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Issyk kurgan

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drawing of the Issyk inscription

The Issyk kurgan, in southern Kazakhstan, less than 20 km east from the Talgar alluvial fan, near Issyk Kul, was discovered in 1969. Formerly dated to the 4th century BC, it has been re-evaluated as has been recently re-evaluated as a 4th to 3rd century BC burial mound (Hall 1997).

It contained a skeleton of uncertain sex, with a silver cup bearing an inscription, with 4.000 gold ornaments, Scythian animal art objects and headdress reminiscent of Kazakh bridal hats.

The Issyk inscription is undeciphered, and is is assumed to be in Scythian, and would be the only epigraphic trace of that language. The letters of the inscription have also been compared to the 8th century Turkic Orkhon script, with speculations that the inscription could also be Proto-Turkic (Amanjolov 2003).

References

  • A. Amanjolov "History and Theory of Ancient Turkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003, pp. 218-219, ISBN 9965-16-204-2
  • Hall, Mark E. Towards an absolute chronology for the Iron Age of Inner Asia. Antiquity 71 (1997): 863-874.

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