Sarmyshsai Gorge

One of the amazing places in the Navoi region, the Sarmyshsai gorge, has long attracted many tourists with its mysterious petroglyphs, some of which are more than 10 thousand years old.

All the rock carvings are embossed or carved with stone or metal tools. The most ancient drawings are carved in ornamental-openwork, contour or mixed style.

More than 5,000 drawings were found in the gorge and its surroundings, applied to the surface of the rocks. They are covered with a black or brown patina.  The subjects of petroglyphs are diverse. Today, there are at least 35 thematic images and plots – here you can see carved figures of people, their tools and household items, geometric compositions and hunting scenes.

There is also a frequent theme of fauna here – these are various animals, some of which have long disappeared.  And you can also see images of mountain goat, argali, bison, primitive bull, wild horse, camel, kulan, deer, wild boar, saiga and jeyran. Among the predators present in the drawings are a lion, a wolf, a leopard, a jackal, a fox, a leopard and a cheetah. Interesting examples are the images of bull tours, made in the bio-triangular style typical of the culture of the Upper Paleolithic.

In addition to the drawings, there are various inscriptions in Arabic among the rocks of Sarmyshsai.