Uzbekistan, Silk Road, Samarkand, Afrasiab historical museum, wall painting detail from the mural of ambassadors, 7th century/ Getty Images
A ruler in a pointed hat provides scientists with new information about the ancient Turks.
he International Integrated Historical and Archaeological Expedition of the Tamgaly Museum-Reserve made an important discovery during field research in the Kogaly and Almaly valleys, located to the north and south of the UNESCO World Heritage Site—the Tamgaly complex.i
Alongside Kazakh archaeologists, renowned specialists in rock art and ancient Turkic culture from Kyrgyzstan A.T. Suleimanovaand Russia (G.V. Kubarev, O.A. Kaschey) are participating in the expedition. Under the leadership of the museum-reserve's director Bibigul Dandygaraeva, the expedition's work is conducted by groups led by museum-reserve staff R. Sharipov and K. Nurmaksutov.)
Coin/ Alexey Rogozhinsky
During the excavation of two ritual enclosures, a very well-preserved copper coin was found nearby. The coin bears the portrait of an unknown ruler in a pointed headdress. On either side of the image, there are two inscriptions in the Sogdian language - "bgy" (god) and "prn" (grace). On the reverse side of the coin is the image of a tamga, the ruler's personal seal mark.iA similar tamga is carved into the sacred Tamgaly Sanctuary site —next to the depiction of the "sun-headed" figures.
While this coin isn't exceptionally rare in general, its discovery in Kazakhstan is unprecedented. This represents the first time such a coin has been unearthed during formal archaeological research in the country. The find has been properly recorded and now serves as a significant archaeological artifact.
As reported by one of the expedition members, Alexey Rogozhinsky, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the A.Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Almaty, Kazakhstan:
"The discovered coin is an extremely rare find, with only a handful of similar specimens known. Two were unearthed during excavations of a Nestorian Christian temple at Ak-Beshim in Kyrgyzstan, a site associated with Suyab, the capital of the Western Turkic and Turgesh Khaganates. A few more have been found in China's Ili Valley. This marks the first time such a coin has been discovered in Kazakhstan. Specialists in early medieval Turko-Sogdian numismatics date these coins to the mid-7th century. This dating suggests that the archaeological sites currently under investigation by the museum-reserve expedition in the Kogaly Valley are linked to the Western Turks who inhabited the Semirechye region from the 7th to early 8th centuries."
Coin/ Alexey Rogozhinsky