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Carved animal petroglyph on a rock in Western Tien-Shan mountains, Uzbekistan
© Sergey Shik / Shutterstock

Tereksai Petroglyphs

In UNESCO's Western Tien-Shan mountains the Tereksai Petroglyphs are the historical and cultural remnants of ancient civilizations.

The Chatkal Biosphere Reserve is home to unique and famous collections of petroglyph images. The Tereksai Petroglyph contains some of the highest concentrations of life-size petroglyphs and geometric patterns. The discovered petroglyphs are thousands of years old, and dated back to the stone age between 8000 BCE and 2700 BCE.

For many Uzbekistan peoples, the Chatkal Biosphere Reserve is revered and sacred. Archaeological rock carvings sites show groups of people that left their mark and cultural heritage on this land. The petroglyphs and pictographs provide symbolic communication between ages and show the spirituality of the people that lived there. The preservation of rock paintings is a testament to cultural and scientific rock art research.

There are traditions and ceremonial engravings depicted on the rock surfaces. We pay respect to the importance of these images by observing petroglyph sites from a distance. They are allowing future generations to hear ancient stories from this national petroglyph monument.