Project title: The petroglyphs of Egiz-Kara and Ak-Tash in the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan
Project Manager: President of the Turkic Academy, Prof.Dr. Shahin Mustafayev
Project Coordinator: Expert of the Turkic Academy, Dr. Nurdin Useev
Implementing Organization: Turkic Academy
Duration: 2023 – 2024
Annotation: "The petroglyphs of Egiz-Kara and Ak-Tash in the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan" represent significant archaeological findings. Kyrgyzstan, a central hub of Turkic civilizations, is home to numerous artifacts related to ancient Turkic culture, including settlements, inscriptions, tamgas, stone sculptures, balbals and rock art. The region is particularly renowned for its rock art, which spans from the early centuries to the ethnographic period of the 17th-19th centuries. However, research primarily focuses on ancient rock art, such as the Saymaly-Tash petroglyphs, while those belonging to the ethnographic period are often overlooked. These petroglyphs contain valuable insights into daily life, depicting traditional games, headdresses and caravans. Among these underexplored rock drawings are the Egiz-Kara and Ak-Tash petroglyphs, discovered in the early 2000s in Batken. To date, these petroglyphs have not been analyzed in a separate study, representing a gap in the current body of research.