Saimaluu-Tash 2007

Impressions and Documentation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prologue

 

Saimaluu Tash is the local Turk-language name of a site in the southeast of todayÕs Kyrgyz Republic. Saimaluu Tash means Òdecorated stonesÓ and consists of hundreds of strewn moraine-boulders at two close sites in the mountains of the Fergana range, between Tien Shan and Pamir. The carved stones lie on an altitude of about 3100 to 3400 m above sea level – sometimes in clusters of engravings, sometimes appearing on single stones.

 

First I hesitated to put much like GPS Data on the web; for a simple reason: Despite the fact, that relatively few people visited the place until now (you have to organise a 4-WD plus driver, who knows the road, plus guide, who knows the path) - there is already a certain percentage of ÒforgeryÓ- carvings among the old engravings on the scattered rocks of Saimaluu-Tash.

These recent engravings stem partly from shepherds, who could at least claim to root in the tradition of the ancient; but a certain number of new decorations are obviously from tourists, who are dull enough to put their names and date, etc. just beside the older engravings. The worst way of pollution, I found, is to copy the style of the older pictures – maybe enriched by the knowledge of other Neolithic sites like Altamira and Lascaux. The latter case of ÒforgeryÓ is by far the worst way of destruction, since it causes huge damage to the credibility of this unique and important site. By publishing this basic information – also to travellers – I strongly urge everybody who visits Saimaluu-Tash to hold back their ego and not leave their names, girlfriendÕs names or visiting-dates on the stones! Also please donÕt try to copy the ancient technique of carving on the stones at the site! Try it out, when you are back home!

 

All together we have been 3 days on the site (25th to 27th July 2007). After a sunny welcome on the first afternoon, the following days covered us with unusual strong repeated thunderstorms, including hail; this kept us close to our tents and prevented us from exploring Saimaluu Tash II, another similar site, just 300m behind the next ridge. When we went back to the car, which waited at the Russian bee breederÕs house in the valley, the mountainÕ tops were already covered with fresh snow, as well as the pass at 3400 m, which we had to cross.

However, the local shepherds confirmed, there was an unusual big amount of rain this year; this made it especially difficult to cross the section between waypoints 7 and 8. At this particular part of the valley, a certain amount of fine mud, covered by pebbles and scree, has taken the whole with of the dale – forming a swamp like environment. Little streams of water where flowing between the boggy abrasion material and the mud made it impossible for horses to cross – just letting us through by hopping and rushing over the quickly sinking stones on top.

I found descriptions of Saimaluu Tash on the internet, speaking of difficult access due to ÒglaciersÓ. As a mountaineer for years, I think, this is a bit overrated; there are some permanent snowfields below the pass, but definitely no real glaciers with the danger of crevasses. Nevertheless, boots with a stiffer sole are recommended, as well as maybe crampons in the early summer. The site seems to be visitable only for two months a year.

The best address to ask for guides is the CBT-office at Arslanbob. Some of their guides have already been in Saimaluu Tash, though they have a lack of stuff at the moment and seem to be forced to recruit too young and inexperienced people. Our guide was Uigunbek Matkarimov, a man, who above his mountaineering experience in the local mountains and Siberia, is also working as a teacher and comes with a personal interest in the prehistoric sites. So if possible, ask for him and book as far in advance as possible!

 

 

Facts and thoughts about the engravings

 

á      Our guide pointed out, that the lower engravings might be older, at least they are more eroded.

á      The engravings are obviously made with other stones from the site. Taking a sharper rock and pecking on the eroded surface of boulders, it takes about half an hour for some ibexes. (This was demonstrated by our guide, though not at our will)

á      There is currently only about 2 – 3 months time per year without snow cover.

á      Some boulders have engravings going into the soil surface and continue underneath.

á      Common motives are:

o      Ibexes, further up they seem to prevail

o      Snakes or zigzag patterns. Sometimes they come in double or triple line.

o      Sun/cross symbols with different number of circles around or inside and different numbers of ÒraysÓ emanating from the centre. Very common is an equally sized cross at the center. One ÒsunÓ had a cross (4 rays) at the center and 7 rays at the outer sphere (P1080777). Also one clear swastika has been discovered.

o      Humans: Together with animals, sometimes in pairs sometimes they seem to ride horses or hunt. There are also some strange human motives, which appear to display shamanistic procedures.

o      Mammoths (P1080776)

o      Camels

o      Cross patterns in rectangular form, mostly by multiplying squares.

o      Unstructured clouds of dots.

o      Deers

o      Snow Leopards with large claws

o      Two circles connected with a line. Similar engraving have been found in Europe and interpreted as astronomical marks, like for solstices. Nourishing this interpretation are engravings in the Swiss Alps, showing a circle connected with a half-moon like figure through a straight line. This looks very similar to the many connected circles at Saimaluu Tash.

á      Fakes: There are already fakes on the site. This does not mean more recent drawings from shepherds, maybe imitating ibexes. Some fakes are easy to identify since they contain Russian and Latin letters. When our guide within 3 minutes pecked a very simple circle into the stone, just to demonstrate how the drawings are made – I was quite shocked how endangered this site must be; not because of erosion by snow, water and scrambling rocks – but by tourists and/or people who could easily devour this site completely of its credibility, making it very difficult to distinguish the old from the recent. This includes not only jesters, but also anarchists, pataphysicians and not so honest New Age archeologists or ufologists. A commonly learned amateur with access to the internet and some of von DaenikenÕs books might nowadays easily have the skills to know what looks technically possible and what notÉ.

Another issue is accessibility to the site. It is still an arduous 3h drive in the Lada Niva 4 WD from Jalalabad; but outdoor tourism is growing quickly in the relatively tourist friendly Kyrgyz Republic – as show the growth numbers of CBT for instance. However, though there is a small hunting path leading to the site you still have to cross some creeks, which turn out to become quite tricky after rainfall. Since the place demands the crossing of a 3400 m high pass within one day coming from Jalalabad or Kazarman, altitude sickness might be a problem too. Nevertheless, the political situation in Kyrgyzstan is not so stable at the moment and the next spring revolution might further hinder access – given that the south, especially Fergana valley, is more instable than the Bishkek region.

á      How old?

This is a very difficult question to answer. The main problem seems to be the great variations of exposure to climate and erosion. Some rocks are quite protected, some are more open and without shelter. Since Saimaluu Tash is not a cave site, or at least a single homogenous wall, but strewn boulders, it is really impossible to determine the age of an engraving by judging the geological appearance or erosion. Maybe it is at least possible to excavate and compare some pictures, which are partly under the soil - excluding those, which could possibly have been made during the last 100 or so years. There is a certain patina on the drawings, which could be analyzed; but obvious fakes with Latin or Russian letters (like ÒИСАьЕЛÓ) also have a certain patina – though maybe thinner.

Despite that, some old-looking motives partly have no patina (!). This is a stunning and somehow confusing fact. Maybe there have been approaches of some well-intentioned amateurs to make eroded structures more visible again (?).

However, this is not a cave site, which has been sheltered from weather for thousands of years; nor can any C 14 dating be expected.

The only assumption you can make is that not many Òintended fakersÓ have visited Saimaluu Tash by now. Judging the drawings by their motives seems to be the only possibility by now to get a result. By comparing them to approved ÒoldÓ motives in cave art sites, it might be possible to get a structure of the site and their age.

á      Groupings: It seems that there exist fields of boulders where certain motives prevail ˆ like ibex, deer, humans, etc.

á      Vegetation: lots of chive virtually everywhere.

á      There are light colored stones and moraines of dark-shimmering stones. It seems, only the latter have been used for engravings, though we found at least 2-3 exceptions (of unknown time relation to the others). It seems further, that engravings are done on boulders only and not on solid matter – huge, more massive rocks or walls above. Some drawings occur on light rock, but they are rare.

á      Boulders or rest of a wall/cave? Our guide made the proposal that the boulders might stem from an originally coherent wall or cave further up; he said, they might have come down by erosion and fallen apart through the same process. ˆ In my opinion this could hardly been the case. I checked the walls above and found not a single engraving. Also the stone-surface is completely different up there. Another evidence against the one-wall theory is the fact, that many boulders bear engravings on two or three, even four sides. The engravings surround the stones, sometimes within a single motive like zigzag-lines or hunting scenes.

á      Occasionally we found little dints in the stone, which might have served for liquids during offerings.

 

However, you can find a lot of pictures from the stone-engravings and the surrounding landscape on my picture databank on www.passengers.at.

Come to an opinion yourself! There are several other similar interesting prehistoric sites in Central Asia, like in northern Pakistan, Xingxiang or in the Altai mountains of western Mongolia and the adherent Russian provinces. It would really boost our understanding of prehistoric cultures, if more international comparison between Ôstone-age artÕ would be carried out.

 

 


Approach

 

 

GPS-Data

 

all in WGS 84

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name

Position

Altitude

Description

Road 1

N41 08.070 E73 36.058

1757 m

25-JUL-07 12:00:07AM

Road 2

N41 08.080 E73 36.079

 

25-JUL-07 12:16:10AM

 Russian Bee   Breeders 3

N41 09.380 E73 41.206

1928 m

25-JUL-07 12:50:43AM

End of road 4  

N41 09.457 E73 43.267

2033 m

25-JUL-07 1:18:43AM

Waypoint 5

N41 09.478 E73 44.012

2090 m

25-JUL-07 1:36:14AM

Waypoint 6

N41 09.530 E73 44.602

2142 m

25-JUL-07 1:51:40AM

Waypoint 7

N41 09.567 E73 44.950

 

25-JUL-07 2:00:13AM

Waypoint 8

N41 09.865 E73 45.064

2238 m

25-JUL-07 2:15:05AM

Waypoint 9

N41 09.868 E73 45.080

 

25-JUL-07 2:23:07AM

Waypoint 10

N41 09.975 E73 45.809

2345 m

25-JUL-07 2:38:04AM

Waypoint 11

N41 09.804 E73 46.220

2387 m

25-JUL-07 3:22:58AM

Waypoint 12

N41 09.680 E73 46.470

2485 m

25-JUL-07 3:35:23AM

Waypoint 13

N41 09.714 E73 46.578

2557 m

25-JUL-07 3:43:43AM

Waypoint 14

N41 09.721 E73 46.864

2669 m

25-JUL-07 4:01:49AM

Waypoint 15

N41 09.757 E73 47.236

2896 m

25-JUL-07 4:29:05AM

Waypoint 16

N41 09.828 E73 47.631

3063 m

25-JUL-07 4:52:35AM

Waypoint 17

N41 09.931 E73 47.900

3175 m

25-JUL-07 5:09:08AM

Pass 18

N41 10.142 E73 48.363

3448 m

25-JUL-07 5:56:51AM

First engraving 19

N41 10.360 E73 48.398

3336 m

25-JUL-07 6:22:35AM

20

N41 10.412 E73 48.387

3294 m

25-JUL-07 6:26:41AM

21

N41 10.436 E73 48.383

3287 m

25-JUL-07 6:28:42AM

22

N41 10.455 E73 48.440

3262 m

25-JUL-07 6:31:19AM

23

N41 10.466 E73 48.453

3250 m

25-JUL-07 6:32:45AM

24

N41 10.538 E73 48.621

3230 m

25-JUL-07 6:38:05AM

25

N41 10.586 E73 48.674

3218 m

25-JUL-07 6:40:26AM

26

N41 10.626 E73 48.683

3215 m

25-JUL-07 6:44:21AM

Our tent 27

N41 10.630 E73 48.789

3191 m

25-JUL-07 7:07:41AM

Lake 28

N41 10.699 E73 48.750

3171 m

25-JUL-07 7:17:44AM

29

N41 10.645 E73 48.743

3191 m

25-JUL-07 7:36:20AM

30

N41 10.628 E73 48.700

3201 m

25-JUL-07 7:54:21AM

31

N41 10.640 E73 48.676

3192 m

25-JUL-07 7:59:31AM

32

N41 10.644 E73 48.664

3178 m

25-JUL-07 8:07:28AM

33

N41 10.637 E73 48.585

3197 m

25-JUL-07 8:13:34AM

34

N41 10.861 E73 48.886

3229 m

25-JUL-07 9:53:50PM

35

N41 10.869 E73 48.926

3078 m

25-JUL-07 10:11:17PM

36

N41 10.864 E73 48.918

3090 m

25-JUL-07 10:14:50PM

37

N41 10.651 E73 48.668

3166 m

26-JUL-07 3:21:06AM

38

N41 10.656 E73 48.561

3180 m

26-JUL-07 3:27:53AM

39

N41 10.706 E73 48.584

3167 m

26-JUL-07 3:36:01AM

40

N41 10.725 E73 48.589

3157 m

26-JUL-07 3:41:48AM

41

N41 10.731 E73 48.606

3153 m

26-JUL-07 3:44:53AM

42

N41 10.769 E73 48.626

3138 m

26-JUL-07 3:55:39AM

43

N41 10.641 E73 48.540

3188 m

26-JUL-07 4:05:31AM

44

N41 10.605 E73 48.521

3193 m

26-JUL-07 4:08:02AM

45

N41 10.602 E73 48.500

3209 m

26-JUL-07 4:12:14AM

46

N41 10.612 E73 48.480

3199 m

26-JUL-07 4:16:33AM

47

N41 10.600 E73 48.475

3202 m

26-JUL-07 4:18:14AM

48

N41 10.555 E73 48.548

3251 m

26-JUL-07 4:25:36AM

49

N41 10.527 E73 48.593

3236 m

26-JUL-07 4:30:28AM

50

N41 10.541 E73 48.678

3227 m

26-JUL-07 4:32:44AM

51

N41 10.534 E73 48.686

3230 m

26-JUL-07 4:33:44AM

52

N41 10.549 E73 48.694

3225 m

26-JUL-07 4:35:19AM

53

N41 10.567 E73 48.704

3217 m

26-JUL-07 4:37:07AM

54

N41 10.567 E73 48.711

3213 m

26-JUL-07 4:40:28AM

55

N41 10.560 E73 48.717

3217 m

26-JUL-07 4:44:13AM

56

N41 10.556 E73 48.734

3218 m

26-JUL-07 4:45:33AM

57

N41 10.629 E73 48.816

3191 m

26-JUL-07 5:54:35AM

58

N41 10.643 E73 48.833

3169 m

26-JUL-07 5:56:55AM

59

N41 10.636 E73 48.839

3193 m

26-JUL-07 6:00:56AM

60

N41 10.626 E73 48.829

3196 m

26-JUL-07 6:06:03AM

61

N41 10.629 E73 48.848

3182 m

26-JUL-07 6:10:07AM

62

N41 10.589 E73 48.852

3210 m

26-JUL-07 6:20:00AM

63

N41 10.573 E73 48.816

3215 m

26-JUL-07 6:25:40AM

64

N41 10.634 E73 48.894

3199 m

26-JUL-07 6:40:07AM

65

N41 10.648 E73 48.889

3177 m

26-JUL-07 6:44:06AM

66

N41 10.647 E73 48.892