Tamga Signs on a Silver Vessel from Yustyd (South Altai)

Abstract

The author for the first time reproduces and interprets the tamga-like and other signs on the silver vessel, found by V.D. Kubarev in 1976 in the early medieval memorial enclosure in the valley of the river Yustyd in the South Altai. In all 12 signs were carved on the vessel, half of them make two groups. One of them includes the tamgas of the Ashina dynasty Turks-togyu in the form of a goat figure, the other is the Karluk tamgas shaped as an acute angle. Other tamgas probably belonged to Tiele tribes. The sign, carved on the base of the Yustyd vessel, resembles a runic letter (nč), the most likely interpretation of it is the name of the vessel’s owner – Ench. The tamgas of Karluks and Ashina Türk dynasty on the silver mug from Yustyd could be a symbol of the contracting an alliance and/or a system of suzerainty-vassalage of these two the large Turkic-speaking nomadic groups between each other in the period of the Second Turkic Khaganate. Based on the historical events known from written sources, the author dates back to 682–710 both the Yustyd complex and the tamgas, carved on the vessel.

Keywords

• archaeology
• tamga
• silver vessel
• karluk
• ashina dynasty
• turks-tugyu
• memorial enclosure
• second turkic khaganate
• altai