A gallery on stone
In a gorge cut through the Karatau Mountain Range, about 45 kilometers from the city of Navoi, is one of Central Asia's largest collections of rock art. The Sarmishsay gorge contains more than 10,000 individual petroglyphs carved onto the dark, polished surfaces of sandstone rocks. This massive open-air gallery stretches for about 2.5 kilometers, preserving a visual record of human activity that spans millennia. The oldest images here may date as far back as the 9th millennium BCE, with carvings made continuously through different eras up to the 18th century CE.
The artists used stone and later metal tools to peck, cut, and rub designs into the rock surface, creating engravings between 0.5 and 3 millimeters deep. The collection shows a changing world. The earliest layers from the Stone and Bronze Ages feature numerous depictions of aurochs, a species of large wild cattle that went extinct in the region during the 2nd millennium BCE. These images help archaeologists in dating the site. Later petroglyphs from the Iron Age, associated with Scythian tribes, show a shift towards domesticated animals like horses and camels, and introduce scenes with armed horsemen. The gorge also contains burial mounds and the remains of ancient settlements, indicating it was a long-term center for human life.
Shamans or space travelers?
The most discussed images at Sarmishsay are a handful of anthropomorphic figures that led to "ancient astronaut" theories. These particular petroglyphs show humans with oversized, round heads, sometimes with lines radiating outwards, and bodies that appear to be in bulky, one-piece garments. Proponents of pseudoarchaeological theories suggest these are firsthand depictions of extraterrestrial visitors wearing helmets and spacesuits. Adding to the strangeness are other unusual carvings, including a man with two heads and a camel with three humps.
Archaeologists, however, provide a different interpretation. The scientific consensus is that these figures likely represent shamans or priests during religious rituals. The "helmets" are probably elaborate masks or headdresses, possibly symbolizing the sun or a connection to the spirit world. Such depictions of ritualistic attire are found in ancient art worldwide. Scenes of ecstatic dances and what appear to be Zoroastrian priests at a fire altar also appear in the gorge, reinforcing the idea that Sarmishsay was a major ceremonial site for thousands of years. While the "astronaut" idea is a mystery, the archaeological explanation connects the carvings to the cultural and religious lives of the people who inhabited the gorge.