Tamgaly Petroglyphs
Bronze Age rock carvings in a canyon north-west of Almaty, on the UNESCO list since 2004.
Tamgaly, a name meaning a marked or painted place, lies in a dry canyon in the Chu-Ili hills about 170 kilometres north-west of Almaty. Around five thousand carvings are spread across some forty-eight sites, with roughly three thousand of them concentrated in the central gorge. The earliest belong to the middle Bronze Age, around 3,000 years ago, and carving continued in changing styles through the Iron Age, the Turkic period and on into recent centuries.
The best known images are the sun-headed figures, human bodies with radiating discs for heads, set above scenes of dancers, bulls, horses and hunters. Around them lie burial grounds, altars and settlement traces that show the canyon served as a sanctuary rather than simply a rock face. The site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004, with a core area of 900 hectares and a buffer zone of 2,900. Paths lead visitors between the main groups of carvings.
Highlights
- Around 5,000 carvings across some 48 sites
- Sun-headed figures above scenes of dancers and bulls
- Burial grounds and altars in the surrounding canyon
- UNESCO World Heritage listing since 2004
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