Rock Carvings

Petroglyphs, visual remnants of Osh’s millennia-old history, can be found almost everywhere on Suleiman Mountain. They are most numerous on the southern, eastern, southeastern and southwestern slopes of all five peaks. Some of them are located in accessible areas, others in caves and grottoes. According to a conservative estimate, there are about 400 rock carvings scattered across the mountain.

Scientists divide them into three groups according to their content: anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and geometric signs. Most petroglyphs depict solar signs, crosses, squares, arrows, tree-like patterns, bird tracks and “spider webs.”

There are also unique petroglyphs. For example, there is an image of three horses held by a man with a harness, and a depiction of archers firing at each other on the top of Eer Too, a peak on the western part of Suleiman Mountain.

Rock carvings were drawn with stone and metal tools on horizontal and vertical surfaces, using hammering or engraving techniques. They are made in silhouette, contour and line-scheme patterns.

The petroglyphs of Suleiman Mountain date from the mid-15^th century B.C. to the 7^th century AD. Most of the images date back to the Bronze Age. Depictions of Davanese horses and goats, common in the mountains of Surot-Tash in the Aravan district and Abshyr-Say in the Nookat district, date to the end of the 1st millennium B.C. and the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D.

A distinguishing feature of the Osh petroglyphs, scholars note, is the stable set of signs, compositions of various figures with recurring symbols, strong links with cult places and variations in drawing technique, depending on the location. Some images are from the modern period, inscribed with the date of execution and even the names of the artists. Among the most famous of these petroglyphs is an inscription in Kufic script bearing the name of Emir Nasr ibn Ahmad of the Samanid dynasty (940-941), interpreted in part by Russian orientalist Nikolai Veselovsky in 1885.