Across the Mongol wilderness , hundreds of ancient decorated megaliths sprinkle the landscape , sporadicallypoking out of the dry land like matchstick stick in the moxie . Their existence for thousands of years is still brim with mystery since it ’s unclear who progress these foreign stone monuments , let alone why , but archaeologists have offered up a few tantalizing theory to explain them .
recognize as deer stones , or Rangifer tarandus stones , well over a thousand of the megaliths can be line up in Mongolia and parts of Siberia . They variegate in style and size of it , but many are tall than a man with some reaching upwards of 4.5 meters ( 15 feet ) in height .
Elaborate sculpture feature heavily on the Lucy Stone . While theme like human faces , patterns , weapon system , and animal can often be seen on the stones , one of the most common themes is reindeer , hence their name . Some depictions even feature fly Greenland caribou , like an early court toSanta ’s sleigh pullers .
A leaning Deer Stone placed in front of dozens of small stone mounds containing ritually-sacrificed horse burials at the Bronze Age monument site of Ikh Tsagaanii Am, Bayankhongor Province, central Mongolia. Image credit: William Taylor
queerly , some of the stones have round tops yet others have straight ones . This might have some stylistic significance , although researchers surmise this might be a sign of damage , perhaps at the custody of enemies who wished to destroy the monument .
It was once assumed by some that cervid stones were the work ofScythians , the horse - cod nomads who raised Hades in this cartoon strip of Eurasia from around the seventh century BCE until the third C BCE . However , radiocarbon dating of horse cavalry skulls find near some of the stonesindicatesthey were craft before the Scythian civilisation lease root in the tardy Bronze Age ( 1200 to 700 BCE ) .
The expectant doubtfulness is why these deer stones were make . One theory poses that the deer stones are burial memorial used in the funerals of sinewy loss leader or esteemed warrior . After all , the Scythians who issue forth after this finish are well - known fortheir elaborate burials . However , human remains are not generally found at the sites , which for the most part discredits this idea .
A deer stone situated nearby of Hovd river. Image credit: longtaildog/Shutterstock.com
Another theory hint the stones had something to do with reindeer herding , perhaps marking the land site where tetheredreindeerwere used to entice in unwarranted deer . Although sacrificed horse cavalry bone have been discovered near the stones , cervid remains are rarely found , which throws cold water supply on the idea too .
Based on the depictions of human beings that feature on some Harlan F. Stone , other expert have contended that the sites were used by priest-doctor in spiritual ceremony .
“ The rare depictions of human face are commonly seen with rounded , open mouths — as though singing or chanting — and seem probable to present shamanist mogul or séance . The cervid - snort image also advise spiritual transformation experienced in shamanic flight in the passage from earth to sky , or the passage of the somebody of a deer stone important person from earthly life to the celestial sphere after destruction , ” reads a2009 studyby William Fitzhugh , Smithsonian anthropologist and director of its Arctic Studies Center , who head up theMongolian - Smithsonian Deer Stone Project .
“ It seems probable that these images replicate deer - skirt image tattooed on the torsos of the real warriors who were represent by the deer stones , perhaps give them security from grievous forces , flavour , or issue . "
Perhaps the reliable meaning of the stone will never be sleep together again . Whatever function these stones serve , they clearly held a great deal of import for the inscrutable masses who once roamed this land .
