Study of the oldest layer of rock paintings of Mongolia in 2017: locations Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oigur

Preliminary results of the joint Russian-Mongolian-French expedition to the Mongolian Altai are presented in the article. The field research on the border with the Ukok Plateau (Russia) was conducted for obtaining comparative data on the most ancient petroglyphs of Tsagaan-Salaa and Baga-Oigur. The previously known and new petroglyphs of archaic appearance (figures of mammoths, horses, bulls, and rams) were examined using mapping, copying and trace analysis. These images of animals show similar features (common style and technique of representing on rock surfaces) with the petroglyphs of the Kalgutinsky Rudnik on the Ukok Plateau. According to the authors, this layer of petroglyphs is the earliest in the Altai and belongs to the end of the Upper Paleolithic.