Tamgas of the 19th and Early 20th Century Yakuts (Sakha)

Abstract

The article deals with tamga symbols which played a role in the socio-economic life and culture of the Central, Vilyuisk and Northern local groups of the Yakuts since the lineage-based society up to the early twentieth century. Tamgas were marks to identify kinship and social status, property, enjoyment and dispose of the owner’s property, as well as sacral symbols of religious beliefs and practices of the Yakuts. Tamga marks were used to denote numbers in the Yakut traditional number system. They are found on various seals and «eternal» calendars of the 17th – 19th centuries. Based on a comparative study of the tamga mark system of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples of Central Asia and Southern Siberia, an attempt was made to systematize various forms and names of the most common tamga of the Yakuts and to determine their functional aspect. It is suggested that tamga marks are primary in relation to the Turkic runic writing, as well as Yakut rune-like tamgas that the Turkic-speaking ancestors of the Yakuts brought to their modern territory before their acquaintance with the runic writing