Mount Dogee is among the candidates for the chief “Treasure of Tuva”

The very first object to be submitted to the “Nine Treasures” contest was Mount Dogee, located near Kyzyl. A veteran journalist, honorable citizen of Kyzyl, Kara-Kuske Choodu, told of the secrets of this well-known, yet, as it turned out, unknown mountain. She has always been a place of veneration, and every year, rituals of sanctification have taken place here. Multiple ovaa on the mountain were destroyed by the revolutionaries during anti-religious campaigns in the 30’s of the last century.

During the Soviet period, runs up the mountain were a tradition. Now this tradition is coming back. In 2010 – the Year of Tourism – a group of fans of a fast way of life in Tuva met on this mountain.

Archeologists from St.Petersburg, Vladimir Kisel and Sergei Khavrin tell about this unique archeological and ethnological complex in their work. They have been rescuing kurgans in the area of Vavilinsky bay in the vicinity of Kyzyl for many years.

We are publishing their work “Mt.Dogee as an archeological and ethnographic monument of Tuva” on the “Tos Ertine” site.

Mt. Dogee towers over Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva. It is located on the right bank of Yenisei, and is a part of the Uyuk Ridge system of the West Sayan mountains. The mountain has an elevation of 1002 meters. In the old times, Tuvans considered the mountain sacred, and worshipped it. The cardinal economic and spiritual changes which took place in Tuva in 20^th century had an impact on this tradition. During the Soviet rule, with its persecution of religions, the performance of sanctification rituals on the mountain stopped. The appearance of the top of the mountain also partially changed. The letters TAR (Tuvan Arat Republic) composed of stones appeared on the side of the mountain. Later, it changed to another set of letters – LENIN.

The disintegration of the USSR and the following economic and cultural crisis led to more changes. On Mt. Dogee, following one another, more slogans appeared, among them the name of the republic – Tyva,  name of the capital – Kyzyl, name of a popular rock group – DDT, English word Love, and women’s names Galya and Nina.  As stabilization increased, one name remained – Dogee. True, until recently it had to share the spotlight with Nina.

The new market policy turned the mountain into an object of buying and selling. The area on the top was rented out to a private person to establish a radio station. However, there is no radio station to this day. Obviously, such a long succession of changes could not leave the attitude of the local population to the mountain intact. As before, Mt. Dogee remains a significant object for the residents of Kyzyl and for the majority of the population of the country as well, but the image has changed considerably.

The most widespread idea is of Mt. Dogee as a tourist attraction. This is where streams of  visitors from other areas, with accompanying residents of Kyzyl  come, especially during the seasons of warm weather. Certainly, spectacular views of the Bii-Khem and Kaa-Khem confluence, mountain ridges, steppe plateau terrace Dogee-Baary, island of Vavilin Bay, and panorama of Kyzyl can be seen from the peak. These tourist visits to the peak leave consequences. The rock outcroppings, especially in the upper reaches of the mountain are covered by signatures, initials, sayings, pictures, symbols, all scratched or painted onto the rocks.

Beside tourists, pilgrims also visit Mt. Dogee. Their ascents are difficult to differentiate from lay tourist trips, because the religious attitude is only weakly expressed.  However, on the whole, veneration of the mountain as a sacred place is widespread among simple Tuvans, who consider the peak of the mountain as a center of communication with spirits, and ascent of the mountain as means of purification from sin. Thanks to the pilgrims to Mt. Dogee, many ovaa appeared (cultic structures shaped like a truncated pyramid, with pillar or pole in the center), with hanging chalama (strips of fabric) and kadaks (silk scarves or ribbons), as well as remains of san (sacred fires)

With the renaissance of Buddhism in Tuva, Mt.Dogee started to gain significance as one of the main Buddhist holy places. Activities of the Kamby-Lama, Tsechenling temple and Tibetan monastery Gyudmed as well as a community foundation “Enerel” contributed to this.  As a result of their efforts, the Om mani padme hum mantra, made up of stones painted white, 120 meters long and 20 meters wide appeared on one of the southwest slopes of the mountain. In addition, the monks performed a ritual of sanctification of this mantra, and hanged lungma (flags with pictures of the Wind Horse and mantras), meant to bring harmony into the life energy of the believers. Lungma have to be hanged in areas with a lot of wind, which Mt. Dogee undoubtedly is. This ritual brought thousands of Tuvan residents.

Later the Buddhists proposed to build a chapel on the mountain, and to raise a 15 meter statue of Buddha Shakyamuni on a 25 meter pedestal. A staircase 600 meters in length was to lead to the statue. The project was blessed by the Dalai-Lama and supported by the government of the republic. A beneficent foundation “Golden statue of Buddha Shakyamuni on the holy Mt. Dogee” appeared, and a special account was opened for contributions. It was decided to order the statue form Volgodonsk in Rostov region, where a many-meter statue of the Buddha was made for Kalmykia. However, because of the expansion of the world-wide economic crisis, the project had to be deferred.

It is not possible to ignore the role of the mountain as a community and political symbol. Ascent of the mountain is often viewed as a sports event  or social action. In this way recent times have seen running races to the top of Dogee in connection with various events, for example “non-alcoholic Saturdays” declared as part of anti-alcohol campaign. There are also traditional ascents by members of specialized professions. Workers of Tuvan Control – Rescue services, since the 1980’s, every year on May 2 light a fire on top of the mountain in memory of their colleagues who died in the line of duty. Ascent of the mountain as a political demonstration was performed in 2005 by members of the philanthropic foundation “Dersu Uzala” as expression of protest against terrorism in Beslan.

Lately Mt. Dogee also turned into a government symbol. In 2009, members of the government of Tuva (in accordance with tradition, only the men) met Shagaa (Lunar New Year) on the peak of the mountain with a sacred fire. More than that, the official site of Tuvan capital was www.doge.ru for some time.

Mt. Dogee gained such a wide variety of functions only in recent times. It still remains unclear just how deep into history go the roots of the most ancient idea of sacralization of the mountain. To solve this question, workers of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) of RAN and the State Hermitage researched the slopes of Mt. Dogee. As a result they discovered two groups of kurgans and several groupings of petroglyphs. At the eastern base of the mountain turned towards Bii-Khem, left of the ravine, a row of kurgans dating from the Middle Ages stretches in easterly direction. The five piles of stones with diameter of 5-7 meters and 30-40 cm high are slightly covered up with earth.

Similar four monuments are located on the other side of the ravine, about 30-50 meters towards the north. They are located on a mountain slope on two small plateaus. These kurgans are also arranged in a row, which is parallel with the first one.

The object located closest to the automobile road is damaged. The stones have been partially removed.

On the sloping northern side, there is another stone structure of 2 meter diameter and 50 centimeter height. It is, most likely, of relatively recent date, perhaps 2 – 4 centuries old. It represents either a burial or a damaged ovaa.

It needs to be noted that the tradition of using Mt. Dogee as a place of burial continues until the present time. Next to the first group of kurgans on the right side of the ravine, there is a completely ordinary contemporary burial. Inside a palisade painted blue is a grave mound with a red wooden monument in the shape of a truncated pyramid. A plaque that reads Shoidan Bavuu Khovalygovich 15.09.25 – 10.08.02 is nailed to it.

Petroglyphs on the slopes of Mt.Dogee, just like the kurgans, are also predominantly located on the eastern side of the mountain. Opposite the dirt road which circles an earth bank on the vertical flat area, there can be faintly seen scratches connecting into an oblique net. Next to this, there are outlined figures of a standing deer and some other herbivore. Both animals are shown in profile, with heads facing towards the right.  These drawings most likely date to ethnographic times.

The most expressive drawings ale located on the right side of the ravine, south of the kurgans on the plateau. There are no fewer that 10 schematic drawings on several flat areas. There are animals (goats, deer? Camel?) a rider on a horse, a man with phallus. The figures are drawn in profile looking right, except for the two heraldic goats and the frontal man, whose feet are also turned right. These petroglyphs cannot be considered to have been drawn at the same time, because some of them were drawn on a crust of desert fire, while others were made after the crust flaked off. Besides, there are stylistic differences in the pictures. The drawings encompass a wide chronologic range from Hunnic period to ethnographic time.

Similar petroglyphs are well known on the territory of Tuva. For example, they are represented on the rocks in the Ortaa-Sargol valley, on mountains Mozaga-Komuzhap, Bizhiktig-Khaya, and Kherbis.

Higher, and a little to the west, there are other images, showing 9 camels and a dog. All the figures are in profile, directed to the right. Judging from the stylistic manner, the largest of these drawings can date to the Hunnic period or Early Middle Ages, and the small ones to developed or late Middle Ages.

At some distance from these, there is another profile figure of a camel chipped into the rock. It appears to be a copy of the previously described drawings, and dates to ethnographic time. It has to be emphasized that drawings of camels are quite rare among Tuvan petroglyphs.

Above the ravine, slightly below the path leading to the peak, on a rock outcropping facing the east, there is a group of partially obliterated engravings. There are poorly visible images (goats?), partially covered by a figure of a horse walking towards the right. An arch, representing a lead, stretches from the horse’s neck. Its other end connects with a scratched-in oblong, with “feet” and “antenna” (a house? A cart?).

It appears that the drawing dates to ethnographic times. The arch and oblong were added later, comparatively recently. On one of the northern slopes, among horizontal rocky outcroppings, under a stone overhang, there is a single engraved male goat. The figure is shown in profile facing right. It most likely dated to late Middle Ages or ethnographic time.

It cannot be ruled out that more petroglyphs will be discovered in the future. This is evidenced by poorly noticeable single drawings and poorly preserved images.

As the research showed, Mt. Dogee represents a composite cultic complex, which includes kurgan burials as well as monuments of petroglyphic art. Today we can confirm that this mountain figured prominently in the capacity of an especially venerated place at the very least since the borderline between the eras. Sacral qualities have been ascribed to this mountain for more than two millennia, and this tradition continues until the present time.