Mongolia

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.

Right Only a few deer stones show actual human features and behaviour, among them the remarkable Deer Stone 14 at Uushigiin Uvor in Mongolia. It stands 256cm tall and shows ring ornaments in pierced ears and a modelled human face, whose open mouth suggests an individual engaged in a shamanic song or chant.

Conjuring Mongolian deer stones: biographical statuary of Bronze Age Central Asia and south Siberia

The enigmatic deer stones speckling the Mongolian steppe have long invited questions. Now fresh research is providing clues to why they were carved and what they may represent. William Fitzhugh and Richard Kortum, with Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, share the story of these remarkable relics.

Remarkable petroglyphs have been discovered in a remote region of Mongolia. Here a laser mapping team is visible atop the ‘giant horse rock’ – named after the artistry visible in the bottom half of the photograph – in 2007. This rock art lies on one of a pair of hills known to specialists as B2. Photo: David Edwards, 2007

Altai rock art: Visions of the past in Mongolia

Survey and excavation in a remote region of Mongolia are revealing a wealth of information about an extraordinary concentration of rock art.

Opposite Bi disc, Liangzhu culture, c.3300 2200 BC. Size: 38.8cm below Ferdinand Verbiest’s 1673 armillary sphere in situ at the Beijing observatory. The photograph, from 1909, is by Joseph Rastoul.

China: in the beginning

Chinese rulers held the disciplines of astronomy and cosmology in high regard for millennia. Dalu Jones
previews an exhibition of exquisite objects exploring the connections between Heaven and Earth.