REPRESENTATIONS OF WARRIORS ON EARLY MEDIEVAL TURKIC BRONZE PLAQUES FROM EASTERN CENTRAL ASIA

Bronze plaques with the representations of horsemen have been found in the large areas where nomadic cultures existed, as well as in adjacent territories. Their distribution area includes the Trans-Baikal region, Mongolia, Sayan-Altai, Western Central Asia, and Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan). They are quite different from plaques that were common in the forest zone of Eastern Europe, Western Siberia, and the Northern Caucasus. Plaques representing horsemen were fi rst described by Western European scholars and travelers in the early 18th cent. Based on a number of diagnostic traits, they fall into several groups. The fact that such plaques were part of the Ancient Turkic material culture evidences contacts between Turks and Sogdians. The image of the mounted warrior and hunter was adopted by members of the Turkic elite, since it agreed with nomadic tradition.