Russia Unveils VR Game That Brings Ancient Petroglyphs to Life
A new virtual reality game created by Siberian archaeologists lets players explore Russia’s ancient rock art in immersive digital landscapes.
Researchers at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed the country’s first video game dedicated to petroglyphs—ancient rock carvings that preserve centuries of cultural memory.
Players travel across seven locations, each a precise digital reconstruction of renowned archaeological sites in the Tom River basin, Khakassia, and the Altai Mountains. Among them are the Tomskaya, Boyarskaya, and Shalabolinskaya petroglyph complexes, as well as the Kalbak-Tash tract. The virtual environments are built on real 3D tours captured directly at these sites.
The core gameplay challenges users to identify ancient images hidden on unfamiliar rock surfaces—drawings that span periods from the Bronze Age to modern ethnographic eras. These include depictions of animals, mythological scenes, shamans, and deities. Beyond the game itself, the project’s website offers video lectures by researchers and 3D tours of prehistoric caves once inhabited by Denisovans and Neanderthals.
A Digit to Memorize
The release marks the final stage of a large-scale initiative titled “Stories in Stone: Virtual Journeys with Ancient Artists,” and the game is already available on the institute’s official website.
Russia’s past continues to spark creative innovation across disciplines. Earlier this year, the release of “Zemsky Sobor,” a game inspired by the political upheavals of the 17th century, drew significant attention within the domestic game development community.
Scientists, too, are turning to emerging technologies to expand public engagement with history and archaeology—digitizing cultural monuments, reconstructing lost artifacts, and building virtual models of ancient settlements.
