Prehistory of Mongolia

 Deer stones

Deer stones are Mongolian ancient megaliths carved with symbols. The name comes from their carved depictions of flying deer or desiring to the sky. Their purpose and creators are unknown. Archaeologists have found around 500 deer stones around Mongolia of 600 of them around Central Asia. Deer stones are found singly or in-groups of up to twenty stones and they are between one and four meters high. Total surface of deer stones are divided into 3 sections and around the upper sections are images of sun and moon, and lower section is covered by carvings of knives, swords, bows and quivers, battle-axes, whetstones, hooks. On the main or middle section there are many flying deer. 

Mounds

Mounds are large piles of rough mountain stones or smooth river stones or a combination of the two types. Most mounds are probably funerary in function; that is, they were raised at the time of an individual’s death and to mark that person’s burial. Whether, however, the body was actually placed under the mound or in a burial chamber sunk into the ground, varies according to period and culture. Single mounds may be simple or collared: that is, ringed with a contrastingly colored stone or with vertical stones of a tooth-like appearance tilted toward the center of the structure. Four-cornered mounds are a variation on the structure type and have been definitively identified as Bronze Age burials. Rows of mounds arranged roughly from north to south are usually understood as burial mounds of the Early Nomadic period (Late Bronze–Early Iron Ages). Some low mounds found in association with khirigsuur may have functioned as altars.

Khirigsuurs or burial mounds

Khirigsuurs or burial mounds are spread in central and western parts of Mongolia and dated back to 2000-1000 BC. A khirigsuur is a structure including a central mound and a round or square surrounding frame. When the mound extends to the surrounding wall in a kind of pavement, the khirigsuur is described as a platform khirigsuur. Usually, however, the area between mound and frame is left open and within it may be rays aligned with the cardinal directions or their subdivisions. A boulder khirigsuur is one in which the central mound is replaced by a large boulder, Small circular altars are usually found outside the frame on the north, west, and south sides, rarely on the east side. Some khirigsuur have entrances on the east side; many are accompanied by mounds of unknown function. In other parts of Mongolia, khirigsuur appear to have sometimes functioned as burials. 

Petro glyphs (Rock paintings)

Petro glyphs (Rock paintings) are message from ancient people to us about their life and we can read Mongolian ancient history with them. They are dated back to 5000-3000 BC. Within the Mongolian Altai, all open-air petro glyphic imagery surviving from the pre-Modern period is engraved, gouged or pecked into the surface of bedrock or boulders. Petro glyphs are represented by single images or by compositions of two or more images up to several hundred motifs.