Mongolian deer stones
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 04/09/2020

The ritual complex of Khar Chuluut 1 in Bayan-Olgii aimag of Mongolia belongs to Chemurchek (Qiemuerqieke)  cultural  phenomenon  (26‒18  c.  BC).  The  site  was  excavated  in  2015  and  a  'treasure'  of  79  engraved  and  not-engraved  stone  plaques  was  found.  The  closest  analogies  of  these  engraved  plaques,  supporting  the  hypothesis  of  Western  European  origin  of  Che-murchek phenomenon, are engraved anthropomorphic plaques from megalithic monuments of the Iberian Peninsula (31‒27 c. BC.), as well as statues-menhirs of Sion-Aosta type (29‒27 c. BC). Similar anthropomorphic engravings on pebbles and slate plates, according to the au-thors, were distributed in the Sayan-Altai region as result of expansion of cultural traditions of Chemurchek people. The problem consists in the state of preservation of the ritual place with broken engraved stone walls spread around the site, and the number of engraved plaques, which are damaged during transportation to a museum. The opportunity to make the digital copies of them by photogrammetry allows scholars to continue investigations after the field works and recreate the ritual complex using digital technologies. Thus we get chance to became familiar with  images:  anthropomorphic  figures,  idols  and  devils,  animals  and  other  signs,  as  well  as  compare engravings on pebbles and slate plates.


Daria Hookk, Alexey Kovalev, Nikita Pikov