NEW IMAGES OF TASHTYKS ON THE ROCKS OF TEPSEY

Abstract

A lot of new rock art images of Tashtyk epoch have been discovered on the Yenisei recently, engravings being the most informative of them. The paper presents some new materials that may deepen the understanding of the Tashtyk culture. Some of the examples some are unique. The most interesting engravings are the anthropomorphic images of Tashtyk warriors (hunters?) found all over mount Tepsei. The petroglyphs make it possible to reconstruct the appearance of the people who inhabited the Minusinsk basin for they depict headware, hairstyle, and various elements of clothes. The images have direct analogies with the figures of warriors on the wooden plaques discovered in one of the Tashtyk burials on Tepsey, which allowed scientists to identify the ethnicity of some of the depicted characters. The Tepsey pictorial materials, including rock images, add to the understanding of the Tashtyk people’s appearance: in those unique images we can clearly see them wearing short trousers as well as some new kinds of headwear, which may be the evidence of the previous Tesin tradition and, probably, the Hunnu influence.

Keywords

• tashtyk culture
• tepsey archaeological complex
• petroglyphs
• minusinsk basin
• costume
• reconstruction