Петроглифы Пегтымельской пещеры: история изучения и результаты современного исследования

Проблемы истории, филологии, культуры. 2025. № 3(89). С. 147–164.

Павлов Д. М., Леванова Е. С., Svoyski Y.

2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the discovery of petroglyphs on the Pegtymel River 
(northwestern Chukotka), fi rst explored by Soviet archaeologist N.N. Dikov in 1967–1968. 
Since 2021, the team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IA 
RAS) has been working on digital mapping and documenting the petroglyphs of Pegtymel River 
to create an accurate and complete digital image of it. One of the focal points of this rock art site, 
which is most important for understanding the history of its formation and internal organization, 
is the so-called cave, located in the zone of the densest concentration of petroglyphs. In this 
cave in 1968, N.N. Dikov carried out excavation works, during which he discovered a number 
of artifacts that allowed him to substantiate the dating of the petroglyphs. In 2024, photographs, 
petroglyph drawings, photographic prints and sketches were found in the scientist’s archive at 
the North-Eastern Interdisciplinary Research Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian 
Academy of Sciences, which, in comparison with the data from digital mapping and 2021 documentation, allow us to return to the question of interpreting the data obtained during the excavations of 1967–1968. The article also presents unpublished surface drawings based on the results 
of the expedition of the IA RAS in 2008. Based on the results of the analysis of 3D-modeling 
materials performed in 2021–2022, preliminary results of the analysis of superimpositions (palimpsests) on two cave surfaces are shown. It allows to determine the sequence of applying 
individual groups of images, identify the main variants of embossing and engraving, describing 
their exact morphometric characteristics.
 

Keywords: 3D-моделирование, Чукотка, Chukotka, наскальное искусство, petroglyphs, rock art, Pegtymel petroglyphs, Пегтымельские петроглифы, мониторинг объектов археологического наследия