Kazakh ethnographic petroglyphs and an Arabic inscription in Eshkiolmes

Abstract

An Arabic inscription most probably from the 19th century and some Kazakh ethnographic petroglyphs were found in the valley 5 in Eshkiolmes (Almaty region, Kazakhstan). The Arabic inscription consists of 12 characters and does not represent the person who wrote it, but is a description of the landscape or, possibly, the name of a toponym. This inscription is associated with a petroglyph of a zoomorph, raising the question of the relation between the inscription and the depicted animal. Moreover, this inscription, as well as numerous other inscriptions in Arabic in Kazakhstan, as well as in Kyrgyzstan, show that even shepherds could write before the Soviet Union again launched a campaign to eliminate illiteracy. For this reason, the alphabetization of Central Asia before the Soviet period should be questioned. This article also analyzes two other panels with Kazakh ethnographic engravings of this location in order to see the influence of earlier petroglyphs in the Kazakh ethnographic period.