러시아 알타이 암각화의 특징 연구(Ⅰ)

A Study on the Characteristics of the Petroglyphs in Russian province of Altai (Ⅰ) - Focused on figure petroglyphs -

" Petroglyphs, images incised in rocks by prehistoric people, are the significant remains in that they represent various cultural aspects at that time. The study on figure petroglyphs, particularly, could help us comprehend thought, aesthetics, and life of the people in those days, which lead us to understand generally the cultures of their age, such as points of cultural difference and sameness with adjacent areas, and culture diffusion to other areas. Petroglyphs have been found over a wide range of the earth. Among others, the petroglyphs in Altai have very important meanings in terms of the regional homogeneity in Northeast Asia including Korea as well as the aspect of entire distribution of petroglyphs throughout world. Altai is geologically complex mountain system of central Asia, largely in Russia and Kazakhstan, but extending into West Mongolia and into North China. The cites in Gorno Altai where figure petroglyphs have found are Kujus, Kalbak-tash, Chagangka, Elangash, Irbistu, Zhalgyz-Tobe and others. In this study, I attempt to expound the characteristics of figure petroglyphs in Gorno Altai area, focused on petroglyph cites which I investigated and identified. I also refer existing reports and papers on other sites I didn’t investigate in that each site spreads over the vast areas. In Gorno Altai, the figure petroglyphs carved with lines have not found or identified yet. Most figure petroglyphs were carved with shading sides, and these are distinguished into face petroglyphs and entire body petroglyphs although their eyes, nose, and mouth couldn’t be identified in detail. The figure petroglyphs in Gorno Altai are classified into four groups according to shape and appearance: standing figures, figures using tools, figures riding horses, and shaman figures. While the earlier people seems to use stone tools to carve figure petroglyphs, the later people entering more realistic description stage might use metal tools largely for minute and complete depictions. It would be a convincing assertion that the realistic petroglyphs carved with shading sides by using metal tools provided a progressive opportunity to develop the forms and shapes in petroglyphs. Though the figure images of petroglyphs in Gorno Altai were mainly carved by a “chiseling” way, there is a need of more various approaches to carving techniques because the new way of whittling with a gouge was found in this area, such as the hunting figure carved on a central altar in Kalbak-tash. The most common technique used in Gorno Altai cites, however, would be a “chiseling”way. Based on various aspects such as types, techniques, and regional location, characteristics of the figure petroglyphs in Gorno Altai could be summarized as followed: first, the figure petroglyphs in Gorno Altai sites show a certain aesthetic of their own ages, which help us estimate the age of a petroglyph; second, by surveying these petroglyphs, we can comprehend the developmental process from a simple non-realistic stage to a realistic stage of depiction, and to a stylized stage through simplification, which also represents a general plastic logic of formative art; third, aesthetic change from simple recognition to the complicated concrete is found in the description of grouped people, which characteristic might be prompted by the development of thoughts and tools; fourth, the importance and emphasis of human figure on petroglyphs increased and weight of animals decreased more and more as time goes by, which could be a result of changes in the society and life environment at that time; finally, the rule that the bigger is the more beautiful was applied in figure petroglyphs in Gorno Altai, for example, the most huge figure carved on a central altar in Kalbak-tash or a caw carved on the edge of rocks in the first and second site of Elangash. The study on the figure petroglyphs in Gorno Atai makes possible the division into periods of petroglyphs in this