The stone garden of petroglyphs in Cholpon-Ata
Our tours passing through The stone garden of petroglyphs in Cholpon-Ata
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One of the main attractions in Cholpon-Ata town of resort, is a Museum under the open sky "Stone garden". It is located between the North-Western outskirts of the city and the southern foot of the Kungei Ala-Too. In the territory of museum, with an area of 42 hectares, there are more than thousands of stones covered with petroglyphs. The sizes of the boulders ranged from 0.5 x 0.8 meters to 3 x 8 meters.
The drawings depict wild and domestic animals, scenes from the equestrian and hunting subjects from everyday life and heroic people who lived here in ancient times. Among the images of the animals the most popular images are argali, horse, wolf, camel and deer. The Central exhibit of the Museum depicts a hunting scene involving snow leopards in motion. The uniqueness of this picture is that this kind of hunting has no analogues in Eurasia.
Around large boulders, there are stone circles, which could serve as an astrological tool for observing the movement of heavenly bodies and iconic items associated with the performance of religious rites. Also, there are ancient burial mounds and habitations of Paleolithic era.
Scientists think these cave paintings appeared during the period of the II Millennium BC – VIII century BC But the bulk of the appearance of paintings dates back to the VII-III centuries BC and is associated with the flowering of the Scythian-Saka animal style. Animal style is clearly seen in the national ornaments of many Turkic peoples, and images of wings, horns and legs of animals as the main motifs of the animal style are an important part of decorative - applied art of the Kyrgyz people.
