File:Tsatsyn Denj Deerstones on the bluffs North of the Tamir River (in the distance).jpg

English: Tsatsyn Denj Deerstones on the bluffs North of the Tamir River in association with many later monuments. Many of the deerstones were reused as walls in Square tombs. Recent excavations by the Monaco mission under the direction of Jerome Magail have reerected many of these and we were able to see 43 in the area (two have been moved to Ulaan Baatar) Originally, the valley must have been lined with hundreds of deerstones with several on every point in the bluffs. While the exact meaning of deerstones is still debated, they are clearly totemic markers with shamanic content, symbolizing simultaneously a stylized human form, the sacred cosmos and the fertilizing phallus. The Forest God in the Japanese Manga film "Princess Mononoke" give a good idea of what the deerstone represent. They are not grave markers, though some are associated with (later?/contemporary?) Khirig Sur (kurgan) burials. Almost all have highly stylized bird-reindeer with open beaks and baroque horns, flying between earth and heaven, which also represent tattoos or embroidery, a belt which also represents the earth, suns that double as ears, a line of dots that demarcate both the heavens and the glans of the penis, and an enigmatic sporran--which may be a shield or shamanic cloak or bag. Weapons (sword, bow--sometimes drawn, with arrow--, quiver or bow case, axe, dagger) are also common. Most deerstones were erected on South-facing bluffs overlooking rivers, as here over the Tamir, where they would be both visible and in position to influence the fertility of the valley. Today, each family has its deerstone or group of deerstones, which they usually protect (though one family was using theirs as the roof of a dog house). Bronze Age (recently dates have crept earlier to roughly 1300 BC - 700 BC). When I first came to Mongolia in the 1990s, deerstones were considered rare. That situation has since changed radically. The later builders of Square Tombs loved deerstones for their sacred power and would drag them a long way to use as the walls and covers of their tombs (as many as 11 deerstones per tomb). As a result, now that Square Tombs are being excavated regularly, more than 700 deerstones are known. I'd estimate at least 2000 deertsones survive in Mongolia in Square Tombs. This large number indicates that they may hae been clan specific and that they were erected at fairly frequent intervals (e.g. after an eclipse or on the death of a ruler).