The Solar Stag of the Chamalals and Tindals and other masonry petroglyphs in the upper Andiiskoe Koisu region of Dagestan and their relationships to similar phenomena in the mountain communities of the Caucasus: Socio-ecological and historical perspectives

Abstract

Aim. Following the discovery of a number of iconographically unique masonry petroglyphs depicting a red deer solar stag (i.e. bearing the sun between its antlers) in settlements of the Chamalal ethno‐linguistic group in the upper Andiiskoe Koisu region of the Tsumadinskiy district of Dagestan, the aim of the research has been: (1) to survey the region to ascertain whether other images of this nature existed and to understand the relationship of the corpus to other petroglyphs produced within the Avar‐Ando‐Dido metacultural zone and of neighbouring ethnic groups in the Caucasus; (2) to study the evolution and meaning to the community of the petroglyphic imagery and (3) to understand the mechanisms by which peoples of the Caucasus shared and adapted polytheistic belief systems arising from the deep past following their conversion to Christianity and Islam.Materials and Methods. Research activities involved field surveys of traditional buildings within the ethno‐linguistic enclaves of the upper Andiiskoe Koisu which might contain masonry petroglyphs and their photographic documentation. A thorough survey of the scientific literature impacting on this field in the Caucasus was undertaken in the libraries and institutions of Dagestan, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. This data added to the documentation of masonry petroglyphs already undertaken in the Gidatli communities of the upper Avarskoe Koisu region.Results. Field surveys resulted in the discovery of more petroglyphs of the solar stag iconography both within Chamalal territory and that of the neighbouring Tindals as well as other petroglyphs of interest in neighbouring republics of the North Caucasus. A socioecological assessment of local habitats which might have sustained both red deer and bezoar goat (the principal game animals since human presence in the region) indicated that the bezoar goat inhabited the territories of both groups but were now rarely found in Chamalal lands. While red deer did inhabit the forests of the Tindals, it appears that they never frequented those of the Chamalals, who must have travelled to hunt them in forests further to the south.Conclusion. The research confirmed the presence of a unique corpus of petroglyphic imagery attesting to beliefs in a solar stag which may date back to period of man’s re‐inhabiting the upper Andiiskoe Koisu region in the early Holocene. Indigenous beliefs relating both to the red deer and the bezoar goat initially represented in rock face petroglyphs of the eastern Dagestan piedmonts and rock paintings of the mountainous regions were by the late Bronze Age represented on masonry blocks used in building in the Avar‐Ando‐Dido metacultural zone. As Christianity spread in Transcaucasia and the Great Caucasus Range, including north‐western Dagestan, indigenous images representing the solar stag were conflated with those of the popular Christian cult of the Miracle of Saint Eustace, resulting in the unique petroglyphs of the solar stag common to