A RITUAL COMPLEX WITH DEER STONES AT UUSHIGIIN UVUR/ULAAN UUSHIG, MONGOLIA: COMPOSITION AND CONSTRUCTION STAGES (BASED ON THE 2013 EXCAVATIONS)

Composition and construction history of a ritual complex with deer stones at Uushigiin uvur, Hovsgol aimag, Mongolia, are inferred from fi ndings of large-scale excavations in 2013. The earliest elements of the complex were six catacombs fi lled with stones, and ritual pits. Possible placement of known deer stones was discovered, and lower parts of fi ve new ones were found in situ. The excavated part of the complex included two ensembles similar in composition and consisting of rows of deer stones. Each ensemble rested on two stone platforms, one curved (oriented in a north-south direction), the other rectangular (oriented in an east-west direction and accompanied by stone stelae). Deer stones were placed along the western edge of the curved platforms. East, north, and south of the ensembles, altars with buried horse bones were discovered. These objects did not overlap one another, which suggests a single compositional structure of the work. Further north, two more rows of deer stones were situated. On the eastern side of those, there were similar altars, and on the western side, stone rings with fragments of calcined animal bones. In terms of structure and composition, all ensembles (platforms with stelae, an arc of altars with horse remains from the east, stone rings with calcined animal bones from the west) are similar to ritual constructions around funerary mounds—the khereksurs of Central Mongolia, supporting the idea that deer stones had replaced actual burials.

1. Allard F., Erdenebaatar D. 2005 Khirigsuurs, ritual and mobility in the Bronze Age of Mongolia. Antiquity, vol. 79 (305): 547–563.

2. Erdenebaatar D. 2007 Funeral and sacrifi ce ritual of the horse in the Bronze Age of Mongolia. In Etnoistoriya i arkheologiya Severnoi Azii: Teoriya, metodologiya i praktika issledovaniya. Irkutsk: Izd. Irkutsk. Gos. Tekh. Univ., pp. 201–209.

3. Hudiakov Y.S. 1987 Khereksury i olennye kamni. In Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Mongolii. Novosibirsk: Nauka, pp. 136–162.

4. Kovalev A.A., Erdenebaatar D. 2007 Dve traditsii ispolzovaniya olennykh kamnei Mongolii. In Kamennaya skulptura i melkaya plastika drevnikh i srednevekovykh narodov Evrazii. Barnaul: Izd. Altai. Gos. Univ., pp. 99–105. (Trudy SAIPI; iss. 3).

5. Kovalev A.A., Erdenebaatar D. 2010 Pozdnii bronzovyi vek i nachalo rannego zheleznogo veka Mongolii v svete otkrytii Mezhdunarodnoi Tsentralno-Aziatskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii. In Drevniye kultury Mongolii i Baikalskoi Sibiri: Materialy Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. (Ulan-Ude, 20–24 sent. 2010 g.). Ulan-Ude: Izd. Buryat. Gos. Univ., pp. 104–117.

6. Kovalev A.A., Rukavishnikova I.V., Erdenebaatar D. 2014 Olennye kamni – eto pamyatniki-kenotafy. In Drevniye i srednevekovye izvayaniya Tsentralnoi Azii. Barnaul: Izd. Altai. Gos. Univ., pp. 41–54.

7. Magail J. 2007 Compte-rendu de la campagne 2007 de la mission archéologique conjointe Monaco-Mongolie. Bulletin de Musée d’Anthropologie préhistorique de Monaco, No. 47: 115–120.

8. Novgorodova E.A. 1973 Olennye kamni i nekotorye voprosy drevnei istorii Mongolii. In Olon ulsyn mongolch erdemtniin II ih hural, vol. I. Ulaanbaatar: pp. 385–388.

9. Novgorodova E.A. 1989 Drevnyaya Mongoliya. Moscow: Nauka.

10. Potanin G.N. 1883 Ocherki Severo-Zapadnoi Mongolii. St. Petersburg: [Tip. V. Kirschbauma]. (Iss. IV: Materialy etnografi cheskiye).

11. Takahama Shu. 2010 Research of Ulaan uushig I (Uushigiin övör) in Mongolia and newly acquired 14C data. In Drevniye kultury Mongolii i Baikalskoi Sibiri: Materialy Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. (Ulan-Ude, 20–24 sent. 2010 g.). Ulan-Ude: Izd. Buryat. Gos. Univ., pp. 126–131.

12. Takahama Shu, Hayashi Toshio, Kawamata Masanori, Matsubara Ryuji, Erdenebaatar D. 2006 Preliminary report of the archaeological investigations in Ulaan Uushig I (Uushgiin Övör) in Mongolia. Bulletin of Archaeology, the Univ. of Kanazava, vol. 28: 61–102.

13. Tishkin A.A., Grushin S.P. 1997 Chto takoe kenotaf? In Izvestiya laboratorii arkheologii, No. 2. Gorno-Altaisk, pp. 24–28.

14. Tөrbat C., Bayarsaihan J., Batsүh D., Bayarhүү N. 2011 Zhargalantyn amny bugan hөshөөd. Ulaanbaatar: Mongolian Tangible Heritage Assoc.

15. Volkov V.V. 1981 Olennye kamni Mongolii. Ulan-Bator: Izd. AN MNR.

16. Volkov V.V. 2002 Olennye kamni Mongolii. [Second edition]. Moscow: Nauch. mir.

17. Volkov V.V., Novgorodova E.A. 1975 Olennye kamni Ushkiin-Uvera (Mongoliya). In Pervobytnaya arkheologiya Sibiri. Leningrad: Nauka, pp. 78–84.