New Finds of a Brick with Arabic Inscription from Hajji Tarkhan Hillfort

Abstract

The article is a publication of the brick discovered in the first half of the 20th century on the territory currently identified as a part of the Golden Horde known as Hajji Tarkhan, which is deposited in the funds of the Astrakhan Museum-Reserve. The fact that the finds entered the museum funds is connected with deliberate destruction of the settlement which had begun at the end of the 16th century. The latter is confirmed by historical sources. A well-preserved inscription in Arabic is a distinctive feature of the brick; the inscription is legible and possible to translate. Another characteristic of the inscription is that the letters were drawn without observing the norms of calligraphy on slightly dried clay or after the firing in the oven. The inscription includes three words, one of which is breaking on to the next line and forming a phrase that currently does not have exact analogies for translation. Nevertheless, a proposed translation option characterizes the inscription as one of the variations of the Quranic text formulas traditionally applied to various household items (vessels, candlesticks, pencil cases, etc.) since the 10th century. The nature of the unexpected finding in the lifting ground does not allow attributing it to any other construction on the Hillfort territory. Nevertheless, it was suggested that the brick was connected with the remains of a brick wall marked on the plan of the Shareniy Bugor hillfort drafted in 1924. The described and translated inscription is a new epigraphic source for the Golden Horde archeology. In addition, this is one of rare examples of the period when the text of the inscription was completely restored and translated.

Keywords

• golden horde
• hajji tarkhan
• shareniy bugor
• arabic language
• epigraphy
• brick