Early Medieval Burial of a Horse from Western Tuva (Based on Excavations by M.Kh. Mannai-ool)

In: Izvestiya of Altai State University, Issue 2(124), p. 78-84

Abstract

The article presents the materials of horse burial, excavated as part of the Chazy complex. The study of this site, located in Western Tuva, was carried out by the expedition of the Tuva Research Institute of Language, Literature and History under the leadership of M.Kh. Mannai-ool in 1969. The authors concern a detailed description of the published object attributed to the archaeological culture of the early medieval Turks. Peculiar features of the horse burial are the absence of a skull, as well as a position of animal on the back. The dating of the complex, based on the time of existence of the discovered iron stirrups, is determined within the second half of the 7th-8th centuries AD. It has been established that this object remains the only under-kurgan horse burial of the Early Middle Ages excavated on the territory of Tuva. It has been suggested that the appearance of such a tradition in the designated region is associated with the influence of the Altai Turks. Such sites are quite widespread there.