History of the Study of Images on Stones from the Tagar Culture Mounds

The author identified the stages of studying the images on the plates form the Tagar burial mounds in the Minusinsk basin. 1. 18th – mid 19th century: accumulation of the first knowledge about petroglyphs during academic expeditions (D. G. Messerschmidt, G. F. Miller, etc.). 2. 1860s–1950s: study of the Tagar mounds and documentation of images on their constructions (D. A. Klements, I. R. Aspelin, A. V. Adrianov, S. V. Kiselev, etc.). 3. 1960s–1980s: episodic mentions during rescue archaeological excavations (M. P. Gryaznov, M. N. Pshenitsyna, N. A. Bokovenko) and purposeful research (T. V. Nikolayeva, D. G. Savinov). 4. 1990s–2020s: complex analysis of petroglyphs on the stones from the Tagar mounds (E. A. Miklashevich, A. N. Mukhareva, O. S. Sovetova, etc.). Currently, a set of approaches to identifying and documenting petroglyphs on the stones from the Tagar mounds has been developed.