5.3 Dog Images in the Altai Rock Art Dmitry V. Cheremisin Department ofthe Bronze and Iron Ages in Siberia, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, birsk 630090, Russia, topsya@bk.ra Lavrentiev St, 17, Nov Abstract, iberian Branch, The article presents the images of the dog in the rock art of Altai from the Bronze Age to the present day. Based on the extensive ‘material obtained by the author his expeditionary research, various subjects involving dogs are shown, These are scenes of hunting and chasing wild animals, deer, and mountain goats. The difficulties in determining the characters of the rock art - whether a wolf or a dog are indicated, and identification criteria are determined. An attempt is made to distinguish different breeds of dogs, as they are depicted in the rock art of Altai. The different semantics ofthe plots of petroglyphs depicting dogs for different eras and cultures from the Bronze Age to the present are noted. Keywords: Atal, petroglyphs, image identification, hunting with a dog, dog breeds. 1 Introduction Petroglyphs are the most numerous archaeological sites in Altai. They are a part of rock surfaces, which are natural objects - and cannot independently move in space and therefore directly indicate the presence of certain peoples who have a certain style in art and left these marks on the rocks. The study of these types of engravings enables us to follow the ancient lines of communication, and to clarify the cultural links between ancient populations. The materials of rock images are considered an informative and relevant source of archeological data about the occupations of the ancient population, about the type of economy, about interactions with nature, in particular, with the animal world, Rock Art compositions in which dogs are depicted make it possible to reveal these cultural and historical aspects of the life of the ancient population of Altai, The article is based on the author's many years of research on the petroglyphs of the Russian and Mongolian Altai. 2Methods The author’s methodology is based on the principle of determining the dating and cultural affiliation of petroglyphs. Determination of the style, cultural realities, cases of overlapping of earlier images with later ones, the practice of including ancient petroglyphs in new compositions, have all used these positions. The context of the compositions in which the dogs are placed was taken into account. Dated petroglyphs were interpreted in a historical and cultural approximation, ‘DOGS, PAST AND PRESENT (ARCHAEOPRESS 2023): 328-333 3 Materials and discussion The dog image in the rock and folk art of Souther Siberia and Central Asia in the diachronic aspect did not previously attract great attention of researchers The images of canine animals, ie, the wolf and the dog, look quite similar especially in metal works, carved wood, ivory and horn as well as in old toureutics and sculptures. Recently, Russian archaeologists V.V. Bobrov and N.A, Moor (2019) released an article on the rock art of Central Asia and Southern Siberia and identified dog images among other heroes on the basis of the analysis of various published data. These researchers identified certain iconographic features, proposed identifications of the portrayed species, and classified popular compositions with dogs. They also executed statistical analysis and defined distinctive features between the images of dogs and other representatives of the Canis family in the rock art of the Bronze and early Iron Age periods. The researchers pointed out that the reliable identification of the images is only possible in Rock art in contrast to works of applied art (toreutics, wood and stone carvings). They saw the major difficulty in the identification of images due to the similarity in the appearances of ancient dogsand wolves rather than the chronological attribution of the petroglyphs (Bobrov and Moor 2018). The paper publishes some incredibly exciting some most exciting compositions with dog images dating from the Bronze Age to modernity that were found by the present author in his field studies in the Altai, The earliest images of representatives of Canis in the rock art of the Sayan-Altai Range date back to the early andDMITRY V. CHEREMISIN: 5.3 DOG IMAGES IN THE ALTA! ROCK ART Figure 1, One of the main features making it possible to identify dog images isthe tail that is shown either upright or turned to the back, straight or curved. 1, Elangash river valley, southeastern Russian Altai; 2, Chagan river valley, southeaster Russian Altai (Photo by DN. Cheremisin) Figure 2, Landscape of the Chagan river valley (Photo by D.¥. Cheremisin), Middle Bronze Age periods (the 3rd - 2nd millennia BC), The pecked out and engraved petroglyphs show isolated images and multi-figured compositions with wolves and dogs. It should be noted that one of the main features making it possible to identify dog images is the tail that is shown either upright or turned to the back, straight or curved (Bobrov and Moor 2019: 128) (Figure 1, n.1-2). The other reason for the identification of an image as that of a dog is the inclusion of this image into the multi-figured composition and the direct participation of this hero in the economic activities of humans, mostly in the most numerous hunting scenes. ‘The set of Bronze petroglyphs that was found by the present author in the Chagan River valley in the south of the Russian Altai shows exactly these iconographic features in both isolated images and the compositions showing the dogs chasing and attacking ibexes (FiguresDMITRY V, CHEREMISIN: 5.3 DOG IMAGES IN THE ALTA! ROCK ART Figure 4. A hunter keeping a dog on a lead attached to his waist. Baga-Oigur river valley, northwest of Mongolian Altay (Photo by DLV. Cheremisin). 3-4), Similar features are noted on the composition from the Mongolian Altai presenting hunter keeping a dog on a lead attached to his waist (Figure 4). Dogs with curled tails are shown in the scene of elk chasing (Figure 5). The elk hunting composition shows 27 (!) dogs, two of them are kept on the lead (one lead is attached to the waist, the other is held in the hunter's hands) have been found at the Tsagaan-Salaa II site in the Mongolian Altai Jacobson etal. 2001: 173, fig. 130). ‘The rock art composition on the cliffs on the right side of the Chagan represents wild boar hunting: five dogs chase the wild boar and drive it to the hunter attacking the animal from various sides, while the hunter shoots the prey with bow and arrow (Figure 6). Apparently, the composition renders the typical features of boar hhunting, which is a considerably dangerous animal or the hunter. Hunting wild boar with several dogs or with a pack of hounds was easier and less dangerous. The boar hunting composition with a pack of hounds was one of the significant scenes in the rock art repeated in a number of Bronze Age petroglyphs in the Russian and Mongolian Altai; this composition was also typical for Scythian-Siberian art. For instance, this composition is rendered on the gold plate of the second part of the 1st millennium BC found in Tuva. It shows the hunter 331 hitting the wild boar with a dagger; the boar is attacked from behind by a dog with the tail turned up on the back (Grach 1980: 81, fig. 117). Apparently, this composition played an important role in the art and ideology of the population of Southern Siberia and Central Asia and was linked with the mythology and heroic epic stories of the cattlemen in the Bronze and early tron Ages. The compositions with several dogs are also widely spread over the vast territory. In all appearances, these compositions represent chasing and driving methods of hunting wild boar, deer and elks by a large group of, hunters and dogs. Quite a few compositions are known with Bronze ‘Age wheeled vehicles attended by dogs. One of such compositions was found by the present author on the cliffs in the Chagan valley; it shows four anthropomorphic images in swift motion, a wheeled carriage and gracile dogs, (Cheremisin 2003). Similar compositions with dogs chasing, hunting and rendering hoofed animals, and dogs present in animal pastures are known from the rock art of the early Iron Figure 5, Dogs with curled tails are shown in the scene of elk chasing (Chagan river valley, southeastern Russian Altai) (Photo by D.v. Cheremisin).igure 6.1, Wild boar hunting: five dogs chase the wild boar and drive it to the hunter attacking the animal from various sides, while the hunter shoots the prey with bow and arrow (Chagan river valley, southeastern Russian Altai) (Photo by DV. Cheremisin}; 2, several rock engravings representing a single story including the composition of hunting, the maral red deer were found in the Chagan valley (southeastern Russian Altai) (Photo by D.V. Cheremisin); 3, alhunter pointing his arrow to a wolf or a dog with a thick tail (Chagan river valley, southeastern Russian Altai) (Graphic drawing and tracing by D. Cheremisin); 4-5, guns with supports are shown in many hunting scenes inchuding,Age. These scenes were highly important for the tribes of early pastoralists. The images of feline and wolf-like carnivores are well presented in the applied art of the early Iron Age. The Scythan-Siberian Animal Style was typical for the epoch and was widely spread over the vast Eurasian territory. The predominant images of this style are wild animals. The Wolf as a representative of Canis was the leading hero in the art of the tribes of the Scythian period populating Eurasian steppe and forest steppe ecozones. Feline and wolf-like carnivores are the typical heroes of the specific torques artefacts of the Pazyryk culture, However, even the images with the tail turned up at the back are traditionally perceived as the mythological wolf image rather than that of the dog (Kubarey and Cheremisin 1987). The broad spread of the technique of fine engraving among the Turkic population of the Eurasian steppes in the early medieval period (the 6th - 9th centuries) is represented by the rock images of armed horsemen, scenes of military confrontation as well as traditional scenes of hunting, chasing deer and ibexes by mounted hunters armed with bows and arrows. The present author found several rock engravings representing a single story including the composition of hunting the rmaral red deer in the Chagan valley (Figure 6, n.2). The features ofthe dog image suggest that itis atazy hound, ahero from the heroic epic poem of the Turkic people. Another synchronous rock art composition executed through fine engraving in the same style shows the hunter pointing his arrow to a wolf ora dog witha thick tail (Figure 6, n. 3). The scene cannot be interpreted in a single way; it either shows a hunter with his dog; or the animal image can be interpreted as the game being the wolf, The southern part of the Russian Altai represents a locus where the Telengit indigenous population stil practices the rock art tradition. The local folk art is characterised by its own style and realism in rendering the features of modernity. The compositions related to the traditional economic activities are traditional too. One of such traditional compositions is the scene of hunting wild animals with guns. Guns with supports are shown in many hunting scenes including hunting with dogs (Figure 6, n. 4-5) les have changed through time, but the traditional subjects related to the culture of the Altai have survived, The dog is one of the essential ‘elements of their culture which has survived from the remote past till modernity. Petroglyphs represent the important role of the dog in the everyday life of the Altai herdsmen, References Bobrov V.V. and N.N, Moor 2019. Obraz sobaki v naskal'nom iskusstve narodov Yuzhnoy sibiri I Mongolii (epoha bronzy 1 skifskoe vremya). Problemy istorii, filologii I kul’tury 2: 128-139, Bo6pon B.B. 1 HLH. Moop. 2039. O6pas cobars a HackabHOM MCKYCCTRE HaposoR HOxkKOM CubupH. i Monronuu (anoxa Gpousst 4 cKudcKoe spew). Tiporemet ucmepuu, Fusonocuu u kyavmype 2: 128- 139. Cheremisin D.V. 2003. Rock art composition with a chariot and ‘dancers’ from Chaganka (Kare-Oyuk) in the Altai. 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