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S.A.YATSENKO
TAMGAS OF IRANOLINGUAL ANTIQUE AND EARLY MIDDLE AGES PEOPLES
Russian Academy of Science
Moscow Press ”Eastern Literature”  2001 ISBN 5-02-018212-5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUMMARY

Foreword

This work is a first major overview of the accumulated research, and we all should be immeasurably grateful for the titanic work performed by the author in researching, assembling and mapping the data, and for many of his insights that lay the ground for future researchers. S.A. Yatsenko dedicated to this work, in his own words, 25 years of his life, starting ca. 1975. The author deviates notably from the cleansed lexicon that came to use in the Russian academical works of the Soviet period, by using Türkic terminology, integral to the Russian language, for the authentic Türkic phenomena, including the very term "tamga".

The English rendition of the extensive citation of the work is simplified, with many details omitted and much reduced references, but with an eye to preserving the logic, facts, and evidence. The citation brings forward the author's comparisons, to allow for easy visual collation of the evidence. A reader should be aware that absolutely none of the dating was performed even with rudimentary scientific instrumentation, and with the exception of the dated coinage and tombstones, all other dates are within the accuracy of educated opinions, which at times significantly differ, and time to time abruptly change.

The untranslated chapters give an overview of state of affairs in the field, general information, and a lot of baseless speculations, which, unlike the hard data, can be all spun and twisted to suit the objective. A good example of that is the Chapter 2, that pretends to discuss the Iranian tamgas, but instead discourses on the Türkic traditions adopted in the Türco-Semitic-Dravidian-Persian-etc state with occasional Persians at the helm. The Semitic Ahaemenids, the Türkic Parthians are all lumped into an "Iranian" label, making the discourses on the generalized ethnic applications of the tamgas totally incoherent. It is clear that the wealth of the accumulated data needs to be professionally and objectively analyzed to win a bright and detailed picture of the developments that can be socially discerned down to a level of extended family, and traced continuously over millennia. To have such a precious wealth of date, and blunder it so magnificently is a feat that can be duplicated only in the societies with scientific freedom of expression on the same or a lesser level. Most of the contents of the Chapters 1-5 is repeated again in the analytical discourses in the Chapters 6-11.

Mini-Glossary of the Türkic ethnic names of the period

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
Preface (History and the main problems of the study of "tamga" -signs of the Iranian peoples) 3
Chapter 1 Problems of methodology and the methodics of "tamga"-signs' studies 11
Chapter 2 Origin and the spread of "tamga"-signs in the Iranian World 27
Chapter 3 "Tamga'-signs of Sarmatia (the chronological and regional specifics) 31
Chapter 4 "King's signs" of the rulers of Bosporan Kingdom and the Sarmatians of the Western Ukraine and their origin 45
Chapter 5 Accumulations ("encyclopaediae") of "tamga"-signs and the twin signs pictures in Sarmatia 61
Chapter 6 "Tamga"-signs and the political history and genealogy of the aristocratic clans of Sarmato-Alans 84
Chapter 7 Signs of the Basins of Seyhun and Cheyhun 93
Chapter 8 Tamgas of Iran 101
Chapter 9 "Tarnga"-signs of the South Siberia and Mongolia 105
Chapter 10 Correlation of "tamga"-signs of the Iranian and Turkic peoples 107
Chapter 11 "Tamga"-signs of the medieval Alans 110
  Conclusion 118
  Bibliography 120
  Abbreviations 137
  Illustrations 139
  List of illustrations (in Russian) 140
  List of illustrations (in English) 150
  Summary 187

 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1. The Sarmatian instrument for stamping and the wooden cup (Mil cc. AD)

Fig. 2. The indelicate "close analogies" for the "tamga"-signs of Sarmatia

Fig. 3. The main ways of creating of new forms of the "tamga"-signs (Sarmatia)

Fig. 4. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia of the 1st ñ. ÂÑ - 1 half of the 1st c. AD

Fig. 5. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia of the 2nd half of the 1st-1st half of the 2nd cc. AD

Fig. 6. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia of the 2nd half of the 2nd-1sl half of the 3rd cc. AD

Fig. 7. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia of the 2nd half of the 3rd - end of the 4th cc. AD

Fig. 8. The migrations of the objects with the signs in various chronological groups

Fig. 9. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the stone plate from Kerch

Fig. 10. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the marble lion No. 1 from Olbia

Fig. 11. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the marble lion No. 2 from Olbia

Fig. 12. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the stela from Krivoy Rog

Fig. 13. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia in caves in Ak-Kaya and Kamennaya Mogila

Fig. 14. Various signs.

Fig. 15. The variants of individual handwriting of the signs of the kings of Bosporus

Fig. 16. The accumulations of "tamga"-signs in Bayte sanctuary (Ustyurt plateau)

Fig. 17. The published types of "tamga"-signs of Bayte and their analogies

Fig. 18. The signs of Bel'bek IV necropolis (S-W Crimea, Mil ñ AD) and their analogies

Fig. 19. The signs of the most politically active noble clans of Sarmato-Alans

Fig. 20. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the plates from Tanais

Fig. 21. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the plates from Tanais

Fig. 22. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the plate from Tanais

Fig. 23. The specific regional signs of Sarmatia on the plates from Tanais

Fig. 24. The small objects with several signs (Sarmatia, mid. 1st - mid. 2nd cc. AD)

Fig. 25. The accumulations of signs from the Olbian polis (turn of the 1st-2nd cc. AD)

Fig. 26. The accumulations of signs (Sarmatia, mid. 1st - mid. 2nd cc. AD)

Fig. 27. The signs of the Basins of Amudar'ya and Syrdar'ya (4th - 2nd cc. ÂÑ)

Fig. 28. The signs of the Basins of Amudar'ya and Syrdar'ya (1st ñ. ÂÑ - 3rd ñ. AD)

Fig. 29. The signs of the Basins of Amudar'ya and Syrdar'ya (4th-8th cc. AD)

Fig. 30. The nunpublished signs on the pottery from Koy-Krylgan-kala (Khwarezm)

Fig. 31. The accumulations of signs on the column from Takhti-Sangin (Bactria)

Fig. 32. The signs of the Achaemenian Iran (by J. Boardman 1998; 2000)

Fig. 33. The signs of the Parthian (b) and Sassanian (a, c-e, d, 31-35) Iran and the Hellenistic Margiana (d, 1-30)

Fig. 34.The accumulations of signs from Mongolia (a, c), Altay (b), W.Turkestan (d-f)

Fig. 35. The "tamga"-signs of the Altay (a-b) and Mongolia (d-f)

Fig. 36. The "tamga"-signs of the medieval Alans

 

AUTHOR'S SUMMARY
(and
S.À. Yatsenko could have saved himself some embracement by reading what he had written. Oh, boy)

Tamga-signs of the Iranian Peoples in Ancient Times and Early Middle Ages.

The monograph is devoted to the complex analysis of property brands (nisanlgakk) in different regions of Iranian World. À most numerous and best studied collection of 1st ñ. ÂÑ - 4th ñ. AD brands from European Steppes became a basis for investigation of the succession of the sign forms and their daily use from the nomadic Sarmatians to the modern peoples in the Central part of the Caucasus Northern foothills. It gave a chance to widely use ethnological data. Special attention is paid to the questions of methodology; defining the notion of "tamga", similarity criteria of the signs in their description, new forms creation ways (fig. 3), a "large" clan sign and its variants, and "small" family signs, variants of individual handwriting, a mechanism of borrowings by other ethnic groups. Besides the defense of property the images of the signs marked the participation of members of the clan in collective actions (treaties, religious ceremonies in sanctuaries, fraternization, taking part in public building). The forms of the signs in the Northern Caucasus stayed unchanged for about 2,000 years within the boundaries of kindred ethnic groups, after a famous clan fortune declined, its tamga was assumed by another clan. The region where the custom of tamga wide usage originated from was found (Western Turkestan, Mongolia - no later than the beginning of the 6th ñ. ÂÑ). Special attention is also paid to the Sarmato-Alan tamgas in Europe, these signs only belonged to the members of aristocracy. The tamgas are described according to the principles of chronological groups and separate regions. Accumulations of signs are usually of interregional character, and reflect different economical, political and religious activities. Analysis of tamgas belonging to the most powerful clans and kings of Bosporus provided an opportunity to precisely define their genealogy and their relations with the territories from where their forefathers emigrated to Europe (Khwarezm, Kangar, Bactria, Sogdiana). The markings on bricks from agricultural Iranian regions were property signs of the noble clans and families, signs of the craftsmen and signs of peasants (which members were mobilized for public works). The signs ("monograms") of the Sasanids were, probably, usually the tamgas of a clan, and presented a combination of 2-3 simple types known in Iranian world (tamgas of mother and farther + additional elements appearing in the process of forming a new clan: pl. 33, a). The Turks who conquered most of the Iranian peoples' territories in the the 6th-7th cc, borrowed numerous types of tamgas. But Turkic tamgas had other functions (they had the names of different things or phenomena, they could be assigned by a ruler. They also were personal signs and tribal signs). Differentiating of Alanian tamgas from Turkic in European Steppes of the 6th-12th cc. presents a complicated task. Most preserved tamgas are concentrated in several regions, mostly connected with the Alans (fig. 36).

187
Home
Back
In Russian
Tamgas Contents
Codex of Inscriptions Index
Sources
Roots
Alphabet
Writing
Language
Religion
Genetics
Geography
Archeology
Coins
Wikipedia
Ogur and Oguz
Alans and Ases
Overview of Sarmatian chronology
Saltovo-Mayak Culture
Codex of Inscriptions-Euro Asiatic-Don
Alanian Etymology Notes
Alans in Pyrenees
Alan Dateline
Avar Dateline
Besenyo Dateline
Bulgar Dateline
Huns Dateline
Karluk Dateline
Khazar Dateline
Kimak Dateline
Kipchak Dateline
Kyrgyz Dateline
Sabir Dateline
Seyanto Dateline
11/21/2005
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