Oglahty Mountains

Work on the project “Study and protection of ancient rock drawings (Oglahty Mountain Range, Khakassia)” sponsored by the Russian Geographical Society is continuing.

Coastal cliffs of the Yenisey River near the Oglahty Mountains are covered with ancient drawings that belong to various cultures. Decades ago, when the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir was created, the cliffs were submerged, and several hundreds of ancient drawings and other archaeological sites were destroyed.

The archaeologists from the Kemerovo Oblast intend to find new petroglyphs that has not been discovered yet, and create an atlas of objects that represent historical and cultural heritage of the Oglahty Mountains area.

Elena Miklashevich, a vice president of the Siberian Association of Prehistoric Art Researchers

Most rock drawings located near the water in the eastern part of the mountain range will be soon lost because of water erosion. “We have been monitoring the rock drawings in that area since 1990s. Every year from 2 to 4 petroglyphs are destroyed, ” said Elena Miklashevich, a vice president of the Siberian Association of Prehistoric Art Researchers.

The procedure of creating a copy is the following: each rock drawing is cleaned from lichens and covered with methylcellulose. Then the painting is covered with special silicone material. The silicone is then firmly fixed for a few hours until the mold gets firm. After that, the silicone mold is peeled off the rock and can be used to make exact copies of the rock drawing.

By the end of the project implementation, the researchers will make 10 full-size copies of ancient rock drawings, and publish an atlas of objects that belong to historical and cultural heritage of the Oglahty Mountains. The copies of rock drawings will be finished by October; after that they will be displayed as part of a museum exhibition.

Rock drawings

Silicone mold of a rock drawing