429

C I Ro L o M u z I o

Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An overview

Among ancient Eurasian nomads, the early Turks (mid-6th to 8th century) are one of the groups for which a relatively clear historical documentation (native as well as foreign written sources) can be associated with distinctive archaeological remains. These are mainly kurgan cemeteries, memorial stone fences, funerary sculpture and rock drawings, each of which categories presents several specific identifiable traits. In other words, for archaeologists, early Turks are easily recognizable, both in their homeland of Mongolia and the neighbouring areas of South Siberia, and in the lands they subsequently conquered in central and western Eurasia.1 A major marker of early Turkic funerary archaeology surely is the inhumation of the deceased along with his horse, a custom that is contradicted by the Chinese sources (namely, the Zhoushu), which state that the early Turks cremated their dead.2 A satisfactory explanation for this riddle remains to be proposed, apart from the hypothesis that inhumation might have become the prevalent custom in a later period, as the reference to the burial of Xieli Qaghans body (628) seems to suggest.3 Transoxiana was annexed by the First Turkic Khaghanate after the defeat of the Hephthalites by TurkicSasanian allied forces, in 560. In the late 6th century, when the Khaghanate split into two separate dominions (Western and Eastern Khaghanate), Transoxiana remained under the rule of the Western Turks until the Tang imposed its suzerainty over Western Central Asia. The Turks had been acquainted with the Sogdians well before they conquered Transoxiana. Not only did the Turkic chiefs employ the Sogdian language and script for their own inscriptions until the beginning of the 7th century, they granted to the Sogdians a prominent role in diplomacy and in the international trade network. In other words, the thesis of a Turco-Sogdian milieux4 is to be fully accepted. The Turks accepted Sogdian influence in Transoxiana as well, if we consider that most of the abundant numismatic evidence of Turkic rulers who in their motherland had no coinage of their own is modelled on the pre-existing local issues. The Turks did not hesitate to adopt the monetary practices of Transoxiana, and the Sogdian component appears so prominent that scholars include a specific chapter in the numismatic history of pre-Islamic Central Asia on the Turco-Sogdian coinage.5 The merging of Turks and Sogdians, at least among the members of their respective elites, has also been shown in local written sources, specifically one of the documents from Mount Mugh, dated 711, refers to the marriage of a Turk, ut-tegin, with a Sogdian woman from Nawaket.6
1

The main reference books on this subject are a volume of the series Archeologija SSSR, edited by Pletneva (1981), which deals extensively with Turkic archaeology, and the monograph by Stark (2008), the most comprehensive and updated work on early Turks, which appeared only after I had delivered this paper at the Vienna workshop, but before I had prepared this text for the proceedings. Stark 2008: 100102. Ibidem: 101102. La Vaissire 2005: 199ff. Baratova 1999; 2005a; 2005b. Livic 1960; Bajpakov and Gorjaeva 1999: 158. The Nawaket mentioned in the document may be identical with today Krasnaja Reka, the Sogdian colony in Semiree, or, as suggested by N. Sims-Williams during the conference, with any other Sogdian new town.

2 3 4 5 6

430

Ciro Lo Muzio

In the archaeological record of early medieval Sogdiana and Tokharistan, however, the evidence for early Turks does not do justice to the important political role they played. one is led to suspect that, unlike the upper and middle Sir Darya and, above all, Semiree, which had quickly become a crucial political centre of the Khaghanate, in the areas south of the Sir Darya no substantial migration of Turkic tribes seems to have taken place between the 6th and the 8th centuries. Future field research may dramatically change this picture, but for now it seems reasonable to think of a relatively small number of Turks residing in the major centres of Transoxiana, mainly as members of the ruling elite, along with their soldiers and their officers. Let us now turn to the archaeological evidence. We shall start our survey with a tomb excavated in 1948 by V .I. Sprievskij in the area of the ulugh Begh observatory, in the north-eastern outskirts of Samarkand. The grave consists of an unpretentious, roughly oval pit containing a man and a horse, with a few metal items and a ewer on and around them (Fig. 1). The tomb had an east-west orientation: the man lay supine with extended legs and arms, his head oriented to the east; the skeleton of the horse lay to the mans left, with its head oriented to the west. Definitely an unexpected find: a tomb that could have been found at Kudyrge7 or any other early Turkic cemetery in the Altai or Tuva. A bronze buckle is all that remains of the mans belt, but near the horses head 24 small silver plaques (Fig. 2a) were preserved; near the animals flank an iron buckle (Fig. 2b), an iron bit and an iron stirrup (Fig. 2c) were found, and, on its croup, a bronze plaque with the openwork representation of a winged feline (Fig. 2d). For this last item several parallels can be observed with the finds from the Kudyrge tombs; in particular, a bronze plaque from the kurgan 228 that matches the Samarkand specimen both in its openwork technique and its subject. Winged fantastic beasts worked in relief also occur on two additional bronze plaques from the same necropolis.9 The iron bit and stirrup reveal a close resemblance with items from Kudyrge10; for the silver plaques, suitable comparisons come from 6th 7th century burials in the Northern Caucasus and Crimea.11 As for the orientation, instead of Kudyrge (where the males body is oriented towards the south and the horse towards either south or north, if it is buried along with a females12), the closest parallels for the Samarkand tomb are in the Tuva area (e.g. Mongun Tajga, 7th9th century13), at Alamyik14 (Tianshan) and in the necropolis of Krasnaja Reka (Semiree), in particular in a late 7th early 8th century Turkic grave (Fig. 3), where, instead of a single inhumation, a couple, consisting of an elderly man with Mongolian traits and a younger Europoid (Sogdian?) woman, were buried, along with a single horse.15 The chronology of the Samarkand burial has been a matter of dispute. Sprievskij16 suggested a rather vague date in the middle of the 1st millennium CE; later on A.K. Ambroz17 dated the tomb to the second half of the 8th or even as late as the 9th century. The ewer found in the grave (Fig. 2e), however, fits in well into the 5th6th Sogdian tradition.18 Parallels yielded by the Kudyrge necropolis (second half of the 6th first half of the 7th century, according to Gavrilova) also suggest a link of the Samarkand burial to the earliest phase of Turkic expansion in Transoxiana. on the other hand, if we accept the revision recently proposed

7 8 9

The necropolis of Kudyrge has long been the leading site of early Turkic archaeology (Gavrilova 1965). Gavrilova 1965: pl. XXIV, 12. Ibidem: pls. XVI, 2 and XVIII, 24 (respectively a picture and a drawing of the same belt plaque) and XVIII, 25. See also Stark 2008: Abb. 80b, c. Gavrilova 1965: XII, 10, 14. Raspopova 1980: 97. Azbelev 2000. Mogilnikov 1981a: 37; Stark 2008: Abb. 15. Stark 2008: Abb. 18. Bajpakov and Gorjaeva 1999: 158, pl. 98, 14; Stark 2008: 267268, Abb. 107a. Sprievskij 1951: 40. Ambroz 1971: 126. Raspopova 1980: 9798

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An overview

431

by P.P. Azbelev for the Kudyrge cemetery an archaic phenomenon of the First Khaghanate that actually belongs to the second quarter of the 7th century19 the date of the Samarkand tomb may consequently have to shift to about the mid-7th century. A later date seems at least not to be contradicted by the parallels, already noted, by Mongun Tajga and Krasnaja Reka as far as the man/horse orientation is concerned. The ulugh Begh tomb is the only nearly complete early Turkic burial found thus far in Transoxiana, but we can mention the remains of what probably was an early Turkic burial much farther south, in the Eastern Pamir (Tajikistan). It was unearthed in 1948 by A.N. Berntam during the excavations of Pamirskaja I20, one of the largest kurgan cemeteries of the Saka period investigated in the area. While excavating the kurgan 9, Berntam came across a secondary inhumation just above the roof of the original grave pit, within the stone tumulus, at the surface level. The skeletons of a man and a horse were partially preserved, both of them lying with their heads oriented towards west. Elements of the horse trappings were recovered: iron bits with circular psalia, an 8-shaped stirrup and an iron buckle (Fig. 4). Berntam dated this tomb to the 8th9th century, surmising a relationship with the emergence of the Qarluq chiefdom. Apart from the fact that the cradle of the Qarluqs was further north in Semiree, based on what remains of the kurgan 9 secondary burial (and of the little we know about Qarluq tombs in Semiree21), we think that, however generic, early Turkic is a more cautious label for this find, and that an earlier date, closer to that of the Samarkand tomb and possibly within the 7th century, is not to be discarded. We shall now consider two further pieces of evidence from Tajikistan which can be linked to early Turks: two funerary sculptures, both of them chance finds. The first (Fig. 5) was brought to light by a plough near the kilak of Kala-i Dasht, in the Faizabad district, in 1970.22 It is a granite block a little less than 1 m high and 35 cm wide, roughly shaped as a male standing figure; the head is worked in the round, the body only sketched. The head is round, with small circular eyes, long arched stylized eyebrows, small mouth, a thin moustache with ends slightly pointing downwards, and a pointed chin. He holds a small conical bowl in the right hand at the chest level; the left hand rests on the lap. There is no clear indication of his dress, except for a line suggesting the waist or a waist-belt. Neither excavations nor field surveys were carried out at the place of the discovery. Therefore, just like the majority of early Turkic funerary sculptures, this specimen lacks the necessary archaeological information. We do not know whether this statue once stood beside a memorial stone fence, which was the chief destination of such stelae, on a kurgan or if it was a free-standing sculpture. In spite of this, we can find a place for it in the repertory of similar artefacts found in large quantities in the Eastern part of the Asian steppe belt from Mongolia to Kazakhstan. In this regard, I think it useful to stress that for funeral sculptures a major theme of Turkic archaeology different classifications have been so far proposed, none of which have been unanimously accepted. Some have focussed exclusively on technical features, regardless of the figurative components of these statues.23 other scholars, above all J.A. er, who published a comprehensive study of Turkic funerary sculptures from Semiree in 1966, have grouped these artefacts according to their iconography, considering it a more reliable typological criterion than workmanship. er arranged the whole production into five main groups, each of which further differentiated into a variable number of subgroups. The figures of the first group (Fig. 6a) hold a cup in their right hand and have weapons hanging from their belt; the left hand either rests on the belt or holds one of the weapons. The second group (Fig. 6b), to which our statue from Kala-i Dasht is to be assigned, includes all figures holding a cup, but with no weapons; the left hand rests on the lap. In the third group (Fig. 6c) only the head or the face of a man is worked out; in the fourth the figure holds a bird in his right hand instead of a cup; in the fifth, he holds a vase with both hands.24

19 20 21 22 23 24

Azbelev 2000. Berntam 1952: 291. Mogilnikov 1981b. ukov 1978; Solovev 1997: 124, fig. 66.1; Stark 2008: 277, Abb. 111a This is how Berntam (1952) and L.A. Evtjuchova (1952) approached the matter. er 1966: 26ff.

432

Ciro Lo Muzio

Whatever the methodological approach, in all these classifications, chronology always appears to be the weakest element. Setting aside the last two groups, which are supposed to belong to a later epoch (9th to 12th century), the first three groups are dated to the mid-6th8th century, a period which corresponds to the entire length of the First and Second Khaghanate. It seems that no finer articulation can be made within this repertory, first because of the poor archaeological documentation, and second, because any evolutionary approach i.e., one type may be earlier or later or even descend from another makes no sense from an artistic viewpoint; except for the fourth one, all groups have their iconographic forerunners in earlier Scythian funerary sculpture, especially to the west of the Eurasian steppe belt.25 The second finding from Tajikistan is a fragmentary limestone stele from the obikiik valley, in the Khatlon district (Fig. 7).26 A male figure with his left hand resting on his belt and his right on his chest; a vertical line is the only suggestion of a caftan. The statue is broken into two pieces, which were formerly thought (and published) as fragments belonging to two different sculptures.27 Now, thanks to a providential photograph published by Stark, the stele can be seen as it is displayed in the Dushanbe museum, with the head joined to (or merely resting on) the body; a restoration which, as Stark observes28, appears plausible. The statue does seem to fit perfectly with the workmanship and style of early Turkic tradition; the absence of a cup (or a bird) makes Stark doubt about a sure attribution of this artefact to the early Turks.29 At any rate, we find it useful to observe that the iconographic type of this sculpture be it purely Turkic or rather a local rendering of a Turkic traditional artefact can also be compared with much earlier Western Scythian prototypes (Fig. 8).30 Among the rock drawings investigated in several sites in Central Kizil Kum (uzbekistan), dating from the Bronze Age up to the early Middle Ages, there is a scene, drawn on the southern slope of the Kuljuktau, 100 km north-west of Bukhara, depicting three warriors (two horse-riders and one camel-rider), holding spears (Fig. 9).31 Beneath the scene is an inscription of 11 runes (Defeat the evil! Part from the disease!)32 that has been dated to the 8th early 9th century on palaeographic grounds. Both the drawing and the inscription are reported to reveal a homogeneous patina, hence the hypothesis that the three mounted warriors are to be identified as Turks or as members of some tribe closely linked with them.33 out of the archaeological evidence that has been attributed to early Turks on much more questionable grounds, I will restrict myself to the mention of the Loylagan necropolis. At this site, north of Sherabad (South uzbekistan), a funeral area was investigated (1973), about which only a brief account has been published, with no photographs or drawings.34 A series of oval, circular, square and rectangular stone fences were found on an area extending over 5 km. The fences have revealed no burials, but a layer of ash at a depth of 35 to 50 cm. on the ground of the few items recovered, Duke proposed to date the Loylagan necropolis to the early Turkic period, i.e. the 6th7th century, but he did not explicitly attribute it to a Turkic tribe; an attribution, however, made later by other scholars.35

25

For group I, see olchovskij - Evdokimov 1994: fig. 3 (4), 34 (63); group II: fig. 13 (19), 14 (20); group III: fig. 22 (38), 31 (58); group V: probably fig. 88 (153). Solovev 1997: 124125, figs. 65, 66.2; Stark 2008: 277278, Abb. 111bc. Solovev 1997: loc. cit. Stark 2008: 277. Stark 2008: 278. The absence of a cup as well as of weapons leads Solovev (1997: 124125) to think we are dealing with the depiction of a young male, as both attributes were a privilege of grown-ups, a hypothesis which is not convincing for the lack of suitable comparisons. See, for example, a sculpture of the late 7thfirst half of the 6th century BC from Vorovskolesskaja (Stavropol), in olchovkskij and Evdokimov 1994: 35 (no. 126), fig. 76 (126). Stark 2008: 281282. Kljatornyj 1978: 173. Stark 2008: 282. Duke 1975. See now also Stark 2008: 274275. Solovev 1997: 38; Malikov 1999: 195196.

26 27 28 29

30

31 32 33 34
35

Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An overview

433

As we already remarked, however, cremation was out of favour in the Turkic motherland, although it had long remained the main funeral practice of the populations inhabiting the Minusinsk basin, including the Kirghiz, an ethnos which was Turkicized between the 8th and the 10th century. This region had never given up this particular custom (already rooted in that area in the earlier Tagar and Tashtik cultures)36, but I would not venture the hypothesis of a migration from the Minusinsk basin, where, among the other things, the ashes were not deposited in layers but in small pits. A completely different perspective has been proposed by Bolelov37, who dates Loylagan to the 3rd4th century, linking it to similar cremation cemeteries in Chorasmia and, in general, to the ethnic migrations that went through Central Asia in the Hunnic period.38 I will now list some pieces of iconographic evidence that are possible depictions of Turks in the arts of early Medieval Transoxiana. A group of Turks have since long been unambiguously identified in a painted scene in an aristocratic residence (sector 23, room 1) at Afrasiab (Samarkand, mid-7th century; Fig. 10).39 Whether the composition is to be dated some time before or shortly after the end of the Turkic rule in Sogdiana (658) is still a matter of dispute40, as is the status of the Turks depicted in the mural and the overall interpretation of the subject of the mural. Whatever their role in the scene, the Turks are easily identified at Afrasiab by the long tresses that fall down on their backs, along with their clearly Mongolic physiognomy, their costume, weapons and ornaments. Apart from the Afrasiab mural there seems to be no other certain depiction of Turks in the painting of Transoxiana, unless we want to consider as likely candidates some figures dressed in caftans, very long hair falling down their backs, a hairstyle which, as far as I know, was not a fashion among Sogdian men. An example is the hunter represented in a 6th century mural from the Penjikent citadel41 (Fig. 11): his long hair matches an iconographic type that is well attested in early Turkic iconography, from the Altai, as on a saddle arch from Kudyrge (Fig. 12) or in a rock drawing at Kara ojuk42 (Fig. 13), and from as far west as Daghestan, on a carved bone decoration from the ir Jurt kurgan cemetery (7th early 8th century)43 (Fig. 14). The Turks, or at least a particular iconographic type which we may tentatively link with early Turks, seem to have left traces also in Central Asian baked clay figurines. I cite a 7th8th century terracotta from Bolaja Kyrk Kyz Kala44 in Chorasmia, showing the upper part of a male figure with long hair, oval head, and thick eyebrows and triangular nose that form together a T-shaped pattern (Fig. 15). The second figurine is a chance find from Takhmach Tepe (fig. 16)45, near Varakhsha in the Bukhara oasis: oval head, with thick eyebrows forming a continuous line and joined at a right angle with the triangular nose, large almondshaped eyes, and eyelids in strong relief; his arms are crossed on his chest, with the sleeves forming spiral folds, his left hand hidden behind the forearm and his right hand emerging behind the left forearm; the lower part of the body is lost. Both figures wear a tunic with open lapels. What is particular interesting about these
36 37 38

Kyzlasov 1981. Bolelov 1994: 105. I will exclude from the list of genuine or supposed archaeological evidence on early Turks in Transoxiana the kurgan cemetery of Baitudasht (6th early 7th century), in northern Tokharistan (Tajikistan). The attribution to the Turkic period was suggested with caution by Abdullaev (1990: 282), who led the diggings in the site, and only with regard to some specific items (arrow-heads). In later publications, however, the relationship between Baitudasht and the Turks is taken for granted (Solovev 1997: 38; Malikov 2000a: 100). There is nothing specifically Turkic in this cemetery (6thearly 7th century), which, according to Stark (2008: 273274), could have rather belonged to a Hephthalite group. Albaum 1975: 20ff., figs. 47, pls. VIIXI. For a recent discussion on the Afrasiab paintings, we refer the reader to the proceedings of a conference held in Venice (2003), see Compareti and La Vaissire (eds.) 2006. Marshak Raspopova 1990. Stark 2008: 53b. Ambroz 1981: 1416, fig. 62.90; Komar and Suchobokov 2000: fig. 4.1; Stark 2008: 155, Abb. 66 i. The hypothesis that this artefact may be of Sogdian workmanship, advanced by F . Grenet during the conference, is a stimulating suggestion. Pugaenkova and Rempel 1960: 64, fig. 65; Mekeris 1962: 107, pl. XXX, 406; Nerazik 1987: 118119, fig. 2. I have dealt upon this terracotta in a paper delivered at the conference South Asian Archaeology, held in Ravenna, in July 2007 (Lo Muzio forthcoming).

39 40

41 42 43

44 45

434

Ciro Lo Muzio

two terracottas is that they are comparable to Turkic funerary stone sculptures: the dress, the round face, the small slightly open mouth (at least in the Kirk Kyz Kala specimen) and, above all, the eyebrows and nose joined as to form a T-shaped pattern, a trait which is so often found, and emphasised, in early Turkic sculpture.46 A similar interpretation has been suggested for a fragmentary terracotta figurine (Fig. 17) found in 2003 during the excavations at Kuyuk Kala47, on the northern fringes of Chorasmia, depicting the headless bust of a male figure wearing a tight-sleeved caftan with both lapels open and holding a fluted bowl in his right hand at his chest. In Central Asian coroplastics, a cup is a fairly frequent attribute of female figurines, but definitely uncommon in male terracottas. If we believe the reconstruction proposed by M.M. Mambetullaev, who discerns on the right shoulder the remains of long hair, we would have a further example of traditional Turkic iconography transposed into the art of Transoxiana. I wonder whether we can include in our list of possible depictions of early Turks an unpublished terracotta male figurine kept in the Bukhara Museum (Fig. 18), a chance find from the Varakhsha area. The relief is very worn, but, in the treatment of the face (eyebrows, eyes and nose), the figure seems to match the terracottas described above, so much so that he wears a caftan with open double lapels and holds a shallow bowl in his right hand. Finally, we should perhaps add to our list a group of early Medieval Sogdian terracottas depicting horsemen holding a mace; the hypothesis that they depict Turks, however, is based on a presumed physiognomic (rather than iconographic) likeness.48 With these last items, however, we are already approaching a shaky ground: one further step in this direction would lead us into the realm of conjectures.

BIBLIoGRAPHY
ABDuLLAEV, A.P. (1990) Rabota Pjandskogo otrjada v 1982 g. Archeologieskie raboty v Tadikistane XXII (1982), 267282. AMBRoz, A.K. (1971) Problemy rannesrednevekovoj chronologii Vostonoj Evropy. Sovetskaja Archeologija 2, 96123; 3, 106134. (1981) Vostonoevropejskie i sredneaziatskie stepi V pervoj poloviny VIII v. In Stepy Evrazii v epochu srednevekovja. S.A. Pletneva (ed.), Moskva, 1023. AzBELEV, P.P. (2000) K issledovaniju kultury mogilnika Kudyrge na Altae. In Pjatye istorieskie tenija pamjati Michaila Petrovia Grjaznova. omsk, 46. [online: http://kronk.narod.ru/library/azbelev-pp-2000.htm]. .D. BAJPAKoV, K.M. AND GoRJAEVA, V (1999) Semiree. In Srednjaja Azija i Dalnyj Vostok v epochu srednevekovja. Srednjaja Azija v rannem srednevekove. G.A. Brykina (ed.), Moskva, 151162. BARAToVA, L.S. (1996) Istorija izuenija drevnetjurkskich monet Srednej Azii. Istorija materialnoj kultury Uzbekistana 27, 7782. (1999) Alttrkische Mnzen Mittelasiens aus dem 6.10. Jh. n. Chr.: Typologie, Ikonographie, historische Interpretation. Archologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 31, 219292. (2005a) Drevnetjurkskij numizmatieskij kompleks (sovremennyj uroveni perspektivy izuenija). In Istorija Uzbekistana v archeologieskich i pismennych istonikach. A.A. Anarbaev (ed.), Takent, 209220. (2005b) Turko-Sogdian Coinage. In Encyclopaedia Iranica. [online: www.iranica.com]. BERNTAM, A.N. (1952) Istoriko-archeologieskie oerki Centralnogo Tjan-anja i Pamiro-Alaja. Moskva-Leningrad. BoLELoV, S.B. (1994) Pogrebenija po obrjadu kremacii na territorii Srednej Azii. Rossijskaja Archeologija 4, 98106.

46 47 48

er 1966: 67. Mambetullaev 2004. zaslavskaja 1956; Mekeris 1962: 3940, pls. XVIIXVIII, nos. 318328; Pugaenkova and Rempel 1965: 163.

Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An overview BRYKINA, G.A. (ED.) (1999) Srednjaja Azija i Dalnyj Vostok v epochu srednevekovja. Srednjaja Azija v rannem srednevekove. Moskva. DuKE, CH. (1975)

435

Novyj mogilnik tjurkskogo vremeni v Junom uzbekistane. Uspechi sredneaziatskoj archeologii 3. Leningrad, 76.

KYzLASoV, L.R. (1981) Drevnechakasskaja kultura aatas. In Stepy Evrazii v epochu srednevekovja. S.A. Pletneva (ed.), Moskva, 4652. KoMAR, A.V . AND SuCHoBoKoV, o.V . (2000) Vooruenie i voennoe delo Chazarskogo kaganata. Vostonoevropejskij archeologieskij urnal 2(3). [online: http://www.archaeology.kiev.ua/journal/020300/komar_sukhobokov.htm]. LA VAISSIRE, . DE (2005) Sogdian Traders. A History (Handbook of oriental Studies VIII.10). Leiden/Boston. .A. LIVIC, V (1960) Sogdijskij branyj kontrakt naala VIII v. Sovetskaja etnografija 5, 1745.

Lo MuzIo, C. (forthcoming) unpublished Terracotta Figurines from the Bukhara oasis. In South Asian Archaeology, Ravenna, July 2007. MALIKoV, A.M. (1999) Tjurki v Tocharistane v VIVIII vv. Istorija materialnoj kultury Uzbekistana 30, 194197. MAMBETuLLAEV, M.M. (2004) Glinjanaja statuetka iz Kujukkaly. Archeologieskie issledovanija v Uzbekistane 2003 god 4, 9295. .I. MARSHAK, B.I. AND RASPoPoVA, V (1990) A Hunting Scene from Panjikent. In Aspects of Iranian Culture. In honor of Richard Nelson Frye (Bulletin of the Asia Institute, n. s. 4). C.A. Bromberg and B. Goldman (eds.), 7794. .A. MEKERIS, V (1962) Terrakoty Samarkandskogo muzeja. Katalog. Leningrad. MoGILNIKoV, V .A. (1981a) Tjurki. In Stepy Evrazii v epochu srednevekovja. S.A. Pletneva (ed.), Moskva, 2943. (1981b) Karluki. In Stepy Evrazii v epochu srednevekovja. S.A. Pletneva (ed.), Moskva, 46. .S. AND EVDoKIMoV, G.E. oLCHoVSKIJ, V (1994) Skifskie izvajanija. VIIIII vv. do n. e. Moskva. . oSKIN, A.V (1978) Novye nachodki petroglifov v Kyzylkumach. In Polevye issledovanija Instituta etnografii 1976. Moskva, 166173.

PLETNEVA, S.A. (ED.) (1981) Stepy Evrazii v epochu srednevekovja. Moskva. PuGAENKoVA, G.A. AND REMPEL, L.I. (1965) Istorija iskusstv Uzbekistana. Moskva. .I. RASPoPoVA, V (1980) Metallieskie izdelija rannesrednevekovogo Sogda. Leningrad. ER, J.A. (1966) Kamennye izvajanija Semireja. Moskva/Leningrad.

SoLoVEV, V .S. (1997) Severnyj Tocharistan v rannem srednevekove. Elec. SPRIEVSKIJ, V .I. (1951) Pogrebenie s konem serediny I tysjaeletija n.e. obnaruennoe okolo observatorii ulugbeka. Trudy Muzeja Istorii Narodov Uzbekistana I, 3342. STARK, S. (2008) Die Alttrkenzeit in Mittel- und Zentralasien. Archologische und historische Studien (Nomaden und Sesshafte Bd. 6). Wiesbaden.

zASLAVSKAJA, F .A. (1956) Terrakotovye statuetki vsadnikov s bulavami iz Afrasiaba v sobranii Muzeja istorii uzSSSR. Trudy Muzeja Istorii Narodov Uzbekistana III. Takent. uKoV, V .A. (1978) Nachodka drevnetjurkskogo izvajanija v Tadikistane. Materialnaja kultura Tadikistana 3. Duanbe, 120121.

436

Ciro Lo Muzio

Fig. 1: Early Turkic tomb in the area of the ulugh Begh observatory, Samarkand (after Stark 2008).

Fig. 2: Early Turkic tomb in the area of the ulugh Begh observatory, Samarkand: a) silver plaques; b) bronze buckle; c) iron bit and stirrup; d) bronze belt plaque; e) ewer (after Stark 2008).

Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An overview

437

Fig. 3: Turkic tomb, necropolis of Krasnaja Reka (Semiree) (after Brykina (ed.) 1999).

Fig. 4: Iron objects from the Turkic tomb in the kurgan 9, necropolis of Pamirskaja I (Eastern Pamir) (after Berntam 1952).

Fig. 5: Turkic stele from Kala-i Dasht (Tajikistan). Dushanbe, Archaeological Museum (after Stark 2008).

438

Ciro Lo Muzio

Fig. 6: Turkic stelae from Semiree: the first (a), the second (b) and the third group (c) according to J. ers classification (after er 1966).

Fig. 7: Turkic stele from obikiik (Tajikistan). Dushanbe, Archaeological Museum (after Stark 2008).

Fig. 8: Scythian funerary stele from Vorovskolesskaja (Northern Caucasus), Russia, 7th6th century BC. Stavropol, Regional Museum (after olchovskij and Evdokimov 1994).

Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An overview

439

Fig. 9: Rock drawings at Kuljuktau (Kizilkum, uzbekistan) (after Stark 2008).

Fig. 10: A group of Turks in a mural painting from Afrasiab (Samarkand), mid-7th century. Afrasiab Museum, Samarkand.

440

Ciro Lo Muzio

Fig. 11: A hunting scene in a mural painting from the Penjikent citadel, 6th century (after Marshak and Raspopova 1990).

Fig. 12: Detail of a bone saddle arch with the representation of a hunting scene, from the Kudyrge necropolis. Saint Petersburg, Hermitage Museum (after P. Chuvin (ed.), Les arts de lAsie Centrale, Paris 1999).

Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana: An overview

441

Fig. 13: A hunting scene in a rock drawing at Kara ojuk (Altai, Russia), 6th7th century (after Stark 2008).

Fig. 14: Fragment of a bone placque with the representation of a hunting scene, from the ir Jurt necropolis (Daghestan), 7th early 8th century (after Pletneva 1981).

442

Ciro Lo Muzio

Fig. 15: Terracotta figurine from Bolaja Kyrk Kyz Kala (Chorasmia). Samarkand, Registan Museum (after Mekeris 1962).

Fig. 16: Terracotta figurine from Takhmach Tepe, near Varakhsha (Bukhara oasis) (courtesy F . Filipponi).

Fig. 17: Terracotta figurine from Kuyuk Kala (Chorasmia) (after Mambetullaev 2004).

Fig. 18: Terracotta figurine from the Varakhsha area (Bukhara oasis) (courtesy F . Noci).