Important Archaeological Discovery In Kazakhstan

Several 1,500-year-old gold buckles depicting ruler ‘majestically sitting on a throne’ have been found.

The ornaments contain the earliest known depiction of a Göktürk “khagan,” who probably lived in the sixth century.

The Göktürks — a nomadic confederation of Turkic-speaking peoples who occupied the region for around three centuries, according to an archaeologist who excavated the site.

The lavish gold plaques portray “the crowned sovereign, majestically sitting on a throne in a saintly pose and surrounded by servants,” Zainolla Samashev, an archaeologist at Kazakhstan’s Institute of Archaeology who led the excavation, told Live Science in an email. “This clearly depicts the sacred nature of power in ancient Turkic society.”

The finds are from the Eleke Sazy site near Kazakhstan’s remote eastern borders with China, Mongolia and Russian Siberia, where Samashev and his colleagues have worked since 2016.

The sixth-century Göktürk tomb holds the remains of a nobleman, probably a “tegin” — or “prince” in the Old Turkic language — whose burial site had developed by the seventh century into a “cultic memorial complex” that deified the deceased man, Samashev said.

Samashev thinks the prince may have belonged to the royal Ashina clan of khagans — meaning “sovereign” in Old Turkic, and the origin of the word “khan.” The Ashina clan founded two Turkic states in the central Eurasian Steppes between the fifth and eighth centuries and ruled until they were conquered by another Turkic group who became the Uyghurs.

The two gold plaques were found in the central chamber of the tomb where the prince was cremated; one was badly damaged by the fire of the cremation.

Measuring about 1.5 inches (3.7 centimeters) across, both seem to be a form of belt buckle that would have had two ends of a belt threaded through a hole at its base so they hung down from the waist. Such buckles seem to have been a symbol of power in Turkic society, Samashev said, and may have signified that the wearer was a person of high status.

The khagan is shown in the center of each plaque, wearing an ornate crown and seated on a throne that depicts two horses; he is flanked by two kneeling servants offering food from a plate and a bowl.

These are the earliest verified depictions of a khagan of the Göktürk people, and probably of the great khagan himself, Samashev said.

It’s not known if the plaques were worn by the tegin who was buried there. They may have been worn by his aides, who deposited them during the cremation as a way of taking part in the sacred ceremony, he said.

The Göktürks or “Celestial Turks” of Central Asia may have originated as an ethnic group under the Xiongnu, who ruled the eastern Eurasian Steppe from about the second century B.C. until about the first century A.D.

Many modern Turks are descendants of people who were part of the Western Turkic Khaganate, which formed after civil wars among the Göktürks in the late sixth century; and the Khazar Khaganate — the successor of the Western Turk Khaganate — which survived until the 10th century as an ally of the Byzantine Empire.

The tomb site probably developed as a social and cultural center for people to venerate the tegin and Göktürk beliefs, Serhan Çınar, an Ankara University archaeologist who also worked on the excavations, told the Turkish state-owned television channel TRT Haber. “The memorial complex at Eleke Sazy… [is] linked to the entry of the ancient Turks into the historical arena, along with their spiritual and ideological, religious and philosophical orientations,” he said.

Samashev said the complex was made from stone and earth and is about 300 feet (90 meters) long and 165 feet (50 m) wide, with two main parts each surrounded by a courtyard wall.

One part was the square-shaped main temple, which included the central burial chamber. A “labyrinth” for visiting pilgrims was built beside it.

A central room of the labyrinth contained a stone sculpture — now broken and headless — which is thought to have represented the occupant of the tomb, Samashev said.

Hundreds of other artifacts have been found at the site.

In addition to the gold plaques, archaeologists have unearthed objects of silver, iron and bronze; weapons; the remains of equipment for horses; and an amulet made from rock crystal, Samashev said.

See more here livescience.com

All images: Z. Samashev

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Comments (10)

  • Avatar

    Wisenox

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    Looks more like Enki/Odin and his 2 wolves or crows. The banner would be the ‘red sash’ indicating that he is twilight, which is Enki/Odin, and he’s the new Equinox (Aquarius). As he is also Adam & Eve, Eve/Gaia is the new religion. But hey, it could be a random belt buckle find.
    More or less a symbolic representation of the covenant, who is desperately trying to get their ‘Ragnarok’ going.
    The trinity is supposed to die at the end of the cycle and be reborn for the new equinox.
    To symbolize that, maybe they use Isis/Ra/El in a losing war, or have the Church fall, or maybe even both.
    Dawn-red-Eastern Orthodox
    Day-White-Vatican
    Black-night-Jesuits
    Looks like the church is already going down though, by design; have to make way for Gaianism.
    The symbolism needs to be fulfilled, so if you know it, then you can see the scam.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Howdy

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    probably, thought to have, may have.
    Any chance of some facts? It’s just supposition.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Jerry Krause

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    Hi Wisenox, Howdy, PSI Readers,

    I have read you twos’ comments for some time and therefore I claim to know a little bit about you both. I have state I enjoy reading as it seems you both do too. We question some what we read but we cannot question the existence of this gold artifact. And we cannot question if there were people living hundreds and thousands of years ago because of physical evidence, such as this gold artifact which archaeologists continue to find about earlier humans’ past histories.

    So thank you for your comment you share with your interests. The more the merrier.

    Have a good day

    Reply

  • Avatar

    aaron

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    how do we know humans made it?
    The reality is:

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Howdy

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      How do you know that the video has any meaning, and Socrates, apparently the smartest man around had anything except odd ideas, Aaron?

      Hardly a smart man to say he knows nothing, but then, he’s a ‘thinker’, all he says has some meaning us lower caste people can only aspire to, so it is accepted as wisdom. Pity.

      Just philosophical blabbering translated from ideals.

      Reply

      • Avatar

        Howdy

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        How true is this:
        A lack of friends indicates that a person has many…

        Reply

      • Avatar

        aaron

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        Hi Howdy
        could you give an example of what ‘truth’ you proclaim to know?
        seems to me rather an arrogant stance to say that you know any truths
        We know only what we have heard/read/been programmed and allowed to know
        How would one know what is true?
        is it that many others agree with you?
        is it a hunch?

        Reply

        • Avatar

          Howdy

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          “an arrogant stance to say that you know any truths”
          Today is Sunday. That is a simple truth. Are you claiming you don’t know anything that is true whatsoever? I would find that quite odd.

          I haven’t claimed to know a truth Aaron, I asked how true the message of the video link was that I posted. Those who have been in that circumstance will know the answer.
          I didn’t expect a reply from anybody on that specific query, as is the way around here.

          There is nothing arrogant about truth, and it comes in all forms. One may know something others do not, but that is not to be shared. There’s nothing unusual in that statement.
          Some things are simply too fantastic to be true though, yes?

          Nobody else may ever know, and agreement of others is beside the point. Consensus is not truth. Nor is it a hunch, which is just based on hope. Nor gut feeling. Truth stands on it’s own. It is absolute.

          You claimed the link you posted is truth, but since you agree that you know nothing, as per the video message, how can you claim the video is the truth? Kind of self defeating as I see it.

          Reply

    • Avatar

      Andy Rowlands

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      Well the birds and the bees didn’t, so who does that leave?

      Reply

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