From Symbol to Sign: Cupules on Stones of the Kazakh Altai (Based on Research Experience)
Samashev S.
2025Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Kazakhstan Archeology
2025#2025Issue 3106 - 117 pp.
For the first time, on the Saryzhon hill (Kazakh Altai), a unique object has been recorded: a stone whose surface is covered with more than 300 cup-shaped depressions. Provisionally dated to the Bronze Age, this stone is a rare find for the archaeology of Kazakhstan. Its structure and the arrangement of the cupules suggest the existence of a special calendrical-ritual practice, reflecting the origins of the visual-symbolic tradition of the region’s ancient nomads. Similar depressions are also known from the sanctuaries of Akbauyr, Dolanaly, and other regions. Comparison of these sites makes it possible to regard them as a proto-symbolic foundation from which systems of tamgas, pictograms, and petroglyphic scenes could have developed at a later time. The systematic nature and morphology of the cupules in a sacred context indicate their intentional character: they were deliberately made and apparently served specific functions. Comparison with analogies from Altai, Zhetysu, the Tien Shan, and Eastern Europe demonstrates the existence of a broad Eurasian tradition of employing such marks in the sacred sphere. Their frequent presence on cult-related objects underlines their importance in the culture of the early inhabitants of the steppe. Like other monuments of the pre-literate era, stones with cupules offer the possibility of reconstructing early communicative codes, which later transformed into the archaic sign systems of nomadic societies.
Bronze Age , cupules , Early Iron Age , proto-sign system , symbolic signs
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State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve “Berel”, Katon-Karagay district, East Kazakhstan region, village Zhambyl, Kazakhstan
State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve “Berel”
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