Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 53 (3) 2025   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.3.064-073

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Stylistic Parameters of Minusinsk Rock Art Style

I.V. Abolonkova¹, L.V. Zotkina², and K.A. Kolobova²

¹“Tomskaya Pisanitsa” Museum-Reserve, Tomskaya 5a, Kemerovo, 650000, Russia

²Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

This study focuses on the formal typology of petroglyphs belonging to the Minusinsk tradition. While these are widely distributed, we analyze only zoomorphic images from the Minusinsk Basin, because the earliest rock art in Southern Siberia and Central Asia, we believe, refers to a definite chronological stage, whereas the Minusinsk Style is its regional manifestation associated with the local cultural tradition. The purpose of the study is to identify the specific features of the classic regional Minusinsk Style, distinguishing it from other manifestations of the earliest rock art, peripheral relative to it. We present the results of the stylistic analysis based on formal typological criteria mentioned by various specialists in Minusinsk zoomorphic images. Representations of animals fall in several groups in terms of species, and a set of characteristics has been proposed for each. Because they are highly variable both in the Minusinsk tradition and in the earliest rock art in general, criteria specific for the Minusinsk Style alone (first-order criteria) have been separated from those relevant to other traditions (second-order criteria). The core of the classic Minusinsk Style is defined by a stable combination of formal typological features. Another group of the earliest petroglyphs is nominally described as peripheral, because it doesn't show this combination.

Keywords: Rock art, Minusinsk rock art tradition, Minusinsk Style, formal typological analysis, core and periphery of style, Minusinsk Basin.