Hermann, L., DeKastle, A., and Foggin, M. (2020). The Rock Art of the Karakol Region (Tchouï and Naryn Oblast) in Kyrgyzstan. International Newsletter On Rock Art (INORA), 86: 17-25.
The Karakol Region of Kyrgyzstan is between thirty and fifty kilometers south of Bishkek, at between 1,800m and 4,800m altitude in the Tien Shan mountain zone. Even though the region’s rock art was welI-known to
... [Show full abstract] locals, no prospection had been carried out until now and no publication mentions this region. Since 2015, a group of zoologists from Bishkek has photographed and recorded with GPS all engraved rocks seen during expeditions. The rock art of the Karakol region is essentially concentrated in seven groups. However, one hundred and twenty additional stones with four hundred and sixty depictions were disparately inventoried over the whole of the region. Seven hundred and twenty-five engraved stones were inventoried with 2,986 engravings in all. Animals significantly dominate the repertoire with 2,819 depictions. Anthropomorphs are relatively rare (104 depictions) while signs or geometric lines which were impossible to interpret were 36 in number. There are additionally twenty-five tamgas (clan signs), nine Cyrillic inscriptions, four podomorphic motifs, two patterns of a yurt and probably one of a sword, as well as a recent soviet star and a sun.