Investigation of rock art sites at the Oglakhty ridge in 2016

The paper presents the main results of field investigations of rock art complex within the mountainous massive of Oglakhty (Khakassia) in 2016. Analysis of the earliest imagery at one of the locations at the coastal cliffs showed that some of the stylistic differences between various groups of petroglyphs can be explained not by cultural or chronological reasons, but they reflect the individual artistic manners within the same period. At the Badalazhkin Log site new compositions have been revealed with a very typical for Oglakhty figures of “marked” horses (with distinctive decoration of their bodies). Traditionally, this series refers to the early stage of the Scythian-Siberian animalistic style. However, some of the newly discovered horse figures are decorated with the sinuous lines, that are typical for the later Tes’ culture, and horses are accompanied by human figures, also showing the Tes’ features. The assumption is proposed that the very first compositions with the “marked” horses rendered on the Oglakhty rocks at the early stage of the Tagar culture, while during the later periods these vivid images and understandable subject continued to be replicated with some minor alterations in accordance with the canons of this or that period.