Deer stones
Deer stones (engl. Deer stones; by locals in Russia olennye kamni of Mongols as khirigsuur called) are with deer figurines, jewelry, belts and tools ornate stone steles of about 0.5 to 3 m in height in the Sayan-Altai region of Russia , Mongolia and Xinjiang in northern China. They got their name around 1000 BC. Stones erected by Bronze Age nomads from the flying deer depicted on them . Over 900 of these stones have been discovered so far, 700 of them in Mongolia alone.
The deer stones are divided into three categories, the classic Mongolian type, the Sayan Altai type and the West Asian-European type, with the West Asian-European type being the oldest and the classic Mongolian being the most artistic and youngest.
West Asian-European
Sayan Altai
Classic Mongolian
As part of the “Mongolian-Smithsionian Deer Stone Project”, Mongolian archaeologists examined 15 stones with the help of 3D scanners . In the meantime, some of the graves below have also been excavated, in which Scythian influences were found, which are probably to be positioned at the transition from the Andronovo culture to the later Xiongnu , a Scythian-Asiatic equestrian people. Their roots are probably in the tradition, which is widespread in Eurasia, of erecting stones (sometimes also on barrows).
Further points of contact with the world of images can be found in the Kuban River in Russia via the Southern Bug in the Ukraine, the Dobrudscha in Bulgaria up to the Elbe in the Czech Republic and Germany. Deer or reindeer are central figures in Eurasian shamanism. Mesolithic collectors and hunters clearly show shamanistic practices, which are expressed in various graves in Northern Europe through the addition of deer antlers, but also through the worship of deer gods and rock drawings.
The tumulus complex and the deer stones of Sanhaizi (or Shiebar-kul ) (Sanhaizi muzang ji lushi 三 海子 墓葬 及 鹿 石 ) in Qinggil County ( 青 河 县 ) in Xinjiang have been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China (5-188 ).
In Xinjiang they can also be found in Koktokay , ( Altay ), Jeminay , Mongolküre ( Ili ), Arixang ( Bortala ), Jimsar ( Changji ) and other places.
literature
- AA Kovalev: 'Karasuk daggers', deer stones and the nomads of the ancient Chinese annals. In: Tian Guangjin, Guo Suxin: Maoqinggou. An Iron Age burial ground in the Ordos region (Inner Mongolia) (= materials for general and comparative archeology (AVA materials). Volume 50). Ed .: Commission for General and Comparative Archeology of the German Archaeological Institute Bonn (KAVA) Described and commented by Th. O. Höllmann and GW Kossack 1992, ISBN 3-8053-1404-3 , pp. 46-87.
- Bo Wang: Deer stones in Xinjang. In: Eurasia Antiqua. 7, 2001, ISSN 0949-0434 , pp. 105-131.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Esther Jacobson: The deer goddess of ancient Siberia: a study in the ecology of belief. Brill, Leiden 1993, ISBN 90-04-09628-0 ; Ts. Turbat et al: Deer Stones of the Jargalantyn Am. 2011, ISBN 978-99962-845-8-8 .
- ↑ Nataliia Mykhailova: The cult of the Deer an d Shamans in the Deer Hunting Society. In: Archeologica Baltica. 7, 2006, pp. 187-198.