Tamgaly-Tas II — Ili River South Bank Petroglyphs
Таңбалы Тас — Іле жағасы · Tamgaly Tas South · Kapchagai South Bank
Iron Age to Early Modern·Saka (Scythian), Dzungar Oirat Mongol, Kazakh·🇰🇿 Almaty Region, Ili River, Kapchagai Reservoir south bank, 120 km N Almaty, Kazakhstan
About
About Tamgaly-Tas II — Ili River South Bank Petroglyphs
9962E turn-off. The south bank extends the 18-rock Tamgaly-Tas corpus with 6 newly recorded boulders bearing 120 petroglyphs: Early Iron Age Saka animal style (500 BCE) over-carved in 1676 by Galdan Boshugtu Khan's scribes with Tibetan mantras invoking Avalokiteshvara beside Bronze Age sun symbols. Mediaeval Arabic graffiti and 19th-century Kazakh tamgas layer the varnished faces, demonstrating Ili valley as Buddhist-Islamic frontier. Easier boat access than north bank; less looted, with lichen-protected panels.
Why it mattersOnly Ili valley Buddhist petroglyph with clear Saka-Buddhist stratigraphy, evidence for Dzungar Tibetan mission on Silk Road north branch.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether 1676 date is contemporaneous or commemorative
- 02Source of Tibetan scribes
Theories
- 01Ili ford ritual marking reused by Buddhist pilgrims
- 02Political legitimacy carving by Dzungar khan
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.600 BCE–1676 CE (Saka to Dzungar Oirat)
- Period
- Iron Age to Early Modern
- Culture
- Saka (Scythian), Dzungar Oirat Mongol, Kazakh
- Builders
- Ili Saka pastoralists and Galdan Khan's Tibetan scribes
- Purpose
- River-crossing shrine marking Ili ford and later Buddhist pilgrimage kali
- Abandoned
- 1758 after Dzungar destruction
- Rediscovered
- 1830s Schrenk; 1950s Bernshtam; 2014 German-Kazakh survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
500 BCE
Saka deer frieze pecking
1676
Oirat Buddhist triptych carving
1830
Schrenk first European sketch
On the ground
Structures & features
44.0613° N · 76.9962° E · 485 m · 2 mapped features
South Bank — Buddha Triptych Panel
buddhist panel17th-century Tibetan Buddhist carvings of Shakyamuni and two bodhisattvas with Oirat Mongol inscriptions
44.0620° N · 76.9960° ESouth Bank — Scythian Animal Frieze
petroglyph panelIron Age Saka deer and boar pecking beneath Buddhist over-carving, varnished schist
44.0610° N · 76.9950° E