Runic Inscriptions and Tamgas in Govi-Altai Province, MONGOLIA

Abstract

The great significance of ancient inscription is that it becomes evidence of that historical period. Approximately 170 runic inscriptions, date back to Old Turkic, Uighur period, had been registered in the territory of Mongolia so far. Govi-Altai runic inscriptions are located along the central road headed from Beshbalik to west southern until silk road in the period of Ancient Turkic, Uighur and they play important role in the studies of philology and history since they have many state and military ranking words and personal names. In this article, reading-lexical features and relevant Tamgas of 18 inscriptions discovered in Govi-Altai province have been studied. As of today, a total of 18 Runic inscriptions were discovered in 7 places from this province. The Biger’s 4 inscriptions had been discovered in 1969 for the first time by team “Inscription studies” of the Mongol-Soviet’s history and culture’s joint expedition, whereas our team discovered Davirt II inscription in 2020, and also research team from Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences discovered Khushuut Tolgoi’s inscription. The research team completed a hand painting of 95 Tamgas related to these inscriptions.