CNRS News
Published on CNRS News (https://news.cnrs.fr)

Home > The Mysterious Steles of Mongolia

The Mysterious Steles of Mongolia

You are here
Home [1]
Lire en français [2]
slideshow
-A [3] +A [3]
Society [4]
Digital [5]
Art and science [6]

The Mysterious Steles of Mongolia

01.04.2019, by
Laure Cailloce [7]
Nearly a thousand ornamented steles dot the Mongolian steppes. These “deer stones” were erected between 1200 and 800 BC, and are part of large funerary complexes built by nomads from the Karasuk culture or Deer stone civilisation.
1
The Tsatsyn Ereg necropolis, located in Arkhangai Province, is being studied by an international team as part of a joint archeological mission between Monaco and Mongolia, under the direction of the Musée d’Anthropologie préhistorique de Monaco and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. One hundred and thirteen deer stones have been found on this site measuring 200 square kilometers.
Fabrice Monna/MAP-MC/Traces/ARTeHIS/CNRS Photothèque
Slideshow mode
Share
Share
[8]
[9]
[10]
2
The anthropologist Jérôme Magail, who is leading the mission, used ground-based and drone photogrammetry to accurately document the steles and associated archeological structures in order to create a 3D reconstruction. This was done by taking dozens of pictures of the object from various angles, which are then assembled by specialized software.
Fabrice Monna/MAP-MC/Traces/ARTeHIS/CNRS Photothèque
Slideshow mode
Share
Share
[8]
[11]
[10]
3
Located 250 kilometers from Tsatsyn Ereg, this extremely rare stele with an anthropomorphic head, measuring 2.6 meters in height, was modeled in 3D. It can now be studied more easily and shared with other scientists.
Fabrice Monna/MAP-MC/Traces/ARTeHIS/CNRS Photothèque
Slideshow mode
Share
Share
[8]
[12]
[10]
4
The “deer stones” of Mongolia are part of multi-hectare funerary complexes, and are surrounded by hundreds of stone grave mounds. A horsehead was left beneath each mound. Here we see the remains of a skull.
Fabrice Monna/MAP-MC/Traces/ARTeHIS/CNRS Photothèque
Slideshow mode
Share
Share
[8]
[13]
[10]
5
The representation of deer follows the same graphic codes from one site to another: elongated muzzle, disproportionate antlers, bodies stretched toward the sky. Deer were probably tasked with leading the souls of the dead toward the afterlife.
Fabrice Monna/MAP-MC/Traces/ARTeHIS/CNRS Photothèque
Slideshow mode
Share
Share
[8]
[14]
[10]
6
Photogrammetry is complemented by a method called estampage: a white sheet is attached to the stele, a sheet of carbon paper is placed on top, and gentle rubbing reveals the roughness of the surface.
Fabrice Monna/MAP-MC/Traces/ARTeHIS/CNRS Photothèque
Slideshow mode
Share
Share
[8]
[15]
[10]
7
Three thousand years later, Mongol nomads continue to crisscross the plains of Tsatsyn Ereg and breed horses. The scientific team is also exploring their ancient know-how.
Fabrice Monna/MAP-MC/Traces/ARTeHIS/CNRS Photothèque
Slideshow mode
Share
Share
[8]
[16]
[10]

Explore more

Society
 metamorworks / iStock.com
[17]
Article
12/02/2025
Science one step ahead [17]
adoption of a historic global warming pact at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, on December 12, 2015
[18]
Article
11/09/2025
Ten years on, mixed results for the Paris Agreement [18]
[19]
Article
10/20/2025
Colonialism in green camouflage [19]
[20]
Article
10/15/2025
Cervantes, an influencer of his time [20]
[21]
Article
10/03/2025
The myth of energy transition [21]
Mongolia
[22]
Article
06/28/2017
From Egg-Snatchers to Egg-Hatchers [22]
[23]
Article
07/08/2016
Preserving Ancient Documents [23]

Keywords

Mongolia [24] Steles [25] Art [26] Science [27] photogrammetry [28] estampage [29]

Share this article

[30]
[31]
[8]
[10]

Source URL:https://news.cnrs.fr/slideshows/the-mysterious-steles-of-mongolia

Links
[1] https://news.cnrs.fr/ [2] https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/diaporamas/mysterieuses-steles-de-mongolie [3] https://news.cnrs.fr/javascript%3A%3B [4] https://news.cnrs.fr/society [5] https://news.cnrs.fr/digital [6] https://news.cnrs.fr/art-and-science-0 [7] https://news.cnrs.fr/authors/laure-cailloce [8] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398%2F&text=The Mysterious Steles of Mongolia [9] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/20150021_0079_01.jpg%3Fitok%3DdwHF1lOB&p%5Bsummary%5D= [10] https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=The Mysterious Steles of Mongolia%0Ahttps%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398 [11] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/20170132_0055_02.jpg%3Fitok%3DGBPw3rwC&p%5Bsummary%5D= [12] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/montage_tsatsyn_03.jpg%3Fitok%3DrQa7NnJ9&p%5Bsummary%5D= [13] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/_dsc8655_04.jpg%3Fitok%3Ddt9-8gVQ&p%5Bsummary%5D= [14] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/20150021_0069_05.jpg%3Fitok%3DFjMKBeIu&p%5Bsummary%5D= [15] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/20150021_0013_06.jpg%3Fitok%3DzJn858YO&p%5Bsummary%5D= [16] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/enfant-floute_07.jpg%3Fitok%3Dh0uMnKCi&p%5Bsummary%5D= [17] https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/science-one-step-ahead [18] https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/ten-years-on-mixed-results-for-the-paris-agreement [19] https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/colonialism-in-green-camouflage [20] https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/cervantes-an-influencer-of-his-time [21] https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/the-myth-of-energy-transition [22] https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/from-egg-snatchers-to-egg-hatchers [23] https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/preserving-ancient-documents [24] https://news.cnrs.fr/mongolia [25] https://news.cnrs.fr/steles [26] https://news.cnrs.fr/art-0 [27] https://news.cnrs.fr/science-0 [28] https://news.cnrs.fr/photogrammetry [29] https://news.cnrs.fr/estampage [30] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Burl%5D=https%3A//news.cnrs.fr/print/1398&p%5Btitle%5D=The%20Mysterious%20Steles%20of%20Mongolia&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=&p%5Bsummary%5D= [31] https://news.cnrs.fr/printmail/1398