The Ukok Plateau, an Archaeological Gem of the Altai: 35 Years Later

The Ukok Plateau, an Archaeological Gem of the Altai: 35 Years Later

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.2.034-044

V.I. Molodin
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

The article brings together the most important results of work carried out by archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS on the Ukok Plateau in the southwestern part of the Altai Republic, Russia, over the past thirty years since the first excavations by Natalia Polosmak. Over this period, a series of fundamental discoveries was made on the plateau, and the findings were published in a number of monographs and articles. Regrettably, these publications have received little attention from experts and lay public amenable to scientific boom and to myths spread by hedge journalists, by the public craving for brouhaha, and sometimes even by professional archaeologists. This study highlights major excavation findings, their scholarly interpretation and museumization of the Early Iron Age Pazyryk mounds, including rare ones with permafrost. These were interpreted with regard to the specific area of Central Asia, and to the entire timespan from its initial peopling in the Late Pleistocene to the recent centuries. The archaeologists’ role in the detection and description of over 400 sites on the plateau is assessed. Rock art galleries, especially the key site at Kalgutinsky Rudnik with the earliest petroglyphs among those known in the Russian and Mongolian Altai, are described. Protective measures regarding cultural legacy of the Ukok Plateau, its coverage by the media, and prevention of ecological harm by tourists are proposed to municipal authorities in the Republic of Altai.

Keywords: Ukok Plateau, Pazyryk culture, classification, chronology, rock art, media coverage, scholarly tourism