Tsagaan Salaa Central Panel
Цагаан Салаа Төв хад · White Groove Central Mongolia · Tsagaan Salaa Mid
Upper Palaeolithic to Early Bronze·Palaeolithic Kalgutinsky, Afanasievo, Chemurchek, Okunev·🇲🇳 Bayan-Ölgii Province, Ulaankhus Soum, Tsagaan Salaa River mid-valley, Mongolia
About
About Tsagaan Salaa Central Panel
Mid-valley granite boulder field on the Tsagaan Salaa River, midway between the southern Aral Tolgoi and northern Baga Oigor concentrations within the 25-km Tsagaan Salaa–Baga Oigor complex (UNESCO Tentative 2011). 3000–2500 BCE) — the only valley zone preserving the Pleistocene→Bronze transition on single boulders. Unlike south Baga Oigor's dense Bronze forest, central panel is sparser but chronologically deepest, with Siberian ice-age fauna overlaid by steppe pastoral scenes.
Why it mattersOnly zone in Tsagaan Salaa where Pleistocene Kalgutinsky naturalism and Afanasievo Bronze art co-occur on same boulders.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Pleistocene dating via varnish micro-lamination
- 02Afanasievo migration via elk style
Theories
- 01Pleistocene hunters' sacred boulder reuse by Bronze migrants
- 02Glacial valley seasonal gathering at ibex pass
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.11000 BCE–2500 BCE peak (Late Pleistocene to Early Bronze)
- Period
- Upper Palaeolithic to Early Bronze
- Culture
- Palaeolithic Kalgutinsky, Afanasievo, Chemurchek, Okunev
- Builders
- Mongolian Altai early hunters and Afanasievo migrants
- Purpose
- Glacial valley aggregation and later Bronze lineage re-pecking at Pleistocene sacred boulders
- Abandoned
- c.2500 BCE style shift
- Rediscovered
- 1994 Kubarev central valley transect; 2011 Jacobson UNESCO serial survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.11000 BCE
Kalgutinsky naturalistic bulls/horses
c.3000 BCE
Afanasievo elk superposition
1994
Kubarev transect recording
On the ground
Structures & features
49.3500° N · 88.9200° E · 2450 m · 2 mapped features
Central Panel — Pleistocene Bull Boulder (Boulder CP-11)
petroglyph panel1.4-m naturalistic aurochs with ground outline and pecking, Kalgutinsky style Late Pleistocene
49.3510° N · 88.9210° ECentral Panel — Afanasievo Elk Overlay (Boulder CP-11B)
petroglyph panel0.9-m stylized elk with splayed antlers pecked over Pleistocene bull's rump, Early Bronze
49.3490° N · 88.9190° E