Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai

The rock art of the Mongolian Altai is inscribed as World Heritage for its span: carvings across three main sites record roughly twelve thousand years of human life in these mountains, and the sequence is legible. The earliest images, from a period when the valleys held forest, show elk, deer and hunters. Later panels show herds, wheeled carts and the beginnings of a pastoral economy, and the most recent, from the Turkic period, show mounted riders with weapons. The largest concentration is in the Tsagaan Salaa and Baga Oigor valleys, where thousands of images are pecked into dark rock over some fifteen kilometres of valley. There is no visitor centre and no marked trail; the sites are open valley floor with a guide showing where to look, and the carvings appear once your eye adjusts.

What you actually see

• Tsagaan Salaa valley - thousands of carvings over kilometres of rock.
• The hunting scenes - elk, deer and hunters from the earliest phases.
• Herding and carts - images from the shift to a pastoral economy.
• Mounted riders - later Turkic-period warriors and horses.

When to go

June to September; the valleys are snowbound in winter and the tracks impassable. Low sun early and late throws the pecked carvings into relief and is far better than midday for seeing them.

Honest expectations

There is no infrastructure at all: no signs, no paths, no facilities, and finding the panels without a guide is largely luck. The drive from Olgii is long and rough. Carvings are on open rock and vulnerable, so walking on them or chalking them is out of the question.

Nearby

Tavan Bogd and the Altai lakes lie west; Olgii is the base.