Костяная пластина с гравированной композицией поселения раннего железного века в верховьях ущелья Турген / The Bone Plate with Engraving Composition from the Early Iron Age Settlement Kyzylbulak-IV in the Upper Part of Turgen Gorge (Almaty, 2016) (original) (raw)

Goryachev A.A., Egorova T.A., Yatsenko S.A. THE BONE PLATE WITH ENGRAVING COMPOSITION FROM THE EARLY IRON AGE SETTLEMENT KYZYLBULAK-IV IN THE UPPER PART OF TURGEN GORGE The plate of original 13–15sm length made of horse`s left scapula bone (fig. 1, 3) was found in 2015 in the upper part of Turgen’ Gorge in the NW part of Tien-Shan Mountains, near Almaty city (SE Kazakhstan). It was found in the 1st-2nd cc. CE house of Wusun nomadic culture season settlement Kyzylbulak-IV (the point ca. 2280 m high) (fig. 1, 1), near the fair place (fig. 1, 2). The plate was, probably, the detail of unknown wooden artifact. It have the complete engraving composition, probably, demonstrated the triumph over the mutineer of the same ethnic group (with the same costume, hairstyle etc.). The details of the haircut, the armor, the swords, the severed head motif and the struggle of two groups of the same tribe union, the instruments for engraving are similar to the belt buckles from Orlat, barrow 2, and the plate can be included in Kangju “Nomadic Empire” art (fig. 3). It was the part of series of plates with battle and hunting scenes made of bone or horn in Trasoxiana in the 2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE (fig. 4). The wagon details are similar to Sarmatian images of the 2nd c. BCE – early 3rd c. CE (fig. 2: 4, 6-7). Possibly, the plate got to dependent population of the western part of Wusun in the time of the most active Kangju expansion in the 1st–2nd cc. AD. There the ruler (the left figure) brings the severed head of the enemy from the hands of the military group commander (the far right figure). Behind the ruler we see the fragmented big eagle, the symbol of power. Probably, the ruler will keep the important enemies heads (comp. in Karamania, SE Iran: Strabo. 15.2.14) in his residence and prepare the bowls for wine (comp. Herod. 4.64-65 and Xiongnu traditions). For common enemies the scalping was usual (comp. Herod. 4. 64). The meeting of winner was organized not in the residence but near the road wagon. The most likely, it was the episode of the ethno-political legend. [There are some editorial mistakes in the text. Among them, the important FIG. 1 was printed very bad. That’s why in the end of the article three main parts of this Figure pasted in more quality version]. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: FIG. 1. House No 1 and the bone engraved plate from Kyzylbulak-IV settlement: 1 - Kyzylbulak-IV plan and the excavation trench of 2015 y. with house No 1; 2 – house No 1 with the point of bone engraved plate find; 3 – the drawing of engraved bone artifact. 2. FIG. 2. Nomadic and semi-nomadic wagons and mobile houses: 1 – Znamenka (Khakasia, Okunevo Culture, Bronze Age, after Tainstvo 2014); 2 – Pazyryk, barrow 5, the 4th-3rd cc. BCE (after Rudenko 1953): 3 – wooden coffin near Shanmacheng Village, the 4th c. CE (Gansu, China, after Hexi zoulang, 2011); 4 – Sarmatian graffiti on Bayte III temple, the 3rd-1st cc. BCE (Ustyurt Plateau, Western Kazakhstan); 5 – Kyzylbulak-IV; 6 – burial models of Sarmatian wagons from Panticapaeum / Kertch, the 2nd-3rd cc. CE (after Yatsenko 1994); 7 – tombstone fragment from Tanais, the 2nd-3rd cc. CE (after Yatsenko, 1994). FIG. 3. The armor, weapons (1-7, 13-14, 17-18) and hairstyle (8-12, 15-16): 1, 13, 15-17 – Kyzylbulak-IV; 2, 5-5а, 7-9, 12, 18 – Orlat, barrow 2, the 1st-2nd cc. CE (after Il’yasov 2003); 3, 14 – Zhaltyrak-Tash petroglyphs, Kyrgyzstan (3 – after Samashev 2013; 14 – non-published drowing of E.A. Miklashevitch); 4 – Indo-Saka coin of Azes II, 35-12 BCE (after http://www.coinarchives.com); 6 – Khalchayan, the Northern Bactria, the 1st c. CE (after Pugachenkova 1971); 10 – bronze lamp detail, near Tataz, South Kazakhstan (after Gorelik 1993); 11 – Tepsei Mointain, Khakasia, Tashtyk Culture (after Gryaznov 1971). FIG. 4. Plates with battle and hunting scenes made of bone and horn, from Transoxiana of the 2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE (1-4), and warrior ritual with severed head (5): 1 – belt buckle from barrow 2 in Orlat, Sogd, the 1st-2nd cc. CE (after Il’yasov 2003; Yatsenko 2000); 2 – top of unknown artifact from Kalalay-Gyr 2, Khwarezm, the 2nd c. BCE (after Il’yasov 2013); 3 – belt buckle detail from Tillya-bulak, the Northern Bactria, the 1st c. BCE – the 1st c. CE (after Gruger, Il’yasov, Kaniuth 2012); 4 – belt plate from Takhti Sangin, the Northern Bactria, the 1st c. BCE – the 1st c. CE (after Livinsky 2002); 5 – the golden ‘cap’ from Kurjips barrow, the 4th c. BCE, Adygeya, the NW Caucasus (after Galanina 1980).