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Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti

By 0 and 0 and 0
11 May 2017

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Known as the Sikachi Alyan petroglyphs, the area has been proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Picture: V. Popov

The prehistoric petroglyphs near Malyshevo village in Khabarovsk region are among the most remarkable in the world, an ancient art exhibition dating to neolithic times. 

On the basalt rocks on the right shore of the Amur River are carvings of faces and shaman masks along with woolly mammoths, horses, snakes, concentric circles and hunting scenes. 

One image resembles a prototype of The Scream, by Expressionist artist Edvard Munch, but is said by some of the experts to be an 'elk goddess' dating to the late Mesolithic period, some 7.000 years ago. 

Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti

One image resembles The Scream by Expressionist artist Edvard Munch, but is said by experts to be an 'elk goddess' dating to the late Mesolithic period, some 7.000 years ago


Known as the Sikachi Alyan petroglyphs, the area has been proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The early petroglyphs on a 6 kilometre stretch near the Amur shore belong to the Osipov culture, carved with stone tools.

Horses depicted here only lived in this region during the last Ice Age, say experts, but ancient people came here to add to the artistic richness over many millennia, with the more recent petroglyphs  made using iron tools in the third century BC.

But modern graffiti artists have recently visited the site and added their unmistakable imprint, in doing so destroying these ancient messages from prehistory. 

Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti
The petroglyphs were first reported by the local media in 1873. Pictures: Rossiya TV, V. Popov


Villagers from Malyshevo village - a tiny settlement with 1,300 inhabitants - are seeking to save the ancient art show from modern spray painters. 

Graffiti is not the only threat to the petroglyphs at a site once believed to be the gateway to the underworld. 

Some of the amazing art collection is said to have vanished into the river after flooding.

Others were shifted by the force of ice, turning the rocks upside down, obscuring their precious art work. 

Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti
In the 1930s archeologist Nikolay Kharlamov described the location of their petroglyphs, taking photographs and making prints. Pictures: V. Popov


Changes in temperature led to more moss and river weed, which also obscured some of the hundreds of ancient petroglyphs, yet it is people and their graffiti who are seen as the biggest villains. 

The petroglyphs were first reported by the local media in 1873, when it was thought  the petroglyphs had been craved by ancestors of Nanai population. 

Expeditions came from all over the world to see the rock art. 

Berthold Laufer, member of an expedition of the Natural History Museum in New York, to the Russian Far East in 1897-1903, published an article where he described the petroglyphs. 

A Japanese traveller and archeologist Torii Rudzu saw the petroglyphs in 1919 during his trip to Siberia. 

He noticed a resemblance between the petroglyphs and Japanese clay 'dogu' figurines that date back to Stone Age: they both had solar signs in their faces. 

This was an important observation for further archeological research at Amur's lower reaches. 

Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti
Known as the Sikachi Alyan petroglyphs, the area has been proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Picture: V. Popov


In the 1930s archeologist Nikolay Kharlamov described the location of their petroglyphs, taking photographs and making prints. 

Several expeditions led by academician Alexey Okladnikov were conducted in the area in the 1960s. 

They resulted in two books that described about 300 petroglyphs near villages Sikachi-Alyan and Malyshevo in detail.

Okladnikov classified and interpreted the images. He established that a complex and highly developed culture had developed in the lower Amur in the Neolithic age, and claimed that Lower Amur art resembled ancient art items from the Pacific ocean, South East Asia, Australia and Polynesia. 

Modern graffiti artists have recently visited the site and added their unmistakable imprint, in doing so destroying these ancient messages from prehistory. Pictures: V.Popov, Rossiya TV

Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti

Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti


Stunning Ice Age rock art vandalised by modern graffiti

Comments (4)

We should spend more money finding out about our past and conserving it.
Peter, Germany
19/05/2017 17:50
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Awesome gyphs, and a world treasure.

The paint won't last long, just a blip in time compared to age of the glyphs. I hope anyone attempting to clean will not use the wrong chemicals, which can degrade the rock surface. I think the paint will disappear in 3 years or so just from sitting in the sun.
Crystal, wisconsin
21/05/2017 04:58
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One wonders what these dim boys are thinking believing their vandalism is more important than ancient art.
I wonder if they are aware their names will be forgotten as quickly as the slavish work of their paint cans.

It is interesting however to view the apparent similarities between these ancient carvings and the styles of
the indigenous peoples of Pacific Northwest America.
The Age Of Me, Victoria, Canada
16/05/2017 07:34
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As an ethnographer on the Amur Rivers peoples I am shocked,sad, and so angry. These hooligans need to first clean up their mess and then be thrown in jail-I can only hope that the spirits of this place go after them!
Jan Van Ysslestyne, Seattle,WA
16/05/2017 04:15
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