Archaeologists excavating early Iron Age burial mounds in southern Siberia have discovered rare engravings of horses on a stone slab that appears to have been reused as an ancient cemetery expanded over time.
The discovery was made near the Domozhakov aal in the Ust-Abakansky District of Khakassia. Researchers are examining three burial mounds associated with the Tagar culture in a rescue excavation covering about 10,000 square meters.
The Ancient History of Kuzbass project reported the find. The excavation is being carried out by researchers from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Federal Research Center of Coal and Coal Chemistry in Kemerovo.
Petroglyphs found on burial enclosure
Between the 8th and 3rd centuries B.C., people in the Khakassia-Minusinsk Basin buried their dead in wooden log structures. They covered the graves with stone and built enclosures around the burial areas using stone slabs.
Similar research into 3,000-year-old tomb art in Khakassia has shown how carvings incorporated into burial structures can help archaeologists date ancient rock art.
Archaeologists found petroglyphs on one of those slabs. The stone carries images of two horses and a goat made by engraving, as well as human-like figures created with a different carving technique.
Ancient slab preserves images from different periods
Researchers currently believe the human-like figures are the oldest images. Similar figures are known from slabs and corner steles at other Tagar burial mounds. The orientation of the figures suggests the newly discovered slab may also have originally stood upright.
The slab was apparently reused later when the burial enclosure was expanded. Researchers believe the horse images were added during this later phase. Such depictions of horses are rare in Khakassia, but scientists associate them with Tagar art.
Rare horse engravings have been discovered on a reused stone slab at an early Iron Age burial mound in southern Siberia.
The carvings could help archaeologists piece together how the Tagar burial site changed over centuries. pic.twitter.com/rweAWjtNwo
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) August 18, 2026
Other recent discoveries across Central Asia include more than 1,200 ancient petroglyphs documented in Kazakhstan, with carvings spanning several historical periods.
The combination of images from different periods on a single stone is important for understanding the burial mound itself. Archaeologists say it supports the idea that the burials within the kurgan were not created at the same time. Instead, the site appears to have been altered and expanded over a longer period.
The Tagar culture developed in the Minusinsk Basin during the early Iron Age. Its burial mounds and decorated stones have left archaeologists an important record of the communities that lived in this part of southern Siberia.
Across the wider Eurasian steppe, archaeologists continue to uncover comparable Iron Age funerary sites, including a 2,300-year-old Scythian tomb in Moldova and a 2,700-year-old Saka burial site in Kyrgyzstan.
Excavation could refine the chronology
The latest discovery provides evidence not only of Tagar artistic traditions but also of how older stones could be reused as burial sites changed. Differences in carving techniques and the orientation of the figures give researchers clues about the order in which the images were created. That interpretation, however, remains preliminary.
Archaeologists are now clearing the stone coverings above the graves and preparing to examine the structures inside them. The work could help researchers reconstruct more precisely how the kurgan was built, used, and modified over time.
Evidence from inside the graves could also change the proposed sequence of the petroglyphs. Researchers say new findings may require them to revise which images were created first and when the slab was reused.
The ongoing rescue excavation is therefore expected to provide a clearer picture of the burial mound’s history. For now, the rare horse engravings offer another piece of evidence for the changing use of the site and the artistic traditions of the Tagar culture.
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