Archaeologists were able to find two lavish gold ornaments in a 1,500-year-old tomb in Kazakhstan. The findings feature the earliest known depiction of the Khagan, or great khan, or the Göktürks.
Royal Burial
The plaques depict the crowned sovereign that was sitting majestically on a throne with a saintly position and while being surrounded by some servants. This was according to Zainolla Samashev from the Institute of Archaeology at Kazakhstan, who led the excavation. Samashev adds that this clearly shows power's sacred nature in the ancient Turkic society.
The findings are from the Eleke Sazy site, which is close to the remote eastern borders of Kazakhstan with Russian Siberia, Mongolia, and China.
The Göktürks were a nomadic confederation of individuals who spoke Turkish and who dwelled in the area for nearly three centuries. They may have started as an ethnic group falling under the Xiongnu, who ruled the east of the Eurasian Steppe from roughly second century B.C. up until the first century A.D.
The sixth-century tomb contains a nobleman's remains. This person could have been a prince, or tegin, whose burial area could have become a cultic memorial complex in the seventh century that deified the deceased individual.
Samashev thinks that the tegin could have been part of the royal Ashina khagan clan. This clan founded two states of Turkey within the central Eurasian Steppes from the fifth to eighth centuries. They also ruled the area until another Turkic group, who became known as the Uyghurs, conquered them.
Lavish Gold Plaques
The gold ornaments were discovered in the tomb's central chamber, where the cremated prince was. One of the plaques ended up badly damaged due to the cremation fire.
The plaques have a diameter of roughly 3.7 centimeters. Both seem to be a belt buckle form that may have had two belt ends threaded through a hole at the base for the entire thing to hang from the waist. The buckles appear to have served as a power symbol in the Turkic society. It could have also indicated that the wearer had a high status.
At the center of each ornament is the khagan that wears a crown and is seated on a throne with two horse depictions. The khagan is flanked by two servants that are kneeling and serving food in a bowl and plate.
It remains a mystery if the buried tegin was the one who wore plaques. They could have been worn by the prince's aids who deposited them as the cremation took place as part of the special ceremony.
Archaeologist Serhan Çınar from Ankara University explains that the tomb site could have developed as a cultural or social center for individuals to venerate the tegin as well as the Göktürk beliefs. Samashev also notes that the complex consists of earth and stone and is roughly 50 meters wide and 90 meters long.
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