Salkhityn Am Deer Stone Complex – Khovsgol
Salkhityn Am Stelae · Khövsgöl Deer Stones
Late Bronze to Early Iron (Mongolian Late Bronze)·Deer Stone–Khirigsuur Culture·🇲🇳 Khovsgol Province, Salkhityn Am (Salkhit Valley), Mongolia
About
About Salkhityn Am Deer Stone Complex – Khovsgol
Fourteen Classic Mongolian deer stones (1400–700 BCE) aligned NNE–SSW in the Salkhityn Am valley at the southern edge of Khovsgol, associated with khirigsuurs and slab graves. The stones are 1.5–4.2 m granite stelae carved with stylized flying deer, chevrons and face/mask at top, representing Late Bronze pastoralist burial art ancestral to Scythian Animal Style. Tallest (Stela 3, 4.18 m) shows 18 deer in flight. Excavated 2006–2014 by Joint Mongolian–Turkish project, the complex includes an intact khirigsuur with horse burials linking deer stones to horse cult, contemporaneous with Arzhan 1 far west. The alignment was solar-oriented, facing east.
Why it mattersFinest intact deer stone alignment; source of Scythian Animal Style deer motif.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Shamanic face interpretation
Theories
- 01Ancestral portrait stelae
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.1400 – 700 BCE
- Period
- Late Bronze to Early Iron (Mongolian Late Bronze)
- Culture
- Deer Stone–Khirigsuur Culture
- Builders
- North Khovsgol pastoralists
- Purpose
- Memorial stelae and sky-oriented burial markers
- Abandoned
- c.600 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1979 Volkov Khovsgol atlas; 2006 Salkhityn excavations
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1400 BCE
Earliest deer stone carving
2006
Salkhityn Am excavations begin
On the ground
Structures & features
50.1800° N · 100.4800° E · 1650 m · 2 mapped features
Stela 3 Giant Deer Stone
megalith4.18-m stela with 18 flying deer
50.1810° N · 100.4810° EKhirigsuur KH-11 Horse Pit
kurganHorse burial khirigsuur between stelae
50.1780° N · 100.4790° E