Deer stone
Stone Man
Rock painting
Ili, located in the northwest border of the motherland, here the climate is humid, the water and grass are abundant, and the superior natural geographical environment makes Ili one of the habitats for early human activities, resulting in a unique grassland culture. Deer stones, stone people and rock paintings are the most representative cultural phenomena in the early days of Ili grassland culture, showing the ideological concepts and value orientations of the ancestors in the early days of Ili.
As a representative of the Ili grassland culture, whether it is the deer stone that stands proudly and has a simple pattern, or the grassland stone people who are magnificent and watch over the grassland for thousands of years, as well as the petroglyphs that spread throughout the Ili mountain grassland and show the production, life and religious concepts of the early ancestors of Ili, they all show us in different ways the exuberant vitality of the ancient ancestors and the beautiful yearning for progress. Today, when we face these simple steppe stone carvings, we can still feel the tension of life released by the ancients through thousands of years to fight for the materials of survival, the pious gaze of worshiping the gods, and the beautiful yearning of the soul flying in the sky.
Deer stone, generally refers to a kind of stele-like stone carving processed by artificial chiseling, named for the carving of deer patterns, deer stone as a cultural phenomenon of the ancient inhabitants of the Eurasian steppe, appeared in the late Bronze Age, continued to the early Iron Age, that is, the 13th to 5th centuries BC. For thousands of years, LuShi has stood on the grassland and looked up at the sun, witnessing the rise and fall of the steppe nomads, involving history and modernity, and will remain forever.
As a cultural phenomenon of the ancient inhabitants of the Eurasian steppe, deer stone was first discovered in Mongolia by Soviet and Nordic travelers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With the deepening of archaeological investigations and excavations, deer stones have also been found in the area of Sayan-Altai and Lake Baikal. In the 1960s, deer stone was also found in the European part of the Eurasian steppe, and deer stone was also distributed in the mountains of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, and later, some scholars divided it according to the change of regional regional type: eastern deerstone and western deerstone.
Within the scope of Xinjiang, deerstone can be divided into two main categories: animal pattern deerstone and animal-free deerstone, that is, atypical deerstone. Animal pattern deerstone can be divided into three subtypes: patterned deerstone, that is, typical deerstone, realistic animal deerstone, and mixed animal deerstone.
Xinjiang grassland deer stone, mainly distributed in the northern Xinjiang mountainous grassland area north of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, but the scope is relatively small, such as the Xinjiang Altay region, Tacheng area, in the West Tianshan Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, in the North Tianshan Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, in the Ili River Valley directly under the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture and other places have been found deer stone. In addition, deer stones have also been found in the Aksu region of southern Xinjiang. Generally speaking, the Xinjiang grassland deer stone is most found in Qinghe County in the Altai Mountains, followed by Fuyun County.
Altay Square Deer Stone 1
Altay Knife-shaped Deer Stone 2
Deer stones also reflect the ancient nomadic worship of deer, when people believed that deer were a god who could convey information between heaven and earth. When people first see this ornately carved, tall stone pillar in the alpine grassland, its mystery will arise spontaneously, urging people to decipher the code.
Grassland stone people are widely distributed in the grasslands of Asia and Europe, and it is a beautiful "landscape" in the Ili River Valley, and the Zhaosu Xiaohongna Haishi people and Turks stone people are even more famous. Most of the steppe stones are called by appearance, and there are also titles such as "stone carved figures", "stone carved figures", "stone statues" and "stone people". The steppe stone man found in the Ili River Valley, the earliest dating, is presumed to be around the 8th century BC. The steppe stone man is actually carved on a flat stone block similar to the human body shape, carving out the face and arms of the person, etc.; or for relief, because of the vivid image of the stone man it depicts, the stone man has its own characteristics and has attracted people's attention.
Steppe stone people are generally erected directly in front of the tomb and have no pedestal. There are fixed patterns of orient-facing placement, and there are also allegories of ancestor worship. In addition, there are also boundary piles, thoughts of dead families, and worship of heroes and great men.
1. The earliest Ilishi people
In the summer of 1995, in the upper reaches of the Ili River in Yining County, a stone man was found and called the Yining stone man. In a long comparative study of stone people, researchers believe that this is the earliest stone man in the Ili River Valley, which dates from about the 8th century BC. During the same period, varying numbers of stone men were found in the territory of other counties.
Inin stone people
It is 1.17 meters high and 0.47 meters wide at the shoulders. The head, neck and shoulders and arms are carved, the neck and shoulders are clearly demarcated, and the head is rounded. The face has a more pronounced convex, round silhouette, and the ears and earrings are carved. Curved eyebrows, willow leaf-shaped eyes, straight nose, pronounced cheekbones, floating mouth, wider. The neck is decorated with a ring necklace, the shoulders are slipped, and the chest is carved with two round breasts. The arms are bent over the upper abdomen, and the hands are placed in the lower right and upper left to caress the abdomen. In addition, a sculpture resembling a female genitalia floats in the middle of the abdomen.
2. Stone people in the Sui and Tang dynasties
In the northern and southern mountain grasslands of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, the stone people found are widely distributed and numerous. Its typical stone figure is: the face is portraitized, the body is obviously carved with a tunic of the waist, the belt is carved with pendants, the right hand holds a cup, the left hand holds a knife or sword, standing in front of the tomb. At the same time, the stone people of this period are more typical of the Turkic stone people.
In these stone men, we can see the cultural basis of nature worship, ancestor worship, and the concept of the soul. At the same time, it can also be seen that the style and funerary customs of the tribal people at that time can be seen.
Little Hunner Sea Cemetery Stone Man
Located in the southeast of the stallion in Zhaosu County, the stone man is carved with high-quality black mica granite, round carving, chest carving defects, and other parts are basically well preserved. The stone man is 2.3 meters high. The head wears a crown with a ring in the middle of the crown, the right arm is bent, the cup is held in the hand, and the left arm is bent on the abdomen and the grip is held. The back of the stone man also shows a crown hat, with 8 braided hairs with obvious shaded carvings, and long hair down to the waist. In addition, the lower part of the stone man is engraved with an inscription in Sogdian and Sogdian at the equivalent of the leg, and the full text is 20 lines. The age of the stone people is speculated to be at least before the autumn of 559 or 603 AD. Some scholars speculate that the owner of the stone people is the most suitable for the Nili Khan.
3. Late stone man
With the advancement of carving technology, the appearance of stone figures after the 9th century has become much more exquisite than that of the previous period. In particular, the female stone figure is more significant than before. Among the stone people of the same period, the Stone Man of Kemac is more prominent.
The term kemac appears in the records of medieval Arab and Persian historians and geographers. Literature shows that the Kemac people had the custom of cemetery standing stone people. The stone man of the Kemark period was characterized by a two-handed cup holding, and the cup was very low, at the front of the navel.
Petroglyphs are formed by humans using naturally mineral pigments to paint with their hands as brushes or hard utensils, with rock walls or caves as drawing paper or chiseling. As early as thousands of years ago, primitive humans painted petroglyphs in the rock sheds or caves where they lived, which is not only a manifestation of religion, but also a microcosm and embodiment of primitive human life. In Xinjiang, rock paintings are distributed in the Tianshan Mountains, Altai Mountains and Kunlun Mountains, the early Stone Age humans began to draw rock paintings, paintings have birds and animals and other animal images, there are hunting, grazing, dancing, juggling, fighting, battlefield surfaces, as well as the worship of human ancestors, totems and other paintings, Xinjiang archaeology found in the thirteenth century Yuan Dynasty, the local ethnic groups are still drawing rock paintings, lasting for a long time, but also reflects the importance of rock paintings in human life.
1. Sacrificial petroglyphs
As the artistic language of early nomads, rock painting contains very rich historical and cultural information, the vast grassland is the place where hunting and nomadic people live, and the era described in Xinjiang rock paintings is the era of religious witchcraft and shamanism. As a result of the improvement of primitive thinking ability, many grotesque and strange images of gods are produced, which are concrete manifestations of faith, reflecting the unknown spiritual world and bringing people into the world of meditation.
DonBalle petroglyphs
Tang Bale Rock Painting Group, located in the Altay region of Ili Prefecture, Xinjiang, according to expert research, The Tang Bale Rock Painting Group was made in the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, and is still clearly recognizable after thousands of years of wind and sun. The rock paintings are magnificent, and the picture shapes are vivid and simple.
2. Hunting rock paintings
Hunting played an important role in the economic life of the ancient nomadic peoples. Among the large number of petroglyphs that have been discovered, hunting pictures account for a large proportion. Hunting pictures are also depicted in great detail, and just looking at these petroglyphs can depict scenes of hunters shooting or hunting by groups that nomadic people once unfolded in the mountains and grasslands.
Kyzyl Tastash set of petroglyphs
The Kyzyl tasty rock paintings are located in the town of Zehetai in Xinyuan County, where the mountain is mainly composed of sandstone, conglomerate, shale and coal strata, looking south to the plains of the Gongnais River Valley. The altitude is 14230--1430 meters. On a stone surface about 26 meters high and 10 meters wide, it is flat and smooth, and brown. Among them, the larger picture is 8 meters×2 meters, 6 meters× 1.6 meters, and the smaller 1 meter × 0.5 meters. The left part is an image of an animal, mostly a large-horned sheep, as well as horses and dogs. In the middle of the frame, there are hunting images, step-by-step hunting and riding hunting, holding bows and arrows, and the hunting objects are mainly largehorn sheep. The animal figures on the right side of the frame are engraved on top of each other, which is very vague, and the recognizable animals such as bighorn sheep are recognizable. The preservation is general, and the dating is speculated to be from the Warring States to the Yuan Dynasty.
3. Animal rock paintings
In the rock paintings of the early nomadic people, the most common is the animal rock paintings, cattle, horses, sheep, deer, dogs, bears, camels, etc. are frequent animals in the rock paintings, and the shape is vivid.
4. Other types of petroglyphs
Xinjiang rock paintings are not only numerous, but also extremely rich in style, in addition to recording sacrifices, hunting, animals, etc., but also recording people's lives, driving, grazing and other content. It can be seen that Xinjiang has had superior natural conditions since ancient times, with abundant pasture grass, which is an ideal world for people of all ethnic groups to hunt and graze, and rock paintings reflect people's production activities and social life, and are epic scrolls left on stones.
Xinyuan County Tateran Rock Painting 1
Petroglyphs of Sozi Mutougou in Nilke County 2
After the baptism of wind and snow and the precipitation of history, the deer stones, stone people and rock paintings of the Ili grassland still look at this grassland with an unchanged attitude and face, telling the world the historical process of the ancestors of the grassland here in their own unique way, and forever exuding the unique charm of the grassland culture. They are the historical code engraved in the depths of the grassland, and the key to humanity hidden between the mountains, attracting us to constantly explore and discover the vastness and depth of the grassland.
(From: Tribal Khan.) If you have any copyright problems, please contact us as soon as possible for deletion and other processing. )