Aulie-Tash Sacral Site in Southern Transurals: Archaeological and Ethnographic Aspect

Since ancient times, the Ural region has been known for using natural sites for ritualistic purposes. Recent researches show that such a function could be borne by Aulie-Tash. Aulie-Tash is exposed natural rocks. The rocky cliff faces the river and lays near Redutovo village, Chesmensky District, Chelyabinsk Region, by the mid Teetkan River. The exposed rocks fringe a 18×20 m tableland on top of the 6–8 m tall hill. This is a prominent feature to the landscape. Current residents of Aulie-Tash settlement recall of the site as of a sacral one hosting rites devoted to the cult of mediating ancestors and local patronizing spirits. The tableland inside the exposed rocks is found with materials dated back to the Stone Age. This allows an assumption that Aulie-Tash operated as a natural sacral site back in the ancient times. The finds originate from stone openings revealing ethnographic items and animal bones. The hill foot hosts a site with a cultural layer dated back to the Neolithic. Items collected from the surface list plate-based tools, scrapers, cutters, core fragments, unprocessed plates and flakes. The research also discovered a ceramic fragment with a curved transverse pattern. The excavation pit reveals a cultural layer with stone micro tools and flakes. The composition of finds and raw materials differs at the camp and the sacral site. At the camp site they list tools made of different materials. The sacral site is mostly represented by distal and proximal fragments of plates made of light flintstone and grey jasper.