在吉尔吉斯斯坦的山上找到古老的岩画

Author:Penny Boviatsou

For thousands of years, humankind has left its mark on the global landscape in the form of petroglyphs—images etched into rocky outcrops, initially with stone tools and later metal instruments. Often carved over the course of several millennia at a singular locale, these ancient markings attest their historical relevance over time. And thus, petroglyph sites can be understood as sacred open-air “history books” rendered in stone.

在这种情况下，岩画是对从墓地收集的考古数据的重要补充。从广义上讲，岩画倾向于洞悉埋葬仪式，社会规范和物质文化。他们告诉我们有关人生事件以及与之相关的神话观念。

While petroglyphs are found on all five continents, the mountainous areas of Central Asia, southern Siberia and western Mongolia are especially rich in sites dating from the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Turkic Period. Within this expanse of petroglyphs, the site of Saimaluu Tash in Kyrgyzstan is one of the largest and highest. It lies in the eastern part of the expansive Fergana Mountain Range, some 115 kilometres northeast of the city of Osh.

由于Saimaluu Tash高程的范围从2,860到3,350米，因此该地点被一年11个月的雪覆盖，并且只能从7月中旬到8月中旬到达。2017年，ESRI是地理信息系统（GIS）技术的全球市场领导者，帮助由本地和国际科学家组成的混合团队克服了挑战并协助他们的研究。亚搏苹果appHexagon Geosystems支持他们提供最新的GNSS技术的努力。

“亚搏苹果app Hexagon Geosystems的技术促进了数据收集，其准确性，效率和精确度的高级级别超出了我们对这个苛刻项目的期望，”said Matthias Schenker, CTO at Esri Switzerland.“对ArcGI的收集器中的Leica GG04智能天线的直接支持使我们很容易将数据收集在工作流程中直接集成。”

Rediscovering history

The military topographer Nikolai G. Kludov officially re-discovered Saimaluu Tash—meaning “stones with drawings” in the Kyrgyz language—in 1902. However, more than four decades would pass before SM. Zima and Alexander N. Bernshtam conducted campaigns there, in 1946 and 1950, respectively. In the decades since those initial forays to the site, sporadic fieldwork was conducted up until the early 2000s.

研究人员最近的探险的目的是彻底调查，拍摄和映射该站点，以产生专着和3D互动地图。

Expedition participants included:

1. 三位考古学家和岩画专家
2. Two GIS specialists
3. A local ground support team.

Their goal was to在某些空间内建立岩画的主题簇。此外，该团队希望确定看起来多达九个古代定居点的痕迹and burial sites on satellite imagery with 50 centimetres of resolution。

探险

岩画集中在两个山谷中，由Saimaluu Tash山脉的陡峭山脊分开 - 在西部山谷的相对较大的Saimaluu Tash I，以及在附近的Saimaluu Tash II的较小且稍微稍有的位置东部山谷。Saimaluu Tash I覆盖约1.3平方公里，而Saimaluu Tash II覆盖不到1 km2。

Over the course of three weeks, the teamsurveyed a total of around 4,500 stones with petroglyphs and between 25,000 to 30,000 single images。每个岩石雕刻的轴承的位置tones was surveyed using Leica Geosystems GNSS receivers with decimetre accuracy in combination with the Collector for ArcGIS application on mobile devices. The application was configured to allow offline data collection on the basis of a high-resolution satellite image of the area for more timely and informed decisions.

“The Leica Zeno GG04 Smart Antenna was a unique tool for our project considering the demanding environmental conditions of the valley,”申克说。“鉴于its high precision technology, we were able to accomplish our goal and gather the most accurate data.”

The orientation (azimuth) was recorded for each petroglyph, together with a photograph and description of it. A digital elevation model (DEM) and orthorectified imagery of the study area were created from aerial photographs taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The Leica GG04 GNSS Smart Antenna was also used to survey ground control points (GCPs) toimprove the horizontal and vertical location accuracy of the DEM and orthophotos。The data were then categorised and stored in a geo-database in order to analyse the spatial distribution of the petroglyphs within the site as a whole as well as of individual categories. The results are best visualised on interactive 2D and 3D applications.

For spatial and statistical analysis, the data was categorised and stored in a geodatabase and evaluated using ArcGIS Pro by Esri. This allowed analysis of the spatial distribution of the petroglyphs within the site as a whole as well as of individual classes of petroglyphs.

From this dataset,various information products are generated as results, in the form of interactive 2D and 3D web applications, as well as in the form of traditional paper maps showing the location and categorisation of the petroglyphs. The web-based maps and applications will be made available via ArcGIS Online and can be used for filtering and further analysis.

另外，data will also be made available for use in the AuGeo app created by Esri Labs。这允许在增强现实（AR）环境中使用此数据。

Revolutionising archaeology

“考古学家拥抱技术，采用新工具并接受革命性的技术，这些技术在过去从未像以前一样改变考古学”申克说。“We are delighted to be part of this transformation.”

The petroglyphs at Saimaluu Tash represent a time span of almost 3,000 years and reflect a great variety of themes. Since their creators selected motifs from their own surroundings and economies, which in turn were determined by climatic conditions, it is possible to establish a correlation between the petroglyphs, the climate, and the local economy. By revealing of such information of the past we gain a better understanding of the historical context and our social development over the years.

有关Saimaluu Tash Petroglyph地区的所有信息均来自瑞士学者和探险家克里斯托夫·鲍默（Christoph Baumer）的官方探险报告，该报告发表在2017年秋季版的《探险家杂志》（The Explorers Journal）上。