Tsagaan Salaa — Baga Oigor South Valley Panels
Baga Oigor South · White Valley South
Neolithic to Turkic (6000 BCE – 900 CE)·North Asian hunter-gatherer to Bronze Age nomad to Turkic·🇲🇳 Bayan-Ölgii Province, Ulaanhus soum, Baga Oigor river south tributary, Mongolia
Birmingham Museums Trust, Vic Allnatt, 2017-09-01 11:01:06 · CC BY 2.0
About
About Tsagaan Salaa — Baga Oigor South Valley Panels
Southern side-valley 4 km south of the main Tsagaan Salaa gorge, exposing 15 km of continuous panels with Bronze Age deer stones, Turkic anthropomorphs and a rare Neolithic birthing scene. Part of the 20 km Tsagaan Salaa–Baga Oigor complex discovered 1979 by Tseveendorj and studied by the Russian-American Altai project. High steppe at 2400 m with permafrost patches.
Why it mattersSouthern extension proves Tsagaan Salaa is a branched valley system not single gorge; largest rock art area in Mongolia
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Deer stone chronology Early vs Late Bronze debate
- 02Birthing scene interpretation shamanic
Theories
- 01Seasonal migration marker thesis
- 02Deer cult origination zone
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.6000 BCE birthing panel; Bronze 2000–1000 BCE
- Period
- Neolithic to Turkic (6000 BCE – 900 CE)
- Culture
- North Asian hunter-gatherer to Bronze Age nomad to Turkic
- Purpose
- Valley ritual corridor and burial marker zone
- Abandoned
- c.900 CE
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1979
Tseveendorj discovery
1995
Altai project recording
2015
OUP slideshow publication
On the ground
Structures & features
49.1800° N · 88.2500° E · 2400 m · 3 mapped features
Gallery