The "bird-woman", the "birthing woman" and the "woman of the animals" : a consideration of the female image in petroglyphs of Ancient Central Asia

Abstract

Within the artistic traditions of South Siberia and northern Central Asia, significant representations of female figures did not disappear with the Paleolithic period. Rather, images of females who appear to have a "more-than-human" signification can be traced down through the Bronze Age and perhaps even into the period of the Early Nomads (first millennium B.C.E.). Using petroglyphs from Kalbak-Tash in the Altay Republic and from two major new sites in the Mongolian Altay, the author demonstrates the continued appearance of three primary forms of female imagery: that of a woman with bird characteristics ("bird-woman"), that of the "birthing woman", and another which might be called a "woman of the animals". Frequent in appearance and occasionally impressive in presentation and size, these images reaffirm an archaic but persistent association of the female figure with cattle and with deer; they force one to ask why such images have hitherto received so little attention in the recording and study of Eurasian petroglyphs.

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