Despite its harsh and arid conditions, the Gobi Desert has played an important role in shaping Holocene populations, including the transition from hunting to herding lifeways. Here we present three newly documented rock art sites in the Gobi-Altai Mountains of south-central Mongolia, a cave (Gazar Agui 1), a rock shelter (Gazar Agui 13) and an open-air landscape site overlooking a palaeolake (Unegt Uul). In addition, we re-examine the preservation of the rock art cave site of Saalit Agui some 20 years after its original documentation, using digital technology not available at that time. Comparisons of rock art at Gazar Agui 1 and Saalit Agui with previously documented rock art in Mongolia suggest links with Mesolithic and Neolithic anthropomorphic iconography. Unegt Uul and Gazar Agui 13 show Early Bronze Age to Iron Age symbols, suggesting two distinct periods of production, by hunter-gatherers during the Early Holocene and by later hunter-pastoralists during the Late Holocene. Our findings suggest that wet periods in mountainous basins of the Gobi-Altai were likely key to early human habitation, with pastoralism dominating during arid periods. Our observations further indicate that preservation of rock art sites in the region is currently under threat due to human activity and climate change.

尽管处境艰苦干旱，但戈壁沙漠在塑造全新世人口方面发挥了重要作用，包括从狩猎到放牧的过渡。在这里，我们介绍了蒙古中南部戈壁-阿尔泰山的三个新记录的岩石艺术遗址，一个洞穴（Gazar Agui 1），一个岩石避难所（Gazar Agui 13）和一个俯瞰古湖水的露天景观（Unegt Uul） ）。此外，我们会使用当时尚无的数字技术，重新检查Saalit Agui岩画洞穴遗址在原始记录保存20年后的保存情况。将Gazar Agui 1和Saalit Agui的岩石艺术与蒙古先前记录的岩石艺术进行比较，表明与中石器时代和新石器时代的拟人化肖像学有关。Unegt Uul和Gazar Agui 13显示了从青铜时代到铁器时代的象征，提出了两个不同的生产时期，即全新世早期的捕猎者和后来的全新世晚期的牧民。我们的发现表明，戈壁-阿尔泰山区的湿润时期可能是人类早期居住的关键，在干旱时期牧民占主导地位。我们的观察结果进一步表明，由于人类活动和气候变化，该地区的岩石艺术遗址保护目前受到威胁。