Portrayal of a sea in a semiarid environment: Boat engravings in Böyük Daş, Gobustan

Boat engravings represent one of the most recurrent and characteristic themes in Gobustan rock art. From a stylistic point of view informed by preliminary studies, it seems that boat figures have been engraved over a long span of time, suggesting the importance of the aquatic environment of the past. Today Gobustan is a semi-desert region facing the Caspian Sea, which has shaped the area during the millennia. Petroglyphs and transgression and regression movements of the sea have deeply influenced the landscape of Gobustan. Therefore the studied different boat engravings in Boyuk Das, one of the five rock art sites in Gobustan, for a deeper understanding and the kinds of relationship that existed between humans, sea-landscapes and the engraved figures.