HORSEMAN IMAGE ON AN OSTRICH EGGSHELL FRAGMENT

A representation of a horseman incised on a fossilized ostrich eggshell fragment found among eolian deposits in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, is analyzed. The representation is paralleled by petroglyphs of the Turkic period in Mongolia, the Baikal area, and in the Altai, and evidently dates back to the same period (no later than the 6th cent. AD). It was probably included among ritual items related to shamanism, and, given its small size and fragility, apparently an apotropaic.