Anthropomorphic Images of the Early Iron Age in the Rock Art of the Upper Indus Valley

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the cultural and historical processes in the Upper Indus Valley during the Early Iron Age. The objectives of the research include: the systematization of currently known anthropomorphic petroglyphs, which, due to stylistic, iconographic and technological analysis, can be attributed to a specific period or cultural community, as well as the analysis of their spatial distribution. Source database of the research includes 18 compositions from 10 rock art sites in Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh. Archaeological materials from neighbouring territories and data from written and epigraphic sources will also be used to clarify the dating of petroglyphs. A total of 8 Saka anthropomorphic petroglyphs, 3 Achaemenid, 10 Indo-Scythian, and 9 Yuezhi-Kushan have been identified. It has been established that the Upper Indus Valley served as a route for many peoples during the Early Iron Age, during the expansion of the Achaemenids (6th – 4th centuries BC), as a migration route for the Sakas (the second half of the first millennium BC), and subsequently this territory was part of the Indo-Scythian Kingdom (1st century BC – 1st century AD), and then the Kushan Kingdom (starting from 2nd century AD).