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

Abstract

Old Turkic statues discovered by the author near Apshiyakta on the Middle 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 tricorn 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 tricorn headdresses from Semirechye 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 Old 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 Kudyrgetype funerary structures, date to the late 500s–early 600s. The canonical scene of the male and female rulers (the latter wearing a tricorn headgear) sitting in a yurt, is shown in numerous sculptures, petroglyphs, burial items, and coins. It may refer to the marital union between two aristocratic Turkic families (Ashina and Ashide).