The Dolgaya-1 Site and the Novoromanovo Rock Art Gallery: A Tentative Interpretation with Regard to Mythology and Seasonal Rites

The Dolgaya-1 Site and the Novoromanovo Rock Art Gallery: A Tentative Interpretation with Regard to Mythology and Seasonal Rites

I.V. Kovtun and A.G. Marochkin.

The Dolgaya-1 site and Novoromanovo rock art gallery in the Kemerovo Province, southern Siberia, may be jointly regarded as an unusual archaeological and petroglyphic complex dating to the Bronze Age. The proposed interpretation is based on the idea of a hunting feast in the context of the seasonal myth about a cosmic hunt. Late Ugrian and Evenkian reminiscences of this myth are discussed. The geographic location of Dolgaya-1 and Novoromanovo, specifi cally its drainage, may have contributed to the sacralization of the area.

Keywords: Dolgaya-1, Novoromanovo rock art gallery, cosmic hunt, seasonal rites.