Petroglyphs of Tarbagatay, Manrak and Saur

Numerous rock carvings were found in the Tarbagatay, Manrak, and Saur mountains (Tarbagatay and Zaysan districts of the East Kazakhstan region of the Kazakh SSR).

The central motif of the petroglyphs is images of animals, mainly mountain goats and argali. There are images of deer, elk, horses (wild?), Bactrian camels, a wolf (or a dog?), As well as people (archers, riders). Petroglyphs are located on a relatively flat vertical surface of rocky outcrops of crystalline schist, usually facing south or southeast. The dot technique makes the drawings. Let us note a much larger picture of a deer compared to others, made by the so-called openwork or skeletal design and echoing the Scythian animal style.

As a rule, near places with rock paintings, there are mounds with stone mounds, in some cases accompanied by stone sculptures, most likely of the ancient Turkic period. A cursory comparison of the discovered images with the already known petroglyphs of the Irtysh region, South Kazakhstan, Tuva, and Mongolia allows us to preliminarily date them to the first centuries of our era.