Rock art sites at the Kok-Khaya Ridge in the Askiz District of the Republic of Khakassia

The article presents some results of the search for rock art sites within the Kok-Khaya Ridge in the Askiz District of the Republic of Khakassia in 2024. E.A. Sevastyanova’s report on field research in 1983 has been used as a source of information about the rock art sites in this area (V.F. Kapelko, the artist known for his work in search and copying rock art, participated in the expedition). The scholars discovered a large concentration of pecked and engraved petroglyphs, as well as a unique runic inscription painted with red pigment in the southern part of the Kok-Khaya Ridge. The inscription has later been catalogued and published by I.L. Kyzlasov, and was widely known, while the petroglyphs have not attracted any particular interest. In 2024, the site was found with the aid of the descriptions of our predecessors and a preliminary survey was made. In addition, another rock art site reported as Khalyrlar was also localized; its brief description was given in the same report, but its location in the Kok-Khaya Mountains was not specified, and an incorrect reference to a nearest settlement was made, so the search for the site in 2023 was not successful. In 2024 we have undertaken the search by the toponym (Khalyrlar) and finally revealed a large rock art site with petroglyphs of a very specific linear style in the northern part of Kok-Khaya. Exactly the same images have been discovered in 2023 in a valley southwards from the above site. Thus, currently, several clusters of rock art have been recorded at three locations within the Kok-Khaya Ridge. In total, there are about one hundred panels bearing numerous pecked, engraved, and painted images dating from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. The search for other sites will continue, but it is already clear that in terms of the number ofpetroglyphs, Kok-Khaya is the largest rock art site in the Askiz District.