Movement across a ‘mountain barrier’: Mapping accessibility with rock-art and GIS in the Altai Mountains, Eastern Eurasia

Abstract

The Altai Mountains stand at the crossroads between the four nations of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. Whilst its location means that it has been conceptualised as a locus for interaction in prehistory, language barriers and sensitivities towards national borders mean that holistic research on archaeology here is difficult to conduct. By integrating Russian, English, and Chinese language data, with reference to Kazakh and Mongolia publications, this paper analyses theories of interaction in the 2nd–1st millennium BCE. Paths of least-cost modelled between a grid of points in GIS were used to create an accessibility map of the Altai, which was then compared with the locations of rock-art sites, themselves purportedly created along major routes by people practising mobile lifeways. The analyses show that movement in the Altai was likely concentrated at higher altitudes, with the majority of main paths running north-west to south-east. A large number of paths also traverse the modern borders, such as one that coincides with a modern Mongolian–Chinese pass. Its prehistoric usage is supported by the large number of comparable, contemporary rock-art at either end on both sides of the border. Rock-art sites overall are located either on or near routes that experienced medium to high frequency traffic. Though rock-art seems more likely to have been created along frequented routes, not all major routes have sites located nearby, lending support to theories that rock-art was created after significant experiences embedded in the variable political, social, and spiritual factors governing the physical act of its creation.