Deer stone

Megaliths found largely in Siberia and Mongolia

Tsatsyn Denj deerstone, near the Tamir River (47°45′03″N 101°22′18″E﻿ / ﻿47.750743°N 101.371529°E﻿ / 47.750743; 101.371529), Arkhangai Province, Mongolia Deer stones culture

-1000

Karasuk culture

Mezhovskaya
culture

Cimmerians

Iranian
pastoral
people

ASSYRIA

ELAM

Mumun

Arameans

Painted
Grey Ware

KURU

Subeshi

Upper
Xiajiadian

Siwa
culture

Shanma

Deer
stones

ZHOU
DYNASTY

San-
xingdui

Slab-
graves

KUSH

21st
Dynasty
of Egypt

◁  ▷

class=notpageimage|

General location of the Deer stones (1400-1000 BCE), and contemporary Asian polities

Geographical range| South Siberia, Western Mongolia
Period| Bronze Age, Early Iron Age
Dates| 1300 — 700 BCE
Preceded by| Afanasievo, Chemurchek, Sagsai culture
Followed by| Arzhan, Chandman, Pazyryk culture

Deer stones (Ch: 鹿石 lüshi, also known as reindeer stones) are ancient megaliths carved with symbols found largely in Siberia and Mongolia. The name comes from their carved depictions of flying deer. The Deer stones are part of a pastoral tradition of stone burial mounds and monumental constructions that appeared in Mongolia and neighbouring regions during the Bronze Age (ca. 3000–700 BCE). Various cultures occupied the area during this period and contributed to monumental stone contructions, starting with the Afanasievo culture, and continuing with Chemurchek, Munkhkhairkhan or Ulaanzuukh traditions.[1] The Deer stones themselves belong to one of the latest traditions of monumental stones, from circa 1300 to 700 BCE (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age), but precede the Slab grave culture. The Deer stones also immediately precede, and are often connected to, the early stages of the Saka culture (particularly the Arzhan, Chandman and Pazyryk cultures) in the area from the Altai to Western Mongolia.[2]

## Construction[edit]

Deer stones are usually constructed from granite or greenstone, depending on which is the most abundant in the surrounding area.[3] They have varying heights; most are over 3 feet (0.9 m) tall,[4] but some reach a height of 15 feet (4.6 m). The tops of the stones can be flat, round or smashed, suggesting that perhaps the original top had been deliberately destroyed. The stones are usually oriented with the decorated face to the east.[citation needed]

The carvings and designs were most usually completed before the stone was erected, though some stones show signs of being carved in place.[5] The designs were pecked or ground into the stone surface. Deep-grooved cuts and right-angle surfaces indicate the presence of metal tools. Stone tools were used to smooth the harsh cuts of some designs.[4] Nearly all the stones were hand carved, but some unusual stones show signs that they could have been cut with a primitive type of mechanical drill.[5]

## Types of stones[edit]

Deer stone, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia Close-up of the weapons at the bottom of the Khövsgöl deer stone

Most deer stones orginally had an anthropomorphic intent, suggested by the general "pillar" shape, and reliefs or drawings depicting a belt loaded with tools and weapons, a shield in the stone's back, jewelry such as a neacklace, earrings, and a symbolic or, rarely, a realistic face, sometimes topped with a hat. The front, if undisturbed, is always oriented towards the east.[6] Looking at the various implement and tools depicted on the deer stones, such as the horse implements, the recurved bow and the gorytus, it appears that the people who raised the stone were fully dependent on the horse for their lifestyles and warfare.[7]

V. V. Volkov, in his thirty years of research, classified three distinct types of deer stones.

### Classic Mongolian[edit]

These stones are fairly detailed and more elegant in their depiction methods. They usually feature a belted warrior with a stylized flying red deer on his torso. This type of stone is most prominent in southern Siberia and northern Mongolia. This concentration suggests that these stones were the origin of the deer stone tradition, and further types both simplified and elaborated on these.[8] These deer stone are often associated with "Khirgisuur" burials.[9] These Khirgisuur burial sites belong to an earlier archaeological period, but were appropriated by deer stone builders.[10]

### West Asian-European[edit]

These stones feature a central region of the stone, sectioned off by two horizontal lines or "belts". There are also "earring hoops", large circles, diagonal slashes in groups of two and three known as "faces", and "necklaces", collection of stone pits resembling their namesake.

### Sayan-Altai[edit]

The Sayan-Altai stones feature some of the West Asian-European markings, including free-floating, straight-legged animals, daggers and other tools. The appearance of deer motifs is markedly diminished, and those that do appear often do not emphasise the relationship between reindeer and flying. The Sayan-Altai stones can be sub-divided into two types:

* The Gorno-Altai stones have simple warrior motifs, displaying tools in the belt region of the stone. Reindeer motifs appear but are few. The deer stones of the Altai are regularly associated with the early Scythian Pazyryk culture.[2]
* The Sayan-Tuva stones are similar to the Gorno-Altai but contain fewer images of animals. No deer motifs are present. The artistic style is much simpler, often consisting of only belts, necklaces, earrings and faces. In Tuva, deer stones are associated with the wealthy Saka burials of Arzhan 1 and Arzhan 2.[11]

* Classic Mongolian type (Uushigiin Övör site, Deer Stone 14)[12]

* West Asian-European type

* Sayan-Altai type

* An anthropomorphic deer-stone in Adyr-kan, central Altai, Russia.[13]

## Imagery[edit]

Different applications of ornate antler detailing

There are many common images that appear in deer stones, as well as a multitude of ways they are presented.[5]

### Reindeer[edit]

Reindeer feature prominently in nearly all of the deer stones. Early stones have very simple images of reindeer, and as time progresses, the designs increase in detail. A gap of 500 years results in the appearance of the complicated flying reindeer depiction. Reindeer are depicted as flying through the air, rather than merely running on land. The anthropologist Piers Vitebsky has written, "The reindeer is depicted with its neck outstretched and its legs flung out fore and aft, as if not merely galloping but leaping through the air."[3] The antlers, sometimes appearing in pairs, have become extremely ornate, utilizing vast spiral designs that can encompass the entire deer. These antlers sometimes hold a sun disc or other sun-related image. Other artwork from the same period further emphasizes the connection between the reindeer and the sun, which is a very common association in Siberian shamanism. Tattoos on buried warriors contain deer, featuring antlers embellished with small birds' heads. This reindeer-sun-bird imagery perhaps symbolizes the shaman's spiritual transformation from the earth to the sky: the passage from earthly life to heavenly life. As these deer images also appear in warrior tattoos, it is possible that reindeer were believed to offer protection from dangerous forces.[4] Another theory is that the deer spirit served as a guide to assist the warrior soul to heaven.[8]

### Other animals[edit]

Particularly in the Sayan-Altai stones, a multitude of other animals are present in deer stone imagery. One can see depictions of tigers, pigs, cows, horse-like creatures, frogs and birds.[5] Unlike the reindeer, however, these animals are depicted in a more natural style. This lack of ornate detailing indicates the lack of supernatural importance of such animals, taking an obvious backseat against the reindeer.[8] The animals are often paired off with one another in confrontation, e.g. a tiger confronting a horse in a much more earthly activity.

### Weapons and tools[edit]

Some of the pictures on Deer stones

Weapons and tools can be seen throughout all the stones, though weapons make a strong appearance in the Sayan-Altai stones.[5] Bows and daggers crop up frequently, as well as typical Bronze-Age implements, such as fire-starters or chariot reins.[4] The appearance of these tools helps date the stones to the Bronze Age.

### Horses and chariots[edit]

The earliest domesticated horses in Mongolia belong to the people of the Deer Stone culture.[14]

Although horses seem to have been central to the lifestyle of the deer stone builders, it is unclear if their horses were used for riding or for pulling carts. Actually, among all of the pictures available from the Deer Stones, none represent a rider on a horse.[15] So far, the first evidence of horse riding in eastern Eurasia dates to the early 1st millenium BCE in the Altai Mountains, and uncontrovertible evidence in the form of horse saddles dates to 400 BCE only, from the Saka sites of the Pazyryk culture.[16] On the contrary, images of horse chariots appear on some of the Deer Stone monuments from central Mongolia, including a two-horse and a four-horse vehicle.[15]

Chariots were used for a long time in Western Eurasia, and the development of the horse chariot in the Deer Stone culture is an expansion of it, but it also probably impulsed the rise of the horse chariot in Shang dynasty China.[15]

Chariot images on central Mongolian Deer Stone monuments, including a two-horse and a four-horse vehicle (located at (Darvi soum, Khovd aimag and Zuunkhangai soum, Uvs aimag, respectively).[17][18]

Reconstruction of an Early Eastern Eurasian chariot (Mongolia, 3500-1500 BCE).[19]

### Patterns[edit]

Chevron patterns crop up occasionally, usually in the upper regions of the stone. These patterns can be likened to military shields, suggesting the stones' connection to armed conflict. It has also been suggested that chevron patterns could be a shamanic emblem representing the skeleton.[4]

### Human faces[edit]

Human faces are a much rarer occurrence and are usually carved into the top of the stone. These faces are carved with an open mouth, as though singing. This also suggests a religious/shamanistic connection of the deer stone, as vocal expression is a common and important theme in shamanism. Such depictions suggest burials around central figures, characteristic of rather organized and stratified pastoralist societies. Horse were buried together, as well as horse bits. The leaders depicted in these Deer Stones (dated to 1400-700 BCE) were equipped with weapons and instruments of war, such as a dagger, an shafted axe, or curved rein holders for their horses. The powerful nomadic leaders, leading large-scale organized nomadic groups, may have affected the late Shang and early Zhou dynasties of China to the south, and may have some connexion with the infamous Xianyun of Chinese history.[20]

Human faces on deer stones sometimes appear as belonging to a Europoid type, with long faces, long noses and deeply carved close-set eyes.[21] Some figures appear hooded in Early Nomadic or Scytho-Siberian style.[21]

* Anthropomorphic deer stone. Uushigiin Övör site, Deer Stone 14, near Mörön, northern Mongolia.[12]

* Anthropomorphic deer stone (front). Uushigiin Övör site, Deer Stone 14, near Mörön, northern Mongolia.[12]

* Anthropomorphic deer stone (side)

* Drawing of content: face, weapons and stylicized animals

* Drawing of the weapons in the anthropomorphic deer stone

### Legacy[edit]

The artistic depictions of animals on Deer Stones are the earliest recognized type of Animal style. This style would then spread accross Central Asia during the 1st millenium BCE and become a characteristic feature of Scytho-Siberian art.[22]

## Geographic distribution[edit]

Deer stones sites in Mongolia (), with Ulaanzuukh-Tevsh sites ()

Archaeologists have found more than 1,500 deer stones in Eurasia. Over 1,300 of them were recorded in the territory of modern Mongolia. [23] Similar images are found in a wider area, as far west as Kuban, Russia; the Southern Bug in the Ukraine; Dobruja, Bulgaria; and the Elbe, which flows through the Czech Republic and Germany.[24]

## Origin and purpose[edit]

Mongolian Deer Stones, carbon dates[25]

Deer stones were probably originally erected by Bronze Age nomads around 1000 BCE though further research into the Cimmerian stone stelae-Kurgan stelae should be taken into much consideration. They have been associated with Khövsgöl LBA burials.[26] Later cultures have often reused the stones in their own burial mounds (known as kheregsüürs) and for other purposes. Modern vandals have also defaced and even looted the stones.

In 1892, V.V. Radlov published a collection of drawings of deer stones in Mongolia. Radlov's drawings showed the highly stylized images of deer on the stones, as well as the settings in which they were placed. Radlov showed that in some instances the stones were set in patterns suggesting the walls of a grave, and in other instances, the deer stones were set in elaborate circular patterns, suggesting use in rituals of unknown significance.[24]

In 1954 A.P. Okladnikov published a study of a deer stone found in 1856 by D.P. Davydov near modern Ulan-Ude now known as the Ivolga stone, displayed in the Irkutsk State Historical Museum. Okladinkov identified the deer images as reindeer, dated the stone's carving to the 6th-7th Centuries BC, and concluded from its placement and other images that it was associated with funerary rituals, and was a monument to a warrior leader of high social prominence.[24]

Mongolian Deer stone motif.

An extensive 1981 study by V.V. Volkov identified two cultural conditions behind the deer stones. The eastern deer stones appear to be associated with cemeteries of the Slab Grave culture. The other cultural tradition is associated with the circular structures suggesting use as the center of rituals.[24]

There are several proposed theories for the purpose of the deer stones. There are different viewpoints about the origins of deer stone art. According to H.L. Chlyenova, the artistic deer image originated from the Sak tribe and its branches (Chlyenova 1962). Volkov believes that some of the methods of crafting deer stone art are closely related to Scythians (Volkov 1967), whereas Mongolian archaeologist D. Tseveendorj regards deer stone art as having originated in Mongolia during the Bronze Age and spread thereafter to Tuva and the Baikal area (Tseveendorj 1979). D. G. Savinov (1994) and M. H. Mannai-Ool (1970) have also studied deer stone art and have reached other conclusions. The stones do not occur alone, usually with several other stone monuments, sometimes carved, sometimes not. The soil around these gatherings often contains traces of animal remains, for example, horses. Such remains were placed underneath these auxiliary stones. Human remains, on the other hand, were not found at any of the sites, which discredits the theory that the stones could function as gravestones.[4] The markings on the stones and the presence of sacrificial remains could suggest a religious purpose, perhaps a prime location for the occurrence of shamanistic rituals.[3] Some stones include a circle at the top and stylised dagger and belt at the bottom, which has led some scholars, such as William Fitzhugh, to speculate that the stones could represent a spiritualized human body, particularly that of a prominent figure such as a warrior or leader.[4] This theory is reinforced by the fact that the stones are all very different in construction and imagery, which could be because each stone tells a unique story for the individual it represents.

In 2006, the Deer Stone Project of the Smithsonian Institution and Mongolian Academy of Sciences began to record the stones digitally with 3-D laser scanning.[27]

## See also[edit]

Chronological table of the Deer stones culture, with Bronze and Early Iron Ages of Mongolia.[28]

* Carlin stone
* Dolmens
* Gowk Stone
* List of megalithic sites
* Megalith
* Menhir
* Obelisk
* Santa's reindeer
* Standing stone
* Statue menhir

## References[edit]

1. ^ Taylor, William; Wilkin, Shevan; Wright, Joshua; Dee, Michael; Erdene, Myagmar; Clark, Julia; Tuvshinjargal, Tumurbaatar; Bayarsaikhan, Jamsranjav; Fitzhugh, William; Boivin, Nicole (6 November 2019). "Radiocarbon dating and cultural dynamics across Mongolia's early pastoral transition". PLoS ONE. 14 (11): e0224241. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0224241. ISSN 1932-6203. "One rare source of empirically dateable material useful for understanding eastern Eurasia's pastoral tradition comes from the stone burial mounds and monumental constructions that began to appear across the landscape of Mongolia and adjacent regions during the Bronze Age (ca. 3000–700 BCE). Here, along with presenting 28 new radiocarbon dates from Mongolia's earliest pastoral monumental burials, we synthesise, critically analyse, and model existing dates to present the first precision Bayesian radiocarbon model for the emergence and geographic spread of Bronze Age monument and burial forms. Model results demonstrate a cultural succession between ambiguously dated Afanasievo, Chemurchek, and Munkhkhairkhan traditions. Geographic patterning reveals the existence of important cultural frontiers during the second millennium BCE."
2. ^ a b Jacobson-Tepfer 2023, pp. 158–159, "Within the Altai region, despite one major, surviving coincidence of deer stones and khirgisuur (Tsagaan Asga), burial mounds of the early Scythian Pazyryk culture are the only monument type with which deer stones are regurlarly associated..
3. ^ a b c Vitebsky, Piers (2011). Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia. Harper Perennial. p. 498.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Fitzhugh, William (2009-12-25). "Project Muse". Stone Shamans and Flying Deer of Northern Mongolia: Deer Goddess of Siberia or Chimera of the Steppe?. University of Wisconsin Press. 46 (1–2): 72–88. doi:10.1353/arc.0.0025. S2CID 55632271. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
5. ^ a b c d e Fitzhugh, William. "American-Mongolia Deer Stone Project" (PDF). Field Report 2009. Arctic Studies Center. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
6. ^ Jacobson-Tepfer 2023, p. 156, "Wherever they appear, most deer stones have an anthropomorphic shape or include elements that indicate the stone’s anthropomorphic reference, such as belts from which hang weapons and tools, a shield on the stone’s “back,” a necklace of beads, earrings, and parallel, diagonally placed slashes on the “face,” as if to indicate features. On a few rare occasions the stones are given a human visage, and some are embellished with what might be interpreted as a hat. Unless the stone has been twisted on its axis by time, the elements, or human intervention, it is always oriented so that the face is to the east and the back to the west.".
7. ^ Jacobson-Tepfer 2023, p. 191, "On the other hand, those who raised the deer stones were fully horse dependent: this is made obvious by the implements and weapons pecked into the deer stones and most particularly by the recurved bow and gorytus..
8. ^ a b c Fitzhugh, William (2009). "The Mongolian Deer Stone-Khirigsuur Complex: Dating and Organization of a Late Bronze Age Menagerie" (PDF). In J Bemmann; H Parzinger; E Pohl; D Tseveendorj (eds.). Current Archaeological Research in Mongolia. Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat. pp. 183–199.
9. ^ Jacobson-Tepfer 2023, pp. 158–159, "However, some of the most impressive deer stone groupings, such as those at Ushkiin-Uver and Tsatsyn Ereg, are also found in the vicinity of khirgisuur. For that reason, it has become a rule of thumb among many archaeologists that deer stones belong together with khirgisuur in a single culture, one referred to as the “Deer Stone-Khirgisuur Complex” (DSK). (...) The cultural phenomenon denoted as the “Deer Stone-Khirgisuur Complex” has, for better or worse, become widely accepted, but primarily by reference to materials within the central Mongolian aimags. Within the Altai region, despite one major, surviving coincidence of deer stones and khirgisuur (Tsagaan Asga), burial mounds of the early Scythian Pazyryk culture are the only monument type with which deer stones are regularly associated. This fact suggests that it might be fair to test the validity of the DSK concept by what we can find in the Mongolian Altai and specifically in Bayan Ölgiy aimag.".
10. ^ Jacobson-Tepfer 2023, p. 191, "It is clear from the horse head sacrifices associated with khirgisuur that those who built those monuments kept horses for food, milk, traction, and load bearing; but there is no clear sign that these people were primarily horse riders. On the other hand, those who raised the deer stones were fully horse dependent: this is made obvious by the implements and weapons pecked into the deer stones and most particularly by the recurved bow and gorytus.Whether in Bayan Ölgiy or in the central aimags, the appearance of deer stones together with khirgisuur indicate that horsemen who raised the deer stones arrogated to their own purposes the older monuments, using them to assert their own cultural values.".
11. ^ Jacobson-Tepfer 2023, p. 156, "It is certain that the appearance of the deer stone was coincident with the development of an increasing horse dependency, and at a time when several conditions catalyzed a more stratified, aggressive, and expansive social order. We see that in the wealthy furnishings of the early burials with which deer stones are associated (e.g., Arzhan 1 and 2) and in the weaponry with which they are so often decorated.".
12. ^ a b c Fitzhugh, William W. (1 March 2017). "Mongolian Deer Stones, European Menhirs, and Canadian Arctic Inuksuit: Collective Memory and the Function of Northern Monument Traditions". Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 24 (1): Fig. 9. doi:10.1007/s10816-017-9328-0. ISSN 1573-7764. `{{cite journal}}`: More than one of `|pages=` and `|page=` specified (help)
13. ^ Jacobson-Tepfer 2023, pp. 183–184, Figure 7.25, "Figure 7.25 Stone with human face. Early Iron Age. Chuya river valley. Ongudai region, Altai Republic. View of east face. (...) A close parallel can be found in a tall deer stone in the Chuya river valley in southeastern Ongudai region (7.25). This stone has a clear if sunken face; a dagger and diminutive battle axe; and an inverted horse and recurved bow on its north side.".
14. ^ Taylor et al. 2021, p. 3, The earliest domestic horses so far identified in Mongolia, however, belong to the Bronze Age Deer Stone-Khirigsuur Complex (DSK), which emerged towards the end of the second millennium BC. This culture is named for its ritual standing stones (deer stones) and burial mounds (khirigsuurs) that are often surrounded by multiple horse burial features (Fitzhugh 2009). DSK sites have yielded evidence for the ritual sacrifice and dietary exploitation of horses (Fitzhugh 2009), while skeletal changes indicate that DSK horses were bridled and heavily exerted, and received sophisticated veterinary care (Taylor et al. 2015, 2018). The co-occurrence of the first DSK horses with the appearance of domestic horses at late Shang Dynasty sites in China suggests that these two processes were linked (Honeychurch 2015)..
15. ^ a b c Taylor et al. 2021, p. 3.
16. ^ Taylor et al. 2021, p. 3, Only chariots, not riders, are depicted on Mongolian deer stone carvings (Figure 1). Images of DSK horse-drawn vehicles depict a light, two-horse chariot with a platform situated over a central axle, with two animals under yoke (Figure 1: right) and, in one case, additional animals along the outside (Figure 1: middle)..
17. ^ Taylor et al. 2021.
18. ^ Esin, Yury; Magail, Jerome; Gantulga, Jamyian-Ombo; Yeruul-Erdene, Chimiddorj (1 September 2021). "Chariots in the Bronze Age of Central Mongolia based on the materials from the Khoid Tamir river valley". Archaeological Research in Asia. 27. doi:10.1016/j.ara.2021.100304. ISSN 2352-2267.
19. ^ Taylor, William Timothy Treal; Clark, Julia; Bayarsaikhan, Jamsranjav; Tuvshinjargal, Tumurbaatar; Jobe, Jessica Thompson; Fitzhugh, William; Kortum, Richard; Spengler, Robert N.; Shnaider, Svetlana; Seersholm, Frederik Valeur; Hart, Isaac; Case, Nicholas; Wilkin, Shevan; Hendy, Jessica; Thuering, Ulrike; Miller, Bryan; Miller, Alicia R. Ventresca; Picin, Andrea; Vanwezer, Nils; Irmer, Franziska; Brown, Samantha; Abdykanova, Aida; Shultz, Daniel R.; Pham, Victoria; Bunce, Michael; Douka, Katerina; Jones, Emily Lena; Boivin, Nicole (22 January 2020). "Early Pastoral Economies and Herding Transitions in Eastern Eurasia". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 1001. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-57735-y. ISSN 2045-2322.
20. ^ Rawson, Jessica (2015). "Steppe Weapons in Ancient China and the Role of Hand-to-hand Combat". 故宮學術季刊 (The National Palace Museum Research Quarterly). 33 (1): 59–60. "We can look first at Mongolia to explain this shift, for a new development, the creation of large stone monuments, khirigsuurs (fig. 19) and deer stones (fig. 20), marks significant on-going changes in steppe societies. These impressive structures are widespread across western and central Mongolia, dating from 1400-700 BC. It would have taken a large labour force to create the mounds of stones that make up khirigsuurs, which seem to have been both burial and ceremonial sites for central figures of the many small groups of Mongolian mobile pastoralist societies. (...) In some tombs are horse fittings, such as bits. Parts of hundreds of horses might be interred over time around a major khirigsuur. (...) Deer stones tell the same story (fig 20). Although the majority are stylised, a few of these tall, originally standing, stones have a human head carved on one side at the rounded top, sometimes with temple rings shown on two of the other three sides, perhaps representing a powerful individual, or the more general concept of powerful leaders. (...) Then comes a horizontal belt and from this hang weapons, especially knives or daggers, and shafted axes, with curved rein holders below. A shield is often shown higher up. Not only do these deer stones represent people, they memorialise the achievements of warriors with their personal weapons. (...) These developments had probably had an impact on the peoples in the arc who had then interacted with the late Shang and early Zhou states."
21. ^ a b Jacobson, Esther (1 January 1993). "Deer Stones and Warriors: Anthropomorphic Monoliths of the First Millennium B.C." The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia. Brill: 150–151. doi:10.1163/9789004378780_007. "Among the deer stones of Gorno-Altayskaya A.O., as among those of Mongolia, a few are carved with clearly anthropomorphic references. (...) On its upper east side a distinctive face marks the flat surface of the stone. With a large long face, long nose, a mouth down-turned at one end, and close-set eyes carved deeply into the stone the face far more readily recalls a Europoid type than do the usual faces on Turkic stones of the Altay region (cf. Kubarev 1984). On the north-east side of the shaft a dagger is carved, while on the north side an image of a horse and of another large object, perhaps a bow, are carved. (...) The cowl-like treatment of the stone on the larger Iya figure suggests the hoods worn by Early Nomadic horsemen and by their Scytho-Siberian cousins across the Eurasian Steppe."
22. ^ Taylor, William Timothy Treal (22 January 2020). "Early Pastoral Economies and Herding Transitions in Eastern Eurasia". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 1001. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-57735-y. ISSN 2045-2322. "Deer Stones are recognized as the earliest clear progenitor for 'animal-style' art, a style that spread across most of Central Asia during the first millennium BCE"
23. ^ Ж. Баярсайхан Монголын Умард нутгийн буган хөшөөд 2017 ISBN 978-99978-1-864-5
24. ^ a b c d Jacobson, Esther (1993). The deer goddess of ancient Siberia : a study in the ecology of belief. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-09628-8.
25. ^ Taylor, William (6 November 2019). "Radiocarbon dating and cultural dynamics across Mongolia's early pastoral transition". PLOS ONE. 14 (11): e0224241. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0224241. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6834239. PMID 31693700.
26. ^ Jeong, Choongwon; Wilkin, Shevan; Amgalantugs, Tsend; Warinner, Christina (2018). "Bronze Age population dynamics and the rise of dairy pastoralism on the eastern Eurasian steppe". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 115 (48). doi:10.1073/pnas.1813608115. S2CID 53230942.
27. ^ "The Mongolian-Smithsonian Deer Stone Project (DSP)". Smithsonian Global. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
28. ^ Gantulga, Jamiyan-Ombo (21 November 2020). "Ties between steppe and peninsula: Comparative perspective of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages of Мongolia and Кorea". Proceedings of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences: 65–88. doi:10.5564/pmas.v60i4.1507. ISSN 2312-2994. S2CID 234540665.

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* Taylor, William T. T.; Cao, Jinping; Fan, Wenquan; Ma, Xiaolin; Hou, Yanfeng; Wang, Juan; Li, Yue; Zhang, Chengrui; Miton, Helena; Chechushkov, Igor; Bayarsaikhan, Jamsranjav; Cook, Robert; Jones, Emily L.; Mijiddorj, Enkhbayar; Odbaatar, Tserendorj; Bayandelger, Chinbold; Morrison, Barbara; Miller, Bryan (December 2021). "Understanding early horse transport in eastern Eurasia through analysis of equine dentition". Antiquity. 95 (384): 1478–1494. doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.146. ISSN 0003-598X.
* Volkov V.V. : Волков В.В. (1981).- Оленные камни Монголии. Улан-Батор.
* Volkov V.V. : Волков В.В. (2002).- Оленные камни Монголии. Москва.

## External links[edit]

* A collection of images of deer stones throughout Mongolia