Old Turkic Statues from Apshiyakta, Central Altai: On Female Representations in Turkic Monumental Art

Old Turkic Statues from Apshiyakta, Central Altai:
On Female Representations in Turkic Monumental Art

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.1.093-103

G.V. Kubarev
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

Ancient Turkic statues discovered by the author near Apshiyakta on the Lower Chuya River, Central Altai, have no parallels either in the Altai or in adjacent regions. They show two vertically arranged faces on the same facet of the statue—that of a man, and that of a woman below. The woman wears a three-horned headdress. The statues are described with regard to several other Old Turkic female sculptures from Central Asia. Previous attempts at interpretation were unsuccessful because several Kimek and Kipchak specimens had been erroneously included in the database. Probably, most Old Turkic sculptures with beardless faces found in Southern Siberia, Eastern and Western Central Asia depict women. The Apshiyakta specimens are similar to female sculptures with three-horned headdresses from Semirechye (Zhetysu), and represent a variety of the so-called face sculptures. On the basis of parallels, and the semantic analysis of this headdress, it is concluded that these female portraits do not depict the goddess Umay or a shamaness; rather, they refer to noble Ancient Turkic women. The Apshiyakta sculptures, then, manifest the same idea that is embodied in the genre scenes in yurts––coupled images of the husband (warrior, or batyr) and his wife (katun). According to a radiocarbon estimate, these statues, like the Kudyrge-type funerary structures, date to the late 500s to early 600s. The canonical scene of the male and female rulers (the la tter wearing a three-horned headdress) sitting in a yurt, is shown in numerous sculptures, petroglyphs, grave goods, and coins. It may refer to the marital union between two aristocratic Old Turkic families (Ashina and Ashide).

Keywords: Central Altai, Ancient Turkic female statues, three-horned headdress, Ashina, Ashide, radiocarbon dating.