Okunev stele

3D Model

Okunev culture (2500 - 1800 BC)

Sandstone

The Okunev people from Khakassia region (Southern Siberia, Russia) left one of the most remarkable cultures of Recent Prehistory, as these ancestors of the Kyrgyz and other Turkic-Mongolian people created unique statues and stone steles. Some specialists consider these manifestations to be representations of their ancestors, while other archaeologists believe that they are representations of deities, mainly solar deities, which through their smiles brought warmth.

Many of these sculptures and steles are accompanied by solar signs, such as the “Third eye”, which is a symbol of the supernatural connected with the Cosmos. Other images present a square (Earth) and circular (Heaven) symbol combination, addressing to the universe, a reference of the Kyrgyz phrase “tөgөrөktүn tөrt burchu”, that means, “the four corners of the circle”.

State Historical Museum (Moscow)