Red marals at Satakular in the Alai

The article focuses on a newly discovered petroglyphic site on the Satakular River, Ongudai Region, Altai Republic. Rock art images were found in two areas on the walls of a natural groove running through a huge monolith rock. The images include several pecked representations and two unique red paintings of Siberian deer (marals). The images have parallels in the petroglyphs of the Minusinsk tradition in the middle reaches of the Yenisei River, the Afanasyevo culture at Kalbak-Tash Mount, and the Kuilu rock shelter. An analysis of Kalbak-Tash analogies suggests that the Satakular petroglyphs represent a pair of male and female maral deer. The painted images themselves demonstrate expressed artistic skill and the rock monolith with its unusual groove represents a unique site.