Deer stone

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Deer stones are Mongolian ancient megaliths carved with symbols. The name comes from their carved depictions of flying deers. Their purpose and creators are unknown. Archaeologists have found around 500 deer stones around Mongolia. However, Cimmerian ruins also show deer stones and they were known to have expanded into the Mongolian area and other areas. The Cimmerians of the early 1st millennium BC left a small number (about ten are known) of distinctive stone stelae-Kurgan stelae. Another four or five "deer stelae" dating to the same time are known from the northern Caucasus.

Deer stones were probably originally erected by Bronze Age nomads around 1000 BC though further research into the Cimmerian stone stelae-Kurgan stelae should be taken into much consideration. Later cultures have often reused the stones in their own burial mounds (known as khirigsuurs) and for other purposes. Modern vandals have also defaced and even looted the stones.

In additions to images of flying deer, the stones also include a circle at the top and stylised dagger and belt at the bottom, which has made some scholars speculate that the stones were supposed to represent notable people. Some rare stones do have a human face carved at the top. The tallest of the stones is 15 feet tall.

Sites with deer stones include Ulaan Tolgoi and Ushkiin-Uver, the latter near Mörön

[edit] Modern studies

In 2006 The Deer Stone Project of the Smithsonian Institution and Mongolian Academy of Sciences begun to record the stones digitally with 3-D laser scanning.

[edit] Sources

• Eric A. Powell - Mongolia (Archaeology magazine January/February 2006)