und mongolischen Steppe finden sich die mehr als fünf Jahrtausende alten Steinbilder. Für die Einheimischen sind diese Orte bis heute heilig. Dieses Buch bietet eine fachkundige Einleitung in das Gebiet der Felsbilder und gibt einen faszinierenden Einblick in eine uns unbekannte Welt. Informative Erklärungen zu zahlreichen Fotografien, die auf Reisen durch die Mongolei, Kasachstan und Kirgistan entstanden sind, lassen Leser*innen in das Leben prähistorischer Gesellschaften Zentralasiens eintauchen. Religious ideas and changing societies in prehistoric Central Asia A flock of deer flying close together towards the sky, a herd of camels with their driver sitting on the lead animal, an old dignified man with a beard holding a chalice in front of his navel looking at us with wide eyes, or an army of armoured mounted warriors and people whose heads are surrounded by a halo of rays - these are just some of the impressive images we encounter, carved in stone, in Central Asia. This volume takes us to places that were previously known only to specialists or locals. Whether in the high mountains, which are only free of ice for a few weeks a year, or in the hills under the scorching sun in the Kazakh and Mongolian steppes, we find stone images that are often more than five millennia old. For the locals, these places are sacred to this day. This book offers an expert introduction to the area of rock art in Central Asia and provides a fascinating insight into a hidden and not well known world. Informative explanations of numerous photographs taken on journeys through Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan allow readers to immerse themselves in the life of prehistoric societies in Central Asia from the stone age up to the 9th century AD. Zweisprachiger Titel: Deutsch / Englisch