From Sun-Headed Spirits to Mountain Goats: New Petroglyph Gallery Appears in Altynemel

Just a short hike — about 1.5 kilometers — from the visit center at Altynemel National Park, a brand-new collection of petroglyphs has appeared on the face of a rocky hill. At first glance, they look like ancient artworks carved thousands of years ago. But in reality, they were created over the past three months. 

Orda.kz visited the site.

The project's creator is renowned Kazakhstani artist Sanzhar Zhubanov. His work may already be familiar to visitors of Ayusay Gorge near Almaty, where he engraved animals and their tracks into rocks, or to those who’ve visited the Arkalan petroglyph park in the Almaty Botanical Garden, which opened last November.

But this time, Zhubanov didn’t just carve a few boulders — he turned an entire rock face into a sprawling open-air gallery. As he said, making drawings in the natural environment, as ancient artists did, was his long-standing dream.

I came across this exact spot last year and immediately realised the rocks here were perfect for petroglyphs — but there were no carvings. More precisely, almost none. Just four petroglyphs nearby, and those were of teke — mountain goats, the artist recalls 

The lack of rock paintings in Altynemel can be explained by the nature of the local stone — most of it is fragile, riddled with cracks, and crumbles easily, making it difficult to carve into. Despite these challenges, Sanzhar Zhubanov managed to bring his vision to life.

Creating the gallery took three and a half months. Zhubanov finished the final touches just hours before revealing the stone canvas to the public. Throughout the process, he worked in all kinds of weather — from frost and fog to intense heat — each condition influencing how the rock responded. In fact, one nearly finished carving even broke off before it was complete.

The resulting rock gallery features depictions of camels, bulls, deer, and mountain goats. For the first time, he also took on the challenge of depicting sun-headed figures — some of the most iconic and recognizable images found among Kazakhstan’s ancient petroglyphs.

Over the 15 years I have been working with stone, I have mostly carved images of deer, teke, argali, and camels. Occasionally, I depicted Turkic horsemen. I’d never touched the sun-headed figures. Because they’re astral-solar beings with human forms, and many consider them deities. That idea always held me back. But deep down, I knew I would get to them eventually,Zhubanov told Orda.kz. 

Creating those figures turned out to be the most physically challenging part. The rock face that initially seemed perfect turned out to be difficult to work with.

Still, Zhubanov succeeded in bringing them to life.

Almost all the images in the Altynemel gallery are based on ancient petroglyphs found in different parts of Kazakhstan. The camels come from Ulytau, the sun-headed figures from Tanbaly Tas in the Almaty region. Only one piece — a circle of mountain goats — is entirely Zhubanov’s own idea, though that center goat figure is also a copy of the image of the teke, created in Altynemel.

But Zhubanov deliberately carves his works to distinguish them from actual ancient petroglyphs. Where ancient artists engraved the figures themselves, Zhubanov uses a technique of carving out the background around the outline— a technique that gives his work a distinct look.

For a long time, I worked just like the ancient artists — carving the image directly into the stone. But then I realized I was just copying. So I switched to a method I came up with on my own. It allows me to define the contours more clearly,he explained. 

Zhubanov may be the only artist in the world who creates petroglyphs in the traditional style — at least, he hasn’t heard of anyone else doing it. While rock art is found in other countries too such as Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, Russia, and France – Kazakhstan, according to local archaeologists, has one of the richest collections.

Sanzhar Zhubanov hopes that tourists visiting Altynemel National Park will soon see his newly created gallery.

To make that possible, a dedicated trail will likely need to be set up, as wandering freely through the hills isn’t allowed. Still, park staff believe the petroglyphs — both ancient and modern — could become a new attraction for visitors.

I hadn’t even realized there were drawings on the rocks here before. Now I keep an eye out — I’ve even spotted some near my cordon. I think tourists will start coming specifically to see them, said park ranger Yerlan Moldakhmetov. 

Zhubanov calls the current gallery just the first stage of his project. For now, he’s off to France for an exhibition of his paintings, but he plans to continue adding new petroglyphs upon his return.

When we asked how many more stages there would be, the artist shrugged his shoulders and said,

Original Author: Igor Ulitin