“Stag Stone Style” Petroglyphs аnd “Demonic Dogs” From China

Abstract

“Stag stone style” petroglyphs (or “stylized” deer) were initially recognized by D. G. Savinov in Mongolia, Trans-Baikal, Tuva, Altay and Kazakhstan in 1990. On the territory of the PRC, they were discovered in Altay Mountains in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous region, Yinshan Mountains and Wulanchabu Grassland in the southern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous region and further south in the Helan Mountains of the Ningxia-Hui Autonomous region. Among the peculiarities of Chinese “stag stone style” petroglyphs one can note a more loose structure of the compositions and a greater variability of figures of deer as compared to the stag stones (deer stones) themselves. Quite often does (female deer without antlers) are depicted. It is considered that the rock art compositions with “stylized” deer reproduce plots, common for both petroglyphs and steles. D. G. Savinov supposed that they are based on the idea of sacrificial deer, whose death enables the renewal and reproduction of nature and society. However, the motif of “stylized” deer being attacked or torn apart by a chthonic predator is never met in rock art or on stag-stones. The victims of chthonic predators’ attacks vary greatly (from a human to a fish) and are met in various contents: stag-stone No 15 in Ushkijn-Uver (Khövsgöl aimag, Mongolia); a bronze mirror found in the No 1612 burial of Guo state cemetery in Shangcunling (Henan province, PRC); a Neolithic painted pottery jar from the Dadiwan site (Gansu province, PRC). The author argues that all these scenes depict trials of a human soul in the underworld. Furthermore, the author believes that the stag stone represents the Universe and the divine ancestor of a tribe at the same time, whereby the images of deer on its surface reflect the social organization of the ancient society with a dual-exogamic clan structure.