Tomskaya Pisanitsa (Petroglyphs)

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Tomskaya Pisanitsa is the most famous rock art site along the Tom River, one of eight sites located in Kuzbass. In 1988, the reserve museum was founded to protect the sea cliffs adorned with these ancient images. This marked one of the first cases of systematic preservation effort of its kind in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

Elk figures are the most common motif found at Tomskaya Pisanitsa. These large, realistic animals appear to be running across the rock slopes, depicted with a sense of dynamism. Researchers classify these images as belonging to the Angara style of the Bronze Age (approximately 4000 years ago). Other images include animals and birds, such as bears, a duck, a crane, and an owl.

Human figures in the petroglyphs often possess animal features, such as three fingers or a bird's beak. Archaeologists believe these may represent deities or shamans performing rituals. There are also separate faces, often made in a heart-shaped contour. These could also be embodiments of deities or masks used in rituals. A known image of such a face, featuring what appears to be a holder, has been found at the Tom River.

Although scholars generally agree that the majority of images at Tomskaya Pisanitsa date back to the Bronze Age, the site continued to be visited for centuries afterward, including during the Early Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages.

Location: Russia, Kuzbass, Yashkinsky Municipal District

The archeological studies began in: The petroglyphs were discovered in 1721 by D.G. Messerschmidt, and their study continues to this day.

Human species: The petroglyphs were mainly created during the Bronze Age; the site served as a sanctuary until the Early Middle Ages, i.e. 6 to 7th centuries AD.

Study history

The site was first described and sketched by the participants of D.G. Messerschmidt’s scientific expedition in 1721. The research conducted by Messerschmidt et al. in southern Siberia marked the beginning of Russian archeology as a discipline, and consequently, Tomskaya Pisanitsa (initially known as Pismagora) became the first identified rock art site in the country. Research continued for centuries afterward.

The first photographs of the petroglyphs were taken in the early 20th century. These, along with the earlier drawings, provided valuable material for tracing the site's history. Unfortunately, some images have since been partially or completely destroyed.

In the 1960s, the most comprehensive study of Tomskaya Pisanitsa was conducted by an expedition led by academician A.P. Okladnikov. A young participant in this expedition was A.I. Martynov, an archaeologist from the town of Kemerovo, who would later found the reserve museum at the petroglyph site.

Tomskaya Pisanitsa continues to reveal new images to archaeologists. Recent archaeological excavations near the site have also provided crucial insights into the period when the sanctuary was in use.

From 2019 to 2025, a collaborative effort involving the Center of Paleoart of the Institute of Archeology of RAS, the RSSDA (Remote Sensing and Spatial Data Analysis) laboratory, and the Tomskaya Pisanitsa reserve museum resulted in the complete documentation of the site, paving the way for the creation of 3D models of all known image-bearing surfaces.

Most well-known images

numerous images of running (swimming?) elks, the only owl image in Russia, a chimera having the features of both bear and wolf, image of a skier, characters wearing head dresses with diverging sun rays and animal masks, boats with schematic boater figures.