Tsagaan Salaa North — Bayan-Ölgii Baga Oigor Panels
Цагаан Салаа хойд хад · Tsagaan Salaa North · Baga Oigor North
Upper Palaeolithic to Medieval·Palaeolithic Altai, Afanasievo, Chemurchek, Turkic·🇲🇳 Bayan-Ölgii Province, Ulaankhus Soum, Baga Oigor River north bank, Altai Mountains, Mongolia
About
About Tsagaan Salaa North — Bayan-Ölgii Baga Oigor Panels
Northern component of the 20-km Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai (UNESCO World Heritage 2011, extended 5-site serial property: Tsagaan Salaa-Baga Oigor is core). On the north bank of the Baga Oigor River upper tributary Tsagaan Salaa, 140 km NW of Ölgii in Ulaankhus Soum at 2400 m, the north panel exposes ~7000 petroglyphs of the 10000-strong valley complex: Late Pleistocene Kalgutinsky naturalistic fauna (mammoth, aurochs), Early Bronze Kalgutinsky style hunters, and dense Turkic ibex herds with tamgas.
Unlike main Tsagaan Salaa south bank, north bank preserves the rare 12000 BCE mammoth-hunt in fresh glacial polish and the longest tamga alley documenting Bayan-Ölgii clan genealogies. UNESCO buffer zone; ger camp access.
Why it mattersEarliest Altai rock art with Pleistocene fauna, key for timing of Altai human occupation and Chemurchek-Turkic continuity.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Kalgutinsky style dating vs Karakol
- 02Mammoth extinction timing
Theories
- 01Post-glacial pioneer marking
- 02Turkic clan pasture boundary gallery
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.12000 BCE–1200 CE (Palaeolithic to Turkic)
- Period
- Upper Palaeolithic to Medieval
- Culture
- Palaeolithic Altai, Afanasievo, Chemurchek, Turkic
- Builders
- Altai hunter-foragers and later Turkic pastoralists
- Purpose
- Glacial valley aggregation art at Altai-Russia-China tripoint
- Abandoned
- c.1200 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1990s Kubarev-Jacobson-Tseveendorj Altaian survey; 2011 UNESCO inscription
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.12000 BCE
Kalgutinsky mammoth carving
c.2500 BCE
Chemurchek stelae-style overlay
2011
UNESCO World Heritage inscription (Mongolian Altai complexes)
On the ground
Structures & features
49.3200° N · 88.2300° E · 2400 m · 2 mapped features
North Bank — Mammoth Hunt Panel
petroglyph panelUpper Palaeolithic mammoth with spear-brandishing hunter, Kalgutinsky style 12000 BCE
49.3210° N · 88.2310° ENorth Bank — Turkic Ibex Tamga Alley
petroglyph panel1st-millennium Turkic ibex herd with 34 tamgas along 12-m varnished greywacke
49.3190° N · 88.2290° E