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Stone Circles, a Modern Builder's Guide to the Megalithic Revival

Stone Circles, a Modern Builder's Guide to the Megalithic Revival

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Karakol Park - Sculptured Stone in Kyrgyzstan

Submitted by h_fenton on Sunday, 14 August 2022  Page Views: 9184

Multi-periodSite Name: Karakol Park
Country: Kyrgyzstan
NOTE: This site is 150.726 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Sculptured Stone
Nearest Town: Karakol
Latitude: 42.491690N  Longitude: 78.399514E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Karakol Park
Karakol Park submitted by h_fenton : Balbals in the park in the centre of Karakol. 15 June 2008 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Sculptured Stones in Kyrgyzstan. There are about 25 Balbals in the park in the centre of Karakol, Kyrgyzstan, pictured here in 2010. These balbals have been collected from the surrounding countryside. As with anything you might find in a public park some have been vandalised, including being daubed with paint. the stones seem pretty neglected some hidden in undergrowth or toppled over, most of the stones here stand aound 1.5metres of of the ground although there are some taller and also shorter examples.

Stone Sculptures known as Balbal, Bal-bals, Kurgan Stelae, Kurgan Obelisk, Tums, Tuhms, Tuhmy were used as burial markers and through Eastern Europe to Central Asia. The Earliest Examples date from around 4000 BCE. In Kyrgyzstan, balbals mostly date from the 6th-10th century CE with a few examples from 10th-12th century CE. In Kyrgyzstan these bal-bals are associated with Turkic groups who moved into the area from the 6th century CE, the decline of the use of bal-bals coincides with the spread of Islam into this area.

Bal-bals vary from being just heads to having a body that end at the waist with enough space to show a sword. Their size ranges from 30cm to over 2metres tall. The carving may be done in relief or as basic lines etched into the stone (which may also be polished). In some case it is just a natural stone that has been selected for its shape and had a little carving done to create the balbal; in other cases the balbals extensively shaped and carved do you cannot tell the shape of the stone it came from. In some rare instances the back of the balbal is also carved.

In Kyrgyzstan the stone used for balbals this is often granite although limestone was also used. The carved features show faces with strong mongoloid features with either a moustache or a beard. Head dresses may also be shown, the chin is well defined and the neck is represented this maybe accompanied by shoulders. Usually the lower at least the lower arms are shown with the hands carved in good detail. The right hand is usually slightly raised and holds stemmed drinking cup (chalice) or a bowl. The left hand clutches the hilt of a sword that goes through a belt. Sometimes there is a dagger on the belt on the right side of the figure.

There are two interpretations of what these balbals represent:
1.Carved representation of the buried individual.
2.Carved representation of enemy's killed in battle.
The second interpretation is considered to be the most likely correct as multiple balbals are sometimes found in association with single burials.

In Kyrgyzstan, most balbals that you will see are in towns either at museums or in public parks and so are no longer in their original positions. This means that they are easy to see but then they are easy to vandalise and there may be no information about where they are from, another consequence of this is that the original burial sites are often lost since their markers have been removed.


In other countries stones similar to balbals are found with a much wider and often earlier date range.
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Karakol Park
Karakol Park submitted by h_fenton : Balbals in the park in the centre of Karakol, Kyrgyzstan. 15 June 2008 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Karakol Park
Karakol Park submitted by h_fenton (Vote or comment on this photo)

Karakol Park
Karakol Park submitted by h_fenton : Balbals in the park in the centre of Karakol, Kyrgyzstan. 15 June 2008 (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Flickr
Karakol street scene
Karakol, Dungan (Chinese) Mosque 3
Karakol, Russian Orthodox Church, Holy Trinity Cathedral 3
Karakol, Russian Orthodox Church, Holy Trinity Cathedral 4
Karakol, Russian Orthodox Church, Holy Trinity Cathedral 7
Karakol, Russian Orthodox Church, Holy Trinity Cathedral 8

The above images may not be of the site on this page, but were taken nearby. They are loaded from Flickr so please click on them for image credits.


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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 695m WSW 248° Karakol Regional Museum* Museum
 144.2km NW 306° The Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan* Museum
 159.9km N 354° Complex Besshatyr* Artificial Mound
 236.3km WNW 294° Targan Barrow Cemetery Barrow Cemetery
 259.3km W 277° Balasagun stone Balbas Sculptured Stone
 259.4km WSW 254° East Song Köl Balbal* Sculptured Stone
 274.3km WNW 303° Tamgaly Petroglyphs* Rock Art
 313.2km W 279° State Historical Museum of Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek* Museum
 347.5km ESE 102° Kizil Caves of 1000 Buddhas* Cave or Rock Shelter
 366.7km SSW 210° Mor Stupas* Ancient Temple
 406.9km WSW 251° Saimaly-Tash Rock Art
 528.9km SE 145° Karadong* Ancient Village or Settlement
 537.2km WSW 248° The Heavenly Horses Rock Art
 583.3km SSW 209° Jirzankal cemetery* Barrow Cemetery
 590.0km SSW 208° Tashkurgan* Ancient Village or Settlement
 613.3km NNE 27° Eleke Sazy Burial Mounds* Barrow Cemetery
 615.2km SSE 166° Dandan Oilik* Ancient Village or Settlement
 626.8km SSE 159° Rawak* Ancient Village or Settlement
 696.3km SE 137° Endere (China)* Ancient Village or Settlement
 701.2km E 100° Tarim River Tombs Barrow Cemetery
 709.3km NE 41° Shilikty Burial Mounds Barrow Cemetery
 710.4km SE 146° Niya (China)* Ancient Village or Settlement
 758.3km SSW 206° Hunza Valley Petroglyphs* Rock Art
 759.1km ENE 76° Zinjiang Autonomous Region Museum* Museum
 760.1km ENE 76° Sahensai Cemetery* Barrow Cemetery
View more nearby sites and additional images

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