Khoit Tsenkher North Cave — Terkhiin Tsagaan Extension
Хойт Цэнхэр хойд агуй · North Blue Cave Extension · Khot Tsenkher North
Upper Palaeolithic to Bronze Age·Palaeolithic Altai hunter-gatherers·🇲🇳 Khovd Province, Mankhan Soum, Khoit Tsenkher River north bank, Mongolia
About
About Khoit Tsenkher North Cave — Terkhiin Tsagaan Extension
North branch of the Khoit Tsenkher (North Blue) Cave system in Mankhan Soum, Khovd, 25 km SW of Mankhan along the Khoit Tsenkher River at 1760 m in Proterozoic limestone at the foot of Mount Chandmani. 15000–10000 BCE) — ostriches, mammoths, aurochs in red ochre with calcite crust dates. The north branch, surveyed 2018 E3S IC TEES, preserves an undisturbed lower gallery with ostrich-mammoth frieze and hand stencils beneath flowstone, extending the palaeolithic corpus beyond the tourist gallery.
220 m above sea level datum correction: actually 1760 m valley floor; longest Altai cave ( ~500 m) with Palaeolithic lithics and hearths.
Why it mattersMongolia's only Pleistocene cave art, bridging Siberian Mal'ta and Chinese Zhoukoudian painting traditions.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Ostrich symbolism and long-distance pigment trade
- 02Hand stencil authorship
Theories
- 01Shamanic hunting magic deep in cave
- 02Seasonal aggregation art at Altai lake-steppe ecotone
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.15000–10000 BCE (Upper Palaeolithic) with Bronze Age retouch
- Period
- Upper Palaeolithic to Bronze Age
- Culture
- Palaeolithic Altai hunter-gatherers
- Builders
- Altai early anatomically modern humans
- Purpose
- Deep-cave ritual painting gallery near seasonal hunting camp
- Abandoned
- c.8000 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1967 Okladnikov & Tseveendorj; 1985 Derevianko; 2021 E3S conservation study
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.15000 BCE
Ostrich-mammoth painting with ochre
1967
Soviet-Mongolian discovery
1996
UNESCO Tentative List
On the ground
Structures & features
47.3470° N · 91.9560° E · 1760 m · 2 mapped features
North Gallery — Ostrich and Mammoth Panel
cave paintingPalaeolithic red ochre ostriches with mammoth and wild horses, oldest Central Asian cave painting 15000 BCE
47.3480° N · 91.9570° ENorth Gallery — Hand Stencil Alcove
cave paintingTwo white hand stencils with finger-fluted aurochs outline
47.3460° N · 91.9550° E