The oldest petrogyphs are bronze age, 1600- 1500 BC, and are of realistic animals and shaman figures. These are the ones that interest me most at the moment.
These hunting dogs, attacking a boar, have higher tails than the wolf-- rather like the Russian Laikas of today.
Some later glyphs are playfully stylized. Look at the mirroring of form between dog and ibex.
But the most interesting to me is this one. Everyone agrees on the dog attacking the wild ass, with the horse in the background. But most falconers see an eagle or at least a falcon above the quarry, while one English archaeologist friend thinks it's a dog. Dogs, in my experience, do not stand on their quarries' backs, facing backward!
If it is a bird, it is the oldest known depiction of a way of hunting still alive today in this same country.
I should also give a space to my friend and guide Hagay, "Karate Kid" and world citizen, wearing what I can only call a typical Asian T- shirt, standing in front of the enigmatic "Dancers" panel.
Update: Nathan of Registan (whose blog anyone interested in Central Aia should read) mentions this site from Uzbekistan. This one on points to the east is excellent as well.
1 comment:
I regret never getting up to Sarmish when I lived in Navoi. It's supposed to be absolutely stunning. I did get up into the Nuratau range where they are, and it just feels like they kind of place where one would likely find artifacts of ancient residents.
Last good one I saw in my neck of the woods was Greaser Rock outside Adel, Oregon.
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