form the Saimaly-Tash complex together with petroglyphs. K. I. Tashbaeva excavated early iron mounds at the site of Saimaly-Tash II, but traces of ancient sites have not yet been identified. Meanwhile, there must have been seasonal and stationary settlements here; their discovery and research can be key for cultural and chronological attribution of petroglyphs.

Today, the range of sources on Saimaly-Tash is limited to information about rock carvings, which occupied the main attention of all researchers. But despite repeated attempts to perform a" full survey " of the monument, the exact number of petroglyphs has not been established. Apparently, we can talk about several tens of thousands; in any case, the calculations of A. N. Bernshtam are consistent with the latest calculations of K. I. Tashbaeva, who recorded about 10 thousand rubles. stones with single images and multi-figure compositions [Tashbaeva, 2004, p. 97]. This makes it necessary to recognize Saimaly-Tash as one of the largest monuments of rock art in Central Asia and the world.

The topic of typology and periodization of petroglyphs seems to be more developed. The classification of A. N. Bernshtam remains generally recognized by modern researchers and forms the basis of typological schemes of many monuments of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. All attempts to verify it were reduced to specific clarifications and some details. However, at the moment there is no classification that reflects the revealed diversity of Saimala-Tash petroglyphs.

The problem of dating and cultural attribution of the oldest rock carvings of the so-called geometric style remains debatable. These questions are crucial for elucidating the genesis and area of this pictorial tradition, determining the historical and cultural significance of Saimala-Tash as a whole. In publications published after 1980, the chronology of geometric style petroglyphs is not actually discussed. The authors limit themselves to listing the conclusions of Ya. A. Sher or referring to the hypothetical dating of the oldest drawings of the third millennium BC proposed by him, but already as an established scientific fact [Martynov, Maryashev, Abetekov, 1992, p. 23-25; Maryashev, Goryachev, 2002, p. 65; Tashbaeva, 2006, p. 249]. Meanwhile, the assumption of Ya. A. Sher [1980, p. 208-209] was only a formal filling of the hiatus in the chronology of ancient Ferghana and Tien Shan cultures a quarter of a century ago. What can be added to this solution today?

First of all, it is necessary to abandon the categorical conclusion that there are no grounds for correlating petroglyphs of the bit-triangular style with the Chust culture. This conclusion probably should not have been made even in 1980, since even then fragments of painted ceramics with images of animals in the bit-triangular style found at the Osh settlement were known [Zadneprovsky, 1980, p.483]. Interpreting these discoveries later, S. Zadneprovsky concluded that " the similarity of images of figures from two connected triangles allows us to speak about the spread in Ferghana of uniform stylistic techniques for depicting animals in painted ornaments on vessels and rock carvings. It is a serious reason for dating these petroglyphs to the Saimala-Tash Chust period. It is even possible to assume that they were produced by the same craftsmen" [1997, p. 93]. If we agree with this, we should admit that the hypothetical dating of petroglyphs is underestimated by at least half a millennium, since the period of existence of the Chust culture today is determined quite reliably by a series of radiocarbon dates of Chust, Dalverzin and Osh settlements

* The author participated in expeditions to Saimaly-Tash conducted in the 1980s under the leadership of A. N. Maryashev and A. I. Martynov.

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2. Painted ceramics with zoomorphic images from the Osh settlement (according to [Zadneprovsky, 1997]).

(XV/XIV-IX / VIII centuries BC) [Ibid., pp. 74-77], as well as analysis of the chemical composition and typology of metal (mid-XIV-VIII/VII centuries BC) [Ruzanov, 1999a, pp. 47-48; 19996, pp. 32-35]. The last two monuments are synchronous, contain layers related to the early stage of the culture (Zadneprovsky, 1997, p. 90-92), and are located approximately 100 km from Saimala-Tash. In addition, among the petroglyphs of Mount Sulaiman-Too, on the southern slope of which the Osh settlement is located, there is a series of specific drawings (mazes, solar signs), similar to the images on Saimaly-Tash. However, it is premature to confidently associate them with the Chust culture and date them to the middle of the second millennium BC (Maltaev, 2000; Amanbayeva, Sulaimanova, Zholdoshov, 2006, p. 266): these motifs are not found in the ornamentation of Chust vessels and on other objects.

Thus, the list of indirect data on the age and cultural affiliation of the oldest Saimala-Tash petroglyphs should include zoomorphic images on Chust painted ceramics (Figs. 2; 3, 1, 2) and, with reservations, some poorly attributed Sulaiman-Too drawings. Is this enough to solve the problem definitively? It remains to agree with the opinion of V. M. Masson that "the analogies made with the painted ceramics of the south are accidental, and the dating of the oldest images of Saimala-Tash requires other justifications" [1959, p. 116].

A significant proof could be, for example, the discovery of geometric style petroglyphs as part of dated archaeological sites (settlements, burials) on the monument itself or other location of the Ferghana Ridge, where this pictorial tradition is mainly widespread. The abundance of the oldest rock carvings proves that the search for stationary settlements on Saimaly-Tash is promising; according to Yu. N.Golendukhin [1971, p. 186], they account for more than 70% of the total number of petroglyphs. Their concentration in a limited area of the main locality and a small number in neighboring valleys indicate the presence of long-term habitats within the tract. Finally, the content of the early petroglyphs depicts the appearance of a culture that is completely different in technical and economic terms from the culture of the "horse-nomadic formation" (Medoev, 1979, p. 6). Probably, the earliest inhabitants of Saimala-Tash were not as mobile as the nomads of the first millennium BC - I millennium AD or modern pastoralists, who annually come up here for a short time with their flocks. The creation of tens of thousands of geometric petroglyphs is feasible if people live here for a longer time than is possible in a modern natural environment.

Data from the paleogeography of Central Asia allow us to outline probable chronological intervals when optimal climatic conditions could have existed for long-term habitation in the high-altitude landscapes of the Tien Shan. It seems that for the reconstruction of the paleoecology of Saimala-Tash, extrapolation of the results of a comprehensive geographical and glaciological study of the area to which the Kugart River Valley belongs will be correct.

In the palynological spectra of Lake Chatyrkel (3,530 m above sea level) and Lake Sonkel (3,016 m above sea level) sediments, climatic fluctuations are recorded, reflecting the tendency to aridization in the early and late Holocene with a period of relative climate moistening in the range of 7-4 KA BP (Serebryanny, Spasskaya, Pshenin, 1993, p. 4). 91]. Experts identify milestones that are associated with significant landscape and climate changes that are being reconstructed for the area of interest. Thus, around 4000 BP (uncalibrated dates for 14 C - 4450 ± 150, 3450 ± 150), there is a significant reduction in the ice area, moistening and general warming of the climate, growth of mixed grasses, and upward movement of the forest boundary, which was associated with the regression of the last mountain glaciation of the Tien Shan that progressed at the previous stage [Sevastyanov et al., 1980, p. 120]. The time of about 3000 BP (2980 ± 80) is distinguished by palynological data as a period of significant climate aridization, intensive melting of glaciers, warming, and the predominance of mixed grass and sagebrush vegetation [Ibid., pp. 144-148]. The transgressive phase of mountain glaciation around 2000 AD is characterized by cooling, an increase in humidity, and a reduction in mixed grasses [Ibid., pp. 148-149]. In the range of 1500-500 l. n.(1540 ± 70, 1150 ± 80, 580 ± 110) significant warming and the spread of desert and steppe vegetation (including cultivated cereals in the area of Lake Baikal) are again observed in mountain valleys. Sonkel), indicating a drier and warmer climate, in which agriculture was possible here [Ibid., pp. 146-147]. Finally, after the cooling of the XVII-XIX centuries, associated with the last phase

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glaciation transgressions, modern natural and climatic conditions have developed on the Tien Shan.

In the light of the above, the absence of a clearly defined layer of petroglyphs of the late Middle Ages and Modern Times on Saimaly-Tash becomes understandable [Martynov, Maryashev, Abetekov, 1992, p. 44]. The paleoclimatic situation of the first millennium BC is consistent with a large number of Early Iron Age drawings at the Saimaly-Tash I site (more than 20% [Golendukhin, 1971, p. 186]) and in adjacent valleys, as well as the presence of the above-mentioned burial mounds. Favorable conditions for long-term habitation in the highlands, apparently, took place in the second half of the II-beginning of the I millennium BC. Petroglyphs of this time are numerous on Saimaly-Tash (more than 30% [Ibid.]), and the Arpa burial ground (the basin of Lake Baikal). Chatyrkel) records the development of the mountain zone by steppe tribes during the xerothermic period.

An example of sedentary habitation in similar highland conditions can be found in the monuments of the Late Bronze Age studied in the Trans-Ili Alatau (Kazakhstan) and recently identified as the "Kulsai type" or "Kulsai culture" of the "mountain Bronze tribes of the Northern Tien Shan" (Maryashev and Goryachev, 1999). The study of the late Holocene climate and adaptation conditions in the mountainous and desert regions of the Northern Tien Shan and Southern Balkhash regions made it possible to synchronize the occurrence of these objects with the phase of warming and humidification of the climate in the mountain zone and the establishment of arid conditions in the plain 3200-2800 BP [Aubekerov, Sala, Nigmatova, 2003, p. 25, fig. 2].

Finally, the second half of the third-first half of the second millennium BC may be the period of creation of the oldest petroglyphs of Saimala-Tasha, which are distinguished, on the one hand, by plot-thematic unity, on the other - by stylistic and iconographic diversity (bit-triangular and rectangular animal figures) [Sher and Golendukhin, 1982, pp. 20-21; Maryashev and Rogozhinsky, 1987, pp. 56-57]. The latter probably reflects the development of the early pictorial tradition over a relatively long period of time. So, following a different way to determine the age of the oldest Saimala-Tash petroglyphs, we obtained a result similar to the hypothetical dating of Ya. A. Sher: the end of the third-first half of the second millennium BC. e. To narrow this interval, as for the cultural identification of geometric style petroglyphs, only indirect data can still be used.

First of all, we should mention the recent discovery of the Shagym burial ground (Amanbayeva, Rogozhinsky, and Murphy, 2005). It is today the earliest monument of the Ferghana Bronze Age, chronologically preceding the Chugha and Kairakkum cultures. The funerary rite finds parallels in the Eneolithic burial grounds of Central Asia (Sarazm, Parkhai II, Kara-Depe, Geoxyur), and the types of objects (Figs. 3, 3 - 9) are comparable to the Bactrian-Margian complex and are especially close to those in the materials of the Sarazm IV, Zardcha Khalifa, Tugaynoye and Zamanbaba monuments in the Zerafshan Valley. The individual age of these monuments remains a subject of debate, but in general, the first three can be dated to the end of the third - beginning of the second millennium BC [Kuzmina, 2000, p. 16-19; Avanesova, 2005, p. 12], and for the latter, the first quarter of the second millennium is considered more likely. B.C. [Pyankova, 1998, pp. 161-162]. So about-

3. Painted ceramics from the Osh settlement (1, 2), items from the Shagym burial ground (3-9) and a celt from the village of Bazar-Kurgan (10).

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At the same time, the Shagym burial ground acts as a correlate of the Zerafshan antiquities of the Bactrian-Margian complex in the Ferghana Valley, fixing the north-easternmost point of distribution of the ancient agricultural culture of Central Asia.

Earlier in Ferghana, certain items of Far Eastern imports were known, which could not be involved without reservations in the discussion of the dating and origin of the Saimala-Tash petroglyphs. The discovery of the Shagym burial ground seems to indicate for the first time the presence of a population in Ferghana at the turn of the third and second millennia BC, which may have been the bearer of the very "pictorial traditions of ancient Iranian tribes" that Ya.A. Sher wrote about [1980, pp. 208-209]. Probably, a series of random finds can also be connected with this: the Khak treasure, a sculpture in the form of snakes from c. Sokh, two stone weights and a bronze celt-shovel from the village of Bazar-Kurgan (Figs. 3, 10), stored in the Osh Museum*. The geography of the finds suggests that the mountain valleys of Southern and Northeastern Ferghana were extensively developed during this period (see Fig. 1), where to expect new similar discoveries. A celt from Bazar Kurgan was found near the mouth of the Kugart River, 80-90 km from Saimala-Tash; the Shagym burial ground is located near another high - mountain monument, Suuk-Debe, recently discovered by Kyrgyz archaeologists and estimated by them as the closest analogue of Saimala-Tash (Maltaev et al., 2002).

Thus, the range of sources that can be used today to identify the Saimala-Tash petroglyphs has significantly expanded. But these indirect data do not yet allow us to reveal the historical and cultural significance of the monument and justify its exceptional world value on the basis of the developed criteria. A qualitative change in the study of Saimala-Tash is needed; the traditional petroglyphic approach should be replaced by a comprehensive one.

First and last steps

Among the oldest monuments of rock art in Central Asia, researchers unanimously refer to a group of locations with drawings made with paint-Zaraut-kamar, Shakhty, Kurteke.

They may be the first or one of the earliest evidence of rock art in the region; for various reasons, their connection with the living tradition has long been lost and the cultural context can be reconstructed hypothetically. However, there are many places where ancient drawings (often together with other artefacts and natural objects) retain their significance in the modern cultural context; they are included in the living tradition of veneration of holy places [Khuzhanazarov, 2000], providing the latest evidence, if not of the creation of cave paintings, then of their traditional use and interpretation.

Zaraut-qamar is perhaps the most famous rock art monument in Central Asia, discovered earlier than many others and described relatively fully in the scientific literature (Roginskaya, 1950; Formozov, 1966a, 1969; Khuzhanazarov, 2001). The grotto is located today on the territory of the Surkhandarya Nature Reserve, thanks to which the Zaraut-saya landscape and paintings are well preserved.

Sketches of Zaraut-kamar made by A. Y. Roganskaya in the 1940s remain the main documentation of the monument to this day. The drawings published by her, which were repeatedly reproduced in other publications, have inaccuracies in reproducing the images and interior of the grotto; the sketches do not contain medieval inscriptions applied to the free surfaces between the ancient images. However, the copies published by A. Rozwadowski [Rozwadowski, 2004, fig. 5]are not devoid of significant errors. Watercolors of the artist A. Y. Roginskaya, who sought to accurately convey drawings in relief, sometimes more accurately convey important details of images and substrate, rightfully preserving the value of the original source.

Despite the opinion that Zaraut-Qamar, Shakhty, and Kurteke are "reliable rock art monuments of the final stage of the Stone Age in Central Asia" (Sher, 1980, p. 181), the age of the oldest drawings remains unclear. Unlike the Mine, the Zaraut-Kamar grotto could not serve as a permanent shelter, there are no cultural deposits in it, and the dating of the drawings is based on their plot-thematic interpretation [Formozov, 19666, p.56]. Defending the Mesolithic age of the murals, Ya. A. Sher argued that in Central Asia "there is no bull as an object of hunting in any plot scene that can be explained as hunting with a bow" [1980, p. 182]. But the archers ' bull-hunting scenes are tura, dating from

* The celt differs from other similar products of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, but it is identical to the celt from Shagym; it is also close to the Shagym collection in terms of the composition of impurities in the metal, so it is attributed to the antiquities of the steppe cultures of Ferghana in the second half of the second millennium BC [Zadneprovsky, 1996, p. 17, Fig. 1] is erroneous. Both Celts should be considered as chronologically earlier, and typologically, perhaps, the original form for this category of late bronze products.

** Was examined by the author in 2006. Familiarization with the monuments of Central Asia-potential objects of the serial nomination-was carried out within the framework of the UNESCO project " Regional Network of Cooperation on Rock Art in Central Asia. CARAD - Central Asian Rock Art Database".

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4. Images and medieval inscriptions on the walls of the Zaraut-Kamar grotto.

Neolithic-Bronze Age, known in Sarmishsai (Khuzhanazarov, 2001, pp. 26-30); they are also found in Tamgaly. Ornithoanthropomorphic figures in Zaraut-kamar show a distant resemblance to the image of the "bird-man" in Shakhty. However, the murals of this monument, despite the cultural layer with flint products identified by V. A. Ranov [1961, p. 81], are not dated. In short, the available data do not allow us to confidently speak about the Zaraut-Kamara and Shakhty rock paintings as the oldest in the region, and arguments about the origins of this pictorial tradition and its subsequent development have not yet found a basis.

To clarify the age of the Zaraut-Kamar and Shakhty drawings, it is advisable to use the possibilities of natural science dating methods, but this is unlikely to solve the problem unambiguously: some of the Zaraut-Kamar images were wiped with kerosene in the 1940s [Roginskaya, 1950, p. 48]. A comprehensive study of the Zaraut-sai Valley monuments seems promising. Until now, systematic search and excavations here have been focused on the study of Stone Age objects. Only A. A. Formozov attempted to interpret Zaraut-sai in a broader archaeological context [1966a, p. 23].

The Zaraut-Kamara region is part of the zone of composition of one of the centers of the ancient agricultural culture of Central Asia and its early contacts with steppe-type cultures. Prehistoric Bactrian monuments such as Sapallitepa and Jarkutan are located 30-40 km from Zaraut-Qamar; archaeological sites representing the Sapallin culture have recently been identified 15 km from the grotto (Mokroborodov, 2005). We can not exclude the possibility of dating the early painting of Zaraut-Kamar to the Bronze Age, although there is still little data for this.

Researchers distinguish three groups of images at different times, indicating the long history of the monument, a special stage of which is associated with the Middle Ages, when prayer Arabic inscriptions were made. Perhaps due to the reinterpretation of Zaraut Qamar as a Muslim place of worship, the ancient painting has survived to this day. In any case, the inscriptions with the name of the prophet covering the surface of the grotto are sometimes carefully inscribed between ancient drawings (Fig. Unfortunately, the archaeological landscape of Zaraut-saya, rich in late (relatively Stone Age) monuments, remains virtually unexplored, as well as the tradition of cult veneration of the grotto preserved in the local environment. In this regard, the discovery of another rock art monument in the south of Uzbekistan, Siypantash, is of interest. It was first surveyed in 2001 by R. H. Suleymanov [2002], who pre - dated the paintings in the Mesolithic-Bronze Age interval. In 2006, we managed to see this still little-known monument.

Siypantash ("slippery rock") is a group of rock canopies with domed surfaces (Fig. 5, a). There are two large canopies with drawings made with mineral paint in black, yellow and red-brown colors. The first (main) one shows geometric shapes and a silhouette image of a bull. There is an overlap of some drawings with others, made in different colors and, apparently, at different times. The sloping surface under the awning is heavily smoothed; pilgrims who come here to perform rituals roll down the polished path. The second canopy is decorated with geometric shapes and miniature palm prints.

The diversity of Siypantash's drawings is obvious. The silhouette image of the animal is earlier; it has an iconographic similarity to the bull figure in Zaraut-kamar (see Figures 4, a; 5, b). Rows of intersecting lines forming rhombuses and triangles; triangles connected by bases as ornamental motifs are found on Celteminar ceramics (Vinogradov and Mamedov, 1975, Fig. 12, 2, 15; 25, 12; 30, 10, 21; 34, 5], this may indicate the Neolithic age of some of Siypantash's drawings. Similar images are also found among the rock carvings of Aksakalatasai and Sangizhumasai (Khuzhanazarov, 2004, p. 112; Rozwadovski, 2004, fig. 88, photo 27, 28].

The preservation of the painting and the surrounding landscape of Siypantash remains satisfactory, despite the location of the monument on the outskirts of a densely populated village. Siipantash is considered sacred

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place: visiting it supposedly helps women in labor, the childless and the sick; here they sacrifice cattle and roosters in honor of the holy healer Siipantash-ota. Descending a smooth cliff under a canopy with drawings is one of the main magical acts.

The significance of Siipantash is determined not only by the antiquity and artistic merits of the drawings; it is a vivid example of the joint creation of man and nature, which today is a valuable testimony to the still extinct cultural tradition. But in this sense, Siipantash is not unique, but is part of a series of monuments of rock art in Central Asia that characterize the modern stage of their traditional use and interpretation. These include Khojakent and Sangizhumasay in Uzbekistan, Sulaiman-Too and Aravan in Kyrgyzstan. In Khojakent, the object of worship is a rock with petroglyphs. The image of a stallion on the Aravan rock is interpreted by the Muslims of Ferghana as the image of the Caliph Ali's war horse; the spring under it, the mazar Dul-dul-ata and the chillya khan built in the rock with a stone fetish in the form of a child-bearing organ form a cult complex that still functions today (Fig. as in Siipantash, pilgrims enter a similar complex of another shrine-Sulaiman-Too Mountain (Fig. 6, a).

These monuments differ from one another: the substrate, technique, repertoire, style and age of the drawings are different; perhaps the rites performed there are different. But there are also similarities that allow us to consider them as one type of cultural landscape: they all demonstrate a living tradition of transforming the natural environment and organizing cultural space using visual means of communication. Regardless of the original purpose of these objects and the semantic content of ancient drawings, today they remain functionally homogeneous, significant elements of the traditional culture of the peoples of Central Asia, and their distinctive features reflect the diversity of the same phenomenon. Unfortunately, this important layer of the culture of the peoples of Central Asia, as well as half of the-

5. The central canopy with a slippery strip under it (a) and the image of a bull (b) in Siipantash.

6. Ritual skating on a rock chute on Sulaiman-Too Mountain (a) and stone fetish at Aravan rock (b) in Osh oasis.

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However, it has remained virtually unexplored for a long time (Formozov, 1969, pp. 19-20). Fragmentary information and observations made on individual monuments do not yet give a complete picture of the functioning of "holy places" with rock carvings and cannot today serve as a basis for their comparative study and assessment of cultural significance.

Conclusion

Researchers involved in the preparation of the UNESCO series nomination "Rock Art of Central Asia" are faced with the task of justifying the value of this heritage, identified in the Convention's categories as a cultural landscape, based on a comparative analysis in regional and global contexts. Difficulties of such research are expected, since the level of study and documentation of monuments in the region is different, and there is no single source base that allows interpreting them as a kind of cultural landscape. The methodological framework used to study most of the rock art monuments in Central Asia focuses on documenting and analyzing drawings outside of natural and cultural contexts. This approach does not allow identifying the immanent properties of this visual art, solving problems of typology of monuments and determining criteria for assessing their significance, and has limited opportunities for cultural and chronological identification of archaeological sites.

A comprehensive study of monuments that involves a holistic consideration of their cultural and natural contexts in historical retrospect seems promising. A unified multidisciplinary scientific approach and standardized forms of documentation developed in the process of solving common problems of studying and preserving monuments can provide the required amount of sources to substantiate the global significance of rock art in Central Asia.

The study of traditional ideas related to the locations of rock carvings is of particular importance. This is due to both the importance of scientific research in this area and applied tasks: the need to develop a model for sustainable preservation and management of monuments based on traditional institutions of their protection and care, involving local communities in this process in cooperation with state bodies. Modern reality shows that the path to further study of rock art is closely connected with the tasks of preserving this type of cultural heritage.

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