Pazyryk culture of Mountain Altai: on the problem of the origin of the deer cult and the existence of taiga reindeer husbandry (interpretation based on oral history and cave paintings).

Oral history has preserved unique information about the methods of hunting, capture and domestication of wild deer among Altai people at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the existence of reindeer husbandry in the ancient population of the region. Attraction of comparative folklore and ethnographic materials on the peoples of Siberia reveals the connection of wild deer with the spirit-mistresses of nature. Shrines Kalbak-Tash contains a large number of drawings with a hunting plot. An analysis of images of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic characters in the context of the subject environment reveals a variety of hunting methods that can be «read»based on comparative studies of hunting among Samoyeds practiced in the recent past. This information allows us to reinterpret the archaeological materials of the Pazyryk culture of Mountain Altai, in which the deer cult occupied an important place.