More than ten large rock art sites are currently known in the Tavyn-Bogdo-Ula National Park, located on the border of Mongolia with China and Russia. Many of them are unique and contain a variety of information about nomadic life, mythology, the cult of sacred animals and rituals of ancient tribes. Individual plots or even entire narrative scenes represent real works of art and are recognized as reference works in the visual art of the population of Central Asia. Among such extraordinary monuments discovered recently in the water area of the lake. Khoton-Nuur also includes a complex of petroglyphs in the area of Biluut-Tolgoi. It is located 34 km from the Aral-Tolgoi River (Kubarev, 2007), almost at the mouth of the Khaitun-Gol River (Fig. 1). The coordinates of the monument are 48° 39 '10.2" N, 88° 19 '50.5" E, and the height above sea level is 2161 m. Clusters of ancient images (about 1 thousand drawings) are marked on three rocky elevations (Fig. 2), which were conventionally divided into two groups.-

1. Map of the Bayan-Ulegei aimag of Mongolia.

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2. View of the point with petroglyphs Biluut-Tolgoi-2 from the west.

3. Composition with bulls and other animals. The Early Bronze Age.

They are listed as independent points-Biluut-Tolgoi-1-3. The monument was discovered by the Mongolian archaeologist Kh. Edilkhan, and the first information about it was given in a brief report on the research of the Mongolian-American-Kazakh expedition in 2004 [Kortum et al, 2005].

A significant part of the drawings of the open complex dates back to the Bronze Age. Quite numerous images of bulls belong to this period. For example, this location is characterized by a tiered composition of seven bull figures oriented to the right (Figure 3). The images are made in the same style, but each animal differs from the other in the original design of the body (rounded spots, squares or lines of alternating dots, etc.). The individuality of each bull is also emphasized by the different shape of the horns (lyre -, sickle -, ring-shaped, etc.). Individual animals are captured

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with exaggeratedly large horns; thus, presumably, their semantic connection with the sky and the entire cosmos is expressed. There are images of bulls, in which the end of the tails is a disk with short dashes-rays, also symbolizing the animal's belonging to the celestial sphere. The same idea of the chosen one, the sacred essence of the sacred animal, is obviously conveyed by the figure of the "checkered" bull (Fig. 4). On its rectangular body, you can count 12 squares - a sacred "heavenly" number among many Asian peoples.

Perhaps the local peculiarity of the monument should be considered the absence of images of pack bulls in Biluut-Tolgoi (there is only one sketch drawing), which are present on many petroglyph sites in Mongolia and Altai. On this monument, in rare compositions, a person is next to a bull. In one, he leads a bull on a leash, and in the other, he sits on its back. There are also other domestic scenes involving bulls. So, the 3 figures of opposing bulls found at the Biluut-Tolgoi point, executed in a realistic manner, are very expressive.

Images of moose and deer (marals?)should be attributed to the Bronze Age. with tree horns. It is interesting that these large commercial animals are sometimes shown in the same scene with bulls, probably wild (Fig. 5). Both single images of horses (Fig.6) and group images - in the form of a small herd (3 - 8 individuals) accompanied by wolves or dogs-date back to the same period. Horses, like other animals, are shown in motion and oriented to the right. The absence of a human in such scenes suggests that the drawings represent wild animals. But even among them, it is possible to distinguish between two types of images.

4. Image of a bull with its body divided into 12 squares.

Figure 5. Images of the main commercial animals: elk, bull and deer.

Figure 6. Image of a horse from the Early Bronze Age.

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7. Images and plots of petroglyphs of Biluut-Tolgoi.

Some horses are depicted in a rather realistic manner, graceful. They have long legs, a neck, and a small head. Others have a short torso and short thick legs, a short neck and a large head tilted down. Figures of horses of the first type in Biluut Tolgoi are present next to images of bulls and chariots (early and developed bronze). Figures of horses of the second type (Figs. 7, 7, 2) are probably dated to the Late Bronze Age (Andronovo or Karasuk epoch) and correspond to the image of a horse embodied in petroglyphs of Kazakhstan (Samashev, Kurmankulov, Zhetybaev, 2000, Figs. 2-4).

Several tailed archers wearing crescent-shaped headdresses can be attributed to the Bronze Age (Figs. 7, 3). Some researchers interpret such a headdress as a hairstyle or a halo around the head of a solar deity, but two male figures from Biluut-Tolgoi have a braid hairstyle with a "bow" or a knot at the end, and the crescent-shaped headdress is also used as a halo around the head of a solar deity. the headdress hangs over their heads (Fig. 8). This combination refutes the first assumption about the magnificent hairstyle of the anthropomorphic character. Another petroglyph confirms that this is a headdress: on a single figure of a man carved on a small boulder in the floodplain of the Tsagaan-Gol River, a traditional crescent-shaped headdress or helmet (?) is tied with a strap under the chin (Kubarev, 2005, Tables I, 16). Quite interesting in terms of comparison are small figures of elegant deer.-

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Figure 8. The figure of a tailed archer in a crescent-shaped headdress.

Non-Scythian period: on high, thin legs, with a raised head and moose horns (see Figures 7, 4). Identical in style and size figures of syncretic deer in a characteristic pose are found on the petroglyphs of Baga-Uygur in Mongolia (Kubarev, Tseveendorzh, Yakobson, 2005, Appendix 1, Figure 1064). They are also known in the Chui steppe in the Russian Altai, on the Buraty monuments (Kubarev et al., 2005, p.366) and Zhalgyz-Tobe (Cheremisin, 2000, Fig. 3).

Several carefully carved figures of horses, deer (see Figures 7, 5) and horsemen are supposed to have been created during the Arjan-Mayemir stage. Images of animals are made in the decorative Protozoan style, represented on separate visual monuments in the territory of Altai and Tuva. Some ornamental images of horses were used for the second time in the early Medieval period. Thus, the image of a man in a triangular helmet with a plume, a long robe and a spear in his hands is very organically superimposed on the figure of one horse (see Figs. 7, 6). To a heavily armed man(?) the rider is contrasted with a miniature and schematic figure of a foot soldier with a spear. A similar plot is repeated several times on other petroglyphs of Biluut Tolgoi. The figures of warriors, as in the described drawing, are embossed on top of images of horses from the Late Bronze Age and Early Scythian time. In addition to such palimpsest drawings of Turkic warriors, the monument has typical images of horsemen of the ancient Turkic period. Their horses, as a rule, are smaller in size, but in terms of thoroughness of execution and elaboration of harness details, they are not inferior to their prototypes - images of horses of the Early Scythian era. But there are exceptions. Particularly impressive are the two large figures of horsemen at Biluut-Tolgoi-1; one is more than 2 m high.

Chariots (eight drawings) are among the rare subjects on the surveyed monument. They are concentrated in a certain place of the sanctuary (point Biluut-Tolgoi-3) and are made by a combination of engraving and embossing. One chariot is enclosed in a circle. Only one image of a camel was found at Biluut-Tolgoi-2. A single image of a woman should also be noted. A full-face view of the figure, shoulder-length braids, and long-skirted clothing allows you to recognize the image (see Figures 7, 7).

On the rocks of Biluut-Tolgoya there are several signs-tamg in the form of a schematic figure of a goat. One of them, extremely stylized, reduced to a symbol (see Figures 7, 8), finds parallels in the petroglyphs of Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oygur (Kubarev, Tseveendorzh, Yakobson, 2005, Appendix 2, Figures 116, 15, 16). Such a sign is also repeatedly duplicated on stelae in the Barburgazy and Kobdo River valleys (Kubarev, 1979, Tables XIII, 1, 3; XV, 2; Kubarev, Yakobson, and Tseveendorzh, 2000, p. 68, Fig. 3, a). Earlier, we dated this sign to the Scythian period, based on its similarity to the cut marks found by V. N. Poltoratskaya on wooden objects in large mounds of the Pazyryk culture in the Altai. Signs on stelae and petroglyphs could be tribal tamgas or even magical symbols, signs of sacred significance. On the Barburgaza stelae, the same sign is repeated several times, based on an oblique cross, which is the most common solar symbol in Central Asia. On stelae, it probably plays the same role as the symbols and emblems applied at the top of many deer stones or "guard" stones on tile graves in Mongolia and Transbaikalia. But quite recently, a similar sign (only in a mirror image) was found on the rump of the horse of an ancient Turkic rider in the petroglyphs of Cheganka [Cheremisin, 2000, Fig. 7, a]. There is no doubt that the figure reproduces a personal tamga or brand, since the traditional design of the horse is based on the fact that the horse has a unique shape.-

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The tradition of applying ancestral, personal, and other archaic symbols to everyday objects, rock outcrops, and ancient stelae among the Altaians, Tuvans, and Mongols has been preserved to this day. It should be assumed that the artist of the ancient Turkic era borrowed a more ancient symbol for the image of a personal tamga, which he may have observed on steles in the Barburgazy Valley. Moreover, the distance between the Chaganka River, where ancient Turkic engravings were found, and the mentioned stelae is no more than 50 - 60 km in a straight line.

It is not by chance that we associate the signs on the Barburgaza stelae and in the petroglyphs of Mongolia with the figure of a goat. Vl. A. Semenov notes: "Schematization of the image of the goat and its transformation into a bit-triangular sign-a symbol that got into the Urartian and Armenian hieroglyphs as the sign of the thunderer, creates a reliable basis for interpreting this image in the Caucasus" [1999, p.185]. The monogram goat - God Gromovik [Ibid., Figs. 1, 3] is completely identical in outline to the sign from the Altai stelae. Therefore, the question is legitimate: did not these memorial stelae be left on the eastern route of settlement of Indo-European peoples by migrants of the Bronze Age-Proto-Tochars and Indo-Aryans?

Other signs in Biluut Tolgoi, such as the goat figurine, are similar in shape to the symbol carved on memorial steles installed in memorial temples in honor of the khagan of the Orkhon Turks Bilge and his brother commander Kul-Tegin*.

We have given a far from complete list of images and subjects known at the new location, but the work on copying the drawings in Biluut Tolgoi is just beginning and their study should undoubtedly be continued in the next field season.

The examined complex of rock carvings at different times obviously reflects one of the milestones on the way of the movement of migrants, clearly demonstrating with the help of very similar "cross-cutting" plots and iconic symbols how far the newcomers have penetrated into a foreign-cultural ethnic environment. The lack of knowledge of other archaeological sites of the Bronze Age in Northwestern Mongolia creates certain difficulties in modeling migration processes and the demographic situation in this region of Central Asia. Therefore, at present, at the first stage of research and creation of the historical panorama of the Mongolian Altai, a decisive role is assigned to the systematic study of petroglyphs, the most accessible and informative monuments of ancient art.

List of literature

Kubarev V. D. Ancient statues of Altai (Olennye kameny). Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1979, 120 p. (in Russian)

Kubarev V. D. Ancient Turkic sculptures of Altai. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1984, 230 p. (in Russian)

Kubarev V. D. Ob odnom traditsionnom zazhytete v petroglyphakh Tsentral'noi Azii [About a traditional story in petroglyphs of Central Asia]. Krasnoyarsk: Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical Institute, 2005, pp. 172-175.

Kubarev V. D. Petroglyphs of the Aral-Tolgoi (Mongolian Altai) / / Archeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia. -2007. - N 1. - p. 111-126.

Kubarev V. D., Tseveendorzh D., Yakobson E. Petroglyphs of Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oygur (Mongolian Altai). Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEt SB RAS, 2005, 640 p. (in Russian)

Kubarev V. D., Yakobson E., Tseveendorzh D. Altai-a protected area // International Conference on Primitive Art. Kemerovo: Kemerovo State University, 2000, vol. 2, pp. 64-77.

Kubarev V. D., Im Se Gwon, Song Hwa Sob, Chang Myung Soo, Park Geun Gunn, Ri Ha Woo, Kubarev G. V., Khokhlova O. N., Kim Ho Suk, Bang Kook Jin. Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel'nykh territorii: Mat-ly Godovoy sessii IAEt SB RAS [Problems of Archeology, Ethnography, and Anthropology of Siberia and Adjacent territories: Materials of the Annual Session of the IAEt SB RAS], Novosibirsk: IAEt SB RAS, 2005, vol. 11, part 1, pp. 364 - 367.

Самашев З., Курманкулов Ж., Жетыбаев Ж. Petroglyphs of the Kazakh melkosopochnik // International Conference on Primitive Art. Kemerovo: Kemerovo State University, 2000, vol. 2, pp. 98-100.

Semenov V. A. Signs-indexes in the rock art of Northern Eurasia // International Conference on Primitive Art. Kemerovo: Kemerovo State University, 1999, vol. 1, pp. 180-185.

Cheremisin D. V. Issledovanie petroglyphov g. Dzhalgyz-Tobe [Study of petroglyphs in the city of Dzhalgyz-Tobe] / / Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel'nykh territorii: Mat-ly Godovoi sessii IAEt SB RAS. - Novosibirsk: IAEt SB RAS, 2000. - Vol. 6. - pp. 436-440.

Kortum R., Batsaikhan Z., Edelkhan, Gambrell J. Another new complex in the Altai mountains, Bayan Olgii ainag, Mongolia: Biluut 1, 2 and 3 // International Newsletter on Rock Art. -2005. - N41. - P. 7 - 14.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 08.02.07.

* For more details on the semantics of tamga-like goat figures, see [Kubarev, 1984, pp. 73-74].

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