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V.E. Semashkevich (Abakan) – On the “Hidden” Petroglyph on the Slab of the Great Salbyk Kurgan (on Some Aspects of Kurgan Architecture)

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Abstract

This is a publication of a recently discovered multi-figure composition on a slab of the fence of the so-called “royal” Great Salbyk Kurgan dated to the Tagar culture. The drawing is engraved on the narrow end plane of the slab adjacent to the southeastern vertical corner stele. The petroglyph is almost invisible from an outsider’s perspective. The slab got into the structure of a mound from a quarry, on the rocky cliff s of which petroglyphs were carved, and where the construction material for the site was being mined. The composition refl ects two motifs known in the rock art of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age – the “Lord of the Beasts” (= “Lord of Horses”) and the image of an adult ungulate animal with a cub (?) under its belly. The second motif is considered in more detail; analogies among the rock petroglyphs and images on the stones of Tagar and Tes mounds are given. A preliminary conclusion is made that, in relation to kurgan structures, this motif appears in Late Tagar and Tes periods. As there are only a few of them, it does not yet allow us to speak about the prevalence of this motif among the drawings on the kurgan slabs. It is hypothesized that the placement of the fence slabs rich with patterns next to the vertical corner or wall stelae of the kurgan was an architectural technique that complemented the meaning of the stelae as semantically significant structural elements.

Keywords

Great Salbyk Kurgan, Tagar culture, Tes culture, petroglyphs, kurgan architecture.

Vladislav E. Semashkevich

Khakass Research Institute for Language, Literature, and History, Abakan, Russia

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