download PDF

Abstract

The article deals with the results of contactless three-dimensional documentation performed in the Mongolian rock art site Gachuurt (“Gachurtyn amni hadny zurag”). Paintings of Gachuurt are of a peculiar kind, typical for a relatively small area, covering the taiga-steppe mountainous terrains of Central and Eastern Mongolia and southern Buryatia. A specifi c feature of such paintings in red are the images of “fences” fi lled with rows of dots, accompanied by drawings of people, animals, birds and the road symbol in the form of two parallel lines. Similar rock art paintings are dated back to the second half of the II–I millennia BC. Patinization, surface hue changing and the pigment lead to the low visibility of the image shapes, resulted in the provoked tracing of images for sketching and photographing. Modern non-contact documentation is performed by digital photography with subsequent photogrammetric processing of images and the development of three-dimensional polygonal models. The photographic texture of the models was subjected to a number of transformations that improved the clarity of the raster image and allowed to perform three-dimensional vectorization of the drawings. The results of vectorization were compared with the drawings carried out by traditional methods (eye-sighted sketching, tracing, including the use of contouring of the rock paintings with chalk and graphite pencil), while some paintings not included in the published sketches were revealed. The analysis of the collected data allows drawing a conclusion about the continuing degradation of drawings under the infl uence of natural factors (temperature fl uctuations, wind corrasion) and human impact on the monument. Comparison of the results of vectorization with the sketches of previous years shows that some of the drawings have already been ruined as a result of the collapse of the rock, and the remaining drawings are under threat of destruction and may be lost in the coming years.

Keywords

Archaeology, Mongolia, Gachuurt, rock art, petroglyphs, ocher paintings, 3D modeling, photogrammetry, transformation of photographic texture, 3D image tracing

Ekaterina G. Devlet

Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

D. Uranchimeg, B. Bayartur

Mongolian State University of Culture and Arts, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Yuri M. Svoyskiy, Ekaterina V. Romamenko

RSSDA Laboratory, Moscow, Russia

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Batchuluun, L. 1998: O drevnem naskal’nom izobrazhenii bor’by [On an ancient rock art image of fi ghting scene]. Urlakh erdem [Urlakh erdem] 7, 84–88 (In Mongolian).

Dorzh, D. 1963: Mongolyn khurliyn Ueiyn khadny zurag (Petroglify bronzovogo veka) [Mongolyn hurliin Ueyin hadny zurag (The Bronze Age Petroglyphs)]. Studia Archeologica. II/I. 4. Ulan-Bator.

Devlet, E.G., Devlet, M.A. 2005: Mify v kamne. Mir naskal’nogo iskusstva Rossii [Myths in Stone. The World of Rock Art of Russia]. Moscow.

Devlet, M.A. 2000: Obraz puti-dorogi v naskal’nom iskusstve Sibiri i Tsentral’noy Azii [The image of road in the rock art of Siberia and Central Asia]. Istoricheskiy ezhegodnik. Spetsial’nyy Vypusk [Historical Annales. Special Issue]. Omsk.

Marsadolov, L.S. 2001: Kompleks pamyatnikov v Semisarte na Altae [A complex of sites in Semisart in the Altai]. In: Materialy Sayano-Altayskoy arkheologicheskoy ekspeditsii Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha [Transactions of the Sayan-Altai Archaeological Expedition of the State Hermitage] 4, 44–48. Saint Petersburg.

Marsadolova, T.L. 2010: Khudozhestvennyy obraz angela: ot pervobytnosti k srednevekov’yu [Artistic image of the angel: from the primitive to the medieval art]. In: P.K. Dashkovsky (ed.), Mirovozzrenie naseleniya Yuzhnoy Sibiri i Tsentral’noy Azii v istoricheskoy retrospektive [World View of the Population of Southern Siberia and Central Asia in Historical Retrospection] IV, 39–53.

Novgorodova, E.A. 1975: Karasukskie traditsii v ranneskifskom monumental’nom iskusstve Mongolii [The Karasuk Traditions in the Early Scythian Monumental Art of Mongolia]. In: I.S. Katsnel’son (ed.), Drevniy Vostok [Ancient East]. Moscow, 288–292.

Novgorodova, E.A. 1984: Mir petroglifov Mongolii [The World of Mongolian Petroglyphs]. Moscow.

Okladnikov, A.P. 1981a: Petroglify Mongolii [The Petroglyphs of Mongolia]. Leningrad.

Okladnikov, A.P. 1981b: Petroglify Chulutyn-gola (Mongoliya) [The Petroglyphs of Chulutyn- Gol (Mongolia)]. Novosibirsk.

Okladnikov, A.P., Molodin, V.I., Konopatskiy, A.K. 1980: Novye petroglify Pribaykal’ya i Zabaykal’ya [New Petroglyphs of the Baikal Region and Transbaikalia]. Novosibirsk.

Okladnikov, A.P., Zaporozhskaya V.D. 1969, 1970: Petroglify Zabaykal’ya [The Petroglyphs of Transbaikalia]. Leningrad.

Tivanenko, A.V. 1990: Drevnee naskal’noe iskusstvo Buryatii [Ancient rock art of Buryatia]. Novosibirsk.

Tseveendorzh, D. 1983: Mongolyn khүy negdliyn urlagiyn dursgal [Mongolyn hii nagdliin urlagiin dursgal]. Ulan-Bator. (In Mongolian).

Tseveendorzh, D. 1999: Mongolyn ertniy urlagiyn tүүkh [Mongolyn ertnii urlagiin tiih]. Ulan- Bator. (In Mongolian).

Tsүltem, N. 1988: Obzor razvitiya izobrazitel’nogo iskusstva Mongolii [A Review of the Development of the Fine Arts in Mongolia]. Ulan-Bator.

Volkov, V.V. 1967: Bronzovyy i ranniy zheleznyy vek Severnoy Mongolii [The Bronze and the Early Iron Age of Northern Mongolia]. Ulan-Bator.