Kurgan stelae
（重定向自Balbal）
![The Kernosovskiy idol (Керносовский идол), dated to the mid 3rd millennium BC and associated with the late Pit Grave (Yamna) culture.[1]](/Images/godic/202412/23/Керносовский_идол5230.png")
![Anthropomorphic stele of the early type (Neolithic period) from Hamangia-Baia, Romania exhibited at Histria Museum](/Images/godic/202412/23/2006_0814_Histria_Museum_Neolithic_Menhirs_200603015230.jpg")
![Stele #25 from the Petit Chasseur in Sion, Switzerland, dating from 2700–2150 BC[6]](/Images/godic/202412/23/Anthropomorphic_stele_no_25,_Sion,_Petit-Chasseur_necropolis_135230.jpg")
![Scythian 5th to 4th century BC. Salbyk kurgan surrounded by balbals with kurgan obelisk on the top. Photographed before excavation, early 20th-century, Minusinsk territory, Siberia](/Images/godic/202412/23/SalbykKurgan2212016835230.jpg")
Kurgan stelae (Mongolian: хүн чулуу; Russian: каменные бабы; Ukrainian: Баби кам'яні "stone babas"; Kyrgyz:балбал [bɑlbɑl]) or Balbals (балбал balbal, most probably from a Turkic word balbal meaning "ancestor" or "grandfather" or the Mongolic word "barimal" which means "handmade statue") are anthropomorphic stone stelae, images cut from stone, installed atop, within or around kurgans (i.e. tumuli), in kurgan cemeteries, or in a double line extending from a kurgan. The stelae are also described as "obelisks" or "statue menhirs".