A Group of Mountain Goats Motif in Northeastern Anatolian Petroglyphs

The Eastern Anatolia region, a high plateau, is exceptionally rich in paintings on rocks. Rock paintings in Ardahan, Kars, Erzurum, Erzincan, and Van-Hakkari mountainous region constitute a large part of this wealth. The technique of line, engraving, carving, and pecking was generally used in rock paintings drawn on andesitic and basalt stones in the region. The motifs encountered in rock painting areas are human (shaman), horse, bull - ox - cow, deer, wolf, dog, and sheep - ram - mountain goat. Furthermore, scenes of hunting and war, ceremonial and geometric scenes, and celestial shapes are among the covered themes. Sixteen rock painting areas were identified in the Northeast Anatolian region. Nine centers were examined in the study; Çıldır Başköy, Borluk Valley/Azat village, Camuşlu, Digor/Dolaylı, Geyiklitepe, Kurbanağa, Dilli Valley, Cunni Cave, and Şenkaya Kaynak village are rock paintings. There are more than 368 figures in these paintings, of which 119 are mountain goat figures. In the study, the morphology of the mountain goat motif in the related rock painting areas was examined, and its symbolic meaning and place in the hunting ritual and the possible cosmic world were analyzed.