Bowl-shaped stones from the vicinity of the village Ozernoe (Ongudy region of the Altai Republic)

Bowl-shaped stones are known in Eurasia, Africa, and North America. As for the Gorny Altai, here they are mainly concentrated in the close vicinity of the town of Ozernoe (Ongudy Region of the Altai Republic), in the valley of the Ursul River and Chuya entry. Bowl-shaped stones are normally referred to exclusively sacral experience. According to the modern European science, bowl-shaped stones are generally dated back to the Bronze Age and associate with petroglyphs and megaliths. In 2012, a couple of new bowl-shaped stones have been discovered. They include a stone containing 64 bowl-shaped cavities, a bowl-shaped cavity on the petroglyphic surface, and a stone pit based bowl-shaped cavity on the megalith. Most bowl-shaped stones found on this territory and described by V. D. Kubarev have been lost except for those moved to museums for storage. The bowl-shaped stones distribution in the Gorny Altai is well correlated with the main concentration of sepulchral complexes of the Afanasyevo and Karakol cultures. There are special types of bowl-shaped stones here, practically not represented on any other territories. It is the so-called Tengin type, i. e. steles containing bowl-shaped cavities and pictures of animals. The bowl-shaped stones found in the close vicinity of the town of Ozernoe are distinguished by a well expressed tendency of their reuse at a later point in time.