Kurgan stelae

Kurgan stelae or Balbals (Ukrainian: балбал, most probably from Turkic word balbal meaning "ancestor" or "grandfather") are anthropomorphic stone stelae, images cut from stone, installed atop, within or around kurgans (i.e. tumuli), in kurgan cemeteries, or in a double line extending from a kurgan. The stelae are also described as "obelisks" or "statue menhirs".

Kurgan stelae

"La Dame de Saint-Sernin", southern France, 3100-2900 BC.

The Kernosivsky idol (Керносівський ідол), dated to the mid 3rd millennium BC and associated with the late Pit Grave (Yamna) culture.

Anthropomorphic stele of the early type (Neolithic period) from Hamangia-Baia, Romania exhibited at Histria Museum

Stele #25 from the Petit Chasseur in Sion, Switzerland, dating from 2700–2150 BC

Spanning more than three millennia, they are clearly the product of various cultures. The earliest are associated with the Pit Grave culture of the Pontic–Caspian steppe (and therefore with the Proto-Indo-Europeans according to the mainstream Kurgan hypothesis). The Iron Age specimens are identified with the Scythians and medieval examples with Turkic peoples.

Such stelae are found in large numbers in Southern Russia, Ukraine, Prussia, southern Siberia, Central Asia, Turkey and Mongolia.

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