论鹿石的年代及相关问题

ON THE DATE OF DEER STONES AND RELATED PROBLEMS

鹿石是大部分表面雕刻有以鹿为主的动物形象和武器工具形象的拟人化石柱，因雕刻的动物形象大多数是有固定造型特征的鹿（俄罗斯学者称之为风格化的鹿），因此把这类石柱统称为鹿石。鹿石主要分布于蒙古共和国，其中西部省份分布最密集。与蒙古接壤的俄罗斯外贝加尔地区以及图瓦和阿尔泰地区、中国的新疆地区有少量分布，

The term “deer stone” refers to the anthropomorphic stone pillars carved mainly with deer and also with other animals, weapons or implements, which are largely distributed in Mongolia. Presently among Chinese and foreign researchers there remain divergent opinions on the earliest and latest limiting points of their chronology, as well as the dates of their types.