Saimaluu Tash

Saymaluu-Tash is a petroglyph site and a national park in Jalal-Abad Region, Kyrgyzstan, south of Kazarman. Over 10,000 stones bear pictures—perhaps as many as 98,000 pictures in all—which are black-and-white rock paintings, making the site a globally important collection of rock art. The pictures have been pecked into the near black or grey shiny desert varnish covering many rocks. Most pictures are from the Bronze Age and show animals, humans and symbols. They may partly be seen as a sacred display of offerings of the ancient people of the lower valley.