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Mountain rock art at Saimaluu Tash: battle chariots and ploughing scenes at an altitude of 3,000m
The remote, mountainous location of Saimaluu Tash has ensured that its ancient rock art remains remarkably well preserved. Some of the images, though, feature subjects such as ploughing and chariots. The presence of activities best suited to much lower altitudes raises questions about who was creating this rock art and why. Christoph Baumer is our guide to an extraordinary concentration of ancient artistry.
While petroglyphs are found on every continent, the mountainous area of Central Asia and Western Mongolia is home to especially rich sites. Within this vast expanse of petroglyphs, the site of Saimaluu Tash in Kyrgyzstan is one of the largest and highest: its petroglyphs date mainly from the Bronze Age (c.2400-900 BC) and the Iron Age (900 BC-AD 450), with a few belonging to the period when peoples speaking Turkic languages enter the region (c.AD 450-800). Saimaluu Tash lies in the eastern part of the Fergana Mountain Range, about 115km north-east of the city of Osh. Due to its altitude – which ranges from 2,860m to 3,350m – the site is covered by snow for ten to eleven months of the yea
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