THE METAL AGES AND MEDIEVAL PERIOD DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.1.059-065 L.N. Ermolenko1, A.I. Soloviev2, and Zh.K. Kurmankulov3 1Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya 6, Kemerovo, 650043, Russia E-mail: [email protected] 2Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia E-mail: [email protected] 3A.K. Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Pr. Dostyk 44, Almaty, 050010, Republic of Kazakhstan E-mail: [email protected] An Old Turkic Statue from Borili, Ulytau Hills, Central Kazakhstan: Issues in Interpretation We describe an unusual Old Turkic statue from Borili (Ulytau, Central Kazakhstan), distinguished by a peculiar position of the hands and holding an unusual object––a battle axe instead of a vessel. Stylistic features and possible prototypes among actual battle axes suggest that the statue dates to the 7th to early 8th centuries AD. The composition attests to the sculptor’s familiarity with Sogdian/Iranian art and with that of China. Several interpretations of the statue are possible. The standard version regarding Old Turkic statues erected near stone enclosures is that they represent divine chiefs––patrons of a specifi c group of the population. Certain details carved on the statue indicate an early origin of the image. It is also possible that such statues are semantically similar to those of guardians placed along the “path of the spirits” near tombs of members of the Chinese royal elite. Keywords: Old Turks, statues, Central Kazakhstan, Sogdian art, China, “path of the spirits”, bladed weapons. Introduction an angle to the blade and equipped with a ring-shaped pommel, round and rectangular handbags with pendants, A stone statue that was recently discovered from the and a whetstone (Fig. 1). Although this sculpture location of Borili, in the Ulytau Hills, southwestern undoubtedly belongs to the Old Turkic world, a number Kazakh Uplands (Saryarka), was described earlier of parallels point in the Sogdian-Iranian direction. Yet, in (Ermolenko, Soloviev, Kurmankulov, 2016). This full- the search for explanation of the worldview and visual length statue of a man leaning on a battle axe with one phenomenon behind this image, one should also turn to hand and holding the handle of a straight-bladed weapon the materials of the territorially close Empire of China. in a sheath attached to his belt was found broken into This state possessed not only a powerful military and several parts. On the statue, there can be clearly seen cultural capacity which in its time made a signifi cant lapels of clothing, bracelets, a torque, earrings, belt with impact on the political events in the nomadic world and onlays, a short-bladed weapon with a handle located at ancient civilizations of East Asia, but also had a developed Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46/1 (2018) 59–65 E-mail: [email protected] © 2018 Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences © 2018 Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences © 2018 L.N. Ermolenko, A.I. Soloviev, Zh.K. Kurmankulov 59 60 L.N. Ermolenko, A.I. Soloviev, and Zh.K. Kurmankulov / Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 46/1 (2018) 59–65 the left hand: on the belt, on the abdomen, on the handle of a bladed weapon, on the body of the vessel together with the right hand, or on the left knee as for example is the case with some skillfully made, almost round sculptural images discovered in Mongolia. We are deliberately focusing on the basic visual elements which had the most important meaning for the viewers, being associated with the generally understandable “language” of conventional signs and gestures. In the overwhelming majority of cases when we consider male representations, such signifi cant elements are the vessel, belt, bladed weapon, and torque. And if the latter three elements in different combinations designated the status of the character, the vessel marked a specifi c subject of a sacral kind. In advance, we should note that depending on the urgency of the moment and the general scenario of the sacral ceremony (funeral feast, commemoration ritual, appeal to the spirit of the sacralized ancestor-patron, personal appeal, etc.), the meaning of the hand gesture with the cup would change. It can, for example, be interpreted as a sign of good will, the act of reception or, conversely, handing over the vessel, symbolic exchange of its contents between the person represented in stone and his relatives and descendants, etc. In fact, precisely the absence of the “feasting bowl” and its replacement with the battle axe—a dangerous weapon of close combat, which the medieval warriors of Eurasia used on the territory expanding from the banks of the Amur River to the valleys of the Rhine and the narrow fjords of Northern Europe, signifi cantly changed the sacral meaning of the statue under consideration. The axe as a weapon of military struggle was also certainly known to the representatives of the ancient Chinese civilization which, as recent discoveries show, was the Fig. 1. Sculpture from Borili. initiator, if not the trendsetter, of many popular forms of weaponry for the “northern barbarians” (various groups of cattle breeders whose herds grazed at the sculptural tradition going back to times of deep antiquity Chinese borders). The local elite was especially affected long before the appearance of the Old Turkic military and by the “charm” of the material and spiritual culture of political entities. the Great Empire. It is not diffi cult to fi nd examples. Even in the Xiongnu period, the highest nobility of the Xiongnu Empire buried its representatives according to Statue attribution the Han norms of funerary rite with the corresponding architecture of funerary structures and a large number Continuing the analysis of the Borili statue, we would of high-quality objects manufactured by artisans from like to draw attention to one very curious circumstance. imperial workshops (Polosmak, Bogdanov, 2015: 53– In fact, the posture of the represented person (standing 109, 119–132). The situation did not change much in the position, both hands resting on weapons) is more likely Middle Ages, in the Tang period, which can be to belong to a guardian than to a feasting hero with a confi rmed by the “mausoleums” of Tonyukuk, Bilge cup in his hand (the main character of Old Turkic stone Khagan, and Kul Tigin. The latter “mausoleum” was sculptures, who probably was perceived in this way, at actually constructed by Chinese builders who were sent least at the initial stage of the ritual use of this there with signs of “respect”, appropriate for the steppe sculpture). However, even though the postures of Old mentality. These structures included the so-called path Turkic sculptures were canonically established, there of the spirits (Shendao, Guidao, Shenlu) (Komissarov, were variants, which differed in terms of the position of Kudinova, Soloviev, 2012) with the standard set of stone L.N. Ermolenko, A.I. Soloviev, and Zh.K. Kurmankulov / Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 46/1 (2018) 59–65 61 sculptures including statues of people and animals, set inscriptions belong to such structurally important in pairs and included into the single architectural components of the famous funeral complex of Kul ensemble of the necropolis. According to the surviving Tigin. Judging by the abundance of such various-sized beliefs, the souls of the deceased would walk along this dragon-like armored reptiles that have been found in path, and the creatures embodied in stone would defend Mongolia (Mengguguo gudai youmu…, 2008: 206, 230, them. The earliest “valley of the spirits” can be found 282, 283, 288), and pieces of stelae, the Chinese in the burial of the Commander Huo Qubing mu (140– funerary tradition with the statue series of visualized 117 BC), and the first of the known monumental sacral characters was quite popular among the sculptures were set up in 120 BC (Kravtsova, 2007: 495, aristocratic environment of the Old Turkic society. 496; 2010). We should emphasize that the main features Notably, Tonyukuk, the famous military and political of the “path of the spirits” that had been established fi gure of the Second Turkic Khaganate, and the adviser during the Han period, remained the mandatory to Kul Tigin and Bilge Khagan, was educated in the elements of elite, and mainly of imperial, burials in capital of the Tang Empire in the spirit of the Chinese China until the Ming (1386–1644) and Qing (1644– culture. And military clashes and “devastating” 1911) dynasties inclusively. A.V. Adrianov observed and campaigns that are mentioned in the epistolary sources photographed a complex of dignitaries and creatures of the steppe warriors, as well as confrontation with the from the mythological bestiary, created according to the Tang dynasty of China, turned out not to be so important. standard norms of the medieval Chinese sculptural The centuries-old technological dominance of the tradition, on the left bank of the Ulug Khem in 1916 Empire, its wealth, luxury, vastness of territory, rigid (Belikova, 2014: 116–120, fi g. 43–50). Judging by the centralization of power, and rapidly restorable military pictorial canon and mutual arrangement of the statues, capacity could not but affect the imagination of the they represented the remains of such a “path of the steppe aristocrats, who felt like they stood on the same spirits”, once associated with the funerary complex of level as the rulers of the Empire by copying the the highest nobility, which has now disappeared. dominant elements of the neighboring high and Adrianov rightly correlated the fi nd in Tuva with the sophisticated culture.