Pages: 143-153 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp232143153

The article discusses the possibilities of taxonomic determinations of zoomorphic rock representations and the significance of these data for further interpretations, indirect dating and other scientific tasks. In addition to the applied method of zoomorphological description on the depicted animal’s exterior features, two approaches to the analysis of proportions have been proposed. The first basic-zoological approach is focused on the animal as a biological object and describes the ratio of animal body measurements according to the zoological standard of body measurements of large mammals. The second comparative-zoological approach requires the selection of proportions that are significant for each particular species, based on the morphological features of the animal exterior features. Both approaches have been tested on a sample of 30 petroglyphs from the rock art sites Kalbak-Tash I and Shalabolino, representing images of wild boars and bears. The obtained data on the proportions were analyzed using the principal component analysis (PCA), which allowed to verify the degree of differentiation between the images of the two selected species. As a result, we conclude that the comparative-zoological approach as a tool aimed at distinguishing the most significant features for taxonomic definitions of rock images is expedient.

Keywords: rock art, Siberia, zoomorphological analysis, principal component analysis, Shalabolino rock art site, Kalbak-Tash I

Information about authors:

Lydia Zotkina (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation; International Laboratory “Archaeozoology in Siberia and Iner Asia” ZooSCAn, IRL 2013, National Center of Scientific Research — Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1912-3882
Kseniya Kolobova (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-5757-3251
Roman Davydov (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-6580-2811
Sergey Sutugin (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-8488-9860
Dmitriy Malikov (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1288-4937