Petroglyphs of Aksu-Dzhabagly

The Chimkent detachment of the regional council of the Society for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, together with the Chimkent Museum of Local Lore, began a stationary study of petroglyphs in the Kaskabulak tract at the foot of the glacial cirques of the Talas Alatau (Aksu-Dzhabagly Reserve, Tyulkubas district, Chimkent region). Here, at an altitude of 3000-3200 m above sea level, in two horseshoe-shaped basins, on black smooth porphyrite rocks, 12 locations of petroglyphs were found. 1300 single images and 93 group images were re-shot and photographed. All petroglyphs were carved with stone and metal tools, mainly using the continuous punching technique. Image preservation is good. The motifs of the drawings are varied: archers hunting argali, goats; riders on horseback or nomadic camels; military clashes. The main motive is the image of animals: argali, goats, camels, horses, dogs, deer. There are single images of a turtle, a snake, cosmogonic symbols.

There are three chronological groups of petroglyphs: 1) the Bronze Age - archers hunting for argali, solar signs in the form of circles; 2) early Scythian - strings of deer with a characteristic ornamental stylization; 3) a large group belongs to the Turkic time - tamga-like images of goats, tamga.

On the territory of the Aksu-Dzhabagly Reserve on the right bank of the Baldabrek River, below the Chuuldak cordon in the Shukulduk tract, two accumulations of petroglyphs were found on separate limestone and shale boulders. All of them are carved with stone and metal tools. Most of the petroglyphs are carved along the contour. The main motive is the image of animals: goats, argali, horses, camels. There are images of people: riders, goat hunters, solar signs in circles and circles with intersecting straight lines, signs in the form of tridents. Petroglyphs are tentatively dated to the 2nd-1st millennium BC.