Interpretation of some petroglyphs in western Siberia and images from the Siberian collection of Peter the Great in the context of Sakha mythology

Impetus to the work were materials on the mythology of Sakha where favorite sons of Uluu Tojon are Wolf and Raven, and shamans' belief that "Wolf was born by a snake". The study identified the etymological connection of Dragon, serpent symbols bUke and Wolf Ьётй based upon lexical material of the Turkic languages. Certainly, the image of the Dragon is not just a mixing, but a mythological rethinking of natural phenomena that are personification of human qualities. The twins motif is important to us, which is very evident in the connection of the Wolfs image. The twoness of images of the Wolf and the Serpent can be seen in the myth about Volhe Vseslavovice among the Slavs, as well as in the folklore of the Finns. In addition, duality of the Wolfs image is found also in the connection with Raven. This twoness is observed in North American Indian mythology, ancient Germans' myths (where they accompany Odin), legends of the Xiongnu. In the petroglyphs of Zaltyryk-Tasha Wolf is depicted with Snake's tail instead of the hind feet and with horns instead of ears. This contradicts the assumption about the Iranian origin of these pictures, because the senmurv - as opposed to those images - has a snake-shape body and dog's paws. Kalbak-Tash petroglyphs' Wolf is depicted not only with horns, but a forked snake's tongue. The image is "made in the technique of engraving, and the nearby rocky plateau has a series of images, which techniques, stories and style refers to the Ancient Turkic period (runic inscriptions, tamga-like signs)". Developing his hypothesis of the Iranian origin of the petroglyphs, Cheremisin D.V. suggested that the images could be left by the Sogdian merchants. It is quite controversial, since the images of Dragon and senmurv are sacred images and could not be pictured without participation of priests or shamans. We can therefore assume that these images are of Sibiryan origin. Moreover, the same author, taking into account the context, noted that "it seems more probable that the image is attributed to Turkic origins". Thus, the petroglyphs of Kyrgyzstan and Gorny Altai can be interpreted as an image of the Dragon, whose formation was influenced by images of the Wolf, Raven and Snake associated with a mediative function. Apparently, images in the aforementioned petroglyphs bear the idea of omnipresence of shaman's spirit or spirit of an ancestor, his ability to visit all the three worlds of the Universe - a mediative force, which due to certain historical events and contacts in the Sakha tradition could have been driven out by Paleo-Asiatic image of a shamanic Raven-Mediator. The Wolf, as judged by the image of wings, is able to fly and reach the Upper World, and - having morphed into a Serpent as a representative of the Water element - could descend to the Lower World.

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